Referral and partner programs · November 2026 Edition
Referral Rock vs Viral Loops
Six of fourteen models named Referral Rock first on the direct prompt; zero named Viral Loops. Referral Rock was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Viral Loops by thirteen and Referral Rock carries 42 labels and Viral Loops 26, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in four categories this edition.
Named in three categories this edition.
First-choice share12%8%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate10%19%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#5A position in a field of 13; printed, not drawn.
Labels4226A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Referral Rock reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Referral Factory was named alongside these two in twelve of the fourteen direct answers. PartnerStack vs Referral Rock · PartnerStack vs Viral Loops · Referral Rock vs Referral Factory
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the referral and partner programs page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Referral RockFirst choices, of fourteen modelsViral Loops
Direct60
Paraphrase00
Comparative00
Budget-constrained042 against Referral Rock
Scale-constrained00
Negative002 against Referral Rock · 5 against Viral Loops
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Referral Rock and Viral Loops stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | | ||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | |||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | ||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | |||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | |||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | ||||
| Kimi K2 | | | ||||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | ||||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | ||||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | |||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
Referral Rock Viral Loops first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Referral Rock on the left and Viral Loops on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Referral Rock and Viral Loops stood in it.
Referral Rock first, Viral Loops not the choice
6 of 14 modelsViral Loops was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Referral Rock alternatives: Ambassador, Cello, Referral Factory
Perplexity SonarReferral Rock alternatives: Ambassador, GrowSurf, Referral Factory
Llama 4 MaverickReferral Factory, Referral Rock
Kimi K2Referral Rock alternatives: FirstPromoter, PartnerStack, Referral Factory
GPT-6 LunaReferral Rock alternatives: PartnerStack, impact.com Advocate
Muse Glimmer 30BReferral Factory, Referral Rock alternatives: Ambassador, PartnerStack
Neither was the first choice, one was named
6 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.GPT-5.4 miniPartnerStack alternatives: Friendbuy, Referral Rock
Gemini 3.5 FlashPartnerStack alternatives: Influitive, Referral Factory, Referral Rock, SaaSquatch
Grok 4.20Referral Factory alternatives: Cello, FirstPromoter, GrowSurf, PartnerStack, Referral Rock
Mistral SmallPartnerStack alternatives: GrowSurf, Referral Factory, Referral Rock
DeepSeek V4 FlashReferral Factory alternatives: Cello, Friendbuy, PartnerStack, Referral Rock
GLM 4.7 FlashXPartnerStack, Referral Factory alternatives: Ambassador, FirstPromoter, Referral Rock
Neither was named
2 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Qwen 3.7 FlashPartnerStack alternatives: Ambassador, FirstPromoter, Referral Factory
MiniMax M2.5Ambassador, Referral Factory alternatives: UpPromote
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Referral Rock leads by twenty points.
Referral Rock24%#1 of 9Viral Loops3%#7 of 9Mid-marketThe figures above
Referral Rock leads by four points.
Referral Rock12%#2 of 13Viral Loops8%#5 of 13Enterprise
Referral Rock leads by nine points.
Referral Rock9%#6 of 14Viral Loops0%#– of 14What the models said about Referral Rock
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of five in this category shown.
“G2 reviews highlight a steep learning curve, clunky UI, integration issues... can be frustrating for complex programs” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Referral Rock starts at $250/month, which may be steep for a tight budget.” GPT-6 Luna · budget prompt · soft negative
“pricing for Referral Rock starts at $200 per month for its Starter plan” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · soft negative
“Referral Rock serves mid-market companies wanting customizable referral programs without enterprise complexity.” Claude Haiku 4.5 · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Viral Loops
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“Multiple reports of billing issues and deceptive practices in user reviews.” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · hard negative
“Multiple reports of billing issues and deceptive pricing practices.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“including ReferralCandy or Viral Loops: scrutinize them if deals involve sales teams, organizations, long consideration periods” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“The best referral program software for a company with a limited budget is Viral Loops, which is designed for startups on a budget and has a starting price of $49/mo.” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice
“Viral Loops and InviteBox offer the lowest entry prices for testing a referral program” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · first choice
“the best choice is usually Viral Loops if you want the lowest entry price” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · first choice
Also compared
PartnerStack vs Referral RockPartnerStack vs Viral LoopsReferral Rock vs Referral FactoryReferral Rock vs Smile.ioReferral Rock vs ReferralCandyReferral Rock vs FirstPromoterReferral Rock vs AmbassadorReferral Factory vs Viral LoopsSmile.io vs Viral LoopsViral Loops vs ReferralCandyViral Loops vs FirstPromoterViral Loops vs AmbassadorAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full referrals standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.