ViralPayouts vs Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave)
ViralPayouts has no monthly fee, pays your affiliates for you and pays recruiters on every program. You pay 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3%, and nothing in a month when nobody sells. Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave) also pays affiliates for you and does not say it has two-tier recruiting. It costs $59 to $199 a month + 1% to 2.5% of transactions.
Every figure for Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave) comes from its own pages or named review sites, checked 12 October 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom.
Why brands pick ViralPayouts over Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave)
Best fit: A brand (Shopify or not) that wants affiliates paid for it, partners recruiting partners, and no monthly subscription.
- $0 a month
No plan and no setup fee. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
- Payouts done for you
One invoice per program. ViralPayouts sends every partner and recruiter their money and collects tax forms.
- Recruiters built in
Customer links and recruit links on every program, with the override set your way and reversed on refunds.
Side by side
| Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave) | ViralPayouts | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $59 to $199 a month + 1% to 2.5% of transactionsTerm: None; cancel anytime | $0 a month. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month. |
| Setup fee | None ("No setup fees. No contracts.") | None |
| Fee for paying affiliates | Not stated | Included in the fee above: no charge to the brand for sending payoutsPartners pay Whop's own fee when they withdraw to their bank |
| Pays your affiliates for you | Yes | Yes You fund by bank transfer; we pay every partner |
| Two-tier recruiting | Not stated | Yes Two levels on every program: share of commission, share of sale or fixed. Paid on approved sales, never sign-ups |
| Public program directory | No | Yes Partners browse and join with one account |
| Tracking | Personal referral links generated post-purchase; Personalized discount links; Shopify thank-you page / post-purchase widget; Bulk link generation, collection links, email tracking (Shopify listing tags) | First-party links with click IDs, signed server-to-server events, Stripe Checkout webhook |
| Coupon tracking | Yes | Yes A code per partner, per program |
| Mobile app tracking | Not stated | App installs, sign-ups and purchases reported from your server through the signed event API, with bounties on them. No SDK to ship in your app. |
| API, webhooks, MCP | Not stated | REST API for brands and partners with an OpenAPI spec, an MCP server for AI agents, a signed event API and partner postbacks |
| Integrations | Shopify, Klaviyo, Slack, Zapier, Stay.ai | Stripe Checkout, Shopify orders, any backend via the event API |
Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave) plans in full
- Premium: $59 a month, plus 2.5% of transactions. 2 reward programs; automated payouts; fraud management; 30-day free trial
- Plus: $199 a month, plus 1% of transactions. Unlimited reward programs and sign-up links; free gift rewards; 14-day free trial on Shopify listing
Where ViralPayouts comes out ahead of Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave)
What Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave) offers
US Shopify DTC brands that want to turn existing customers into cash-paid referrers and affiliates from the post-purchase page, with payouts handled for them.
Affiliate software for e-commerce
Why ViralPayouts is the better choice
- No monthly fee vs $59-$199/month plus 1-2.5% of referred sales
- Two-level recruiting built in; Rave's site does not describe sub-affiliate commissions
- Public directory of programs with one partner account
- Works beyond Shopify via Stripe Checkout webhook and server-to-server API; MCP server
What Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave) users say
Paraphrased from public reviews. Follow each link to read the original.
Praise
- Personal human support rep through onboarding; saving money after switching from old program (Strikeman, Jul 2025). apps.shopify.com
- Turned hundreds of customers into affiliates with no work; customers create their own discount links and get paid (Magic Pop Mic, Dec 2023). apps.shopify.com
- 15% customer share rate; low-risk because Rave only earns on affiliate sales (BootySprout, Dec 2023). apps.shopify.com
- Auto-cash payout structure let them scale influencer/ambassador programs; setup took minutes (Mindhoney, Nov 2023). apps.shopify.com
Complaints
- No negative Shopify reviews found (all 14 are 5 stars); cost is subscription plus 1-2.5% of referred sales. apps.shopify.com
About Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave)
- In their words:
- "Turn happy customers into your best-performing sales channel."
- Company:
- Founded Shopify app launched 26 May 2023 · 311 Broadway, New York, NY, US (Shopify developer address) · The Rave Technologies Ltd
- Named customers:
- Halfday ($M+ new revenue from referrals; ~10% of orders from referrals, per Rave), Magic Pop Mic, BootySprout, The J.L. Glove Company, Mindhoney, Toast! Supplements (Shopify reviewers)
- Website:
- therave.co
Try ViralPayouts on test money
Set your commission and recruiter override, see what each sale costs you, and run it on the test network before a real partner joins. No monthly fee.
Sources for Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave) (7), checked 12 October 2026
Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave) is a trademark of its owner. ViralPayouts is not affiliated with Rave: Referral, Affiliate, UGC (The Rave). Prices and features change: check therave.co before you decide. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.