---
title: "Affiliate App Fees: ReferralCandy 10.5%, GoAffPro 0%"
slug: "shopify-affiliate-app-fees"
url: "https://joy.so/blog/shopify-affiliate-app-fees/"
kind: "post"
author: "Thomas Nguyen"
author_url: "https://joy.so/author/thomas/"
published_at: "2026-10-16T02:00:00.000+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-16T02:00:00.000+00:00"
description: "Total cost at $5,000, $25,000 and $100,000 of monthly affiliate revenue across seven apps and four different pricing shapes."
category: "Shopify apps"
tags: ["Shopify apps", "Comparison", "Program costs"]
reading_time: 12
feature_image: "https://cdn-web.joy.so/cdn/image/2026/10/th-shopify-affiliate-app-fees-458b0b.webp"
---

# Affiliate App Fees: ReferralCandy 10.5%, GoAffPro 0%

At $100,000 a month in affiliate revenue, the software to run that programme costs **$19.99 on** [**BixGrow**](https://apps.shopify.com/bixgrow-affiliate-marketing) and **$10,509 on** [**ReferralCandy**](https://apps.shopify.com/referralcandy)**'s $9 Basic plan**. Both figures come from pricing panels read on 8 October 2026, and neither app is doing anything the other cannot. The 525-fold spread is a question of what the vendor meters.

Four pricing shapes compete in Shopify's affiliate category and they are not comparable by inspection: a percentage of referred sales, a percentage that falls as you buy dearer plans, a flat monthly fee, and [Shopify Collabs](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) at 2.9%, which reads as the second-heaviest number on this page and turns out to be the lightest fee in the category. Hold that last one until the arithmetic is on the table.

## Key takeaways

- At $100,000 a month in affiliate revenue the cheapest paid plan bills $19.99 and the dearest bills $10,509. The features behind those two numbers are closer than the prices.
- ReferralCandy's Basic plan charges 10.5% of referred sales. On a programme paying a 10% commission, the app costs more than the affiliates.
- Three apps have a crossover where the dear plan is the cheap one: [UpPromote](https://apps.shopify.com/affliate-by-secomapp) above $22,000 a month in referred sales, ReferralCandy above $44,000, [Social Snowball](https://apps.shopify.com/social-snowball) above $21,667.
- [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) Collabs' 2.9% applies to each commission payment rather than to the sale. At a 10% commission rate that is 0.29% of referred sales, 36 times lighter than ReferralCandy Basic.
- [GoAffPro](https://apps.shopify.com/goaffpro) and BixGrow charge no percentage at any tier, so a programme that triples in revenue costs what it cost before.
- Four of the six pricing panels read on 8 October 2026 are truncated: the App Store renders at most four plan cards, and each of those four links out.

## The four shapes, and what each percentage multiplies

Every rating, review count and price below was read from each app's live [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) App Store listing on 8 October 2026, and each app name links to its listing.

**Percentage of referred revenue.** Social Snowball's Snow Day plan reads "Starts at $249/m + 3% of affiliate revenue." [UpPromote](https://apps.shopify.com/affliate-by-secomapp) charges 2% on Growth at $29.99, 1.5% on Professional at $89.99 and 1% on Enterprise at $199.99. The base in both cases is the sale.

![UpPromote Affiliate Marketing listing on the Shopify App Store](https://cdn-web.joy.so/cdn/image/2026/10/listing-affliate-by-secomapp-2026-10-08-90aacb.png)

_UpPromote Affiliate Marketing's listing, read 8 October 2026: 4.9 from 3,863 reviews; Growth at $29.99/month, + 2% successful referral sales.._

**A success fee that buys down.** ReferralCandy runs four feature-identical tiers where the only variable is the rate: $9 plus 10.5%, $79 plus 3.5%, $249 plus 1.5%, $799 plus 0.25%. Every card carries the bullet "All features on every plan", so the monthly fee is purely the price of a lower rate.

**A flat monthly fee.** GoAffPro's free plan states unlimited affiliates and unlimited revenue, and Premium is $49 with no percentage at any tier. BixGrow charges $19.99 for unlimited affiliates, programs and orders, rising to $49.99 for automated PayPal payout and API access. Neither app meters revenue.

**A payout processing fee.** Shopify Collabs is free to install, and its charges line reads "+ 2.9% commission processing fee on automatic payments may apply." Shopify quantifies that in [its own guide to paying creators on Collabs](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/collabs/merchants/payments): "There's a 2.9% processing fee applied to every automatic commission payment, which is reflected in your Shopify bill."

The fourth shape is the one merchants misread, because 2.9% reads like 3% and 10.5% while measuring something else.

## Total monthly software cost at three levels of affiliate revenue

Each cell is the cheapest plan that app offers at that volume, priced from the panels read on 8 October 2026. The commission you pay partners is excluded, because it is identical whichever app you buy.

| App | Fee shape | $5,000/mo | $25,000/mo | $100,000/mo |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| BixGrow | Flat | $19.99 | $19.99 | $19.99 |
| GoAffPro | Flat | $0 or $49 | $0 or $49 | $0 or $49 |
| Shopify Collabs | 2.9% of commission paid | $14.50 | $72.50 | $290 |
| UpPromote | 2% / 1.5% / 1% by tier | $129.99 | $449.99 | $1,199.99 |
| ReferralCandy | 10.5% to 0.25% by tier | $254 | $624 | $1,049 |
| Social Snowball | 3%, or flat on Blizzard | $399 | $899 | $899 |
| ReferralCandy Basic | 10.5% | $534 | $2,634 | $10,509 |

The Collabs row assumes a 10% commission rate, because 2.9% of a commission payment depends on the commission. [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs)'s worked example on the page cited above is explicit: "if your affiliate product sale total is $100 USD and commission earned by the creator is 10%, then the 2.9% processing fee will be 29 cents." Double the commission to 20% and the Collabs column doubles to $29, $145 and $580.

ReferralCandy Basic is listed twice on purpose: it is the plan merchants pick on price, and it carries the same features as the $799 plan billing $1,049 at the same volume.

### The same table as an effective rate

Divide each total by the revenue behind it and the spread reads in one column.

| App and plan at $100,000/mo | Effective rate on affiliate revenue |
| --- | --- |
| BixGrow Scale | 0.02% |
| GoAffPro Premium | 0.05% |
| Shopify Collabs at 10% commission | 0.29% |
| Social Snowball Blizzard | 0.90% |
| ReferralCandy Enterprise | 1.05% |
| UpPromote Enterprise | 1.20% |
| ReferralCandy Basic | 10.51% |

Set that last row against your commission rate. **A programme paying 10% commission on ReferralCandy Basic spends more on software than on partners.** Every other row costs between a fiftieth and a tenth of the commission.

## On three apps, the expensive plan is the cheaper plan

A tier that lowers your rate pays for itself at a calculable volume. Three of these apps have one, and nothing in the products announces it.

**UpPromote: $12,000 and $22,000 a month in referred sales.** Growth at $29.99 plus 2% is cheapest below $12,000, Professional at $89.99 plus 1.5% from there to $22,000, Enterprise at $199.99 plus 1% above that. At $100,000 a month Growth bills $2,029.99 against Enterprise's $1,199.99, so the plan costing $170 more saves $830.

**ReferralCandy: $1,000, $8,500 and $44,000 a month in referred sales.** Three adjacent break-evens across four tiers, and the first is the one that bites: the upgrade from Basic to Grow is due at $1,000 a month, a volume most programmes pass in their first quarter.

**Social Snowball: $21,667 a month in affiliate revenue.** Blizzard at $899 flat and Snow Day at $249 plus 3% bill the same amount there. Above it the saving widens by three cents on every additional dollar.

GoAffPro and BixGrow have no crossover because there is nothing to cross. **A flat plan is the only one where succeeding leaves your bill alone.**

## Shopify Collabs charges 2.9% and it is the lightest fee here

Collabs' charges line is the percentage merchants read as expensive, and it sits two steps further down the chain than the others.

Social Snowball's 3% multiplies the sale. [UpPromote](https://apps.shopify.com/affliate-by-secomapp)'s 2% multiplies the sale. ReferralCandy's 10.5% multiplies the sale. Shopify's 2.9% multiplies the commission payment, which is itself a slice of the sale. On a $100 order at a 10% commission those three sale-based fees cost $3, $2 and $10.50. Shopify's costs 29 cents.

![Shopify Collabs listing on the Shopify App Store](https://cdn-web.joy.so/cdn/image/2026/10/listing-collabs-2026-10-08-34777f.png)

_Shopify Collabs's listing, read 8 October 2026: 4.2 from 434 reviews._

That is [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs)'s figure, in Shopify's words, with Shopify's own example, and it is why Collabs sits at $290 a month on a $100,000 programme while nothing in its price band gets near it.

The honest limits: Collabs is scoped to creator partnerships rather than tiered affiliate programmes, and the 2.9% applies to automatic payments rather than every payout route. A cheap fee on a tool that does not run your programme is no saving. Knowing which number you are comparing is the point.

## The six apps, priced on their fee shape

### 1. BixGrow, the lowest flat price with unlimited volume

**Best for:** stores that want the affiliate bill to stay still while the programme grows, and stores whose partners cannot reliably use tracking links. BixGrow credits a sale by affiliate link, affiliate coupon or linked email address, and Scale at $19.99 removes the affiliate, program and order caps entirely. A programme going from $5,000 to $100,000 a month pays the same $19.99 throughout, the only row above that does not move.

**Not ideal for:** anyone paying a large roster from day one. Automated PayPal payout sits two tiers above the entry plan at $49.99, and the tier below sells PayPal \*integration\* at $29.99, so budgeting from the wrong line costs you an afternoon a month of manual payouts. The free Starter plan is a trial: 1 program, 50 referral orders a month, 30 affiliates.

BixGrow runs on 34,147 [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) stores. Its live listing read 4.9 stars from 1,325 reviews on 8 October 2026.

### 2. GoAffPro, zero at any volume on the free plan

**Best for:** stores that want a real programme at no cost and never a revenue share. The free plan states unlimited affiliates, unlimited revenue and unlimited traffic, and GoAffPro's $49 Premium adds multi-level marketing and an affiliate portal on your own domain without introducing a percentage. It is also the only listing here naming [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) POS and Shopify Flow, which decides it for merchants running physical locations.

**Not ideal for:** brands whose programme depends on finding and screening creators, because GoAffPro has no creator discovery and recruitment becomes somebody's job. Its rating is the weakest of the three leaders and the 38 one-star reviews behind it are worth reading before you migrate a live programme. A programme that needs vetting will pay more elsewhere and should.

GoAffPro runs on 49,690 Shopify stores. Its live listing read 4.6 stars from 953 reviews on 8 October 2026, with 38 one-star, and its two-card panel is the only complete one here.

### 3. Shopify Collabs, 2.9% of the commission rather than the sale

**Best for:** a store testing whether creators will promote it at all, and a store whose affiliate motion is genuinely creator gifting rather than a tiered partner programme. [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) Collabs is free to install, runs inside the admin you already use, and carries the lightest fee here because of what it multiplies.

**Not ideal for:** running a general affiliate programme with tiered commissions and payout automation. Collabs is scoped to creator partnerships and at 4.2 stars sits below every self-serve app here. The 2.9% applies specifically to automatic commission payments, so other payout routes are a separate conversation before you commit.

Collabs runs on 11,365 Shopify stores. Its live listing read 4.2 stars from 434 reviews on 8 October 2026, with 90 of them one-star.

### 4. UpPromote, the deepest feature set and a percentage on every tier

**Best for:** brands recruiting creators rather than waiting for them to apply, and brands paying US affiliates enough to care about tax paperwork. [UpPromote](https://apps.shopify.com/affliate-by-secomapp) collects W9s on the free plan, generates 1099s from Professional, and is the only app here vetting creators with audience reports and authenticity scores. If your failure mode is signing the wrong partners, it is built for that.

**Not ideal for:** a store whose referred revenue is already substantial and whose budget is fixed. Every tier charges a percentage on top of the monthly fee, and the creator vetting that justifies the premium is a $39 add-on listed on all four cards including the $199.99 one. Budgeting from the table rather than the card misses $468 a year.

UpPromote runs on 64,505 [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) stores. Its live listing read 4.9 stars from 3,863 reviews on 8 October 2026. The Enterprise card adds "For Shopify Plus, click 'See all pricing options'", so a Plus tier exists off-panel.

### 5. ReferralCandy, the heaviest entry rate and the flattest feature ladder

**Best for:** high-ticket, low-frequency brands that place themselves on the fee ladder correctly from day one. Nothing is gated, so ReferralCandy's $9 plan carries the same tooling as the $799 one, plus integrations the listing names for Klaviyo, Omnisend, Recharge, Appstle, Loop and Skio. A store at $40,000 a month in referred sales pays $849 on Scale and never discovers a feature sitting two tiers up.

**Not ideal for:** any programme growing faster than the merchant revisits the plan. The fee is levied on referral sales rather than on orders or affiliates, so there is no cap to warn you and nothing in the product flags the gap. A merchant who sets Basic and forgets it pays $5,259 a month at $50,000 in referred sales where Enterprise bills $924.

ReferralCandy runs on 1,694 [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) stores. Its live listing read 4.9 stars from 1,483 reviews on 8 October 2026. Launched 28 September 2010, it is the oldest app here, and the success-fee model is the one the category moved away from.

### 6. Social Snowball, a percentage at the bottom and a flat fee at the top

**Best for:** brands running creator programmes at scale on TikTok and Instagram, with someone who owns the roster as a job. Social Snowball's Blizzard plan at $899 drops the usage charge, so above $21,667 a month in affiliate revenue it is both the better-equipped plan and the cheaper one. Creator search, social listening, Instagram DM chat and TikTok Shop appear together on no other listing here.

**Not ideal for:** a store validating the channel. The $249 floor is the highest entry price in the category, and at $8,000 a month in affiliate revenue Snow Day bills $489 against BixGrow Scale's $19.99. Both cards read "Starts at", and Blizzard's charges line promises a custom plan after installation, so the published price is an opening position.

Social Snowball runs on 3,337 [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) stores. Its live listing read 4.5 stars from 211 reviews on 8 October 2026, and only two plan cards are shown.

## What the panels do not show

Four of the six listings above are truncated. The App Store renders at most four plan cards, and ReferralCandy, [UpPromote](https://apps.shopify.com/affliate-by-secomapp), BixGrow and Social Snowball all carry a "See all pricing options" link out to the vendor's own page. That matters most for the fee buy-down ladders, because each tier in those lowers the rate: a fifth ReferralCandy tier below 0.25%, or an UpPromote Shopify Plus tier below 1%, would shift the arithmetic further toward the dear plans. UpPromote's Enterprise card says one exists.

[Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs)'s own [App Store requirements state at 4.2.1](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/launch/shopify-app-store/app-store-requirements) that apps must "Provide accurate and complete pricing information", and the four-card limit is a constraint on the surface rather than a vendor decision.

A fifth pricing shape sits off the table entirely. [Tapfiliate](https://apps.shopify.com/tapfiliate) meters clicks and conversions rather than revenue, and its overage rates move in opposite directions between plans: Launch at $89 lists "conversions overage per 1,000: $1.5" while Scale at $179 lists "conversions overage per 1,000: $10.0", nearly seven times dearer on the dearer plan. Tapfiliate runs on 696 Shopify stores. Its listing read 5.0 stars from a single review on 8 October 2026, which is not a rating.

One more thing no panel tells you, and it governs every percentage here. **The base each fee multiplies is set by the app's attribution rules, not by the merchant.** A 30-day last-click window attributes more revenue than a 7-day one, and whether coupon-code orders without a click count moves it again. Two apps quoting 2% can bill differently on identical sales, and no listing specifies any of it. Ask in writing before you model.

## Frequently asked questions

**Which Shopify affiliate app has no transaction fee?** GoAffPro and BixGrow charge no percentage at any tier. GoAffPro's free plan states unlimited affiliates and unlimited revenue, and BixGrow's $19.99 Scale plan removes the affiliate, program and order caps.

**How much does Shopify Collabs cost?** Collabs is free to install and charges a 2.9% processing fee on every automatic commission payment, which [Shopify](https://apps.shopify.com/collabs) states on its own help page with the worked example of 29 cents on a $100 sale at a 10% commission. There is no monthly fee.

**What is a success fee on an affiliate app?** A percentage of the revenue the app attributes to your programme, billed on top of the subscription as a usage charge. ReferralCandy's runs from 10.5% on the $9 plan to 0.25% on the $799 plan, with identical features across all four tiers.

**Does UpPromote take a percentage of my sales?** Yes, on every paid tier: 2% on Growth at $29.99, 1.5% on Professional at $89.99 and 1% on Enterprise at $199.99, all read on 8 October 2026. The free plan reviews up to $3,000 in referral sales a month instead.

**Do affiliate app fees come out of my Shopify bill?** Usage charges do. Shopify's [billing documentation](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/apps) describes them as charges that "vary based on how much you use the app or its services" and notes that apps charging on usage "can include a spending limit that prevents app charges from exceeding a maximum threshold". Some apps bill outside Shopify, in which case the charge never appears there.

## Pick the shape before you pick the app

Feature lists in this category converge and pricing shapes do not. Run four numbers against last month's affiliate revenue: multiply by 0.02 and add $29.99 for [UpPromote](https://apps.shopify.com/affliate-by-secomapp) Growth, multiply by 0.105 and add $9 for ReferralCandy Basic, multiply your commission by 0.029 for Shopify Collabs, and write $19.99 for BixGrow.

[The full affiliate app comparison](https://joy.so/blog/best-shopify-affiliate-apps/) covers which stores need which features, and [the three-way comparison of UpPromote, GoAffPro and BixGrow](https://joy.so/blog/uppromote-vs-goaffpro-vs-bixgrow/) goes deeper on the apps holding most of the installs. Two decisions sit upstream: [a referral programme or a points programme](https://joy.so/blog/referral-program-vs-points-program/) settles who you pay and for what, and [what a programme costs to run](https://joy.so/blog/loyalty-program-cost/) frames the software fee against the reward budget, the larger number in every row above.

Take that 0.105 figure and set it beside what you pay your affiliates. If the software is the bigger number, it has been the bigger number every month it was true.