Creator and commerce decision
Refgrow
If you only need embedded tracking, commission rules, a dashboard, and manual/CSV payouts, a competent developer can build and self-host a useful replacement; keep paying if you require Refgrow's Partner Network, AI Recruiter, or managed automated payouts.
Visit website↗Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Refgrow alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Embed a tracking widget in the product, record clicks/signups/purchases, credit affiliates per commission rules, show basic affiliate dashboard, and export or trigger payouts via payment provider webhooks.
What it still won’t have
- Partner Network (marketplace of affiliates) and public program directory
- AI Recruiter (automated discovery/outreach)
- Hosted portal & managed white-label hosting
- Built-in automated payouts (PayPal/Wise bulk) and self-billing EU VAT invoice flow
- Built-in fraud protection and advanced platform automation
What remains hard
- Network effects
We bring you the affiliates
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 2 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a self-hosted affiliate/referral program using Django + Postgres + Redis (optional) and serve on a single small VPS (DigitalOcean). Include: (1) an embeddable JS tracking script and widget that sets affiliate cookies and posts events to a Django REST endpoint; (2) webhook handlers for Stripe (and generic webhook) to record conversions; (3) DB schema for programs, affiliates, referrals, commissions, payouts; (4) admin UI and an affiliate-facing embed dashboard to show clicks/signups/purchases/earnings; (5) commission calculation engine supporting per-affiliate and multi-tier commissions; (6) CSV export for payouts and Wise/PayPal payout CSV format; (7) a minimal REST API and outgoing webhooks for integrations; (8) tests for tracking, webhook handling, commission calculations, and basic UI flows; and (9) error handling, logging, and basic rate limiting. Out of scope: building a Partner Network marketplace, AI Recruiter, hosted portal, automated bulk payouts, and EU VAT self-billing automation.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Pay verdict base20
- An open-source build was found+5
- 5 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Hard moats found in the evidence-3
- Evidence score32
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 5
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productRefgrow — product
- official pricingRefgrow pricing
- official docsRefgrow documentation
- open sourceamicalhq/refref
- open sourceRefferq/Refferq
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
