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What is Grade?

Grade (formerly Creator Check, now at usegrade.com) is a creator payments platform that pays a brand's or agency's creators across 190+ countries from a single consolidated invoice. It handles compliance work including KYC, local tax rules and DAC7 reporting, removing the manual paperwork from creator payouts. It is aimed at brands, marketplaces and agencies that work with UGC creators and influencers.

Key Features

Bulk creator payouts

Fund one balance, review the batch, approve, and every creator is paid at once in minutes.

Merchant of Record

Grade is the legal counterparty to each creator, taking on compliance and misclassification liability on your behalf.

DAC7 reporting and tax handling

Collects and verifies tax IDs, addresses, and bank details, then files DAC7 reports for every creator payout.

Flexible payment rules

Set flat fees, performance bonuses, or a mix per client, per creator, or per campaign, and change them before the next payout.

Real-time earnings dashboard

Track what each creator earned and what they are owed, with payout status updated live.

Email-based creator onboarding

Add a creator by email; Grade collects their tax forms and verifies identity, so creators never create an account or download an app.

API-first payouts

Connect Grade to existing systems to automate payouts, sync data, and embed payments into marketplaces.

Pros & Cons

Advantages

  • Removes cross-border compliance burden by acting as Merchant of Record, covering DAC7, KYC, tax withholding, and employment classification across the EU and beyond.
  • Pays creators in 190+ countries with a choice of methods including local bank transfer, Wise, PayPal, Payoneer, cryptocurrency, and gift cards.
  • Consolidates finance admin into a single invoice per payout cycle instead of hundreds of individual creator invoices.
  • No monthly subscription fees; companies only pay per payout, which suits variable creator volumes.
  • Creators onboard themselves via email with no account or app required, reducing setup work for both sides.
  • Supports flat, performance-based, and hybrid payment structures that can be adjusted per client and campaign.

Limitations

  • There is no public self-serve pricing page or transparent per-payout rate for brands and agencies; access starts with a Book a Demo flow.
  • The product is early stage (Y Combinator Winter 2026, founded 2025), so it has a short track record compared with established payroll providers.
  • Compliance messaging is heavily EU and DAC7 focused, so coverage and benefits outside Europe are less clearly documented.
  • Creators are charged a 5% fee on payouts, which reduces the net amount they receive.

Use Cases

DTC and software brands paying UGC creators and influencers globally without building their own payroll and compliance stack.

Marketing agencies running campaigns for multiple clients who need separate per-client reporting but one platform to manage all creator payouts.

Marketplaces that want to embed built-in creator payouts directly through the API.

Finance teams that need a single consolidated invoice and clean books instead of reconciling hundreds of individual creator payments.

Companies paying creators across the EU that must meet DAC7 reporting and the December 2026 Platform Workers Directive obligations.

Growth teams scaling creator programmes internationally who want to avoid worker misclassification and cross-border payment risk.