Grin vs. Aspire vs. Upfluence: How Does Each Platform Compare?

If you’ve been researching influencer marketing tools for more than five minutes, it’s almost guaranteed you’ve come across Grin, Aspire or Upfluence. 

Heck, you’ve probably done your homework on all three given their popularity. That said, choosing the best influencer marketing platform for your brand isn’t a popularity contest.

This post explores how Grin, Aspire and Upfluence’s influencer marketing tools compare. We’ll dig into each platform’s strengths and where they fall short for some brands.

And yes, we’re obviously biased toward Statusphere’s influencer platform here. 

However, we legitimately want to highlight the differences between all of these tools to help brands understand if their platform of choice offers the features they need.

Grin vs. Aspire vs. Upfluence at a Glance

To kick things off, let's quickly break down the big picture of what these three tools can do. All three platforms serve as hubs for brands to find influencers, coordinate collabs and get UGC.

What Are Grin, Aspire & Upfluence’s Strengths?

To kick things off, let’s dive into the most notable strengths of each of these influencer platforms based on their unique features and what we’ve heard from brands firsthand.

Grin’s E-commerce Integrations

Grin describes itself as the “only creator management software built for e-commerce.”

While “only” might be a bit of a stretch, there’s no denying the scope of the platform’s integrations for social selling. This includes integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Salesforce and BigCommerce.

While tracking sales from influencer marketing is complicated, these add-ons provide brands context to how creators influence direct revenue. These third-party integrations also serve as how Grin handles influencer fulfillment. 

Grin’s Reporting Tools

Influencer reporting and analytics are built into every major creator platform. That said, Grin’s variety of custom dashboards and data visualizations are notable for assessing influencer marketing ROI and tracking creators’ impact across the funnel.

Aspire’s Creator Marketplace

Aspire claims to have “the largest creator marketplace" of all influencer platforms, although their self-reported database size is smaller than Grin's (170 million versus 190 million).

While combing through so many profiles by hand is tedious and time-consuming, Aspire’s marketplace-style search has a sleek interface and is likewise easy to navigate. 

We’re especially impressed with the platform’s image-based influencer search to help brands find creators who match their specific aesthetic.

Aspire’s Campaign Management Features

Of the three platforms, Aspire’s influencer CRM features definitely shine above the rest.

The ability to generate welcome emails, agreements and affiliate links in the platform are all great features that improve influencer relations by reducing back-and-forth with creators.

Upfluence’s Influencer Search Filters

In terms of influencer discovery, Upfluence’s search features take the cake compared to Grin and Aspire. The platform’s 20+ filters and influencer search criteria offer brands more opportunities to hone their searches and find more niche creators. 

Upfluence’s Customer Identification Feature

When tasked with finding influencers, past satisfied customers are rightfully where most brands start their search. Upfluence’s platform offers the ability to identify those customers through integrations with your existing e-commerce tools. 

This feature is super valuable for established brands with established audiences who are new to influencer campaigns or haven’t built their own creator community yet.

Where Do Each of These Platforms Short?

Some influencer platforms are better fits for brands than others.

It all depends on your goals and bandwidth. 

Still, finding the best fit can be tricky when so many platforms seem to share the same features.

But what about the features they don’t share?

Below is a breakdown of where Grin, Aspire and Upfluence’s influencer marketing platforms stand to improve based on feedback we’ve heard from brands. We’ll also highlight how Statusphere’s software can serve as an alternative to these tools.

All Three Platforms are Influencer Databases

Access to “millions of influencers” might be a legitimate benefit for some brands.

But for so many of the companies we talk to, it’s a massive red flag.

The biggest shortcoming of Grin, Aspire and Upfluence is that they’re influencer databases.

The problem? There’s no realistic way to actually vet millions of influencers. 

Grin themselves say that their brands can “filter over 190 million creators” (their words):

While databases might seem to offer opportunities to find more niche influencers, the reality is that doing so becomes a slog when there are so many creators to sift through.

Here’s a review of Grin’s influencer marketing platform that highlights the difficulty of finding influencers on the platform despite its massive database.

Databases also reinforce the expectation that brands are on the hook for finding, reaching out to and negotiating with creators. All of the above is a huge time-sink.

Contrast this with  Statusphere’s closed network of vetted creators. Through our opt-in network and creator uploads, we offer the brands of both worlds when building an influencer community. 

Also, our closed network means that we can gather first-party data points to optimize creator discovery. Our automated creator matchmaking uses 250+ self-reported creator data points to help brands find niche creators without any digging required.

Fewer UGC Ad Features

While Grin and Upfluence offer some UGC and whitelisting options, they don’t provide the same level of instant UGC ad features or rights-ready content as Statusphere. 

With Grin, brands are still required to manually exchange Spark Ad codes with creators when it's time to promote a post. Upfluence lacks native UGC ad code features altogether.

Aspire is the exception here, as they have a native TikTok Spark Ads integration and allow brands to request ad permissions for Instagram Partnership Ads.

That said, all three platforms lack features for TikTok Shop. 

Not only does Statusphere give brands the option to get instant Spark Ads and Partnership Ad codes, but also requires creators to promote TikTok Shop links all within our platform.

Steeper Learning & Curves Less Automation 

A common thread between some reviews of Aspire and Upfluence is mentions of a steep learning curve. Many users claim Upfluence becomes more intuitive as you use it, while even some positive Aspire reviews refer to the platform creating some roadblocks.

While Grin is easy to use, a common thread between reviews of the platform is that users are in for much more than they bargained for when it comes to campaign management. The platform offers brands more control but at the expense of their schedules as noted by this Grin review:

Here’s another review that praises the platform’s capabilities but acknowledges that Grin doesn’t streamline nearly as much as the brand thought it would:

One of the biggest differences between these platforms and Statusphere is how much our platform automates. From creator matchmaking and product fulfillment to UGC rights and beyond, our tool is designed to save teams time. That includes ease-of-use and quick onboarding which we consistently hear from our brands.

Lack of Product Fulfillment Features

While Grin, Aspire and Upfluence all have product seeding features, they lack managed fulfillment. Shipping orders and tracking them is often the most hands-on and time-consuming piece of influencer campaigns.

As noted in our review of Statusphere vs. Skeepers, most product seeding platforms leave the burden of fulfillment and shipping on brands. We take a different approach with influencer fulfillment technology that’s built into every campaign with our wholly-owned warehouse.

With Statusphere, brands get managed fulfillment, 48-hour shipping, automated shipment tracking and the ability to customize their product seeding kits to creators.

Limited Targeting Parameters

Massive databases coupled with limited influencer targeting are a recipe for a ton of time digging through profiles to find creators that make sense for your brand. Grin and Aspire’s creator search is based on basic demographic, engagement and follower data.

And while Upfluence promotes its 20 targeting parameters, consider that Statusphere has 10x more and a matchmaking algorithm that doesn’t require brands to review creators by hand. 

Again, Statusphere's granular level of targeting and time-savings gives brands a realistic way to partner with 100s of creators per month without spending 100s of hours on the process.

Statusphere vs. Grin vs. Aspire vs. Upfluence

To wrap things up, here's a snapshot of what makes Statusphere the best alternative to all three of these platforms depending on your brand's goals and priorities.

For example, Statusphere excels as an influencer platform for brands that want to:

• Automate their most time-consuming tasks like finding influencers and fulfilling orders
  
  
• Achieve specific awareness goals like increasing social SEO or getting in-store content to support retail campaigns
  
  
• Scale content with micro-influencers over macro-influencers or "big" creators

Looking for Alternatives to Grin, Aspire and Upfluence?

So many brands we talk to daily deal with a revolving door of influencer platforms. 

And there’s no denying the size of Grin, Aspire and Upfluence’s databases or the scope of each platform's features.

But “bigger” doesn’t automatically mean “better” when it comes to influencer marketing.

This applies to both creators and the influencer tools that brands use to scale.

If you’re ready to automate the most time-consuming pieces of your campaigns while getting guaranteed, rights-ready content, Statusphere’s platform was built for your brand.

Is making the switch to Statusphere the right move for your brand? See for yourself! Get in touch with our team to see how our platform scales influencer content in a fraction of the time.