Influencer agency or platform for a small team?

The short answer

If no one on your team can own creator work every week, hire an agency or a done-for-you service, because a self-serve platform needs someone to run it. If one person can give it regular time, a platform keeps the work in-house, and the creator relationships stay with you.

Either way, you still pay what creators charge and the cost of the product you send. What differs is whether you pay people to do the work, or pay for software that helps your own people do it.

What an agency gives you, and what it costs

An agency takes the whole job off your hands: choosing creators, negotiating, briefing, chasing posts and reporting. It is the right call if you also want creative strategy or content production, or a one-off launch done properly.

Agencies rarely publish prices. They charge by monthly retainer, by project, as a share of your budget, as a markup on creator fees, or on performance, and creator fees are usually billed on top of a retainer. Kolsquare reports there is no reliable published figure for UK retainers, and the only dedicated benchmarks are American: the ANA's 2026 survey of senior US marketers found that, on average, 30% of influencer spend went to agencies.

Extras such as usage rights, content production and paid media are often priced on top, so ask for each as a separate line.

What a platform gives you, and what it asks of you

A platform gives you a creator database, outreach, gifting and tracking for a monthly fee. Heepsy's paid plans start at $69 a month billed yearly, Modash costs $199 a month billed yearly or $299 month to month, and GRIN's Starter plan is $200 a month plus a 10% fee on money deposited to pay creators; GRIN and Heepsy also have free plans with tighter limits.

The catch is time. Someone still has to run it every week: choosing creators, answering them, agreeing terms and shipping product, even where the tool automates follow-up emails and post tracking. Platforms are adding help: GRIN includes an AI agent that finds creators and drafts and sends outreach, with you choosing how much of its work to review, and impact.com sells an optional creator expert for two hours a week.

The middle options

Some platforms sell a managed tier. Creator.co's Managed plan is $2,199 a month on monthly billing, or $1,499 a month on an annual plan, for up to five creator collaborations a month run by its team, with a minimum commitment of at least three months. Upfluence lets you hand your first setup tasks to its agency team.

Another route is a done-for-you service that runs the programme for a monthly fee while you approve each step. Check exactly what you approve, and what is billed on top of the fee.

How to decide

Ask three questions. Who, by name, will own this each week? Do you need creative strategy and production, or mainly a steady flow of creator posts? And how will you pay creators: product, flat fees or commission?

If you talk to agencies, ask whether creator fees are billed separately, whether there is a markup, who owns the content and for how long, and how results are measured. If you choose a platform, check the contract length first: Upfluence, for example, has a 12-month minimum.

Whichever route you take, test before you commit. Modash and GRIN offer free trials and Heepsy a free plan, and paying an agency for a single project is a lower-commitment way to test it before agreeing a retainer.