Only pay when

affiliates make you money

A participant is anyone who either receives a unique referral link (referrer) or signs up through one (referred). We count participants based on unique email addresses. Referral links are generated in real-time only when a logged-in user visits your referral or affiliate portal, signaling their intent to share. Learn more here

Note: Your entire user base does not count as participants—only those who engage with your referral/affiliate program.

A campaign is simply a referral or affiliate program.

A referral program lets you reward users with one-off rewards when they refer new leads and/or new customers (e.g., gift cards, credits, cash, swag).

An affiliate program lets you reward users with recurring commissions when they refer new leads and/or new customers (e.g., cash on each sale).

With referral programs, you can choose what counts as a referral (e.g., a lead must complete several steps to be considered a referral) and offer one-time incentives like gift cards, credits, or cash rewards. With affiliate programs, referrals are counted when they make a purchase for the first time and the incentive to affiliates is recurring revenue share for each sale.

Many teams launch GrowSurf within a day. See How It Works to understand what it takes.

Yes, we provide a 14-day free trial for referral programs (no credit card required). When you sign up, you'll automatically be enrolled into the GrowSurf Business plan so that you have access to all features and integrations. You can also downgrade to the Startup plan during this time. Affiliate programs have access to all paid features and integrations regardless of whether or not you have a paid subscription or trial.

Referral programs: no. Every referral plan is paid and starts with a 14-day free trial, all features included, no credit card required. Affiliate programs: yes. The Free plan is $0/mo, and GrowSurf charges a 3% success fee only on the referral revenue your affiliates bring in.

Referral program pricing is based on participants: the people who receive a referral link or sign up through one, not your whole user base. Startup plans start at $179/mo for up to 2,500 participants, or $125/mo billed yearly. Business plans start at $449/mo for up to 10,000 participants, or $314/mo billed yearly. Affiliate programs cost $0/mo plus a 3% success fee on referral revenue.

See referral program pricing or affiliate program pricing for every tier.

GrowSurf programs can be embedded within your product or user portal, where your signed-in users automatically get a unique share link without needing to sign up. Every program also comes with its own dedicated referral/affiliate portal page that you can share with your advocates and affiliates.

If you ever go over your participant limit, GrowSurf can automatically upgrade you to the next tier, prorated. We'll send you email notifications when you've reached 50%, 90%, and 100% of your participant limit. You can turn off automatic upgrades at any time.

Yes, you can remove participants from your admin dashboard or via API.

GrowSurf provides a flexible range of reward types that includes the following: Double-sided, Single-sided, Milestone, Leaderboard, Commission. These are included in all plans. You can reward based on new leads, customers, or both. Rewards are sent automatically through our integrations, with no code. Learn about how reward automation works.

See reward examples used by GrowSurf customers by visiting our Referral Rewards Library. For even more reward ideas, check out our Referral Program Idea Generator.

Yes. For referral programs, you have total control over what counts as a referral. For example, referrals can be defined as new leads (when you first capture their email address) or only when new leads take a specific action, such as making their first purchase or reaching a certain status in your CRM. You can reward for new leads, new customers, or both. For affiliate programs, referrals are defined as when a referred customer makes a purchase for the first time.

Yes. You can edit all the text GrowSurf shows and translate it into other languages.

Yes, you can always upgrade or downgrade your GrowSurf plan at any time, as long as your new plan's participant limit does not exceed your current usage.

GrowSurf is a self-service platform with no annual contract required to sign up. Paid subscriptions are billed on a monthly or annual basis. You can start on the smallest plan possible, then auto-scale when you hit a participant limit, on a prorated basis. You can always upgrade, downgrade, or cancel your subscription at any time. Affiliate programs do not require any monthly or annual paid subscription and are only charged when you generate referral revenue.

If you're not satisfied with GrowSurf for any reason, you can cancel your plan at any time.

For paid subscriptions, you can request a full refund for your most recent payment by reaching out to GrowSurf support no later than thirty days from the last date of payment. View our full refund policy here. Success fees for affiliate programs are non-refundable.

Yes, for your referral program subscription you can pay yearly by changing your selected plan to a yearly billing option during your free trial period. We offer 30% off on all annual plans.

Yes, GrowSurf is fully compliant with GDPR. See more on our GDPR Portal.

Yes, GrowSurf can collect the right tax form from everyone you pay — W-9 for US payees and W-8 for international ones — through a secure hosted form, and automatically hold payouts until tax info is complete. At year-end, GrowSurf can prepare and file the 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC forms for you.

Depending on your paid subscription plan, we provide email support, live chat, and scheduled calls with our team (useful for implementation and troubleshooting). Our support hours are Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Central Time, excluding US holidays. During business hours, we usually reply within a few hours.