Smile.io vs Referral Rock
One of fourteen models named Smile.io first on the direct prompt; three named Referral Rock. Smile.io was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Referral Rock by thirteen and Smile.io carries 38 labels and Referral Rock 26, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in three categories this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the loyalty, advocacy and referrals page.
By framing
Smile.ioFirst choices, of fourteen modelsReferral Rock
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Smile.io and Referral Rock were named in the same answer thirty-four times, of the 125 answers naming Smile.io and the 195 naming Referral Rock. In those answers Referral Rock took the first choice four times and Smile.io sixteen.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | ||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | |||||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | ||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | |||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | ||
| Kimi K2 | | | | |||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | |||||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | |||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | | |
Smile.io Referral Rock first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Smile.io on the left and Referral Rock on the right.The direct prompt
Both were the first choice
1 of 14 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.Referral Rock first, Smile.io not the choice
2 of 14 modelsSmile.io was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
3 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
8 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
Smile.io30%#1 of 9Referral Rock28%#2 of 9Smile.io26%#1 of 14Referral Rock13%#3 of 14Referral Rock4%#9 of 17Smile.io0%#15 of 17What the models said about Smile.io
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Platforms to Avoid or Use Extreme Caution With: ... Smile.io: Criticized for billing complaints (charges after cancellation), outdated customer service” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“Smile.io — user feedback includes complaints about missing parity across storefronts and support/product depth concerns.” GPT-5.4 mini · negative prompt · soft negative
“Smile.io — if you're growing quickly or aren't on Shopify. Its Shopify listing shows usage-based pricing at higher tiers” GPT-6 Luna · negative prompt · soft negative
“The best customer loyalty and referral platform for a company with a limited budget is Smile.io. It offers a free plan that includes referrals” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice
“Best Overall for E-commerce (Small Budget)Smile.io ... widely considered the industry standard for small-to-medium e-commerce businesses” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“the best overall pick is usually Smile.io if you need both loyalty and referral features with a fast, low-friction setup” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about Referral Rock
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Two of two in this category shown.
“Recommendation: Start with Referral Rock if referrals are primary—it's B2B-native, mid-market optimized, and quick to deploy.” Grok 4.20 · direct prompt · first choice
“I recommend Referral Rock as the best balance of features, pricing transparency, and scalability” Kimi K2 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.