12 Grin Alternatives For Cost-Effective Influencer Marketing

Maybe you’re an existing GRIN customer searching for a new influencer marketing platform. Or perhaps you like the look of GRIN’s features but want to know what other options are out there.

Either way, you’re in the right place, because I’ve analyzed literally dozens of tools to bring you a comprehensive list of the best GRIN alternatives, including a side-by-side look at how each platform compares to GRIN.

Why consider GRIN alternatives?

GRIN certainly isn’t a bad influencer marketing platform. It has a large database of 190+ million influencers; it offers built-in social listening to uncover influencers who are talking about your brand; and it integrates with over a dozen other tools, including ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.

But it also has its fair share of problems…

Influencer authentication: Monitoring content requires influencers to connect their social accounts to GRIN. If they’re sharing content on multiple platforms, they’ll have to connect each one. (Either that or manually upload all their content to GRIN.) It adds an extra task onto every partnership, making for a bumpier influencer experience.

Content tracking: GRIN only tracks content featuring the correct hashtag or mention. So if an influencer tags a post incorrectly, GRIN won’t capture it 🤦‍♀️ Also, rules around tagging/mentions vary by network (e.g. on TikTok, hashtags must be added in the caption, not through the “tag people” option), so there’s a lot of scope for errors here.

Influencer payments: GRIN only supports payments via PayPal – which means extra fees for your influencer partners.

Transparent pricing: You won’t find any pricing information on GRIN’s website, which is always a little frustrating. However, Capterra says prices start at $999 per month, so it’s certainly not cheap 💸

Ease of use: While any new tool takes a little getting used to, “complexity” is a common complaint among GRIN customers.

Self-serve purchase options: There’s no way to sign up for a free trial of GRIN yourself. Instead, you have to request a product demo. It’s an extra barrier in the path to purchase.

Trajectory: GRIN used to be a huge deal, but it’s announced multiple rounds of redundancies in recent months (like this one and this one). So they’re clearly getting something wrong 📉

If any of those sounds like an issue to you, it’s worth considering GRIN alternatives. So, without further ado, here they are…

1. Modash

🥇 Best for: End-to-end influencer marketing for Shopify stores

🤔 What is it: Modash is an end-to-end influencer marketing platform for Shopify stores. Use it to find and recruit influencers, manage influencer relationships, streamline influencer gifting, track live content, and pay your creator partners. Our best-in-class Shopify integration is perfect for Shopify stores looking to grow their audience and drive sales through influencer marketing.

🤼‍♂️ Modash vs GRIN:

Shopify integration: GRIN integrates with BigCommerce, Magento, Shopify, and WooCommerce, whereas Modash only does Shopify. But Modash’s Shopify integration is the best on the market, letting you create promo codes, track clicks and redemptions, manage affiliate links, and simplify influencer product orders.

‍

Influencer database: GRIN allows you to search 190+ million influencer profiles across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Modash covers the same platforms but has a way larger database of 350+ million influencers, comprising every influencer with 1,000+ followers.

‍

Streamlined content tracking: GRIN requires influencers to connect their social accounts and use the right hashtags/mentions to capture live content. Whereas Modash’s Event Mode automatically pulls in every piece of influencer content (including Stories) throughout the length of your campaign, based on predefined dates.

‍

‍

Influencer-friendly payments: Both platforms offer a built-in payment facility. But GRIN forces you to pay influencers individually via PayPal, meaning extra fees for your influencer partners. Whereas with Modash, you only pay one invoice – to us – and we send the money to all your influencers in one of 36 currencies, quickly.

‍

‍

Outreach personalization: GRIN lets you add basic personalization to outreach emails using variables like first name and username. But with Modash, we give you at-a-glance access to vital influencer outreach intelligence like performance metrics, custom notes, and previous brand collabs, helping you craft messages that feel truly personal.

‍

‍

Transparent pricing: GRIN doesn’t publish pricing information, whereas Modash’s pricing page gives you an in-depth look at our plans, features, and how much they cost. As an added bonus, Modash also offers a self-serve free trial and rolling monthly contracts.

‍

💵 Price: Modash offers a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start at $199/month (paid annually) or $299/month (paid monthly). 👉 Modash Plans and Pricing

‍

🤝 Used by: Birkenstock, Bonprix, Victoria’s Secret, Mont Blanc, Sennheiser

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.9/5 (Capterra), ★ 5/5 (Shopify App Store), ★ 4.9/5 (G2)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Modash is unmatched. Its huge data pool lets us quickly find thousands of creators with the right audience.” – Maris Niilus, Influencer Campaign Specialist at Trendhim

‍

‍

2. Later Influence (FKA Mavrck)

‍

🥇 Best for: Full-funnel influencer marketing with optional managed services

‍

🤔 What is it: Later Influence – formerly Mavrck – is a dedicated influencer marketing tool owned by social media management platform Later. As well as its self-serve offering, Later Influence offers a full-service managed influencer marketing solution.

‍

🤼‍♂️ Later Influence vs GRIN:

‍

Managed service: GRIN is purely a self-serve platform, whereas Later Influence also offers an agency-style solution for brands who’d rather outsource influencer program management.

‍

Influencer database: Platform screenshots show Later’s Influencer Index database included just under 10.6 million profiles at time of writing. That’s about 19x smaller than GRIN’s database.

‍

Integrations: Later Influence only integrates with two third-party tools – Shopify and Mavely Links – whereas GRIN integrates with over a dozen, including ecommerce platforms, messaging tools, and cloud storage solutions.

‍

💵 Price: Later Influence doesn’t offer a free trial and doesn’t publish pricing information 🤷

‍

🤝 Used by: American Girl, GoPro, Pottery Barn

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.5/5 (G2), ★ 4.6/5 (Capterra), ★ 8.2/10 (TrustRadius)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Later Influence is a really easy, seamless, and cost-efficient way for us to get not only lots of content but good content.” – Leah Hydzik, Social Media Marketing Manager at American Greetings

‍

3. BuzzSumo

‍

🥇 Best for: Finding influential journalists in your niche

‍

🤔 What is it: BuzzSumo is a media monitoring tool. So why’s it in this article? Because it also helps you track down the high-performing influencers who are most likely to share your content. (Plus it’s a superb source for content inspiration.)

‍

🤼‍♂️ BuzzSumo vs GRIN:

‍

Influential authors: BuzzSumo has a database of 500,000+ journalists, allowing you to track down leading writers in your industry. GRIN doesn’t explicitly do this (although no doubt some of the influencers on GRIN are also journos).

‍

Search functionality: Like most influencer marketing platforms, GRIN’s search tool is built on filters (12+ of them, to be precise). Whereas BuzzSumo shows you the top influencers who’ve shared content relevant to your chosen search topic. It’s a different approach to influencer search.

‍

Platform coverage: BuzzSumo’s search functionality covers Instagram, X/Twitter, and websites. GRIN doesn’t do websites or X/Twitter, but it does support searches on Insta, TikTok, and YouTube.

‍

💵 Price: BuzzSumo offers a seven-day free trial. Paid plans range from $199 – $999 per month.

‍

🤝 Used by: BuzzFeed, Expedia, HubSpot

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.5/5 (Capterra), ★ 4.5/5 (G2), ★ 9.1/10 (TrustRadius)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “I can search for terms/phrases and quickly identify content that’s performing well in a niche or with an audience.” – Rand Fishkin, Founder & CEO of SparkToro

‍

4. Impact

‍

🥇 Best for: Affiliate marketing

‍

🤔 What is it: Impact describes itself as an all-in-one partnership management platform. It’s predominantly used for affiliate marketing, but also offers tools for finding, recruiting, managing, and paying influencers.

‍

🤼‍♂️ Impact vs GRIN:

‍

Influencer database: Impact’s search and recruitment tools are pretty limited as the platform only offers an opt-in database of ~80,000 creators. GRIN, by contrast, has a database of 190+ million influencers.

‍

Influencer payments: With Impact, you can pay influencers in 70+ currencies via bank transfer, PayPal, and regional payment options. GRIN only supports PayPal payments.

‍

Ecommerce integrations: Impact has integrations for BigCommerce, Shopify, and WooCommerce. GRIN also integrates with Magento (or Adobe Commerce, as it’s now known).

‍

💵 Price: Impact offers a 30-day free trial. Prices range from $30 per month (or 2.5% of monthly revenue, whichever is greater) to $2,500+ per month.

‍

🤝 Used by: Canva, eBay, HubSpot

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.5/5 (G2), ★ 4.6/5 (Shopify), ★ 6.3/10 (TrustRadius)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Impact.com helped us scale our influencer program quickly from a gifting to a CPA capacity.” – Nicola Cronin, Influencer Marketing Manager, Front of the Pack

‍

5. CreatorIQ

‍

🥇 Best for: AI-driven influencer recruitment for global brands

‍

🤔 What is it: CreatorIQ is an enterprise-grade influencer marketing solution with a smart, AI-based influencer search feature. It’s an end-to-end tool supporting influencer recruitment, content tracking, payments, and more.

‍

🤼‍♂️ CreatorIQ vs GRIN:

‍

Influencer database: GRIN has almost 10x as many influencers in its database as CreatorIQ, so if you want to search for niche influencers, GRIN is a way better fit.

‍

Benchmarking: CreatorIQ’s built-in benchmarking tools let you compare your brand’s online performance against your biggest competitors, over time and by region. GRIN doesn’t offer any sort of competitive intelligence.

‍

Target audience: CreatorIQ’s pricing (see below👇) puts it out of reach for smaller brands. GRIN isn’t the cheapest influencer marketing platform, but it aims to support everyone from startups to enterprises.

‍

💵 Price: CreatorIQ doesn’t publish pricing information or offer a free trial. However, Capterra quotes a price of $36,000 per year for their Basic plan.

‍

🤝 Used by: CVS, Nestle, Unilever

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.7/5 (Cuspera), ★ 4.6/5 (G2), ★ 4.4/5 (Capterra)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “CreatorIQ is the only way we can accelerate leveraging the power of creators in a manner which is safe, sound, and that we can track properly.” – Aude Gandon, CMO at Nestle

‍

🤓 Further reading: 10 CreatorIQ Alternatives For Better Affordability & Flexibility

‍

6. HypeAuditor

‍

🥇 Best for: Finding influencers on Twitch and X/Twitter

‍

🤔 What is it: HypeAuditor is an all-in-one influencer marketing solution. Unlike many similar tools, it allows brands to track down relevant influencers on Twitch and X/Twitter as well as the “usual” platforms – Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. HypeAuditor also supports influencer outreach, campaign tracking, and payments.

‍

🤼‍♂️ HypeAuditor vs GRIN:

‍

Influencer search coverage: GRIN’s influencer search tool lets you find influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. HypeAuditor also serves those platforms, plus Twitch and X/Twitter.

‍

Influencer database: Both platforms have extensive influencer databases (although not as extensive as some *cough* Modash *cough*). However, HypeAuditor takes a slight lead here, with ~206.4 million profiles vs 190+ million on GRIN.

‍

Content tracking: Again, both platforms offer built-in tools to capture live influencer content. However, unlike GRIN, HypeAuditor can’t track Stories – so you’ll have to do it manually. Which is a pain.

‍

💵 Price: HypeAuditor doesn’t have a free trial and doesn’t share pricing information – although G2 says it’s 32% more expensive than the average mid-market influencer marketing platform.

‍

🤝 Used by: Dior, H&M, Philips

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.6/5 (G2), ★ 4.3/5 (Product Hunt), ★ 4.8/5 (Capterra)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Using HypeAuditor, we’ve been able to expand our influencer marketing strategy, build relationships with proven influencers, and save time on reporting.” – Flora Macher, Influencer Relations Manager, Moon Magic

‍

🤓 Further reading: 12 HypeAuditor Alternatives For Better Influencer Marketing

‍

7. Meltwater

‍

🥇 Best for: Influencer marketing with built-in social media management

‍

🤔 What is it: Meltwater is a media, social, and consumer intelligence platform with applications covering social listening, media relations, social media management, and – of course – influencer marketing. Meltwater acquired Klear, another popular influencer marketing solution, back in 2021.

‍

🤼‍♂️ Meltwater vs GRIN:

‍

All-round features: Meltwater does a whole lot more than “just” influencer marketing. For instance, you can use it to schedule and measure content across hundreds of social media accounts, and generate lists of journalists who talk about topics close to your brand. If you need all that extra functionality, Meltwater is a strong fit.

‍

Influence database: With Meltwater, you can search from 30+ million influencer profiles. GRIN, on the other hand, features 190+ million profiles.

‍

Ecommerce: Meltwater integrates with two ecommerce platforms – Shopify and WooCommerce – while GRIN also has integrations for BigCommerce and Magento.

‍

💵 Price: Meltwater doesn’t offer a free trial and doesn’t share any pricing information.

‍

🤝 Used by: Adidas, Estée Lauder, KAYAK

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4/5 (G2), ★ 7.2/10 (TrustRadius), ★ 4/5 (Capterra)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Having the qualitative data to reinforce the value of communications, and the value of our strategy, with trackable data monthly has been really helpful.” – Rob Miller, Senior Manager of Global External Communications at BIC

‍

8. Influence.co

‍

🥇 Best for: Amazon influencer marketing

‍

🤔 What is it: Influence.co is like LinkedIn for influencer marketing. Influencers submit their own profile to get listed on the platform, then brands can sign up to browse the results. Unlike most influencer marketing platforms, Influence.co also allows you to search for influencers on Amazon.

‍

🤼‍♂️ Influence.co vs GRIN:

‍

Amazon influencer marketing: Influence.co offers tools to collaborate with influencers on Amazon, the world’s biggest ecommerce marketplace. GRIN only features social media influencers – although chances are some of them will have Amazon storefronts too.

‍

Database size: Rather than crawling social media platforms to find active influencers, Influence.co requires influencers to submit their own profiles. As such, it has a comparatively small pool of 170,000+ influencers (vs GRIN’s 190+ million profiles).

‍

Influencer search: Search results on Influence.co are based on criteria provided by the influencer in a self-created resume, whereas GRIN’s are drawn from live social media data.

‍

💵 Price: Influence.co offers a free-for-life plan with basic influencer search and messaging tools. It has a single paid plan priced at $600 per month.

‍

🤝 Used by: Casper, Dyson, Forever 21

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.5/5 (Capterra), ★ 4.4/5 (G2)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “The slick interface makes it super easy to set up a campaign and engage with high quality influencers.” – Ashley Fox, Marketing Director at Rokwolf

‍

9. Traackr

‍

🥇 Best for: Enterprise influencer marketing

‍

🤔 What is it: Traackr is a full-service influencer marketing platform with tools spanning search and recruitment, campaign management, content tracking, and payments. With its sophisticated benchmarking data and premium price point, it’s predominantly used by enterprise-level brands.

‍

🤼‍♂️ Traackr vs GRIN:

‍

Influencer database: Traackr says it has 7+ million influencer profiles across 13 platforms and 50 countries, which is tiny compared to GRIN’s database of 190+ million influencers.

‍

Benchmarking: Traackr shares data and insights about top competitors for brands in five industries – beauty, personal care, fashion, spirits, and consumer electronics. GRIN doesn’t offer any competitive intelligence tools.

‍

Ecommerce integrations: Need to connect your influencer marketing tool to your ecommerce store? Traackr only offers a Shopify integration, whereas GRIN also integrates with BigCommerce, Magento, and WooCommerce.

‍

💵 Price: Traackr offers four-week free trials on a case-by-case basis. Paid plans range from $32,500 – $55,000+ per year.

‍

🤝 Used by: Lacoste, L’Oreal, Samsung

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.3/5 (G2), ★ 4.6/5 (Capterra), ★ 7.7/10 (TrustRadius)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Traackr is our partner of choice because their tools give us the capability to take a more strategic approach when developing our influencer programs.” – Erin Kelly, Director of Integrated Communications and Influencer Engagement at Shiseido

‍

🤓 Further reading: 11 Traackr Alternatives For Influencer Marketing (Incl. Free Trials)

‍

10. Sprout Social Influencer Marketing (FKA Tagger)

‍

🥇 Best for: Influencer marketing for existing Sprout Social users

‍

🤔 What is it: Sprout Social isn’t just one of the biggest names in social media management and analytics – it also has a dedicated influencer marketing solution, having acquired the platform previously known as Tagger. Sprout Social Influencer Marketing does everything from influencer search and outreach to campaign reporting and payments.

‍

🤼‍♂️ Sprout Social Influencer Marketing vs GRIN:

‍

User interface: Sprout Social Influencer Marketing is a standalone platform. But if you’re already familiar with Sprout’s social media management tools, you’ll feel instantly at home here – potentially helping you get up to speed faster than with GRIN.

‍

Database size: GRIN has a pretty substantial influencer database including 190+ million profiles. Sprout Social only lists 10+ million influencer profiles.

‍

Integrations: Sprout has a ton of integrations, from BI tools to help desk software to reputation and review management platforms. But unlike GRIN, it doesn’t integrate with Magento (or Adobe Commerce, as it’s now known) – so if that’s a must-have, Sprout ain’t for you.

‍

💵 Price: FYI, Sprout Social Influencer Marketing is a standalone product, so you don’t need a regular Sprout Social account to sign up. Sprout doesn’t share pricing information for its influencer marketing solution. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t offer a free trial either.

‍

🤝 Used by: KISS, Trello

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.3/5 (G2)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Learning how influencers are using Trello and which influencers are using it helped guide our campaign.” – Brian Cervino, Product Marketing Manager at Trello

‍

11. Shoutcart

‍

🥇 Best for: Pay-per-post collabs

‍

🤔 What is it: Shoutcart specializes in pay-per-post collaborations, allowing users to purchase one-off “shoutouts” from influencers and UGC creators on TikTok and YouTube. It also runs a gig marketplace for influencer marketing-adjacent services.

‍

🤼‍♂️ Shoutcart vs GRIN:

‍

Collaboration types: Shoutcart specializes in a single type of campaign: one-off pay-per-post gigs. If that’s what you’re looking for, Shoutcart is the perfect platform – but GRIN opens the door to more sophisticated, long-term influencer partnerships.

‍

Platform coverage: Shoutcart only lists influencers on TikTok and YouTube, whereas GRIN also covers Instagram. Plus GRIN has a much larger database of 190+ million influencers (Shoutcart only says it features “thousands” of influencers).

‍

Outreach channels: With Shoutcart, all influencer comms happens within the platform, while GRIN also supports email outreach.

‍

Additional services: Shoutcart offers a Fiverr-style gig marketplace where you can hire influencers and freelancers for tasks across multiple categories, from social media management to graphic design. GRIN doesn’t have its own marketplace.

‍

💵 Price: Shoutcart offers free access to its influencer marketplace, with the ability to unlock three usernames a month. Paid plans range from $49 – $99 per month (plus buying fees on the entry-level plan). Or get 50% off with an annual plan.

‍

🤝 Used by: Adidas, The North Face, Skullcandy

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 2.9/5 (Trustpilot)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Shoutcart helps us promote contests and giveaways of our product. We always receive great exposure and drum up lots of buzz.” – Santino LoConte, REIGN RETAIL

‍

🤓 Further reading: 7 Best Shoutcart Alternatives For Influencer Marketing

‍

12. Upfluence

‍

🥇 Best for: Influencer marketing integrations

‍

🤔 What is it: Upfluence is an all-round affiliate and influencer marketing platform. It’s a popular choice among ecommerce brands thanks to its integrations with tools like Amazon, Klaviyo, and Shopify.

‍

🤼‍♂️ Upfluence vs GRIN:

‍

Platform coverage: With Upfluence, you can search for influencers on Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitch, X/Twitter, YouTube, and even WordPress sites. GRIN only covers the “big three” influencer platforms – Insta, TikTok, and YouTube.

‍

Database size: Upfluence only lets you search from 9+ million verified influencers, so it’s tiny compared to GRIN’s database of 190+ million influencers.

‍

Managed service: Upfluence has its own influencer marketing agency for brands that want to fully outsource their influencer programs, whereas GRIN is a self-service solution.

‍

Integrations: Upfluence has one of the most extensive sets of integrations of any influencer marketing platform, covering email, payments, ecommerce, social media management, and more. Ecommerce-wise, it integrates with all the same platforms as GRIN, as well as supporting Amazon Attribution.

‍

💵 Price: Upfluence offers a free influencer analytics Chrome extension, but no free trial. The Upfluence website contains zero pricing information, but G2 lists one pricing edition at $478 per month.

‍

🤝 Used by: Benefit, HelloFresh, Revolut

‍

✨ Review score: ★ 4.6/5 (G2), ★ 4.2/5 (Trustpilot), ★ 4.3/5 (Capterra)

‍

📣 Testimonial: “Upfluence has created ease in tracking sales, organizing, and managing our influencers.” – Megan Cody, Director of Brand Marketing & Creative, Branded

‍

🤓 Further reading: 10 Upfluence Alternatives For Cost-Effective Influencer Marketing

‍

So, what’s the best GRIN alternative?

Every tool in this article is a decent potential GRIN alternative – otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered including it. But Modash clearly stands out as the #1 option thanks to our…

‍

Advanced Shopify integration for creating promo codes, tracking clicks and redemptions, managing affiliate links, and simplifying influencer product orders
Vast influencer database of 350+ million influencer profiles across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
Smart influencer marketing inbox offering at-a-glance access to high-value influencer data (like previous brand collabs, performance metrics, personalized notes, and more)
Time-saving automated content tracking, which captures live influencer content – even Stories – without forcing influencers to sign up for anything or add specific tags
Affordable pricing, full-feature free trial, and optional ability to pay month by month rather than commit to an annual contract

‍

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. See for yourself by signing up for your 14-day free Modash trial 👇

‍Try Modash for free – no credit card required!

 
class SampleComponent extends React.Component { 
  // using the experimental public class field syntax below. We can also attach  
  // the contextType to the current class 
  static contextType = ColorContext; 
  render() { 
    return <Button color={this.color} /> 
  } 
}

12 GRIN Alternatives For Better Influencer Marketing & Discovery