# GrowSurf review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Referral and affiliate program software with developer SDKs Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. GrowSurf runs referral programs that reward customers with gift cards, credits or cash, and affiliate programs that pay partners commissions. Referral plans are priced by the number of participants, while affiliate programs have a free plan with a 3% success fee. It offers a REST API, SDKs for web and mobile, and a large integration list. - **Category:** Affiliate & Referral Software - **Made by:** GrowSurf - **Website:** https://growsurf.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Pricey if your program grows: referral pricing follows participants and steps up from $125 to $314 a month. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, GrowSurf has a free plan, and paid plans start at $125 per month, billed yearly ($179 billed monthly). - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Affiliate programs: a Free plan at $0 a month with a 3% success fee on payments that earn affiliates a commission. Referral programs have no free plan. - **Free trial:** 14-day free trial of referral programs, no credit card. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free (affiliate programs) | $0 | No subscription; 3% of the referral revenue you earn. Stripe, Chargebee, Recurly, PayPal and Wise integrations. | | Startup (referral) | $125 per month for up to 2,500 participants, billed yearly ($179 monthly) | 2 referral programs, 2 team members, fraud protection and API. Tiers reach 5,000 participants. | | Business (referral) | $314 per month for up to 10,000 participants, billed yearly ($449 monthly) | 5 programs, 5 team members, custom domain, multi-language. $649 a month at 25,000 participants, billed monthly. | | Custom | Custom | Above 150,000 participants: onboarding program, volume discounts and priority support. | Read from https://growsurf.com/pricing/referral-programs/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with GrowSurf before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **Save 30% with yearly billing** (Annual discount): The pricing page shows yearly billing as a 30% saving, for example Startup at $125 a month instead of $179. Source: https://growsurf.com/pricing/referral-programs/ ## Key features - **Referral programs:** Reward users with gift cards, credits, cash and other one-time rewards when they refer leads or customers, with dynamic rewards and upfront discounts. - **Affiliate programs:** Pay partners a fixed commission for a lead, or one-time or recurring commissions on sales, tracked through payment integrations. - **Fraud protection:** Automatic blocking of fraudulent referrals using server-side and client-side detection, data center IP checks and IP thresholds. - **Developer tools:** REST API with libraries for TypeScript, Python, PHP, Ruby and Java, SDKs for JavaScript, iOS, Android and React Native, webhooks and an MCP server. - **Tax forms and payouts:** 1099 tax form filing for payouts (filings are charged separately), and reward delivery through PayPal, Wise, Tango Card and Tremendous. - **Wide integrations:** Connects to email, CRM, analytics and ad tools such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Segment and Google Ads. ## Good for - SaaS, consumer and health companies rewarding customer referrals - Product teams that want SDKs for web and mobile apps - Affiliate programs that prefer a success fee to a subscription ## Worth knowing - Referral pricing follows participants, meaning people who get or use a referral link; the price steps up as the program grows. - There is no free referral plan, and Business starts at 10,000 participants. - 1099 tax filings are charged separately, and some integrations such as Marketo and Salesforce need an annual plan. - The affiliate Free plan takes 3% of the referral revenue you earn, with no cap stated on the page. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. GrowSurf runs referral and affiliate programs, with an affiliate plan that costs nothing but a 3% fee on referral revenue. Referral programs have no free plan and start at $125 a month billed yearly for 2,500 participants. The price steps up as participants grow. - **Value for money: C.** Referral Startup is $125 a month billed yearly ($179 monthly), at the start of the dearer quarter. The affiliate plan is a 3% fee instead. - **Free plan and trial: B.** Affiliate programs have a free plan with no subscription and a 3% fee, and referral programs have a 14-day trial with no card. - **Features: B.** Referral and affiliate programs, fraud protection, SDKs, tax forms and payouts. The listing shows no gap in the core work, only pricing add-ons. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You wire up SDKs or integrations and configure the program. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with 8 integrations and an API. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from GrowSurf's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among affiliate and referral tools - GrowSurf's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 39 of the 44 other affiliate and referral tools we grade, and level with 4. - It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 42 of 44) and worst on ease of use (C, above 2). - Its paid plans start at $125 a month, against a middle price of $61.50 for the category: 22 of the 29 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/affiliate-software ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace GrowSurf you would be making payouts to partners in many countries, with their tax forms. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 39 of the 44 other affiliate and referral tools we grade. It costs $1,500 a year. - You could not: Payouts to partners in many countries, with their tax forms. - You could not: Email sent in volume that still reaches the inbox. - You could not: Every click and sale traced back to the right partner. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Stripe, HubSpot and Salesforce among them, and has an API. - You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Stripe, HubSpot, Salesforce, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Segment, Zapier, Chargebee **Tags:** Affiliate tracking, Partner payouts, Public API, AI features, Marketing automation ## Alternatives - [Referral Rock](https://toolgpa.com/tools/referral-rock): Referral program software for businesses with sales and support teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/growsurf-vs-referral-rock) - [ReferralHero](https://toolgpa.com/tools/referralhero): Referral, affiliate, waitlist and contest campaigns with a builder. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/growsurf-vs-referralhero) - [Ambassador](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ambassador): Referral, affiliate and loyalty programs for mid-market and enterprise. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ambassador-vs-growsurf) - [Friendbuy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/friendbuy): Referral, loyalty and influencer programs for consumer brands. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/friendbuy-vs-growsurf) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://growsurf.com/pricing/referral-programs/ - https://growsurf.com/pricing/affiliate-programs/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/growsurf Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).