E-commerce tips
Best Shopify loyalty program apps (2026): reviews, pros & cons
By
Emma
on
May 30, 2025
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Table of content
- How we reviewed Shopify loyalty program apps (our criteria)
- Key features of the best Shopify loyalty program apps
- Comparison table: the 5 best Shopify loyalty program apps (2026)
- In-depth reviews of the 5 best Shopify loyalty apps
- How to choose the best loyalty program app for your Shopify store
- An optimal solution for increasing customer retention
- In conclusion
Shopify loyalty program apps are powerful tools that turn one-time customers into returning customers.
Although Shopify itself does not have a native loyalty program feature, there is a wide selection of loyalty apps you can choose from. Many apps look similar on the surface, but differ in their pricing, limits, features, and how well they scale as your store grows.
In this guide, we review the best Shopify loyalty apps in 2026, breaking down their real pros and cons, key features, and ideal use cases.
How we reviewed Shopify loyalty program apps (our criteria)
To review Shopify loyalty apps objectively, we used an evaluation framework based on conversations and feedback with our merchants. We focused on factors that directly affect their daily use, long-term value, and common concerns as stores grow.
Each app in this list was assessed across the following criteria:
Core features: These are the essential capabilities that should be standard in any Shopify loyalty program app, even at the basic plan level.
Pricing: All costs should be transparent, with clear limits and no hidden fees across all plans.
Ease of setup and usability: These apps need to be easy to navigate and use for a person with limited technical knowledge.
Scalability: As your store grows, the app should continue to perform reliably without slowdowns or feature restrictions. Pricing should also scale fairly, without sudden cost spikes as order volume increases.
Customer support: When you have trouble setting up your program, the support team’s responsiveness matters. They should be able to help you in time and keep your store running smoothly.
This approach allows us to give you a clear picture of which apps are best suited for specific use cases.
Key features of the best Shopify loyalty program apps
While each app has its own approach, most options offer the same core capabilities that make loyalty programs easy to run and effective over time.
Here are the key features to look for when choosing the best Shopify customer loyalty program app:
Earning flexibility: You should let customers earn program value the way they see fit. Some options are points-based programs, referrals, VIP tiers, and store credit.
Flexible rewards: Strong loyalty apps give you control over how rewards are redeemed. For instance, amount discounts, free shipping, free gifts, and more.
Customizations: The best apps allow you to customize the look, rules, and messaging of the programs to match your branding.
Omnichannel support: If you sell in person, this app needs to sync with Shopify POS for offline sales.
Seamless integration: A reliable loyalty app should integrate smoothly with your existing tools and themes without adding friction to store operations or customer experience.
Analytics: An excellent Shopify loyalty app helps you track program performance, so you can understand what’s working and what’s not.
Comparison table: the 5 best Shopify loyalty program apps (2026)
Features checklist | Pros | Cons | Ratings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
BON Loyalty Program & Rewards |
|
|
| 5.0/5.0 (1,661 reviews) |
Smile: Loyalty Program Rewards |
|
|
| 4.9/5.0 (4,123 reviews) |
Joy Loyalty Program & Rewards |
|
|
| 4.9/5.0 (1,577 reviews) |
Love Loyalty Points & Rewards |
|
|
| 5.0/5.0 (255 reviews) |
Rivo: Loyalty & Referrals |
|
|
| 4.8/5.0 (1,406 reviews) |
In-depth reviews of the 5 best Shopify loyalty apps
BON Loyalty Program & Rewards
Overview: BON Loyalty Program & Rewards, launched in 2021, is a unified and intuitive loyalty platform designed to increase repeat purchases through rewards and referral programs.
Standout features: The app is a perfect option for international merchants, supporting over 250 languages. It integrates seamlessly with Shopify POS, making it a strong choice for brands that sell in person. BON Loyalty also supports B2B programs by allowing partners to earn and redeem points easily.
One thing that stands out to us is the Anti-cheat feature. For those running loyalty programs, you are too familiar with scammers who like to game the system. This feature helps detect and prevent loyalty program abuse before it impacts your rewards budget.
Other key features that are worth your attention:
In-app notification emails for customers’ special milestones
AI-driven automation for fast setup
Offer Limited Time Point Offer (LTPO)
Flexible rewards: Money off, percentage off, free shipping rewards, etc.
Pricing summary:
Free: Up to 250 monthly order limits.
Basic ($25/month): Up to 500 orders/month, adds multilingual support, email automation, and widget styling.
Growth ($99/month): Unlimited orders; includes VIP tiers, custom CSS, and priority support.
Professional ($349/month): Unlimited orders; adds API access, headless setup, and more custom options.
The Free plan includes all the essential features, making it a solid option for testing the app. The Basic plan adds useful upgrades like multi-language support and integration capabilities.
At $25/month, you can also try out the limited-time points offer, which is one of their unique features. If you have any feature in mind, you can request it for an additional charge.
Their Professional packages are another highlight. For $349 per month, you get access to more custom options, which is very affordable compared to high-end loyalty apps like Rivo or Joy Loyalty. Not to mention additional add-ons like the $1000 Enterprise custom package.
Best use case: Overall, the BON Loyalty Program & Rewards is suitable if you sell in multiple markets, both online and in person. The app becomes an even stronger long-term choice due to its unlimited free monthly orders in the Growth and Professional plans.
With these higher-tier plans, you can customize your storefront to match your brand across different markets. If you have an in-house technical team, they can take advantage of the Software Development Toolkit and full API access included in the Professional plan for deeper integrations and custom workflows.
Smile: Loyalty Program Rewards
Overview: Smile: Loyalty Program Rewards is the oldest loyalty program app on the market. Established back in 2014, it operates as the market leader with 100,000+ businesses using the platform.
Standout features: The app provides a comprehensive loyalty system that supports customers at every stage of their journey. The feature that we like the most is the “Nudge”, the on-site reminders to increase program engagement. Even on the Free plan, you can activate the “guest referral URL sharing”, allowing customers without an account to refer friends and earn rewards.
The analytics dashboard is another strong highlight. Smile gives you detailed control over your metrics, letting you track points earning and spending behavior down to individual transactions.
There are different dashboards for different programs, such as referral, point-based programs, and VIP segments. You can also see the behavior of key customer segments and how each group contributes to your business growth. To put performance into context, Smile allows you to benchmark your results against similar merchants using the platform.
Other key features:
Friendly interface and onboarding flow for fast setup.
Support integration with various popular tools.
Points, referrals, and VIP tiers with a no-code widget interface.
Native to Shopify POS, checkout, and customer accounts.
Pricing summary:
Free: Up to 200 monthly order limits.
Essential ($15/ month): Up to 500 monthly orders, adds nudges (on-site reminders), analytics & reporting.
Standard ($79 / month): Up to 1,000 monthly orders, adds subscription & gift card rewards, loyalty segments, and 2 integrations.
Growth ($199 / month): Up to 2,500 monthly orders, then $20 per additional 100 orders, adds VIP tiers & points expiry, performance benchmarks, and unlimited integrations.
Despite having only 200 monthly order limits, the Free plan still offers a decent feature set. It gives you over 15 ways to earn & redeem, along with full branding customization and Shopify POS integration.
However, features that make Smile special require you to upgrade to paid plans. But when you put this app next to most loyalty program apps on the market, the app is surprisingly cheap for what it can do. The main thing to watch out for is the additional per-order cost once you exceed the limits on the Growth plan.
Best use case: If you are a medium-sized business looking to run a stable loyalty program, this app is perfect for you. You can start with the Standard plan to estimate how many monthly orders you will have. Then, proceed to the Growth plan once you have a specific number.
Smile is also suitable if you plan to host occasional events, like Black Friday or Christmas, thanks to its bonus points campaigns, which help drive short-term engagement and repeat purchases.
Joy Loyalty Program & Rewards
Overview: Joy Loyalty Program & Rewards is a fast-growing loyalty app on Shopify. Launched in 2021, it focuses on building high-impact reward programs that support a seamless omnichannel customer experience.
Standout features: In practice, the app lets you integrate with a great variety of tech stacks, from apps and themes to Shopify POS. It also offers extensive customization on over 30 touchpoints, making it easy to keep your loyalty program fully on brand.
A feature that definitely stands out is the Sandbox mode. It allows you to test and preview loyalty program rules, rewards, and customer flows safely before launching them live.
Joy Loyalty is also one of the few apps that lets you issue store credit instead of the traditional loyalty points. This gives customers a clear, dollar-based reward they can understand instantly. So, no more guessing the equivalent value when converting points to real currency or discounts at checkout.
There are a couple of drawbacks. The onboarding process requires you to choose a plan before fully exploring the app. In addition, the extra cost per additional order can add up quickly. The price is already on the higher end, making these fees feel unnecessary.
Other notable features:
Milestones and advanced-tier perks with custom rewards.
In-app email notification and report sent to your customers and team
Branded loyalty pages using the page builder and 20+ loyalty blocks.
Pricing summary:
Free: Up to 150 monthly orders.
Essential ($24.99 / month): Up to 500 monthly orders, plus additional features like unlocking all loyalty features, analytics & reports, point expiration, and 30+ integrations.
Advanced ($99 / month): Up to 2,000 monthly orders, includes VIP tier, B2B tier & membership, loyalty rules, POS loyalty extension, loyalty account, POS loyalty extension.
Ultimate ($499/ month): Up to 7,000 monthly orders, includes developer toolkit, on-demand development, and priority support.
The Free plan is good enough if you want to play around with the app, with everything basic from points program, branding, and loyalty widgets. The 150 monthly order limit clearly signals that this plan is designed for trial use rather than long-term scaling.
In our opinion, the Essential plan is the best starting point if you want to understand how the app fits into your operations. The additional features included in this plan provide better visibility into how your loyalty program performs, such as integrations, analytics, reporting, and point expiration.
The app is even more powerful when it comes to the Advanced and Ultimate plans. These tiers unlock more customization options, additional extensions, and greater flexibility for those who understand what loyalty programs can bring to the table.
On the plus side, Joy offers custom pricing options, and you can estimate your monthly order volume in advance using the pricing calculator on their website.
Best use case: If you are a merchant who operates both online and in person, this app is for you. With just $24.99/month, you can integrate your storefront with multiple themes, apps, and Shopify POS. This price is also reasonable for small businesses or mom-and-pop shops looking to expand online without a large upfront investment.
If you’re a larger merchant or a fast-scaling business, the Advanced and Ultimate plans are a better fit. These tiers unlock deeper customization, more reward program types, and additional extensions. To get the most value out of these plans, you should have some technical knowledge or access to an in-house development team.
Both plans offer generous monthly order limits for high-volume e-commerce businesses, supporting up to 2,000 and 7,000 orders, respectively. The custom quote allows you to align pricing with your order volume and business needs, while taking full advantage of their powerful feature set.
Love Loyalty Points & Rewards
Overview: Love Loyalty Points & Rewards is a new player in the Shopify loyalty program apps market. Founded in 2024, the app provides loyalty and rewards programs that boost your returning customer revenue across the entire customer journey.
Standout features: Because the app was built later, it learns from what earlier loyalty apps got right. As a result, it includes multiple noticeable features like built-in fraud protection and B2B loyalty programs support.
Love Loyalty also improves the experience by storing loyalty data directly in Shopify metafields. It offers strong Shopify POS and checkout support across point-based programs, VIP tiers, and memberships.
Other key features include:
Ability to redeem rewards in the cart
In-app activation for membership features without using Shopify Flow
Offer monthly and yearly memberships for customers
Pricing summary:
Free: Up to 150 monthly orders.
Professional ($24 / month): Up to 300 monthly orders, plus 15+ loyalty placements, and POS support.
Growth ($79 / month): Up to 2,000 monthly orders, includes VIP tiers, and paid memberships (1.8% transaction fee).
Plus ($399 / month): Unlimited orders, includes checkout extensions, and reduces transaction fee for paid memberships (0.8%).
Just like its predecessor, the Free package of Love Loyalty gives you just enough to understand how the app functions. You can still try some cool features this app offers, like full customization capability, and redeem rewards right in the cart. Other, more advanced plans offer pretty much the same with previous loyalty program apps we mentioned.
What really makes this app stand out is that it’s built specifically for Shopify’s platform. It stores loyalty data natively through Shopify metafields rather than relying on an external points database like many other loyalty apps.
However, you should have a clear plan for budgeting and rollout. Transaction fees and per-order costs can add up as your store scales, and with pricing already in the higher range, the app delivers the most value when its advanced features are fully utilized.
Best use case: If you are a mid-to-large Shopify store that wants a Shopify-native loyalty and membership solution, this app is for you. Because loyalty data is stored natively in Shopify metafields, the app delivers better performance, fewer sync issues, and stronger compatibility throughout Shopify’s ecosystem.
Built-in fraud protection and support for both DTC and B2B loyalty programs make it well-suited for more complex store operations and higher order volumes.
Rivo: Loyalty & Referrals
Overview: Rivo: Loyalty & Referrals is a fully customizable Shopify loyalty app designed with a strong focus on functionality, performance, and clean design. Launched in 2021, the app was built with a single goal in mind: helping merchants drive repeat purchases and increase customer retention.
Standout features: That said, this app offers everything you need to create your dream loyalty programs, from full API/SDK access, webhooks, to native Liquid metafields. If you don’t have technical resources, Rivo also provides a user-friendly page builder with custom CSS.
Other key features include:
Built-in fraud prevention tools for referral programs
Advanced analytics dashboard with points liability tracking and redemption insights
100+ pre-built apps & integrations
Pricing summary:
Free: Up to 200 monthly orders plus basic rewards, referrals, and automated email campaigns.
Scale ($49 / month): Up to 400 monthly orders, plus advanced branding, VIP tiers, points expiry, and analytics.
Plus ($499 / month): Up to 2,500 monthly orders, adds custom integrations, advanced analytics, and Rivo developer toolkit.
In our opinion, the Free plan is a solid starting point. Once installed, you get access to the core features with a limit of 200 monthly orders. But without built-in analytics, it can be difficult to measure the real impact of your loyalty program.
The Scale plan fits most small but growing Shopify merchants. It's perfect if you're ready to move beyond basic loyalty features. For only $49 per month, you get access to all dedicated loyalty program features.
Most importantly, you can design a fully branded loyalty page using an easy drag-and-drop builder, with support for custom CSS and fonts. No need to download a separate page builder app if you only need to create a landing page for your loyalty program.
The Plus plan delivers the most flexibility, particularly through its developer toolkit and custom integrations. At $499 per month, Rivo remains competitive when compared with other options, such as the Ultimate plan of Joy Loyalty.
Although there is a monthly order limit for Scale and Plus plans (400 and 2,500), you can contact Rivo for a custom quote.
Best use case: The app is best suited for you if you prioritize branding and design control, especially those with an in-house technical team to handle the backend of the website. Since all the features will be heavily customized, it is best to have a team of developers who make sure these out-of-the-box features work smoothly.
If you have a complex operation, Rivo integrates with many popular Shopify apps. We also appreciate their custom quote option, which shows that Rivo understands not every business has the same needs.
How to choose the best loyalty program app for your Shopify store
Choosing the best Shopify loyalty program apps can feel overwhelming. To know which solution is the most suitable for your business, you should take into consideration these factors:
Business requirements: Start by defining what success looks like for your loyalty program. The key metrics you track will shape the features you need. For example, merchants focused on increasing repeat purchases will choose a different setup than one whose main goal is driving referrals.
Budget: The cost for each plan and app may vary, but your budget is limited. Estimate how much you can spend. Calculate the return on your investment. You should also take into consideration other extra charges, such as additional monthly orders or customization, if any.
Integration capabilities: The app works best only if it can integrate smoothly with your tech stack. Beyond connecting with popular Shopify apps, make sure it also supports easy data migration. This helps you switch platforms without disrupting your loyalty program or losing customer data.
Customer support: Problems can arise at any time, so responsive support is crucial. Choose an app with a team that is easy to contact and quick to help. Read previous reviews to evaluate the quality of support provided by the app before making a decision.
An optimal solution for increasing customer retention
The best Shopify loyalty program app isn’t defined by how many features it offers, but by how easy it is for customers to understand and use. When rewards feel confusing or take extra effort to redeem, the experience quickly backfires.
Some common problems with point-based loyalty program includes:
Low perceived value: Points feel abstract. If customers can’t quickly translate points into real savings, rewards may seem less appealing.
Customer confusion: Shoppers often struggle to understand how many points they have, what those points are worth, or how to redeem them.
System compatibility: Many Shopify loyalty apps manage points and rewards within their own systems and sync relevant data into Shopify, which can affect site performance and data consistency.
This is where store credit–based loyalty programs stand out. It presents in the most familiar and universal format: money. Customers instantly understand what they’ve earned and how to use it. $1 in store credit = $1 cash, plain and simple.
Koin builds on this idea by focusing entirely on store credit loyalty. Taking advantage of the native Shopify store credit feature, the app works seamlessly across refunds, promotions, and retention campaigns for Shopify merchants.
In conclusion
The best Shopify loyalty program app should be the one that best fits your business model, growth stage, and customer expectations.
Whether you prioritize deep customization, omnichannel support, advanced analytics, or ease of use, the right solution should make rewards simple to understand, easy to redeem, and cost-effective as you scale.
If your goal is to reduce complexity and offer rewards that customers instantly understand, a store credit–based approach can be a powerful alternative to traditional point systems.
FAQs
-About Author
Emma C.
As the Chief Marketing Officer at KOIN app, I’m here to build a robust ecosystem by collaping with Shopify apps. Together, we can create seamless integrations that add more value to our shared customers.
KOIN helps merchants retain customers, increase repeat purchases, and drive loyalty by offering cashback and store credit rewards.
📩 Let’s connect! emma@getkoin.io
