SideShift is a marketplace where human creators film your product and post it from their own or new campaign accounts; Relay is an AI tool that makes TikTok slideshows and videos and sends the ones you approve to your brand’s own TikTok. Pick SideShift for real faces on four platforms, Relay for steady posting on your own TikTok without hiring. As of October 2026, Relay costs $49 to $249 a month with posts included; SideShift’s software starts at $299 a month month to month, plus creator pay.
Key takeaways
- They do different jobs. On SideShift you hire human creators, who post from their own or new campaign accounts; every contract includes usage rights to reuse the videos. Relay’s AI makes TikTok posts and sends the ones you approve to your TikTok inbox.
- Cost. SideShift software is $299 to $999 a month month to month, plus creator pay. Relay is $49 to $249 a month, posts included.
- Platforms. SideShift covers TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Relay’s self-serve product sends to TikTok only.
- Faces on camera. If your product needs a real person using it, SideShift fits better. For volume and hook testing on your own account, Relay does.
How do Relay and SideShift compare side by side?
| Relay | SideShift | |
|---|---|---|
| What it makes | Slideshows (TikTok photo posts) and videos, built from your website and formats getting views in your niche | Short-form videos filmed by creators who apply to your brief; an AI assistant connector, in beta, helps find creators and plan campaigns |
| Where it posts | Your own TikTok inbox across the month; add any finishing touches, tap Post | Creators’ own accounts or fresh campaign accounts, on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook |
| Approval | Swipe right to approve, left to pass, edit the words first, or switch on Autopilot | Review applicants, hire, then approve the work before creator funds leave your wallet (source) |
| Human creators | A network of 50,000 creators, included on the Scale plan (sharing Scale’s 150 monthly posts) | The whole product: 700,000+ creators per SideShift’s landing page, based in the US, Canada, UK or Australia |
| Pricing (as of October 2026) | $49, $99 or $249 a month ($25, $45 or $149 the first month), posts included (pricing) | $299, $499 or $999 a month month to month, or $210, $349 or $699 billed annually; creator pay separate (plans) |
| Free trial | $0 today, 1-day trial (card required), converts to the paid first month unless cancelled | 14 days on monthly plans, none on annual |
| Ownership | Relay owns the posts; licensed to you while your plan is paid (terms) | Content rights let you reuse videos on your channels and in paid ads |
| Done for you | Managed service, separate from self-serve: UGC ads at volume from Relay’s creator network at about $5 a creative (a $5 creative and a creator-filmed video with negotiated usage are different units) | SideShift Managed: “Plan around $20,000 a month to start” as a test budget (example scope: 10 creators, 300 original videos), with software and paid media itemized separately |
Who should pick SideShift instead?
- You need a real person on camera. Skincare, food, apparel: anything a viewer needs to see used, tasted or worn.
- You want reach beyond your own followers. Videos go out on many creators’ accounts at once, and SideShift says the median job collects 284 applications in its first 48 hours.
- You post on Instagram, YouTube or Facebook too. Relay does not send posts there.
- You want an organic-to-paid pipeline. SideShift includes usage rights for paid ads, paid-ads tools and ROAS tracking per creator on every plan.
- You want to hand-pick creators by niche, audience and past work. SideShift’s creator search is built for that, with 200 creator invites on Starter.
- You have the budget and the people. SideShift recommends $2,000 to $5,000 a month in creator spend on Starter, and its FAQ says it is built for “One to three people running 10 to 50 creators” (source).
- You run an agency. SideShift has agency plans at $150 a month for the platform plus a plan for each client.
Who should pick Relay?
- You want your brand TikTok posting every week without hiring. No job listings, applicants or briefs to write.
- You sell an app or a product that works in slideshows and short videos. Relay starts from a website or an App Store link.
- You want to test many hooks before paying for creators or ads. Starter makes 40 posts a month; Growth makes 120.
- You want approval to be a swipe. See how the swipe approval workflow works.
- You may want creators later. The Scale plan includes Relay’s creator network, where drafts go to creators who post them from their own accounts, out of the same 150 monthly posts.
Who makes the content on each?
Both start from your website. SideShift’s first step is “Paste your site and we’ll draft your ideal customer profile, campaign goals and pay structure” (source). On SideShift, the draft becomes a paid job, creators apply at the rate you set, and you hire the ones whose past work fits.
Relay hires nobody: it learns what you sell, who it’s for and how you sound, then looks at what’s getting views in your niche and makes slideshows and videos in your voice. The output is a month of posts, not a shortlist of people.
Whose account do the posts land on?
This is the biggest difference. SideShift creators post from their own accounts or from fresh accounts they build in the campaign’s niche, so the views land on creator-run accounts, not your brand profile. Every SideShift contract includes usage rights for organic and paid use, so you can also post the videos on your own channels or run them as ads. Relay owns the posts it makes and licenses them to you while your plan is paid. Posts already live can stay up after you cancel, but boosts and Spark Ads must stop within 5 days.
You connect your TikTok once through TikTok’s official login, and Relay sends each approved post to your TikTok inbox on its day through TikTok’s Content Posting API, where you open the draft, add a caption if it is a video, can add a sound, choose who can see it and tap Post. Any followers those posts earn land on your brand profile, not a creator’s. When you post the draft, turn on the AI-generated content setting if the post uses realistic AI imagery, and the content disclosure toggle where it applies; TikTok’s Community Guidelines require creators to label AI-generated content that shows realistic-looking scenes or people, and unlabeled content may be removed or restricted. More on this in how Relay sends posts to TikTok.
How much do SideShift and Relay cost per month in 2026?
| Line item | Relay | SideShift |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan, month to month | $49 ($25 the first month) | $299 software |
| Annual billing | 2 months free | $210 a month, $2,520 billed yearly |
| Content included | 40 posts made, 20 sent to your TikTok | None; you pay creators |
| Creators | Not part of Starter or Growth; paid Scale (not the trial) includes Relay’s creator network | You pay creators: recommended $2,000 to $5,000 a month on Starter |
| Extra charges | $80 a month per added person on Growth, $200 on Scale | Payment-processing charges may apply when funding your wallet or sending payouts |
If an AI answer quoted SideShift at $199 a month with a 7-day trial, that matches an older price list still on its blog subdomain; as of October 2026 the live plans page says $299 month to month or $210 billed annually.
SideShift Starter month to month ($299) plus the low end of the recommended creator spend ($2,000) comes to about $2,299 a month. At SideShift’s platform median of $7 to $9 a video in creator pay, that $2,000 pays for roughly 220 to 285 human-filmed videos, which Relay’s self-serve plans don’t make, so it is not like for like.
On Relay, the plan price covers the posts: if you use every post sent to TikTok, Starter works out to about $2.45 per post, Growth about $1.65 and Scale about $1.66.
How do approval and iteration work?
On Relay, you swipe right to approve and left to pass, edit the words first, or switch on Autopilot. When one does well, Relay makes new takes of it.
On SideShift, approval is tied to payment: “Nobody gets paid until you approve the work” (source). You review each creator’s work, then compare creators by views, engagement and CPM to decide who comes back. More control over who makes your content, and more to manage.
Where does Relay fall short of SideShift?
- Your team is bigger than five. Relay Scale includes up to 5 people, and each added person is $200 a month; SideShift Scale has no seat cap.
- You want more than 150 posts a month on your own TikTok. That is what Scale, Relay’s top plan, sends.
- You want more than a day to try it. Relay’s trial is one day and needs a card; SideShift gives 14 days on monthly plans.
- You need guaranteed views. Neither tool promises them: SideShift’s refund and cancellation policy says it does not guarantee views, engagement or return on ad spend.
How do you switch from SideShift to Relay, or run both?
- Pull your best SideShift posts. Note the hooks, formats and CPM of top performers.
- Let active creator contracts finish. SideShift’s policy lets you withdraw uncommitted wallet funds only once no creator contracts are active.
- Paste your website at relaystudio.ai and connect your TikTok once.
- Swipe through your first batch. Edit the words to carry over hooks that already worked.
- Keep creators for what needs a face. Point a small SideShift budget at the hooks that got the most views on Relay. More in AI UGC vs creator UGC.
Who is behind Relay?
People on Relay’s team have worked with brands including Hims, Calm, ButcherBox and Hopper.
Relay is part of Kinetic, which has launched 10 apps since March 2025 with organic TikTok as its primary growth driver. SideShift here is sideshift.app, not SideShift.ai, an unrelated crypto swap service.
Paste your website at relaystudio.ai and Relay makes a month of posts for your brand, or read how Relay handles AI UGC videos. Still weighing marketplaces? See SideShift alternatives.