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How to Migrate from Keitaro to Affise (Step-by-Step, Zero Guesswork)

How to Migrate from Keitaro to Affise (Step-by-Step, Zero Guesswork)

Choosing between Keitaro and Affise is not just a feature comparison — it’s a commitment to two different operational philosophies:

Keitaro: A self-hosted tracker built for technical power users. It rewards sysadmin-level skills with unlimited traffic tracking and predictable costs. But it shifts all server, maintenance, and risk onto you. Users must handle procurement, configuration, scaling, and uptime — with costs rising as traffic scales.
Affise: A cloud SaaS partner ecosystem. It abstracts away infrastructure, provides advanced reporting, automated payouts, and affiliate management tools. The trade-off: a higher entry price and usage-based billing. But it offers operational scalability and 24/7 vendor support.

Why Media Buying Teams Switch from Keitaro to Affise

1. Server Maintenance & Hidden Costs

Keitaro: Requires CentOS/KVM servers, manual scaling, backups, and security. For 1M+ clicks/day, you’ll need 16GB+ RAM servers. At 5M+ clicks, costs skyrocket. Users report downtime, 502 errors, and “CPU stolen time” issues. Installation may take up to 60 minutes.
Affise: 100% managed Google Cloud SaaS. SSL, uptime, and scaling are included. No hidden DevOps costs. Your instance is ready within minutes.

2. Scaling Pitfall: Multi-Instance Keitaro = More Licenses, Fragmented Data, Slower Decisions

Keitaro: As traffic grows, many teams discover that a single self-hosted Keitaro node can’t keep up with peak traffic volumes. Each new instance requires its own license, so your software bill scales with every server you add. As a result, clicks/conversions are split across instances, so no single source of truth; you’ll spend time exporting CSVs and stitching data together. With data scattered, time-to-insight increases, hurting optimization cycles and revenue.
Affise: One cloud-based account, globally distributed infrastructure, automatic scaling. No need to buy extra licenses or merge reports manually — Affise handles millions of clicks per day in one dashboard.

3. Steep Learning Curve & Complex UI

Keitaro: Overloaded with macros and settings. Even experts admit it takes time to master. “Keitaro Academy” exists just to cover basics.
Affise: Intuitive dashboard, Russian/English support, white-label affiliate and admin panels are available in multiple languages (Russian, English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese). Guided onboarding shortens time-to-value.

4. Funnel & Reporting Limitations

Keitaro:Reporting lacks cohort analysis and deep customization. Many export data to Excel for proper analysis.

Affise: Multi-step funnels via targeting groups & Smartlinks. 50+ reporting slices, iGaming report, fraud dashboards, and full API BI. Export data in real time to popular BI tools like Google Looker Studio, Tableau, Power BI, Domo.

5. Support & Updates

Keitaro: Weekday-only support; major updates can force manual server migrations.
Affise: Dedicated customer success, and seamless updates without downtime.

7-Step Migration Plan

First, let’s look at how Keitaro concepts match with Affise so that you can better prepare for migrating your account from Keitaro to Affise:

Keitaro Concept	Affise Equivalent
Affiliate network	Advertiser
Media buyer (user)	Affiliate
Traffic source	Sub-Affiliate
Campaign	Offer
Offer	Offer

Now, please check the full guide on how to migrate from Keitaro to Affise without breaking postbacks or losing reporting continuity:

Step 1 — Audit Keitaro (what you actually use)

List campaigns, flows, traffic sources, macros, landers, domains, and conversions.

Step 2 — Prepare your Affise foundation

Add custom tracking domains + SSL (via Affise).
Brand your affiliate panel.

Create user accounts & affiliates for your team.

Step 3 — Recreate supply (Affiliate Networks → Advertisers)

Create advertisers in Affise for each affiliate network in Keitaro.
Add offers, set advertiser tracking URLs with {clickid}, and generate S2S postbacks.

Test integration with Affise Checker.

Step 4 — Rebuild routing (Flows → Targeting)

Keitaro “flows” = Affise targeting groups & Smartlinks.
Apply GEO/device rules directly in offers.

Step 5 — Move media buyers & traffic sources

Import buyers as affiliates (CSV or manual).
Map traffic sources as sub-affiliates.
Set postbacks for each affiliate.
Customize panel for affiliate onboarding.

Parameter Mapping Cheat Sheet

Keitaro	Affise	Notes
sub_id_1 … sub_id_30	sub1 … sub30	Direct passthrough mapping.
sub_id_1 … sub_id_30	custom_field1 … custom_field15	Pass additional parameters from the advertiser.
Lead	Pending	Status parameter = 2
Sale	Approved	Status parameter = 1
Rejected Registration Deposit Trash	Declined Approved Approved Declined	Status parameter = 3 Status parameter = 1 Status parameter = 1 Status parameter = 3

Step 6 — Backfill history

Import past conversions via CSV for reporting continuity.

Guide → Import conversions

Step 7 — Parallel run → Cutover

Run both for 3–7 days. Compare CR & revenue.
Switch ad platforms to Affise links.
Enable caps, smartlinks, and payouts in Affise.

FAQs

Q: What replaces Keitaro split tests?
A: Smartlinks or multiple offers with targeting rules.

Q: Will my reporting data be lost?
A: No — import past conversions into Affise.

Q: How long does migration take?
A: Most teams finish in under a week.

Final Takeaway: From Tracker to Ecosystem

Keitaro’s self-hosted model appeals to power users who want control and cost efficiency — but it comes with hidden burdens: server costs, sysadmin work, feature gaps, and reputational risks.

Affise offers the opposite: managed infrastructure, operational scalability, and full partner management tools — at a premium, but without the overhead.

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Written by

Dmitry Hodosok

Dmitry is a product manager with an interest in technology and affiliate marketing. He is passionate about improving products through a customer-centric, data-driven approach. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and reading.

Automate Offer Transfer

Analyse Performance

Mass Pay Affiliates

For Affiliate Network

For Operator

How to Migrate from Keitaro to Affise (Step-by-Step, Zero Guesswork)

Why Media Buying Teams Switch from Keitaro to Affise

1. Server Maintenance & Hidden Costs

2. Scaling Pitfall: Multi-Instance Keitaro = More Licenses, Fragmented Data, Slower Decisions

3. Steep Learning Curve & Complex UI

4. Funnel & Reporting Limitations

5. Support & Updates

7-Step Migration Plan

Step 1 — Audit Keitaro (what you actually use)

Step 2 — Prepare your Affise foundation

Create user accounts & affiliates for your team.

Step 3 — Recreate supply (Affiliate Networks → Advertisers)

Step 4 — Rebuild routing (Flows → Targeting)

Step 5 — Move media buyers & traffic sources

Parameter Mapping Cheat Sheet

Step 6 — Backfill history

Step 7 — Parallel run → Cutover

FAQs

Q: How long does migration take?
A: Most teams finish in under a week.

Final Takeaway: From Tracker to Ecosystem

Automate Offer Transfer

Analyse Performance

Mass Pay Affiliates

For Affiliate Network

For Operator

How to Migrate from Keitaro to Affise (Step-by-Step, Zero Guesswork)

Why Media Buying Teams Switch from Keitaro to Affise

1. Server Maintenance & Hidden Costs

2. Scaling Pitfall: Multi-Instance Keitaro = More Licenses, Fragmented Data, Slower Decisions

3. Steep Learning Curve & Complex UI

4. Funnel & Reporting Limitations

5. Support & Updates

7-Step Migration Plan

Step 1 — Audit Keitaro (what you actually use)

Step 2 — Prepare your Affise foundation

Create user accounts & affiliates for your team.

Step 3 — Recreate supply (Affiliate Networks → Advertisers)

Step 4 — Rebuild routing (Flows → Targeting)

Step 5 — Move media buyers & traffic sources

Parameter Mapping Cheat Sheet

Step 6 — Backfill history

Step 7 — Parallel run → Cutover

FAQs

Q: How long does migration take?A: Most teams finish in under a week.

Final Takeaway: From Tracker to Ecosystem

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Q: How long does migration take?
A: Most teams finish in under a week.