Refer a newsroom, keep the credits
Send someone to Mastheads and you earn a share of what they spend, in article credits, every month for up to a year. Every account already has a link, so there is nothing to join and no approval queue. The terms are on this page rather than behind one.
What you earn
of their plan's monthly article-credit allowance, granted to you in credits, every month for up to 12 months.
It is a share of their allowance, not a flat figure, so a customer on a larger plan is worth more to you each month.
off their first payment, for them. Applied automatically at checkout - there is no code for them to remember or for you to explain.
Not in this programme - referrals pay article credits. If you would rather be paid in money, the partner programme is the door: join it and the customers you send earn you a cash commission instead of credits, and you can go back to credits whenever you like. No partner has been paid yet, so we are not naming a payment method or a date until we can honour one.
How it works
Share your link
Your code lives on your team and your link is on the /referrals page in the dashboard. It looks like mastheads.app/r/your-code.
They sign up through it
The click is recorded and they land on signup. 10% comes off their first payment automatically, with no code to remember.
It vests when they subscribe
Their first subscription payment starts a 12-month clock. From then you are granted credits every month their subscription is active.
Your link records a count, and nothing else. No IP address, no user agent, no referer. A share that never converts still counts as a click.
Who it is for
You do not have to be a paying customer. Every Mastheads account already has a referral code, including a free trial that never pays. There is no separate application and no approval queue: make an account, open /referrals, and your link is there.
The reward is credits, so the programme pays best to people who publish: agencies placing clients, operators running more than one site, consultants who set a newsroom up and hand it over. Every customer you send funds articles you can use yourself.
You can be in both programmes
Credits are worth a great deal to somebody who writes and little to somebody who does not. If you also have an audience, the partner programme is open to anyone who can promote us, customer or not - being a customer does not exclude you from it.
It is a switch, not an addition. While you are a partner, the customers you referred earn you a cash commission instead of these credits - one or the other in a given month, never both. Leaving the partner programme puts them back on credits.
The partner programmeThe rules, honestly
Every one of these is a real condition under which somebody earns nothing. They are on the page rather than in the small print because finding out afterwards is how these programmes get their reputation.
Nothing vests until they actually subscribe
Only the person you referred paying for a SUBSCRIPTION starts the 12-month clock. A credit-pack purchase never vests a referral, and it burns term while their subscription is not active - so somebody who only ever buys packs can earn you nothing for the whole term. This is the least obvious rule in the programme and it is the one worth reading twice.
The reward follows their current plan, every month
It is recomputed each month against whatever plan they are on right now. If they upgrade mid-term your monthly credits go up; if they downgrade, down.
A cancelled, paused or past-due account stops the drip
There is no expiry job and nothing is clawed back. The month simply is not granted while their subscription is not active.
You cannot refer yourself
Self-referral is refused by mailbox, with plus-tags and Gmail dots collapsed first, so the usual tricks resolve to the same address.
Up to 50 paid referrals per team
Counted as distinct referred accounts. It is a fraud brake and an operator limit, not a statement about how much the programme is worth.
A refund does not take your credits back
If a payment you earned on is later refunded, the credits stay with you. The cap and the audit trail are the bound instead.
Referrals from before the drip kept their old reward
Accounts whose first payment landed before the monthly programme launched keep the earlier one-off reward and were not moved across, because re-granting them would pay the same conversion twice.
The full conditions are in the programme terms.
Questions
30% of the plan's monthly article-credit allowance, paid in credits, every month for up to 12 months. Because it is a share of their allowance rather than a flat number, a customer on a larger plan is worth more to you each month.
Monthly, in credits, starting the month their subscription payment lands. Nothing is granted before money moves, and the clock runs for up to 12 months from that first payment.
Not in this programme - referrals pay article credits. If you would rather be paid in money, the partner programme is the door: join it and the customers you send earn you a cash commission instead of credits, and you can go back to credits whenever you like. No partner has been paid yet, so we are not naming a payment method or a date until we can honour one.
A credit-pack purchase does not vest a referral. Worse, it burns term: the months keep counting down while their subscription is inactive, so a pack-only customer can run out the clock without ever earning you a credit.
The monthly grant stops while their subscription is not active. Nothing you have already earned is taken back.
No. Self-referral is refused by mailbox, and plus-tags and Gmail dots are collapsed before the check, so a second address that resolves to your own inbox will not work.
10% off their first payment, applied automatically at checkout. They do not need a code.
A count, and nothing else. No IP address, no user agent, no referer. A share that never converts still counts as a click, and that is the whole of what the link records.
Up to 50 paid referrals per team, counted as distinct referred accounts. It exists as a fraud brake.
Your link is already waiting
Every account has a referral code. Open the dashboard to copy yours and see clicks, signups and what you have earned.
Open /referrals