Grin Review 2023 Features & Pricing + Best Alternative

Last Updated: June 26th, 2024

What Is Grin?

It was in 2014 when the Grin media agency recognized the growing importance of influencer marketing and the need for a dedicated platform to manage influencer campaigns effectively. Accordingly, they launched Grin influencer marketing platform to help brands and agencies boost their marketing game.

As an influencer marketplace, Grin claims to help businesses manage and optimize their influencer marketing projects by providing tools for identifying potential influencers, reaching out to them, and tracking the performance of influencer-driven marketing efforts.

It offers features for managing influencer relationships, including negotiation and contract management. Additionally, Grin provides analytics and reporting tools to assess the impact and effectiveness of influencer campaigns.

However, that’s just the surface. It’s a given that businesses and brands need to conduct thorough research in order to choose the best platform. That’s why we’ve decided to write this Grin review: to tell you everything you need to know about this software and let you decide for yourself.

Grin Reviews: Features & Pricing + Best Alternative

Like most influencer marketing platforms, Grin also offers some features that make it unique among other platforms. On the other hand, it also has drawbacks that may make people decide not to choose it. So, in this review, we are going to explain all about this influencer marketing platform, from Grin pricing to its features and customers’ reviews.

Grin

We start by checking out Grin features and tools: 

Grin Features

Grin promises to help brands streamline their influencer marketing campaigns by offering a range of features, including: 

1. Creator Search

Grin’s Creator Search feature is designed to help users identify potential influencers who are aligned with their niche. Advertisers can search for influencers based on different filters, such as their location, language, or gender. 

Grin influencer search

While this tool offers an extensive database of influencers, it’s important to note that many users have reported that this feature was unexpectedly removed in the past, causing disruptions in their influencer marketing efforts. 

2. Influencer Analysis 

This platform provides a credibility tool to recognize fake influencers. It means you can paste the URL of the influencer’s page on TikTok or YouTube to discover how authentic they are. Currently, this tool doesn’t work for Instagram. It occasionally faces some technical difficulties.

Note

What is more reliable than the rate and reviews of people who have already worked with an influencer before? If you want to ensure that the influencer you have found is authentic and can bring you more engagement, create your influencer marketing campaign on Ainfluencer because it offers a rating feature. 

Based on this feature, influencers are rated for their previous collaborations. Therefore, this number shows how effective they can be for your campaign.

Don’t miss your chance to check this feature on Ainfluencer. 

3. Content Management

Grin provides a content management tool to help users organize and track their content. Brands can store, search, and filter each piece of creator content in the platform. 

4. Reporting

The reporting tool on this platform allows brands to measure their ROI and keep track of their progress. Users can measure key metrics like reach, engagement, and ROI, helping them assess the effectiveness of their influencer marketing efforts.

Grin Reporting Tool

5. Relationship Management

Grin offers tools for managing relationships with influencers. Users can communicate with influencers, negotiate contracts, and track interactions through the platform.

6. Grin for Creators

This tool is a specific feature for creators and influencers. It’s the most recent feature of this company that is designed to help creators grow and get better offers. However, it’s still new. So, we should wait to hear how well it works in the future.

Grin Pricing

Grin takes a rather frustrating approach when it comes to disclosing its pricing on its website. Unlike many other service providers who offer transparent pricing details, Grin chooses to keep its pricing information hidden. Instead, users are required to reach out to the company directly to learn more about their pricing structure.

Moreover, the Grin pricing is typically customized to meet the specific needs and requirements of each business, which can make it challenging for potential users to gauge the cost of using their services.

But one thing is certain: using Grin can be expensive. Before deciding whether you want to continue with Grin or change to another alternative, let’s see what real users say about their experience with Grin.

Grin Reviews

To have a clear understanding of how Grin works and whether it’s worth your money or not, we went through many reviews to see how users express their experience with this tool. And this is what we found.

According to many reviews left on legitimate websites such as TrustPilot and G2, there have been many issues with one of the key features of Grin: Creator search.

Grin Review 1

Many users have reported that the creator discovery feature was removed from the platform without any prior notice. This sudden change has led to frustration and a decline in their ability to find and engage with new content creators, ultimately affecting their overall user experience on the platform.

Here’s another one:

Grin Review 2

The worst part is, that the support team didn’t respond to any of the complaints, and the users didn’t manage to get a refund. Some were even charged for a feature that didn’t even exist.

Another drawback with Grin is the unfriendly interface. This user shares their view on this issue:

Having an unfriendly interface can negatively impact brands by making it more challenging for marketers to effectively collaborate with influencers, access critical data, and execute campaigns efficiently. 

This can lead to decreased campaign performance, missed opportunities, and a frustrating user experience for both brands and influencers. As a result, it can question the platform’s effectiveness in connecting brands with their target audiences.

In addition to all that, many users have highlighted that Grin’s platform is underdeveloped and has too many glitches:

Grin Review 4

Here’s another review highlighting this issue:

Grin Review 5

This user also states that the support team failed to address the issues,  and the problem remained unsolved for too long.

Grin Review 6

This review is self-explanatory. This user was charged for a feature that didn’t work as expected, and they weren’t able to cancel their subscription.

Overall, one significant concern on Grin reviews is the reliability of Grin’s Creator Search feature, which has been unexpectedly removed in the past, causing disruptions in influencer marketing efforts and frustration among users.
The lack of responsiveness from Grin’s support team and the absence of refunds for affected users further compound these issues. Additionally, an unfriendly interface and technical glitches have negatively impacted user experiences and campaign performance.

Before making your final decision about using Grin platform or not, we recommend you to check out some of Grin competitors, as listed below:

Ainfluencer: Best Grin Alternative

In a world where every brand and influencer is in pursuit of a platform that’s not only efficient but also budget-friendly, Ainfluencer emerges as a game-changer. If you’re a brand that cares about your ROI, or an influencer searching for opportunities without the expensive prices, then Ainfluencer is the answer you’ve been waiting for.

Ainfluencer

The key feature of Ainfluencer, among many others, is its promise of unlimited usage of the platform, forever, without ever reaching for your wallet. Yes, you heard that right! At no point will Ainfluencer interrupt your journey with payment requests. 

For brands, this means that when you seal deals with influencers, you pay a total of $0 in fees. This is a massive relief for countless businesses and brands, making Ainfluencer a remarkable choice in the influencer marketing world.

Furthermore, compared to the Grin for Creators feature, Ainfluencer allows influencers to join the platform, still for free, and start collaborating with brands and businesses. That’s an easy method for social media influencers to make money on different platforms.

Ainfluencer is not just another influencer platform; it’s a full-fledged, end-to-end marketplace that harnesses the power of AI to seamlessly connect your products and services with thousands of influencers on Instagram and TikTok. 

Don’t miss this opportunity. Sign up on Ainfluencer today and surpass all your competitors with just a few clicks!

Grin vs. Ainfluencer

Features Grin Ainfluencer
Database of Influencers 37M +2M
Pricing Options No Free Trial Free
Influencer Search Yes Yes
Number of Invitations N/A Unlimited
Number of Campaigns N/A Unlimited
Campaign Management Yes Yes
Detailed Insights Yes Yes
       

Other Grin Alternatives

Here are other Grin competitors :

Upfluence

Although Upfluence doesn’t have clear pricing plan, when it comes to comparing Upfluence vs Grin, the estimates suggest GRIN is more expensive. Therefore, it can also be one of Grin alternatives if you look for a slightly cheaper influencer marketing platform.

Read Upfluence Reviews

AspireIQ

Grin competitors have their own pros and cons. For example, AspireIQ has a larger influencer database, which Grin lacks. On the other hand, it has a more complex navigation. In case of pricing, both platforms have hidden pricing plans. However, when you compare AspireIQ vs Grin, some believe that Grin is still more expensive.

 Read AspireIQ Reviews 

HypeAuditor

Another alternative to Grin influencer marketing is HypeAuditor, a general influencer marketing platform focused on influencer discovery, vetting, and fraud detection across various industries. The influencer discovery on HypeAuditor is claimed to work better than Grin’s creator’s search feature. However, this platform also doesn’t have any clear pricing plans, too.

Read HypeAuditor Reviews

Conclusion

Grin is a well-known influencer marketing platform that offers different features for brands and agencies. However, Grin reviews show that it has faced criticism due to issues with its Creator Search feature, sudden changes, and a lack of transparency regarding pricing.

Real users have reported challenges with discovering and engaging with content creators, unfriendly interface, and ongoing glitches. While Grin has its merits, these drawbacks have raised concerns about its effectiveness in connecting brands with their target audiences.

Now that you have a better understanding of the details and potential challenges associated with Grin, you can make an informed decision for your business or choose one of Grin alternatives. Good luck!

FAQs

No, Grin is not a free influencer marketing platform. Even though they offer a demo for users, there are no free plans available. For more information about their pricing structure, users need to reach out to Grin’s team directly.

Grin is an influencer marketing platform that facilitates collaboration between brands and social media influencers. It provides tools and features to help businesses identify, connect with, and manage influencer partnerships for marketing campaigns.

Unfortunately, GRIN does not publicly disclose pricing details. Their pricing model is customized based on each brand’s specific needs and requirements for their influencer marketing program.