GTM AI Index

Index › Vendors › ReferralHero · September 2026 Edition

2 categories · Named, not ranked

ReferralHero

10Judge labels

2First choices

3Negative labels

6 of 12Models named it

2Categories

September 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-09-16.3, every buyer segment counted.

Standing

5 labels, too few to rank

A product needs 10 labels in a category before a share or quadrant is stated. ReferralHero was named 5 times in Referrals and 1 other category, where PartnerStack led with 19%. The labels and the evidence are below, counted exactly.

By buyer segmentRead the same way at every buyer size.

Small business56 of 78

under the label threshold

Mid-market8 of 107

under the label threshold

Enterprise66 of 75

under the label threshold

In referrals · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading

Standing by category

Every category where a model named ReferralHero for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.

Category	Function	Share	Rank	Negative rate	Labels	Quadrant
Referral and partner programs	Partner and channel	4%	8 of 107	0%	4	under 10 labels · led by PartnerStack at 19%
Loyalty, advocacy and referrals	Marketing	0%	71 of 124	0%	1	under 10 labels · led by Smile.io at 24%

Movement

This is the first edition on this tier, so no move can be computed for ReferralHero yet. The next is due October 1, 2026. From the next edition this section shows, per buyer segment, whether its share moved by more than the measured noise floor.

By model

How each model treated ReferralHero across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Twelve models, six prompts per category.

Model	First choice	Alternative	Mention	Labels
Claude Haiku 4.5	0	0	0	0
GPT-5.4 mini	0	0	0	0
Gemini 3.5 Flash	0	1	0	1
Perplexity Sonar	0	0	0	0
Grok 4.1 Fast	0	0	0	0
Mistral Small	0	0	0	0
DeepSeek V4 Flash	0	0	0	0
Llama 4 Maverick	0	0	0	0
Qwen 3.7 Flash	2	0	0	2
Kimi K2	0	0	0	0
GLM 4.7 FlashX	0	1	0	1
MiniMax M2.5	0	0	1	1

By framing

Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.

FramingLabels by classFirst choices

Direct1 labelNone

Paraphrase0 labelsNone

Comparative1 labelNone

Budget-constrained3 labels1

Scale-constrained2 labels1

Negative3 labelsNone

First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative10 labels in all, every segment counted; 2 of the 2 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.

What the models said for it

Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.

“Most budget-constrained companies find ReferralCandy or ReferralHero provide the best balance of features versus cost” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Referrals · budget prompt · first choice

“Path A: Best-of-Breed Referral Platforms (Recommended) ... ReferralHero, Sprout (by Jobvite), Workboard, TalentLyft.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · Referrals · scale prompt · first choice

“Look for software with automated fraud-blocking features (like ReferralHero or Voucherify).” Gemini 3.5 Flash · Referrals · negative prompt · alternative

“Free Option: ReferralHero ... Best for: Testing referral loops before committing” GLM 4.7 FlashX · Loyalty · budget prompt · alternative

And against it

Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.

No model argued against it.

Named alongside

The products named in the same answers as ReferralHero, over the 10 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and ReferralHero was named but was not.

ProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head

GrowSurf6 of 101Not in the top three

ReferralCandy6 of 101Not in the top three

Referral Rock6 of 100Not in the top three

FirstPromoter4 of 101Not in the top three

Smile.io4 of 101Not in the top three

Partnero3 of 101Not in the top three

Friendbuy3 of 100Not in the top three

Talkable3 of 100Not in the top three

InviteReferrals2 of 100Not in the top three

LoyaltyLion2 of 100Not in the top three

A head-to-head page exists where both products are in a category's top three. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.

Is this your product?

Claim this page

Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when ReferralHero's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as ReferralHero, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.

It does not get any change to labels, shares or verdicts, any preview, or any say over which quotes appear. A verification link goes to your work email; an address at referralhero.com is approved on the spot, any other address is reviewed by hand.

Your name and company appear on the claimed page, or the company alone if you ask below. A title and a LinkedIn address appear there too if you give them, and are left off if you do not. Your email address is never published.