Shopify Collabs (Formerly Dovetale) vs Heepsy vs Influencer Hero: Features, Pricing and Key Differences
The main difference between Shopify Collabs, Heepsy, and Influencer Hero lies in how each platform supports different stages of influencer marketing. Shopify Collabs is designed for Shopify merchants who want to manage influencer gifting and affiliate campaigns directly within their store. It’s simple to use but limited to the Shopify ecosystem. Heepsy, on the other hand, focuses purely on influencer discovery and analytics. It’s strong for identifying creators, but lacks campaign management and CRM features, which means teams still need additional tools for outreach and tracking.
Influencer Hero brings together both of these capabilities into an all-in-one influencer marketing suite. Based on our sales data, D2C brands use Influencer Hero to manage the entire workflow — from influencer search, outreach automation, content tracking, affiliate code generation, to performance analytics — across multiple platforms, not just Shopify. With integrations for Amazon, WooCommerce, and Meta Ads, it’s better suited for brands scaling influencer programs beyond simple gifting.
In this article, we’ll dive deep into the comparison between Shopify Collabs, Heepsy, and Influencer Hero, exploring their features, pricing, pros, and cons to help you decide which platform best fits your brand’s goals and influencer marketing strategy.
Shopify Collabs (Formerly Dovetale) vs Heepsy vs Influencer Hero Comparison
Feature
Shopify Collabs
Heepsy
Influencer Hero
Influencer Discovery / Database
Limited influencer discovery; mainly connects existing customers and creators through Shopify stores.
Extensive influencer database with filters for location, niche, engagement, and audience demographics.
450M+ influencers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more with advanced filters, audience analytics, and lookalike search.
Core Focus
Influencer gifting and affiliate management for Shopify stores.
Influencer discovery and analytics.
End-to-end influencer marketing — from discovery and outreach to CRM, content tracking, and analytics.
Best For
Small to medium Shopify merchants looking for gifting collaborations.
Agencies and brands focusing on data-driven influencer research.
D2C brands and agencies running full influencer campaigns and tracking ROI in one place.
Campaign Management & CRM
Basic collaboration tools, but lacks campaign workflow automation.
None — requires external tools for outreach and management.
Built-in CRM for managing outreach, contracts, payments, post tracking, and performance analytics.
Customer Support
Limited — mainly Shopify community and help center support.
Email-based support; no dedicated account manager.
Dedicated customer success team with onboarding, live chat, and account manager support.
Pricing
Free (included with Shopify plans).
Starts around $99/month; higher tiers for data export and analytics.
Shopify Collabs has a limited influencer discovery feature mainly focused on connecting brands with creators already in the Shopify ecosystem. Heepsy and Influencer Hero both offer large databases, but Influencer Hero provides deeper analytics and outreach integration, making it more suitable for full-scale influencer campaigns.
2. Core Focus
Shopify Collabs centers on influencer gifting and affiliate programs for Shopify merchants, while Heepsy focuses solely on influencer search and analytics. Influencer Hero, in contrast, is built as an all-in-one solution that combines discovery, outreach, CRM, and campaign tracking in one place.
3. Best For
Shopify Collabs fits small to mid-sized Shopify brands seeking simple gifting and affiliate tools. Heepsy suits agencies and data-driven marketers, while Influencer Hero caters to D2C brands managing multi-channel influencer partnerships from start to finish.
4. Campaign Management & CRM
Shopify Collabs lacks advanced CRM and workflow management features, and Heepsy offers none. Influencer Hero includes built-in CRM, automated outreach, and post-tracking tools to manage campaigns efficiently.
5. Customer Support
Shopify Collabs offers standard Shopify support, while Heepsy provides email-only assistance. Influencer Hero stands out with dedicated onboarding, live chat, and personalized account management for all users.
6. Pricing
Shopify Collabs is free to use but charges a commission of 2.9% on influencer sales. Heepsy offers tiered pricing starting around $99/month, while Influencer Hero provides flexible plans starting from $649/month, covering all features in one dashboard.
Which Tool Is Best for You? Why Brands Choose Influencer Hero Over Shopify Collabs (Formerly Dovetale) and Heepsy
Shopify Collabs is ideal for simple influencer gifting and affiliate setups, but it remains tightly limited to Shopify merchants and offers minimal campaign management tools. Heepsy focuses mainly on influencer discovery, giving you access to a large database but lacking tools for outreach, tracking, or CRM. In contrast, Influencer Hero combines all these features — from influencer search and outreach automation to performance tracking and reporting — into one cohesive platform.
Overall, Influencer Hero is the best option for brands that want an all-in-one influencer marketing solution. While Shopify Collabs serves as a simple starting point for Shopify users and Heepsy helps you find influencers, Influencer Hero gives you the full package — discovery, outreach, analytics, and affiliate management — in a single, easy-to-use platform. This makes it the go-to choice for D2C brands looking to streamline influencer marketing and maximize ROI.
Shopify Collabs (Formerly Dovetale) Overview
Shopify Collabs is Shopify’s native influencer and affiliate marketing tool designed to help brands manage influencer partnerships directly within their Shopify admin. Originally launched as Dovetale and rebranded under Shopify in 2022, it simplifies influencer gifting, affiliate link generation, and automated payments — making it a go-to solution for Shopify-based D2C brands that want to build ambassador programs without relying on external software.
Its main purpose is to streamline product seeding and affiliate tracking while keeping all campaign data and payouts centralized inside Shopify.
Shopify Collabs Standout Features
Native Shopify Integration: Collabs connects seamlessly with the Shopify backend, allowing brands to manage influencer gifting, affiliate sales, and inventory within one interface — a major plus for small D2C teams already relying on Shopify.
Automatic Affiliate Payments: Payments to creators are handled automatically through PayPal, making it easy for lean marketing teams to manage commissions and keep accurate payout records without manual intervention.
Custom Creator Application Pages: Each brand can set up a public creator sign-up page to attract influencers interested in collaborations — a helpful feature for startups looking to grow their ambassador network organically.
Automation via Shopify Flow and Linkpop: With Shopify Flow automations, brands can approve creators, send rewards, or trigger updates automatically. The Linkpop integration lets influencers drive followers directly to product pages — ideal for social-first sales strategies.
Simplified Product Gifting: Merchants can send gifts and carryout product seeding directly from existing Shopify inventory, track redemption, and monitor creator activity — particularly useful for emerging brands running small-scale influencer tests.
Best For
Shopify Collabs is best suited for Shopify-based D2C brands and early-stage startups that want to manage gifting and affiliate programs directly inside their Shopify admin, without committing to a separate influencer platform.
Pricing & Contract Length
Cost: Free to use for all paid Shopify plans (Basic, Advanced, and Plus).
Fees: Only a 2.9% processing fee on influencer payout transactions.
Contract Length: No contract; available as part of your Shopify subscription with month-to-month flexibility.
Pros
100% free to use for Shopify merchants.
Fully integrated with Shopify’s inventory, analytics, and payout systems.
Automates affiliate link creation and PayPal payouts.
Easy setup for brands with limited influencer marketing experience.
Customizable application pages to attract inbound creator signups.
Cons
No dedicated CRM or relationship management tools.
Limited content or UGC asset management.
Only supports PayPal for payouts (no bank or multi-currency options).
Creator quality varies — often skewed toward free-product seekers.
Minimal customization for emails or multilingual support.
Free Tools
Shopify Collabs itself is a free tool for all Shopify merchants, with no subscription fees. It doesn’t offer additional standalone free tools beyond its built-in gifting and affiliate management features.
Heepsy Overview
Heepsy is an influencer marketing platform designed to help brands discover, analyze, and collaborate with creators across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. With its powerful AI tools for detecting fake followers and advanced audience analytics, Heepsy enables brands to identify genuine influencers whose followers match their target demographics. It’s particularly popular among eCommerce and D2C businesses that need a scalable yet affordable solution for influencer discovery and campaign tracking.
Heepsy Standout Features
Extensive Creator Database: Access over 50 million influencer profiles worldwide, allowing brands to find creators by niche, engagement rate, audience location, and platform — ideal for Shopify-based and D2C brands looking to scale their collaborations.
AI Tools for Detecting Fake Followers: Heepsy uses AI-driven authenticity scoring to analyze influencer audiences and flag suspicious follower activity, helping brands avoid fake engagement and maximize ROI.
Advanced Search Filters: Refine influencer searches by audience demographics, brand mentions, engagement rates, and follower count. This level of precision is particularly useful for startups and smaller teams managing targeted campaigns.
Shopify Integration for Affiliate Tracking: Connects directly with Shopify to monitor affiliate links, conversions, and sales performance — a valuable feature for eCommerce brands running data-driven influencer programs.
Campaign Management Dashboard: Manage influencer lists, export data, and monitor campaign results in one place. While not as advanced as enterprise CRMs, it’s efficient for small to mid-sized marketing teams.
Best For
Heepsy is best for D2C and eCommerce brands that want to find genuine influencers using AI tools for detecting fake followers, manage collaborations efficiently, and track affiliate performance without complex software setups.
Pricing & Contract Length
There are different plans based on team size and campaign needs:
Free Plan: Lets you explore the discovery feature and preview influencer profiles.
Starter Plan:$89/month — Includes up to 15,000 results, 50 influencer profiles, and 50 outreach emails.
Plus Plan:$249/month — Offers 40,000 results, 1,000 advanced profiles, and 1,000 outreach emails. Adds bulk outreach, contact exports, media gallery, and campaign reporting.
Advanced Plan:$369/month — Includes 60,000 results, 3,000 profiles, and 3,000 outreach emails. Unlocks advanced filters, automated sales tracking, Shopify/WooCommerce integrations, product catalogs, and promo code tracking.
Heepsy offers monthly, 6-month, and annual commitments, with the higher tiers providing the most complete set of features for eCommerce teams.
Pros
Large 50M+ influencer database across major social platforms.
Built-in AI tools for detecting fake followers and audience authenticity.
Affordable pricing for small to medium-sized brands.
Shopify integration for affiliate and sales tracking.
Easy-to-navigate interface ideal for quick influencer discovery.
Cons
Limited campaign management tools compared to larger platforms with more advanced features.
No native payment processing for influencer payouts.
Sales tracking and integrations (like WooCommerce) are only available on higher-tier plans.
Basic reporting compared to more robust, enterprise-level platforms.
Free Tools
Influencer Search Tool: Heepsy offers a free version of their influencer search tool, allowing brands to find influencers based on specific filters like location and engagement.
Fake Follower Checker: Heepsy’s free tool helps brands assess the authenticity of influencer audiences, which is crucial for filtering out influencers with fake followers.
Engagement Rate Calculator: Heepsy provides a free tool to calculate engagement rates, helping brands evaluate potential influencers before reaching out.
If you need more comprehensive features, such as full campaign management and advanced reporting, a paid plan would be necessary.
Influencer Hero Overview
Influencer Hero is an all-in-one influencer marketing software built for D2C and eCommerce brands to manage every step of their influencer campaigns — from discovery and outreach to campaign management, affiliate tracking, UGC collection, and payouts. The platform integrates directly with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Amazon, making it a true performance-based system for brands that want measurable results from influencer collaborations.
Influencer Hero Standout Features
All-in-One Influencer Workflow: Influencer Hero consolidates influencer discovery, outreach, CRM, gifting, affiliate management, UGC tracking, and reporting — all in one place. This makes it perfect for Shopify and Amazon brands that want to manage entire campaigns without switching between tools.
Integrated Shopify & Amazon Tracking: The platform connects directly to your store, letting you automatically generate unique discount codes and affiliate links for each creator. You can track every sale, revenue, and ROI in real time — ideal for D2C brands focused on performance-based influencer marketing.
UGC Content Library: Every piece of content from influencers — posts, stories, videos, and reels — is automatically pulled into a centralized UGC library. Brands can filter, download, and reuse this content for ads or social proof, a major advantage for brands scaling paid campaigns with influencer assets.
Automated CRM & Outreach Tools: Influencer Hero offers automated email sequences, influencer pipeline management, and custom campaign templates. This helps marketing teams save time on manual follow-ups and keep communication consistent across multiple collaborations.
Performance Analytics & Reporting Dashboard: Campaign metrics such as engagement rate, conversions, ROI, and affiliate performance are automatically tracked and displayed in a dashboard — perfect for eCommerce brands that need to evaluate influencer ROI and optimize partnerships.
Best For
Influencer Hero is best for eCommerce and D2C brands using Shopify or Amazon that want to scale influencer and affiliate marketing through a fully integrated, performance-driven platform.
Pricing & Contract Length
Based on sales and demo data, Influencer Hero offers the following plans:
Standard Plan: $649/month – includes influencer discovery, outreach, CRM, and affiliate management.
Pro Plan: $1,049/month – adds advanced automation, UGC library, and expanded platform integrations.
Business Plan (Enterprise): $2,490/month – includes multi-store management, API access, and full customization.
Contracts are monthly or annual, with savings available for annual commitments.
Final Thoughts on Shopify Collabs (Formerly Dovetale) vs Heepsy vs Influencer Hero
When comparing Shopify Collabs, Heepsy, and Influencer Hero, the first two cater mainly to influencer discovery and basic affiliate management, but they fall short in offering a complete influencer marketing workflow. Shopify Collabs is great for brands already using Shopify who need a free and simple gifting system but lacks robust analytics, CRM, and outreach capabilities. Both platforms work well for small or early-stage D2C brands but are restrictive when it comes to managing end-to-end influencer campaigns at scale.
Influencer Hero stands out as the most complete solution among the three. It combines influencer search, outreach automation, CRM, affiliate tracking, and post-performance analytics — all in one centralized platform. Unlike Shopify Collabs and Heepsy, Influencer Hero doesn’t just help you find influencers; it helps you manage the entire process efficiently from first contact to conversion tracking. Whether you’re a startup or an enterprise brand, Influencer Hero provides the tools you need to build scalable, data-driven campaigns that deliver measurable ROI.
If you’re looking for a tool that saves time, scales effortlessly, and drives measurable results, book a free demo with Influencer Hero today to see how it can elevate your influencer marketing strategy.
FAQs
Is Influencer Hero suitable for Shopify and Amazon brands?
Yes. Influencer Hero directly integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Amazon, enabling automatic affiliate tracking, code generation, and real-time sales attribution. It’s built specifically for eCommerce, which makes it more aligned with D2C brand needs than either Heepsy or Shopify Collabs.
Can I track influencer performance using these platforms?
Shopify Collabs offers basic affiliate tracking within Shopify, and Heepsy provides engagement metrics but limited campaign insights. Influencer Hero goes further by offering advanced post-tracking, affiliate link analytics, and automated performance reports, giving brands full visibility into ROI.
Why do brands prefer Influencer Hero over Shopify Collabs and Heepsy?
Brands choose Influencer Hero because it centralizes every aspect of influencer marketing — from finding influencers and automating outreach to managing relationships and tracking conversions. Unlike Shopify Collabs or Heepsy, it’s designed for brands that want to scale influencer marketing efficiently and measure every campaign result in one unified dashboard.
What is the main difference between Shopify Collabs, Heepsy, and Influencer Hero?
Shopify Collabs is built for Shopify users who want to manage gifting and basic affiliate programs, while Heepsy focuses on influencer discovery and AI tools for detecting fake followers. Influencer Hero, however, combines both — offering influencer discovery, outreach automation, CRM, affiliate tracking, and post-tracking tools, making it an all-in-one solution for managing campaigns end-to-end.
What makes Influencer Hero different from other influencer marketing platforms?
Unlike tools like Shopify Collabs or Heepsy that focus on a single part of the influencer process, Influencer Hero brings everything together in one place — influencer discovery, CRM, outreach automation, affiliate tracking, post-performance analytics, and even AI tools for detecting fake followers. It’s built for D2C and eCommerce brands that want to scale influencer campaigns efficiently, track real ROI, and manage the entire workflow without relying on multiple disconnected platforms.
