Free stamp card app: What's included, where limits are
Every week without a stamp card, you lose regular customers to competitors — without noticing. Set up in 5 minutes, free up to 100 customers.
Using a stamp card app for free is possible for small shops. There are providers where you start permanently for €0, no credit card, no trial period. The real question is: What does the free plan actually cover, where are the limits, and how do you spot hidden costs? That's exactly what we'll clear up here.
What "free" can mean for a stamp card app
The term is used differently. Before you decide, you should know which version is meant:
Free trial period. 14 or 30 days free, then automatic billing. Good for testing, but not permanently free.
Free plan with limits. Permanently €0 up to a certain number of customers or cards. You only pay when you grow.
Free for the customer, not for you. The app is free for the end user, but you pay per month. That's true for almost all solutions and says nothing about your costs.
Free with a catch. Ads from other businesses on your card, fees per stamp, or mandatory hardware you have to buy.
With stampa, it's the second option: The free plan costs €0 up to 100 active customers, no credit card, no expiration date.
Do your own test: Is free really free?
Check these points with every provider:
- No credit card required to start?
- No automatic billing after 14 or 30 days?
- No mandatory hardware (tablet, reader, NFC stickers)?
- No fees per stamp or per push notification?
- No third-party ads on your card?
- Legal texts (privacy policy, consent) included?
If you can answer yes to all points, the plan is truly free.
What's included in the free plan
A free plan is only worthwhile if the core of the loyalty program works completely. You should expect these things, and you get them in stampa's free plan:
The complete digital stamp card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, with no app download needed for your customers.
Your own branding. Logo and colors on the card, on the display stand, and on the public page that opens after QR scan.
Stamp by scan with your team's smartphone, no hardware needed.
Redeem in the dashboard with one tap when the card is full.
Print-ready display stand with QR code, automatically created.
Live dashboard with active customers, stamps, repeat visitors, and redemptions.
Legal stuff handled. Auto-generated, editable privacy policy per location, GDPR-compliant, hosted.
Fraud protection. Scan cooldowns and velocity protection so no one gets ten stamps in two minutes.
In short: Everything you need for a customer to get a card, collect stamps, and redeem a reward. For details on how the process works, see Digital stamp card: How it works.
Where the free plan has limits
A free plan has limits, or there'd be no paid plans. What matters is that these limits don't hold you back at the start, but only kick in when you're already growing.
| Feature | Free (€0) | Starter (€29) | Growth (€49) | Pro (€89) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active customers | up to 100 | up to 250 | up to 750 | up to 2,000 |
| Your own logo and colors | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| "Powered by stampa" credit | yes | no | no | no |
| Google review bonus (opt-in) | no | yes | yes | yes |
| Geofencing (nearby reminder) | no | no | yes | yes |
| CSV export | no | no | yes | yes |
| Cancel anytime | yes | yes | yes | yes |
All prices per month; annual billing gives roughly two months free. For larger businesses, Enterprise is available on request. Find the current overview at Pricing.
The most important limit is customer count. 100 active customers sounds small, but for a small café or barbershop in the first month, it's realistically a lot. Once you hit this limit, you have a working loyalty program and can usually cover the €29 per month from the revenue your regular customers bring.
Hidden costs to watch for
Free is only free if nothing else comes with it. Check these points with any solution:
Mandatory hardware. Some systems need a tablet, reader, or NFC sticker. That costs money and makes your team dependent on a device sitting at the register. With stampa, your existing smartphone is enough.
App requirement for customers. If your customers have to download an app, fewer will join. That costs you no euros, but it costs you participants. Why Wallet cards have an advantage here is explained in Customer loyalty without your own app.
Costs per stamp or per message. A free plan where every push notification costs extra gets expensive fast. Look for a flat monthly fee.
Third-party ads on your card. If other shops can advertise on your card, you pay with your customers' attention.
Legal gaps. Without a privacy policy and clean marketing consent, you carry the risk. That's not a hidden fee, but a hidden risk.
How it looks in practice
A barbershop in Cologne starts with stampa on the free plan. After three months, 87 customers have the card in their Wallet. The owner sees in the dashboard: 23 of them now come more often than before. The card costs him nothing, he bought no hardware, programmed no app. He stays on the free plan until he hits 100.
Sample calculation: When upgrading makes sense
Let's say a bakery with 8 stamps per card, reward: a bread assortment worth €4.
In the free plan, 100 active customers collect. Assume each comes one extra time per month because of the card and spends €6. That's €600 in sales that might have gone to the bakery next door instead.
If the number grows to 200 active customers, Starter costs €29 per month. The same effect would then bring roughly €1,200 in additional sales.
Whether this assumption fits your shop, you don't have to guess: stampa measures the effect with a random control group of about 10% of customers and shows you how many extra visits the card brought. If the data is too small for a reliable result, the dashboard says so honestly instead of showing a made-up number.
Who can stay on the free plan forever
Not every shop ever needs to upgrade. The free plan is enough permanently if:
- you have a small regular customer base, like a nail salon with steady clients,
- you use the program at just one location with little foot traffic,
- you don't need features like geofencing or CSV export and don't mind the small stampa credit on the card.
But if you see many new faces every day, like a sandwich shop or café near a train station, you'll hit 100 active customers quickly and can upgrade without worry. For a detailed cost overview of all models, see What does a digital stamp card cost?.
What happens if you do nothing
Without a stamp card, you lose regular customers to competitors every week. You don't notice because you don't see who stops coming. The competition offers a card, your customers collect there, and eventually they only go there. That costs you no euros today, but it costs you sales tomorrow.
Conclusion
Using a stamp card app for free is possible, with full functionality for the core: card in Wallet, scanning stamps, redeeming in the dashboard, your own branding, and legal texts handled. The limits are customer count and extra features you only need once the program is running. Easiest way to find out: Start free, print your display stand, and in a few weeks you'll know if your customers are in.