UpPromote Alternative
Stop paying a percentage of every sale you make
At $10,000/mo in referred sales UpPromote costs $230. Referly is $75, flat, with a 0% transaction fee.
14-day free trial · No credit card required · Free CSV migration from UpPromote
Your current tool
UpPromote- Affiliates
- Links
- Commissions
Referly
Referly's CSV importer maps your UpPromote affiliates, referral links and commission rates. Free on every plan.
Referly is an UpPromote alternative with a 0% transaction fee. UpPromote's paid plans charge $29.99/mo plus 2% of successful referral sales, at $10,000/mo in referred sales that is $230 a month, against Referly's flat $75, and the percentage has no upper bound. UpPromote is also Shopify-only; Referly tracks Shopify and Stripe on the same program.
Credit where due
Where UpPromote is the right answer
We say what they do well before we say what they do not. That is the reason you can believe the rest of the page.
UpPromote has the only genuine free tier in this comparison set, free up to $3,000/mo in referral revenue, and Referly has no free tier at all. Below that line UpPromote costs nothing and Referly costs $75, so UpPromote wins outright and this page will not pretend otherwise. It is Shopify-native with a Built for Shopify badge, installs from the App Store with no code, and publishes more case studies than nearly anyone in the category.
What changes is what happens after the free tier. UpPromote is priced as a share of your success: the moment referred sales cross $3,000/mo you move to a paid plan and start paying 2% of every sale, forever, with nothing capping it. That is a good deal at $2,000/mo referred and an expensive one at $20,000, and the crossover against Referly's flat $75 arrives at roughly $2,250/mo in referred sales, well before most stores would say their program is working.
What you actually pay
The same program, priced by both
At this size UpPromote costs 3.1× what Referly does. The gap comes from the percentages and the plan cliffs, not the sticker price.
Referly
- Startup plan
- $75
Startup, up to 200 active affiliates
UpPromote
- Growth plan
- $30
- 2% of referred sales
- $200
Growth, cheapest of their published tiers at this volume
This is the comparison the sticker prices hide: UpPromote's plan is $29.99 and its bill is $230, because 2% of $10,000 in referred sales is $200. Referly's is $75 and stays $75. Under $3,000/mo referred, UpPromote is free and wins outright. The crossover is about $2,250/mo.
Assumes the program Referly's $75 plan is sized for: $10,000/mo in affiliate revenue, 200 active affiliates, 20% commission ($2,000/mo in payouts), 100 referred orders and 5,000 tracked clicks. The same program, priced by each vendor's own published rates.
The other side
Where UpPromote stops
Three real limitations, each one traceable to a sentence on their own website.
The percentage never stops
2% of referral sales on Growth, 1.5% on Professional, 1% on Enterprise, uncapped, forever. At $10,000/mo referred that is $200 on top of the plan; at $20,000/mo it is $400. Referly's stays $0.
Source: uppromote.com/pricing
One platform
Shopify only. No Stripe, no subscription lifecycle: a SaaS product, a membership or any revenue outside the storefront sits outside the program entirely.
Source: uppromote.com/pricing
The free tier's walls
Free covers $3,000/mo in referral revenue, one program and one coupon per affiliate. It is a genuine trial of the model, and it is sized so that success graduates you onto the percentage.
Source: uppromote.com/pricing
Referly vs UpPromote, full comparison table
Compiled from real research into both platforms. The same rows appear on every alternatives page, so you can compare any two of them.
| Comparison | Referly | UpPromote |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price / month | $75 (Startup) | Free |
| Real cost at $10,000/mo | $75/mo on Startup | $230/mo on Growth |
| What the price meters on | Affiliate revenue | Referral revenue |
| Revenue cap, entry plan | $10,000/mo | Up to $3,000/mo referral revenue |
| Next tier | $149 (Business), $30,000/mo cap | $29.99 (Growth), Unlimited programs and referral revenue |
| Transaction or payout fee | 0% transaction fee | 1-2% of successful referral sales |
| Stripe | ||
| Shopify | ||
| WooCommerce | ||
| Paddle | ||
| Chargebee, Polar, Zylvie | ||
| Coupon-code tracking | Every plan, including Startup | Shopify coupons; 1 per affiliate on Free |
| Cookie window | 60 days default, configurable | Not stated |
| W-9 / W-8 collection | Business and above, TIN encrypted at rest | |
| EU self-billing invoices | Business and above, with VIES VAT validation | |
| Automated payouts | Business and above, through PayPal and Wise with no percentage fee | Not stated |
| Affiliate marketplace | Built in | |
| Influencer Discovery | $199/mo add-on, 500 invitations/mo | |
| Branded portal on your domain | Business and above | Not stated |
| Portal languages | 15 + custom languages you define | Not stated |
| Sub-affiliate tiers | 2 levels, Business and above | Not stated |
| Free tier | Referly has none | Free to $3,000/mo referral revenue |
| Trial | 14 days, no card | No trial |
| Refund policy | Standard | Not stated |
| Direct import into Referly | n/a | CSV import |
| Bulk approve, decline and edit | Bulk approve and decline affiliates | Not stated |
| Cancel without contacting support | Self-serve in billing settings; billed via Stripe | Billed via the Shopify app rail |
| Per-link and per-affiliate reporting | Link-level and per-affiliate, every plan | Not stated |
| Payout proof and audit trail | Proof required on manual payouts, with an audit trail. Business and above for automation | PayPal auto-payout from Growth |
| New-sale and new-affiliate alerts | Email alerts to program owners | Not stated |
Their reviewers, not us
What UpPromote users say they're missing
Verbatim from public reviews, with the rating and date each one carries. Every link goes to the source.
“It says the installation is free, but when you install the app. They provide you 14-day free trial. Once the trial is ended, they don't discontinue. They charged you automatically and said it's based on Shopify rules.”
In ReferlyReferly bills through Stripe, not the Shopify billing API. The 14-day trial needs no card, and cancelling happens in your own billing settings.
“Some features are only available in paid plans, and the suggested commission rate didn't account for my margins.”
In ReferlyReferly's commission plans are per-product and per-affiliate on every plan, set to your own rates. Coupon and link tracking are on Startup too.
“Some of the setup areas were a little confusing at first, especially the difference between the customer referral form and the affiliate registration form.”
In ReferlyReferly separates the two: affiliate signup runs through the partner portal, and the onboarding checklist walks a new program through setup step by step.
Quotes are reproduced word for word, typos included, from reviews posted within the last 24 months. Reviews get edited and deleted, so if one of these no longer reads as written, tell us and it comes down.
Which one should you choose?
An honest look at which of Referly and UpPromote is right for you, including the reasons to stay where you are.
Choose Referly if
- 01Referred sales are past roughly $2,250/mo. The point where 2% costs more than Referly's flat $75
- 02You'd rather your bill stayed still while the channel grows, instead of scaling with it
- 03You want billing you can cancel yourself. Referly bills through Stripe, not the Shopify app rail
- 04You sell subscriptions alongside the store, and want W-9s and a recruiting marketplace as it matures
Choose UpPromote if
- 01You're under $3,000/mo in referred sales. UpPromote is genuinely free there and Referly is $75
- 02You're testing whether affiliates work at all and want to spend nothing to find out
- 03Coupon-first campaigns inside one Shopify storefront are your whole model, now and later
- 04A no-code App Store install matters more than what the percentage costs at scale
Free migration
Switch from UpPromote without losing your history
A CSV export from UpPromote carries affiliates, links and commission rates across. Free on every plan, including Startup.
Scope and plan
~30 minList your campaigns, commission rules and open payouts. Decide what happens to commissions accrued but not yet paid.
Export and map
~30 minExport your affiliates from UpPromote as CSV. Referly's CSV importer maps affiliates, their referral links and their commission rates.
Configure and import
~1 hourRecreate your commission plans in Referly, run the import, and swap the tracking script and the payment connection.
Verify and go live
3 to 7 days overlapRun both in parallel, compare attributed sales daily, then switch off UpPromote.
What does not come across
Historic click data and per-click attribution history stay in UpPromote. Referly imports your affiliates, their links and their commission rates; it does not import UpPromote's click log. Commissions already accrued in UpPromote should be paid out from UpPromote before you switch.
Referly vs UpPromote vs everyone else
Five facts on each of the other tools. If you are weighing up a third option, its page is one click away.
| Referly | UpPromote |  Refersion |  BixGrow |  Rewardful |  PartnerStack | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $75/mo | Free | $39/mo + 3% of affiliate sales | Free | $49/mo | Not published |
| Meters on | Affiliate revenue | Referral revenue | A percentage of affiliate-driven sales | Referral orders + seats | Affiliate revenue | Not published |
| Fee on top | 0% transaction fee | 1-2% of successful referral sales | 2-3% of affiliate-driven sales | None | 0% transaction fee | Not published |
| Stripe | Not published | |||||
| Shopify | Not published | |||||
| Tax forms | Business and above | Listed as a feature | Not stated | Not stated |
Fee footnote: Referly's 0% is a transaction fee. The optional agency client-billing fee (5% / 2.5% / 1%) and the opt-in Referly Payouts rail (5% / 8%) are separate, and neither one touches a sale. See all alternatives
Customer stories
Take their word for it
The founders and affiliate managers behind three fast-growing programs, in their own words.
“Affiliates drive a serious share of our revenue across three countries. Since we moved to Referly everything runs from one place, tracking has been spot on, and our partners get paid without me chasing spreadsheets.”
Alexander Koppers
Affiliate Manager, Moov
$6.9M
in total affiliate-driven revenue
- 1,154
- active affiliates
- 19,017
- affiliate sales
- 1,240,030
- clicks tracked
“We have been running affiliate programs for over a decade, and ours is one of the biggest parts of how OptimizePress grows. Referly is the first platform where an operation with thousands of partners actually feels manageable, from recruiting new affiliates to tracking every sale they send.”
James Dyson
Founder & CEO, OptimizePress
- 7 figures
- in affiliate-driven sales
- 4,554
- active affiliates
- 10,536
- referrals
“This platform is quite simple and easy to use, and you can start attracting people to your affiliate program very quickly. A big plus is that the founder, Ayo, is super responsive.”
Ilfat Khayrullin
CMO & Co-founder, Letterly
- 300K+
- app users
- 689
- active affiliates
- 24,114
- clicks tracked
FAQ
You probably have questions
All are honest, unbiased answers, even when not flattering.
14-day free trial · No credit card required · Cancel anytime
What happens to the bill as the channel grows. UpPromote takes 1-2% of every referred sale on its paid plans, uncapped, so at $10,000/mo in referred sales it costs about $230/mo. Referly is $75/mo flat with a 0% transaction fee at the same volume, and tracks Stripe as well as Shopify. Below UpPromote's $3,000/mo free tier the answer flips: it is free and Referly is not.
Other comparisons
Referly vs UpPromote
The full comparison for buyers who do not own either tool yet, with every row sourced.
Read the comparison
Trackdesk alternative
The plan cards say ∞ unlimited. The expandable matrix says 5 seats, 10 offers, 100 coupons. Entry is $329.
Read the teardown
Affonso alternative
€15 buys $1,000/mo of affiliate revenue. One good month moves you up a tier.
Read the teardownAll alternatives
Every affiliate tool on one screen, with the price, the meter, the fees and what each one really costs.
Browse the table