Customer loyalty software runs a brand's points, VIP tiers, referrals and rewards online, at checkout and in store. The first decision is which kind to buy: a loyalty platform built for your commerce platform, or an API-first loyalty engine your team builds on.
This guide compares eleven options of both kinds for Shopify Plus and enterprise buyers. Every vendor fact comes from the vendor's site, its Shopify App Store listing or Shopify's technology partner directory, read in October 2026.
TL;DR: For brands on Shopify Plus, Smile is our pick: loyalty runs inside Shopify's checkout, customer accounts, POS and admin, Smile is Built for Shopify and a Shopify Technology Partner, and Smile Plus includes a migration and launch plan run by Smile's team. Retailers on several commerce platforms or a non-Shopify POS are better served by an engine such as Talon.One, Antavo or Open Loyalty, and brands on Salesforce by Salesforce Loyalty Management.
Two Kinds of Customer Loyalty Software
Shopify-native loyalty platforms (Smile, Yotpo Loyalty, LoyaltyLion, Rivo, Okendo) install from the Shopify App Store. You configure the program; the vendor supplies the storefront, checkout, customer account and Shopify POS experiences. All five price by monthly order volume.
Enterprise and multi-platform loyalty engines (Talon.One, Open Loyalty, Antavo, Annex Cloud, Capillary, Salesforce Loyalty Management) expose the program's rules and member data through APIs and connectors, so one program can span several platforms, store systems and apps. Most are priced by quote, and engineers or an integrator build the member experience.
What We Evaluated
We build loyalty software, so we judged each option on what a team lives with after launch:
- Where it runs: the commerce platforms and point of sale systems the vendor documents.
- Shopify fit: the Built for Shopify badge on the app's listing, and a place in Shopify's technology partner directory, which requires an annual independent penetration test and 24/7 support worldwide.
- Build and upkeep: what you configure versus what engineers build and maintain.
- How it is sold: published plans or a quote, and what the price is based on.
Quick Comparison Table
| Software | Category | Best for | Platforms supported | How it is sold | Standout strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smile | Shopify-native platform | Shopify Plus and enterprise brands | Shopify, BigCommerce | Published plans | Loyalty inside Shopify checkout, customer accounts, POS and admin |
| Yotpo Loyalty | Shopify-native platform | Reviews and loyalty together | Shopify, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, custom | Published entry plans, then quote | Bundles with Yotpo Reviews |
| LoyaltyLion | Shopify-native platform | Shopify and Adobe Commerce brands | Shopify, Adobe Commerce 2, custom via API | Classic published, then quote | Installs beyond Shopify |
| Rivo | Shopify-native platform | Developer-led Shopify teams | Shopify | Published plans, billed monthly | A price cap on its Scale plan |
| Okendo | Shopify-native suite | One vendor for reviews and loyalty | Shopify | By order volume, with bundles | Five connected apps in one platform |
| Talon.One | API-first engine | Promotions and loyalty together | Shopify, commercetools, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, SAP, BigCommerce | Quote, by data volume | One rules engine for promotions and loyalty |
| Open Loyalty | API-first engine | Loyalty inside your own app or stack | Any system, via REST API | Quote, by active members | Data hosting in Europe, APAC or North America |
| Antavo | Enterprise loyalty platform | Multi-platform retail and fashion | Shopify, Magento 2, Salesforce Commerce Cloud | Quote, by customer activity | One program across commerce platforms |
| Annex Cloud | Enterprise loyalty suite | Adobe Commerce and SAP stacks | Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce, commercetools, SAP, Shopify | Annual contract by modules | Loyalty, referral and UGC modules |
| Capillary | Managed enterprise loyalty | Multi-brand and coalition programs | Online, in-store and social channels | Through sales | Program design and technology from one firm |
| Salesforce Loyalty Management | CRM-native loyalty | Brands that run on Salesforce | Salesforce clouds | $20,000 to $45,000 per org a month | Loyalty in the same system as your CRM |
Platforms are listed as each vendor documents them, October 2026.
Shopify-Native Loyalty Platforms
1. Smile: Built for Shopify Plus and Enterprise Brands
Rating: 4.9 on the Shopify App Store · Built for Shopify · Technology Partner · SOC 2 Type II
Smile is the loyalty platform for Shopify Plus and enterprise brands: points, VIP tiers and referrals, on Shopify and BigCommerce. Its listing carries the Built for Shopify and 2026 Build Award winner badges.
Best for: Plus and enterprise brands that want loyalty inside Shopify, run by marketing.
How it is sold: Growth is $199 a month with 2,500 monthly orders; Smile Plus is $999 a month, billed annually, with 7,500 orders; Smile Enterprise is custom, for retailers over $40M in annual revenue.
2. Yotpo Loyalty: Best for Reviews and Loyalty Across Platforms
Rating: 4.7 on the Shopify App Store · Built for Shopify · Technology Partner
Yotpo sells three core products: Reviews & UGC, Loyalty & Referrals and Discover. Its loyalty listing offers 20+ out-of-the-box campaigns, and its support docs list Shopify, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and custom platforms.
Where Yotpo is strong: reviews and loyalty from one vendor, in a bundle Yotpo prices below the two bought separately.
Best for: brands committed to Yotpo Reviews, including outside Shopify.
How it is sold: a free tier; Pro at $199 a month plus $0.08 to $0.20 per order from 500 monthly orders; higher tiers by quote. See Smile vs Yotpo.
3. LoyaltyLion: Best for Shopify and Adobe Commerce Brands
Rating: 4.7 on the Shopify App Store · Built for Shopify · Technology Partner
LoyaltyLion, based in London, documents installs on Shopify (including headless), Adobe Commerce 2 and custom platforms through its API. Its Classic listing includes a loyalty page designed by its team and onboarding support.
Where LoyaltyLion is strong: one loyalty vendor for brands running Adobe Commerce or a custom platform beside Shopify.
Best for: brands on Shopify and Adobe Commerce.
How it is sold: a free tier up to 400 monthly orders; Classic at $199 a month for up to 500; Advanced and Plus by quote. See Smile vs LoyaltyLion.
4. Rivo: Best for Developer-Led Shopify Teams
Rating: 4.7 on the Shopify App Store · Built for Shopify · Technology Partner
Rivo runs on Shopify and bills month to month. Its Plus plan, $499 a month for up to 2,500 orders, adds checkout extensions and the Rivo Developer Toolkit (JavaScript API, REST API, metafields, webhooks).
Where Rivo is strong: a published price ceiling: Scale starts at $49 a month for 400 orders, then $20 per 100, capped at $499.
Best for: Shopify brands with in-house developers.
How it is sold: published plans up to Plus, then a quote. See Smile vs Rivo.
5. Okendo: Best for an All-in-One Shopify Suite
Rating: 4.8 on the Shopify App Store · Built for Shopify · Technology Partner
Okendo's listing describes five connected apps: Reviews, Loyalty, Surveys, Quizzes and Referrals. Its pricing page puts every loyalty feature in every plan and prices three-product bundles 30% below buying them separately.
Where Okendo is strong: reviews, loyalty and surveys under one contract.
Best for: Shopify brands consolidating vendors. Okendo Reviews also integrates with Smile and rewards reviews with points.
How it is sold: by monthly order volume, on monthly or annual terms.
Enterprise and Multi-Platform Loyalty Engines
These vendors serve retailers whose loyalty spans several storefronts, store systems and apps. Talon.One cites Gartner's 2025 Market Guide for Loyalty Program Vendors; Antavo cites the 2026 edition.
6. Talon.One: Best for Promotions and Loyalty in One Engine
Platforms: Shopify, commercetools, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, SAP, BigCommerce and Oracle Xstore, among others.
Talon.One calls itself an incentives engine unifying loyalty, promotions and gamification. Its Shopify app (launched June 2025) works with Checkout, Shopify POS and Shopify Admin, and Talon.One is in Shopify's technology partner directory.
Where Talon.One is strong: one rules engine for promotions, coupons and loyalty across channels.
Best for: retailers with complex promotions across several platforms and an engineering team.
How it is sold: Starter, Professional and Enterprise plans by quote, priced on data volume.
7. Open Loyalty: Best for Building Loyalty Into Your Own Stack
Platforms: any ecommerce platform, CRM, POS or app, through its REST API.
Open Loyalty describes a composable, API-first loyalty engine, run as SaaS with data stored in Europe, APAC or North America. It is ISO/IEC 27001 certified.
Where Open Loyalty is strong: a loyalty logic layer under your own app or storefront; the experience is yours to design.
Best for: product and engineering teams building loyalty into an app or custom stack.
How it is sold: by quote, on monthly active members.
8. Antavo: Best for Multi-Platform Retail and Fashion Brands
Platforms: Shopify, Shopify Plus, Magento 2 and Salesforce Commerce Cloud, plus Klaviyo, Bloomreach and Braze.
Antavo calls itself an AI loyalty and incentives platform on an API-first foundation, serving retail, fashion, food and beverage and CPG brands.
Where Antavo is strong: one program across several commerce platforms, billed on customer activity rather than every enrolled member.
Best for: retail and fashion brands selling through more than one commerce platform.
How it is sold: Start, Grow and Enterprise plans through its sales team.
9. Annex Cloud: Best for Adobe Commerce and SAP Stacks
Platforms: Adobe Commerce (as a certified partner), BigCommerce, commercetools, SAP Customer Data Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics, and a Shopify app that works with any POS system.
Annex Cloud's Loyalty Experience Platform groups engagement, personalization, retention and advocacy modules, with 125+ pre-built integrations.
Where Annex Cloud is strong: loyalty, referrals, reviews and paid programs as modules of one suite.
Best for: enterprises on Adobe Commerce or SAP.
How it is sold: an annual contract by modules and program size, plus onboarding services (per its Shopify listing).
10. Capillary: Best for Multi-Brand and Coalition Programs
Platforms: online, in-store and social channels, delivered as managed SaaS.
Capillary Technologies offers loyalty program design and technology for enterprise brands, including multi-brand, coalition and dealer programs. It acquired the loyalty strategy firm Brierley, and in February 2026 agreed to acquire SessionM from Mastercard.
Where Capillary is strong: strategy and technology from one firm, for loyalty across many brands or partners.
Best for: conglomerates, airlines, fuel retailers and multi-brand groups.
How it is sold: through its sales team.
11. Salesforce Loyalty Management: Best for Brands Running on Salesforce
Platforms: Salesforce's own clouds (Commerce, Sales, Service and Marketing), with Data 360 and Agentforce.
Salesforce Loyalty Management covers points, tiers, rewards, offers and referrals for B2C and B2B programs, and loyalty events can trigger Marketing Cloud journeys in real time.
Where Salesforce is strong: loyalty in the same system as your customer records, service cases and marketing journeys.
Best for: enterprises already running on Salesforce.
How it is sold: list prices per org of $20,000 (Starter), $35,000 (Growth) and $45,000 (Advanced) a month, billed annually.
How to Choose: Shopify-Native Platform or Loyalty Engine
| Question | Shopify-native platform | API-first loyalty engine |
|---|---|---|
| Build effort | Configure in an admin; the vendor supplies storefront, checkout, account and POS experiences | Engineers or an integrator build the member experience and data flows |
| Time to launch | Set by program design and data migration | Adds build time on each channel |
| Who maintains it | The vendor keeps the app current with Shopify | Your team owns each integration as connected systems change |
| Data and integrations | Built-in Shopify, Klaviyo and reviews connections; an API on higher plans | Any system you connect, including other commerce platforms and POS |
Choose a Shopify-native platform if your storefronts run on Shopify, your stores use Shopify POS, and marketing should run the program without engineering tickets. Our guide to launching a Shopify Plus loyalty program covers the rollout step by step.
Choose a loyalty engine if one program must span several commerce platforms, a non-Shopify POS or your own apps, and you can staff the build and its upkeep.
To grow a Shopify program across regions and channels, see how to build a loyalty program that scales with your brand.
Where Smile Stands Out for Shopify Plus Brands
- Loyalty inside Shopify, checked by Shopify. Built for Shopify, a Certified Technology Partner and SOC 2 Type II audited (May 2026), with redemption at Shopify Plus checkout and Loyalty Hub in Shopify customer accounts, in 20+ languages. See Smile for enterprise.
- One balance online and in store. Shopify POS is on every plan, on the same points balance as online.
- A program page and benchmarks, no build. A branded loyalty landing page published in one click, and loyalty benchmarks against stores of similar size and industry, from Growth.
- Room to go custom, and a team for the switch. On Smile Plus: a REST API with OAuth and webhooks and a JavaScript SDK for headless and Hydrogen; five Smile properties and eight loyalty events synced to Klaviyo profiles; and a migration and launch plan run by Smile's team, with quarterly program monitoring and priority support (switch to Smile).
Customer proof: Blue Banana, a Shopify Plus streetwear brand with 20+ retail stores in Spain, moved its program to Smile in one week, online and across every POS location; its redeemers show 40% higher average annual purchase frequency than non-redeemers.
Where Smile is not the fit: stores on a POS other than Shopify POS, or storefronts on Adobe Commerce or Salesforce Commerce Cloud; look at the multi-platform options above. For more Shopify Plus options, see the best enterprise loyalty platforms for ecommerce and the best loyalty apps for Shopify Plus.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is customer loyalty software? Customer loyalty software, also called loyalty program software or loyalty management software, runs a brand's rewards program. It tracks points and VIP status for each customer, issues rewards and referral credit, and shows balances on the storefront, at checkout and in store.
What is the best customer loyalty software for ecommerce? For brands on Shopify Plus, Smile is our pick: as of October 2026 it is Built for Shopify, a Shopify Technology Partner and SOC 2 Type II audited, with loyalty in Shopify's checkout, customer accounts and POS. Retailers on several commerce platforms are better served by Talon.One, Antavo or Open Loyalty, and brands on Salesforce by Salesforce Loyalty Management.
How much does loyalty software cost? As of October 2026, Shopify-native platforms price by monthly orders: Smile Growth is $199 a month with 2,500 orders, Yotpo Pro $199 plus per-order fees from 500 orders, LoyaltyLion Classic $199 for up to 500 orders, Rivo Plus $499, and Smile Plus $999 a month, billed annually. Engines are mostly quoted; Salesforce Loyalty Management lists $20,000 to $45,000 per org a month.
What is the difference between a loyalty platform and a loyalty engine? A loyalty platform is a finished product: you configure the program in an admin, and the vendor supplies the experience on the storefront, at checkout and in store. A loyalty engine holds the rules and member data behind an API, and your team builds the experience on each channel. Platforms launch sooner because nothing is built; engines give more control across systems in exchange for build and upkeep.
Can I use an enterprise loyalty engine with Shopify? Yes. Talon.One and Annex Cloud list apps on the Shopify App Store, and Antavo lists Shopify and Shopify Plus integrations. You still build or commission the storefront experience, and neither listing shows the Built for Shopify badge (October 2026).
Which of these loyalty platforms hold Shopify's certifications? As of October 2026, Smile shows the Built for Shopify badge on its listing and is in Shopify's technology partner directory. Yotpo, LoyaltyLion, Okendo and Talon.One are in the directory without the badge, and Rivo has neither.
How long does it take to launch loyalty software? On a Shopify-native platform, launch time is mostly program design and migration: Blue Banana moved its full program to Smile in one week, online and across 20+ retail locations. Engines add build time: Antavo says a focused program can go live "in a matter of a few weeks or months," and Open Loyalty cites Aldo live in three months across three countries.
