Picking a digital loyalty platform feels low-stakes until you realise your customers have to live with whatever friction you build into the sign-up flow. Two platforms come up constantly for local businesses: Loyally.ai and Stamp Me. They both handle digital stamp cards, but they take very different approaches to how customers carry and use those cards.
This comparison covers card types, wallet integration, pricing, and practical fit for the kinds of businesses that need loyalty most: coffee shops, salons, barbershops, restaurants, and gyms.
What each platform actually does
Loyally.ai
Loyally.ai is a digital loyalty card platform built specifically for local businesses. It offers stamp cards, reward cards, membership cards, cashback cards, multipass cards, discount cards, coupon cards, and gift cards. Every card lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, so customers add it once and it sits on their phone's lock screen — no separate app to download or account to create.
The platform is built for the business owner, not the consumer. You create and manage cards from a web dashboard, and customers receive their card via a link or QR code.
Stamp Me
Stamp Me is a consumer-facing loyalty app. Customers download the Stamp Me app, create an account, and collect stamps from any participating business inside that single app. Businesses set up their stamp card inside the Stamp Me ecosystem and customers manage all their loyalty cards from one place.
That model has a real upside: customers who already use Stamp Me for other businesses may find your card without any extra effort. The downside is that your card competes for attention inside an app full of other businesses' cards.
Card types and flexibility
Loyally gives you eight card formats. A coffee shop might run a stamp card for drinks alongside a membership card for regulars who want a monthly flat-rate deal. A gym could pair a multipass card (session bundles) with a referral-driven reward card. You can run multiple card types at once, and each one can be branded with your logo, colours, and custom messaging.
Stamp Me is built around the stamp card format. It does offer some variations, like bonus stamps and referral rewards, but the core product is a digital version of the paper punch card. If your business model needs cashback tracking, session passes, or gift cards, Stamp Me is not the right fit.
For businesses with straightforward "visit ten times, get one free" programmes, Stamp Me covers the basics well. For anything more layered, Loyally has the range.
How customers carry their cards
This is where the two platforms diverge most sharply.
Stamp Me cards live inside the Stamp Me app. A customer needs to have the app installed and be logged in to show their card. If they delete the app, change phones, or simply forget to open it, the stamp collection stops. You are also dependent on Stamp Me maintaining its app across iOS and Android updates.
Loyally cards live in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. Most smartphone users already have one of these installed by default. The card shows up on the lock screen when a customer is near your location, which is a passive reminder they did not have to opt into. There is nothing for the customer to download, and the card does not disappear if Loyally changes its app.
For business owners who have watched customers lose paper punch cards or forget about a loyalty app they downloaded once, the wallet-native approach removes a real friction point. You can read more about how this works in practice in how Apple Wallet loyalty cards work for local shops.
Pricing comparison
| Loyally Starter | Loyally Growth | Loyally Premium | Stamp Me | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $17/mo | $30/mo | $98/mo | Varies by plan |
| Annual price | $12/mo | $24/mo | $78/mo | Varies by plan |
| Card types | All 8 types | All 8 types | All 8 types | Stamp card focus |
| Wallet integration | Apple + Google | Apple + Google | Apple + Google | App only |
| Customer app required | No | No | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | 14 days | 14 days | Available |
Stamp Me's pricing is not published transparently on their main site. Business owners typically need to contact sales or sign up to see costs, which makes direct comparison harder. Loyally publishes its pricing openly at /pricing.
The value question is not just which number is lower. It is whether the platform you pay for actually gets used. A cheaper platform where customers rarely open the app delivers less return than a slightly more expensive one where the card is always visible on the phone's lock screen.
Retention impact: why the platform choice matters
According to Harvard Business Review, acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one. A loyalty programme that customers actually engage with is one of the most direct levers a local business has on retention.
The same research, drawing on Bain & Company data, found that increasing customer retention by just 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95%. That figure makes the monthly cost of a loyalty platform look very small relative to the upside.
The platform you choose affects whether customers actually engage. A card that lives in the wallet and surfaces a lock-screen notification when someone walks past your shop is doing passive marketing work that an app buried in a folder cannot match.
Which businesses suit each platform
Loyally fits well when:
- You want branded cards that look like your business, not a third-party app
- Your customers include a mix of ages and tech comfort levels (wallet cards require no setup)
- You need more than one card type (membership plus stamp, for example)
- You want to own the customer relationship directly, not share it with a marketplace of other businesses
Stamp Me fits well when:
- Your customers already use the Stamp Me app for other local businesses
- A basic stamp card is the only format you need
- You want discovery from Stamp Me's existing user base
For most independent coffee shops, salons, barbershops, and restaurants, the wallet-native approach tends to win on adoption. Customers do not need to be convinced to download anything. The card is just there.
If you run a salon or barbershop, you can see how other owners in your category approach this in the solutions for salons and solutions for barbershops pages.
Making the decision
The right question is not "which platform has more features" but "which platform will my specific customers actually use consistently."
If your regulars skew toward people who manage everything through their phone's built-in wallet, Loyally is the more natural fit. If you already know a chunk of your customer base uses the Stamp Me app and you want to appear in their existing loyalty feed, Stamp Me has that network effect going for it.
For businesses starting from scratch, the lower friction of wallet-native cards usually produces better adoption. You can test Loyally free for 14 days without a credit card commitment, which is enough time to run a real pilot with your regulars and see whether they engage.
If you want to read broader comparisons before deciding, digital loyalty cards vs paper punch cards: what wins covers the foundational case for going digital at all, and choosing the best digital loyalty card software for small businesses in 2025 looks at the wider market.
Frequently asked questions
Do customers need to download anything to use Loyally cards?
No. Loyally cards live in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, which come pre-installed on most iPhones and Android phones. Customers add the card once via a link or QR code, and it stays in their wallet without any separate app.
Can I run more than one card type at the same time with Loyally?
Yes. All Loyally plans include access to all eight card types: stamp, reward, membership, cashback, multipass, discount, coupon, and gift cards. You can run a stamp card and a membership card simultaneously, for example.
Is Stamp Me free for businesses?
Stamp Me offers some free access, but full business features typically require a paid plan. Their pricing is not publicly listed in detail, so you need to contact them or sign up to see current costs.
What happens to a customer's stamps if they switch phones?
With Loyally, the card is tied to the customer's Apple or Google account, so it transfers when they set up a new phone. With Stamp Me, the card is tied to the customer's app account, which also transfers as long as they log back into the app on the new device.
How long does it take to set up a Loyally card?
Most business owners complete their first card in under 30 minutes. You upload your logo, set your reward rules, and share a link or QR code with customers. Loyally's 14-day free trial includes full access so you can build and test before committing to a paid plan.
