Affiliate software for e-commerce

ViralPayouts vs GrowthHero

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. With GrowthHero, you pay your affiliates yourself and offers multi-tier commissions. It costs $49 to $199 a month.

Every figure for GrowthHero comes from its own pages or named review sites, checked 12 October 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom.

Why brands pick ViralPayouts over GrowthHero

Best fit: Brands that want a two-level recruit-and-earn program with payouts handled for them and no fixed monthly cost.

$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.

Start a program free

Side by side

	GrowthHero	ViralPayouts
Price	$49 to $199 a monthTerm: Monthly, cancel anytime; annual option	$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	None from GrowthHero: 'Other than the plan price, there are not any additional costs like commission or fees.' PayPal Payouts fees from PayPal would apply to the merchant's own account (not stated by GrowthHero). Note: once the monthly sales cap is exceeded 'we will stop tracking sales for that month'.	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	Novia PayPal (merchant's own account)	Yes You fund by bank transfer; we pay every partner
Two-tier recruiting	YesUp to 10 levels implied: 'your affiliates can recruit up to nine other affiliates' (page examples show 4 levels) levelsNot stated; pricing says all plans have 'Advanced Features'	Yes Two levels on every program: share of commission, share of sale or fixed. Paid on approved sales, never sign-ups
Public program directory	Yes	Yes Partners browse and join with one account
Tracking	Referral/tracking links via GrowthHero pixel script; Discount codes (Shopify; for the GrowthHero App only if integrated with Stripe); Recurring subscription commission tracking	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	Shopify, BigCommerce, Stripe, PayPal Payouts, Pixel script for any website/app	Stripe Checkout, Shopify orders, any backend via the event API

GrowthHero plans in full

Starter: $49 a month. 100 partner sales/mo, 10 fixed-fee payouts/mo, 50 Hunt (recruitment email) credits, 2 admin seats, unlimited programs and partners
Pro: $99 a month. 250 partner sales/mo, 50 fixed-fee payouts/mo, 150 Hunt credits, 2 admin seats
Premium: $199 a month. Unlimited partner sales, 150 fixed-fee payouts/mo, 300 Hunt credits, unlimited seats, API access, featured in marketplace

Pricing source

Where ViralPayouts comes out ahead of GrowthHero

What GrowthHero offers

Shopify, BigCommerce and other online stores (plus apps/SaaS via a pixel script and Stripe) that want one tool for affiliate, influencer and customer-referral programs.

Affiliate software for e-commerce

Why ViralPayouts is the better choice

ViralPayouts actually pays the affiliates (via Whop); GrowthHero leaves payouts to the merchant's PayPal
No monthly fee and no sales caps; GrowthHero charges $49-$199/mo and stops tracking beyond plan limits
Separate customer link and recruit link, signed server-to-server event API and append-only ledger
Fee only when partners are actually paid (10% falling to 3%), so it costs nothing in quiet months

What GrowthHero users say

Paraphrased from public reviews. Follow each link to read the original.

Praise

Merchants repeatedly praise fast, hands-on onboarding and support from named staff; Shopify's AI summary says support even adds features or API endpoints on request. apps.shopify.com
Seen as affordable for running both an affiliate and a referral program in one app. growthhero.io

Complaints

Long-term user (3+ years) said in Nov 2025 that support had virtually disappeared, live chat was removed, the service stopped working on Oct 23 and was unresolved, calling the app 'abandoned'. apps.shopify.com
App was broken on install and took nearly a week to fix (Feb 2024). apps.shopify.com

About GrowthHero

In their words:: "Top-Rated Partner Marketing Software - GrowthHero.io" (title); H1 "Powerful 3-in-1 Partner Marketing Software"
Company:: Founded Shopify app launched August 15, 2019 (Shopify App Store listing); company founding date not stated · 8271 NW 125th Ln, Parkland, FL 33076, US (developer address on Shopify App Store) · Shark Byte, Inc. (named in Terms of Service and as Shopify app developer)
Named customers:: PEScience Canada (former user, left a 1-star review), ATTIC Teas (testimonial), Bad Habit Boutique (testimonial)
Website:: growthhero.io

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.

Start a program See pricing

More comparisons

All comparisons

Sources for GrowthHero (11), checked 12 October 2026

GrowthHero is a trademark of its owner. ViralPayouts is not affiliated with GrowthHero. Prices and features change: check growthhero.io before you decide. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.