Loyalty Juggernaut publishes this guide and makes GRAVTY, one of the eleven platforms listed. Read the GRAVTY entry as a vendor describing its own product. Each other entry draws only on that vendor's own current pages. The list runs in alphabetical order. It ranks nobody.
What is referral program software?
Referral program software runs refer-a-friend at scale. It gives each customer a personal link or code and credits the friend's first qualifying action to the right person. It holds the reward until the sale sticks, pays both sides and reports what the program earned. It also screens out self-referrals and fake accounts.
The economics explain why brands pay for it. Robinhood told the SEC in 2024 that it pays vendors $150 to $1,000 for each customer they bring in. On average, a referral cost it under $20 in stock, for both sides together. A field experiment at a mobile carrier found referrers' defection fell from 19% to 7% within a year.
This page compares the software. For program design and launch steps, read our referral programs guide. Our referral program entry covers fraud patterns and cost per referral.
Which referral platforms belong on a shortlist?
Referral software comes in three kinds. Standalone tools run referral alone or next to a loyalty add-on. Affiliate tools add customer referrals to partner programs. Loyalty platforms run referral as one behavior in the program and pay in its points.
| Platform | Best for, in the vendor's terms | How it is sold |
|---|---|---|
| Buyapowa | Telecoms, financial services, energy and other regulated markets | Fixed annual license, zero commission |
| Extole | Enterprise referral, loyalty and incentive programs | Platform with APIs and SDKs |
| Friendbuy | Retail, subscription, finance and consumer services | Flat annual license |
| GRAVTY | Enterprise loyalty programs that want referral inside the program, paid in points | Cloud-native, serverless on AWS, under a 99.99% uptime SLA |
| impact.com Advocate | Brands that run referral and affiliate programs together | Part of the impact.com Performance Platform |
| Mention Me | Premium ecommerce brands, in one market or many | License based on order value and referral volume |
| Open Loyalty | Enterprises adding gamified referral to a loyalty engine | SaaS, priced by monthly active members |
| Referral Rock | Service firms, clinics, franchises and multi-location brands | $250 a month, month to month |
| ReferralCandy | Ecommerce brands on Shopify and other store platforms | Monthly plan plus a success fee |
| Talkable | Ecommerce brands, with plans up to enterprise | Flat monthly fee, 12-month term |
| Yotpo | Ecommerce brands that pay referrals in loyalty points | Free plan, paid tiers from $199 a month |
What does each referral platform offer?
Buyapowa
Buyapowa works for telcos, banks and other regulated markets. Call center staff type in referral codes, so phone sales count too.
Extole
Extole runs referral and loyalty together, so customers earn for sharing through the same wallet as the rest of their rewards.
Friendbuy
Friendbuy credits referrals from several signals, so credit survives a switch of device or a sale weeks later. It sells a flat annual license.
GRAVTY
Who it fits. GRAVTY suits big programs that want referral to sit in the program. It runs SkyJoy for Vietjet, a program that has grown to over 18 million members. The team there says GRAVTY puts referral in the same engine as personalization and engagement. It also runs WestJet Rewards and Spin Premia.
Where it runs. GRAVTY is cloud native and runs serverless on AWS. It holds 500M+ members in production, under a 99.99% uptime SLA. Average API latency is under 50 ms. It has 150+ systems integrated. They include Shopify, Salesforce Commerce and VTEX for ecommerce. For messages they include Braze, MoEngage and WhatsApp. See the integrations page.
What it does. In GRAVTY a referral is a tracked behavior like any other. The loyalty team sets the qualifying action and the reward for each side in Visual Rules, a patented no-code rules engine. Referrals are capped and watched for abuse like any reward, and they pay out in the program's own currency. Members refer friends through the same app and web pages as the rest of the program.
How it guards the payout. AI-Trust flags odd earn and redemption as it happens, and each program tunes its own scoring. A patented approach to first-party data records each member's behaviors, influence and transactions as data the brand owns. See how GRAVTY runs referrals.
impact.com Advocate
impact.com bought SaaSquatch in 2023. It now runs referral and affiliate programs together on one platform.
Mention Me
Mention Me's NameShare lets a friend type the customer's name at checkout, so a referral counts with no link at all.
Open Loyalty
Open Loyalty is an API-first engine. It pays referrals in points, achievements and tiers.
Referral Rock
Referral Rock credits referrals that arrive by link, form, name or CRM record. It costs $250 a month at any volume.
ReferralCandy
ReferralCandy serves ecommerce brands, with plans from $9 to $799 a month plus a success fee.
Talkable
Talkable pays referrals in points and enrolls friends in loyalty. It charges a flat monthly fee on a 12-month term.
Yotpo
Yotpo rewards advocates with loyalty points they can combine with points from purchases. Paid plans start at $199 a month.
What should referral software prove before you buy?
For an enterprise brand, start with the tests that decide whether referral strengthens the whole program. Attribution and compliance come next, and the demo table covers both.
Referral inside the loyalty program
A referral reward paid in points lands in a balance the member already watches. The friend can join on the first order, so the new tie starts on a member record. The telecom study above found that referring cut churn among the referrers. On GRAVTY, a referral is one more behavior in the same rules, wallet and reports as purchases.
Fraud controls that hold at scale
Referral rewards pay out by rule, which makes them a target. Hold each reward past the return window. Talkable's docs give the logic: approve in 31 days if returns close in 30. Then add detection that learns. On GRAVTY, AI-Trust flags odd earn and burn as it happens across the whole program, referrals included. Our loyalty fraud prevention guide covers the patterns.
Rules the team can change
Reward size is a trade-off. A Marketing Science study found larger rewards bring more new customers but less profitable ones. So the team needs to test reward size, the qualifying action and the ask without a developer. On GRAVTY that work happens in Visual Rules.
Uptime when a campaign takes off
A referral push can spike traffic overnight. Put the uptime figure in the contract and ask how the platform scales. GRAVTY carries a 99.99% uptime SLA across 500M+ members in production.
How does referral software credit the right customer?
Attribution decides who gets paid, and every method has a gap. Ask each vendor which of these it supports and in what order it tries them.
- Link and cookie. The friend clicks a personal link and a cookie records it. A new device or a cleared browser loses the trail.
- Code at checkout. The friend types the code. Codes leak to coupon sites, so cap their use.
- Email or phone match. The friend enters an email or phone number on a claim page, and the purchase is matched later.
- Name at checkout. The friend types the customer's name. Common names need a second check.
- System of record. A paid order, opened account or won deal in your own systems confirms the referral.
- App install. On Android, Google's Install Referrer data lasts 90 days after install. On iOS, a deep-link provider carries the referral.
- In store. The friend gives a loyalty number or code at the register, so the POS link has to pass it on.
A loyalty member ID solves much of this. When both sides are members, the referral ties two records together, whatever channel the sale comes through.
Which rules apply to paid referrals?
Paying customers to recommend you brings marketing and tax rules. Treat this as a list for counsel.
- Disclosure. The FTC's Endorsement Guides give the case of points awarded for social posts. Those points should be clearly disclosed, and the advertiser should check that they are. Its FAQ names a discount on a future purchase as compensation.
- Reviews. A US rule bars rewards that depend on a review being positive or negative. Keep review rewards neutral.
- Texts. In a 2015 ruling, the FCC found an app maker sent the invites when it chose the recipients. When the user chose who, when and whether to send, the user was the sender.
- UK email. The ICO says a brand that asks people to forward its marketing is instigating it, and calls this a refer a friend campaign. The brand has to follow the e-marketing rules.
- App invites. Apple's review guidelines bar a select-all option for contact invites. The user has to choose each contact.
- Tax. The IRS threshold for reporting prizes and awards on Form 1099-MISC is $2,000 for tax years beginning after 2025.
How should you evaluate referral software in a demo?
Bring a test advocate, a test friend and your return policy. Ask the vendor to run a referral end to end.
| Criterion | Why it matters | What to ask in a demo |
|---|---|---|
| Loyalty link | A reward in program currency keeps value inside the brand. | Pay the advocate in our loyalty points and enroll the friend on the first order. |
| Fraud controls | Rewards paid by rule draw self-referrals and fake accounts. | Refer a second account of my own. What stops it, and who sees the alert? |
| Hold period | A reward paid before the return window closes can be lost. | Set the payout to clear after our 30-day return window. |
| Rules without code | Reward size and the ask need testing. | Have a marketer change the reward for one segment live. |
| Uptime and scale | A campaign can spike traffic overnight. | What uptime SLA goes in the contract? What is your largest program? |
| Attribution | Credit to the wrong person breaks trust. | Refer by link, then by code at checkout, then in store. Show who gets credit each time. |
| App installs | Many friends join through the app. | Carry a referral through an Android and an iOS install. |
| Who sends invites | Texts and emails the brand sends carry consent rules. | Does the share open the advocate's own app, or do you send the message? |
| Disclosure | Paid shares need a clear disclosure. | Show the default share text and where the disclosure sits. |
| Tax data | Cash rewards at or above the threshold can be reportable. | Where do you collect tax details, and can you report annual totals per person? |
| Reporting | Raw referral counts overstate value. | Show repeat purchases and churn for referred members against others. |
| Pricing | Some vendors charge a flat fee and some take a cut of each sale. | What does year two cost at double our referral volume? |
How do you choose referral software?
An enterprise loyalty program. When referral should pay in points and feed the member record, look at loyalty platforms first. GRAVTY brings referral into the same engine as personalization and engagement, as the team behind Vietjet's SkyJoy puts it. It holds a 99.99% uptime SLA.
Regulated or call center sales. Some sales in banking, insurance and telecom happen by phone or in store. Buyapowa and Extole both describe programs for these markets.
Ecommerce brands. Shopify brands can start with an app. ReferralCandy, Yotpo, Talkable and Mention Me sell to this group, and Friendbuy also serves subscription brands.
Service firms and partners. Referral Rock serves clinics, franchises and firms with many sites. If you pay affiliates now, impact.com can run referral on the same tool. To add games and badges, read our gamification guide.
Frequently asked questions
Which referral software suits an enterprise loyalty program?
Pick a platform that runs referral inside the loyalty program and pays in its currency. GRAVTY treats a referral as a tracked behavior, sets each side's reward in Visual Rules and screens payouts with AI-Trust. It holds 500M+ members under a 99.99% uptime SLA. Ask every vendor to show a referral paid in your points.
How much does referral program software cost?
Prices run from a few dollars a month to custom licenses. ReferralCandy charges $9 to $799 a month plus a success fee. Referral Rock charges $250 a month. Friendbuy sells a flat annual license, and Talkable a flat monthly fee on a 12-month term.
What is the difference between referral and affiliate software?
Referral software pays customers who recommend a brand to people they know. Affiliate software pays publishers a commission for the sales they send. impact.com runs both in one platform, and many brands keep them in separate tools.
Do referral rewards need to be disclosed?
Yes, when an advocate shares publicly for a reward. The FTC's FAQ says a disclosure is appropriate when the sharer is compensated, for example with a discount on a future purchase. Points for social posts are an example in the FTC's Endorsement Guides.
Are referral rewards reported to the IRS?
Cash-like rewards can be, once a person reaches the threshold. For tax years beginning after 2025, the 1099-MISC threshold for prizes and awards is $2,000. Ask your tax adviser how discounts and points are treated.
Why does Loyalty Juggernaut list its own platform?
GRAVTY is on the list because it competes in this category, and leaving it out would hide that. Its entry uses Loyalty Juggernaut's own pages and figures. Each other entry uses only that vendor's own pages.