Square Loyalty alternatives: five options compared for 2026

Most owners who search for Square Loyalty alternatives have one of three reasons: they don’t take payments with Square, the per-location bill has grown with the shop, or they want a simple stamp card rather than points. Which alternative fits depends on which of those is yours.

Below are five apps that work without Square’s checkout: BonusQR, Boomerangme, Loopy Loyalty, NextStamp and Stamp Me. The facts come from each company’s own pages, read on 6 October 2026. NextStamp is ours, so it gets the same questions as the others and is labelled wherever it appears; our post on how we compare loyalty apps explains the rest.

Why owners look for a Square Loyalty alternative

You don’t take payments with Square

Square Loyalty works through Square’s register, Square Invoices and Square Online, which is where customers type the mobile number that identifies them. If your counter runs on another till, or you are moving away from Square, it simply isn’t available to you. An app that sits beside the till avoids the question entirely: it doesn’t matter which card machine takes the money.

The bill grows with every busy month

Square’s UK page prices Square Loyalty per location, in tiers set by how many loyalty visits each location had the month before. A joining customer, a point earned and a reward redeemed all count as visits. That is fair while you’re small, but a popular location climbs the tiers, and a second shop brings a second fee. The alternatives here charge by plan rather than by visit, so a busy month costs the same as a quiet one.

You want a stamp card, not points

Points work well when people spend very different amounts. Plenty of cafés, barbers and bakeries want the opposite: buy nine, get the tenth free, with every customer able to see how close they are. All five alternatives offer that kind of card, and several add rewards along the way or other card types on top.

Five alternatives side by side

Square Loyalty stays in the table so you can compare like with like. The prices are each company’s cheapest paid plan as its pricing page showed it.

How the apps compare

App	Customer app	Phone wallet	How stamps are given	Till	Cheapest paid plan
BonusQR	Not needed	Apple and Google Wallet pass	Staff scan the customer’s card	Works beside any till	€19 a monthFree plan as well
Boomerangme	Not needed	Apple and Google Wallet pass	Staff scan the customer’s card	Works beside any till	$199 a month14-day trial
Loopy Loyalty	Not needed	Apple and Google Wallet pass	Staff scan the customer’s card	Works beside any till	$25 a month15-day trial
NextStampOurs	Not needed	Apple and Google Wallet pass	Customer scans at the counter, staff approve Staff scan the customer’s card A tag or device at the counter	Works beside any till	£9 a monthFree plan as well · 30-day trial
Square Loyalty	Not needed	Apple Wallet pass	Earned at the Square checkout	Square checkout only	£25 a month per location in the UK30-day trial
Stamp Me	Required	Member code only	Staff scan the customer’s card One-off codes A tag or device at the counter	Works beside any till	£39 a month30-day trial

The alternatives one by one

In alphabetical order, each with its facts at a glance and how it compares with staying on Square.

BonusQR

BonusQR at a glance

Customer app

Not needed

Phone wallet

Apple and Google Wallet pass

How stamps are given

Staff scan the customer’s card

Till

Works beside any till

Cheapest paid plan

€19 a month · Free plan as well

Checked on 6 October 2026 · bonusqr.com

BonusQR gives every customer a personal QR code. They scan your QR code at the counter, create an account in one click, and from then on staff scan their code at each visit. Customers can use it in a browser, on Android or iOS, or from Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.

Compared with Square Loyalty, the obvious difference is cost: BonusQR’s free plan has no time limit and includes unlimited customers and visits. It also offers several schemes besides stamps, cashback among them. What you lose is the automatic part. A member of staff scans each visit, where Square adds points as part of the payment.

Boomerangme

Boomerangme at a glance

Customer app

Not needed

Phone wallet

Apple and Google Wallet pass

How stamps are given

Staff scan the customer’s card

Till

Works beside any till

Cheapest paid plan

$199 a month · 14-day trial

Checked on 6 October 2026 · boomerangme.com

Boomerangme puts the card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, and staff add stamps or points from a Scanner App that runs in any browser. It needs no special hardware or change to your till, and it offers an API and webhooks for businesses that want to connect a POS or CRM themselves.

It is the broadest of the five. One account can run punch cards, cashback, membership, discount, coupon, prepaid and gift cards, and the Business plan includes ten locations and fifty managers, so a group of shops pays one monthly plan rather than a fee per site. It is also the most expensive starting point here, with a 14-day trial before you pay.

Loopy Loyalty

Loopy Loyalty at a glance

Customer app

Not needed

Phone wallet

Apple and Google Wallet pass

How stamps are given

Staff scan the customer’s card

Till

Works beside any till

Cheapest paid plan

$25 a month · 15-day trial

Checked on 6 October 2026 · loopyloyalty.com

Loopy Loyalty is a wallet stamp card: customers save it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet without downloading anything, and your team scans it with the Stamper app on iOS or Android. It records customer details when people join and offers remote stamping from the web.

Its plans are flat and step up by locations: one on Starter, three on Growth and ten on Ultimate, with unlimited customers on all of them. For a single shop leaving Square, the Starter plan is one of the lower starting prices in this comparison, and there is a 15-day trial without a card.

NextStamp

NextStamp at a glanceOurs

Customer app

Not needed

Phone wallet

Apple and Google Wallet pass

How stamps are given

Customer scans at the counter, staff approve · Staff scan the customer’s card · A tag or device at the counter

Till

Works beside any till

Cheapest paid plan

£9 a month · Free plan as well · 30-day trial

Checked on 6 October 2026 · nextstamp.app

NextStamp is our own product. Customers join by scanning your poster and signing up with a name and email, and the card lives in their browser, with Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes that update themselves. When they want a stamp, they scan the till poster or tap a tag, and the request chimes at the till for staff to approve with one tap. Staff can also scan the customer’s card with the phone’s camera or a handheld scanner.

Coming from Square, the biggest change is that stamps are asked for and approved rather than added at the payment, so your team stays in charge of every one. In exchange, it runs beside any till, a card can work at every outlet or only the ones you choose, and campaigns such as a “We miss you” gift land on the customer’s card without any email or text. Its Free plan covers one outlet, one card and up to 50 customers, Starter allows three cards, and Growth covers three outlets and ten cards, with more outlets at an extra charge each. Every new business starts with 30 days of Growth without a card.

Stamp Me

Stamp Me at a glance

Customer app

Required

Phone wallet

Member code only

How stamps are given

Staff scan the customer’s card · One-off codes · A tag or device at the counter

Till

Works beside any till

Cheapest paid plan

£39 a month · 30-day trial

Checked on 6 October 2026 · stampme.com

Stamp Me runs through its own customer app. Customers download Stamp Me, create an account and join your card, then show their member code for staff to scan. It also offers one-off codes, a StampTag customers tap and a StampPod that sits at your point of sale.

Its plans cover one location each, so it suits a single shop better than a group. Compared with Square Loyalty, it trades the checkout integration for hardware at the counter and an app in the customer’s pocket. The trial lasts 30 days from when you publish your first card.

When Square Loyalty is still the right choice

If Square takes every payment in your business, Square Loyalty does one thing none of the alternatives can: it adds points as part of the sale, with nothing for staff to scan or approve. Customers join at the register, on an invoice or online, rewards work at any of your participating locations, and customers can keep a pass in Apple Wallet.

That makes it hard to beat for a busy counter where speed matters more than anything else, as long as you are happy with points and with paying per location.

Planning the switch

Customers who have been collecting with Square will want to know what happens to what they have earned. Decide that before you announce anything. A simple way is to honour progress on the new card: with NextStamp, for example, you can give new customers welcome stamps when they join, or add stamps to a customer’s card yourself with a reason recorded.

Then tell people at the counter for a few weeks. Put the new poster where the old prompt was, mention it when you hand over a receipt, and let regulars see you mean it by keeping your first rewards generous. Our guide to moving from paper stamp cards covers the same steps for a business starting from paper.

Questions owners ask

Can I keep my Square card machine and use another loyalty app?

Yes. All five alternatives here run beside the till rather than inside it, so customers pay on your Square reader exactly as before and collect their stamp separately. The two never need to talk to each other.

Are points or stamps better for a small shop?

Stamps are easier to explain and easier to see: a customer knows that six of ten means four more visits. Points suit businesses where a sandwich and a weekly shop both need to count fairly. If most of your customers buy roughly the same thing each visit, a stamp card is usually the clearer offer.

Which alternative works across several locations?

Boomerangme’s Business plan includes ten locations, Loopy Loyalty’s Growth and Ultimate plans cover three and ten, and NextStamp’s Growth plan covers three outlets, with more at an extra charge each, where one card can work at every outlet or only the ones you tick. Stamp Me’s plans each cover one location. Our page on loyalty across several locations goes into how that works day to day.