You can differentiate affiliate marketing from multi-level marketing by understanding the key concepts. Affiliate marketing focuses on promoting products for a commission. You earn money when someone makes a purchase through your referral link. Multi-level marketing involves recruiting others to sell products and earn commissions from their sales. You make money both from your sales and from the sales of people you recruit. Affiliate marketing usually requires no upfront cost to join. You can work independently with affiliate marketing. Multi-level marketing often requires you to invest in products upfront. You must recruit others to succeed in multi-level marketing. You can build a steady income in affiliate marketing by focusing on sales.