Compared on public facts

Aspire vs Refersion

Updated Nov 7, 2026

HourlyUGC is our product. Every fact links to its source. Methodology.

Aspire and Refersion both list commission on sales, flat amount per order and bonuses. Aspire also lists pay per video, product seeding and ads launched from the platform, which Refersion does not list publicly.

7 facts known on both sides. "Not listed publicly" means we did not find it on their public pages on Nov 7, 2026; it does not mean they lack it.

Why brands pick HourlyUGC over Aspire and Refersion

HourlyUGC lists 7 ways to pay creators on its public pages: hourly sessions, pay per video, commission on sales, flat amount per order, share of ad spend, pay per 1,000 views and product seeding. A brand can combine them in one campaign. 1 2 3
Aspire lists pay per video, commission on sales, flat amount per order, bonuses and product seeding publicly. HourlyUGC also lists hourly sessions, share of ad spend and pay per 1,000 views, which Aspire does not list publicly (checked Nov 7, 2026; not listing is not the same as not offering). Aspire lists bonuses, which HourlyUGC does not list publicly. 1 2
Refersion lists commission on sales, flat amount per order and bonuses publicly. HourlyUGC also lists hourly sessions, pay per video, share of ad spend, pay per 1,000 views and product seeding, which Refersion does not list publicly (checked Nov 7, 2026; not listing is not the same as not offering). Refersion lists bonuses, which HourlyUGC does not list publicly. 1
Meta Partnership Ads with the creators' videos, launched from inside HourlyUGC: the ad goes out from the creator's handle with the brand's budget. Refersion does not list this publicly. 1 2
Who counts the sale: Counted either by the ad platform (Meta) or by HourlyUGC: a connected Shopify store or the Hourly Pixel, last touch within 7 days, with creator links and codes. 1 2 3

Start a campaign on HourlyUGCFacts checked Nov 7, 2026. HourlyUGC is held to the same sourcing rule as every other platform here.

Which pay models each one lists

Side by side

Pay model	Aspire	Refersion
Hourly sessions	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
Pay per video	Paid collaborations and UGC programs with a negotiated fee per deliverable; creators set their own rates on their profile. Per-video pricing is not itemised publicly. 1 2	Not listed publicly
Commission on sales	Commission structures per creator: flat, percentage or tiered, tracked through affiliate links and promo codes. 1 2	Percent-of-sale commissions, including lifetime commissions on subscriptions, product-level (SKU) rates, and new-versus-returning customer rates. 1
Flat amount per order	A flat commission amount per conversion is one of the three commission structures listed (flat, percentage, tiered). 1	Flat-rate commissions per sale are an offer type, alongside percentage, SKU-specific, subscription and multi-level offers. 1 2
Share of ad spend	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
Pay per 1,000 views	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
Retainers	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
Bonuses	Tiered incentives that open up as creators hit conversion targets (example on the page: a free product after 50 conversions). 1	Sign-on bonuses and tiered, incentive-based commission rates; flat-fee or bonus rewards on enterprise plans. 1 2
Product seeding	Gifting and seeding programs; creators pick from a curated catalog or receive products, fulfilled through the Shopify integration. 1 2	Not listed publicly
Ads launched from the platform	CreatorAds suite: request ad rights, publish to Meta or save a draft for Ads Manager, review in an ads dashboard. Meta only; included in the subscription; ad-rights fees are negotiated with the creator separately. 1 2	Not listed publicly
Money and tracking	Aspire	Refersion
How sales are attributed	Unique tracking links per creator and campaign, promo codes tied to creator performance, and shoppable Shopify storefronts. Commission payouts are sent from Reporting > Sales Tracking. No attribution window is published. 1 2	First-party, cookieless tracking links on the merchant's own domain with no redirects; coupon codes, customer email (for lifetime commissions) and SKU rules on top. Last-touch: the last affiliate link clicked gets credit. Attribution window defaults to 90 days for link conversions (customizable on Growth and Scale); code, email and SKU conversions are not subject to the window. 1 2
Platform fee	Not published. Brands pay a payment processing fee on each creator payment (amounts on a separate fees page, not listed). Creators receive 100 % of the agreed amount with no PayPal fee; the platform is free for creators. 1 2	Launch: +3 % of affiliate-driven sales; Growth: +2 %; Scale: a flat subscription with no stated percentage. The fee is charged on affiliate-driven sales only, billed monthly. 1
Brand pricing	Not published; sales-led. The /pricing and /plans pages lead to a demo form. The Shopify App Store listing says free to install, with external charges billed by Aspire separately. 1 2	Marketplace Listing: free (listing only). Launch: $39/month, or $29/month billed annually, plus 3 % of affiliate-driven sales. Growth: $199/month, or $159/month annually, plus 2 %. Scale: custom flat subscription. Paid plans include unlimited clicks and conversions. No free trial is mentioned. 1
Creator payout	PayPal only. After the brand submits a payment, Aspire's accounting team sends the funds within 7 business days; payments are USD only and PayPal converts for international creators. Creators without a PayPal email on file are reminded every two weeks. PayPal issues 1099-K forms where thresholds apply. 1 2	Payouts on approved conversions, monthly or on a schedule the merchant sets, automatic or manual. Methods: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, ACH or bank transfer, Shopify gift cards, Trolley ('Restrictions apply'). 1099 forms for eligible U.S. affiliates. Minimums and currencies are not published. 1 2
Regions	No country list is published. Payouts are in USD only, converted by PayPal for international creators; the home page shows United States and LA-based creator filters. 1 2	Not listed publicly
Scale they publish	They say: They say: trusted by 800+ brands, $52M+ in affiliate sales driven, 300K creators activated, $100M+ in influencer payouts (home page); $80M paid out to creators in the last 12 months (creator page). 1 2	Not listed publicly

What the facts say

Where they overlap

Commission on sales
Flat amount per order
Bonuses

Aspire lists, Refersion does not

Pay per video: Paid collaborations and UGC programs with a negotiated fee per deliverable; creators set their own rates on their profile. Per-video pricing is not itemised publicly.
Product seeding: Gifting and seeding programs; creators pick from a curated catalog or receive products, fulfilled through the Shopify integration.
Ads launched from the platform: CreatorAds suite: request ad rights, publish to Meta or save a draft for Ads Manager, review in an ads dashboard. Meta only; included in the subscription; ad-rights fees are negotiated with the creator separately.

Checked Nov 7, 2026

Refersion lists, Aspire does not

Nothing in the models we track.

Checked Nov 7, 2026

Which brand each one fits

From the models each lists, nothing else.

Aspire

brands that can attribute sales and want to pay on orders
brands that budget per approved video
brands that ship product to creators
brands running longer creator programs with retainers or bonuses

Refersion

brands that can attribute sales and want to pay on orders
brands running longer creator programs with retainers or bonuses

Questions people ask

What do Aspire and Refersion have in common?

Both list commission on sales, flat amount per order and bonuses on their public pages (checked Nov 7, 2026).

What does Aspire list that Refersion does not?

Aspire lists pay per video, product seeding and ads launched from the platform. Refersion does not list them publicly; that is not the same as not offering them.

What does Refersion list that Aspire does not?

Nothing in the pay models we track.

Where do these facts come from?

From each platform's public pages, linked next to every fact with the date we checked. A fact without a public source is not shown.

Sources

Each fact above links to one of these. Checked Nov 7, 2026.

Aspire: Aspire creator page · aspire.io, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “paid collaborations”
Aspire: Aspire home page · aspire.io, checked Nov 7, 2026
Refersion: Refersion pricing page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “% of Sale or Subscription commissions”
Refersion: Refersion home page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
Refersion: Refersion platform page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “flat-fee or bonus rewards for enterprise plans”
Aspire: Aspire on the Shopify App Store · apps.shopify.com, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “Select & send products to your creators”
Aspire: Aspire help center, CreatorAds FAQ · help.aspireiq.com, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “Currently, CreatorAds supports Meta ads. TikTok Ads support is coming soon.”
Aspire: Aspire CreatorAds suite · aspire.io, checked Nov 7, 2026
Aspire: Aspire help center, how payments work · help.aspireiq.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
Refersion: Refersion help center, what is the attribution window · support.refersion.com, checked Jul 22, 2026 · “Refersion does not technically rely on browser cookies for link tracking”
Aspire: Aspire plans page (demo form) · aspire.io, checked Nov 7, 2026
Refersion: Refersion, unified payments page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026