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.
Viral Loops
Viral Loops is a referral marketing software that helps you build and launch viral giveaways, waitlists, and ambassador programs to grow your customer base through word-of-mouth automation.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Gleam | Viral Loops |
|---|---|---|
| Website | gleam.io | viralloops.com |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Subscription |
| Starting Price | Free | $49/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 | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia | London, UK |
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.
Viral Loops
Viral Loops is a referral marketing platform that helps you turn your existing customers into your most effective growth channel. Instead of relying solely on expensive ads, you can build custom referral programs, pre-launch waitlists, and viral giveaways that encourage people to share your brand with their network. You can choose from various templates inspired by successful companies like Dropbox and Airbnb to get your campaign running in minutes.
The platform handles the heavy lifting of tracking referrals, distributing rewards, and preventing fraud automatically. You can integrate it directly into your website or use hosted landing pages to capture leads. Whether you are launching a new newsletter, scaling an e-commerce store, or building a SaaS waitlist, you can manage every aspect of your viral growth from a single, intuitive dashboard.
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.
Viral Loops Features
- Pre-made Templates. Launch campaigns quickly using proven frameworks inspired by referral giants like Milestone, Newsletter, and eCommerce programs.
- Viral Waitlists. Build hype for your upcoming product launch by letting users climb a leaderboard when they refer their friends.
- Reward Management. Automate the delivery of digital rewards, coupon codes, or physical prizes once your advocates hit specific referral milestones.
- Customizable Widgets. Embed referral triggers and sharing widgets directly into your website or app without writing complex code.
- Fraud Detection. Protect your campaign integrity with automated systems that identify and block fake referrals and suspicious email addresses.
- Performance Analytics. Track your viral coefficient and see exactly which channels are driving the most successful referrals in real-time.
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
Viral Loops Pricing
- Up to 1,000 participants
- Unlimited campaigns
- Viral Loops branding
- Standard templates
- Email support
- Everything in Start-up, plus:
- Up to 3,000 participants
- Remove Viral Loops branding
- Custom CSS for widgets
- Advanced fraud protection
- Priority support
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
Viral Loops
Pros
- Template-based setup saves hours of development time
- Clean user interface is easy for non-technical users
- Integrates easily with popular website builders and ESPs
- Responsive customer support helps resolve setup issues quickly
Cons
- Participant limits can lead to sudden price jumps
- Limited customization options on the entry-level plan
- Analytics can feel basic for high-volume enterprise users