Loonine vs FaveCard

The short version

FaveCard is the strongest free option in this category and the comparison should start by conceding that: its free plan has no time limit and no customer cap, while Loonine's Free plan cannot enrol customers at all. What the free plan does not include is the wallet card: the card is reached through a browser, and Apple Wallet and Google Wallet cards sit behind the paid tier. FaveCard is also stamps-only and enrols by QR code or shared link rather than by phone number.

Is FaveCard really free?

The free plan is real: no time limit, no credit card, and no cap on customers or stamps. That is more than Loonine's Free plan offers, which is a design sandbox and cannot enrol a single customer: worth stating plainly rather than working around.

The limit is what the free card is. On the free plan the customer's card is reached through a browser and a branded link page; Apple Wallet and Google Wallet cards are part of the paid tier. If the wallet card is the reason you are looking at this category, the free plan is not the product you are comparing.

Does it matter whether the card lives in the phone's wallet or on a web page?

It matters for the two things that decide whether a loyalty programme works: whether the card is still on the phone next month, and whether you can reach the customer. A wallet card sits beside the customer's bank cards, survives a new phone, works offline and can push a notification to the lock screen. A web page has to be found again.

For a business whose customers arrive through a social link and buy occasionally, a web card may be entirely adequate. For a café trying to be the reason someone walks past a competitor, the card being present without being searched for is most of the mechanism.

What does FaveCard do better?

It starts at nothing, and for a business testing whether loyalty works at all, that is a legitimate advantage Loonine does not match. Its paid tiers also include automations Loonine does not have: birthday campaigns, customer messages, surveys and Google review requests, and Google review prompts in particular are a valuable thing to attach to a loyalty moment.

Kiosk mode and custom stamp icons are small things done well. And if your customers find you through social rather than by walking in, a branded link-in-bio page is closer to how your enrolment happens than a counter script is.

Loonine has none of those automations and does not claim to. What it has instead is a narrower product optimised for the seconds at a till.

How do the enrolment methods compare?

FaveCard enrols by QR code, shared link or social post. Loonine's default is a staff member typing the customer's phone number, with the card arriving by text a few seconds later.

Which is better depends on where your customers are standing. A QR code works well when the customer is stationary and unhurried (a table, a waiting room, a social feed) and badly at a counter with a queue, because it asks a person holding a coffee and a bag to unlock a phone and focus a camera. If your enrolment happens online, FaveCard's method is the natural one; if it happens at a till, it is the harder ask.

Which should I choose?

Choose FaveCard if your budget is zero today, stamps are all you need, and you can live with a web card until you upgrade, or if your enrolment happens through links rather than at a counter. Choose Loonine if the wallet card is the point, if you need points or stamps, or if you need Arabic and Gulf coverage.

If cost is the whole question, be precise about what you are comparing: FaveCard free against Loonine's cheapest paid plan, not against Loonine Free, which cannot enrol anyone.