When you compare digital stamp card platforms, you will quickly find that prices are structured in very different ways. One platform charges a flat monthly fee, another bills per stamp, a third charges per registered member. Before comparing named products, it is worth understanding which of the five pricing models is actually on offer, and what happens to your bill when the programme starts working well.
The five pricing models: overview
| Model | You pay for | Predictability | What happens when the programme works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat monthly fee | A fixed sum, regardless of volume | High | Price does not increase |
| Per stamp | Each individual stamp given | Low | Price rises with activity |
| Per member | Each registered member | Low | Price rises with sign-ups |
| Per location | Number of business addresses | Medium | Rises only with expansion |
| Freemium | Free to a cap, paid above it | None | The cap hits at the worst moment |
Flat monthly fee
A flat monthly fee means you pay the same amount every month regardless of how many stamps are given or how many members are registered. The price is predictable: your invoice is the same whether it has been a quiet week or your best month ever.
Flat monthly pricing is the model that best matches the logic of a loyalty programme. The cost per interaction falls as the programme grows: a busy month costs the same as a slow one. It is the model that rewards you for making the programme popular rather than penalising you for it.
A provider on a flat fee earns more by keeping you satisfied and retaining your subscription. That aligns their incentive with making the product genuinely good.
MightyLoyalty charges a flat monthly fee only: 99 DKK/month (Standard) or 249 DKK/month (Pro), both excluding VAT, with unlimited members and unlimited stamping, no binding period, and no setup fee. You cancel in the portal. See the full breakdown on the pricing page. For a walkthrough of the customer and staff experience together, see the stamp card app page.
Per stamp
Per-stamp pricing means you pay a fixed rate for each stamp you give. Activity is low in a quiet period and high in a busy one.
The structural flaw of per-stamp pricing on loyalty software is that you pay more precisely when the programme is working. Take the offered rate per stamp, multiply it by a realistic monthly stamp volume, and compare the total against a flat monthly fee. In a quiet month, the usage price is often lower. In a busy month, which is exactly the scenario a loyalty programme is designed to create, it is often higher.
A provider on per-stamp billing has a commercial incentive to maximise the number of stamps in your account. That is not necessarily bad faith, but it is a different incentive from "make the product work well and keep the customer."
Per-stamp pricing suits seasonal businesses that want to trial a programme before committing to a recurring fee.
Per member
Per-member pricing calculates your bill from the number of registered users in your database, typically billed quarterly or annually. With a small member base, the price is low; with a large one, it is high.
A café with a successful loyalty programme can quickly accumulate thousands of registered members, even if only a fraction are active in any given month. Per-member pricing penalises you for your own success: the better your programme is at attracting sign-ups, the higher the bill. That is the structural weakness of the model when applied to loyalty software designed to grow.
Ask any provider whether "active" and "registered" mean the same thing, and what happens to dormant accounts. Some platforms count every profile ever created.
Per location
Per-location pricing sets your fee by the number of business addresses linked to your account. Stamps and registered members are typically included; what scales is only the number of places you run the programme from.
The model works well for chains and franchise operations that want to roll out a consistent programme across multiple sites and pay proportionally with expansion. For a single-site business, per-location pricing is identical to a flat monthly fee. If you have two sales points at the same address, or run a mobile setup from different locations on different days, ask the provider exactly what counts as a location.
Freemium
A freemium model offers a basic plan for free up to a cap: typically a maximum number of stamps per month, registered members, or available features. Above the cap, an upgrade to a paid plan is required.
Freemium suits testing a platform for a couple of weeks before committing. It is rarely a workable long-term solution. The cap is typically set to trigger exactly when the programme starts working, and an unplanned upgrade mid-active period is more disruptive than the saving is worth. What specifically lies behind the free label on stamp card apps is covered in Free loyalty apps: where the hidden costs are.
What is not always in the list price
Regardless of pricing model, there are elements that may not appear in the headline figure.
Branding. Can you display your own logo and colours on the customer's screen? Budget and free solutions typically show the provider's brand, not yours.
Setup fee. Most web-based platforms charge no setup fee. Specialist solutions and till-integrated programmes typically do.
Extra locations. Is a second site covered by the same plan, or billed separately? Ask before you sign up.
Support. A solution that fails on a Friday evening with a queue at the counter has a real cost, even if the nominal monthly price was zero. Ask what support access is included and through which channel.
QR and print materials. Some platforms charge for design and print of sign-up materials separately. Ask whether a print-ready PDF is part of the subscription.
A broader look at how pricing categories compare across the market, including what tends to be included at each level, is in loyalty solutions: overview and pricing. The real-world cost of running a loyalty programme and when it pays for itself is covered in how much does a loyalty program cost?.
What the pricing model tells you about the provider
The pricing model is not just a question of bill size: it tells you something about what the provider has an incentive to optimise for.
A provider on a flat monthly fee earns by keeping you satisfied over a long period. That creates a structural incentive to make the product genuinely useful, regardless of your stamp volume.
A provider on per-stamp or per-member pricing earns more as your programme grows. That provider has a commercial incentive to maximise activity in your account, regardless of whether that is the right strategy for your specific business.
This is not a claim about honesty. Most providers in both categories act in good faith. But the incentive structure is real, and it is worth knowing before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most predictable pricing model for a stamp card programme?
A flat monthly fee is the most predictable pricing model. You pay the same amount regardless of activity, and the cost per stamp falls automatically as the programme grows. Usage-based models such as per stamp and per member are cheaper in periods when you are not using the product at all, but that is not the result you are paying a loyalty programme to produce.
Are freemium plans suitable for a serious loyalty programme?
Freemium plans are useful for testing a platform over a short period. They are rarely a workable long-term option: the cap is typically set to trigger exactly when the programme begins to work, and an unplanned upgrade mid-active period is more disruptive than the saving is worth. A low flat monthly fee gives you the same price clarity from day one.
What happens to my customer data if I switch platforms?
It depends on the provider. Before you sign up, ask whether you can export your full member database and stamp history in a standard format. Platforms that lock your customer data make switching genuinely more expensive than the price alone suggests, and that should weigh heavily when choosing a platform from the start.