Shopify Collabs
Shopify Collabs vs UpPromote: which affiliate app fits your store?
Pick Shopify Collabs if you want a free app to gift and pay creators, and you can work inside its limits. Pick UpPromote if you want a marketplace listing or a paid creator search, and you'll pay a monthly fee plus a cut of sales for it.
You still have to find people and get them to apply. Shopify Collabs is Shopify's own app for working with creators. UpPromote is a third-party affiliate app on the Shopify App Store.
Collabs and UpPromote side by side
| Shopify Collabs | UpPromote | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free to install | Free plan. Growth $29.99, Professional $89.99, Enterprise $199.99 a month |
| Fee on sales or payouts | 2.9% on each automatic commission payment | 2%, 1.5% or 1% of referral sales on paid plans |
| Free trial | No trial needed, the app is free | 14 days on every paid plan |
| Finding people | Recruiting search of creators with a Collabs profile | Marketplace listing from Growth, plus Creator Discovery from $39 a month |
| Limits | 100 invites in any 7 days. Open creator sign-ups paused | No invite cap listed. Creator Discovery's $39 tier has 35 profile views |
| App Store rating | 4.2 from 440 reviews | 4.9 from 3,904 reviews |
Every fact here comes from Shopify's or UpPromote's own pages, read on 22 October 2026. Links are in the sources at the foot of the page.
How much do Collabs and UpPromote cost?
Collabs is free to install, and it lets you send creators gifts or discount codes (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026). It works on all Shopify plans except Starter and Retail (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026). Shopify adds "a 2.9% processing fee applied to every automatic commission payment", which shows on your Shopify bill (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026).
UpPromote has a free plan. Paid plans cost $29.99, $89.99 or $199.99 a month, with a fee of 2%, 1.5% and 1% of referral sales respectively (UpPromote pricing, checked 22 October 2026). Growth drops to $24.99 a month if you pay yearly (UpPromote pricing, checked 22 October 2026).
Let's say affiliates bring you $5,000 of sales in a month, and you pay a 15% commission, which is $750. On Collabs, the fee is 2.9% of $750, about $22. On UpPromote Growth, it's $29.99 plus 2% of $5,000, about $130. So Collabs is cheaper than UpPromote Growth on these rates. Neither figure includes payment-processor fees, and the result moves with your commission rate. UpPromote's fee is on sales, and Collabs' is on payouts, so check your own numbers.
How do they help you find creators?
Collabs has a Recruiting search. You search by keyword or location, narrow by platform or audience size, then invite (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026). You can invite up to 100 in any 7-day period, as our invite limit guide explains. And Collabs "isn't accepting new creator signups at this time", so open sign-ups can't grow the pool (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026).
UpPromote lists your programme in its marketplace from the Growth plan. A marketplace is a directory where affiliates browse brands and apply. It also sells Creator Discovery, a creator search, from $39 a month. UpPromote's docs say the $39 tier includes 35 profile report views (UpPromote docs, checked 22 October 2026).
Both still rely on people coming to you or matching a search. Neither app lists a feature that finds those blogs and emails their writers. We found no mention of one on the pages listed below. Our guide to finding creators for Collabs covers that step.
What does UpPromote say about Collabs?
UpPromote has published its own comparison, last updated 25 September 2026 (UpPromote blog, checked 22 October 2026). It's UpPromote's view, not a neutral one. It says Collabs lacks tiered commission and a customer referral programme. It suggests a third-party app once you pass about 50 affiliates. We haven't tested those claims.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Collabs if:
- You mostly send gifts and codes to creators.
- You want no monthly fee.
- You'll stay under 100 invites a week.
Pick UpPromote if:
- You want a marketplace listing so affiliates can find you.
- You want a paid creator search inside your affiliate app.
- You want the features UpPromote says Collabs lacks, such as tiered commission.
Pick either, plus a finding tool, if your programme is live but nobody good joins. Changing apps won't fix an empty programme.
Where does RecruitAffiliates.ai fit?
It fills whichever app you choose. It isn't a third option to them.
You type your website. RecruitAffiliates.ai finds people who promote your rivals. That means websites, blogs, review sites, newsletters and podcasts. It also covers YouTube channels, and Instagram and TikTok creators. It gets the email found for each person and sends a personal outreach sequence from your inbox. All you do is reply. Each email carries your own sign-up link. Use whichever app you pick for the sign-up link. There's no integration with either app.
Whichever app you pick, someone has to find the people. Here is one scan.
We ran this · 22 October 2026
A first scan showed a median of 92 people per brand.
- Median 92 people shown per brand, from 35 to 188.
- 64% had a review, roundup or comparison page as their best evidence.
A first search for a brand, 22 Oct 2026, 30 public Shopify brands in all. It stopped at finding addresses and ran no email checks, which the product runs when a campaign starts (what each result means). In a 30-row check, 9 were not promoters (likely 17% to 48%). Full method and limits.
See our pricing. Launch costs $79 a month, or $790 a year. Grow costs $199 a month, or $1,990 a year. You can try it free for 7 days with no card.
Questions people ask
Is Shopify Collabs better than UpPromote?
Neither is better for every store. Collabs is free, with a 2.9% fee on automatic payouts. UpPromote costs more but adds a marketplace listing and a paid creator search.
Can I use Shopify Collabs and UpPromote together?
You can install both. We'd avoid it, since both would try to credit the same sales. A simpler setup is one app to track and pay, plus a separate way to find people.
Does UpPromote have a creator limit like Collabs?
UpPromote's pricing page lists no invite cap like Collabs' 100 in any 7 days. Its Creator Discovery add-on limits profile report views, with 35 on the $39 tier.
Which app has more reviews?
On 22 October 2026, UpPromote had 3,904 reviews at 4.9 stars. Collabs had 440 reviews at 4.2 stars.
How do I move from Collabs to UpPromote?
Our advice, not UpPromote's: set up your programme in UpPromote first. Then give each affiliate their new link and code before you stop tracking in Collabs, so no sale goes untracked.
Sources
All checked on 22 October 2026.
- Shopify Help Center, Collabs payments, 2.9% processing fee.
- Shopify Help Center, recruiting creators, search filters, 100 invites in any 7 days.
- Shopify Help Center, Shopify Collabs, no new creators at this time.
- Shopify Help Center, Collabs for merchants, plan eligibility.
- Shopify App Store, Shopify Collabs, 4.2 from 440 reviews.
- UpPromote, pricing, plans, fees, 14-day trial, marketplace, Creator Discovery.
- UpPromote docs, pricing details, Creator Discovery report views.
- Shopify App Store, UpPromote, 4.9 from 3,904 reviews.
- UpPromote blog, Shopify Collabs vs third-party affiliate apps, UpPromote's view.