Guide · free loyalty cards
Free loyalty card: what is really free and what you pay for later
A free digital loyalty card does exist, but almost always with a limit that matters: few customers, a single card, no Wallet pass, no staff accounts or no data export. The other free routes are a paper card from an online template, a time-limited trial or a Wallet pass you build yourself. Rewards and staff time still come out of your pocket.
Updated by Radman Sattari, Founder of Iterum
Four ways to get a loyalty card for free
If you first need to know what it is and how it works, read the guide to the digital loyalty card; this page is only about what is free. For a shop, café or salon, a free loyalty card can mean four things: a paper card printed from a free template, the free tier of a digital service, the free trial of a paid service or a Wallet pass you build yourself. Each one moves the cost somewhere else. This guide is about cards you offer your customers, not apps for storing supermarket cards.
| Route | What is free | What you pay later |
|---|---|---|
| Printable template | The template and the online editor, for example Canva’s | Printing, a stamp, reprints and lost cards; no data on who comes back |
| Free tier of a digital service | Use with no end date, within the provider’s limits | The subscription, once you pass the customer cap or need a feature left out |
| Free trial | The full service for a few days or weeks | The chosen plan when the trial ends, unless you cancel |
| Your own Wallet pass | No fee to a loyalty card provider | Apple’s yearly developer fee, the development work and a server to update passes |
How can I create a loyalty card online for free?
You can create a loyalty card online for free in two ways: design it from a free template and print it, or open the free tier of a digital service and let customers sign up from a QR code. The first gives you a paper card that records nothing; the second a card on the phone with the provider’s limits.
For paper, Canva publishes «customisable and free» loyalty card templates on its Italian site. The template is free, the printing is not: on 12 October 2026 the same page listed 50 printed cards from 16.50 euros. Add a stamp with your logo and a reprint every time the target or reward changes. The pros and cons are in the paper or digital loyalty card comparison.
For a digital card you create an account, choose stamps and reward, print the QR code for the counter and customers join from their phone. Read the limits before anyone signs up.
Free digital loyalty card: what the free tiers include
A free digital loyalty card, where a service offers one, is a tier with no end date and a clear limit: on customers, active cards, Wallet passes or staff access. The table sums up the pricing pages of four services active in Italy, read on 12 October 2026.
None of them is free across the board, and none hides it. A wider overview is in the guide to the best digital loyalty card apps, and there are head-to-head comparisons too, such as Iterum vs Quardy and Iterum vs FaveCard.
| Service | What stays free | Main limit | Wallet on the free tier | Staff and export | First paid level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FaveCard | One location, one active stamp card, unlimited customers | On 25/10/2026: premium tools only in the first 30 days (before: up to the first 30 customers) | No for new customers after the first 30 days | Team accounts and CSV export from the Business level, 49 euros a month | Pro, one location: 29 euros a month; VAT not stated |
| Quardy | Stamps, points or cashback, a customisable card, statistics | 50 customer cards | Yes | Data export and team management not included | Pro: 9.99 euros a month, unlimited customers; VAT not stated |
| KlipCard | 10 active cards, every card type, one device | 3 customers | Yes | «Export dati» included; customer CSV export only on Classic | Starter: 9.90 euros a month plus VAT, 15 customers (Early Bird, web and Android) |
| BonusQR | Unlimited customers and visits, seven mechanics | A single login; the app shows the BonusQR brand and other nearby businesses | Yes | Staff logins from the Basic level; export not stated | Basic: 19 euros a month; VAT not stated |
Seven limits to check in a free loyalty card app
The limits of a free loyalty card app matter more than the zero price: they decide when you start paying and what switching will cost. Check these seven points before printing the QR code.
- Customer cap: with 3 or 50 free customers, a busy café passes the limit within weeks.
- Branding: some free tiers show the provider’s brand, or put your business in an app alongside others.
- Wallet: check whether the card goes into Apple Wallet and Google Wallet for every customer or only the first few; a card left in the browser is less to hand.
- Data export: if the customer list cannot be downloaded, switching service means starting from scratch.
- Staff: if only the owner can stamp, the scheme stops whenever the owner is away from the counter.
- What happens when you stop paying: FaveCard says that when premium tools end the account moves to its Free tier and every card keeps working; Quardy that your first 50 customers stay active; KlipCard that existing customers keep working once you pass the limits. If the page doesn’t say, ask first.
- Time: a free app still has to be set up, explained and used at every visit, and staff time costs money. The full sum is in the guide how much does a loyalty card cost.
Free trial or free version: what is the difference?
A free version stays free with no end date but with fewer features or fewer customers; a free trial gives you the full service for a few days and then becomes a subscription. The first suits you if its limits will still be enough in a year; the second lets you test the whole journey before you pay.
FaveCard and KlipCard say they don’t ask for a payment card on their free tier; others, Iterum included, ask for one when the trial starts and then begin the chosen plan unless you cancel. Put the trial’s end date in your diary.
Can you make your own Apple Wallet or Google Wallet loyalty card for free?
Making your own Apple Wallet loyalty card is not free: the pass must be signed with a certificate from Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles, open only to Apple Developer Program members, and Apple puts the yearly fee at 99 US dollars, possibly in local currency. Google Wallet needs an issuer account in the Google Pay & Wallet Console, which starts in demo mode until Google grants publishing access.
The bigger cost is the work: generating and signing passes, updating them at every stamp and handling sign-ups with a small piece of software and its server. It only makes sense if you have a developer in-house.
Is there free software to manage loyalty cards?
Free software to manage loyalty cards is, in practice, the free tier of a service like those in the table: a dashboard with customers and stamps, and an app to record visits. The best one is the one whose limit does not bite in your case.
If your till software has a loyalty module, ask whether it is included in the fee; the differences are in the guide to loyalty card POS integration.
A free loyalty card for your shop: seven questions to decide
To choose a free loyalty card for your shop, answer with your own numbers. If two answers fall outside the free tier’s limits, compare it with a full-service trial.
How many customers in a year?
Estimate first-year sign-ups and compare them with the cap.
Do you need Wallet passes?
If customers forget their cards, a card in the Wallet is the whole point of going digital.
Who stamps?
With several people at the counter you need staff access, including shifts without the owner.
Can you take your data with you?
Check that the customer list can be exported.
What happens if you stop?
Read what happens to customers’ cards if you drop back to the free tier or close the account.
What does the reward cost?
You pay for rewards with a free app too: work out the cost per visit with the reward cost calculator.
How much time do you have?
Setting up, explaining the card and redoing it all if you switch takes hours.
Where Iterum fits
Iterum has no free version: if you need a loyalty card that stays free with no end date, Iterum is not the right choice and one of the tiers in the table may be enough. Instead it offers a 7-day free trial of the full service: you pay €0 today, a payment card is required at activation and, unless you cancel from the dashboard, the chosen plan continues after the trial.
Every plan includes Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, stamp or points cards, sign-up from the QR code, the «Al banco» counter app for staff, team accounts with no user limit, a customer list with search and export, and statistics. Total customers are unlimited on every plan; plans differ in the new customers included each month (300, 1,000 or 5,000, and sign-ups continue past that number), active cards and some options; the amounts are on the pricing page, and you design the card before paying in the designer.
Sources and method
Public pages read on 12 October 2026: FaveCard, pricing; Quardy, home and pricing; KlipCard, pricing; BonusQR, price list; Canva, loyalty card templates; Apple, programme enrolment; Apple, Wallet certificates; Google, Wallet issuer account.
Amounts and limits are given as written on those Italian pages and may change. Iterum has no relationship with the services mentioned; the information about Iterum is correct as of 12 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a free digital loyalty card with no limits?
- Not among the services read on 12 October 2026: there is always a cap on customers, active cards, Wallet passes, logins or features. Choose the limit that matters least to you.
- What is the best free loyalty card app?
- The one whose limit you can live with: a low cap is fine with few customers, while with many you need unlimited customers, Wallet passes and staff access.
- How do I create a free digital stamp card?
- Open the free tier of a digital service, set the stamps and reward, print the QR code and let customers join from their phone. First check the customer cap and whether Wallet passes are included.
- Does Iterum have a free version?
- No. Iterum has a 7-day free trial: you pay €0 today, a payment card is required at activation and the chosen plan continues after the trial unless you cancel from the dashboard.
- If I move from one free app to another, do I lose my customers?
- Without a customer list export, customers have to sign up again: let open cards finish and invite people to the new card when they collect their reward.