Captiv8 is an influencer marketing software that claims to be best-in-class. Since the influencer marketing industry reached $24 billion in 2024 and is predicted to grow further, many brands are turning to companies like Captiv8 to manage their influencer campaigns.
But to truly decide if Captiv8 is one of the best influencer marketing platforms, we need to go beyond the promises and delve into their services, reviews, pricing, and more.
That’s what we’ve done in this blog along with exploring a better alternative. Let’s get started!
What Is Captiv8?
Captiv8 is an end-to-end influencer marketing platform founded in 2015 by Krishna Subramanian and Sunil Verma. It provides a suite of tools to help brands and creators manage influencer campaigns across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and X (former Twitter).
The campaign management includes discovery, recruitment, campaign execution, payment, and analysis. Captiv8 is located in San Fransisco and has over 200 employees.
Captiv8 Features & Services
Here are the products and features Captiv8 Influencer marketing platform offers:
1. Influencer Marketing Suite
Captiv8 allows users to plan, discover, manage, and measure their influencer marketing campaigns. It offers search filters to find influencers and sort them by their demographics, previous collaborations, engagement rate, and personal details.
However, it seems Captiv8 search filters face difficulties in showing all influencers. Some users have reported that they couldn’t even find top creators with large followers by those filters.
2. Creator Collective (Affiliate Marketing Suite)
Captiv8 also offers an affiliate marketing tool that lets brands use the creators to promote their products and services through affiliate partnerships.
Here, we’ll break down some of the key features of the creator collective:
- Brands can discover and hire creators,
- The platform also provides tools to manage and track affiliate campaigns,
- With analytics, brands can measure the impact of affiliate campaigns, track sales, and identify top-performing creators,
- This suite integrates with social commerce platforms like TikTok Shop which is a way to make money on TikTok.
3. Creator Solutions
Within this service, influencers can analyze their campaigns’ performance, track payments, and control which advertisers can access your influencer whitelisting feature.
Let’s take a closer look at each function:
- Monitor Campaigns’ Performance: Visualize campaign insights on all your social media platforms,
- Track Payments: This feature enables influencers to keep track of all the payments they expect from different partnerships. Influencers can create invoices for the work done, manage any tax-related documents, and choose how they want to receive the payments (cash out, creator cash advance, or Captiv8 wallet),
- Talent Management: This allows agents or managers to manage influencers’ profiles, communicate with brands, and schedule posts.
It’s worth noting that Captiv8 has been seriously criticized for payment delays, raising concerns about cash flow issues.
4. Google Chrome Extension
Captiv8 also offers a Chrome extension which is specially designed for Instagram users. It allows them to import influencer information directly from Instagram into their Captiv8 dashboard. It currently has 661 users.
Note: To use this Chrome extension, you need your Captiv8 login information.
Here’s how the Captiv8 Chrome extension works:
- Automatic URL Capture: When you’re on an influencer’s Instagram profile, the extension automatically captures their profile URL,
- Information Extraction: It pulls essential information from the profile, including name, bio, follower count, and sample images,
- Database Integration: Once this information is gathered, it’s automatically added to a database or spreadsheet, making it easy to organize and analyze.
Captiv8 Reviews: Real Users’ Experiences
The next thing we’ll do is look at Captiv8 reviews to see what its customers say about it. We could only find both positive and negative reviews on G2.
But let’s dig deeper into the reviews and see what users like and dislike about Captiv8.
Customer support, offering analytics, and influencer management are some of the features users have liked most.
While customers are generally happy with Captiv8’s influencer discovery tool, some have expressed concerns about the accuracy of influencer data and the limited number of influencers available, particularly those with large followers. For example, certain reviewers have reported finding multiple profiles for the same creator!
Moreover, a few users have struggled with Captiv8’s interface, finding it less intuitive, and have faced challenges when connecting social media accounts.
This reviewer is frustrated with the platform’s search function. When they try to find specific influencers or content by pasting a URL, the results are often inaccurate or nonexistent!
Overall, while Captiv8 promises to offer “enriched data”, users often find it difficult to locate specific influencers or access reliable information about them. This is a major issue, as it is considered the main function of any influencer marketing platform.
Captiv8 Pricing
Captiv8’s pricing is not listed on its website and is customized based on the size and specific needs of the company. But their starting price for the most basic package is around $2,000 per month which can be expensive for some businesses, especially smaller ones.
It’s worth noting that Captiv8 also has a six-month commitment period, meaning you need to sign a contract with the company for a minimum period of six months. This could be a problem for smaller businesses as they have often a limited budget.
Captiv8 Pros & Cons
Now that we’ve fully examined Captiv8, its features, user reviews, and pricing, let’s summarize its strengths and weaknesses.
Captiv8 Advantages
✅It delivers data-driven insights like engagement rates, click-through rates, and sales conversions,
✅Captiv8 supports social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and X,
✅This tool also provides a Google Chrome extension to import influencer information from Instagram into their Captiv8 dashboard,
✅Captiv8 integrates with other marketing tools like Shopify and Google Analytics.
Captiv8 Disadvantages
❌Captiv8 sometimes provides inaccurate data about influencers, especially when searching for well-known creators. In some cases, searches may end up with no results or incorrect information,
❌It has a complex user interface and connecting social media accounts takes longer time,
❌They haven’t stated their pricing or packages on their websites,
❌According to users, their starting price is $2000 which is high, especially for smaller brands,
❌This platform requires a six-month commitment period which can be a problem for brands with limited budgets,
❌Captiv8 doesn’t offer any mobile app,
❌It doesn’t have any free trials.
Although Captiv8 is a useful tool for influencer marketing, it can be a bit pricey for smaller brands. So, let’s look at a popular, free option with lots of features!
The Best Alternative to Captiv8: Ainfluencer
Ainfluencer is a 100% Free influencer marketing platform that allows brands to search through over 1M creators on Instagram and TikTok.
Brands can filter creators by niche, country, gender, audience type, etc. Since Ainfluencer is free, it’s a great option for smaller businesses that want to sell on Instagram or TikTok.
Here are the main benefits Ainfluener offers:
- Growing Influencers’ List: Ainfluencer currently lists more than 1M influencers on TikTok and Instagram, with followers from 5,000 to 10 million. This number is growing quickly, with 10,000 new influencers joining the platform each month.
- Manage Unlimited Campaigns: The platform doesn’t limit the number of campaigns or proposals for brands. You can manage as many campaigns as you want and receive proposals from unlimited influencers while your campaign is active.
- Influencer Collaboration: This tool also offers four ways to collaborate with influencers including content creation, content promotion, content amplification, and barter collaborations.
- Smart Filters: Ainfluencer’s smart filters allow you to find influencers based on factors like follower size, platform, gender, and country. Plus, its AI-powered smart invites help you target the right influencers for your campaign.
- Chat Inbox: Its built-in chat feature makes communication between brands and influencers easier. You can discuss offers, negotiate terms, make payments, and leave reviews, all within the platform.
- Mobile App: Ainfluencer also offers Android and iOS apps with the ability to manage campaigns on your mobile device.
In a nutshell, Ainfluencer is an affordable, effective influencer marketing tool that helps you maximize your sales on Instagram and TikTok. Here’s what makes it great:
- Free platform,
- Unlimited campaigns and invitations,
- Simple user interface.
Final Words
While Captiv8 offers useful tools for managing influencer marketing campaigns, its cost can be a serious problem for many small and medium-sized businesses.
Ainfluencer, on the other hand, is a popular, free platform that connects brands with over 1M micro, nano, and macro influencers. The best part is that it has almost the same features and even more.
FAQs
Let’s answer some frequently asked questions about Captiv8:
1. What Does Captiv8 Do?
Captiv8 is an influencer marketing platform that allows brands and creators to manage their influencer marketing campaigns by offering tools like influencer discovery, creator solutions, and an affiliate marketing suite.
2. Is Captiv8 Legit?
Yes, Captiv8 is a legit influencer marketing software. However, recent public criticism has focused on Captiv8’s layoffs, payment issues, and communication breakdowns.
There have been reports from both brands and influencers about delays in payments and difficulties in resolving issues.
3. Is Captiv8 Free?
No, Captiv8 is not a free platform. To use its features and services, both brands and creators have to pay for their packages. Yet, the exact pricing can vary depending on the specific needs of a business.
While Captiv8 doesn’t publicly state its pricing, some users have reported that their plans start from $2,000 per month.
4. Does Captiv8 Offer a Mobile App?
No, as of now, Captiv8 doesn’t offer any mobile app. It’s only accessible through the web and Google Chrome extension.
5. Who Is the CEO of Captiv8?
Krishna Subramanian is the CEO and co-founder of Captiv8 which founded this influencer marketing platform in 2015.