The first question anyone asks about starting a loyalty program is "what does it cost per month." Shopify loyalty apps are structured so that a monthly figure cannot answer it.

Every major app on the App Store gates its plans on monthly order volume. Free up to 200 orders, 15 dollars to 500, 79 dollars past 1,000, 199 dollars at 2,500 — and overages billed per additional 100 orders. Your loyalty program's cost therefore scales with total store orders, not with how many people actually use the program.

This article establishes what Shopify's built-in store credit can and cannot do, then puts four loyalty apps on the same axis. Researched August 31, 2026.

The short answer

• You only need to hand out goodwill or refund credit — no app required. Built-in store credit covers it
• Under 200 orders a month — Growave or Rivo's free plans are options, though feature-limited
• Around 500 orders a month — the 15 dollar tier from Smile.io, Growave, or Rivo
• You want VIP tiers — this is an upper-tier feature everywhere, which jumps you to roughly 199 dollars a month
• Order volume may spike — Rivo's 499 dollar monthly cap is the only such ceiling in this set
• You want points redeemable at checkout on Shopify Plus — Smile.io's Growth plan, Growave's 499 dollar PLUS plan

As of August 31, 2026, the Shopify App Store's Loyalty and rewards category lists 404 apps. The four below are the ones with the most reviews.

What Shopify does natively: store credit

Shopify has no points program feature. It does have store credit as a built-in capability, activated by default according to the Help Center. Issue an amount to a customer from the admin, and they can use it as a payment method at checkout when logged into their customer account.

The Help Center lists these use cases for store credit:

• As a goodwill gesture
• As a form of customer retention
• As part of a marketing campaign
• As a reward or incentive, such as a loyalty or referral program

So Shopify itself names loyalty rewards as a use case. Whether that is sufficient changes once you read the constraints.

On stores created on or after May 12, 2025, amounts paid with store credit incur a third-party transaction fee. Stores on Shopify Plus with Shopify Payments activated are exempt. A non-Plus store opened after May 2025 that issues store credit at scale will pay a fee on the redeemed portion.

There is no partial redemption. The Help Center states that only the full store credit amount can be applied as a payment method. A customer cannot choose to spend five dollars of a fifty dollar balance. That is fundamentally incompatible with how points are usually spent.

The other constraints:

• Less than 15,000 USD can be issued to a single customer account
• Not available for legacy customer accounts — migration to new customer accounts is required
• Cannot be applied to draft orders or edited orders. To let a customer use credit on an admin-created order, you send them a checkout link
• Usable toward the initial purchase of a subscription, but not toward recurring bills
• Accepted only on the online store, Shopify POS, and Shop — no other sales channels
• Unlike gift cards, there is no store-wide default expiry. Expiration is set per issuance

On the positive side, you can natively build customer segments based on store credit balance and upcoming expiration dates, and the Store credit transactions and Outstanding store credit balance reports are standard.

The dividing line is this. Refund destinations, goodwill gestures, and one-off campaign distributions are fully served by store credit. If you want an experience where points accrue automatically on every purchase, customers see a balance, and they redeem part of it whenever they choose, you need an app.

Four apps on one axis

All figures from the Shopify App Store as of August 31, 2026, billed in USD.

	Smile: Loyalty Program Rewards	Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist	Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards	LoyaltyLion Loyalty Program
Developer	Smile.io	Growave	Rivo	LoyaltyLion
Rating (reviews)	4.9 (4,230)	4.8 (~1,170)	4.8 (1,383)	4.7 (479)
Built for Shopify	Yes (2026 Build Award winner)	Yes	Yes	Not listed
Free plan	Yes (200 orders/mo)	Yes (200 orders/mo)	Yes (200 orders/mo)	Free to install (400 orders/mo)
Second tier	15 USD/mo (500 orders)	15 USD/mo (500 orders, then 20 USD per 100)	15 USD/mo (500 orders)	199 USD/mo
Third tier	79 USD/mo (1,000 orders)	199 USD/mo (1,500 orders, then 15 USD per 100)	49 USD/mo (400 included, then 20 USD per 100, capped at 499 USD)	Custom quote past 500 orders
Fourth tier	199 USD/mo (2,500 orders, then 20 USD per 100)	499 USD/mo (3,000 orders, then 10 USD per 100)	499 USD/mo (2,500 orders)	—
Admin languages	9	16	English only	English only
VIP tiers	Growth (199 USD)	GROWTH (199 USD)	Scale (49 USD)	Classic (199 USD)
Points expiry	Growth	GROWTH	Scale	Not listed
Referrals	Free plan	ENTRY (15 USD)	Scale (49 USD)	Not listed
Checkout extensions	Growth (Shopify Plus)	PLUS (499 USD)	Plus (499 USD)	Listed, tier unclear
Shopify POS	Free plan	ENTRY	Essential	Listed
Shopify Flow	Essential (15 USD)	ENTRY	Not listed	Listed

What the table shows

First, comparing headline monthly prices will mislead you. Smile.io, Growave, and Rivo all sit at 15 dollars for their second tier, but the included orders differ in structure. Smile.io and Rivo include 500 orders; Growave includes 500 and then bills 20 dollars per additional 100. A store doing 700 orders a month pays 15 + 40 = 55 dollars on Growave, while Smile.io requires moving up to the 79 dollar tier. Same 15 dollars, different destinations.

Second, VIP tiers sit at wildly different price points. Smile.io, Growave, and LoyaltyLion all place tiered membership on their 199 dollar plans. Rivo alone includes it at 49 dollars on Scale, and that is the single largest price gap in this comparison. Note, though, that Rivo's Scale plan includes only 400 orders — fewer than the 500 on the 15 dollar Essential plan. Scale is a "more features" plan, not a "more volume" plan.

Third, if you need a non-English admin, the field narrows to two. Rivo and LoyaltyLion both list English as their only supported language, and Rivo's localized listings explicitly state that the developer does not offer direct support in other languages. Smile.io supports nine languages including French and Japanese; Growave supports sixteen. Note that this describes the admin interface and supplied strings, which is a separate question from whether support staff speak your language.

Fourth, Rivo's 499 dollar monthly cap has no equivalent. The Scale plan states the cap applies regardless of order volume. The other three publish no ceiling on overage billing, which changes how predictable your total becomes during a growth phase.

The character of each app

Smile: Loyalty Program Rewards

Where it fits. At 4,230 reviews it is the most-reviewed app in the category and a 2026 Build Award winner. Shopify POS and referrals are available from the free plan, which makes it an easy first choice.

Watch out for. Redeeming points at checkout is a Growth plan (199 dollar) feature and is listed as requiring Shopify Plus. VIP tiers and points expiry are on the same Growth plan. On the free and 15 dollar tiers, points are only surfaced on product pages and a dedicated rewards page.

Integrations. Klaviyo, Judge.me, Gorgias, Loox, Mailchimp, and Recharge are listed, along with Shopify Flow, customer accounts, Shopify POS, and checkout. The number of integrations is capped by plan: one on Essential, two on Standard, unlimited on Growth.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

Where it fits. Not a standalone loyalty app but a retention suite covering reviews, wishlists, and UGC. The free plan advertises three apps in one place, covering loyalty points, wishlists, and product reviews up to 200 orders a month. If you currently pay separately for a reviews app and a wishlist app, the combined-cost comparison may change your conclusion.

Watch out for. The free plan carries Growave branding. Back-in-stock wishlist emails and Instagram UGC start on the 199 dollar GROWTH plan. Its overage rate also decreases as you move up (ENTRY 20 USD, GROWTH 15 USD, PLUS 10 USD per 100 orders), which is unusual in this set.

Rivo: Loyalty Program, Rewards

Where it fits. VIP tiers, points expiry, and referrals all arrive at 49 dollars, which nothing else matches. The 499 dollar monthly cap on Scale also limits downside risk for stores whose order volume is hard to forecast.

Watch out for. English only. The Scale plan at 49 dollars includes 400 orders, fewer than the 500 on the 15 dollar Essential plan. Listed integrations — Klaviyo, Gorgias, Postscript, Attentive — describe an English-market DTC stack. Note also that localized versions of the listing can display outdated pricing copy, so confirm figures on the English listing.

LoyaltyLion Loyalty Program

Where it fits. Its free tier covers 400 monthly orders, the widest of the four. Free to that point, then the 199 dollar Classic plan — a two-step structure with nothing between.

Watch out for. There is no 15 or 49 dollar middle tier. Past 500 orders a month, the listing directs you to chat for a custom quote on Advanced or Plus plans, so the price is not determinable from the listing. At 479 reviews it is also the least-reviewed of the four, and no Built for Shopify badge appears on its listing.

Choosing by situation

Still testing whether a program works

Growave (200 orders) or Rivo (200 orders) on the free plan, or LoyaltyLion's free-to-install tier at 400 orders. All three are designed as on-ramps to paid tiers, so "stay free indefinitely" is not a realistic plan.

You need a non-English admin

Smile.io or Growave. Rivo and LoyaltyLion drop out at this point.

You want tiered membership early

Rivo at 49 dollars is the cheapest path. Weigh that against English-only operation and the 400-order inclusion. If you need another language, it becomes Smile.io or Growave at 199 dollars.

You also want reviews and wishlists

Growave. Compare against the combined cost of separate apps.

Order volume may spike

Rivo's 499 dollar cap matters. The others publish no ceiling on overage billing.

Pre-install checklist

• Can store credit cover this? For refunds and goodwill, the native feature is enough
• Was your store created on or after May 12, 2025? Store credit redemptions incur a third-party transaction fee
• What is your current monthly order count, and your 12-month projection? When do you cross the free tier and the second tier?
• Are VIP tiers a hard requirement? If so, budget a full price band higher
• Do you need localization in the admin, the customer-facing widget, or both?
• Is there a ceiling on overage billing?
• Do you need points redeemable at checkout? That may require Shopify Plus
• Can you export point balances before uninstalling?

In summary

The thing that matters most when comparing Shopify loyalty apps is not the feature list — it is where your monthly order count sits relative to each plan boundary. The same 15 dollars buys different order allowances, and the overage rate and the presence of a cap differ by vendor.

1. Confirm whether store credit already covers your use case. If it does, skip the app
2. Use your last 12 months of order volume to identify which boundary you will cross and when
3. Set VIP tiers and admin language as hard requirements, and narrow to two candidates
4. Run real order data through a free plan or 14-day trial to model the overage charges

All pricing and features reflect the Shopify App Store as displayed on August 31, 2026. Loyalty apps revise pricing relatively often, so confirm the current listing before installing.