Stay22 vs Travelpayouts: which one makes me $2,000+/month?

Last Updated on April 10, 2026 by Ioana

If you’re trying to decide between Stay22 vs Travelpayouts, you’re in the right place.

Both are among the most popular travel affiliate platforms for bloggers and content creators, but they work very differently and your results can vary a lot depending on which one you choose.

I’ve personally used both platforms on this blog since the early days, so this is not a theoretical comparison. It is based on real data, real bookings, and real earnings.

To give you an idea:

• I made $0 from Travelpayouts in my first few months
• After switching to Stay22, I made my first booking within 24 hours
• Less than a year later, I was earning $2,000+ per month with Stay22

That is a massive difference and exactly why I decided to write this detailed comparison where I share my honest experience with both to help you decide which platform is the best fit for your blog. This post contains affiliate links. When you make a purchase I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Find out more here.

Stay22 vs Travelpayouts: quick verdict

If you do not want to read the full comparison, here is the short answer:

• Best for fast and easy monetization: Stay22
• Best for beginners with a blog: Stay22
• Better variety of affiliate programs: Travelpayouts
• Best for social media creators with no website: Travelpayouts

My recommendation: If your goal is to maximize affiliate revenue from your blog, Stay22 is the clear winner.

I currently earn $2,000+ per month with Stay22, while Travelpayouts brings in only $15 to $25 per month on the same traffic.

That difference comes down to one key factor, conversion rates.

If you are serious about turning your travel blog into a real income stream, this is the platform I recommend starting with.

Stay22 vs Travelpayouts: side by side comparison

Here is a clear side by side comparison of Stay22 vs Travelpayouts so you can quickly understand the main differences:

Feature	Stay22	Travelpayouts
Ease of use	✅ Very beginner friendly	✅ Easy to get started
Access to partners	✅ Instant access to all partners	⚠️ Access to many brands, but some programs may require approval
Conversion rates	✅ High (AI powered tools like Allez)	⚠️ Improving with AI tools like Drive
Earnings potential (my experience)	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐
Works without a website	❌ No	✅ Yes
Best for	Bloggers and website owners	Social media creators and bloggers
Affiliate tools	✅ Automatic links, maps, widgets	✅ Traditional links + AI tool (Drive)
Referral program	$500 per referral	Up to $600 per referral, tiered
Referral tracking	❌ Not available in dashboard	✅ Available in dashboard

My results with Stay22 vs Travelpayouts

I have personally used both Stay22 and Travelpayouts on this blog, so I want to share my real results to give you better context.

Travelpayouts results

• Started using it in January 2024
• Reached around 5,000 monthly sessions by May 2024
• Generated clicks but $0 in affiliate revenue
• Currently earning only $15 to $25 per month

Stay22 results

• Installed Stay22 in June 2024
• Made my first booking within 24 hours
• First full month: $191
• December 2024: $500+ per month
• May 2025: $2,200+ in one month and 184 bookings

That is more than a 1,100 percent increase in revenue in less than a year.

What this means

The biggest difference between Stay22 and Travelpayouts is not the number of partners. It is conversion rate.

Stay22 is designed to convert your existing traffic into bookings using tools like automatic affiliate links and interactive maps.

Travelpayouts, on the other hand, relies more on traditional affiliate links, which in my experience convert much lower.

👉 Start using Stay22 here and get a $100 bonus when you reach 100 bookings

If your goal is to turn your blog traffic into consistent affiliate income, this is the platform that made the biggest difference for me.

Stay22 pros

High conversion rates (this is where Stay22 wins)

The main advantage of Stay22 is that you make a lot of money when you use them. And at the end of the day I think we can all agree that this is the most important thing when choosing an affiliate marketing platform.

They use AI-powered affiliate tools to drive conversion rates up. Stay22 uses a combination of their Let Me Allez script, interactive maps, and traditional affiliate links to earn you money.

I personally mostly use the Allez affiliate links and I had incredible results. Let me tell you a bit about my results.

I made my first affiliate booking the day after I installed the Stay22 Allez script on my blog. It was only $1.97, but this was the proof of concept I needed and I knew things would grow nicely from there. And that’s exactly how it was. 

In June 2024, the first full month I was with Stay22 I made $191. This number made my blog profitable, so it was a huge win for me.

In December 2024 I was already making over $500 per month. 

And as of May 27 2025 my overall affiliate earnings for May were over $2,200 and I had 184 total bookings. That’s roughly an 11.5X or 1,150% increase in revenue compared to June 2024.

In less than a year my income skyrocketed. And the best part is that I’m just getting started. I’m so excited to see the affiliate income growth a year from now.

This is exactly why I recommend Stay22 if your goal is to make real affiliate income.

There are no minimum traffic levels you need to sign up

This is a great advantage if you are a new travel blogger. You can apply as soon as you get some traffic. I personally applied when I had about 5K sessions per month on this blog.

You can also be based anywhere in the world. Your geographical location does not matter. I am based in Romania, for example. You can use Stay22 and will get paid in your local currency.

You get access to all their partners

Stay22 partners with top travel affiliate programs for hotels, car rentals, and activities such as Booking.com, Expedia, KAYAK, Hotels.com, TripAdvisor, Trivago, VRBO, GetYourGuide.

Once you get accepted to Stay22 you can automatically use all these affiliate partner networks. There is no extra application step for each of them.

For example, if you want to use Booking.com links to recommend accommodation options for a specific location you’re writing about, all you need to do is to include these deep links in your blog posts.

And whenever a person who clicked on these hotel affiliate links books a stay you make a commission that you can see in your Stay22 dashboard.

They have a great customer service team

Stay22 uses real humans for their customer service team, not AI or robots. 

Every blogger that signs up with Stay22 has a Partner Success Associate. They are your dedicated person that makes sure you have everything you need to succeed.

They are also the point of contact for all the questions you might have or the issues you’re facing. I have a great relationship with my Partner Success Associate. She’s fantastic. 

Her response time is very fast. Usually I get a reply in a few hours. And she always makes sure my questions are fully answered and my problems are solved.

I love how she always asks me for feedback. Stay22 is constantly trying to implement new ideas and new features to make sure we thrive as bloggers. And they make sure to use our feedback in what they develop next.

It truly feels like a two-way partnership. 

Stay22 cons

It can only be used by creators who have a website

If you are a content creator on social media, but you do not have a website you won’t be able to use Stay22. They are a platform specifically designed for blogs, not social media.

I also started on Instagram first. I thought being a social media creator in the travel niche will bring me the financial freedom that I wanted. But in my experience, securing continuous paid partnerships on social media is very hard. 

That’s why I started this blog. I diversified my income streams and now I earn passive income every time someone reads my blog posts (through ads income) or when people book something I recommend (through affiliate links). 

If you’re a travel creator, I highly recommend you start a blog. It’s so worth it!

Their list of partners could be more comprehensive

While Stay22 partners with some of the top brands in the travel industry, their partner list could be longer. For example, they don’t yet have partners for eSIMs, travel insurance, bus tickets, or private transfers.

I do appreciate that they constantly expand their partner list, but I would love to see even more names on the list.

You can’t track Stay22 affiliate referrals

Stay22 also offers a referral program. For example, if you sign up for Stay22 using my referral link you make $100 when you reach 100 confirmed bookings, and I make $500. It’s one of the highest-paying referral programs in the industry and I’m a huge fan of it.

But the drawback is that you can’t track these affiliate referrals in your dashboard. So I have no idea how many people signed up for Stay22 through my link.

In order to find out I have to email my Partner Success Associate and ask. It’s not the end of the world, but I find it quite inconvenient.

I love to be able to see all my data, so this is a disadvantage for me.

Travelpayouts pros

The list of partners is larger

Travelpayouts has a longer list of partners compared to Stay22. They partner with 50+ top travel brands.

If you are a blogger who wants to promote a lot of different services in the travel space, this is a great advantage since you have everything in one place.

It can be used by creators who don’t have a website

​If you are a content creator on social media and you don’t want to start a blog, you can still use Travelpayouts. You can create affiliate links in their dashboard and share these links with your audience on social media.

Whenever someone books through your links you make a commission. It works exactly the same as it works for blogs, but you can share these links on social media.

You can track Travelpayouts affiliate referrals

Travelpayouts revamped their referral program in 2026. So now if you sign up for Travelpayouts through my affiliate link I can earn up to $600:

• $100 when you reach $500 in bookings
• $200 when you reach $1,500 in bookings
• $300 when you reach $3,000 in bookings

And you can earn up to $100:

• $25 for signing up and installing Drive
• $25 when you reach $100 in bookings
• $50 when you reach $1,000 in bookings

The good news is that you can track your referrals in your Travelpayouts dashboard. If you’re someone like me who loves to track everything this is a nice perk.

Travelpayouts now has an AI-powered monetization tool

Travelpayouts recently launched Drive, an AI-powered monetization tool designed to automatically optimize links, offers, and placements on your site. This way they are able to compete with Stay22.

I have not tested Drive myself yet, so I cannot speak to its results from personal experience. But if you are considering Travelpayouts, this is a feature worth knowing about because it could improve monetization compared to using traditional affiliate links alone.

That said, my results with Stay22 are really good, so I won’t change what’s not broken. Hence why I haven’t used Drive.

Travelpayouts cons

Conversions are low and, thus, your affiliate revenue is low

The main disadvantage of Travelpayouts is that their conversion rates are low and you don’t make much money through them. While some creators do see results with Travelpayouts, especially in specific niches, my experience was very different.

I used Travelpayouts ever since I started this blog in January 2024. In May 2024 I was at 5,000 monthly sessions, but I still hadn’t made any affiliate income through Travelpayouts.

Even though my blog didn’t have that much traffic I was still expecting to see at least a few hotel bookings via Travelpayouts. But this was not the case.

Even though I could see that people clicked on my accommodation links, I literally made $0 in hotel affiliate revenue.

This was what made me look for alternatives. And that’s how I switched to Stay22 for hotel, car rentals, and activities links.

I now use Travelpayouts only for programs that are not yet available on Stay22. As soon as these brands will join Stay22 I will stop using Travelpayouts. 

Even though my blog is now at 50,000 monthly sessions I still only make $15-25 per month on Travelpayouts. 

To be fair, Travelpayouts has recently launched Drive, an AI-powered monetization tool, so it is possible results may improve for some creators. I have not tested it yet, so this article reflects my experience with the platform so far.

​You have to apply to each partner program

Unlike Stay22, you have to apply to each partner you want to use on Travelpayouts. You don’t get direct access to all their 100+ partners.

If you want to use 20 partners, you have to apply to each of the 20 partners through the Travelpayouts dashboard.

I think this defeats the purpose of being an aggregator like Travelpayouts. I use an affiliate platform because I don’t want to submit individual applications to all the affiliate programs. But it turns out you still have to do that on Travelpayouts.

Final thoughts

While I use both Stay22 and Travelpayouts on my blog, Stay22 is my preferred program since it brings me exponentially more affiliate revenue compared to Travelpayouts.

With Stay22 my average earnings are $2,000+ per month, while with Travelpayouts I make $50+ every few months. That’s a huge difference!

The only reason I still use Travelpayouts is that there are partners that are not yet available on Stay22, such as Airalo for eSIMs or Omio for bus tickets. As soon as these brands will join Stay22 I will stop using Travelpayouts. 

This is my personal experience with the two programs. Feel free to try both options, but I highly recommend you include Stay22 in your affiliate strategy.

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