Square Loyalty review 2026: cost, lock-in, and 7 alternatives that work with any till

Square Loyalty comes up in almost every search for a loyalty programme for a small business, because Square POS is on so many counters. The question most owners actually have is simple: is it worth paying for, and what do I do if I am not on Square, or do not want to be tied to it? This review answers both, with prices read from Square’s own pages on the date above and seven alternatives that work beside any till.

Who is writing: Stampioo, a digital loyalty card that is one of the seven alternatives. We sell a product that competes with Square Loyalty, so we have kept to what Square’s own pages say, dated every price, and written a section on who should stay with Square. Where a figure comes from a third party rather than Square, we say so.

The facts, checked 3 November 2026

What Square Loyalty is

Square Loyalty is a points programme built into Square’s point of sale. Customers enrol at the till, through a Square Online shop, on a Square invoice or through a sign-up link, and are identified by the phone number they give. Points can be earned per visit, per amount spent, per item or per category, and Square sends an automatic text when points or a reward land. A newer VIP tier feature on the US page lets frequent customers earn faster, for example 1.5, 2 or 3 times the points. Email campaigns go through the separate Square Marketing product.

What it costs in the UK

Square’s UK loyalty page prices the programme per location per calendar month, in bands of what Square calls loyalty visits: a customer enrolling, earning a point or redeeming a reward.

Two things follow from that model. First, the price rises with success: a café with 20 loyalty actions a day, six days a week, reaches about 520 visits a month and pays £45, not £25. Second, it multiplies by location: three busy shops cost £135 a month. There is no long-term contract, and the trial is 30 days.

What it costs in the US

The US loyalty page no longer shows per-visit bands. It says “get one plan for your entire business” and links to Square’s pricing page, where the loyalty rewards programme is listed as a feature of the Square Plus plan rather than the free plan. The Plus price itself did not render for us on 3 November 2026, and Square’s page does not state a per-location loyalty price, so we are not going to repeat the “about $49 per location a month” that third-party pages quote as if it were Square’s figure. Older per-visit US tiers of $45, $75 and $105 per location are still quoted by partner blogs from 2025 and are out of date. Read Square’s pricing page for your own country before you decide.

Trial, Wallet and app

The trial is 30 days in both the UK and the US. Customers do not install anything: they type a phone number at checkout, and the balance is on the receipt and in text messages. Square’s pages say the digital loyalty pass can be added to Apple Wallet. Google Wallet is not mentioned on the UK or US loyalty page, so an Android customer has no card to glance at on the lock screen.

What Square Loyalty does well

• No extra step for staff. Points are added by the till at checkout, so there is nothing to scan and nothing to forget on a busy Saturday. This is the single biggest advantage over every scan-at-the-counter tool, ours included.
• Enrolment everywhere Square takes money: the counter, online orders, invoices and a shareable link. Points are earned even when the customer pays cash.
• Points by spend, item or category, not only by visit, plus VIP tiers in the US. A stamp card cannot reward a £40 order more than a £3 coffee; Square can.
• Automatic texts when points and rewards land, and reporting inside the Square dashboard you already use.
• No hardware, no new supplier, one invoice.

Where it falls short

• It only exists inside Square. Points are earned through the Square POS app, Square Invoices or a Square Online site. Change till and the programme stops; there is no way to run it beside another system.
• Apple Wallet only. Square’s pages do not mention Google Wallet, so Android customers get texts and receipts instead of a card.
• The price follows your success. Every enrolment, point and redemption is a loyalty visit, so the better the programme works, the higher the band. Flat-price tools cost the same at 50 regulars and at 5,000.
• Per location. Three shops in the UK start at £75 a month and reach £135 once they are busy. Stampioo Pro covers five locations for €49; Loopy Growth covers three for $69.
• It is a points balance, not a visual stamp card. Earning one point per visit works like stamps, but the customer never sees the ten circles filling up, which is the part of a stamp card that people remember.
• US pricing is hard to pin down from Square’s own pages, which is why so many blogs quote different figures.

Who should still choose Square Loyalty

If you run Square POS and you want points to land automatically when the card machine beeps, stay on Square. Stampioo has no POS integration at all: staff open the scanner on a phone and scan the customer’s card, which takes a few seconds but is a step the till does not take for you. The same is true of Loopy Loyalty, StampyWallet, Stamp Me, BonusQR and Flex Rewards. If that extra scan is a deal-breaker, or you want points tied to spend rather than visits, or you enrol customers on invoices, Square is the better tool for you and no comparison page should tell you otherwise.

Consider leaving, or never starting, if you are not on Square, if you plan to change till, if most of your customers are on Android, if you have several locations, or if you want a card the customer sees on the lock screen rather than a points balance in a text.

7 alternatives that work with any till

All seven run beside whatever till you have: staff stamp with a phone, a tablet or a small device, and the till never knows. One of them, Loyalzoo, also integrates natively with several non-Square systems. Prices are the entry plan for a single location, in the currency each vendor shows, checked on 3 November 2026.

1. Stampioo: best for a Wallet card on iPhone and Android, with no app and no per-visit fees

Best for: a café, salon or restaurant in Europe that wants a loyalty card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet that customers save by scanning a QR code, and a price that stays the same however many regulars join.

Stampioo is our product. Customers scan, fill in a short form and tap Add; staff stamp with the phone scanner in the browser, so there is no hardware and no till integration. Starter is €29 a month excluding VAT (€23 billed yearly) for one location, Pro is €49 for five locations with targeted push campaigns, and customers and scans are unlimited on every plan. The dashboard and card come in 29 languages. See plans and pricing. Where it loses: there is no POS integration and no public API, so staff do the scan; there is no free plan; prices are in euros and kronor only; and we have few public reviews yet. Compared with Square specifically: both platforms, no visit-based pricing, works with any till, but no automatic points at checkout.

2. Loopy Loyalty: best for the lowest dollar price and an API

Best for: a business paying in dollars that wants a Wallet card on both platforms plus Zapier, Make and an API. Starter is $25 a month or $250 a year for one location, Growth $69 for three, with a 15-day trial. Where it loses: short trial, dollars only, dashboard language not stated, and cards are scheduled for deletion after the billing period if you cancel.

Read our full Loopy Loyalty alternatives comparison for the ten-tool version.

3. StampyWallet: best for the lowest euro price, if you are in France

Best for: a French business that wants the cheapest Wallet card on both platforms. Essential is €20 a month excluding VAT for one location; Growth at €40 adds automatic messages and, notably for Square leavers, POS connections and an API; Network starts at €90. The trial is 30 days with no card. Where it loses: launched in 2026, French-first, small footprint.

4. Stamp Me: best for tap-to-stamp hardware and SMS, if customers will create a Stamp Me account

Best for: a UK or Australian business that wants a countertop stamping pod, SMS campaigns and games. Lite is £39, $49 or €29 a month for one location, with a 30-day trial and no card. Where it loses: the customer must create a Stamp Me account (the native app is optional, and only needed for tap stamping with the StampPod or Stamp Tag; otherwise the card works in Stamp Me’s web app with a one-time code login), and only a member-code barcode goes into the Wallet. If Square’s appeal was that customers needed nothing, Stamp Me is a step the other way.

5. BonusQR: best if you want a free plan

Best for: a very small business that wants a Wallet card for nothing. The Free plan has no time limit, with one manager login and no push messages; Basic is $22 a month, or $20 billed quarterly, and both Wallets are on every plan. Where it loses: the plans you will want are paid, and extra locations are an add-on without a listed price.

6. Flex Rewards: best for a tablet kiosk on the counter

Best for: a shop that wants customers to stamp themselves on a tablet, with single-use codes against abuse. A flat $36 a month, billed as £26 in the UK, covers one store with two card slots. The trial is 30 days but card details are required. Where it loses: the card lives in the browser, and Apple Wallet and Google Wallet are not mentioned on the website.

7. Loyalzoo: best for loyalty inside a non-Square till

Best for: a business that wants automatic points at checkout on Clover, Epos Now, PAX, GoDaddy Poynt, Shopify or Sunmi, or that sells memberships with a card on file. Grow is $77 a month, Smart $167, with a 7-day trial. Customers register by phone number or email at the till. Where it loses: the highest entry price here, the shortest trial, and SMS needs paid credits.

Our Loyalzoo alternatives comparison goes deeper.

How to choose

Stay on Square Loyalty if:

• You run Square POS and want points added automatically at checkout, with no scan and no extra device.
• You want points tied to spend, items or categories, or VIP tiers, rather than a stamp per visit.
• You enrol customers on invoices or in a Square Online shop as well as at the counter.

Choose an alternative if:

• You are not on Square, or might change till: Stampioo, Loopy Loyalty or StampyWallet run beside any system.
• Your customers are on Android as well as iPhone and you want a Wallet card for all of them: Stampioo, Loopy Loyalty, StampyWallet or BonusQR.
• You want a flat price that does not rise with visits or regulars: Stampioo (€29), Loopy ($25) or StampyWallet (€20).
• You have two to five locations: Stampioo Pro at €49 for five, against Square’s per-location bands.
• You want till integration on a non-Square system: Loyalzoo.

If you leave Square Loyalty

• Export your customer directory from Square first, with marketing consent noted, so you can tell regulars about the new card.
• Points do not transfer. Decide a cut-off: honour unredeemed Square rewards for a few weeks while the new cards go out, then close the programme.
• Give regulars a head start: most tools, Stampioo included, let staff add stamps by hand, so a customer with eight points on Square can start with eight stamps.
• Put the new QR code where the phone-number prompt used to be: on the counter, the receipt footer and the online ordering page.