Yotpo vs Rivo: Which retention platform is right for you?

A good customer retention platform can significantly impact customer retention. While both Yotpo and Rivo advertise themselves as great solutions for increasing customer loyalty, only you can determine which is best for your store’s unique situation.

Yotpo offers extensive services for its clients, including product reviews and loyalty programs; Rivo, on the other hand, takes a more straightforward approach, focusing on ease of use and excellent automation. 

With each platform offering advantages, choosing the right one may become overwhelming.

In this article, we break down how the two platforms stack up against each other to make an informed choice for your business’s retention strategy.

Quick comparison: Yotpo vs Rivo

Overview of each platform

Understanding what each platform actually delivers can help you avoid throwing your money at features that won’t get used or missing out on the right tools for the job.

Yotpo overview

Yotpo is a pretty comprehensive e-commerce retention platform designed for big brands that operate on multiple e-commerce platforms – Shopify, Adobe Commerce, and BigCommerce. 

They’ve really tried to bundle up a lot of different retention strategies like reviews, loyalty programs, SMS marketing, and subscriptions together in one place.

Pros

• Combines all retention tools in one place, reducing tech complexity.
• Scales well for large or global businesses.
• Enables detailed customer segmentation and personalization.
• Includes dedicated customer success and round‑the‑clock support.

Cons

• The platform’s full potential is unlocked only by subscribing to a higher-tier plan. 
• Setup can be complex given the feature depth.
• Core strength is closely tied to specific e-commerce platforms (e.g., Shopify)

Pricing

Yotpo’s pricing is customised and tiered, based on what features you need and how many orders you’re processing, which is generally going to run you on the expensive end for an enterprise solution.

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Rivo overview

Rivo is a loyalty and referrals platform built specifically for the Shopify ecosystem. 

It’s really geared towards smaller to medium-sized brands that are looking to build some buzz and get their customers talking about their brand without breaking the bank.

Pros

• Built specifically for Shopify for smooth, deep integration.
• More affordable than enterprise solutions, often 30–50% cheaper.
• Strong referral tools to drive word‑of‑mouth growth.
• Transparent, upfront pricing without long-term contracts.

Cons

• Works only with Shopify, not usable on other platforms.
• Offers limited segmentation and personalization features.
• Lacks built-in SMS, reviews, and subscription tools; needs separate apps for those. 

Pricing

Whereas all the other platforms offer different pricing models, Rivo offers a much simpler one: a predictable monthly or yearly cost with no long-term commitments.

Feature-by-feature comparison

Let’s break down how these platforms actually perform where it matters most.

Loyalty & rewards

Yotpo: Their loyalty program is super flexible, letting you set up tiered VIP programs and a range of rules for earning and spending points. Plus, you get to use 44+ data attributes to personalise the entire customer experience.

Rivo: Rivo’s got a decent loyalty and referrals system that’s built specifically for Shopify, excelling in word-of-mouth marketing features. Points and rewards are simple to set up and highly effective for fostering immediate community loyalty.

Reviews & UGC

Yotpo: They’ve got a fully integrated reviews platform that lets you collect, manage, and display all your product reviews and ratings. Plus, they’ve got a built-in Q&A section and product photos. This centralizes all social proof collection into a single provider.

Rivo: No native reviews for Rivo; they rely on third-party reviewers like Junip and Stamped to get the user-generated content. So, reviews will be managed in a separate app.

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SMS & E-mail marketing

Yotpo: They’ve got SMS marketing built right in, with tools for abandoned-cart emails and retention messaging that integrate well with ESPs like Klaviyo. This allows for unified reporting across communication channels.

Rivo: No SMS marketing for Rivo – you’re going to have to get it from a third party and set it up yourself. Now, this requires additional subscriptions and setup work. 

Subscriptions

Yotpo: They’ve got complete subscription management that integrates with their loyalty programs so that you can reward subscribers with points. This integration drives retention by making subscriptions more valuable to customers.

Rivo: No native subscription management, so you’ll need to get something from a third party and integrate it yourself. Loyalty points can be tied to subscriptions via integration, but the core management happens elsewhere.

Integrations & ecosystem

Yotpo: They’re designed to be the central hub for all your tech stack. They integrate with a bunch of platforms like BigCommerce and Adobe Commerce, and they’re always adding more.  It aims to be the single source of truth for customer retention data.

Rivo: Built exclusively for the Shopify ecosystem, offering seamless integration with a select group of essential Shopify-native apps (reviews, subscriptions, email) for a streamlined experience. 

Which platform is right for you?

Choosing the right platform depends entirely on your business’s scale, budget, and the complexity of your retention strategy.

Choose Yotpo if

You are a large, established brand with significant sales volume and complex needs.

• You’re a big brand with lots of sales and complex needs
• You need an all-in-one platform to handle reviews, loyalty, SMS, and subscriptions
• You’re on multiple ecommerce platforms
• You need deep data segmentation and personalisation
• You value a strategic partnership and hands-on guidance from dedicated account managers.

Choose Rivo if

You are a small-to-medium-sized DTC brand that prioritizes cost efficiency and word-of-mouth marketing on a single platform.

• You’re a small to medium-sized DTC brand that prioritizes cost efficiency
• You’re all about word-of-mouth marketing and a super simple loyalty programme.
• You’re on Shopify and need a platform that’s built for that ecosystem 
• You are primarily focused on building a strong referral and loyalty program with simple, transparent pricing.
• You prefer a cost-effective solution and are comfortable integrating Rivo with your existing separate email/review apps.

Wrap up

Choosing between Yotpo and Rivo depends on your store’s needs. Yotpo is ideal for large, multi-platform businesses looking for an all-in-one retention solution. At the same time, Rivo is perfect for small-to-medium Shopify stores focused on loyalty and referrals.

Yotpo is a good fit if your brand requires complex segmentation, reviews, and multi-platform integration. But if you’re after a more affordable and Shopify-focused solution, Rivo will give you excellent value for your marketing dollar.

WiserReview is an exceptional choice for anyone seeking a powerful review management system that blends customer feedback and loyalty tools to drive growth, regardless of scale.

Article by

Krunal

Krunal Vaghasia is the founder of WiserReview and an eCommerce expert in review management and social proof. He helps brands build trust through fair, flexible, and customer-driven review systems. Read more.