FirstPromoter vs GrowSurf

FirstPromoter is affiliate and referral management software built specifically for SaaS and other subscription businesses. Its main job is to attribute signups and payments to affiliates or referring customers and calculate recurring commissions correctly over the life of a subscription, including upgrades, downgrades, refunds and cancellations.

It integrates directly with billing systems such as Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Recurly and Braintree, and offers a JavaScript tracking script and API for custom setups. Program managers can run several campaigns with different commission rules, tiered and multi-level rewards, coupons tied to affiliates, fraud detection for self-referrals and suspicious traffic, branded affiliate portals and payout management via PayPal or bulk files. Plans are priced by the referral revenue tracked each month, so cost grows with program success, and some extras cost more.

FirstPromoter suits subscription companies whose billing is not only Stripe or that need nuanced commission logic. It does not give you a marketplace of affiliates to recruit from, so you bring your own partners. Rewardful is simpler and popular with Stripe-only startups, Tolt is a newer low-cost option, and PartnerStack or Impact fit larger partner ecosystems with discovery and enterprise contracts. The interface is functional rather than modern, but tracking depth is the reason teams choose it.

GrowSurf is a US-based referral and affiliate marketing platform built for tech startups and SaaS products. It gives every user a referral link automatically, tracks who referred whom, and pays out rewards, so a company can launch a customer referral program with one code snippet instead of building the logic in-house.

Core features include white-labeled referral portals, configurable qualification rules (signup, first purchase or custom events), automatic rewards as gift cards, cash or account credits, manual approval, fraud protection, analytics and tax form collection with 1099 filing. It offers native integrations such as Stripe, Chargebee, Recurly, Salesforce, PayPal and Wise, plus a REST API, JavaScript library, webhooks and an MCP server for AI coding tools. Referral programs are paid with a 14-day trial; affiliate programs run on a free plan with a 3% success fee.

GrowSurf fits B2B and B2C software companies with a few thousand active customers who want referrals embedded in the product. Ecommerce stores on Shopify are better served by ReferralCandy, waitlist and viral launch campaigns by Viral Loops, and Stripe-first affiliate programs by Rewardful or FirstPromoter, which start cheaper.

Buying tip: plans are priced by participants, not by referrals. Startup costs $179 a month for up to 2,500 participants ($125 billed yearly) and Business starts at $449 for 10,000, so only enroll users who are likely to share. If you mainly want affiliates, the free plan with the 3% fee avoids a fixed subscription.