What is the best free loyalty program for a café in Australia?
Published · Updated
If your café wants to pay nothing, BonusQR has a free plan with Apple and Google Wallet cards, FaveCard has a free web card, and paper cards cost only printing. Rewardtree isn't free after 60 days: it's A$9.99 a month. Square Loyalty, Stamp Me, Loopy Loyalty and Loyally have free trials, not free plans.
What a café needs from a loyalty program
A café is the hardest test for a loyalty program: a queue, a milk jug in one hand, and a regular who's in and out in two minutes. Before you pick an option, free or paid, check it gives you:
- Nothing slow at the counter. Collecting a stamp has to take a second.
- A card for iPhone and Android. Apple Wallet and Google Wallet between them cover your whole queue.
- No app for your customers to download. An app download is one more step at a busy counter.
- No cap on customers that you'll hit in your first busy month.
- A way to see who your regulars are.
- Honesty about the end date. A free trial is not a free plan.
- Something that still works when the Wi-Fi drops.
The free options, compared
These are the options with a plan that costs nothing and has no end date. Each fact is from that company's own page, read on 29 September 2026. A dash (–) means the page didn't say.
| Price | Card in Apple & Google Wallet | Customer limit | Customer list export | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BonusQR free plan | Free "forever", in its own words | Yes: its free plan lists Google and Apple Wallet | Unlimited | – | BonusQR |
| FaveCard free plan | Free, no time limit (its prices for Australia are in US dollars) | No: a web card. Apple and Google Wallet passes are on its Pro plan, US$39 a month | Unlimited | On its Business plan, US$59 a month | FaveCard |
| Paper stamp cards | The cost of printing | No | – | No list at all | Punch card maker |
BonusQR's free plan also lists one manager login. FaveCard's free plan has one active stamp card, and its page says new accounts get its paid tools until their first 30 customers join.
Free trials, not free plans
These are good apps, but you pay once the trial ends. From each company's own page, read on 29 September 2026:
- Square Loyalty: 30-day free trial, then A$49 to A$149 a month per location (Square; these prices were also checked on 27 September 2026).
- Stamp Me: 30-day trial from when you publish your first card, then A$49 to A$199 a month for one location; its Lite and Elite prices were marked as a limited-time offer (Stamp Me).
- Loopy Loyalty: 15-day trial, then US$25 to US$95 a month (Loopy Loyalty).
- Loyally: 14-day trial, then US$12 a month billed yearly, or US$17 billed monthly, for one location (Loyally).
Where Rewardtree fits
Rewardtree is 60 days free with no credit card, then A$9.99 a month per shop, or A$99 a year per shop (pricing). That's our end-of-year special for businesses that sign up by 31 December 2026: you keep it for every shop, including shops you add later, for as long as you stay. From 1 January 2027, businesses that sign up pay A$19.99 a month or A$199 a year. It's not a free plan, and we'd rather say so. What you get for that:
- Customers scan your QR to collect. One QR on your counter, scanned with the phone camera: nobody scans the customer's phone and staff type nothing.
- A card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, with no app for anyone.
- Stamps you can trust. One per visit, checked against where your café is; anything odd (far away, or late at night) shows as "Needs a look", and you can see and undo every stamp.
- A live reward screen. The customer shows the reward, their first name and a moving clock.
And the trade-offs, so there are no surprises:
- No till connection. Customers scan your QR; stamps don't add up by themselves from your POS.
- Stamp cards only. No points.
- No download of your customer list. Your customers and their visits are on your Rewardtree page.
- A small "Powered by Rewardtree" line on every card back and shop page.
Setting up a café card that works
The café guide walks through it in full. The short version:
- Buy 9, get the 10th free. A daily regular reaches it within weeks.
- One stamp per visit. On Rewardtree a visit is 4 hours by default, so the 7am and 2pm coffee both count.
- Stand the QR by the till, where the queue waits with phones in hand.
What a free card costs you in free coffees is its own question. We've done that sum in how much a free-coffee loyalty card really costs a café.
We make Rewardtree, so weigh our view with that in mind. Every other company's facts link to its own page.
More questions, answered#
Is Square Loyalty free for cafés?#
No. Square Loyalty has a 30-day free trial, then costs A$49, A$99 or A$149 a month per location, depending on loyalty visits (Square's Australian page, checked 27 September 2026 and again 29 September 2026). Rewardtree isn't free either: 60 days free, then A$9.99 a month per shop. That's our end-of-year special for businesses that sign up by 31 December 2026: you keep it for every shop, including shops you add later, for as long as you stay. From 1 January 2027, businesses that sign up pay A$19.99 a month or A$199 a year.
Do my café customers need to download an app?#
Not with Rewardtree. They scan your counter QR with their phone camera, confirm their mobile with a code we text them, and the card goes into Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. You don't need an app either: you run it from a web page.
What happens when the café Wi-Fi drops?#
On Rewardtree, nothing changes at the counter: your QR is on paper, and customers scan it using their own phone's data.
Can I run a loyalty card at two cafés?#
Yes. One card works at both. On Rewardtree each café is a shop on your plan: A$9.99 a month each after the 60 free days, or A$99 a year each.
What happens after Rewardtree's 60 free days?#
If you add a card, your plan starts: A$9.99 a month per shop, or A$99 a year per shop. If you don't, your loyalty card pauses and your customers keep every stamp. Nothing is charged by surprise, and customers never pay.
