Compared on public facts

GRIN vs SideShift

Updated Nov 7, 2026

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

GRIN and SideShift both list pay per video and commission on sales. GRIN also lists product seeding, which SideShift does not list publicly. SideShift lists pay per 1,000 views, retainers, bonuses and ads launched from the platform, which GRIN does not list publicly.

8 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 SideShift

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
SideShift lists pay per video, commission on sales, pay per 1,000 views, retainers and bonuses publicly. HourlyUGC also lists hourly sessions, flat amount per order, share of ad spend and product seeding, which SideShift does not list publicly (checked Nov 7, 2026; not listing is not the same as not offering). SideShift lists retainers and bonuses, which HourlyUGC does not list publicly. 1 2 3
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	SideShift
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	Payment per post; the brand sets the base fee and creators apply at that rate. They say the median account lands at $7 to $9 a video over the last 90 days. 1 2
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	A creator affiliate program with commission terms in the partner agreement; sales are measured in the brand's own affiliate tracking (links or codes), not inside SideShift. 1
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	Payment per view and view bonuses on top of a base fee; their creator FAQ cites performance bonuses of $1-$4 per 1,000 views. 1 2 3
Retainers	Not listed publicly	A retainer can be the campaign's payment terms, alone or combined with per-post or per-view pay. 1
Bonuses	Not listed publicly	Performance bonuses set by the brand, typically tied to views. 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	Not listed publicly
Ads launched from the platform	Not listed publicly	Partnership ad codes from creators are kept with the creator agreement and usage rights; the brand runs the ads in its own ad account. 1
Money and tracking	GRIN	SideShift
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	Affiliate sales are measured in the brand's own affiliate tracking with links or codes. SideShift reports ROAS and revenue per creator (attributed ad revenue divided by ad spend) and syncs attribution from App Store Connect and Stripe. 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	A software subscription paid by the brand; creator payments are separate and funded by the brand. They say SideShift charges brands, not creators, with small fees on creator bank withdrawals; brands review payment-processing charges when funding the wallet. 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 $299, Growth $499, Scale $999 a month; or $210, $349 and $699 a month billed yearly ($2,520, $4,188, $8,388). 14-day free trial on monthly plans only. Plans differ by creators live at once (15 / 50 / unlimited), job listings (1 / 2 / 3), invites a day (30 / 100 / 500) and tracked videos a month (600 / 2,000 / unlimited); extra invites $0.10 each. Managed service from a $20,000 monthly campaign budget. 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	Creators are paid through SideShift after each campaign, with funds released to a creator wallet within a few days; nothing is paid until the brand approves the work; identity checks before payouts; 1099s handled. 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	Creators based in the US, Canada, UK and Australia; they say more countries are coming. 1
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: trusted by 3,000+ brands; 71,472,850,048 views on live posts created in the 90 days before 8 Sep 2026; $10 million+ paid to creators in the past 30 days (reported 26 Sep 2026); 2,692,829 creator posts tracked in 90 days. 1

What the facts say

Where they overlap

Pay per video
Commission on sales

GRIN lists, SideShift does not

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

SideShift lists, GRIN does not

Pay per 1,000 views: Payment per view and view bonuses on top of a base fee; their creator FAQ cites performance bonuses of $1-$4 per 1,000 views.
Retainers: A retainer can be the campaign's payment terms, alone or combined with per-post or per-view pay.
Bonuses: Performance bonuses set by the brand, typically tied to views.
Ads launched from the platform: Partnership ad codes from creators are kept with the creator agreement and usage rights; the brand runs the ads in its own ad account.

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

SideShift

brands that can attribute sales and want to pay on orders
brands that budget per approved video
brands paying for organic reach per 1,000 views
brands running longer creator programs with retainers or bonuses

Questions people ask

What do GRIN and SideShift have in common?

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

What does GRIN list that SideShift does not?

GRIN lists product seeding. SideShift does not list it publicly; that is not the same as not offering it.

What does SideShift list that GRIN does not?

SideShift lists pay per 1,000 views, retainers, 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”
SideShift: sideshift.app: Creator payments and payouts, read 2026-11-07 · sideshift.app, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “such as a retainer, payment per post, payment per view or a combination”
SideShift: sideshift.app, home FAQ, read 2026-11-07 · sideshift.app, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “the median account lands at $7 to $9 a video”
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
SideShift: sideshift.app: Affiliate Marketing use case, read 2026-11-07 · sideshift.app, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “Sales measured in your affiliate reporting”
SideShift: sideshift.app: For creators FAQ, read 2026-11-07 · sideshift.app, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “performance bonuses ($1–$4 per 1,000 views)”
SideShift: sideshift.app: Plans for brands, FAQ, read 2026-11-07 · sideshift.app, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “set creator fees and any performance bonuses”
SideShift: sideshift.app: Ambassador Marketing use case, read 2026-11-07 · sideshift.app, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “Keep usage rights, creator agreements and partnership ad codes together.”
GRIN: GRIN help center, setting up payouts as a non-U.S. resident · intercom.help, checked Aug 6, 2026 · “processed through Trolley”