Last Updated: April 5th, 2025

What is Captiv8?

In 2015, Krishna Subramanian, Sunil Verma, Taz Patel, and Vishal Gurbuxani founded Captiv8 as an influencer marketing tool that connects brands and influencers across various channels. Its parent company, Halo, provides different solutions for brands such as branded merchandise, custom kitting, etc. Krishna Subramanian, a University of California graduate, currently serves as the CEO of the company. 

This complete guide is to explore Captiv8’s capabilities, cost, and overall worth, providing companies that are looking to use this platform with valuable insights. Knowing what platforms like Captiv8 can do is essential for keeping a competitive edge as influencer marketing continues to gain more and more popularity.

Here, we’ll introduce you to the best alternatives of Captive8 in case you don’t recognize it as the best available option. Among its alternatives, Ainfluencer is one of the most popular options. The platform is free to use, has more than 1M influencers in its database, has an escrow system for payments, and covers both Instagram and TikTok.

Captiv8 overview

Captiv8 Review: Pricing & Features + Best Alternative

As new marketing methods continue to evolve, staying on top of the latest trends and tools is essential for success. Captiv8 is one of the top influencer marketing platforms that provides a range of solutions designed to meet the demands of marketers. Captiv8 was founded to simplify the influencer marketing process, and it has come a long way since its start. From initial discovery to campaign execution and performance monitoring, the platform makes every step of influencer marketing easier.

However, as with any tool or service, it’s crucial to separate the hype from the reality. That’s why in this honest Captiv8 review, we’ll take a closer look at its features, performance, and users’ experiences and let you decide whether it’s the right choice for your business or not.

Target Audience and Industry Suitability

From startups and small businesses to marketing agencies and huge corporations, Captiv8 can be a valid choice with different abilities and features. 

Thanks to its adaptable tools and solutions, Captiv8 is also appropriate for a variety of industries, including e-commerce, technology, fashion, and beauty. Captiv8 provides the tools and assistance required for a brand to successfully accomplish its objectives, whether they be increasing brand awareness, generating more online sales, or improving its social media presence.

All and all, Captiv8 can be put as a tool for every need. However, the quality of these services may differ and can be an important setback for choosing Captiv8 over its strong alternatives such as Ainfluencer.

Captiv8 Features

Captiv8 provides various tools for influencer marketing, including:

1. Influencer Marketing Suite

Captiv8 provides a database of over 30M influencers across Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitch, and Facebook. You can use more than 500 filters to match your ideal creators and sort them by engagement, personal details, previous brand collaborations, and audience demographics.

captiv8 influencer discovery

Furthermore, you can compare creators using your preferred metrics in a customizable dashboard before inviting them to participate in your campaigns. As a brand, you can create your custom dashboard with the data that matters most to you. After inviting creators, you can manage all the requests and their status in a single dashboard.

Additionally, you are able to easily use the global post search to discover influencers who are organically discussing specific topics and trends. Scale your results with AI and lookalike features.

2. Creator Collective

Affiliate marketing is seeing big growth alongside influencer marketing and can be a proper solution to many problems. This is why Captiv8 grants you the ability to run an affiliate program to raise your sales. By connecting your dashboard to your online storefront (TikTok shop, Amazon, or Shopify store), you can optimize your paid media strategy to maximize conversions.

3. Campaign Tracking and Insights

Real-time performance monitoring is made possible in the dashboard and can be easily managed.  You can integrate Shopify/Refersion with key social networks and run your campaigns to access data throughout the entire commerce system and facilitate the tracking of revenue, clicks, commissions, and conversions. Additionally, creating personalized dashboards with the information and statistics that are most important to you is a valid option.

4. Contracts and Payments

Captiv8 incorporates the management of influencer contracts and payments. The software allows you to create digital contracts with influencers and obtain their e-signatures. An in-app payment system included in Captiv8 allows authors to get paid in a number of different currencies.

5. Content Amplification

Additionally, Captiv8 makes it possible for influencer material to be amplified through sponsored media. You may promote creator posts as targeted advertising without ever leaving the platform, thanks to its integration with Facebook advertising and TikTok Ads APIs. Getting creators’ permissions on the platform makes it simple to set up allow-listing, also known as creator whitelisting.

Captiv8 Pricing

Captiv8’s pricing structure is customizable, and clients can add their desired features to their plans. This platform doesn’t provide visible pricing on its website, and you need to request a demo for your customized package. Based on various sources and customer reviews, Captiv8’s pricing usually begins at approximately $2,000 per month for basic packages.

Just keep in mind that this demo package includes certain limits on the number of influencers you can manage within the platform’s CRM. It’s crucial to clarify during the demo how many influencers you can manage to avoid unexpected surprises.

In conclusion, Captiv8 costs more than other influencer marketing platforms. There’s no publicly listed “Captiv8 free” version or even a standard mid-tier plan; expect enterprise-level pricing and commitments. Captiv8 offers a great deal of functionality for brands with a budget, but the price is very high for smaller businesses. In fact, because Captiv8 is so expensive, a lot of people specifically look for a less expensive option.

If you are looking for a free alternative that provides the same features to run, manage, and track social media campaigns, Ainfluencer is what you need. This free influencer marketing platform offers access to a database of over 2 million active Instagram and TikTok creators for collaboration.

Captiv8 Reviews: What Do Customers Say?

The best way to evaluate a service is by checking customer feedback on trusted review websites. This will give you the insight you need to choose the right platform and prevent any waste of time in this process. So, let’s check captiv8 reviews over the internet.

Captiv8 has a 4.6 rating score across over 400 reviews on G2. Most users are happy with the influencer discovery feature and how it allows them to check their engagement metrics before inviting them to campaigns.

However, this information is not available for all creators. You might need to talk with each creator and ask for their engagement metrics.

  • In-app payments: This feature has made it easier for brands to compensate creators in various currencies.
  • High pricing: the main drawback of this service is its high pricing, which is high for many brands. 
  • No Micro-influencer connections: Micro-influencers play a crucial role in influencer marketing by connecting brands with highly engaged, niche audiences, allowing for more authentic and relatable content that often leads to higher conversion rates. Unfortunately, many users have reported that Captiv8 fails to connect them with micro-influencers. Here’s the statement:
captiv8 review3
  • Time-consuming: In addition to that, some have reported that the influencer discovery feature doesn’t meet the necessary requirements, and might become time consuming to find the influencers in specific niches:
captiv8 review4
  • Payment Delays to Creators: Perhaps the most disturbing issue comes from the payment side. Several influencers have expressed dissatisfaction over extremely delayed payments during Captiv8 campaigns. Late payments reflect a bad impact on brands and undermine influencer relationships, thus, this is a big worry.

Now that you’re familiar with Captiv8’s features, pricing structure, and authentic user feedback, you can make an informed decision regarding the suitability of this tool for your specific requirements. 

Captiv8 Pros and Cons

Now let’s summarize the benefits and drawbacks of this service to help you decide better. 

Captiv8 pros and cons

Pros

  • Supporting multiple social media platforms
  • Massive database of creators
  • Good Customer Support and Training,
  • Detailed Influencer Analytics

Cons

  • High pricing
  • Lack of free plan
  • In-app bugs and glitches
  • Campaign creation limitations
  • Payment delays

The Best Captiv8 Alternative: Ainfluencer

While Captiv8 is a helpful tool for running and managing influencer-based campaigns across different channels, the cost of the service can be high for many brands. Additionally, the lack of campaign creation makes it difficult for brands to search for creators one by one and add them to their campaigns. But what if we tell you there is a better alternative that is completely free?

Ainfluencer is a free and end-to-end influencer marketing platform that connects brands and influencers in a safe interface. This platform provides a database of over 2M active Instagram and TikTok creators. With the help of an AI-powered search tool and more than 20 advanced filters, you can find the best collaboration match in a few minutes. Here is how Ainfluencer works:

Ainfluencer Workflow

First, you need to find the best influencers for your niche and this is doable by many filters that Ainfluencer provides you with to narrow your search. Next, on each creator’s profile on Ainfluencer, you can view their past collaborations, engagement metrics, and collaboration costs. As a brand, you don’t need to pay any additional fee to the platform, and you can set and manage unlimited campaigns for free.

Now is the time to reach out to these influencers and start your collaboration. Ainfluencer has a solution for this part too. You can easily use the end-to-end chatbox that has been integrated only for this matter. You will have a deal with your desired influencers and demand the result. To ensure your money is safe, Ainfluencer will keep it in its trusted escrow system before delivering it to influencers.

After monitoring your campaign results, influencers will receive their money in their wallet and the process is finished. So if you are looking for free Captiv8 alternatives to manage social media campaigns, Ainfluencer can help you. 

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Captiv8 vs. Ainfluencer
Features Captiv8 Ainfluencer
Database of Influencers 30M +1M
Filtering Keyword filtering AI-powered search engine/
More than 20 filters
Pricing Options $2000/mo Free
Influencer Search ✅ ✅
Platforms Instagram, Twitter, YouTube,
TikTok, Pinterest, Twitch,
and Facebook 		Instagram & TikTok
Number of Invitation Limited Unlimited
Number of Campaigns Limited Unlimited
Campaign Management ✅ ✅
Detailed Insights ✅ ✅

Other Captiv8 Alternatives

Are you looking for similar tools to run and manage your campaigns? Here are some available options. However, none of them is free. 

1. Grin

If you like to check the number of fake and organic followers of each influencer before collaborating with them, Grin is one of the Captiv8 alternatives that can help you. This tool provides a database of over 38M creators across different channels to work with. Its main features are influencer discovery, fake follower checker and influencer analysis, relationship management, etc.

Grin offers resources for locating possible influencers, contacting them, and monitoring the effectiveness of influencer-driven marketing campaigns. This will assist companies in managing and optimizing their influencer marketing initiatives. Here is a list of pros and cons that you will encounter while working with this Captive8 alternative:

Pros:

  • Integrated Communications,
  • Strong third-Party Integrations,
  • Built-in payment and Legal Tools.

Cons:

  • Expensive Pricing,
  • Influencer Discovery Gaps for different niches,
  • Additional Costs for Add-ons,
  • Occasional Software Glitches.

Read Grin Reviews.

2. Upfluence

If you are looking for Captiv8 alternatives that connect you with creators across all major channels, Upfluence is what you need. On Upfluence, you can discover over 4M creators across  Amazon, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitch, and WordPress to promote your online shop or blog.

Founded in 2013, Upfluence has evolved from a simple blog into a robust tool for influencer marketing. By 2023, Upfluence had grown to over 1,000 customers and generated $11.8 million in annual revenue, making it a top player in the industry alongside options like Ainfluencer. 

Let’s see what Upfluence offers as features:

  • Affiliate Management: Upfluence provides affiliate management, which is very helpful for Amazon affiliate influencer marketing. Clients may oversee each stage of their affiliate marketing with this application, which also offers incentives to encourage producers. This feature is well-operated in specified Amazon affiliate programs such as AlgoRift.
  • Campaign Management and Analytics: Upfluence provides campaign management tools for tracking influencer content, negotiating compensation, scaling outreach, and grouping influencers into campaigns. Additionally, the platform maintains a record of influencer payments, which facilitates budget management and ROI tracking.
  • Influencer Marketplace: You can use search filters to locate creators by audience, geography, gender, platform, niche, and more. You also can assign your budget and determine the best fit based on it with the aid of the automated budget management tool.

Read Upfluence Reviews.

3. CreatorIQ

Want to know the latest trends in your industry to join it with your influencer partner? CreatorsIQ is an influencer marketing tool with a trend analysis feature that allows you to hop on the latest trends on different social media channels and run effective campaigns.

CreatorIQ is another option on our list of Captive8 alternatives. It is an influencer marketing platform designed to help businesses find influencers in their niche. It offers a suite of tools that cater to various aspects of influencer marketing, from identifying the right influencers to tracking campaign performance. Let us look at its strengths and weaknesses in one glance:

Pros 

  • Comprehensive Influencer Database
  • User-Friendly Interface
  • Seamless Integrations

Cons

  • Pricing Transparency
  • Learning Curve
  • Customer Support

Read CreatorIQ Reviews. 

Conclusion

Captiv8 is an influencer marketing platform that offers various tools for businesses seeking to engage with social media influencers. It provides a comprehensive set of resources for influencer marketing campaigns. However, to check their efficiency, we’ve provided a Captiv8 review to check its features, pricing, and customers’ feedbacks. 

Some users have reported issues with its complex interface, glitches, and difficulties in connecting with micro-influencers. Additionally, the lack of transparency in pricing may deter smaller businesses from utilizing the platform.

FAQs

Captiv8 is a platform that provides tools for data analytics, campaign management, and influencer finding in order to simplify and improve influencer marketing campaigns.

Yes, Captiv8 is a legitimate influencer marketing platform that allows brands and influencers to connect and collaborate. Yet, there are some disadvantages to this tool that users need to know of in order to make the best decision for their business.

If you are looking for safe options with reasonable pricing to run social media campaigns, Influencer is what you are looking for. This free tool provides a database of over 2 million active creators across Instagram and TikTok and is the best Captiv8 alternative.

According to some users, Captiv8 has a small database of influencers, requires manual influencer addition, provides less comprehensive YouTube statistics than Instagram, and requires influencer verification for tracking. These all can be an issue in different situations.