How often is it that you find honest, unbiased reviews of Instagram tools?
Unfortunately, more seldom than you’d want.
That’s why I made it my mission to give you mega in-depth reviews about the most popular Instagram growth tools. Today’s topic is Social Upgrade review.
Here, you’ll find out (among other stuff):
- Are there any repercussions that come from using Social Upgrade?
- Is it safe at all to employ their services?
- Is it, in my humble opinion, overpriced?
- Are there any better alternatives?
I’ll start with a review abridgment for all you busy bees, but I strongly advise you to peruse the whole thing.
Social Upgrade: Key Points
- No longer available
- Kept charging even after going under
- Kind of overpriced
- Don’t waste your time on money-grabbing scams
- Turn your focus to services that provide organic growth
- The best of the bunch are Nitreo, Kenji, or Upleap
- With the discount code GROW20 you can get 20% indefinitely
Most Popular Instagram Growth Tools Rated
| Growth Service / Tool | Rating (according to users) | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Social | 4.8 | Check Rates |
| Upleap | 4.6 | Check Rates |
| Stim Social | 4.5 | Check Rates |
| SocialFollow | 4.3 | Check Rates |
| Nitreo | 4.2 | Check Rates |
| KENJI.AI | 3.9 | Check Rates |
What Is Social Upgrade?
Talking about Social Upgrade requires the use of past tenses.
That’s right, the company no longer exists.
They ceased all operations recently, so I can only tell you what it used to be.
So, what was Social Upgrade?
In its essence, Social Upgrade was a growth tool that dabbled in Instagram’s grey zone.
It’s no secret that companies with such business strategy sooner or later meet their ends.
Instagram is not playing around when it comes to bots – their rules are firmly grounded, and hardly anyone escapes the advanced bot detection algorithms.
Such was the fate of Social Upgrade.
Before shutting down, the service consisted of two things: automated engagement and full-on management.
All you had to do was pay upfront, and they would run your IG growth campaign.
Like all bots – let’s face it; it’s a good ‘ol bot – Social Upgrade promised only real followers and engagement. And like all bots, they lied through their teeth.
You see, the bot activity was more than evident if you’re to believe first-hand reviews on Trustpilot (and you should).
This bot activity is the main reason Social Upgrade closed.
But what precisely did they do?
Social Upgrade – for the lack of a better word – abused their user base. How so?
By using their accounts to provide likes without their knowledge. This means that if you registered on their website, the service used your profile to like posts excessively, without you having a clue.
Yup, Social Upgrade was a schemy little service that some reviews even describe as unscrupulous and deceitful.
How Did Social Upgrade Work?
Now that I covered the “Why did Social Upgrade close?” portion of the review, time to move on to their ways of operating.
How did it work?
The first thing you had to do was go to their website. A disclaimer: the site is now deceased, so don’t waste your time trying to find it.
To sign up, you had to leave your email address and Instagram username. For what it’s worth, Social Upgrade never asked for passwords or other personal data. Even the payment could be processed through PayPal.
Once that part’s done, you were asked to set up your target audience by adjusting a few filters.
What followed was getting in touch with the so-called personal growth expert. Allegedly a real person, but the chances are it was a bot.
A bot that would use your account to like posts for hours at end, resulting in a probable temporary (that is, if you’re lucky; if not – a permanent) ban of your account.
Social Upgrade: Features
The features of Social Upgrade were really basic. Here’s what they offered:
Organic Growth
Social Upgrade was going to, supposedly, ensure organic growth through automated tasks.
Here’s my issue with this.
For a bot to provide organic growth through automation, it has to be extremely advanced. And I’m afraid this one isn’t. Not even close.
Of course, now we know this was far from the truth.
Targeting Audience
The one feature all bots of this kind have in common – targeting an audience based on hashtags, location tags, etc.
Generally speaking, it’s a good tactic for finding accounts from your niche. That is if it works well.
And how were Social Upgrade’s targeting abilities?
The truth is they were rather subpar.
Often, the tool completely ignored the filters and did what it pleased, which largely contributed to the company’s demise.
Growth Manager
Once you set up the targeting filters, you’d get a personal growth manager – a real person with whom you can interact (according to Social Upgrade).
The harsh reality is that there wasn’t a real human in play. No sir. It was a bot, after all.
Kind of disappointed, but not surprised.
Customer Support
When a company doesn’t have responsive customer service, it’s because they don’t want to deal with customers. Not shady at all.
That was the case of Social Upgrade – the “24/7 customer support” was usually unreachable via all means of communication.
Social Upgrade: Was It Budget-Friendly?
Well, no, it wasn’t affordable at all. Especially when you take into account what the service really was.
They had two packages:
- Standard – priced at $39/month, in this deal, you get a 65% growth
- Turbo – it cost $99/month, and it promised a 100% growth
Free trials of any kind didn’t exist, and neither did a refund policy. If you were unhappy with their service, well, there wasn’t much you could do (except leave a negative review on Trustpilot).
Was Social Upgrade Safe, Legit, Or A Scam?
The eternal question of every review: Is this social growth engine legit?
Frankly, I can’t say Social Upgrade was legit. There are just too many unsatisfied customers, some of which even claim the company kept charging them after it shut down.
That sort of behavior does not equal legit, and consequently, it’s not safe either.
The Best Social Upgrade Alternatives
Don’t waste your precious time and money on basic, mediocre-at-best services. It’s time to realize organic growth is what you want.
I listed a few of the best Social Upgrade alternatives below – they’re all 100% safe!
| Growth Service / Tool | Rating (according to users) | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Flock Social | 4.8 | Check Rates |
| Upleap | 4.6 | Check Rates |
| Stim Social | 4.5 | Check Rates |
| SocialFollow | 4.3 | Check Rates |
| Nitreo | 4.2 | Check Rates |
| KENJI.AI | 3.9 | Check Rates |
Social Upgrade Pros And Cons
To sum it up, I’ve gathered all the ups and downs of Social Upgrade in one place, so let’s check it out.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Website was secure | Shut down for violating Instagram’s terms |
| Secure PayPal payment option | Sold fake engagement |
| Got their customers banned on IG | |
| Kept charging after shutting down | |
| No free trials or refunds | |
| Terrible customer service |
Social Upgrade: Should You Try It Or Not?
If it still lived and breathed, my answer would be no.
Since it doesn’t, all I can leave you with is honest-to-goodness advice:
Always look for organic growth. No matter which service you go with, make sure it’s entirely safe and has your best interest at heart.