7 Best Free Shopify Loyalty Apps (2026): What You Actually Get Before You Pay

You want a rewards program running this month, and you don’t want a new monthly bill while you find out whether customers use it. Every free Shopify loyalty app will give you points and a referral link. The free plans split on two things: how many orders they cover before the program stops, and which feature you’ll be paying to unlock first.

Joy is the best free Shopify loyalty app for most stores, with 250 orders a month covered. Essent is the pick if VIP tiers matter at $0, and Smile.io is the pick if you sell in person or in several languages.

We ranked the 7 best free Shopify loyalty apps by which features each free plan includes and what the first paid plan costs at your monthly order volume.

Key highlights

• Best for growing stores on a budget: Joy, with the highest all-orders free cap at 250 a month.
• Best for VIP tiers at no cost: Essent, the only free plan here that includes them.
• Best for in-person and multi-language selling: Smile.io, with Shopify POS and 20+ languages on free.
• Best for the cheapest upgrade: Love Loyalty, whose first paid plan is $12 a month for 500 orders.

What are loyalty programs, and why you need one even if it’s a free version in 2026

A Shopify loyalty program rewards customers for buying again. They earn points for orders, account sign-ups, reviews or referrals, then spend those points on a discount, free shipping or a free product. A loyalty app runs all of that for you. It adds a widget or rewards page to your storefront, tracks each customer’s balance, and emails members about points they haven’t used.

The free version is worth starting on for a reason most pages skip. Merchants don’t usually leave because the app lacked a feature. In Magicbean’s study of 3,410 Shopify App Store reviews, 70.6% of written loyalty-app reviews mention support, 2.6 times as often as rewards features. A free plan lets you test the support, the widget on your theme and your customers’ appetite for points before any of it costs money.

There’s a second reason to start early. Every order placed while the program runs builds points history. By the time you upgrade, your repeat customers already hold balances worth coming back for, so the paid plan starts working on day one.

Quick comparison of free loyalty apps

Here is how the seven free plans compare. The last column is the one to read closely, because it names what you will pay to unlock first.

#	App	Rating	Best for	Free orders/month	Standout free feature	Major free limitation
1	Joy: Loyalty Program & Rewards	4.9 (1,784)	Growing stores on a budget	250	Referral program with fraud prevention	Loyalty page and analytics start at $29/mo
2	Love Loyalty and Rewards	5.0 (395)	Shopify-native UX and site speed	150	Points redeemed inside the cart in two steps	No POS, analytics or Klaviyo
3	Essent Loyalty Program Rewards	5.0 (474)	High-volume, low-adoption stores	250 loyalty orders	VIP tiers and Klaviyo sync	No dedicated loyalty page or POS
4	Smile: Loyalty Program Rewards	4.9 (4,593)	Omnichannel and multi-market stores	200	Shopify POS and 20+ languages	VIP tiers start at $199/mo
5	BON: Loyalty Rewards Referrals	5.0 (1,931)	Shopify Plus stores starting at $0	150	Points redeemed at checkout on Shopify Plus	POS and multi-language start at $29/mo
6	Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards	4.7 (1,449)	Design-led brands that plan to upgrade	200	Branded automated loyalty emails	No referral program until $49/mo
7	Yotpo Loyalty & Rewards	4.7 (971)	Stores already in the Yotpo ecosystem	Under 100	Referral email flows with fraud prevention	Next plan up is $199/mo

Ratings and review counts come from each app’s Shopify App Store listing on 21 October 2026. Prices and plan limits come from Magicbean’s loyalty pricing sheet, checked 20 October 2026.

Essent’s cap works differently from the other six. It counts repeat purchases and referrals, so a store doing 1,000 orders a month with 200 of them from returning members stays free. The same store passes every other cap here at least four times over. Our Shopify loyalty app pricing comparison has the full cost ladder at 1,000 members and up.

How we ranked these

A free plan is only worth having if the program it runs is real and the bill after it is one you can live with. We judged each app on what a store gets at $0 and on what changes the day the cap arrives.

• Usable at $0. Whether the free plan runs a working points and referral program or only a demo widget.
• What free locks. Which feature a store hits first, and the plan price that unlocks it.
• How orders are counted. All store orders, or only orders influenced by the loyalty program.
• The first paid step. The price of the next plan up and the orders it covers.
• What merchants report. Complaint patterns in Shopify App Store reviews from the past 12 to 24 months.
• Track record. Launch date, review volume and Built for Shopify badge status.

Most pages ranking for this search are published by loyalty app vendors, and nearly all of them put their own app first. Magicbean doesn’t sell a loyalty app.

What does “free” actually mean on a Shopify loyalty app?

Three things decide how long a free plan stays free.

The first is whether the cap resets. All seven reset monthly, though that hasn’t always been clear to merchants. One Joy merchant wrote in April 2025 that “The free plan is NOT 150 monthly orders, it is 150 LIFETIME orders.” Joy’s listing has since raised the free tier to 250 monthly orders.

The second is what gets counted. Rivo’s help centre says usage is based on your monthly order count processed through Shopify, whether or not the customer joined the program. Essent counts only loyalty-influenced orders.

The third is which order types count. A shop taking 150 online orders and 100 Shopify POS orders is a 250-order store to an app that counts everything. Check that before you install if you sell in person, take draft orders or run subscriptions.

Source: Joy Loyalty review, Blue Aster LLC, 1 April 2025

Which free loyalty app fits your store?

Every condition below is one you can check in your own Shopify admin in a minute.

• If you take 150 to 250 orders a month and want referrals running at $0, choose Joy.
• If most of your orders come from first-time buyers and you want VIP tiers now, choose Essent.
• If you sell on Shopify POS or in more than one language, choose Smile.io.
• If you are on Shopify Plus and want points redeemed at checkout, choose BON.
• If you expect to pass 500 orders within a few months and want the smallest first bill, choose Love Loyalty and plan for the $12 Professional plan.

The 7 best free loyalty apps for Shopify stores

Each app below is judged on the same six points, in the same order, so you can compare them line by line. Ratings are from 21 October 2026.

1. Joy: Best for growing stores on a budget

Best for: Growing stores on a budget

Rating: 4.9 (1,784 reviews) | Price: $0–$129/mo | Free trial: 14 days on paid plans

What it is. Joy is a points, referral and VIP app from Avada with the Built for Shopify badge, built around a widget you style once and leave running. The free plan is aimed at stores that have passed their first hundred orders and want a program working before they commit budget.

What you get

• Points program. Earning rules for orders, sign-ups, birthdays and social follows, all editable on free.
• Referral program. Referral links with built-in fraud prevention, capped on the free Starter plan.
• Customization. One storefront widget with your colours, logo and reward wording.
• Integrations. Email notifications for earned and expiring points, sent from Joy.
• Redemption. Discount-code rewards applied at the cart.

Where it wins

• 250 monthly orders is the highest all-orders free cap among the seven apps here.
• 79.9% of Joy’s 184 written reviews mention support, with 138 praise mentions and 2 complaints in Magicbean’s study.
• Live chat is available on the free plan, which Yotpo and Rivo reserve for paid tiers.

Where it falls short

• The dedicated loyalty page, program analytics and Klaviyo all start on the $29/mo plan.
• VIP tiers start on the $129/mo plan.
• Merchants reported onboarding problems through 2025, including draft orders not earning points in August 2025. Joy added an “Online Store + Draft Orders” earning option that month.

Free plan ceiling. 250 orders a month, then $29/mo for 500 orders, with $15 per additional 100 orders.

Our take. Joy ranks first because it gives the most order headroom at $0 and the program it runs is complete enough to measure. The cheapest path after free is its own $29 plan, unless VIP tiers are what you need, in which case Essent costs nothing. See our Joy Loyalty review for the paid tiers in full.

2. Love Loyalty: Best for Shopify-native UX and site speed

Best for: Shopify-native UX and site speed

Rating: 5.0 (395 reviews) | Price: $0–$199/mo | Free trial: 14 days on paid plans

What it is. Love Loyalty is an all-in-one loyalty app for Shopify with the Built for Shopify badge, covering points, referrals, VIP tiers, paid memberships and POS across its plans. The listing has carried several names since launch, including Love Loyalty Rewards Program and Love Loyalty Points & Rewards.

What you get

• Points program. Earning rules for orders, sign-ups and social actions on the free plan.
• Referral program. Referral links with reward settings for both sides.
• Redemption. Points applied inside the cart in two steps, without leaving the page.
• Customization. Full control of widget colours, copy and placement.
• Migration and data import. Point balances stored in Shopify metafields and visible in the Shopify admin.

Where it wins

• The first paid plan is $12/mo for 500 orders, the lowest step off free among these seven apps.
• 52.2% of Love Loyalty’s 186 written reviews mention rewards features, almost twice the 27.2% category average.
• The study recorded no one- or two-star reviews for Love Loyalty in the 24-month window.

Where it falls short

• The free plan covers 150 orders a month, matching BON and below the other five.
• Program analytics, Shopify POS, Klaviyo and Shopify Flow start on the $12/mo Professional plan.
• VIP tiers start on the $79/mo Growth plan, which also carries a 1.8% fee on paid memberships.

Free plan ceiling. 150 orders a month, then $12/mo for 500 orders.

Our take. Love Loyalty suits a store that already knows it will outgrow free, because $12 buys back everything the free plan holds, including analytics. Stores that need POS at no cost should install Smile.io instead. Our Love Loyalty review covers the Growth and Plus plans.

3. Essent: Best for high-volume, low-adoption stores

Best for: High-volume, low-adoption stores

Rating: 5.0 (474 reviews) | Price: $0–$79/mo | Free trial: 14 days on paid plans

What it is. Essent is a loyalty and referrals app with the Built for Shopify badge, launched in November 2024 and listed for a time as Essential Loyalty. Its pricing counts loyalty-influenced orders, which changes who the free plan suits.

What you get

• VIP tiers. Tier rules and rewards included on the free plan.
• Points program. 12 or more earning actions, including reviews and social follows.
• Referral program. Two-sided referral rewards.
• Customization. Widget placements on product pages, the cart, a popup and the customer account page.
• Integrations. Built-in reward emails plus a Klaviyo connection.

Where it wins

• The only free plan among these seven that includes VIP tiers.
• The cap counts repeat purchases and referrals, so a store with light program uptake can run thousands of total orders at $0.
• Essent is the one app in Magicbean’s study where setup, at 29.7% of written reviews, is mentioned more often than support.

Where it falls short

• The dedicated loyalty page and Shopify POS start on the $10/mo plan.
• 30% of Essent’s support praise is for custom work done by the team, and 3.9% of its reviews name an agent, the lowest share of the 25 apps studied.
• The app has been listed for under two years, so there is less long-term merchant evidence than for Smile.io or Yotpo.

Free plan ceiling. 250 loyalty-influenced orders a month, then $10/mo for 500, with unlimited loyalty orders at $79/mo.

Our take. Essent is the pick for a busy store where only a slice of buyers join the program, because the counting method keeps it free far longer than the others. Merchants who want a decade of track record should pick Smile.io.

4. Smile.io: Best for omnichannel and multi-market stores

Best for: Omnichannel and multi-market stores

Rating: 4.9 (4,593 reviews) | Price: $0–$199/mo | Free trial: 14 days on paid plans

What it is. Smile.io has been on the Shopify App Store since December 2014, longer than any other app here, and holds the Built for Shopify badge. Its free plan is the broadest of the seven in features, and the narrowest in headroom once you grow.

What you get

• Shopify POS support. In-store earning and redemption on the free plan.
• Points program. 15 or more ways to earn and redeem.
• Referral program. Two-sided referral rewards with email prompts.
• Customization. Full branding control over the launcher and panel, in 20+ languages.
• Redemption. Discount rewards applied at the cart.

Where it wins

• The only free plan here with both Shopify POS and 20+ storefront languages.
• 66.7% of Smile.io’s 159 written reviews mention support, with 97 praise mentions and 5 complaints.
• Points never expire on the free plan, because points expiry is a paid feature.

Where it falls short

• VIP tiers and points expiry start on the $199/mo Growth plan.
• Program analytics and the Klaviyo connection start on paid plans.
• Smile.io had 24 one- and two-star reviews in Magicbean’s study, the most of the 25 apps, with 13 about support and 12 about pricing or plans.

Free plan ceiling. 200 orders a month, then $15/mo for 500 orders.

Our take. Smile.io is the strongest free plan for a store selling in person or across markets, since POS and languages cost nothing here and $29 elsewhere. The gap to VIP tiers is the widest of the seven, so read our Smile.io review before you commit a customer base to it.

5. BON: Best for Shopify Plus stores starting at $0

Best for: Shopify Plus stores starting at $0

Rating: 5.0 (1,931 reviews) | Price: $0–$129/mo | Free trial: 14 days on paid plans

What it is. BON is a loyalty and referrals app with the Built for Shopify badge, launched in August 2021. Its free plan reaches into checkout, which the other six keep for paid tiers.

What you get

• Checkout extensions (Shopify Plus). Points redeemed at checkout on Plus stores, on the free plan.
• Points program. Earning rules with product and collection exclusions.
• Referral program. Referral links with anti-cheat rules.
• Integrations. Automated points and referral emails from BON.
• Customization. Widget colours, icons and reward wording.

Where it wins

• Product and collection exclusions are available at $0, so you can keep sale items out of earning.
• 76.3% of BON’s 186 written reviews mention support, and none of those 142 mentions is a complaint.
• Eight merchants in Magicbean’s study described switching to BON, tied with Love Loyalty for the most of any loyalty app.

Where it falls short

• The free plan covers 150 orders a month, and the $15/mo Starter plan adds only 150 more.
• Shopify POS, multi-language display and Shopify Flow start on the $29/mo Basic plan.
• VIP tiers start on the $129/mo plan, which also lifts the order cap.

Free plan ceiling. 150 orders a month, then $15/mo for 300 orders.

Our take. BON is the free plan to install on Shopify Plus, because checkout redemption at $0 is unique here and it lifts redemption rates where customers actually pay. Standard Shopify stores lose that advantage and get more headroom from Joy. Our BON Loyalty review has the plan ladder.

6. Rivo: Best for design-led brands that plan to upgrade

Best for: Design-led brands that plan to upgrade

Rating: 4.7 (1,449 reviews) | Price: $0–$499/mo | Free trial: 7 days on paid plans

What it is. Rivo is a loyalty and referrals app for DTC brands, shipping weekly updates and selling on customization depth. It does not carry the Built for Shopify badge. The free plan is a starting point, and the design control that defines Rivo sits on the paid tiers.

What you get

• Points program. Earning and redeeming rules on the free plan.
• Customization. Brand styling on the widget.
• Integrations. Automated loyalty emails with your branding.

Where it wins

• The $49/mo Scale plan is the second-cheapest route to VIP tiers among these seven apps.
• 82.5% of Rivo’s 126 written reviews mention support, with 91 praise mentions, well above the 70.6% average.
• Custom CSS, custom fonts and the Rivo Developer Toolkit give design-led stores control the other apps gate higher or lack.

Where it falls short

• The referral program is excluded from both the free plan and the $15/mo Essential plan. It starts on the $49/mo Scale plan, alongside VIP tiers, points expiry and the dedicated loyalty page.
• Shopify POS and the Klaviyo connection start on paid plans, per Rivo’s help centre.
• Rivo had 16 one- and two-star reviews in Magicbean’s study, 8 about support and 7 about bugs, and 3 of its 6 pricing mentions are complaints.

Free plan ceiling. 200 orders a month, counted across all Shopify orders, then $15/mo on Essential, or $49/mo for 400 orders on Scale.

Our take. Rivo’s free plan is worth installing when you already know the paid plan is where you are heading and design control is the reason. Any store that wants a referral program running at $0 should install Joy or Essent, since Rivo holds referrals back until $49. Our Rivo review covers the Scale and Plus tiers.

7. Yotpo Loyalty: Best for stores already in the Yotpo ecosystem

Best for: Stores already in the Yotpo ecosystem

Rating: 4.7 (971 reviews) | Price: $0–$199/mo | Free trial: No

What it is. Yotpo Loyalty & Rewards is the loyalty product in Yotpo’s wider stack of reviews, SMS and email tools. Its free plan is sized for small stores, and the value grows if you already pay Yotpo for something else.

What you get

• Points program. Points for purchases, with fixed-amount discount rewards.
• Referral program. Referral email flows with fraud prevention.
• Shopify POS support. In-store earning on the free plan.
• Analytics. An ROI dashboard and program performance reporting.
• Redemption. Discount rewards applied at the cart.

Where it wins

• An ROI dashboard on the free plan, which Joy, Love Loyalty, Smile.io and BON all gate behind paid tiers.
• 86.3% of Yotpo Loyalty’s 139 written reviews mention support, the highest share of the 25 apps studied, and 30% of that praise is for solving the problem.
• Loyalty data sits alongside Yotpo Reviews, so one vendor handles both.

Where it falls short

• VIP tiers, the Klaviyo connection, checkout redemption and birthday rewards all start on paid plans.
• The next plan up is $199/mo, the largest step from free among these seven apps.
• Yotpo is the app merchants named most often as the one they left, in 7 of the switching reviews in Magicbean’s study, and 4 of its 5 pricing mentions are complaints.

Free plan ceiling. Under 100 orders a month, then $199/mo for 500 orders.

Our take. Yotpo Loyalty earns its place for stores already paying for Yotpo Reviews, where one dashboard covers both. A store choosing a loyalty app on its own gets more at $0 from Joy or Essent, and a far smaller first bill. Our Yotpo Loyalty review has the Pro and Premium details.

Source: Magicbean, Shopify Loyalty App Reviews Study 2026: Results by App

What breaks when you outgrow a free loyalty plan?

Every free plan here ends at an order count. What differs is how soon you reach it and what the first bill buys back.

• Yotpo runs out first, under 100 orders a month, and the next plan is $199.
• Love Loyalty and BON stop at 150. Love Loyalty’s next step is $12, BON’s is $15 for 300 orders.
• Smile.io and Rivo stop at 200. Smile.io keeps POS and languages on every plan, and Rivo’s $49 Scale plan covers 400 orders.
• Joy stops at 250 total orders. Essent stops at 250 loyalty orders, which for most stores arrives much later.

VIP tiers are where the bills separate. Essent includes them free. Rivo charges $49, Love Loyalty $79, Joy and BON $129 each, and Smile.io $199. If tiers are the reason you want a program, that single row decides your shortlist, and our guide to the best Shopify loyalty apps with VIP tiers goes deeper.

One thing to settle before you launch is what happens to customer balances if you switch apps later. Magicbean’s study found 17 reviews describing exit problems, most commonly being charged after uninstalling or cancelling. Moving loyalty points between Shopify apps covers the export each app supports.

What’s the cheapest path once you outgrow free?

The cheapest upgrade depends on which feature you ran out of.

• Points and more orders: Essent at $10, Love Loyalty at $12, then Smile.io and BON at $15.
• Klaviyo: Essent includes it free. Love Loyalty adds it at $12, Smile.io and BON at $15.
• Shopify POS: Smile.io and Yotpo include it free. Essent adds it at $10, Love Loyalty at $12, BON at $29.
• VIP tiers: Essent includes them free, then Rivo at $49.

Costs at 1,000 members and above sit in our Shopify loyalty app pricing study, which tracks order limits, overage fees and feature gates across 12 apps.

Also considered

• Mage Loyalty. Removed its free plan in 2026. The listing now starts at $15/mo for 500 orders.
• LoyaltyLion. Free for stores under 400 orders a month, with API access, but its paid plans are quote-based. Four of its nine pricing mentions in Magicbean’s study are complaints. See LoyaltyLion alternatives.
• Growave. Bundles loyalty with reviews and wishlists. Its entry plan is $15/mo, so there is no free tier to rank here. See Growave alternatives.

Final verdict

Joy is the free Shopify loyalty app most stores should install, because 250 monthly orders and a working referral program at $0 give you enough runway to learn whether points change behaviour in your store. The factor that decides it for you is how the app counts an order against its cap. Before you install, add up last month’s online, POS and draft orders, then check that total against the cap of the app you picked.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a completely free loyalty app for Shopify?

Yes. Joy, Love Loyalty, Essent, Smile.io, BON, Rivo and Yotpo all run free plans with no time limit. Each one caps monthly orders, from under 100 on Yotpo to 250 on Joy and Essent. Pass the cap and you upgrade or the program pauses.

Which free Shopify loyalty app includes VIP tiers?

Essent is the only app here with VIP tiers on its free plan. The others charge for them. Rivo unlocks tiers at $49 a month, Love Loyalty at $79, Joy and BON at $129 each, and Smile.io at $199 a month.

Does Smile.io have a free plan?

Yes. Smile.io’s free plan covers 200 orders a month and includes points, referrals, Shopify POS and 20+ languages. VIP tiers, points expiry, analytics and the Klaviyo connection sit on paid plans. The first paid tier is $15 a month for 500 orders.

What happens to customer points when a store hits the free order limit?

Existing balances stay attached to the customer record. What stops is new earning, and each app handles the cap differently, so read the plan page before launch. Magicbean’s study found 17 reviews describing problems on exit or a plan change, most often charges after cancelling.

Do Shopify POS orders count toward a free loyalty plan’s limit?

Often yes. Rivo counts every order processed through Shopify, whether or not the buyer joined the program. Essent counts only loyalty-influenced orders. A store with busy in-store sales should confirm the counting rule with the app before installing.