Disclosure: Keystone is our product. We build Keystone Loyalty Rewards, one of the apps in this list. Every number below comes from public Shopify App Store listings as of August 2026, and we point out where LoyaltyLion genuinely wins.
LoyaltyLion is one of the oldest loyalty apps on Shopify - it launched in 2014, holds a 4.6 rating across 473 reviews, and powers plenty of large brands. The problem for most growing stores is not the product. It is the pricing curve: a free plan that covers up to 400 monthly orders, and then a single paid tier at $199/month. There is nothing in between.
If you are doing 500-2,000 orders a month, that cliff forces a bad choice: stay on a free plan you have outgrown, or pay enterprise money for features you only partly need. This post compares six alternatives that fill that gap, with exact prices and the plan where VIP tiers unlock - because tiers are usually the feature stores upgrade for.
TL;DR
- Cheapest path to VIP tiers: Appstle at $30/month, Rivo at $49, then Keystone at $69 (which also includes done-for-you setup at that price).
- Best if review count is your main trust signal: Smile.io, with 4,197 reviews and a 4.9 rating.
- Biggest free plan: LoyaltyLion actually wins here with 400 monthly orders free - Keystone, Joy and Appstle cover 250.
- Best value between $50 and $100: Keystone's $69 Standard plan - VIP tiers plus a done-for-you setup, at roughly a third of LoyaltyLion's $199 entry price.
- Stick with LoyaltyLion if you want an agency-grade partner with a decade of track record and loyalty-attributed revenue reporting, and $199/month is inside your budget.
The $0 to $199 Cliff
As of August 2026, LoyaltyLion's Shopify listing shows two plans. The free plan covers 400 monthly orders with points for on-site activities, discount rewards, branding options and loyalty analytics. The Classic plan at $199/month adds VIP tiers, POS locations, unlimited integrations, Klaviyo loyalty flows built for you, loyalty-attributed revenue reporting and a free loyalty page design the listing values at $1,500.
That structure works if you are either small enough for the free plan or big enough that $2,388/year is a rounding error. Everyone in the middle is the reason this post exists.
Pricing at a Glance
| App | Rating (reviews) | Free plan orders/mo | Cheapest paid plan | VIP tiers unlock at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LoyaltyLion | 4.6 (473) | 400 | $199 | $199 |
| Keystone | 5.0 (5) | 250 | $14.99 | $69 |
| Smile.io | 4.9 (4,197) | 200 | $15 | $199 |
| Rivo | 4.8 (1,386) | 200 | $15 | $49 |
| BON | 5.0 (1,831) | 150 | $15 | $129 |
| Joy | 4.9 (1,705) | 250 | $29 | $129 |
| Appstle | 5.0 (1,264) | 250 | $10 | $30 |
All prices from Shopify App Store listings, August 2026.
1. Keystone Loyalty Rewards
Keystone is our app, so read this entry with that in mind. It is also the newest app on this list - a 5.0 rating but only 5 reviews so far, which is an honest trade-off against the four-digit review counts below.
The pricing ladder is the argument. The free plan covers 250 monthly orders with points, discount rewards and a storefront widget. The $14.99 Starter adds referrals, Shopify POS, points expiry with notifications, gift card rewards and custom rewards. The $69 Standard unlocks VIP tiers and includes a done-for-you setup - our team builds and launches the program for you, which LoyaltyLion offers only as part of its $199 onboarding. The $99 Growth adds Klaviyo, Mailchimp and Shopify Flow integrations plus multi-language and multi-currency storefronts.
Concretely: VIP tiers plus hands-on setup at $69 is roughly a third of LoyaltyLion's $199 entry point, and referrals arrive at $14.99 instead of $199.
2. Smile.io
Smile is the volume leader: 4.9 stars across 4,197 reviews and a Built for Shopify badge. Its free plan covers 200 monthly orders with an unusually generous feature set, including multi-language support and POS. Paid plans run $15 (Essential), $79 (Standard, with bonus events and product-page points), and $199 (Growth) - which is where VIP tiers and points expiry live. If tiers are why you are leaving LoyaltyLion, note that Smile prices them identically at $199; you are switching for the ecosystem, not the price.
3. Rivo
Rivo (4.8, 1,386 reviews, Built for Shopify) has the second-cheapest route to VIP tiers: the $49 Scale plan, which also includes points expiry, bonus campaigns and custom CSS branding. The free plan covers 200 monthly orders, and the $15 Essential adds a dedicated loyalty page and POS. The jump above Scale is steep - the $499 Plus plan is where custom integrations like Klaviyo events and checkout extensions appear - so stores that need deep email integration should price that in.
4. BON Loyalty
BON holds a flat 5.0 across 1,831 reviews with a Built for Shopify badge. Its free plan is the smallest here (150 monthly orders) but includes an anti-cheat referral program and checkout redemption on Shopify Plus. The ladder is $15 Starter (birthday rewards, Klaviyo), $29 Basic (POS, multi-language, limited-time offers), and $129 Growth - where VIP tiers, B2B tiers and unlimited orders unlock. Strong pick for international stores that need multi-language display at a low price.
5. Joy Loyalty
Joy (4.9, 1,705 reviews, Built for Shopify) covers 250 free monthly orders and prices its paid tiers at $29, $129 and $499. VIP tiers, a custom earning rule engine and POS arrive at $129 Advanced, along with Apple and Google Wallet passes - a genuinely distinctive feature. The $499 Ultimate adds a JS SDK, REST API and headless support. Joy skips the $15 price band entirely, so small stores pay $29 for their first upgrade.
6. Appstle Loyalty
Appstle (5.0, 1,264 reviews, Built for Shopify) is the price aggressor: 250 free monthly orders, a $10 Starter with POS and widget customization, and VIP tiers at just $30/month - the cheapest tier unlock in this comparison. The $100 Business Premium adds checkout redemption for Shopify Plus and advanced analytics. The trade-off reviewers note is a utilitarian dashboard, and features like APIs and webhooks are handled by contacting support rather than self-serve.
Where LoyaltyLion Genuinely Wins
- Track record. Twelve years on Shopify (since 2014) and a large-brand customer base none of these alternatives can match yet - Keystone least of all.
- Done-for-you Klaviyo flows. Classic includes loyalty email flows built for you inside Klaviyo, a service-level offering the cheaper apps do not replicate.
- Loyalty-attributed revenue reporting. Its analytics tie program activity to revenue in a way finance teams accept, which matters at enterprise scale.
Switching Without Losing Points
Every app on this list imports customer point balances via CSV, and LoyaltyLion exports them. The safe sequence: export balances, import into the new app in draft mode, spot-check 20 customers against the export, then flip the widget live and email members that their points came along. Keystone's data import/export is available on every plan, including free, and our done-for-you setup at $69 includes handling the migration. We wrote a step-by-step guide: how to migrate from LoyaltyLion in a weekend.
Bottom Line
If $199/month fits your budget and you want a decade-old platform with agency-grade service, LoyaltyLion remains a defensible choice. For everyone caught in the $0-to-$199 gap, the math favors the alternatives: Appstle at $30 or Rivo at $49 for the cheapest VIP tiers, Smile for the largest review base, and Keystone at $69 for the combination none of the others offer at that price - VIP tiers plus a done-for-you setup, with referrals starting at $14.99 instead of $199. That is a third of LoyaltyLion's entry price for the two features stores actually upgrade for.
Related reading
- LoyaltyLion vs Keystone: pricing and feature comparison
- How to migrate from LoyaltyLion to Keystone in a weekend
- 7 Smile.io alternatives for Shopify in 2026
Ready to leave the pricing cliff behind? Keystone Loyalty gives you VIP tiers at a third of big-name pricing, with a done-for-you setup included from the $69 Standard plan and a 14-day trial on every paid tier.
