Loyalty & Rewards
Smile.io vs Growave: Honest Comparison [2027 Edition]
Smile.io’s Standard plan stops at 1,000 orders a month, with no overage option. Go one order past it and the bill jumps from $79 to $199. Growave has no cliff like that, and for a lot of stores that one difference decides the comparison.
The difference goes beyond pricing. Smile keeps its attention on loyalty, while Growave brings reviews, wishlists, and Instagram UGC into the same subscription. That makes Growave attractive if you’re already paying for several retention apps, though the savings depend on how quickly your order volume grows.
Both Shopify loyalty apps have also changed their pricing recently. Smile replaced its $49 Starter plan with $15 and $79 tiers, while Growave brought its entry price down to $15. If you last compared them six months ago, it’s worth looking again.
Smile.io vs Growave: Our top pick
For a store that already has reviews and wishlists covered, I’d lean towards Smile. You get more room on its $199 plan and stronger loyalty reporting. Growave becomes more appealing when you’re trying to consolidate several apps or need features like store credit and B2B points.
Choose Smile.io if: You already have a reviews app you like and want loyalty reporting you can show a finance team. At 2,500 orders Smile costs $199 and Growave $349, and Smile’s Klaviyo connection goes deeper. It also runs on BigCommerce.
Choose Growave if: You’re paying for two or three retention apps and want one bill. It’s also the cheaper route to API access, headless builds, and B2B points, and it offers store credit that lands in the customer’s wallet instead of as a discount code.
Look beyond both if: You want VIP tiers for less than $199 a month. Both apps keep them on a $199 plan, while apps like BON and Rivo include them for less. Our Love Loyalty review and list of apps with VIP tiers are good places to start.
What does each app offer?
Smile puts its effort into doing one job well. Growave tries to do four jobs on one subscription. Which approach suits you depends mostly on what else you already pay for.
Smile.io
Smile.io is built for merchants who want loyalty to have its own place in their retention strategy. It keeps the product focused on points, referrals, and VIP tiers, then puts more attention into reporting as you move up the plans. That becomes useful when you need to understand whether your rewards program is actually bringing customers back.
Its Loyalty Hub gives signed-in members a place to check their balance inside their customer account. POS works on the free plan too, so a store with a counter can run points in person from day one.
The gaps are real, though. Smile has no B2B loyalty, and one merchant running wholesale on the same storefront said plainly in October 2025 not to use it for that. It also has no store credit, so every redemption becomes a discount code or gift card. It’s a good fit for a Shopify or Shopify Plus brand that already has reviews sorted. Checkout top smile alternatives you can use on your Shopify store
Growave
Growave bundles loyalty, referrals, product reviews, a wishlist, and Instagram UGC. Its free plan includes loyalty, reviews, and a wishlist together, which is rare at $0.
The appeal of Growave becomes clearer when you look at the apps it could replace. But the more orders you process, the more carefully you need to compare its limits with the cost of keeping separate tools.
Growave includes fewer orders at every paid tier, so the saving from cutting apps shrinks as you grow. Where it pulls clearly ahead is the developer side. API access, Hydrogen and headless support, and B2B points all sit on its $499 Plus plan, half what Smile charges for API access alone. It suits a store that wants one bill, one support queue, and one set of widgets.
How we compared Smile.io and Growave
Comparing a loyalty-only app with a bundle is tricky, because the cheaper one depends on what you’d otherwise buy alongside it. So we priced both at real order volumes and checked what each plan actually unlocks, across five areas:
- Features: What each app supports, and on which plan.
- Pricing: What you’ll pay as order volume grows, including caps and overage.
- Integrations: How each app works with Klaviyo, Shopify POS, and developer tools.
- Merchant feedback: What reviewers say on the Shopify App Store, G2, and Reddit.
- Migration: What moves between the two apps and what you’ll need to rebuild.
We checked prices, plan limits, and ratings on each vendor’s pricing page and Shopify App Store listing on 5 November 2026.
Smile.io vs Growave: At a glance
| Category | Smile.io | Growave |
|---|---|---|
| Modules | Loyalty only | Loyalty, reviews, wishlist, and Instagram UGC |
| Shopify rating | 4.9 (4,663 reviews) | 4.8 (1,290 reviews) |
| Platforms | Shopify and BigCommerce | Shopify only |
| Storefront languages | 20+ | 16 |
| Referral program | Free | $15 (Entry), with fraud protection |
| Shopify POS | Free | $15, with a Loyalty QR flow at $199 |
| Dedicated loyalty page | $15 (Essential) | $199 (Growth) |
| VIP tiers and points expiry | $199 (Growth, 2,500 orders) | $199 (Growth, 1,500 orders) |
| Store credit rewards | Not available | $199 (Growth) |
| Checkout redemption (Shopify Plus) | $199 (Growth) | $499 (Plus) |
| API and JavaScript SDK | $999 (Plus, billed annually) | $499 (Plus) |
| B2B points program | Not available | $499 (Plus) |
| Phone support | Not offered | $499 (Plus) |
| Overage on lower plans | None, hard caps | $20 per 100 from Entry |
The pattern is easy to see once it’s laid out. Smile puts storefront features on cheap plans and saves developer access for expensive ones. Growave does the opposite, so a branded loyalty page costs $15 on Smile and $199 on Growave, while API access costs $499 on Growave and $999 on Smile.
How much do Smile.io and Growave cost?
Both apps bill on monthly orders through Shopify, and both start free. The structures split once you pass the entry tiers, because Smile uses hard caps on its lower plans and Growave charges overage from its first paid plan.
Smile.io pricing
| Plan | Price | Orders included | Overage | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 200 | None, hard cap | Testing a points program |
| Essential | $15/month | 500 | None, hard cap | A first branded loyalty page |
| Standard | $79/month | 1,000 | None, hard cap | Bonus events and gift-card rewards |
| Growth | $199/month | 2,500 | $20 per 100 | VIP tiers and checkout redemption |
| Plus | $999/month, billed annually | 7,500 | $5 per 100 | API access and priority support |
| Enterprise | Custom, annual | Unlimited | Custom | Retailers above $40M revenue |
The line to read twice is the Overage column. Smile’s help centre confirms that Free, Essential, and Standard have fixed caps, so there’s no small fee for going slightly over Standard. At 1,001 orders, you move to $199.
Growave pricing
| Plan | Price | Orders included | Overage | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 200 | None | Loyalty, reviews, and a wishlist on a new store |
| Entry | $15/month | 500 | $20 per 100 | Referrals with fraud protection |
| Growth | $199/month | 1,500 | $15 per 100 | VIP tiers and store credit |
| Plus | $499/month | 3,000 | $10 per 100 | Checkout extensions, API, and B2B |
| Unlimited | $999/month | Unlimited | None | High-volume stores tired of overage |
Growave lists a 14-day trial, though a promotion on its site was advertising 30 days when we checked. Confirm which one applies before you install.
Which free plan gives you more?
Both cap at 200 orders, so it comes down to what you can build. Smile’s free plan is a full points and referral program with 15+ ways to earn and redeem, full branding control, 20+ languages, POS, and 10 reports. It holds back the dedicated loyalty page and any integrations, so Klaviyo waits until $15.
Growave’s free plan runs points, a wishlist, and product reviews together, with Growave branding and email support within 48 hours. Referrals wait until the $15 Entry plan. If you only want points, Smile’s free plan is stronger. If you need reviews on your product pages too, Growave’s replaces two paid apps. Our list of free Shopify loyalty apps covers more options at this stage.
How do costs change as order volume grows?
This is where the two apps really separate. The table shows the cheapest path on each app at monthly list prices.
| Orders/month | Smile.io | Growave | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | $15 (Essential) | $15 (Entry) | Tie |
| 1,000 | $79 (Standard) | $115 (Entry + overage) | Smile by $36 |
| 1,200 | $199 (Growth) | $155 (Entry + overage) | Growave by $44 |
| 1,500 | $199 (Growth) | $199 (Growth) | Tie |
| 2,500 | $199 (Growth) | $349 (Growth + overage) | Smile by $150 |
| 5,000 | $699 (Growth + overage) | $699 (Plus + overage) | Tie |
| 7,500 | $999 (Plus) | $949 (Plus + overage) | Growave by $50 |
| 10,000 | $1,124 (Plus + overage) | $999 (Unlimited) | Growave by $125 |
Smile is cheaper from 1,500 to about 5,000 orders, with the biggest gap of $150 a month around 2,500. Above 5,000, Growave pulls ahead. The awkward spot is between 1,001 and roughly 1,400 orders, where Smile’s cap pushes you to $199 while Growave still charges about $155. If your store is drifting toward 1,000 orders, plan the jump to $199 or think about the switch before you get there.
The bigger question is whether Growave’s bundle saves money. Against Smile Growth plus Judge.me Awesome at $15 and Swym Wishlist Plus Starter at $19.99, Growave is cheaper up to roughly 1,730 orders a month and more expensive above that. Other reviews and wishlist apps price differently, so use that as a benchmark for your own stack. Our Shopify loyalty app pricing comparison shows where both sit against the wider market.
How do Smile.io and Growave compare on features?
The unlock prices are in the table above. Here’s what you actually get for them, starting with the feature that looks identical and isn’t.
Which app makes VIP tiers easier to access?
On price, it’s a draw. Both put VIP tiers and points expiry on a $199 Growth plan. But Smile’s Growth includes 2,500 orders and Growave’s includes 1,500, so the same $199 gives you about 67% more room on Smile before overage starts.
Best for: Smile.io, because the same price buys more headroom.
Which app offers better rewards and redemption?
Growave gives you more variety. It has 150+ preset earning and redemption rules, store credit and cash back from $199, and Apple and Google Wallet passes for loyalty cards. Store credit matters more than it sounds. Points turn into a balance in the customer’s wallet instead of a code they have to find again, which removes a common reason redemption rates come in lower than expected.
Smile offers 15+ ways to earn and redeem from the free plan, with gift-card and subscription rewards and bonus-point events at $79. Every redemption is a discount code or gift card, though, and that’s where some shoppers drop off.
Best for: Growave has the edge here, particularly if you want customers to redeem rewards as store credit rather than hunt for another discount code.”
Which app is better for referrals?
This is the clearest call in the comparison. Smile includes referrals for free but doesn’t name fraud controls as a feature on any plan. In September 2025, a two-year Smile customer said more than 12,000 discount codes generated through the app had been published on coupon sites without warning.
Growave starts referrals at $15 and includes fraud protection from the start, plus a custom referral domain from $199. Free referrals look great until you’re revoking thousands of leaked codes. If referrals are a big part of your plan, compare both against the best Shopify referral apps.
Best for: Growave, because $15 for fraud protection is cheap insurance.
Which app is better for Shopify Plus, headless, and B2B?
The answer flips depending on what you need. Both gate checkout redemption behind Shopify Plus. Smile includes it on its $199 Growth plan, while Growave needs the $499 Plus plan, a $3,600 a year difference for the same feature.
For headless builds, it’s the reverse. Growave supports Hydrogen, its REST API, and a JavaScript SDK at $499. Smile’s API sits on its $999 Plus plan, billed annually, so the minimum commitment is $11,988. Growave’s Plus plan also includes a B2B points program, which Smile doesn’t offer at any price. For more options at this level, see our list of loyalty apps for Shopify Plus.
Best for: Smile.io for checkout redemption, and Growave for headless builds or a wholesale channel.
Which app works better with Klaviyo and other tools?
It depends on how your retention runs. Smile is built into Klaviyo’s Customer Hub, with 10+ pre-built flows and loyalty data ready for segmentation. It allows one integration at $15, two at $79, and unlimited at $199.
Growave connects to about 34 tools, including Klaviyo, Omnisend, Postscript, Recharge, and Gorgias. It allows one integration at $15, three at $199, and unlimited at $499, where its API, webhooks, and metafields also arrive.
Best for: Smile.io if Klaviyo runs your retention, and Growave if you need code-level access.
Which app has better analytics?
Smile, by a wide margin. Its report library grows from 10 reports on Free to more than 30 at the top, with ROI and CLV analysis at $79 and benchmarks against similar brands at $199. Growave has one analytics dashboard across loyalty, reviews, and wishlist on every plan, but no published report count and no benchmarking. If you’ll need to defend the loyalty budget, Smile gives you the numbers.
Best for: That makes Smile the more convincing choice if loyalty reporting is something you’ll regularly take to your finance team.
Which app gives you better support?
Growave gives you more of it, sooner. Free comes with email within 48 hours, 24/7 email starts at $15, 24/7 chat at $199, and phone support plus a customer success manager at $499. Smile offers live chat with a loyalty specialist on paid plans and saves its priority support and white-glove migration for the $999 plan. Smile’s reviewers name the same agents again and again, which suggests a steady team.
Best for: If having someone available around the clock matters to your team, Growave gives you more support options without making you wait for its top plan.
What do merchants say about Smile.io and Growave?
Both apps rate well on Shopify, but the size of the evidence behind each is very different.
| Review source | Smile.io | Growave |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify App Store | 4.9 (4,663 reviews), 91% five-star | 4.8 (1,290 reviews), 93% five-star |
| G2 | 4.6 (471 reviews) | 21 reviews |
Growave has the slightly better five-star share, but Smile has nearly four times the Shopify reviews and more than twenty times the G2 reviews. Neither app gets much merchant discussion on X or LinkedIn, so App Store reviews and Reddit are where the real evidence sits.
Smile’s praise centres on support and stability over long tenures. A Canadian merchant ten months in called it “hands down the best loyalty app” in August 2026. The complaints are about slow replies, with one US merchant waiting two to three days, and maintenance timing. A four-year South African customer lost an in-store sale in April 2026 because points were unavailable for six hours during business hours.
Growave’s praise centres on the bundle saving money and on named support agents. Its complaints are more structural. One merchant said features promised within 30 days took 180 and arrived different from what was described, and a UK merchant reported bugs across the bundled modules in December 2025. Price increases without grandfathering also show up in one-star reviews going back to 2023.
Reddit discussions point to a similar trade-off. Merchants tend to favour Smile’s interface, while Growave gets attention from stores looking to reduce the number of apps they’re paying for. That raises a broader question about what merchants actually complain about once they’ve installed these tools.
If neither apps fits, our Growave alternatives list is the next stop.
What our Shopify loyalty app review research found
Across 3,410 reviews of 25 Shopify loyalty apps, support came up in 70.6% of written reviews and rewards in 27.2%. Both apps follow that pattern, and the app-level results put them close on support. Growave earned praise in 130 of 139 support mentions and Smile in 97 of 106.
The difference shows up in what goes wrong. Smile had 24 one- and two-star reviews in the study period, most often about slow support, pricing, and missing features. Growave had 8, and those mostly mentioned bugs, slow support, or trouble uninstalling. Growave also drew more setup complaints, with 4 of its 33 setup mentions negative, which fits the bundle having more moving parts.
For merchants, these problems show up in different ways. Smile’s pricing can become difficult to justify as order volume grows, while Growave gives you more features to manage and more opportunities for something to go wrong.
How do you migrate between Smile.io and Growave?
Points balances and member records move by CSV in both directions, and both vendors will help. Growave’s team handles migrations over live chat and will even run free for the rest of your contract with another loyalty vendor. Smile offers standard migration support, with white-glove migration and a launch plan on its top tier.
| Data or feature | Smile.io to Growave | Growave to Smile.io |
|---|---|---|
| Points balances and members | CSV import, with Growave’s team helping | CSV import |
| Product reviews | Not applicable | Don’t transfer, because Smile has no reviews product |
| Widgets and theme customisation | Need rebuilding | Need rebuilding |
| Contract | Growave covers your remaining term | Standard migration support |
The step that’s easy to miss is reviews. If you’re leaving Growave for Smile, export your review history into a reviews app like Judge.me or Loox first, or you’ll lose it.
To keep the switch safe:
- Export before you cancel. Download points balances and member records as CSV.
- Rebuild your widgets. Any custom CSS or embedded loyalty block has to be redone in the new app.
- Run both in parallel for a week. Check that balances match before you uninstall anything.
- Avoid Q4. A busy season is the wrong time to change how customers earn and redeem.
Which Shopify loyalty app should you choose?
Three questions settle it for most stores:
- How many orders will you do next month, not this one? Under 1,500 with a need for reviews points to Growave. Between 1,500 and 5,000 with loyalty as the only gap points to Smile. Above 5,000, Growave is cheaper again.
- Do you already pay for a reviews app you like? If so, Growave’s main advantage disappears, and Smile wins on reporting and order headroom.
- Do you need code-level access or B2B points? Then it’s Growave. Smile has no B2B product and prices its API at $999 on annual billing.
If you’d rather match your situation directly, use the table below.
| Your store or requirement | Recommended app | Why choose it? |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1,500 orders, needs reviews and a wishlist | Growave | One bill replaces several apps |
| 1,500–5,000 orders, loyalty only | Smile.io | Up to $150 a month cheaper |
| More than 5,000 orders | Growave | Plus and Unlimited cost less at scale |
| Klaviyo-led retention | Smile.io | Built into Klaviyo’s Customer Hub |
| Store credit rewards | Growave | Points land in the customer’s wallet |
| API, headless, or B2B points | Growave | All on the $499 Plus plan |
| Checkout redemption on Shopify Plus | Smile.io | $199 instead of $499 |
| BigCommerce store | Smile.io | Growave is Shopify only |
Final verdict: Smile.io or Growave?
Smile would be my starting point for a store that already has its reviews and wishlist covered. Its reporting is stronger, its $199 plan accommodates more orders, and the free plan gives you a decent way to test loyalty before committing to a bigger subscription.
Growave makes more sense when you’re still building your retention stack. Getting loyalty, reviews, and a wishlist under one subscription can save money and simplify management, especially at lower order volumes.
Before choosing, look at the apps you’re already paying for and how many orders you expect to process over the next year. Those two things will tell you more about the right choice than either app’s feature list.
FAQs
Is Smile.io or Growave cheaper?
Both start free and both charge $15 for their first paid plan. Smile is cheaper from 1,500 to 5,000 orders a month, by $150 at 2,500 orders. Growave is cheaper above 5,000 orders and in the narrow band just past 1,000.
Which app unlocks VIP tiers cheaper?
Neither, as both charge $199 a month. Smile’s $199 plan includes 2,500 orders and Growave’s includes 1,500, so Smile gives you more room for the same price.
Do both work with Shopify POS?
Yes. Smile includes POS on its free plan. Growave includes it from the $15 Entry plan, with a Loyalty QR flow for scanning in store at $199.
Can I redeem points at checkout?
Only on Shopify Plus, for both apps. Smile turns it on with its $199 Growth plan, while Growave needs its $499 Plus plan.
Does Growave really replace three apps?
Functionally, yes. Loyalty, reviews, and a wishlist run from one subscription, all on the free plan. Whether it saves money depends on volume, and against a typical reviews and wishlist stack it’s cheaper below roughly 1,730 orders a month.
Which has the better free plan?
Smile’s, if you only want points, because it runs a full program with no vendor branding and includes POS. Growave’s, if you also need product reviews and a wishlist on a new store.
Daniel Smith
Tracks the Shopify App Store so everyday merchants don't have to. Having personally vetted, audited, and reviewed hundreds of apss, he cuts through the marketing noise to recommend tools that actually drive revenue. He helps brands build the ultimate lean, high-performing tech stack.
