Square Loyalty vs FaveCard: Free, No POS Needed

Who each is best for

Square Loyalty is a points-based programme built into Square's till and payments system. Its real strength is integration: if you already run Square as your point-of-sale, loyalty points are earned automatically at checkout, tied to the customer's phone number or card, with nothing extra for staff to do. For a Square business, that seamlessness is genuinely hard to beat.

FaveCard is the better fit if you do not use Square, or you want to start for free. It is point-of-sale-agnostic (it works alongside any register, or none), needs no hardware, and gives your customers a loyalty card they keep on their phone, with Apple and Google Wallet passes on a paid plan.

Where FaveCard pulls ahead

1. Free, and no point-of-sale lock-in

This is the biggest difference. Square Loyalty only works if Square is your POS, and it is paid: it comes with Square Plus at $49/month per location (it is not in Square Free), after a 30-day trial (Square's pricing). FaveCard runs for free on any setup, or none, so you are not tied to one payment vendor. See the pricing page for current plans.

2. A stamp card on any phone, not just points at the register

With Square, customers earn points against the phone number they give at a Square checkout, and they can add a loyalty pass to Apple Wallet. With FaveCard, each customer gets an actual stamp card on their phone, whichever POS you use, and on a paid plan it becomes a native Apple Wallet or Google Wallet pass, with no app to download.

3. What the customer tells you, in their own words

Square customers sign up at your point of sale, on your Square website or through an invoice, and earn points against the phone number they give at checkout. FaveCard asks the customer directly. On the Business plan you choose what your signup form requests, from a catalogue of ready-made questions such as a favourite drink, what someone usually books, or how they heard about you, and each one is shown to the customer in their own language. They answer on their own phone, they can skip anything, and the answers land on their card for your team to see at the next visit.

4. Turn visits into reviews and repeat visits, without Square

Both can do this; the difference is the channel and the setup. On the Business plan, FaveCard adds one-tap Google review requests, automated birthday offers, and promotion campaigns pushed to the wallet card, whatever POS you use. Square Plus runs automated email and text campaigns that send birthday offers, reach lapsed customers and request Google reviews; it includes email marketing and 500 text messages a month (then 3¢ per text), and every Square plan can monitor your Google reviews.

5. No hardware, no POS

FaveCard needs no terminal and no POS integration: create your card, share a QR code or link, and start stamping with the FaveCard Biz app on your phone. Square Loyalty assumes you are already set up on Square POS.

When to choose Square Loyalty instead

An honest read, because for a Square business it is a strong option:

• You already use Square POS. Points are earned automatically at checkout, with no extra step, which FaveCard cannot match without a Square integration.
• You want spend-based points and VIP tiers rather than a stamp card.
• You run several locations. Square Plus and Premium are priced per location you run; FaveCard runs one location per account today.
• You want gift cards. Square sells physical and eGift cards from your POS or online store; FaveCard has no gift cards.
• You want automated email and text campaigns. Square Plus sends birthday offers, lapsed-customer messages and Google review requests by email and text; FaveCard's campaigns are Wallet push messages on the Business plan, with no SMS.
• You want everything in one vendor (payments, POS, loyalty, marketing) and are happy to pay for the bundle.

If you do not use Square, or you would rather start free and keep your loyalty independent of your till, FaveCard is the stronger choice.

How we verified this: We make FaveCard. Square Loyalty's pricing and model were checked on Square's loyalty page and pricing page on 17 October 2026, and the Square Kiosk price on its Kiosk page on 18 October 2026 (US prices). FaveCard's plans were checked against our product on the same day. We checked these sources again on 22 October 2026 and found no change to the facts on this page. The same day we took Square's business figure from its homepage, in its own words; it is a figure for all of Square, and Square gives none for Square Loyalty itself. FaveCard's business numbers come from our own records (FaveCard in numbers): 2,000+ counts the businesses that gave stamps to at least two different customers in the last 30 days (22 September – 21 October 2026), and 80+ the countries where those businesses are based (the country in each business's FaveCard profile; countries, not territories). As of October 2026. Square prices vary by region, so check the source before relying on them.