Compared on public facts

GRIN vs Roster

Updated Nov 7, 2026

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

GRIN and Roster both list commission on sales and product seeding. GRIN also lists pay per video, which Roster does not list publicly. Roster lists bonuses and ads launched from the platform, which GRIN 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 GRIN and Roster

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
Roster lists commission on sales, bonuses and product seeding publicly. HourlyUGC also lists hourly sessions, pay per video, flat amount per order, share of ad spend and pay per 1,000 views, which Roster does not list publicly (checked Nov 7, 2026; not listing is not the same as not offering). Roster 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 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	GRIN	Roster
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	Commission on each sale; every ambassador gets a unique link and discount code tied to the order. 1 2
Flat amount per order	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
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	Cash Rewards: a flat amount for finished campaigns and milestones, paid with commissions; points and leaderboards show placement only. 1
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	Product gifting for welcome gifts and seeding; ambassadors pick products and orders fulfill through Shopify. Included from the Starter plan. 1 2
Ads launched from the platform	Not listed publicly	Partnership Ads on Meta and Spark Ads on TikTok are part of the Pro plan. 1
Money and tracking	GRIN	Roster
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	Each ambassador's link and discount code are attributed to the order; a sales attribution feature ties posts to revenue. 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	No commission and no transaction fees on referred revenue; a flat monthly price. 1 2
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	Starter, Growth, Pro and Enterprise, each one flat monthly price set by program size; no dollar figures on the page, prices come with a demo. 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	Commissions and cash rewards are paid in one bulk batch through PayPal or Venmo; tax forms (W-9, W-8BEN, 1099) are automated from the Growth plan. 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	They say: They say 1.5M+ referred orders, $250M+ referred revenue and 1.7M+ UGC posts. 1

What the facts say

Where they overlap

Commission on sales
Product seeding

GRIN lists, Roster 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.

Checked Nov 7, 2026

Roster lists, GRIN does not

Bonuses: Cash Rewards: a flat amount for finished campaigns and milestones, paid with commissions; points and leaderboards show placement only.
Ads launched from the platform: Partnership Ads on Meta and Spark Ads on TikTok are part of the Pro plan.

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

Roster

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

Questions people ask

What do GRIN and Roster have in common?

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

What does GRIN list that Roster does not?

GRIN lists pay per video. Roster does not list it publicly; that is not the same as not offering it.

What does Roster list that GRIN does not?

Roster lists bonuses and ads launched from the platform. 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
Roster: getroster.com, home, read 2026-11-07 · getroster.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
Roster: getroster.com: Pricing, read 2026-11-07 · getroster.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
GRIN: GRIN help center, setting up payouts as a non-U.S. resident · intercom.help, checked Aug 6, 2026 · “processed through Trolley”