How much does a digital loyalty card app cost in the UK? (2026 pricing guide)

Short answer: most digital loyalty card apps for UK small businesses cost somewhere between free and £130 a month. Simple, single-location plans typically start around £15–£40/month, while multi-location or marketing-heavy plans run £50–£130/month. A handful of platforms advertise a "free" tier, but for most of them that just means a free trial. The real cost kicks in after 7–30 days.

Below is a breakdown of what you're actually paying for, real pricing from six platforms UK businesses commonly consider, and the hidden costs that don't always make it onto the pricing page.

What actually determines the price

Loyalty card apps don't all charge for the same things, which is why "how much does it cost" doesn't have a single answer. The main levers are:

• Number of locations. Most platforms price per-location above a certain tier: one shop is cheap, a small chain gets expensive fast.
• Wallet integration. Apple Wallet and Google Wallet delivery (so customers don't need to download a separate app) is standard on most modern platforms, but some older or budget tools charge extra for it or don't offer it at all.
• Marketing and messaging tools. Push notifications are usually included; SMS and email campaigns often come with credit limits that push you into a higher tier.
• Analytics depth. Basic redemption stats are usually free; customer-level insights, segmentation, and reporting tend to sit on mid-to-top tiers.
• Support and setup. Self-serve platforms are cheaper. Anything with a dedicated account manager or an onboarding call attached is priced accordingly.
• Contract length. Monthly rolling plans cost more per month than annual commitments, typically by 15–20%.
• Pricing model. Most platforms charge a flat fee per tier. A few, like Squid Loyalty, charge by how many customers are actively using the programme each month instead: cheap while a loyalty base is small, but the bill grows automatically as it succeeds (and drops back if activity falls).

What UK loyalty card apps actually cost (compared)

Spark prices shown are annual billing; monthly is £19/£49/£99. USD prices converted at approximately $1 = £0.74 (August 2026). Always check the vendor's current pricing before deciding, because SaaS prices move.

Comparing against paper instead? See our digital vs paper stamp cards guide. Running a café, our best loyalty apps for coffee shops comparison goes deeper on that market.

A couple of the "messaging" line items in that table are easy to skim past, so it's worth knowing what you're actually paying for. Spark Loyalty's Push Agent, included from the Growth plan up, lets a business describe what it wants to say in plain English ("it's a quiet Tuesday afternoon, get people through the door") and it handles audience selection, wording, and delivery in under a minute, sent as a wallet push notification straight to a customer's lock screen rather than an email inbox. Wallet notifications see roughly three times the open rate of email, which is the kind of detail that matters more than the feature name when two plans look similar on paper.

Are any digital loyalty cards actually free?

Mostly, no. Not in the way "free" usually implies, anyway. FaveCard is the only platform on this list with a genuinely free-forever plan: £0, no time limit, unlimited customers. But it comes with a real trade-off worth knowing before signing up: the Free plan does not include Apple Wallet or Google Wallet integration at all. Cards live in a browser-based "Web Wallet" instead, and wallet passes only unlock on FaveCard's Pro plan (£29/month) or above.

Everything else marketed as "free" on this list is really a free trial, typically 7–30 days, after which you're billed automatically unless you cancel. Stamp Me, Loyalzoo, and Spark Loyalty all follow this model. That's not a bad thing in itself, since a trial is a reasonable way to test a platform before committing, but it's worth not confusing "free" with "no cost": the trap is assuming there's nothing to cancel, then getting an unexpected charge a month in.

Hidden costs to check before you sign up

The advertised monthly price rarely tells the whole story. Before choosing a platform, it's worth checking for:

• Per-location charges. A price that looks affordable for one shop can multiply quickly across a small chain. Confirm whether extra locations are included or billed separately at your tier.
• Messaging credit limits. SMS and push campaigns often come with a monthly credit allowance; running out mid-campaign usually means a top-up fee.
• Extra card programme fees. Some platforms (Stamp Me is one) charge a one-off fee for each additional loyalty programme beyond what's bundled in the plan.
• Setup or onboarding fees. Rare among the platforms compared here, but common industry-wide. Always worth a direct question if it isn't stated.
• Annual vs monthly pricing gaps. Paying monthly instead of annually typically costs 15–20% more over a year, which is worth factoring in before comparing headline numbers.
• Sales-gated pricing. If a provider won't publish its price (TapMango, for instance), assume it's priced for the call it makes you book, not for a solo café.
• The cost of an app download. Not every "digital" loyalty card actually lives in a wallet. Squid Loyalty, for example, is in-app only, with no Apple Wallet or Google Wallet option. That's not a line item on an invoice, but asking a customer to download and keep a dedicated app is real friction that wallet-native platforms don't have, and it's worth weighing against the sticker price.

What a realistic budget looks like, by business stage

A single café, salon, or barbershop just starting out: a self-serve plan in the £15–£40/month range covers what's actually needed: one loyalty card, wallet integration, and basic redemption tracking. There's rarely a reason to pay for multi-location tools or a dedicated account manager at this stage. Usage-based platforms like Squid Loyalty can undercut this range while a customer base is genuinely small (from £10/month for up to 50 active customers), though that comes without wallet integration and the price rises automatically as the loyalty base grows.

A business with 2–3 sites, or one running regular promotions: the £39–£60/month tier is where AI-assisted messaging, multi-location support, and proper analytics tend to sit. This is also where the annual-vs-monthly saving becomes worth taking, since the gap is a real amount at this price point.

A multi-location group or franchise: £80–£130/month (or a custom quote) buys team accounts, dedicated support, and the reporting depth needed to manage several sites from one dashboard. At this size, it's worth requesting a call even from platforms that do publish self-serve pricing, since volume terms often aren't listed publicly.