Growi or viral.app? Pay creators on sales, or pay them on views.

Mike SchneiderCo-Founder · September 25, 2026 · 12 min read

The short version: both track creators, pay them and help you find more. Pick Growi if your creators are paid on sales: it ties TikTok Shop, Shopify and Amazon orders to each creator, and its AI agent does the outreach. Pick viral.app if they're paid on views: stricter view counts, deals tested on real videos, payouts through a merchant of record in 180+ countries, and a lower plan price per creator.

We make viral.app, so read this with that in mind. Every Growi fact below comes from Growi's own site, pricing, help center, terms, API docs and App Store listing, checked on September 25, 2026, with links at the end. Where Growi doesn't say something, we write "Not public". Where its own pages disagree, we show both.

This page is about Growi at growi.io, the creator marketing platform, not the open-source GROWI wiki. Are you a creator looking for paid UGC work? This page is for brands; join the Canvas UGC marketplace instead.

Paid on sales, or paid on views

Growi's 2.0 relaunch put sales at the center. Its plans are priced by commerce channel (Shopify, TikTok Shop, Amazon, the App Store, Google Play, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads), its reports lead with GMV, and affiliates are unlimited on every plan. That fits a DTC brand whose creators earn commissions on TikTok Shop and Shopify.

Many UGC programs, especially for apps, pay on something else: views. There the view count is the invoice, so what matters is which accounts you can track, how views are counted, what a deal will cost before anyone posts, and how creators around the world get paid. That is what viral.app is built for.

Who Growi is great for

Growi is a capable platform, and for some programs it's the better choice. It fits best when:

If that's your program, Growi is a sound choice. The rest of this page is about what changes when creators are paid on views.

Plans matched up

Growi meters "managed creators", the creators whose posts it tracks, while affiliates stay unlimited. viral.app meters active creators and tracked videos. So the fair match is by price and creator count. Prices are per month on monthly billing. Growi's brand pricing takes 10% off for annual billing (its agency page says two months free); viral.app takes about 20% off.

Around these: Growi Scale is $1,999 a month ($1,799 yearly) for 500 creators, with every sales channel, Meta and TikTok ads, payouts on ad results, AI workflows and a dedicated success manager. Enterprise is custom. Every Growi plan comes with credits for AI analyses and post downloads, and packs start at $2.50. On Starter with a Shopify store, you pay $299 plus 3% of Shopify affiliate revenue, or $549 a month flat. viral.app starts at Pro, $99 a month for 10 creators, and has a custom Enterprise plan with syncs up to every hour.

Priced Growi before its 2.0 relaunch? Those quotes no longer apply. In June 2026 its pricing page listed $149 a month for 20 creators and $299 for 50, with 0% payout fees.

Which one should you pick?

Who pays the fees

This is where Growi's price advantage comes from, so here it is in full. Growi charges the brand less on payouts. Part of the cost sits with creators instead, and funding by bank is only listed for US bank accounts.

Growi's own pages don't agree on the fee. Its help center says it charges 0% processing fees once creators join by link, its terms allow the per-payout banking fee above, and a sample payout screen on its payouts page shows a 0.9% platform fee. Ask which applies to you before you sign. On viral.app it's 3% on each payout, on your side of the bill. viral.app has paid out $5M+ to creators.

When the view count is the invoice

If you pay per view, every counting rule changes what you owe. Four things viral.app does that Growi's pages don't describe the same way:

Every difference, row by row

Thirty-nine rows in five groups, starting with what each tool is built around. "Yes" means the product does it, "Partly" means it covers part of the job, and "Not public" means we couldn't find it on Growi's public pages.

Showing 15 of 39 rows. Each section starts with the rows that decide most choices.

Show all 39 rows

What you need
What each is built aroundWhere the two differ most
What plans are priced on	Growi Sales channels, tracked creators and outreach: 1 channel and 25 creators on Starter, 2 and 100 on Growth, all and 500 on Scale.	viral.app Active creators, tracked videos and seats: 10, 50 or 500 creators by plan.
Sales tied to each creator	Growi YesGMV from TikTok Shop, Shopify and Amazon, affiliate links and codes, and app sales you send through its API.	viral.app PartlyApp revenue, trials and subscribers from RevenueCat per project, next to views. No sales per creator.
Track creators without them signing up	Growi PartlyYou can add creators by URL, but they can't be paid through Growi until they join by invite link.	viral.app YesAny public account from a URL, unlimited on every plan. Creators don't need an account, even to be paid.
Show 3 more rows in this section
Tracking and counting viewsviral.app counts views more strictly; Growi adds listening and alerts
Instagram views on reels shared to Facebook	Growi Not publicNot described on its pages.	viral.app YesInstagram-only counts, so Facebook views don't inflate the number or the pay.
Paid views kept out of creator pay	Growi Not publicNot described. Its ads pages report paid and organic returns blended.	viral.app YesWith TikTok or Meta connected, view-based pay counts organic views only.
Alerts when a video takes off	Growi YesPost performance, GMV, activity and tier alerts, plus daily Slack summaries.	viral.app NoNot built in yet. Copilot, the API and MCP can report on demand.
Show 6 more rows in this section
Paying creatorsGrowi costs you less per payout; viral.app does more of the paperwork
Fee on creator pay	Growi 0% processing, per its help center; card top-ups 3%, US bank top-ups free. Its terms allow a $0 to $2 banking fee per payout, deducted from the creator; its payouts page shows a 0.9% platform fee in a sample.	viral.app 3% on each payout, paid by you. None of it comes out of creator pay.
Invoices, tax and KYC	Growi Partly1099s for US creators through Stripe; W-9 and W-8BEN collected; KYC. No merchant of record or EU invoicing described.	viral.app YesOur payout partner is merchant of record: an invoice for you and a self-billed one in the creator's name, KYC, AML and sanctions checks, and DAC7 reporting.
Creators without a registered business	Growi Not publicWho carries that risk isn't stated.	viral.app YesThe payout partner pays them as merchant of record and carries the liability, not your company.
Show 7 more rows in this section
Finding creatorsGrowi reaches out; viral.app ranks on views
Creator marketplace	Growi YesPost a campaign and vetted creators apply; its page cites 4,200+ vetted creators and 1M+ who can apply. 6, 18 or 52 hires a month by plan.	viral.app YesCanvas UGC marketplace: post a job, creators apply with portfolio, accounts, languages and location. 1, 2 or 3 live jobs by plan.
AI outreach to new creators	Growi YesJuno finds creators on TikTok and Instagram, messages them through TikTok Shop, Gmail or Outlook, and follows up, from Growth.	viral.app NoNot offered. Invite matched creators to apply, 10, 25 or 50 a day by plan.
How matches are ranked	Growi PartlyJuno scores applicants on predicted brand fit; filters include niche, audience and past sales.	viral.app YesOn real views on canvas-style accounts, measured posting volume, niches read from their posts and past hires, after a location check.
Show 4 more rows in this section
Ads, AI and team
Launch Spark Ads and partnership ads	Growi YesOn Scale: launch Meta and TikTok campaigns from creator posts, whitelist handles, collect Spark codes.	viral.app YesCreate Ad from any tracked post: Spark Ads on TikTok, partnership ads on Instagram and Facebook, on your own ad accounts.
Pay creators on ad results	Growi YesAd-spend and revenue-share payouts, on Scale.	viral.app NoNot yet. Creators are paid on organic performance.
AI assistant	Growi YesJuno on every plan; event-driven AI workflows with approval gates on Scale.	viral.app YesCopilot answers analytics questions and builds campaigns and briefs, with your approval.
Show 4 more rows in this section

See the full comparison: all 39 rows

24 more rows across 5 sections. Nothing is left out, only folded to keep the page short.

What each one costs for your program

Set your team, your creators, your video volume and what you pay creators each month. The calculator picks the cheapest plan on each side, fees included. It counts Growi's fee at the 0% its help center states, with top-ups from a US bank account; card top-ups add 3%. Growi publishes no video cap, so videos never push you up a Growi plan.

The creator count sets the plan, and creator pay sets the fee. From 11 to 25 creators both plans cost $299, so Growi is cheaper by our 3% fee. Below that, viral.app Pro at $99 stays cheaper until creator pay passes about $6,600 a month. Past 25 creators the plan gap takes over: viral.app stays cheaper up to $20,000 a month in creator pay with 26 to 50 creators, about $13,300 with 51 to 100, and $50,000 with 101 to 500.

The same view-based deal in both tools

Growi's campaign builder covers most of a view-based deal: pay per views, a retainer on top, minimum views, view-based bonus tiers and how many days a post is tracked. Two parts differ. viral.app caps performance pay in dollars per period, where Growi caps the views that are paid. And viral.app runs the whole deal on one of your creators' recent videos before launch, so you see the real amount they would have earned. Here is one common deal, term by term.

When a payout is approved, the creator gets one link and picks how to be paid. They don't need an account or a Stripe login, and none of your 3% fee comes out of their pay.

A campaign, start to finish, in real screens

These are the actual viral.app screens, not illustrations. Under each step is what the same step looks like in Growi.

1. 1

   Find creators

   Post a job on the Canvas UGC marketplace and get matches ranked on the views creators actually get. Or add creators you already work with by URL.

   In Growi:Post a campaign to its marketplace, or let Juno find creators and message them. Creators pay 10% at hire.

2. 2

   Write the deal

   Put the agreed terms in the campaign: retainer, per-video pay by platform, CPM tiers, bonuses and caps.

   In Growi:Per view, per post, fixed or retainer, with tiers, view caps and commissions per store.

3. 3

   Track every post

   Every creator's account and post across TikTok, Reels, Shorts, Facebook and Snapchat lands in one table.

   In Growi:Creators join by invite link, and posts are matched by hashtag, mention, keyword or the whole account.

4. 4

   Approve and pay

   Check each calculated payout, adjust it if needed, then pay up to 50 creators at once.

   In Growi:Pay from a pre-funded balance, by ACH or by card at 3%; creators receive it in their Stripe account.

Where each one is better

What teams running creator programs say

Moving from Growi

You don't have to move everything at once. Some teams keep Growi for TikTok Shop affiliates and seeding, and run the creators they pay on views in viral.app. Before you move creators, read section 7 of Growi's terms: creators "sourced, discovered, introduced, invited, hired, or otherwise engaged through Growi", including through its marketplace, discovery tools and outreach, must be paid only through Growi while its terms apply. Creators you worked with before Growi are the clearest to move; for the rest, ask Growi in writing.

1. Day 1Add your creators' accountsPaste the account URLs, or send us the list and we add them. Nobody has to sign up.
2. Day 1Write your deals as rulesEnter each creator's terms and test them on recent videos before anyone posts.
3. First cycleRun both side by sideKeep Growi for one payout cycle and compare views and amounts line by line.
4. After thatPay from viral.appCreators claim with one link. Cancel Growi before it renews; its fees aren't refunded.

Questions about Growi

Other Growi alternatives

• SideShiftA large creator marketplace with tracking and payouts.viral.app vs SideShift
• TrybeCreator ads and payouts for ecommerce brands.viral.app vs Trybe
• ShortimizeShort-form tracking with alerts and CPM payments.viral.app vs Shortimize
• GradeCreator payouts and compliance on their own.viral.app vs Grade