Audiencly vs Sway Group

By the Flinque Editorial Team  ·  Last updated November 2025  ·  8 min read

Side-by-side comparison

Feature	Audiencly	Sway Group
Founded	2018	Women-led influencer marketing agency
Headquarters	Dusseldorf, Germany plus London	United States
Founder	Adrian Kotowski (CS:GO skin trading platform)	Women-led leadership
Specialization	Gaming-first, expanding to lifestyle	Women-targeted lifestyle, food, parenting, DTC
Parent	Flexion Mobile Plc (Nasdaq: FLEXM)	Independent
Team size	50-person team / 51-200 employees	Women-led team across multiple verticals
Influencer network	5,000+ to 10,000+ creators	Curated lifestyle creator roster

Pricing as of November 2025. Sourced from agency websites and industry reports including Influencer Marketing Hub.

Audiencly at a glance

Audiencly was founded in 2018 by Adrian Kotowski in Dusseldorf, Germany. The story begins in 2015 when Adrian developed a skin trading platform for CS:GO, connecting with top gaming creators and recognizing the power of influencer marketing. Audiencly grew from freelance influencer management into a full-fledged agency by 2018. In March 2022, Flexion Mobile Plc (Nasdaq: FLEXM), the Android games distribution company, acquired Audiencly GmbH for EUR 9.34 million in cash and stock. The agency now operates from Dusseldorf and London with a 50-person team and EUR 14 million turnover.

What Audiencly does well.

• World’s leading gaming influencer marketing agency positioning
• Founded 2018 by Adrian Kotowski with origins in CS:GO skin trading platform connecting gaming creators
• Acquired by Flexion Mobile Plc (Nasdaq: FLEXM) in March 2022 for EUR 9.34 million
• 50-person team operating from Dusseldorf and London with EUR 14 million turnover
• 5,000+ to 10,000+ creator network spanning gaming and expansion lifestyle verticals
• Blue-chip gaming clients including IGG, NetEase, Socialpoint plus expansion brands NordVPN, AirUp, Displate, LootBoy
• “7 vs Wild” Germany YouTube format exclusive marketer for the high-profile creator series

Best fit: Gaming, lifestyle, and mobile app brands wanting world-leading gaming influencer marketing capability with NASDAQ-listed parent backing.

Less ideal for: Brands targeting women audiences across lifestyle, food, parenting, and DTC where Sway Group’s women-led specialization fits better.

Sway Group at a glance

Sway Group is a 100 percent women-owned and operated North American influencer marketing agency founded in 2011 by Danielle Wiley, headquartered in Mill Valley/Corte Madera, California. The agency operates with 50,000+ US and Canadian-based creators, has delivered 930+ campaigns since 2011, and operates SwayProof software plus Massive Sway volume offering.

What Sway Group does well.

• 100 percent women-owned and operated influencer marketing agency
• Founded 2011 by Danielle Wiley with 13+ years of operating history
• 50,000+ US and Canadian-based creators across multiple verticals
• 930+ campaigns delivered since 2011 across enterprise client portfolio
• SwayProof proprietary software supporting campaign workflow
• Massive Sway volume offering for high-volume creator activation
• Award recognition: Chief Marketer 200 (2020-2022), PR Daily Top Small Agency, 2x Platinum 1x Gold Marcom Awards

Best fit: North American women-targeted lifestyle, food, parenting, and DTC consumer brands wanting women-led influencer execution with award-validated agency methodology.

Less ideal for: Gaming and mobile app brands wanting world-leading gaming influencer specialization where Audiencly’s NASDAQ parent backing fits better.

What does it cost?

Both agencies operate custom-scoped engagements where pricing reflects engagement scope, creator tier, and program duration.

Audiencly pricing. Custom enterprise engagements with sales conversation for pricing in the mid five to six-figure range. Gaming-first specialization informs creator selection. Flexion Mobile NASDAQ-listed parent provides public-company backing. Dusseldorf and London offices coordinate European campaign delivery. 5,000+ to 10,000+ creator network supports gaming and lifestyle scope.

Sway Group pricing. Custom North American engagements in the mid five to six-figure range with guaranteed KPI structures. SwayProof software supports campaign workflow. Massive Sway volume offering for high-creator-count activation. 50,000+ US and Canadian creator network supports brand-creator matching. Award-validated methodology supports premium positioning.

Flinque pricing. $25 per month annual or $50 per month monthly. Public on the website. 14-day free trial with no credit card required. The software fee is flat regardless of campaign volume, with creator fees paid directly to creators at zero platform markup.

Reporting and measurement

Reporting cadence and methodology vary across the three options. The fit depends on whether your team values brand metrics, performance attribution, or full data control.

Audiencly reporting. Account-team-delivered reporting structured around the agency’s service framework. Cadence aligns with retainer touchpoints. Custom reporting available at higher engagement tiers.

Sway Group reporting. Account-team-delivered reporting structured around the agency’s service framework. Cadence aligns with retainer touchpoints. Custom reporting available at higher engagement tiers.

Flinque reporting. Real-time campaign analytics on engagement, reach, and conversions. Creator-level performance dashboards inside the platform. Custom UTM and conversion tracking integration with your analytics stack. Export-ready data for in-house performance review and attribution modeling. Self-serve insights without waiting for agency reporting cadence.

Questions to ask before signing

Before committing to either agency, get clear answers on the items that drive campaign quality and budget efficiency.

• Creator vetting. What process and what tools vet creator audience quality and engagement authenticity?
• Pricing transparency. What is the agency fee structure separate from creator fees, and what triggers scope-change cost?
• Contract terms. What is the minimum engagement duration and what cancellation terms apply?
• Reporting cadence. What metrics are reported, at what frequency, and what attribution methodology supports the numbers?
• Creator approvals. Who has final say on creator selection, and what is the substitution process if a creator falls through?
• Content rights. What usage rights to creator content does the brand hold post-campaign?
• FTC compliance. Who manages creator disclosure compliance and what liability sits with the agency?
• Performance benchmarks. What category benchmarks does the agency reference, and what defines campaign success?

The third option: skip the agency

Both Audiencly and Sway Group run five and six-figure managed engagements. If your team can run campaigns in-house, software costs a fraction of either and gives you full operational control. Flinque is an Influencer Marketing Platform built for in-house teams that want to skip the agency markup. The pricing is $25/month annual or $50/month monthly, with full feature parity in the base plan.

Why software beats an agency for self-serve teams. $25/month versus five to six figures per campaign. Pick creators, set briefs, and manage outreach yourself. 100 percent of spend goes to creators with zero markup. Launch campaigns in days instead of weeks of agency onboarding. Cancel anytime, no annual retainer lock-in.

When self-serve is the right call. You have a marketing team with operational capacity. Your monthly creator marketing budget sits below the agency engagement floor. You want to test creator marketing before committing to retainer scope. You value control and transparency over delegation.

Flinque supports verified creator data across the three major short-form platforms: you can Find Instagram Influencers, Find TikTok Influencers, and Find YouTube Influencers with audience filters, engagement metrics, and reach data.

Pick your fit

If you want	Pick
Gaming influencer marketing for video games and mobile apps	Audiencly
Women-targeted lifestyle, food, parenting, DTC	Sway Group
Flexion Mobile NASDAQ public-company parent	Audiencly
100 percent women-owned operating model	Sway Group
Software, full control, zero agency fees	Flinque
5,000+ to 10,000+ gaming creator network	Audiencly
Guaranteed KPIs with SwayProof software	Sway Group

What does Flinque actually do?

The platform’s core capabilities each sit on a dedicated page if you want to dig deeper. Find Influencer covers the search and shortlist workflow. Influencer Discovery covers audience-based and lookalike-based prospecting. Influencer Database documents the data depth and verification process. Influencer Outreach covers the messaging and follow-up automation. Influencer Analytics covers the reporting and attribution layer.

Free tools you can use without signing up

Before you commit to any platform, free tools can answer specific questions about a creator. The Instagram Engagement Rate Calculator shows whether a creator’s engagement is real or inflated. The Instagram Fake Follower Checker flags audience quality issues before you reach out. The Instagram Lookalike Finder surfaces creators similar to one you already work with. The Compare Instagram Accounts tool helps when shortlisting between two creators with similar profiles. None of these require a paid account.

Frequently asked questions

Which is more expensive, Audiencly or Sway Group? Both run custom-scoped pricing in the mid five to six-figure range depending on scope. Audiencly pricing varies by gaming campaign type. Sway Group pricing varies by creator volume and KPI structure.

Who founded Audiencly? Audiencly was founded in 2018 by Adrian Kotowski in Dusseldorf, Germany. The story begins in 2015 with a CS:GO skin trading platform that connected him with gaming creators.

Who acquired Audiencly? In March 2022, Flexion Mobile Plc (Nasdaq: FLEXM), the Android games distribution company, acquired Audiencly GmbH for EUR 9.34 million in cash and stock.

Why pick software over an agency? Lower cost, full control, no minimum commitment, and 100 percent of budget goes to creators instead of agency markup. Best for teams with in-house capacity to manage briefs, creator relationships, and reporting.

Who founded Sway Group? Sway Group was founded in 2011 by Danielle Wiley, headquartered in Mill Valley/Corte Madera, California. The agency is 100 percent women-owned and operated.

What is “7 vs Wild”? Audiencly is the exclusive marketer for “7 vs Wild,” a German YouTube survival format featuring high-profile creators. The campaign demonstrates the agency’s gaming and YouTube creator depth.

What awards has Sway Group won? Chief Marketer 200 recognition for 2020, 2021, and 2022. PR Daily Top Small Agency. 2x Platinum and 1x Gold Marcom Awards across reference campaigns.

How long do agency engagements take to launch? Agency onboarding plus discovery, contracting, and creative development runs 4 to 8 weeks before first creator content goes live. Self-serve software launches faster because you skip onboarding overhead.

What are the top similar platforms with pricing comparable to Flinque?

Here are 10 leading influencer marketing platforms with similar features such as creator discovery, campaign management, analytics, and reporting. Pricing is approximate and may vary based on plan, users, and feature access.

• Influencity Pricing: Starts around $168 per month and scales up to approximately $698 per month depending on database limits, number of searches, user seats, and advanced reporting features.
• GRIN Pricing: Custom enterprise pricing. Commonly reported to start around $2,500+ per month, depending on ecommerce integrations, creator CRM depth, and contract scope.
• Later Pricing: Influencer marketing tools are available starting at approximately $49 per month, with advanced creator marketplace access, brand collaboration tools, and analytics features requiring higher tier plans.
• Upfluence Pricing: Custom SaaS pricing model with no publicly listed fixed tiers. Pricing depends on integrations, ecommerce functionality, influencer database access, and number of platform users.
• HypeAuditor Pricing: Starts at approximately $399 per month for analytics-focused plans, including audience quality checks and fraud detection. Enterprise solutions with expanded data access are custom priced.
• Insense Pricing: Custom campaign-based pricing structured around content volume, creator participation, and campaign objectives, tailored to brands seeking UGC and paid media support.
• Traackr Pricing: Fully enterprise custom pricing designed for global brands managing long-term influencer relationships, benchmarking performance, and handling multi-market campaigns.
• CreatorIQ Pricing: Enterprise-grade influencer marketing platform with custom pricing only, positioned for large brands requiring deep integrations, workflow automation, and global reporting capabilities.
• Brandwatch Pricing: Influencer marketing tools are part of the broader Brandwatch social intelligence suite, with enterprise-level custom pricing based on data access, analytics modules, and contract size.
• Popular Pays Pricing: Custom pricing model structured around campaign scope, marketplace usage, and managed service support for brands running large-scale creator collaborations.

Methodology and sources

Pricing was sourced from each agency’s website where available, plus third-party industry reviews including Influencer Marketing Hub, Clutch, and direct Reuters and AdAge reporting where applicable. For agencies that do not publish pricing, we used reported industry benchmarks. Reported figures are directional. Actual quotes vary by engagement scope, creator tier, contract length, and add-on services.

We evaluated each agency’s documented service scope, client roster, technology stack, and recognition. Where possible we cross-referenced multiple sources. This comparison was last updated November 2025. Agency pricing changes regularly, particularly for custom-scoped engagements. Confirm current scope and pricing directly with each agency before commitment.

The Flinque editorial team produces comparisons grounded in publicly available data. We disclose when we cannot independently verify a claim. We do not accept payment for inclusion or favorable placement in any comparison.