Social Snowball vs UpPromote
We give Social Snowball a 1.8 GPA and UpPromote a 2.6, out of 4.0. UpPromote grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Social Snowball
Affiliate, influencer and referral programs for Shopify DTC brands
UpPromote
Affiliate, influencer and referral programs for Shopify stores
How we grade them
| 1.8GPASocial SnowballWeak | 2.6GPAUpPromoteGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DGraded on $5,000 a month of affiliate sales: Snow Day is $249 plus 3% of that revenue ($150), so $399 a month, with no yearly price. That's in this category's dearest tenth. Blizzard drops the usage charge but starts at $899 a month. | CFree stops at $3,000 of referral sales a month, so a store at $5,000 needs Growth: $24.99 a month on yearly billing plus 2% of sales ($100), $124.99 a month in all. That's on the dear side of this category, where several tools take no cut at all. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing free on record: no free plan, and no trial on its Shopify App Store listing. | BA free plan with link and coupon tracking, analytics, fraud detection and manual payouts, and no fee on sales, up to $3,000 of referral sales a month. A new store could live on it a good while; one at $5,000 a month is past it. |
| Features | BSign-up straight after checkout, Safelinks that make a single-use code per shopper, influencer pages, product seeding, cash, gift card or credit payouts, fraud checks and tiers. It covers the whole job. TikTok Shop and creator search are on Blizzard only. | BLink and coupon tracking, commissions by product, collection or order value, lifetime and multi-level rates, customer referrals, a marketplace, payouts in store credit, PayPal or Wise, and 1099 forms. Anti-leak codes come on Professional. The whole job. |
| Ease of use | CNo App Store rating on record. Buyers join after checkout with no form to fill in, which helps, but you still set up the programs, tiers and rules that sort them. | CNo rating on record. It installs on Shopify and the free plan gets you going, but there are programs, commission rules and payouts to set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, as a Shopify app, with Klaviyo, TikTok Shop, Instagram, Tremendous, KnoCommerce and Zapier. It names no other store platform, and there's no desktop or phone app, which an A needs. | BWeb, built for Shopify, with PayPal, Wise, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend, Recharge and Appstle. The API and MCP start on Professional. No desktop or phone app, so B is the ceiling. |
| Best for | turning Shopify shoppers into affiliates | Shopify affiliate programs that start free |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Social Snowball and UpPromote. How we grade
Price against what you get
Social Snowball starts at $249 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. UpPromote starts at $24.99 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and UpPromote starts $224.01 a month lower. Of the other affiliate and referral tools on the chart, none scores higher than Social Snowball for less, and none scores higher than UpPromote for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Social Snowball starts at $249 per month. UpPromote starts at $24.99 per month, billed annually ($29.99 billed monthly).
- UpPromote has a free plan. Social Snowball does not.
At a glance
| Social Snowball | UpPromote | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $249 per month | $24.99 per month, billed annually ($29.99 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | One affiliate program with link and coupon tracking, analytics, fraud detection and manual payouts, reviewing up to $3,000 of referral sales a month. No performance fee. |
| Free trial | None listed | 14-day free trial on Growth, Professional and Enterprise |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Social Snowball | UpPromote |
| Price read from | apps.shopify.com | uppromote.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Social Snowball
- Shopify DTC brands turning buyers into affiliates after checkout
- Stores whose influencer discount codes keep leaking to coupon sites
- Brands paying creators in gift cards or store credit as well as cash
UpPromote
- Shopify stores starting an affiliate or ambassador program for free
- Brands paying affiliates in store credit instead of cash
- Stores fighting coupon-code leaks from influencer codes
Worth knowing
Social Snowball
- Snow Day adds 3% of affiliate revenue to its $249 monthly fee; Blizzard starts at $899 a month as a custom plan with no usage charges.
- It runs as a Shopify app; no other store platform is named on its listing or site.
- TikTok Shop, creator search, social listening and a dedicated CSM are on Blizzard only.
- Its website publishes no pricing page; the prices are the ones on its Shopify App Store listing.
UpPromote
- Paid plans add a fee of 2%, 1.5% or 1% of successful referral sales to the monthly price, charged monthly.
- It is built for Shopify; pages off Shopify need the third-party tracking integration.
- PayPal auto-payouts, anti-leak discounts, 1099 forms and the API start on Professional; unlimited staff accounts need Enterprise.
- Creator Discovery is a separate add-on starting at $39 a month on any plan.
Key features
Social Snowball
- Post-purchase referrals
- Customers become affiliates right after checkout, without a separate sign-up, and are sorted into programs and tiers by rules you set.
- Safelinks
- An affiliate link that creates a unique single-use discount code for every shopper who clicks it, so codes cannot spread to coupon sites.
- Influencer management
- Branded sign-up pages, email and SMS messages, attribution settings you control, and product seeding that influencers redeem from their dashboard.
- Cash, gift card and credit payouts
- Bulk send cash, gift cards or store credit in two clicks, and let affiliates choose how to redeem earnings from a branded payout portal.
- Creator search and TikTok Shop
- On Blizzard, find and recruit verified creators with AI-powered search and outreach sequences, and run TikTok Shop affiliates beside your store program.
UpPromote
- Link and coupon tracking
- Credit affiliates by link or coupon, with auto-generated coupons, custom affiliate links and anti-leak discount links on higher plans, and third-party tracking for pages not on Shopify.
- Commission rules
- Rates by order value, product or collection, lifetime and subscription commissions, new-customer rates, automatic tiers between programs and multi-level marketing.
- Customer referrals and recruiting
- Turn customers into ambassadors, list your offer in the UpPromote marketplace, and find creators with the Creator Discovery add-on from $39 a month.
- Payouts and tax forms
- Pay as store credit, through PayPal or with Wise bank transfers, schedule automatic payouts, export invoices and generate 1099-NEC forms.
- Affiliate engagement
- A customizable affiliate account in 8 languages, in-app chat, bulk emails, a media gallery for brand assets, and gifts or bonuses.
Plans
Social Snowball
Snow Day$249
per month
Plus 3% of affiliate revenue. Unlimited affiliates, influencer management, post-purchase referrals, automated payouts, fraud and code-leak protection, tiers.
Blizzard$899
per month and up
A custom plan with no usage charges, adding TikTok Shop, creator search and outreach, social listening, UGC, Instagram DM chat and a dedicated CSM.
UpPromote
Free$0
One program, one coupon per affiliate, up to $3,000 of referral sales reviewed a month, manual payouts and 24/7 live chat support.
Growth$24.99
per month, billed annually ($29.99 billed monthly)
Plus 2% of successful referral sales. Unlimited programs, 300 referral orders reviewed a month, customer referrals, marketplace listing and store credit.
Professional$74.99
per month, billed annually ($89.99 billed monthly)
Plus 1.5% of referral sales. 600 referrals a month, anti-leak discounts, PayPal auto-payouts, multi-level commissions, 1099 forms, API and MCP.
Enterprise$166.66
per month, billed annually ($199.99 billed monthly)
Plus 1% of referral sales. Unlimited referral reviews and staff accounts, multi-store sync and coupon code commissions. Shopify Plus pricing is custom.
Ways to pay less
Social Snowball
No public discounts listed.
UpPromote
- Annual discount
Save 17% with yearly billing
Yearly billing saves 17%: Growth is $299.90 a year, Professional $899.90 and Enterprise $1,999.90, against $29.99, $89.99 and $199.99 a month.
