Gleam
Gleam is a growth marketing platform that helps you run engaging competitions, rewards, and email captures to grow your audience and increase user interaction across your digital channels.
GrowSurf
GrowSurf is a referral marketing software that helps B2B SaaS and fintech companies automate customer acquisition by building and managing custom refer-a-friend programs directly within their existing products.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Gleam | GrowSurf |
|---|---|---|
| Website | gleam.io | growsurf.com |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Subscription |
| Starting Price | Free | $775/month |
| FREE Trial | ✘ No free trial | ✓ 14 days free trial |
| Free Plan | ✓ Has free plan | ✘ No free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2013 | 2017 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia | San Francisco, USA |
Overview
Gleam
Gleam is a versatile growth marketing platform designed to help you build an engaged audience through interactive campaigns. Instead of static lead forms, you can create dynamic competitions, instant-win rewards, and social media galleries that encourage specific user actions like following your brand or sharing content.
You can manage four distinct apps—Competitions, Rewards, Galleries, and Captures—all from a single dashboard to drive traffic and sales. The platform works for businesses of all sizes, from solo creators to global brands, by providing verified social actions and seamless integrations with major platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Shopify.
GrowSurf
GrowSurf is a referral marketing platform designed specifically for tech companies and subscription-based businesses. You can build fully automated refer-a-friend programs that live inside your web application or website. Instead of manual tracking, the system automatically detects successful referrals and handles reward fulfillment, allowing you to focus on product growth while your customers handle the recruiting.
You can customize every part of the experience to match your brand, from the embedded widgets to the automated email notifications. The platform solves the complexity of tracking attribution and managing payouts by integrating directly with your existing tech stack. It is particularly effective for B2B SaaS, fintech, and online education companies looking to lower their customer acquisition costs through word-of-mouth.
Overview
Gleam Features
- Verified Social Actions Ensure your growth is real by automatically verifying that users have actually followed, liked, or subscribed to your channels.
- Viral Share Loops Give your campaigns a boost by rewarding users with extra entries when they refer their friends to your competition.
- Smart Email Captures Display targeted popups and opt-in forms based on user behavior to grow your mailing list without being intrusive.
- Instant Rewards Drive immediate sales by giving users coupons, downloads, or access codes in exchange for completing specific marketing tasks.
- Responsive Widgets Embed beautiful, mobile-friendly campaign widgets directly on your website or host them on dedicated landing pages.
- Fraud Protection Keep your contests fair with built-in security features that detect and block suspicious activity or duplicate entries.
GrowSurf Features
- Automated Reward Fulfillment. Issue rewards like gift cards, account credits, or custom incentives automatically once a referral meets your specific conversion criteria.
- Plug-and-Play Widgets. Embed referral forms and status dashboards directly into your app using pre-built, customizable components that match your brand's look.
- Instant Attribution Tracking. Track every sign-up and purchase back to the original referrer using unique links and browser cookies without manual data entry.
- Automated Email Sequences. Send personalized emails to participants when they join, earn a reward, or reach a new milestone in your referral program.
- Fraud Detection. Protect your budget with built-in security features that flag suspicious activity and prevent users from referring themselves for rewards.
- Deep Tech Integrations. Sync your referral data with tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Stripe to keep your sales and billing systems updated.
Pricing Comparison
Gleam Pricing
- Unlimited total entries
- Basic entry methods
- Random winner selection
- Mobile responsive widgets
- Standard reporting
- Everything in Free, plus:
- Additional entry types
- Up to 500 monthly captures
- Basic email integrations
- Remove Gleam branding on Captures
GrowSurf Pricing
- Up to 10,000 participants
- Unlimited referral programs
- Automated reward fulfillment
- Fraud detection
- Email support
- Standard integrations
- Everything in Startup, plus:
- Up to 25,000 participants
- Remove GrowSurf branding
- Custom domain
- Priority email support
- Advanced API access
Pros & Cons
Gleam
Pros
- Extremely easy to set up and launch campaigns
- Wide variety of social media entry methods
- Verified actions prevent fake contest entries
- Reliable free version for basic giveaways
Cons
- Full suite pricing is relatively expensive
- Interface feels slightly dated to some users
- Steep learning curve for complex logic
GrowSurf
Pros
- Excellent technical documentation for easy developer setup
- Seamless integration with Stripe for automated credits
- Highly responsive customer support team
- Clean and intuitive user interface for participants
- Robust fraud prevention saves marketing budget
Cons
- Starting price point is high for early startups
- Limited customization options on the lowest tier
- Learning curve for complex API implementations