Can I code this? A Referral/Affiliate Program for My SaaS
Generating a unique referral link and crediting a signup to it is genuinely bounded work. Doing it in a way that resists obvious fraud (self-referrals, fake signups) takes real, deliberate care.
Borderline
Effort: a weekendRunning cost: $0/mo to start
Why CanICodeThis says Borderline
A unique referral code or link per user, stored and looked up on signup, is a straightforward pattern
Crediting a reward (a discount, a payout) when a referred signup converts is a well-understood trigger
A dashboard showing your referral count and earned rewards is ordinary CRUD
The parts that'll cause problems
Preventing obvious fraud (someone referring themselves with a second account, or generating fake signups) needs deliberate detection logic, not just a happy-path implementation
Payout processing (actually sending people money, not just tracking credit) needs a real payments integration and tax reporting for larger payouts
Multi-tier referral structures (you earn from people your referrals refer) compound the fraud-resistance problem
How I'd build this
frontend
Next.js
database
Supabase
hosting
Vercel
MVP scope
Unique referral link per user
Credit tracking when a referred signup converts
A dashboard showing referral count and rewards earned
Basic fraud checks (same email/IP as referrer blocked)
Postpone to v2
Automated payouts via a payments API
Multi-tier referral structures
Advanced fraud detection
What it actually costs to build
AI agent — with a subscription (Claude Pro/Max, Cursor, etc.)
$0 marginal
AI agent — pay-per-use API, no subscription
$43–$86 one-time
Hosting, once it's running
$0/mo (free tier)
Domain name, if you want your own
~$12/yr
The build prompt
Build me a referral program, genuinely achievable in a weekend:
1. A unique referral link per user.
2. Track conversions on signup, crediting a reward when the referred signup converts.
3. A dashboard showing referral count and rewards earned.
4. Basic fraud prevention: block self-referrals by matching email or IP against the referrer.
Track credit manually to start. That's a real, working referral system. Out of scope: automated payouts via a payments API, a real, separate financial integration, and multi-tier referral structures (rewarding the referrer's referrer too), which need genuinely more complex crediting logic.