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Refersion Alternatives: 5 Shopify Affiliate Apps (2026)
Refersion charges a monthly fee plus a share of every affiliate sale. Here are five Shopify alternatives, what each costs at the same revenue, and when Refersion is still the right pick.
Published on October 23, 2026
by Fawaz
Refersion Alternatives: 5 Shopify Affiliate Apps (2026)
The best Refersion alternatives for a Shopify store are Affilitrak if you want to stop paying a share of your affiliate sales, GoAffPro if you want a low flat fee, and UpPromote if you want a long-established app with a free tier.
Refersion charges $39 to $199 a month plus 2% to 3% of affiliate-driven sales on its self-serve plans, so the bill grows every time your affiliates sell more, which is the pattern our breakdown of what affiliate apps really cost walks through.
That makes the right alternative a question of how much your affiliates sell, and which Refersion features you actually use.
I've talked to a bunch of merchants on pricing and the percentage fee is the easiest part to underestimate, because it is small on day one and large by the time the program works.
The five below are all apps a Shopify brand would install, chosen from the wider field covered in our guide to the best affiliate apps for Shopify.
Why merchants look for a Refersion alternative
- The percentage fee grows with your program: Launch adds 3% of affiliate-driven sales and Growth adds 2%, on top of the monthly fee. A program that doubles its affiliate sales doubles that part of the bill.
- Key features sit behind Growth: advanced commission options, tracking by product and customer email, API access, 30+ marketing integrations, chat support and multi-store management are listed on Growth. That plan costs $199 a month on monthly billing.
- The free plan cannot run a program: the free Marketplace Listing lets affiliates find you and apply. Refersion's own FAQ says you need a paid plan to review affiliates, track referrals, manage commissions or issue payouts.
Refersion pricing at a glance
- Marketplace Listing: free, and affiliates can view your listing and apply, but it does not track, pay or manage them.
- Launch: $39 a month on monthly billing, or $348 a year, plus 3% of affiliate-driven sales, with unlimited affiliates and one-click payouts that include PayPal.
- Growth: $199 a month on monthly billing, or $1,908 a year, plus 2% of affiliate-driven sales.
- Scale: custom pricing for brands doing more than $1 million GMV a year, which Refersion describes as a flat monthly subscription.
Annual billing works out at $29 and $159 a month, which is the figure on Refersion's pricing page, while the monthly figures above are what you pay without a yearly commitment.
The 5 best Refersion alternatives for Shopify
1. Affilitrak
Pricing: free, with no monthly fee and no cut of sales from affiliates you recruit yourself. If an affiliate finds you through the Affilitrak marketplace, Affilitrak takes 20% of the commission you pay them.
Best for: Shopify brands that would rather not pay a percentage of their affiliate sales, and brands that work with creators.
Where it beats Refersion: no percentage fee on your own affiliates, tracking by link and coupon code, including discount links that apply the code automatically, automatic PayPal payouts on your schedule, a marketplace where affiliates apply to you, and paid creator content in the same app at $150 for a UGC video, or $225 to $400 for a video plus post depending on the creator's followers.
Where Refersion is stronger: API access, 30+ marketing integrations and multi-store management on Growth. Affilitrak pays out automatically through PayPal, and you can log payments you make outside the app.
Affilitrak has 5.0 stars from 268 reviews on the Shopify App Store, where it carries the Built for Shopify badge.
2. UpPromote
Pricing: free up to $3,000 a month in referral sales, then Growth at $29.99 a month plus 2%, Professional at $89.99 plus 1.5%, and Enterprise at $199.99 plus 1%, per UpPromote's pricing page.
Best for: merchants who want a long-established Shopify affiliate app and are comfortable with a lower percentage fee.
Where it beats Refersion: a free tier that runs a real program, and a lower monthly fee at each level.
Where Refersion is stronger: no referral-sales cap to watch, because Refersion's paid plans have no revenue limit.
If you are weighing UpPromote as well, our guide to UpPromote alternatives compares it with the rest of the field.
3. GoAffPro
Pricing: a free Hobby plan for stores with fewer than 100 daily orders, then Premium at $49 a month and Business from $99, all flat with no percentage fee, per GoAffPro's pricing page.
Best for: budget-conscious stores that want a generous free plan.
Where it beats Refersion: no percentage fee on any plan, and a free plan with "unlimited affiliates", "unlimited sales" and a "basic affiliate portal".
Where Refersion is stronger: a marketplace and affiliate discovery, which GoAffPro's pricing page does not list.
4. Shopify Collabs
Pricing: free to install, and its Shopify Collabs App Store listing says a 2.9% commission processing fee on automatic payments may apply.
Best for: brands that want creator gifting and commissions inside Shopify, with nothing extra to install.
Where it beats Refersion: it is Shopify's own app, and its listing describes sending gifts to creators through Shopify.
Where Refersion is stronger: more tracking options, including tracking by product and customer email on Growth.
5. Social Snowball
Pricing: Snow Day at $249 a month plus 3% of affiliate revenue, or Blizzard starting at $899 a month with no usage charges, per the Social Snowball App Store listing. The listing says Blizzard is set up as a custom plan after you install.
Best for: larger DTC brands built on customer referrals and creators.
Where it beats Refersion: a flat-fee option at the top tier.
Where Refersion is stronger: a lower entry price, at $39 against $249 a month on monthly billing.
What each alternative costs at $10,000 a month in affiliate sales
Percentage fees and flat fees only become comparable at a fixed revenue, so here is every app priced at the same number.
| App and plan | Monthly app cost (USD) |
|---|---|
| Social Snowball Snow Day | 549 |
| Refersion Growth | 399 |
| Refersion Launch | 339 |
| UpPromote Growth | 229.99 |
| GoAffPro Hobby | 0 |
| Affilitrak | 0 |
Affiliate commissions are left out, because they are the same whichever app you choose.
On Affilitrak, the one extra cost is the 20% fee on commissions paid to affiliates who found you through the marketplace, so the $0 holds for every affiliate you recruit yourself.
BixGrow and Shopify Collabs are left out of the chart, because their cost at this revenue depends on order counts and commission payments a single example cannot fix.
When Refersion is still the right choice
- You need an API or a large set of integrations: API access and 30+ marketing integrations are on Growth.
- You run several stores: multi-store management is on Growth as well.
- You are above $1 million GMV and want a flat fee: Refersion's Scale plan is a custom flat monthly subscription.
I would stay on Refersion if two of those three describe you, and switch if none of them do.
Refersion also has 4.8 stars from 495 reviews on the Shopify App Store, so the case for leaving is about cost and fit rather than quality.
How to switch from Refersion without losing your affiliates
- Export your affiliate list and their codes first: so nobody loses their link or their earnings history in the move.
- Keep the same discount codes where you can: your affiliates have already shared them with their audiences.
- Tell affiliates before the switch: send one email with the date, the new dashboard and what stays the same.
- Pay out pending commissions on Refersion: do it before you cancel, so the switch never costs an affiliate money.
FAQ
Is there a free alternative to Refersion?
Yes. Affilitrak's affiliate app is free and takes nothing from sales by affiliates you bring in yourself, and GoAffPro and UpPromote both have free plans with limits.
Does Refersion take a percentage of sales?
Yes, on Launch and Growth. It takes 3% and 2% of affiliate-driven sales respectively, on top of the monthly fee.
What is the cheapest Refersion alternative for Shopify?
Affilitrak, and GoAffPro's Hobby plan within its order limit, both cost nothing to run. Affilitrak takes a 20% fee only on commissions to affiliates who find you through its marketplace.
Conclusion
Refersion's real cost is the percentage it takes of every affiliate sale, so the right alternative depends on your affiliate revenue and the Refersion features you rely on.
Before you decide, work out what that percentage costs you at your current affiliate revenue, then compare it with the chart above.
You can install Affilitrak free and stop paying a percentage on every sale your own affiliates make.