Best Alternatives to Gather: Refer a Friendfor Shopify (2026)
As we move into 2026, merchants using Gather: Refer a Friend may find themselves evaluating alternative referral solutions on Shopify. While Gather boasts strong ratings, businesses evolve, and their needs change. Common reasons for seeking alternatives often revolve around pricing structures that no longer align with budget, a desire for deeper customization or more diverse reward options beyond single or tiered systems, or the need for tighter integration with other marketing tools. Perhaps Gather's email and dashboard design capabilities are not robust enough for some, leading them to explore options with more advanced visual editors and segmentation features.
Merchants may also find Gather's focus on sales growth, lead-gen, and newsletter acquisition limiting if they are looking to add loyalty programs and other methods of incentivizing return purchases. Businesses might also be looking for a single app that solves multiple problems beyond the core referral use case, for example, wishlist functionality or robust discount offerings.
As we move into 2026, merchants using Gather: Refer a Friend may find themselves evaluating alternative referral solutions on Shopify. While Gather boasts strong ratings, businesses evolve, and their needs change. Common reasons for seeking alternatives often revolve around pricing structures that no longer align with budget, a desire for deeper customization or more diverse reward options beyond single or tiered systems, or the need for tighter integration with other marketing tools. Perhaps Gather's email and dashboard design capabilities are not robust enough for some, leading them to explore options with more advanced visual editors and segmentation features.
Merchants may also find Gather's focus on sales growth, lead-gen, and newsletter acquisition limiting if they are looking to add loyalty programs and other methods of incentivizing return purchases. Businesses might also be looking for a single app that solves multiple problems beyond the core referral use case, for example, wishlist functionality or robust discount offerings.
10
Alternatives Found
5.0 ★
Gather: Refer a Friend Rating
$0
Paid Placements
Promotions - OtherCustomer loyaltyLoyalty and rewards
You're looking to replace
Gather: Refer a Friend
Gather activates your customer to customer referral channel, with automation and personalisation.
Draw attention to products with catchy product labels, badges, and stickers, improve conversion rate
Why Consider
Lably focuses on visual merchandising, using labels and badges to highlight promotions and product features. Although it doesn't offer referrals, it helps drive sales by drawing customer attention to key products and offers, enhancing conversion rates.
Best For
Best for merchants who want to visually promote their products and improve on-site conversions.
Turn your store into iOS & Android mobile apps. Generate more sales and decrease marketing ad spend.
Why Consider
Shopney offers a completely different approach by focusing on mobile app development for your Shopify store. While not a direct replacement for a referral program, it allows you to create a more engaging customer experience and potentially drive repeat sales without expensive ad spend, and allows you to send push notifications.
Best For
Best for merchants prioritizing mobile commerce and reducing reliance on social media advertising.
Subscriptions app to unlock recurring revenue with intuitive customer portal & 24/7 human support.
Why Consider
While not directly a referral program alternative, Recurpay allows for subscription-based revenue, which can be more predictable than one-time referrals. Features like gift subscriptions and automated management offer an alternative method to drive recurring revenue streams.
Best For
Best for businesses transitioning to or expanding their subscription-based offerings.
Boost sales with automatic discounts, free gift with purchase, progress bars, tiered discount, BXGY
Why Consider
Kite provides powerful discount and promotional capabilities that could be used in conjunction with, or in place of, a referral program. It allows for more complex promotional offers like BOGO, tiered discounts, and free gifts, all driven by progress bars and clear incentives.
Best For
Best for merchants who want sophisticated discount strategies and engaging promotional offers beyond basic referrals.
Unlock additional revenue with a feature rich wishlist solution that drives customer engagement.
Why Consider
Swish focuses on wishlists to drive engagement and sales. While it doesn't directly replace a referral program, it offers valuable data and customer engagement through wishlists, personalized notifications, and integration with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta.
Best For
Best for merchants who want to leverage wishlists to understand customer preferences and drive conversions.
Boost sales with Loyalty, Product Wishlist & Enhanced Customer Dashboard. Setup in minutes.
Why Consider
Froonze combines loyalty and wishlist functionalities into one, enhancing the customer dashboard experience. It provides features similar to E! and BLOY, with a strong emphasis on native Shopify store credit for cashback programs.
Best For
Best for merchants looking for a unified loyalty and wishlist solution integrated with Shopify store credit.
Allow customers to save favorite products to their Wishlist and view them later anytime.
Why Consider
Wishify provides a simple and effective wishlist solution to increase sales and conversions. It offers sharing capabilities and automated email reminders to bring users back to purchase.
Best For
Best for merchants who want a straightforward wishlist app focused on driving sales recovery.
Create a fun, customizable loyalty and rewards program with points, referrals program, VIP tiers
Why Consider
E! is a direct alternative, offering a comprehensive loyalty program with points, rewards, referral options, and VIP tiers. Its strength lies in providing a broader range of loyalty incentives, including points for referrals, as well as robust loyalty features.
Best For
Best for merchants seeking a robust, all-in-one loyalty program with integrated referrals and VIP tiers.
Build a loyalty program to increase retention with points, rewards, VIP tiers, membership and POS.
Why Consider
BLOY is another direct alternative offering points, rewards, VIP tiers, and referral rewards. Its focus on rewarding key customer actions and designing meaningful VIP tiers makes it a strong option for building long-term loyalty.
Best For
Best for merchants who want a customer loyalty program focused on driving retention and repeat purchases.
Loyalty points program with loyalty and rewards, VIP tiers, referral, membership for loyal customers
Why Consider
Love Loyalty provides a full loyalty suite with points, rewards, VIP tiers, and referral programs. Its multiple placement options and support for B2B and POS systems provide more flexibility than Gather.
Best For
Best for merchants who want a flexible loyalty program with diverse placement options, POS support, and B2B capabilities.
You might consider switching if you need more flexible reward options, deeper integration with loyalty programs, or a more customizable email and dashboard design than Gather offers. Pricing can also be a factor.
Does E! Loyalty offer similar referral program capabilities?
Yes, E! Loyalty offers similar referral program capabilities to Gather but includes a broader loyalty system with points, rewards, and VIP tiers, which can expand your customer engagement strategy.
If I want more advanced discounts, which app is best?
Kite Discount, Free Gift, BOGO is the best option if you need complex discount structures like BOGO offers, tiered discounts, and free gifts, along with progress bars to motivate purchases.
Can I create a mobile app instead of focusing on referrals?
Yes, Shopney allows you to turn your Shopify store into a mobile app, which can improve customer engagement and sales without relying solely on referrals.
Are there alternatives that combine loyalty and wishlist functions?
Yes, Froonze VIP Loyalty & Wishlist combines both loyalty program features and a wishlist into a single customer account, offering a unified customer experience.
FixMyStore
Get More From Your Shopify Store
Run audits for SEO, CRO, PageSpeed, and AI visibility. Get a clear report and actionable fixes.
