Compared on public facts

GRIN vs Refersion

Updated Nov 7, 2026

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

GRIN and Refersion both list commission on sales. GRIN also lists pay per video and product seeding, which Refersion does not list publicly. Refersion lists flat amount per order and bonuses, which GRIN does not list publicly.

5 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 GRIN 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
GRIN lists pay per video, commission on sales and product seeding publicly. HourlyUGC also lists hourly sessions, flat amount per order, share of ad spend and pay per 1,000 views, which GRIN does not list publicly (checked Nov 7, 2026; not listing is not the same as not offering). 1 2 3
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. GRIN and Refersion do 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	GRIN	Refersion
Hourly sessions	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
Pay per video	Paid and UGC programs with a flat creator fee set per program, marked fixed or negotiable; terms lock at acceptance. Per-video pricing is not itemised publicly. 1	Not listed publicly
Commission on sales	Affiliate programs with links, codes and commissions; commissions are paid from the brand's funded wallet and tracked in a commissions ledger. 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	Not listed publicly	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	Not listed publicly	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 on every plan, with monthly gift limits by plan; a gift counts when its $0 order or shipment is created in GRIN. Gifting-only campaigns need no wallet deposit. 1 2	Not listed publicly
Ads launched from the platform	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
Money and tracking	GRIN	Refersion
How sales are attributed	Affiliate links and discount codes. Shopify connects in one click; custom or headless stores send signed order webhooks through the API naming the creator who drove each sale, on every plan including Free. No attribution window is published. 1	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	A management fee is added on top of every wallet deposit: 20 % on Free, 10 % on Starter, 7 % on Growth, 5 % on Scale, custom on Enterprise. Charged at funding; not refunded if unspent funds are withdrawn. Card deposits may carry a processing fee; ACH is the lowest-cost option. GRIN says it takes nothing from what creators earn. 1	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	Free $0/month (2 live campaigns, 10 gifts in total, 20 % fee); Starter $200/month (10 % fee, 100 gifts/month, 30-day free trial); Growth $500/month (7 %, 300 gifts/month, multiple brands); Scale $1,500/month (5 %, 1,000 gifts/month); Enterprise custom with annual agreement. Prices monthly in USD. Paid and affiliate campaigns need at least $250 in the wallet before going live. 1	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	Creator fees are held in escrow in the brand's wallet until payout. The pricing page says payouts go through Stripe with tax handling; the help center article for non-U.S. creators (6 Aug 2026) says payments are sent as a bank transfer processed through Trolley after a W-8BEN is on file, with 24 % withholding without a verified foreign tax ID. Unclaimed payments expire after 30 days and return to the brand's creator fund. No payout schedule is published. 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. Prices are in USD; reporting and payouts are described as correct in any currency; non-U.S. creators are paid by bank transfer after a W-8BEN. 1 2	Not listed publicly
Scale they publish	They say: They say: $1.2B+ in creator-driven GMV, 5,000 brands since 2017, 700K+ creators supported, $215M+ earned by creators. 1	Not listed publicly

What the facts say

Where they overlap

Commission on sales

GRIN lists, Refersion does not

Pay per video: Paid and UGC programs with a flat creator fee set per program, marked fixed or negotiable; terms lock at acceptance. Per-video pricing is not itemised publicly.
Product seeding: Gifting and seeding programs on every plan, with monthly gift limits by plan; a gift counts when its $0 order or shipment is created in GRIN. Gifting-only campaigns need no wallet deposit.

Checked Nov 7, 2026

Refersion lists, GRIN does not

Flat amount per order: Flat-rate commissions per sale are an offer type, alongside percentage, SKU-specific, subscription and multi-level offers.
Bonuses: Sign-on bonuses and tiered, incentive-based commission rates; flat-fee or bonus rewards on enterprise plans.

Checked Nov 7, 2026

Which brand each one fits

From the models each lists, nothing else.

GRIN

brands that can attribute sales and want to pay on orders
brands that budget per approved video
brands that ship product to creators

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 GRIN and Refersion have in common?

Both list commission on sales on their public pages (checked Nov 7, 2026).

What does GRIN list that Refersion does not?

GRIN lists pay per video and product seeding. Refersion does not list them publicly; that is not the same as not offering them.

What does Refersion list that GRIN does not?

Refersion lists flat amount per order and bonuses. GRIN does not list them publicly.

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.

GRIN: GRIN platform page · grin.co, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “When a program includes a paid fee, GRIN automatically requires the terms”
GRIN: GRIN home page · grin.co, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “Affiliate links, codes and commissions”
GRIN: GRIN pricing page · grin.co, 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”
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”
GRIN: GRIN help center, setting up payouts as a non-U.S. resident · intercom.help, checked Aug 6, 2026 · “processed through Trolley”
Refersion: Refersion, unified payments page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026