Here is an updated 2024 Review of my findings. Is Wealthy Affiliate a Scam or Legitimate along with the Pros and Cons and see if Wealthy Affiliate is worth it.
Some Real facts About Wealthy Affiliate.
- In operation since 2005 created by affiliate marketing for affiliate marketers.
- Three premium membership tiers. No hidden upsells upon upsells.
- Complete upfront transparency with what you receive no hidden agendas
- New Advanced Business Hubs and total overhaul of added New Step-by-Step Core Training
- AI Article Designer: Facilitates efficient, SEO-optimized content creation
- Affiliate Opportunity Database: Over 10,000 affiliate programs for monetization. This enables you to find other Affiliate programs to join based on your chosen niche.
- Worldwide Community: Highly- Active community with millions of members and daily success stories.
- Community Worldwide from over 195 Countries
- Lucrative Affiliate Program: For those wishing to promote Wealthy Affiliate (though not a requirement).
- They have a High-reward program with incentives like the Las Vegas Super Affiliate Conference held each year that is all paid for including travel from around the world, accommodation, and more.
- Private Mentoring: Guidance from successful internet entrepreneurs and also with the Co-Founders Kyle and Carson
- Jaaxy Keyword Research Suite: Comprehensive keyword discovery and market analysis tool with unlimited search for its upgraded members.
- Boasts a 4.9 out of 5.0 rating on TrustPilot.
These are just a fraction of the benefits you receive as a member there is so much more and all at one cost depending on your membership selected.
Again no hidden costs like some others don’t tell you about with their programs.
How Much Does Wealthy Affiliate Cost?
Outside of the starter membership which is a test trial at no cost, there are three premium tier memberships for those who are serious in wanting to create and online business of their own.
The cost can be monthly or yearly. Yearly works out to a cheaper long term.
- Premium: $49/month or $497/year, unlocks all core training and additional resources.
- Premium Plus: $99/month or $697/year, providing extra expert classes and more tools.
- Premium Plus Accelerated: $299/month or $2497/year, expanded AI tools, resources, and more for power users.
So how is Wealthy Affiliate a Scam?
A Big Fat NO is my honest answer. Wealthy Affiliate is not a scam and is totally 100% legitimate.
I am not being Biased as no program will ever be perfect.
But one aspect I do know is that Wealthy Affiliate always strives to improve and enhance the user’s ability to learn how affiliate marketing works.
You will find they constantly add new features every year without any increase in cost for its members.
Understandably, you are seeking reliable information, with a legitimate opportunity to become an aspiring entrepreneur.
There will always be some skepticism about anything online these days.
There are some negative reviews on Wealthy Affiliate calling it a scam or other things but these will be debunked further below.
You will also see a clear transparency of both the Pros and Cons so you know the truth.
I have been a member for 10 years at Wealthy Affiliate and love it here.
If it was a scam, or not legitimate do you think I would stay for so long?
I have been scammed in the past before I found Wealthy Affiliate so I know what it feels like to be ripped off.
My review is honest with no BS, and no fluff, just the truth.
You will learn how Wealthy Affiliate can benefit you in building your own business online.
I have already given some facts above but will explain more below about the memberships, the pros and cons, and touch upon the false reviews you will read online.
You can even take a test drive as a starter member at no cost to you.
Again how can you get scammed with a free test trial without forking any money?
This way you can dip your toes and see if this is for you.
No credit card is required either (so keep your card safely tucked away.)
If you feel this is for you then you can upgrade if not at least you learn something new about how it all works.
You make the final choice because here you will be learning how to build an online website business and that does take time this is not a get-rich-quick way.
Who are the Founders of Wealthy Affiliate?
Wealthy Affiliate is an online training platform that offers comprehensive training, tools, and resources to individuals looking to build a successful affiliate marketing business.
Wealthy Affiliate was started by two Affiliate marketers, Kyle and Carson back in 2005 and still growing stronger today.
The platform has brought together a massive following worldwide, due to its commitment to helping aspiring entrepreneurs achieve financial independence through affiliate marketing.
You will learn how to be successful in an honest way but also the right way.
However, success is always dependent on you.
A community of over 2.7 million members and still growing, feels more like a family.
Do you think that all these members would hang around if Wealthy Affiliate wasn’t legit? I think not.
Don’t be left hanging out to dry like those Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing with empty false promises and more.
At Wealthy Affiliate, you will be given up-to-date training from Kyle one of the Co-Founders along with their in-house training coach Jay.
They have recently introduced their new and advanced Business Hubs to take your online business even further.
With new Core Training along with the addition of AI-Tools to help you with content creation but note this is AI Assistance and not a way to just copy and paste what you get from AI
That is not the way to go and Wealthy Affiliate explains this and shows you the best way to use AI as a Tool not as a replacement as a content creator. That is one very important note to remember.
There are additional valuable training from valued members in their own right at all levels of your membership especially with the Super Affiliate who could easily charge an arm and a leg for the personal insights they give that brought them to success with many earning over $10,000 per month or more.
Yet again this is not an overnight success they had but took them a year or two to get there depending on their work ethics and perseverance with their work.
Benefits of being a Wealthy Affiliate Member.
- Core step-by-step training from beginner to advanced
- Starter members have a free test trial (no credit card required) with access to the first 4 training modules.
- Upgrading to any of the premium memberships unlocks 100% of the core training.
- 2 Separate courses are available of your choice.
- More vlogs and additional classes are continually being included along the way.
- Full access to all the additional training, resources, and tools for the premium and premium plus membership,. This is in addition to the core training.
- Access to all Affiliate Bootcamp Courses for the premium and premium plus membership
- Weekly LIVE classes on various topics to enhance your success 52 per year for Premium 252 for Premium Plus.
- Create your affiliate blogs within Wealthy Affiliate, which gets indexed into Google giving you added opportunities to earn online.
- Free access to the powerful Jaaxy Keyword Research Tool for upgraded memberships.
- Starter members receive a free SiteRubix website to get started.
- Premium members can host up to 3 WordPress websites with free hosting.
- Premium Plus members can host up to 10 WordPress websites with Free Hosting.
- Premium Plus Accelerated members can host up to 25 WordPress websites with Free hosting.
- Premium and Premium Plus memberships have access to over 6,000 WordPress website themes along with over 50,000 plugins to choose from.
- Free SSL Certificates for secure and better encryption on websites. all three levels of memberships.
- 1 Free dot com domain is given for Premium Members
- 2 Free dot com domains are given for Premium Plus Members
- 24/7 technical support by in-house Site Support.
- Help and support from fellow community members worldwide.
- Site Protect gives full protection against comment spam without the use of a plugin.
- Live Chat for all upgraded members.
- Virus and malware protection for Safer websites
- Site Speed helps to increase the loading speed of your websites.
- Learn how to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to benefit your ranking with Google.
- Learn the importance of Social Media Marketing
- In-house Site Content to help with content creation.
- Grammar, spelling, and plagiarism checkers within Site Content
- New and Advanced Business Hubs with AI-assisted support.
- Access to 1,000,000+ free-to-use images from Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash.
- Earn commissions promoting Wealthy Affiliate (should you wish to do so and not a requirement either). Commission increases depending on the paid membership selected.
- A spam-free community so anyone trying to spam its members gets taken out.
- Private Messaging for Premium or Premium Plus members including access to Co-Founders
Those are just some of the many benefits you will receive as a wealthy affiliate member.
Many members started at Wealthy Affiliate since its main inception back in 2005 and are still here.
That alone shows you Wealthy Affiliate is legitimate and not a scam, along with the many benefits you get.
Do other scams work like that to protect their members?
I don’t think so.
No, they work in packs remember what I said about Wolves?
Let’s debunk some of these misconceptions once and for all:
Misconception 1: “Get-Rich-Quick” Scheme
One of the most common misconceptions about Wealthy Affiliate is that it promises instant wealth with minimal effort.
This is totally crazy to state this and yet the competitor uses that to play mind games with you for their own benefit.
Wealthy Affiliate emphasizes the importance of dedication, hard work, and consistent effort in building a sustainable affiliate marketing business.
There are no shortcuts to making money online or to success.
Wealthy Affiliate along with its 2.7 million members makes this abundantly clear from the outset.
Misconception 2: Hidden Costs
Detractors of Wealthy Affiliate often claim that the platform lures users with low membership fees but bombards them with hidden costs later on.
Contrary to these allegations, Wealthy Affiliate maintains complete transparency about its pricing structure.
The Training platform offers both a free test trial and two forms of paid premium membership of your choice.
Premium members gain access to advanced training, resources, and tools.
Any additional costs incurred beyond the membership fee are entirely at the user’s discretion and not forced upon them.
These costs could include paying for plugins that are not controlled by Wealthy Affiliate but by the creator of the plugins.
Many free plugin versions work perfectly well as there is no need for paid versions.
Most don’t give you that much more or suggest other upsells that are not needed.
They are for upgraded members with over 6,000 themes to choose from again any payments for the pro versions are from the theme creators, not Wealthy Affiliate.
Each hosting site needs to be registered and governed by ICANN.
ICANN is a world organizing body that has oversight for registries and registrars.
Wealthy Affiliate is accepted and registered with ICANN and can for those who wish, to upgrade provide you with free credits to purchase your own dot com domain.
Wealthy Affiliate pays your domain registration for the first year for you, when you become a premium or premium plus member, together with free hosting, bot security, and much more.
So how is that a scam?
Misconception 3: Insufficient Support
Another baseless claim is that Wealthy Affiliate lacks proper support for its members.
The platform provides a large active community where members can interact, seek advice, and share their experiences along with asking questions.
Members can ask questions at the end of each lesson, to the community as a whole and the most popular spot is via the Live Chat.
There is always help and support from a worldwide community of fellow members 24/7.
The founders of Wealthy Affiliate are actively involved in the community, offering their expertise and guidance.
The support system within Wealthy Affiliate is unparalleled, providing members with ample resources to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.
If you have any issues with your website hosted within Wealthy Affiliate you also have 24/7 site support for any technical issues with your website and done by real people not bots or waiting for an email response days later.
Misconception 4: Outdated Strategies
Critics often argue that Wealthy Affiliate teaches outdated marketing strategies that no longer work in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
This claim is far from accurate in fact, rivals who state this are outdated in their reviews.
Wealthy Affiliate continuously updates its training modules to keep pace with industry trends and algorithm changes.
In Fact, in late 2023 they introduced new training to the new Business Hubs which includes advanced AI-Assistance to save you much time with research and even writing content.
There are many more additions within this business hub to help you find ideas, and various templates are provided to help your business grow smoother.
Wealthy Affiliate has now included new advanced training to keep up with new trends such as AI and help you find your niche with the niche finder tool.
They always include new areas each year and the best part is your membership fees stay as is.
The platform focuses on teaching evergreen principles that form the foundation of successful affiliate marketing, ensuring that its members stay ahead in the competitive online marketplace.
Now we have debunked these false claims let’s move forward and get on with what really matters.
How Can Wealthy Affiliate help you?
Wealthy Affiliate’s Training Quality
One of the critical aspects is the quality of Wealthy Affiliate’s training.
You can be confident knowing that the platform offers comprehensive and well-structured courses.
From beginners to experienced marketers, there is a range of content available for all levels.
This includes text-based tutorials, live video lessons, and interactive webinars, including AI training and strategies and more.
The Live Video Training given regularly is also recorded so if you are in a different time-zone or unable to attend the live training normally within one or two hours it is available for you to watch and also anytime and as much as you need.
Support and Community
Wealthy Affiliate boasts an active and supportive community, which is a significant advantage for new members.
The platform allows users to interact, share experiences, and seek advice from others on their affiliate marketing journeys.
Tools and Resources
To thrive in the affiliate marketing world, having the right tools and resources at your disposal is crucial.
Wealthy Affiliate provides a suite of tools, including keyword research tools, website builders, and Free website hosting services.
This will help streamline the process of creating and optimizing websites for better search engine rankings.
The new Advance Hubs takes it even further with the Ai Support but also you will find many more features to help you work out what you can write about based on your selected niche.
Starter Membership is a Free test Trial
The training courses will help you not only get started in building a website but be able to build a solid foundation for years to come.
For starter members, there are 20 lessons to help you understand how to build an online business. This is a test trial so you can dip your toes into the water and see if this is something you wish to do.
if so then you can upgrade and even get a dot com domain for the first year at no cost to you.
You can stay as a free member as long as you like at no cost to you however there are restrictions unless you upgrade.
The sole purpose of the starter membership test trial is to show you the concept of building an online business and allow you to see if this is for you or not without paying a cent.
It is not a replacement for having a domain you can own.
In the meantime, you get to go through the starter training for free and learn more about creating your own online business for years to come.
On the other hand, you can become a Premium or Premium Plus member if you feel you are serious about wanting to earn money and learn all the added benefits available for your success.
But that is your choice to make and your choice alone, no one will be pushing to do so.
Wealthy Affiliate A Scam? Share on X
As I said if you wish to you can upgrade as a Premium member. But only if you are truly serious about making your online presence.
If so, this is for you and a great opportunity to work from home in your hours.
If you are looking for those get-quick-rich money-making ways, or you don’t want to put in the effort then this is not for you.
Plus, these get-rich quickly don’t exist except in the pockets of those charging you thousands in hidden costs with upsells upon upsells.
Premium Membership
Of course, being Premium will give the added advantage of the extra training levels.
Not only the core step-by-step training, which goes into great detail along with further suggestions and tasks for you to complete to ensure you are doing this right.
You can ask questions at the end of each lesson, to the community as a whole, or use the live chat and ask there.
The Live Video training is also recorded which can be watched any time you wish and there are 52 each year for Premium members.
Should you upgrade to the paid premium membership you will receive credits to purchase 1 free dot com domain which covers your first year of registration compliments from Wealthy Affiliate.
There are many more opportunities available to you but you can check out the difference between the Starter, Premium or Premium Plus memberships by clicking at the bottom of these notes.
Becoming a premium member just gives you that added leverage to become more successful online.
Premium Plus Membership
This is the new additional membership for those wanting to go to the top level and gain added knowledge and extra training from many of the Super Affiliates.
These super affiliates many of whom have and are earning over $10,000 per month, are only too willing to share the tips and secrets they have learned along their journey.
They create additional live video training for those who are Premium Pus members and have an additional 200 live training sessions which are all recorded should you miss the training.
With the Premium Plus membership, you also receive credits to purchase your free dot com domains in fact, you get free credits for 2 free dot com domains as a Premium Plus member.
As a Premium Plus member, you also receive the top-tier Jaaxy Enterprise Keyword Research tool included with your Premium Plus membership which alone is $999 per year on its own.
Just for the record, those who achieve yearly targets become known as super affiliates.
In return for the great work, they have the opportunity to receive an all-expense-paid trip to a 7-day conference in Las Vegas given by the two Co-Founders of Wealthy Affiliate Kyle and Carson.
Transparency with your Membership
As I said in the beginning, Wealthy Affiliate is fully transparent with what they give and offer which you can read further below with a comparison chart of the three memberships mentioned above.
That way you can see all available with each membership.
Success Stories and Testimonials
Numerous success stories and positive testimonials from Wealthy Affiliate members can be found online. These accounts showcase how the platform has helped ordinary individuals achieve financial independence through affiliate marketing.
While these testimonials are undoubtedly inspiring, it’s essential to approach them with a discerning eye and recognize that individual results may vary.
Testimonials from Wealthy Members:
Here are just a few members who have made money along the way simply by following and applying what Wealthy Affiliate teaches.
One thing to note is that when you build a website you do need to treat it as a business, think of it as your digital asset online that is live 24/7 worldwide.
Grace (AKA LittleMama).
$3,944.63 From “Dead” Site 1 Sale
Now to Grace, this was a dead site as she stopped writing on it for a while and put it aside to focus on other sites she is building.
It shows you that it can still generate passive income even though it was put aside for a while and pretty much considered dead.
To learn more about Grace’s success above, and what she had to add you can read more on her blog post here.
Zarina another Premium Plus Wealthy Affiliate member
Another Awesome member and friend in Zarina who has been doing very well for herself over the years.
Zarina Started back in 2015 however in the first few years didn’t do too much because with suffering from some health issues that took away the time she wanted to spend working online.
Yet she stuck through and continues to move forward and has achieved much along the way including the recent one.
See here how Zarina made $9,300 ending 2022 with a Bang.
$9300+ on December 2022: Finishing the Year with a Bang!
Nathaniel
Nathaniell, has been a member of Wealthy Affiliate since 2010 and goes to show what can be done with dedication in building an online business.
One of his sites is about coffee along with many others he has built over the years.
Recently and for a few years now he has been going to the Las Vegas convention hosted by Wealthy Affiliate which is an all-expense trip and is one of the super affiliates.
Below is a blog post that explains it all.
From $3k to $12k to $42k to $126k. Is This Even Possible?
There are tons of success stories and all are the result of following and applying the training given.
Now earnings are not all typical but that will always depend on how much work and effort you are prepared to put into your digital assets online.
Warning:
This is not a quick-rich scheme:
Like those scams that you are normally used to seeing or have been involved in.
No push button, sit on your bum, and watch the money roll in,
Those are the fake wannabes and are just out for your money while these so-called Gurus make their money off you.
I know, been there and done that (check my other reviews).
Here the attitude is to be successful with your online venture.
You will be learning how to build your own online business for many years to come.
To be successful online there will be work involved as you are building a business online.
So you will need to put in some personal effort and together with the tools of the trade Wealthy Affiliate provides you with you can do well.
Think about this!
If you purchased a Business, any type of business, what do you feel your chances of success would be if you do nothing to make it grow?
Do you feel it will work well just sitting there waiting to be successful?
Or
Knowing that creating a greater presence online requires learning the proper techniques to build your business and achieve success.
If you want to learn the right way, and take action then you are one step ahead of the others.
You are taught by the best in the industry
Knowing that learning how to build a business with the proper techniques will help you create a greater presence online.
Do you feel that learning how to build a business with the proper techniques taught by the best in the industry will help you create a greater presence online with your very own website?
The Pros and Cons of Wealthy Affiliate.
Pros
- Spam-Free Environment.
- Free Starter membership available (no credit card required)
- Free Starters Get 1 free Site Rubix website to get you started.
- Starter members receive first 4 training lessons plus some AI-Assistance for content writing
- Two-course levels are available for Premium and Premium Plus Members.
- Premium Membership is $49 monthly or $497 Yearly plus a bonus deal with 1 free dot com domain.
- Premium Plus Membership is $99 monthly or $697 Yearly a bonus deal with 2 free dot com domains
- Free niche finder AI tool for all members
- Premium members have 52 live classes each year.
- Unlimited community help and support over 2.7 million members and growing
- Live Support 24/7
- Technical support for your website 24/7
- Free Jaaxy Lite Keyword Research tool included for premium members
- Step by Step training with countless videos
- Added AI Training and content creation
- Host up to 3 websites with Premium
- Host up to 10 websites with Premium plus
- Host up to 25 websites with Premium plus Accelarator
- All hosting is free with membership.
- Receive the top tier Jaaxy Enterprise Keyword Research tool included free (normal value $999 on its own) for Premium Plus Membership
- Premium Plus has an additional 200 Expert classes each year on top of the 52 classes available for Premium members
- Premium Plus Accelorator
Cons
- Staying active within the community although helpful you can easily get side-tracked from your original goal which is to learn how to build a website relating to your niche.
- Information in training lessons can be a bit overwhelming at first, but if you follow and apply what is taught in the order given you will do well. (refer to last con)
- You do have to make an effort that is if you wish to have a successful online website business. This is not for lazy people
- If you skip the lessons given, some people tend to get lost. This is because you missed vital parts that are needed to grow. It is so important not to skip and take shortcuts.
- As to the T&C, there are no refunds as you already have a test drive to check it out first before you upgrade. However, there have been some exceptions.
Is Wealthy Affiliate Right for You?
Now that we have explored the key aspects of Wealthy Affiliate, you might be wondering if it’s the right fit for you.
The answer depends on you.
I have given you my honest and truthful thoughts on Wealthy Affilaite but as I said the ultimate decision will always be up to you to make as it is your future you want to improve and hopefully onen day quit your day job.
What are your goals, your commitment level, and willingness to put in the effort required for success in the competitive world of affiliate marketing?
If you are genuinely interested in learning about affiliate marketing and have the dedication to apply the knowledge gained, Wealthy Affiliate can be a valuable resource on your journey.
Something to think about
Would you love to have your own online business?
Do you want to be able to earn online?
Would you love to do something you love and love what you do?
Would you prefer to work from home and not travel back and forth each day?
How about being your own boss?
If you answered yes to any questions above, that is awesome.
You can even do this in your spare time if you work a 9-5 (Just over broke) job.
Wealthy Affiliate can help you achieve your goals to create a successful online business you can call your own.
To start your growth with Wealthy Affiliate, and achieve your goals, then all you need to do is take that first step forward and join with the link below.
Ir you are prepared to make the work then Wealthy Affiliate can help you achieve your goals to create a successful online business you can call your own.
To start your growth with Wealthy Affiliate, and achieve your goals, then all you need to do is take that first step forward and join with the link below.
If you are still not sure, take the Test Trial and see for yourself.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The starter is easy to start learning at no cost to you, so why not start now and test it out yourself?
Conclusion
In conclusion, Wealthy Affiliate is not a scam; rather, it is a legitimate platform that offers comprehensive training and resources for aspiring affiliate marketers.
Its active community, quality training, and range of tools make it a viable option for individuals seeking to establish a successful online business.
While Wealthy Affiliate can provide the foundation, it is ultimately up to you to leverage the knowledge and resources to achieve your goals.
Do you have further questions or comments, feel free to add them in the comments section below and I will respond to you quickly.
Hi Pam,
Thank you for your comment much appreciated.
Yes totally agree with you that Becoming a Wealthy Affiliate member is perhaps one of the best and biggest steps forward to take when wanting to create your own online business.
There is so much to learn and so much to gain.
Even with the current Black Friday deal, they have now in 2021 is totally crazy with what they are offering their members.
Then again being part of a platform that has been in action since 2005 and still growing stronger each day is totally worth it.
The great part is they keep adding more and more resources each year and I know that 2022 is going to have so much more at no added cost to their members.
Wishing you every success available and now that as you continue to strive forward and work towards all you goals they will be achieved.
Hi Andre,
I’m a Wealthy Affiliate member as well! I really like your website and I love WA! I am learning so much with all the training! When you think of how expensive an education in marketing would cost, WA is well worth it!
Hi Kim
Thank you for the visit and thank you for your kind words as well much appreciated.
Yes as you have become a member as well you now know for sure that Wealthy Affiliate is the real deal.
The great benefit is that as a premium member you get to learn so much it’s mind boggling sometimes.
However you are definitely getting your monies worth with the plethora of tools, video, training and so much more available to you.
Wishing you well in your endeavors with your website.
Take care be well
Andre
Hi Andre, I like the way you have shown that WA is not a scam. You have left me with wanting to join! (oh that’s right I already did LOL)You have come across as to be knowledgeable on this page making me feel safe to take you at your words. Good day to you.
Kim