UpPromote vs GoAffPro: Only One Takes a Cut

These three apps run affiliate programs on 148,342 Shopify stores between them, measured on 7 October 2026 — roughly 70% of every store using a dedicated affiliate app from the ten largest.

The short answer: GoAffPro if you want a real program at zero cost or a flat $49 and never a revenue share. BixGrow if you want unlimited volume at the lowest flat price and can wait until $49.99 for automated payouts. UpPromote if creator vetting and fraud control are worth paying a percentage of every referred sale for.

The decision is almost entirely about how each one charges. Feature lists converge; pricing models do not. One obligation is common to all three: under the FTC's endorsement guides, an affiliate paid a commission has a material connection that must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously wherever the link appears, and the advertiser is expected to train partners on it and monitor what they publish. None of these apps does that for you.

The three at a glance

	UpPromote	GoAffPro	BixGrow
Installs	64,505	49,690	34,147
Rating (reviews)	4.9 (3,860)	4.6 (952)	4.9 (1,328)
Free plan	Reviews $3,000 referral sales/mo	Unlimited affiliates and revenue	50 orders, 30 affiliates, 1 program
Entry paid plan	$29.99/mo + 2% of referred sales	$49/mo flat	$19.99/mo flat
Top plan	$199.99/mo + 1%	$49/mo	$49.99/mo
Revenue share	Yes, every paid tier	No	No
Built for Shopify	Yes	Not listed	Not listed

Every rating and price above was read from each app's live Shopify App Store listing on 7 October 2026, and each app name links to its listing. Install counts are live Shopify stores running the app on the same date.

The only comparison that changes the decision: what they cost at volume

Run your expected referred sales through all three before you look at a single feature.

Monthly referred sales	UpPromote Growth	UpPromote Enterprise	GoAffPro Premium	BixGrow Scale
$5,000	$129.99	$249.99	$49	$19.99
$20,000	$429.99	$399.99	$49	$19.99
$50,000	$1,029.99	$699.99	$49	$19.99
$100,000	$2,029.99	$1,199.99	$49	$19.99

Three things fall out of that table.

UpPromote's cheap plan stops being cheap at about $17,000 a month in referred sales. Past that point Enterprise at $199.99 + 1% costs less than Growth at $29.99 + 2%. Most merchants find this out after the fact.

At $50,000 a month, the gap between UpPromote Growth and BixGrow Scale is $1,010 a month. That is the price of creator vetting and fraud tooling, stated plainly. It may well be worth it — an affiliate programme bleeding margin through leaked coupon codes can lose more than that — but it should be a decision, not a surprise.

GoAffPro and BixGrow do not change price as you grow. For a programme you expect to scale, that is the whole argument.

Free plans: one is a plan, two are trials

GoAffPro gives away unlimited affiliates, unlimited revenue and unlimited traffic, plus a branded affiliate portal, welcome emails, analytics, a post-checkout popup and the mobile apps. You can run a complete programme on it indefinitely. Nothing else in this category does that.

UpPromote's free tier reviews up to $3,000 in referral sales a month and includes link and coupon tracking, fraud protection, analytics, manual payout and W9 collection. It is a genuine starter plan with a revenue ceiling.

BixGrow's Starter is capped three ways at once: one programme, 50 referral orders a month, 30 affiliates. Any programme that works will clear all three caps in weeks.

Where the feature sets actually differ

Most of what these apps do overlaps: link and coupon tracking, commission rules, affiliate portals, analytics. Four things do not.

Creator vetting. UpPromote is the only one with audience reports, authenticity scores and past-collaboration history. If you recruit influencers rather than existing customers, nothing else here replaces it. Budget the $39/month add-on, because it is not bundled into any plan.

Coupon-leak protection. UpPromote ships anti-leak discount links, fraud detection and block lists across its tiers. BixGrow has anti-leak coupons from Pro ($29.99). GoAffPro does not list equivalent tooling. If your affiliates get discount codes and your codes end up on coupon sites, this is the line item that pays for itself.

Payout automation. UpPromote puts PayPal auto-payment on Professional ($89.99) and adds invoices and 1099 generation there too. BixGrow puts automated PayPal payout on Advanced ($49.99) while PayPal integration alone arrives at Pro ($29.99). GoAffPro offers numerous payout options on the free plan but no automated payout tier is listed.

Retail and workflow reach. GoAffPro lists Shopify POS and Shopify Flow. Neither of the other two does. For a merchant with physical stores or automation built on Flow, that single line can decide it.

Tracking methods

All three track by affiliate link and coupon. BixGrow adds linked email addresses, so a partner who never shares a link still gets credited. UpPromote adds custom affiliate links and auto-generated coupons from Professional. GoAffPro's tracking is automated order attribution through its portal.

If your partners are creators who post, links are enough. If they are retail staff, distributors or people selling in person, email and coupon attribution matter more than link tracking.

UpPromote

Best for: brands that recruit partners rather than wait for applications, and brands watching discount codes leak onto coupon sites. UpPromote is the only one of the three that vets creators with audience reports and authenticity scores, and the only one with anti-leak discount links, fraud detection and block lists. It also collects W9s on the free plan and generates 1099s on a paid one, which matters the moment you pay US affiliates real money.

Not ideal for: your referred sales are already substantial, because every tier takes a percentage of them on top of the monthly fee — at $50,000 a month that is $1,000 on Growth. It is also the wrong pick if creator vetting is why you came: Creator Discovery is a $39 monthly add-on on every tier, including the $199.99 one, so the differentiating feature is in no plan.

64,505 installs, 4.9 from 3,860 reviews, and the only one of the three carrying Shopify's Built for Shopify badge.

What it actually does

• Creator vetting with full audience reports, authenticity scores and past collaborations.
• Anti-leak discount links, fraud detection and block lists.
• Programme management through Shopify Sidekick and MCP, so rules can be changed in plain language.
• W9 collection on free, 1099 generation from Professional, invoices included.
• Multi-store support and unlimited staff accounts on Enterprise.

What to check before you commit

The percentage, the review caps (300 referrals a month on Growth, 600 on Professional, unlimited on Enterprise), and the $39/month Creator Discovery add-on that no tier includes.

GoAffPro

Best for: programmes you expect to grow, because GoAffPro takes no percentage at any tier — a programme that triples in revenue costs exactly what it cost before. The free plan carries unlimited affiliates, unlimited revenue and unlimited traffic, which nothing else here matches. It is also the only one of the three listing Shopify POS and Shopify Flow, making it the default for merchants with physical locations.

Not ideal for: partner recruitment is the hard part of your programme. GoAffPro has no creator discovery and no authenticity scoring, so finding and screening partners stays your job. Its 4.6 rating is also the lowest of the three, with 40 one-star reviews behind it, so read the recent ones before migrating a live programme.

49,690 installs, 4.6 from 952 reviews — the lowest rating of the three, which is worth reading rather than dismissing.

What it actually does

• A free plan with unlimited affiliates, revenue and traffic, and a branded affiliate portal.
• Android and iPhone apps with push notifications for affiliates. No competitor here offers a partner-side mobile app.
• Multi-level compensation and party plans.
• Integrations including Shopify POS, Shopify Flow, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend, PayPal, Recharge and Shiprocket.

What to check before you commit

Premium is $49/month flat and adds multi-level marketing, the portal on your own domain, bulk email, advanced analytics and 30+ customisation options. There is no percentage at any tier.

The rating is the thing to interrogate: 4.6 with 40 one-star reviews. Read the most recent ones before you migrate a live programme.

BixGrow

Best for: stores that want unlimited volume for the lowest flat fee, and stores whose partners cannot reliably use tracking links. BixGrow credits a sale by link, coupon or linked email address, which captures the offline and in-person partners that link-only apps lose entirely. It also runs a customer referral programme in the same app, so one tool covers both kinds of advocate.

Not ideal for: you are paying a large roster from day one. Automated PayPal payout sits at $49.99, two tiers above the entry plan, while the tier below sells PayPal *integration* — budget from the wrong line and paying affiliates stays a manual afternoon every month. BixGrow also has no creator vetting, so partner quality is entirely your screening.

34,147 installs and 4.9 from 1,328 reviews — the best rating-to-volume combination of the three.

What it actually does

• Tracking by link, coupon or linked email address.
• A customer referral programme alongside the affiliate programme, in one app.
• Multi-level marketing plus an affiliate marketplace for recruitment, from Pro.
• Payouts in store credit, PayPal and other methods.
• Headless store tracking and API access on Advanced.

What to check before you commit

Which tier holds what. Scale ($19.99) removes the caps. Pro ($29.99) adds MLM, commission tiers, PayPal integration, store credit and anti-leak coupons. Advanced ($49.99) adds automated PayPal payouts, API and headless tracking.

If you will be paying affiliates monthly by hand otherwise, price the programme at $49.99, not $19.99.

How to choose

1. Referred sales above roughly $20,000 a month. GoAffPro Premium or BixGrow Scale. A percentage at that volume costs more than the features it buys unless you have a specific fraud or creator problem.
2. You recruit influencers. UpPromote, and add the $39 Creator Discovery.
3. Your discount codes leak. UpPromote across all tiers, or BixGrow Pro for anti-leak coupons at a third of the price.
4. You sell in physical stores. GoAffPro, for Shopify POS.
5. You pay affiliates by hand today. BixGrow Advanced at $49.99, where payouts automate.
6. You are starting from nothing. GoAffPro's free plan. It is the only one that does not expire into a wall.

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheapest? BixGrow Scale at $19.99/month for unlimited volume. GoAffPro's free plan is cheaper still and has no revenue ceiling, but lacks multi-level commissions and a custom domain.

Does UpPromote's percentage apply to all referred sales or only ones it generated? The listing states the fee as a percentage of successful referral sales. Confirm the exact definition with support before you model it, because the difference matters at volume.

Can I move an existing programme between these apps? Affiliate records usually migrate; historical attribution rarely does, the same problem a loyalty migration runs into. Plan to run both for one commission cycle so partners do not lose credit mid-month.

Do any of them handle tax forms? UpPromote collects W9 on the free plan and generates 1099s from Professional. The other two do not list tax document handling.

Which should I install first if I have never run a programme? GoAffPro's free plan or BixGrow Starter. Both answer the only question worth answering first: will anyone actually promote you? If the answer is your existing customers rather than outside partners, a referral program is the cheaper route.