Compared on public facts

Refersion vs SideShift

Updated Nov 7, 2026

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

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

6 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 Refersion 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
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
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. 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	Refersion	SideShift
Hourly sessions	Not listed publicly	Not listed publicly
Pay per video	Not listed publicly	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	Percent-of-sale commissions, including lifetime commissions on subscriptions, product-level (SKU) rates, and new-versus-returning customer rates. 1	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	Flat-rate commissions per sale are an offer type, alongside percentage, SKU-specific, subscription and multi-level offers. 1 2	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	Sign-on bonuses and tiered, incentive-based commission rates; flat-fee or bonus rewards on enterprise plans. 1 2	Performance bonuses set by the brand, typically tied to views. 1
Product seeding	Not listed publicly	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	Refersion	SideShift
How sales are attributed	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	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	Not listed publicly	Creators based in the US, Canada, UK and Australia; they say more countries are coming. 1
Scale they publish	Not listed publicly	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

Commission on sales
Bonuses

Refersion lists, SideShift does not

Flat amount per order: Flat-rate commissions per sale are an offer type, alongside percentage, SKU-specific, subscription and multi-level offers.

Checked Nov 7, 2026

SideShift lists, Refersion does not

Pay per video: 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.
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.
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.

Refersion

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

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 Refersion and SideShift have in common?

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

What does Refersion list that SideShift does not?

Refersion lists flat amount per order. SideShift does not list it publicly; that is not the same as not offering it.

What does SideShift list that Refersion does not?

SideShift lists pay per video, pay per 1,000 views, retainers and ads launched from the platform. Refersion 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.

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”
Refersion: Refersion pricing page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “% of Sale or Subscription commissions”
SideShift: sideshift.app: Affiliate Marketing use case, read 2026-11-07 · sideshift.app, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “Sales measured in your affiliate reporting”
Refersion: Refersion home page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026
SideShift: sideshift.app: For creators FAQ, read 2026-11-07 · sideshift.app, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “performance bonuses ($1–$4 per 1,000 views)”
Refersion: Refersion platform page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026 · “flat-fee or bonus rewards for enterprise plans”
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.”
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”
Refersion: Refersion, unified payments page · refersion.com, checked Nov 7, 2026