3 categories · RankedReferralCandy
ReferralCandy is a referral program tool for ecommerce brands, with a focus on Shopify stores, that lets them run customer referral campaigns and affiliate programs and track the revenue from word of mouth · referralcandy.com ↗
Read the same way at every company size.
The standing depends on who is buying. Every model is asked the same questions for each company size.
Referral Rock is first at 24%.
PartnerStack is first at 35%. 0 of 14 models made it the first choice when asked directly.
Ambassador is first at 16%.
Why models recommend it
“ReferralCandy is the "plug-and-play" standard for online stores... Extremely low maintenance; seamless dashboard for tracking payouts”Qwen 3.7 Flash · Comparative question · first choice
“Shopify store and want the absolute lowest monthly cost: ReferralCandy $9/mo + success fee, or Joy free plan.”Muse Glimmer 30B · Budget-constrained question · first choice
“For Small E-commerce: Start with ReferralCandy or Friendbuy—quick ROI with minimal effort.”Grok 4.20 · Comparative question · first choice
“choose ReferralCandy for quick Shopify/DTC post-purchase referrals with a success fee”Muse Glimmer 30B · Comparative question · first choice
What gives them pause
“Why to Avoid: If you sell high-ticket items (e.g., $1,000+ courses or furniture), paying a % commission can be incredibly expensive”Qwen 3.7 Flash · Negative question · warning
“What to avoid on a tight budget... ReferralCandy is the best overall Shopify referral + affiliate combo but it is not free.”Muse Glimmer 30B · Budget-constrained question · warning
“Avoid ReferralCandy (despite its popularity) if your margins are very thin”Qwen 3.7 Flash · Budget-constrained question · warning
“Criticized for being consumer-first and unsuitable for B2B programs”Mistral Small · Negative question · warning
Also on the shortlist
The products named in the same answers as ReferralCandy, over the 204 answers that named it, and how often each was the first choice instead.
| Product | Named together | Picked instead | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 13 | Compare → | |
| 94 | 3 | View → | |
| 89 | 45 | Compare → | |
| 82 | 7 | View → | |
| 74 | 6 | Compare → | |
| 72 | 13 | View → | |
| 66 | 6 | Compare → | |
| 66 | 4 | View → | |
| 50 | 4 | View → | |
| 42 | 2 | Compare → |
What the models named instead of ReferralCandy →
A side-by-side page exists where both products are among a category's top eight.
At a glance
Stated on ReferralCandy's own site, not checked by Gane.
- For
- Shopify brands
- Price stated
- USD 39 to 799
- Starting price
- 39
- Free plan or trial
- 7-day free trial
- Integrations
- 20
- Hosting
- US/EU/UK
- Customers named
- bbutter, Secretlab, LMNT, Toki Kids, Keychron, MiaoMiao, Riff Raff & Co, Mac of All Trades
How this is measured
Fourteen AI models from 12 labs are asked the same buying questions six ways, for three company sizes. Standings refresh every edition.
Gane sells AI visibility software. No company can pay to change a result.
Read the method →Sources returned with these answers
Fourteen of the fourteen models returned a source list in this edition: five return the pages they cited and nine the search results they consulted. These counts come from 188 of the 204 answers that named ReferralCandy and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
569 of the 613 domain citations in answers naming ReferralCandy came from a third party's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
By model
| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Grok 4.20 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Mistral Small | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
What it publishes
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-10 to 2026-09 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | 944 | 19 | 2026-09-28 | Ecommerce marketing, SEO | |
| Case study | 49 | 0 | 2022-02-14 | ||
| Comparison | 32 | 2 | 2026-09-18 | ||
| Report or ebook | 13 | 1 | 2026-07-27 | ||
| Glossary or explainer | 9 | 2 | 2026-09-16 | ||
| Template or tool | 8 | 0 | 2026-06-19 | SEO | |
| Podcast or video | 2 | 0 | 2026-01-14 | ||
| Webinar or virtual event | 1 | 0 | 2026-02-09 | Direct mail |
Most recent
- 2026-09-28Referralcandy mcp blog
- 2026-09-18Cash vs coupon referral rewards comparison
- 2026-09-1610138727 managing affiliate signups glossary or explainer
- 2026-09-09Brevo referralcandy integration blog
- 2026-09-09Omnisend referralcandy integration blog
- 2026-09-0210175059 shopify customizing an advocate or affiliate s referral code glossary or explainer
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page referralcandy.com exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. An event counts as online when its address or title says so (webinar, on demand, virtual or online summit); a conference, summit, trade show, expo or roadshow that does not say so is counted as a conference or event, which on a vendor's site is mostly in person. Read September 29, 2026.