The right referral platform empowers you to build a program that turns your best customers into organic acquisition channels. You can stop relying so heavily on paid advertising or affiliates and start growing your business effortlessly.
But tapping into the benefits of referral marketing means finding the right platform for your brand’s unique needs. Easier said than done. One option we see talked about a lot is Friendbuy, which is trusted not only by e-commerce brands but physical retailers as well.
It’s a solid choice for enterprise-level companies. You get to customize the program to keep the experience cohesive for customers, and you can also personalize rewards to customers’ desires. The advanced analytics for referral and loyalty programs is impressive, too.
Unfortunately, though, it’s not the right fit for the vast majority of Shopify brands. It’s too complex, too expensive, and takes too long to ship. You need something simpler and more intuitive, and your search for all the best Friendbuy alternatives ends here at Rivo.
We’ll help you weigh your options below so you can get started reaping the benefits of referral programs in your business ASAP. The fastest way to start generating an ROI is with a Shopify referral program built on the Rivo platform.
We’re your trusted choice for all things loyalty and referrals. It takes just a few clicks to connect to your Shopify backend, and then you can get a white-labeled referral marketing program that natively matches your brand and website. Book a demo today, or learn more below!
What is Friendbuy?
Friendbuy is a referral and loyalty platform built for both enterprise and Shopify brands, with deep customization and performance-focused features embedded throughout the entire solution.
After getting set up, you can inject widgets directly into Shopify themes and checkout pages for seamless referral and rewards experiences. You can create branded referral flows, loyalty challenges, and VIP tiers, with full control over fonts, colors, and user experience.
The Friendbuy experience is white-glove from start to finish. You’ll have a solutions architect and onboarding manager for custom-fit implementation and seamless historical data migration when you decide to move forward with the platform.
Part of what makes Friendbuy a great solution is how much control you get over incentives. You can offer coupons, store credit, cash-back, or gift cards. Widgets can deliver post-purchase pop-ups, QR-code referrals, or multi-tier engagement funnels like contests or ambassador campaigns.
Reporting is extensive as well, so you can optimize the referral program over time. Friendbuy allows A/B testing across offers, tracks referral visits and conversions, and measures the lifetime value of new customers.
You can integrate directly with Shopify POS, Klaviyo, Segment, SMS providers, and billing systems like Recharge to increase reach and relevancy, delivering a loyalty program across any channel.
There’s a lot to love about Friendbuy as an enterprise-grade, multi-channel referral + loyalty tool that balances design, automation, and analytics. But, there’s a reason more and more Shopify brands specifically are looking for Friendbuy alternatives.
Where Friendbuy Falls Short for Shopify Brands
Don’t get us wrong, Friendbuy is a powerful platform for the right brand. But it’s far from a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s not designed for smaller brands or even mid-sized companies that want more control over their referral program. Here are some of the common complaints we found in Friendbuy reviews.
Enterprise Pricing With a Long Ramp-Up
You can tell a lot about a company by looking at its pricing page. You can tell even more about a company when it doesn’t even have a pricing page.
Friendbuy forces you to request a demo and quote with no public pricing available. Some brands that made the switch said pricing starts at $2,000 and quickly ramps up based on order volume, whether you want real-time analytics, and how many integrations you need.
There’s an even bigger red flag, though - some brands say they were locked into a one-year contract as the bare minimum for leveraging the Friendbuy platform.
Cost aside, the setup is consultative and high-touch. Again, that’s not a bad thing if you’re an enterprise-level company looking to hand the program off to a third party and let them take the reins. But the process can take weeks, slowing down brands eager to launch quickly.
Separate Referral + Loyalty Modules
Referral and loyalty go hand in hand. After all, you can’t get customers to refer their friends and family if they aren’t at that stage in the customer loyalty ladder where they’re ready to advocate on your behalf!
But, these functionalities are sold and managed separately with Friendbuy, adding complexity and cost to what should be a cohesive ecosystem. Having distinct campaigns, configurations, and billing layers fragments management and dilutes the customer experience.
Developer Dependency for Advanced Customization
While Friendbuy provides APIs and Shopify integrations, many features still require developer support - especially purchase validation via a private app.
Custom rewards for specific SKUs, POS logic, or campaign embeds need code implementation. Brands without engineering bandwidth may face delays adapting or iterating. This is just not practical for many Shopify brands.
No Native Visual Builder
The quality of your referral program landing page can make or break results. Unfortunately, you’ll have to settle for widget code embedding with Friendbuy rather than an intuitive, streamlined visual builder.
This makes testing, creative tweaks, and content updates cumbersome for non-technical teams. Changes often circle back to dev requests, slowing optimization cycles. So not only is it slow to launch, it’s slow to perfect.
The Best Friendbuy Alternatives in 2025
Friendbuy definitely brings some unique features to the table, and it could be just what you need if you’re taking the lead on building out a loyalty or referral program for your enterprise.
But what if you’re a Shopify brand focused more on customization, ease of use, and affordability? Friendbuy falls short. Don’t worry, though - there are plenty of great Friendbuy alternatives worth exploring, and we’ve rounded up the top 5 choices right now.
Simplify referral marketing with the best platform for the job, Rivo.
Rivo
Rivo was built specifically for building a Shopify loyalty program or referral program. While enterprise tools like Friendbuy make you work around their architecture, Rivo is embedded directly in the Shopify ecosystem.
Translation: no need to deal with the hassle of Zapier, dev work, or headaches trying to sync customer data, orders, or discount logic. Your rewards are tied directly to actions that actually matter, be it verified purchases or fulfilled orders.
Rivo blends loyalty and referrals into one cohesive system, too, so you don’t have to juggle separate tools or experiences. You can offer points, exclusive discounts, cash-back, or custom rewards, all managed from a clean dashboard that syncs with your Shopify store in real-time.
But what really sets us apart is our flexibility without the friction. Want to build a double-sided program with unique rewards for VIPs only? Done. Want to create limited-time seasonal campaigns or tiered rewards by customer segment? You don’t need to book a call or wait two weeks. Just log in and do it.
While Friendbuy leaves you reliant on their white-glove service, we empower you to take control of your loyalty and referral marketing efforts. Nothing is off-limits, and you don’t have to write a single line of code either. From reward logic to email flows, it’s all customizable and fast.
You can run aggressive offers without worrying about abuse since Rivo has built-in fraud protection that actually ties to your Shopify orders (not just form submissions). In other words, you can rest assured that your referral program is generating a positive ROI.
Don’t just take our word for it, though. Plenty of brands have already made the switch to Rivo Referrals and are seeing incredible results. For instance, HexClad generated nearly half a million in the first 90 days of launching, with a 17% lift in AOV and a 92x ROI!
This is referral marketing the way Shopify brands actually work: agile, automated, and ROI-focused. No inflated pricing, waiting, or hand-holding. Just a referral engine that drives growth from the first day. Book a consultation today and take the next step.
“This app is legit. Super easy to navigate and a ton of customization. Still learning as we go but the support team, Abbie specifically, has been incredibly helpful, responsive and overall amazing. I highly recommend if you guys are looking for a solid loyalty referral program app for your business!” - Bidet Buddy
“Working with Pete at Rivo Loyalty Rewards Referrals was an absolute pleasure! His expertise and professionalism are truly unmatched. Not only did he take care of exactly what I needed, but he went above and beyond to ensure everything was perfect—and he did it all in less than 30 seconds! Pete made the entire process seamless, and his attention to detail and commitment to exceptional service left a lasting impression. I highly recommend!” - Chazam Fans
“This was the best customer service I've experienced! Abbie went above and beyond to help me. She went as far as to giving me resources and suggesting ideas for my site. I am very satisfied with the support I received and glad that I chose Rivo.” - Sabours Scarves
ReferralCandy
ReferralCandy also commonly suggested for Shopify brands seeking out Friendbuy alternatives, and it’s easy to see why. You can ship fast with a Shopify-friendly setup and prebuilt email templates. A lot of brands say it only took 30 minutes to go live - that’s really quick!
The platform is beginner-friendly and ideal for brands just starting out with referral marketing. The FlexiTiers reward system also offers some incentive customization, so you can scale rewards as referrers bring in more customers.
Add integrations with Klaviyo, Recharge, and Google Analytics, and you’ve got a marketing stack that talks to each other rather than a bunch of solutions living in separate silos.
But, ReferralCandy starts to show its limitations after you get up and running. Customization is somewhat surface-level. You can edit your branding, but you’re boxed in when it comes to campaign logic and loyalty segmentation.
The dashboard feels dated, too. The whole ReferralCandy experience can feel more like training wheels than a long-term growth engine for growing brands who want complete control over every detail, from rewards logic to incentives.
Rivo gives you more control over how you design your flows, more flexibility across all platforms, and a loyalty and referral solution that scales with your growth. We go beyond simply being plug-and-play; we let you build-it-your-way.
Talkable
Talkable is all about campaign customization, making it one of the most powerful Friendbuy alternatives at your fingertips. From floating widgets to post-purchase popups to advanced A/B testing, it’s all designed to help brands extract more value from every referral moment.
Want to embed customer-generated videos into your referral flow? Talkable does that. Need a high-touch success team to help you iterate? They’ve got you covered. It’s a mature platform built for brands with big budgets and even bigger marketing teams.
Talkable brings enterprise-level firepower to the table, there’s no doubt about that. It’s a bit more of an apples-to-apples comparison for those seeking out Friendbuy alternatives. But if you found yourself looking for Friendbuy alternatives, you may end up seeking out Talkable alternatives for the same reasons.
You’ll need time, resources, and internal buy-in to get the most out of Talkable. This isn’t the kind of platform you set up in a day. It can quickly become overkill for early-stage or lean DTC teams.
Even though the solution has top-tier fraud prevention features, the cost of access can be prohibitive unless you're already operating at scale. Rivo tends to strike a better balance. You get enterprise-grade capability with startup-friendly speed and ease for the best of both worlds.
Referral Rock
Referral Rock’s pitch is simple: “Let us do the work for you.” And to be fair, they deliver. You’ll get a dedicated onboarding specialist, tailored campaign copy, and strategic advice to guide your program from concept to launch.
Their team is responsive, their support is real, and they go a long way to remove the guesswork for busy brands who want as hands-off a referral program as possible. It seems to be one of the more compelling Friendbuy alternatives for busy brands, but it comes with its fair share of flaws.
Referral Rock leans heavily on its white-glove approach, but that means slower execution if you're the kind of brand that moves fast. This is one of the same complaints brands have about Friendbuy!
The platform also feels more geared toward B2B and services than DTC with reward logic and sharing experiences that aren’t built with mobile-first shopping behavior in mind.
There’s no real-time design control, either, and many campaigns rely on hosted pages feel detached from your brand’s native experience. Congruency is everything when it comes to referral marketing - or loyalty in general, for that matter.
Meanwhile, Rivo gives you speed without sacrificing quality. Our tools are intuitive enough to launch in minutes and powerful enough to tailor every flow to your brand. It’s the perfect middle ground.
Lootly
Last but not least, we have Lootly, the final mention on our list of Friendbuy alternatives. This flexible loyalty and referral platform brings you a robust points system with customizable actions and a clean interface.
While it’s a loyalty program first and foremost, it does have a referral engine integrated into the platform as well. You can set different rewards for the referrer and the referred friend.
Lootly makes it really easy to gamify the customer experience with perks and badges. It’s competitively priced too. But its strength is also its limitation. As a loyalty-first platform, the referral tools tend to feel like an add-on rather than the sole focus.
Referral tracking is simple, but lacks the real segmentation or logic-based workflows needed for performance-focused marketers. It’s also not ideal for teams who want deep integrations with Klaviyo, GA, or advanced flows. You can brand your widgets, but you can’t build nuanced campaigns that actually drive LTV.
Rivo gives referrals the attention they deserve with the tools to segment, test, and scale, all under one roof. You don’t have to choose between retention and acquisition since you get loyalty, referrals, and reviews in one stack. Set yourself up for success today with Rivo.
Final Words on Friendbuy Alternatives
Friendbuy is definitely a polished, enterprise-grade solution with solid customization - but it’s more power than you’ll use (and more cost than you can justify) if you’re a Shopify brand.
Between the dev-heavy setup, separate loyalty and referral modules, and lack of native Shopify functionality, it’s notorious for slowing down the very teams it’s meant to help. The good news is you should feel confident picking among the top Friendbuy alternatives at this point.
You can learn more about how a referral program works in our blog if you’d like. We also have resources on building a referral program vs affiliate program, the customer acquisition journey, and a whole lot more to empower you along your loyalty/referral marketing journey.
Rivo gives you the automation, flexibility, and scalability you need without the drag or overhead. We encourage you to book a demo now if you’re a lean, fast-moving brand looking for an intuitive platform built specifically for Shopify.
Launch smarter with the all-in-one Shopify solution. Power your next phase of growth with Rivo’s referral and loyalty engine today!
