Every Shopify brand should make an effort to turn their best customers into an organic acquisition channel. It’s easy with the right referral program - but with so many solutions at your fingertips, it’s not quite so easy to narrow it down to just one.
A lot of brands are drawn towards Referral Rock as a simple way to launch, integrate, optimize, and scale any sort of word-of-mouth marketing endeavor, be it a referral program vs affiliate program. However, not every referral program works for every brand.
Referral Rock isn’t tailored to the specific needs and challenges Shopify sellers have. Fortunately, there are no shortage of great Referral Rock alternatives specifically for your online storefront. We’ve put together this list just for you:
- Rivo
- Friendbuy
- Referral Factory
- Talkable
- Referral Candy
Learn more about what each brings to the table below, or save yourself the time and stress by just choosing Rivo - the #1 platform for your Shopify referral program.
You get a white-labeled program for a cohesive customer experience, and you can pull in all your Shopify customer accounts' data to deliver a personalized experience every step of the way. The best brands on Shopify Plus run on Rivo - follow suit today!
What is Referral Rock?
This full-featured referral marketing platform helps brands automate word-of-mouth growth at scale. After all, this is one of the most powerful ways to grow your bottom line sustainably, according to many customer retention statistics. What makes Referral Rock special, though?
Unlike simple plug-ins or DIY setups, you get an end-to-end solution that feels almost “done-for-you,” blending hands-on guidance with a flexible software suite. You can remove the guesswork and manual work from running a referral program, turning your attention to growth.
The platform supports a wide range of program types, from classic customer referrals to influencer campaigns, ambassador programs, and affiliate partnerships. It’s a versatile solution for all your word-of-mouth marketing goals.
Key features include one-click sharing tools, customizable landing pages, hosted member portals, automated rewards, and advanced tracking. It’s easy to implement a wide array of customer referral program ideas, too. That includes discounts, gift cards, or even cash payouts.
All this is managed from the customers’ reward engine. You get a ton of flexibility in a single package, whether you’re doing eCommerce, B2B, or running a service-based business. They say a jack of all trades is a master of none, though, and that’s why Referral Rock alternatives may be a better fit. More on that in a moment.
Another area where Referral Rock stands out is its concierge-level onboarding and support. Every customer gets a dedicated advisor to help craft a reward strategy, build messaging, and handle integrations with tools like Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, Mailchimp, and more.
It’s not the simplest or cheapest option for smaller teams, but makes sense for brands willing to pay a premium for customization, reliability, and expert guidance. That said, it’s not the optimal referral engine for a lot of Shopify brands.
Why You Might Want an Alternative to Referral Rock For Your Brand
Don’t get us wrong, Referral Rock has its place - especially for B2B and service-based businesses. It doesn’t have a direct integration with Shopify, though, and you’ll have to pay a pretty penny for a white-labeled experience and stronger customer support.
We’ve talked with quite a few Shopify brands who made the switch from Referral Rock, or had sales consultations before ultimately deciding to go with Rivo instead. Here are some of the most common reasons they mentioned looking for Referral Rock alternatives.
Referral Programs Tailored to Shopify
Referral Rock does integrate with Shopify, but it’s probably going to call for quite a bit of developer assistance to make it work. That’s because the solution wasn’t purpose-built for Shopify stores.
So, you won’t get the deep, native capabilities like embedded campaigns in Shopify themes, checkout-based reward previews, or seamless Shopify order validation baked into the flow. DTC brands looking to create a referral experience that feels like a true extension of their storefront will find it falls a bit short of what they need.
An On-Brand, White-Labeled Experience
Referral Rock supports customization, but it still relies on hosted pages and pre-set layouts that may require developer help to fully align with your visual brand.
We know brands want every element to feel entirely their own, from referral widgets to email templates. The Referral Rock experience can feel a bit restrictive in this regard.
Fortunately, some of the Referral Rock alternatives we’ll unpack below are built with effortless customization for your storefront in mind. From pre-designed templates to drag-and-drop editors, you are in complete control of how your referral landing page looks - and the overall experience itself, of course.
Easy to Take Control Of
One of Referral Rock’s strongest selling points is its hands-on guidance and concierge support. However, that can also be a drawback for lean teams who just want to log in, build, and launch campaigns themselves without waiting on consults or back-and-forths.
Shopify-native alternatives tend to offer more marketer-friendly visual builders and self-serve controls so you can test and iterate quickly. Speed is everything for D2C brands.
More Ways to Encourage Engagement Beyond Purchases
Referral Rock is heavily optimized for straightforward referral programs where a user is rewarded for getting someone to make a purchase. But maybe you want to expand into loyalty, gamification, or just reward a wider range of actions beyond purchases and referrals.
Many Shopify-first platforms combine referrals, loyalty points, and even VIP tiers in one unified experience. This consolidates your tech stack and ensures everything plays nicely. It also goes back to keeping the experience cohesive across every single touch point.
Strong Support Regardless of Account Size
Referral Rock shines when working with larger, enterprise-level brands. This is reflected in their pricing and resource allocation. Unfortunately, the level of support and cost-to-benefit ratio may not always feel balanced for smaller or scaling DTC brands.
The good news? Other solutions deliver strong support and faster turnaround without requiring enterprise-level spend. The best Referral Rock alternatives treat their boutique sellers the same way they do massive corporations running on Shopify.
The Top 5 Referral Rock Alternatives
You’re not alone if you’re reevaluating your referral program and looking beyond Referral Rock, or simply looking to start with the right solution from the get-go. Many brands find that while Referral Rock offers a capable platform, it’s not always the perfect fit for Shopify-first teams or those looking for more flexibility, speed, and control.
That’s why we decided to put together our list of the top 5 Referral Rock alternatives so you can make the most of your referral marketing efforts. Set yourself up for success with the one that delivers the most value for Shopify brands: Rivo.
Rivo
Rivo is the clear choice for brands that want a referral platform built specifically for how modern eCommerce operates - fast-moving, Shopify-native, and obsessively on-brand.
In contrast with other platforms that take months to roll out or feel disconnected from your Shopify flow, Rivo lets you launch fully branded, white-labeled referral programs in minutes, directly from your Shopify admin. You need zero developer experience to get started.
This is all thanks to the intuitive drag-and-drop campaign builder - but don’t mistake simplicity for a lack of power and customization. You get control over every detail without leaning on developers or customer support guidance (although we’re always a click or call away).
You can design beautiful, embedded campaigns that match your theme, preview rewards dynamically at checkout, and even segment campaigns based on customer behavior without ever leaving your Shopify interface.
The platform is designed with advanced fraud prevention tools most competitors don’t match: IP address checks, order fulfillment validation, cookie tracking, and minimum purchase rules. That means fewer headaches and more confidence that rewards are going to the right customers.
On top of that, Rivo doesn’t penalize you for not being an enterprise giant. Support is responsive, personalized, and available regardless of your account size. Pricing scales with your Shopify order volume, keeping it accessible for growing brands.
You can also round out your retention and growth efforts with our Shopify loyalty program. This is a great way to nurture customers and push them higher up the customer loyalty ladder so they eventually turn into brand advocates that bring new people into your ecosystem.
Take the next step by connecting with our team for a demo today, or check out some of our case studies to get a better sense of what’s possible with Rivo. For instance, one brand saw $450k in referral-attributed revenue within 90 days of launch!
Get started today and jumpstart your own referral program, on your own terms, with Rivo.
Friendbuy
It’s hard to top Rivo as the #1 alternative to Referral Rock, but Friendbuy presents a compelling case itself. This feature-rich platform is trusted by some of the biggest enterprise brands in eCommerce because it was designed specifically for eCommerce, not for every business.
You gain access to highly customizable program assets, flexible reward options (like points, credits, gift cards, and SKU-based perks), and a dedicated onboarding team that walks you through strategy, design, and implementation so you can make the most of the solution.
Friendbuy also provides advanced analytics and testing tools so you can optimize campaigns over time, and you’ll find deep integrations with CDPs, CRMs, email, and SMS platforms to connect your referral data to your broader marketing stack.
It’s a bit more expensive than Referral Rock, though, which is why a lot of brands ultimately end up looking into Friendbuy alternatives at the end of the day.
Cost aside, though, Friendbuy is a better fit for enterprise-level Shopify brands. The experience can feel heavy with a long onboarding ramp and developer dependencies for styling widgets, configuring advanced campaigns, or making quick updates.
As it turns out, we have a lot of brands that come to Rivo as a Friendbuy alternative, too, because our fast, embedded setup and intuitive builder is so much easier to manage without sacrificing quality.
Referral Factory
Referral Factory is among the fastest ways to build and launch referral programs, so it’s one of the most commonly considered Referral Rock alternatives.
You can leverage a library of hundreds of templates to help you spin up campaigns in minutes. Their drag-and-drop editor is approachable, and they provide automated tracking, reward management, and even access to a network of affiliates to amplify reach.
Referral Factory also supports a wide range of reward types, from cash and vouchers to tokens and swag. It integrates with common CRM and marketing platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zapier so you don’t have to stress about your technology living in a silo.
But for all its speed, Referral Factory falls short in some ways. It’s a generalist solution built to work for any business model - one of the main reasons Shopify brands in particular end up looking for a Referral Rock alternative.
That often means you’re left without much in the way of deep native integrations, and there aren’t many embedded campaign features inside the Shopify checkout or customer portal. Fraud prevention tools are also fairly basic compared to the sophisticated checks in Rivo.
Talkable
Talkable is a premium, enterprise-grade referral platform with a focus on structured campaigns and ongoing optimization.
It offers advanced features like A/B testing, segmentation, user-generated video referrals, influencer and ambassador campaign support, and fraud prevention backed by their own proprietary algorithms.
You also get a dedicated account team to help manage and optimize campaigns, making it appealing to larger brands with complex needs. But if you are on a lower tier without the dedicated account manager, you’ll be stuck with only email support.
It’s also important to note that brands looking for Referral Rock alternatives because the platform isn’t Shopify-first may end up in need of Talkable alternatives for the same reason. It’s a platform-agnostic solution, so you won’t find Shopify-native embedding or seamless checkout integrations.
Launching and iterating on campaigns requires working with their support or dev team as well, so you end up becoming somewhat dependent on that dedicated account team we mentioned earlier. You may feel limited in terms of speed and autonomy with Talkable.
That’s why ultimately, Rivo is the #1 choice for Shopify brands in 2025 and beyond. You get similar fraud controls, segmentation, and campaign flexibility but in a lightweight, drag-and-drop interface purpose-built for Shopify.
Referral Candy
Last but not least we have Referral Candy, a popular referral app within the Shopify ecosystem. That means it’s easy to use without the need for extensive dev work or long-winded onboarding.
But, brands also love its affordable entry-level pricing compared to Referral Rock and similar solutions. You can integrate seamlessly not just with Shopity but connected software, too, like Recharge, Klaviyo, and other marketing tools.
Referral Candy is an excellent way to set up and optimize straightforward “Give/Get” campaigns with coupons, store credit, or cash rewards. It also offers fraud detection, flexible reward options, and embedded post-purchase widgets to encourage sharing at the right moments.
So, why are more and more brands seeking out Referralcandy alternatives in the same way they look for Referral Rock alternatives? The simplicity can come at the cost of flexibility, which is more important to a lot of Shopify brands.
ReferralCandy is best for straightforward, one-size-fits-all referral campaigns. That probably doesn’t align with your vision for this program, though. You want to create segmented campaigns, embed dynamic campaign elements at checkout, or design tiered or milestone-based programs.
Fortunately, Rivo delivers the same ease of use and Shopify-native feel while offering advanced segmentation, better fraud prevention, and more ways to design campaigns that fit your exact customer journey. Don’t settle for less - get started with the best today!
Wrapping Up Our List of Referral Rock Alternatives
We hope this guide has helped you feel more confident choosing a stronger alternative to Referral Rock as a Shopify brand. The solution works well for B2B brands or service-based businesses looking for a managed, generalist referral solution.
That said, it doesn’t make sense for fast-moving Shopify sellers looking to turn their most loyal customers into an organic acquisition channel. Of all the Referral Rock alternatives at your fingertips, Rivo checks the most boxes.
Whether you value a white-labeled experience, seamless Shopify integration, or deeper engagement tools at an affordable price that still leaves you plenty of profit on your bottom line, we deliver.
Request a demo now or take the next step towards getting your program off the ground at Rivo.
