GatherUp vs Rio SEO in 2026: focused reputation platform vs the full Local Experience suite
GatherUp is a self-serve review generation and reputation tool priced by location. Rio SEO is a demo-only enterprise platform bundling listings, local pages, reviews, and Voice of Customer surveys for brands with 50-plus locations.
GatherUp
Rio SEO- GatherUp publishes self-serve pricing from $99 per month; Rio SEO has no public pricing and requires a demo, explicitly targeting brands with 50 or more locations.
- Rio SEO's LX platform bundles local listings, local landing pages and a store locator, review management, ratings, reporting, and social into one suite; GatherUp is scoped to reviews and reputation only.
- Rio SEO includes Voice of Customer (VoC) surveys inherited from parent company Forsta; GatherUp's feedback tool is a simpler NPS survey without the broader VoC research layer.
- GatherUp actively solicits new reviews through SMS, email, and QR codes; Rio SEO aggregates and responds to reviews across platforms but doesn't document an outbound review-request campaign feature.
- Rio SEO sells managed services on top of its software, including review response writing, local SEO copywriting, link building, and Google Posts management; GatherUp is software-only with no managed-execution layer.
- GatherUp offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card; Rio SEO has no self-serve trial or free tier of any kind.
- GatherUp's listings management is a $40-per-location add-on; Rio SEO includes local listings distribution to hundreds of publishers as a core LX module rather than a bolt-on.
GatherUp and Rio SEO both sell into reputation management, but they are sized for different customers. GatherUp is a self-serve platform you can sign up for today, priced at $99 a month for one location or $60 a month per location at scale, built around actively generating reviews through SMS, email, and QR requesting. Rio SEO is an enterprise Local Experience (LX) platform aimed at brands running 50 or more locations, bundling listings management, local landing pages and a store locator, review management, ratings tracking, and Voice of Customer surveys into one system, with no public pricing and every account routed through a demo. GatherUp does one job at an accessible price; Rio SEO does the entire local marketing stack at enterprise cost and complexity.
The tools at a glance
GatherUp
Triple client review volume and manage reputation across 100-plus review sites in one place
GatherUp's entire product is built around one job: generating and managing reviews. Every plan includes SMS requesting (up to 300 per location per month), email requesting (up to 3,000 per location per month), QR codes, and custom feedback links, plus monitoring across 100-plus review sites, NPS surveys with AI topic tagging, and AI-crafted reply suggestions. Rio SEO has no comparable outbound requesting feature; it aggregates and responds to reviews rather than actively soliciting new ones.
Zapier, API, and webhook access ship on every GatherUp plan, and agencies get white-label branding on the custom-priced Agency tier. What GatherUp doesn't have is any of Rio SEO's wider LX scope: no local landing pages, no store locator, no Voice of Customer survey product, and no managed-services layer for teams that want execution handled for them.
That narrower scope is also GatherUp's advantage for smaller accounts. It is self-serve, published, and testable on a 14-day free trial starting today, at $99 a month for one location, whereas Rio SEO's entire product is gated behind a demo and built for a customer profile GatherUp doesn't require: dozens or hundreds of locations under one enterprise contract.
| Feature | Small Business $99/mo | Multi Location $60/mo per location | Agency Request a quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMS credits per location/mo | 300 | 300 | Custom |
| Email credits per location/mo | 3,000 | 3,000 | Custom |
| Review monitoring (100+ sites) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| NPS and surveys | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI-crafted replies | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| White-label branding | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Zapier, API, and webhooks | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Rio SEO
Enterprise local experience platform combining listing management, local pages, reputation management, and Voice of Customer surveys
Rio SEO starts from the premise that local marketing and customer experience are one connected job, not separate tools. The LX platform reflects that with six modules under one roof: Local Listings, Local Pages, Local Reviews, Local Ratings, Local Reporting, and Local Social, distributing business data to Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Yelp, Facebook, Nextdoor, and hundreds of additional publishers from a single dashboard.
Two things set Rio SEO apart from a reputation-only tool like GatherUp. Local Pages and a store locator build SEO-optimized, location-specific landing pages at scale, so a 200-location retail brand isn't relying on one corporate homepage to rank in every market. And Voice of Customer surveys, inherited from parent company Forsta after its merger with Press Ganey, let brands collect structured feedback tied to specific locations and connect it to search and review performance, a layer GatherUp's NPS surveys don't reach.
Rio SEO also sells managed services on top of the software: review response writing, local SEO copywriting, link building, and Google Posts management, positioning it as a potential replacement for a local SEO agency rather than just a monitoring dashboard. The cost of that breadth is real: no published pricing, no self-serve trial, and a platform built for brands managing 50 or more locations, well past the scale where GatherUp's per-location pricing makes sense.
| Feature | Enterprise (custom) Contact for pricing |
|---|---|
| Local listings management | ✓ |
| Local landing pages / store locator | ✓ |
| Review monitoring and response | ✓ |
| Voice of Customer surveys | ✓ |
| Managed services (add-on) | Add-on |
| Self-serve access | ✗ |
| Free trial | ✗ |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | GatherUp | Rio SEO |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat subscription, per-location | Custom enterprise contract |
| Starting price | $99/mo (1 location) | Not published |
| Review request campaigns (SMS/email/QR) | Yes (SMS, email, QR, CSV, CRM triggers) | Not documented |
| Local listings / directory distribution | Add-on ($40/location/mo, 125 directories) | Yes, hundreds of publishers included |
| Local landing pages / store locator | No | Yes |
| Voice of Customer / NPS surveys | NPS surveys, included on every plan | Yes (VoC surveys via Forsta) |
| AI-generated review replies | Yes (in-app suggestions) | Not documented |
| Managed services layer | No | Yes, add-on (copywriting, link building, Google Posts, review response) |
| Multi-location scale target | Self-serve, from 1 location | 50+ locations |
| White-label delivery | Agency tier only | Not documented |
| API / Zapier / webhooks | Yes, all three included | Not documented |
| Self-serve signup | Yes | No |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days, no credit card | No |
Which should you choose?
GatherUpRio SEOGatherUpRio SEORio SEOGatherUpRio SEOThis isn't a like-for-like feature fight so much as a scope mismatch. GatherUp does one job, reviews and reputation, well and affordably, and you can be using it within the hour. Rio SEO treats reputation as one module inside a much larger Local Experience platform that also owns local pages, store locators, and customer feedback surveys, plus a managed-services layer for brands that want execution handled for them. A single-location business or a small agency has no real use for Rio SEO's enterprise scope; a 200-location retail chain will find GatherUp's per-location pricing model and narrower feature set outgrown quickly.
Bottom line
Start with GatherUp if you're a single-location business, small multi-location operator, or agency that wants a self-serve, review-focused platform you can test on a 14-day trial today. Book the Rio SEO demo if you're an enterprise brand running 50 or more locations and want listings, local pages, reviews, and customer feedback surveys consolidated into one platform, especially if you also want managed execution rather than software alone. There is no realistic middle case where both tools are wrong; the location count and budget decide it.
Frequently asked questions
Is GatherUp or Rio SEO better for a business with only 3 to 5 locations?
GatherUp is the more realistic option for a business with 3 to 5 locations, since it publishes multi-location pricing at $60 per month per location and offers a 14-day free trial without a sales call. Rio SEO is explicitly built for brands managing 50 or more locations and requires a full demo and enterprise contract regardless of account size.
Does Rio SEO manage local landing pages the way GatherUp does?
Rio SEO builds and hosts SEO-optimized local landing pages and a store locator as a core LX module, something GatherUp does not offer at all. GatherUp's product is scoped to reviews, reputation, and NPS feedback rather than location-page content.
What is the Voice of Customer feature in Rio SEO and does GatherUp have anything similar?
Rio SEO's Voice of Customer (VoC) surveys, inherited from parent company Forsta, let brands collect structured customer feedback tied to individual locations and connect it to search and review performance. GatherUp has NPS surveys with AI topic tagging, a lighter-weight feedback tool aimed at review-adjacent sentiment rather than the broader research-grade VoC data Rio SEO collects.
Can I try Rio SEO before paying, the way I can with GatherUp?
No self-serve trial exists for Rio SEO; every account goes through a sales demo and custom enterprise contract before you see pricing. GatherUp offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, so it is the only one of the two you can actually test before talking to sales.
Does GatherUp offer managed services like Rio SEO's copywriting and link building?
GatherUp does not offer managed services; it is a self-serve software platform where your team handles requesting, monitoring, and responding to reviews directly. Rio SEO sells a managed-services layer on top of its LX platform covering review response writing, local SEO copywriting, link building, and Google Posts management, positioning it as a potential replacement for a local SEO agency.
Which tool has better pricing transparency, GatherUp or Rio SEO?
GatherUp publishes its pricing directly, starting at $99 per month for one location or $60 per month per location at multi-location scale. Rio SEO discloses no pricing anywhere and requires a demo and custom contract for every account, regardless of size.