RefRefvsDub Partners
Dub Partners alternative for referrals & loyalty.
Make customer referrals part of your product economics.
Compare RefRef and Dub Partners for customer referrals: active-participant pricing, payout costs, branded links, and operational control.
Referrals + loyalty. Open source. Start free.
Example: $10,000 referred revenue and $2,000 commissions per month. Software and platform fees shown below; reward delivery costs are extra.
RefRef
Free · own payout rail
$0/mo
Dub Partners
Subscription + modeled platform payout fee
$190/mo
Within the 1,000 active-participant allowance.
Higher customer value alone does not change the RefRef bill.
Known monthly subtotal including $2,000 commissions: RefRef $2,000 vs Dub Partners $2,190. Add operating costs to both.
Scroll sideways to compare both platforms →
| Your decision | RefRef | Dub Partners |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing meter | Monthly active participants. No percentage of referred revenue. Reward delivery and provider costs are separate. | Partner payout volume and a platform payout fee. Business includes $2,500 in monthly payouts. |
| Program experience | Customer referrals and loyalty with your own brand, product integrations, and open-source customization. | Affiliate and creator partnerships, with managed payout operations and branded link domains. |
Compare the complete plan, including required features and operating work. Dub Partners plans and features · RefRef pricing
Built for the way you grow.
Choose the foundation that fits your customers, your stack, and your ambitions.
Shortlist RefRef
Shortlist RefRef when your customers are your growth channel and your product team wants to own the referral journey. Its pricing separates participation from the value of a sale. A higher contract value does not, by itself, raise your RefRef subscription.
- Your engineering team owns the integration
- Customer referrals and loyalty share one model
- Active participation is the pricing signal you want
Choose Dub Partners when…
Dub is a strong fit for teams focused on affiliate and creator partnerships. Compare its payout-based limits and managed operations with RefRef's participant-based plans, and choose the model that fits how your program grows.
Explore its current offerSeparate software cost from reward cost
An illustrative buying scenario, not a customer result or a guaranteed saving.
Start with your numbers
$10,000 in referred monthly revenue; $2,000 owed to partners; 500 active participants.
What changes the choice?
The $2,000 of partner commissions still belongs in both budgets. Dub bundles managed payout operations; RefRef with your own rail leaves that delivery work with your team. A lower software subtotal does not settle the full operating-cost decision.
Model your program economicsMoving from Dub Partners? Preserve the promises.
Customers should keep the rewards they earned. Use these checks to plan the transition before changing live traffic.
01
Map what exists
Inventory existing short links and custom domains before changing destinations. Keep valuable published links working through the transition.
02
Preserve the obligations
Reconcile approved, pending, and paid commissions. Record which system remains responsible for each unpaid obligation.
03
Verify the new journey
Test a partner-referred purchase and a refund end to end. Confirm attribution, reward decisions, and delivery records before moving traffic.
This is a planning checklist, not a one-click importer. Test your mapping on a small cohort and reconcile old and new records before switching the full program.
Compare the work behind building and buyingBring them in. Give them a reason to stay.
Referrals start the relationship. Loyalty keeps it growing. Build both with one open-source platform.
One platform. More reasons to return.
A customer brings a friend
Referral · reward the introduction
The relationship keeps growing
Loyalty · reward repeat engagement
Your next advocate is already here
Connect acquisition and retention
Your program, your rules
Make the program fit your product.
Choose who earns, what they earn, and which moments deserve a reward. Build around your customers and the experience they already love.
- Reward introductions and ongoing engagement
- Shape incentives around your business model
- Keep your brand across the customer journey
Customize beyond a settings screen.
Adapt the source, extend the integration, and create the program that fits. Your next idea can become part of the product.
Keep your options open.
Start hosted or run RefRef on your infrastructure. Open-source code gives you more control over your data, hosting, and future, without depending on one vendor to make every change.
Your AI assistant. Your integration.
Use AI-assisted integrations to connect RefRef to your stack. Give your coding assistant the API context, describe your reward flow, and review the implementation before you launch.
Integration brief
“Reward a successful referral. Add loyalty credits when that customer comes back.”
Multiple Reward Types
Choose from multiple reward types to suit your needs. Integrate with your different systems to support your reward types.
Cash Rewards
Automate PayPal, Stripe, or manual payouts.
Cash Payouts
Automated payment processing
Store Credits & Discounts
Drive repeat purchases & engagement.
Store Credits & Discounts
Drive repeat purchases
Discount Code
REFER20Physical Goods
Offer exclusive merchandise or gifts.
Physical Goods
Exclusive merchandise & gifts
01What should I plan before moving from Dub?
02Can I self-host RefRef?
03What counts as an active participant?
Pricing details & sources
The explorer holds one Project, one referral Program, two operators, 100 referrers, $10,000 referred revenue, and $2,000 commissions constant. Only active participants change. No portal, automated payouts, or branded redirect domain is required in the base scenario.
Business · monthly. $2,000 payouts × 5% = $100. Monthly billing selected on the official pricing page. Assumes Business features and limits suffice.
Total cost = software + platform payout fees + commissions + payout-rail/FX charges + integration and migration work + monthly operations + tax. The chart excludes commissions and unpriced costs; the subtotal adds commissions. This scenario uses your own payout rail for RefRef. These are not equivalent service packages or guaranteed savings.
RefRef monthly prices: Free $0 through 1,000 active participants; Growth $49 through 5,000 plus $10 per started 1,000; Scale $199 through 20,000 plus $7 per started 1,000. The examples select these plans explicitly; there is no modeled automatic upgrade.
Business is $90/month on monthly billing; Advanced is $300. Business includes $2,500 in monthly partner payouts, Advanced $15,000. Both list a 5% payout fee. These are payout limits, not referred-revenue caps.
Dub Business includes 100 custom link domains. A branded link is already part of Dub's offer; it is not an exclusive RefRef advantage.
Dub publishes source under AGPLv3 with specified enterprise directories under a separate license. Public source alone does not establish that every hosted Partners feature is available to self-host.
Written by RefRef. Compare current plans and feature limits in the official sources below.
Make every customer relationship count.
Create your account and build a program around your customers.