News

Impact.com Alternatives for Partner Marketing

Source: sproutsocial.com

Published on May 24, 2025

Updated on May 24, 2025

Partner marketing platforms and tools

Partner Marketing Platforms: Exploring Alternatives

Partner marketing platforms are becoming essential tools in the expanding partnership economy, which includes various collaborations between brands and influencers. While impact.com is a well-known solution, other platforms offer specialized features tailored to specific needs, such as affiliate marketing, influencer collaborations, and B2B SaaS partnerships. The choice of platform depends on your goals, whether it’s growing influencer relationships, managing B2B partnerships, optimizing payouts, or ensuring brand safety.

Partner marketing is a collaborative strategy where multiple parties work together to achieve shared marketing and business objectives. By combining resources and expertise, brands can expand their reach and strengthen their market presence. This approach leverages the strengths of each partner, creating mutually beneficial outcomes. Partner marketing encompasses a variety of channels and workflows, making it essential to select the right platform to manage these complex relationships effectively.

Sprout Social: Influencer Marketing and Social Media Management

Sprout Social, recognized as the #1 Best Software Product by G2 in 2024, provides a comprehensive social media management tool. Its Influencer Marketing feature is designed to support partnership strategies involving creators and influencers. According to a Q1 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey, 92% of marketers reported that sponsored influencer content reaches a broader audience than organic content. Additionally, 83% of marketers found that sponsored influencer content converts better than organic brand posts.

Sprout Social’s Influencer Marketing tools help brands meet the growing demand for influencer content and measure its return on investment (ROI). Powered by AI, the platform identifies influencers aligned with your brand, generating awareness and revenue faster. It streamlines the workflow from discovery and vetting, using features like Brand Fit Score and Brand Safety reporting, to managing outreach, contracts, content approvals, and measuring ROI. By integrating influencer marketing with social media management, Sprout helps break down workflow silos, maximizing influencer content across networks and ensuring a consistent brand experience.

PartnerStack: B2B SaaS Partner Programs

PartnerStack specializes in building partner programs for B2B SaaS companies. It serves as an ecosystem for managing various partner types, including affiliates, referrals, and resellers, helping businesses accelerate growth through indirect channels. The platform automates aspects of partner management, from recruitment and onboarding to tracking performance and processing payments. PartnerStack also includes a marketplace that connects SaaS companies with partners ready to promote B2B software.

Awin: Global Affiliate Marketing Network

Awin is an affiliate marketing network that connects advertisers with publishers. With over 30,000 advertisers and more than a million active publishers, Awin offers reach across various sectors, including retail, travel, finance, and telecommunications. Operating globally, Awin helps brands target international markets. The platform provides tools for campaign management, detailed reporting, tracking, and various payment options, making it a comprehensive solution for traditional affiliate marketing.

CJ Affiliate: Performance-Driven Affiliate Marketing

CJ Affiliate, formerly Commission Junction, connects advertisers with publishers across multiple industries. The platform supports advertisers of all sizes, offering tools and analytics for program management and optimization. CJ is known for its advanced tracking capabilities and detailed reporting suite, providing insights into performance. Additional features include placement marketplaces, deep link automation, and API access for developers.

Rakuten Advertising: Retail-Focused Affiliate Network

Rakuten Advertising is an affiliate network often associated with retail brands. It offers tools and services to help advertisers and publishers forge partnerships. Rakuten emphasizes quality, curating its network to include reputable retailers and brands. Key features include multi-touch attribution, tracking technologies, and AI-driven partner recommendations. Rakuten also provides strategic services and integrates with other marketing channels, offering placement opportunities on platforms like smart TVs.

Everflow: Performance Tracking Across Partnership Types

Everflow provides tools to manage and track performance across various partnership types, including affiliates, influencers, referrals, and strategic partnerships. The platform emphasizes tracking, analytics, and reporting capabilities, allowing users to measure performance and optimize campaigns. Everflow integrates with CRMs and e-commerce platforms like Shopify, pulling data into a centralized dashboard for streamlined management.

TUNE: Customizable Partner Program Management

TUNE is a SaaS platform focused on building, managing, and growing partner programs. It caters to businesses managing affiliate, influencer, mobile app, and other performance-based partnerships. TUNE offers customization and control, with APIs and configurable features to meet specific business needs. The platform provides real-time tracking, reporting, and payment processing across web and mobile, enabling direct management of partner relationships.

Partnerize: Enterprise Partner Management

Partnerize offers a SaaS-based Partner Management Platform (PMP) designed for enterprises to automate and manage the lifecycle of their partnerships. This includes affiliates, influencers, brand alliances, and more. The platform uses AI-driven insights for predicting results, optimizing performance, and discovering partnership opportunities. Partnerize provides real-time data, flexible commissioning, tracking, brand safety controls, and fraud prevention capabilities, helping brands scale their programs globally while maintaining control and transparency.

GRIN: Creator Management for E-Commerce Brands

GRIN is a creator management platform designed for direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce brands, particularly those using platforms like Shopify. It focuses on managing relationships and campaigns with influencers and creators. GRIN streamlines creator discovery, relationship management, product seeding, content tracking, and performance analysis. The platform emphasizes authenticity, helping brands find creators who genuinely use their products. GRIN integrates directly with e-commerce platforms to manage discount codes and track sales generated by creators, offering features like content management, rights management, and tailored reporting.

Upfluence: AI-Powered Influencer Marketing

Upfluence is an influencer marketing platform that uses AI to help brands discover, contact, manage, and analyze collaborations with influencers across social media networks like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch. It has a database of influencers with search filters based on keywords, demographics, engagement rates, and more. Upfluence offers tools for campaign management, including outreach automation, content approval workflows, and performance tracking. It also provides features for payment processing and affiliate influencer marketing, allowing brands to manage performance-based influencer campaigns effectively.

Selecting the ideal platform depends on your partnership goals, target audience, and the types of partners you work with. Each tool offers unique advantages, from e-commerce integrations to B2B network access or global affiliate reach. As influencer-led strategies become central to marketing, platforms that prioritize creator discovery, management, and measurement will be essential for scaling partnerships. The right solution will automate workflows and provide the insights needed to foster connections and measure the ROI of your partnerships.