How to Start a Creator Program on Shopify (2026)

To start a creator program on Shopify, pay a batch of creators for content first, then invite the ones whose content sells into an affiliate program that pays them commission.

The instinct is to treat a creator program as one app and one commission rate, but commission only works once you know which creators can sell, and most creators you recruit never will.

So the program runs in two stages: a paid stage to find out who is good, and a commission stage to keep them.

I believe the paid stage is the one brands skip most often, and without it you hand commission links to people you have never seen sell.

Affilitrak runs both stages in one app: you pay creators for content through gigs, then move the ones who sell into your affiliate program.

What is a creator program?

A creator program is how a brand works with creators on an ongoing basis, paying them for content, for posts to their audience, for sales, or for a mix of the three.

An affiliate program pays only for sales, so it is one stage of a creator program rather than the whole thing.

Three ways to run a creator program on Shopify

Each route below answers the same four questions, so you can compare them line by line.

Shopify Collabs

• What you pay for: gifts and commission. The listing describes sending gifts and setting discounts, and paying commission on sales, and it does not describe paying creators a flat fee for content.
• Who finds the creators: you do, through "a custom affiliate application page and direct invites", or creators already on Collabs find you through an "open access program" that offers them your commission.
• How creators get paid: commission, paid "automatically via your Shopify bill". The app is "Free to install", and the listing adds that a "2.9% commission processing fee on automatic payments may apply".
• Best for: brands that want gifting and commission inside Shopify, with nothing extra to install.

Collabs has 4.2 stars from 439 reviews on the Shopify App Store, and for a brand that already gifts product, it is the simplest place to start.

An affiliate app plus your own outreach

• What you pay for: sales, through commission, plus the free product you send.
• Who finds the creators: you do, by direct message, email or your customer list, which is the work our guide to recruiting affiliates for your Shopify store walks through.
• How creators get paid: commission through your affiliate app.
• Best for: brands with time for outreach and customers who already post about them.

The limit here is the base rate: about one in six recruited affiliates ever makes a sale, 16% across 8,687 in our data, so a commission-only program needs a large roster before it moves orders.

Affilitrak gigs plus the affiliate program

• What you pay for: content first, at Affilitrak's published prices of $150 for a UGC video, or $225 for a video plus post from a creator with 1k to 10k followers and $400 for 10k+, paid up front when you open the gig.
• Who finds the creators: they apply to your gig, so there is no outreach. Affiliates can also find your program through the Affilitrak marketplace and apply to it, and Affilitrak takes 20% of the commission you pay the affiliates who come to you that way.
• How creators get paid: a video-only gig pays when you approve the video, and a posting gig pays when the post link is on the gig page. Affiliates earn commission through scheduled PayPal payouts once they reach your threshold.
• Best for: brands that want videos they own and a trial run before they hand anyone a commission link.

The affiliate app itself is free with no usage caps, because Affilitrak charges for creator content, not for running your affiliate program.

How much does a creator program cost to start?

• Product and shipping, on every route: on Affilitrak, the brand ships the product as a free order and pays for the shipping.
• Collabs: free to install, then the product you gift, the commission creators earn, and the 2.9% processing fee the listing says may apply to automatic payments.
• An affiliate app plus outreach: the product you send and the commission on each sale, plus the hours your outreach takes.
• Affilitrak: the gig price per creator, then commission only for the creators you move into your affiliate program.

Here is what a first batch of ten creators costs on Affilitrak, at the published gig prices:

A first batch of ten creators costs $1,500 to $4,000 on Affilitrak

Gig type, ten creators	Total price (USD)
UGC video only	1,500
Video + post, 1k to 10k followers	2,250
Video + post, 10k+ followers	4,000

The paid stage is a fixed cost you know before you start, while commission is a cost you only pay when a creator sells.

How to start a creator program on Shopify in seven steps

1. Decide what you are paying for

A creator can give you three things: a video you can use, a post to their audience, or sales.

Most brands want the video first, because it keeps working in ads and on product pages long after a post scrolls away, and a post to the creator's audience second.

Decide before you recruit, because it changes who you want: a strong filmer with a small following is ideal for a video and of little use for reach.

Our explainer on whether you need a video or a post covers the difference, and our piece on whether to pay with a gift, a fee or commission covers how each model shapes who says yes.

2. Recruit your first batch

Recruit a batch, not a shortlist, because only a minority of recruits ever make a sale.

I would start with ten or more, so that one seller is likely rather than lucky, and the reasoning is in our guide on how many influencers you need.

The cheaper way to fill a batch is to have creators come to you, since a clear brief with a fixed price draws applications without a single cold message, which is the approach in our guide on how to get influencers to apply to your brand.

On Affilitrak, creators send applications to each gig and you choose who films, so the batch fills without outreach.

3. Write a brief creators can film

Every line you leave out of a brief is a decision the creator makes for you.

• How the product is used: worn, applied, unboxed or cooked with.
• The features to show: two or three, in order of importance.
• The claims allowed and to avoid: what they can say about the product, and anything they must not promise.
• The format: length, orientation and file type.
• The deadline: when the video is due, and how many revisions are included.

On Affilitrak, the brief is what the video is checked against, and creators see it before they apply, so a vague brief costs you twice: once in who applies, and again in what you can ask them to change.

4. Pay when the work exists

Pay on delivery, not up front and not on a promise, because a creator paid before the work has nothing left to gain from finishing it.

Gifted product that never turns into a post is the classic version of this problem, and our guide on what to do when an influencer never posted covers it.

If a creator quotes more than the post can earn back, work out the break-even number before you reply, as our guide to an influencer who charges more than you can afford explains.

On Affilitrak, a video-only gig is paid on your approval, and a video left unreviewed for 72 hours is approved automatically, so review promptly.

5. Put the videos to work

A creator video is an asset, so use it well beyond the post: on product pages, in ads and in your email.

On Affilitrak the rights are perpetual and cover your ads and your own channels, including your website, and you may edit the video within reason, including cropping, captions, music, a logo or combined clips.

They do not cover your affiliates' personal accounts, so show the videos to affiliates as examples rather than hand them over to repost.

Our guides cover how to add influencer videos to your product pages and how to use UGC inside your affiliate program.

6. Track each creator separately

Give every creator their own discount code in the brief, so you can see whose audience buys.

Gig creators do not get an affiliate link, so on a gig that includes a post, that code is how you measure the result.

Look at the orders on each code after 30 days, which matches how long a gig post has to stay up, and judge creators on orders rather than views.

Our guide on whether a creator's audience buys sets out the full method.

7. Turn the creators who sell into affiliates

Invite the creators whose codes moved orders into your affiliate program, so they earn commission on every sale from then on.

Once a creator is your approved affiliate, they can no longer take your gigs, so invite them when you have the videos you need from them.

Our guide on how to turn UGC creators into affiliates covers the invitation, and our guides on choosing a commission rate and what to send an affiliate in their first week cover the rest.

FAQ

Is Shopify Collabs free?

It is free to install, and its App Store listing says a 2.9% commission processing fee on automatic payments may apply. You also pay for the products you gift and the commission you offer.

What is the difference between a creator program and an affiliate program?

An affiliate program pays commission on sales and nothing else. A creator program can also pay for content and posts, and usually moves its best creators onto commission later.

Do creators need a lot of followers?

Not for content, because the video is what you buy, not their reach. On Affilitrak, followers only matter for gigs that include a post, which need at least 1k on the creator's main account.

Conclusion

A creator program is two programs run in order: pay for content to learn who is good, then pay commission to the creators who sell.

Open one gig for a batch of ten before you set a commission rate, because the results tell you who deserves one.

Affilitrak handles both in one app, with published gig prices and a free affiliate program.

You can install Affilitrak free and open your first gig today.