ViralPayouts vs Cruva (formerly UpTk)
ViralPayouts has no monthly fee, pays your affiliates for you and pays recruiters on every program. You pay 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3%, and nothing in a month when nobody sells. Cruva (formerly UpTk) also pays affiliates for you and does not say it has two-tier recruiting. It costs $0 to $599 a month + 1.5% to 1.5% of payouts.
Every figure for Cruva (formerly UpTk) comes from its own pages or named review sites, checked 12 October 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom.
Why brands pick ViralPayouts over Cruva (formerly UpTk)
Best fit: Brands selling through their own checkout who want partners plus recruiters tracked and paid without a subscription.
- $0 a month
No plan and no setup fee. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
- Payouts done for you
One invoice per program. ViralPayouts sends every partner and recruiter their money and collects tax forms.
- Recruiters built in
Customer links and recruit links on every program, with the override set your way and reversed on refunds.
Side by side
| Cruva (formerly UpTk) | ViralPayouts | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 to $599 a month + 1.5% to 1.5% of payoutsTerm: Monthly, 6-month (10% off) or annual (20% off); Enterprise typically annual; 'most customers start on an annual plan after a paid pilot' | $0 a month. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month. |
| Setup fee | Not stated | None |
| Fee for paying affiliates | 1.5% commission on creator payouts (Shopify app): 'charged when creators are paid for sales attributed to their links and codes' | Included in the fee above: no charge to the brand for sending payoutsPartners pay Whop's own fee when they withdraw to their bank |
| Pays your affiliates for you | Yes | Yes You fund by bank transfer; we pay every partner |
| Two-tier recruiting | Not stated | Yes Two levels on every program: share of commission, share of sale or fixed. Paid on approved sales, never sign-ups |
| Public program directory | Not stated | Yes Partners browse and join with one account |
| Tracking | TikTok Shop affiliate data via official partner integration; Shopify unique referral links; Shopify unique discount codes; Meta ads attribution (share of attributed sales/ad spend) | First-party links with click IDs, signed server-to-server events, Stripe Checkout webhook |
| Coupon tracking | Yes | Yes A code per partner, per program |
| Mobile app tracking | Not stated | App installs, sign-ups and purchases reported from your server through the signed event API, with bounties on them. No SDK to ship in your app. |
| API, webhooks, MCP | API | REST API for brands and partners with an OpenAPI spec, an MCP server for AI agents, a signed event API and partner postbacks |
| Integrations | TikTok Shop (Gold Partner), Shopify, Meta Ads, Amazon (halo reporting), Claude (Enterprise) | Stripe Checkout, Shopify orders, any backend via the event API |
Cruva (formerly UpTk) plans in full
- Basic: $199 a month. Outreach/CRM, 4M+ affiliate database, sample management, 5 concurrent automations
- Scale: $599 a month. AI search, unlimited automations and community, Meta/TikTok ad analytics, up to 7,500 daily outreach
- Enterprise: price not published. Custom; Standard and Enterprise API, Claude integration
- Shopify Creator Program (app): $0 a month, plus 1.5% of payouts. Affiliate links and codes for Shopify store
Where ViralPayouts comes out ahead of Cruva (formerly UpTk)
What Cruva (formerly UpTk) offers
Brands and agencies building TikTok Shop affiliate programs: AI creator search, outreach automation, sample management, private creator communities, plus Meta ads programs and a Shopify creator program that pay creators on attributed sales.
Creator and checkout platform
Why ViralPayouts is the better choice
- No monthly subscription
- Built-in two-level recruiter overrides
- Signed S2S event API and Stripe webhook for any checkout, plus public program directory
- Test network with simulated money
About Cruva (formerly UpTk)
- In their words:
- "Scale your brand with an army of TikTok Shop creators." (H1); title: "Cruva | TikTok Shop Creator Growth, Workflows & Meta Ads"
- Company:
- Founded Mid-2024 (per About page) · Los Angeles, CA (Shopify App Store developer info) · Surgify Inc. (footer copyright)
- Named customers:
- SNOW (306% growth in affiliate GMV, vendor-reported), Bloom Nutrition, Physician's Choice, ILIA, Hand Picked Nursery ($2.8K to $100K+ TikTok Shop revenue in a month, vendor-reported)
- Website:
- cruva.com
Try ViralPayouts on test money
Set your commission and recruiter override, see what each sale costs you, and run it on the test network before a real partner joins. No monthly fee.
Sources for Cruva (formerly UpTk) (9), checked 12 October 2026
Cruva (formerly UpTk) is a trademark of its owner. ViralPayouts is not affiliated with Cruva (formerly UpTk). Prices and features change: check cruva.com before you decide. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.