The 7 Best Gift Card Shopify Apps (Tried & Tested)

One of the best ways to increase sales and get return customers is to offer gift cards and while Shopify offers a built-in gift card feature, it is quite basic.

And if you have clicked on this post, you obviously need more than what the standard gift cards offer, which is why I have been through and tested a number of the many different Gift Card Apps to find the best ones that you should consider for your store.

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With a rating of 4.3/5, Gift Card Factory my recommended Shopify Gift Card App.

The main reason is the number of features as it offers more than any other app that I tested.

It does have a steep learning curve and isn’t the cheapest but in terms of what it can do, it came out on top.

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Testing The Apps

When it comes to testing the app, I don’t have a bunch of live stores to test them on, so I lean on my ecommerce experience to test and rate each app on:

• Pricing
• Features
• Ease of Use

I then give each of these elements a rating out of 5, which gives us the overall rating of the app.

1. Gift Card Factory – Best For Features

Rating:

4.3/5

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Gift Card Factory – Quick Summary

• Pricing – 4.2/5
• Features – 4.8/5
• Ease of Use – 4.0/5

Ideal for stores that need a feature-rich app that enables them to automate a lot of different aspects around gift cards.

Due to the large number of features, there is quite a steep learning curve to get the most out of the app.

Pricing – 4.2/5

Gift Card Factory pricing is a little confusing as all the allocations are based on credits for various features that you get in the app and you won’t know which plan is going to be best for your store until you get up and running with the app.

They also offer a 14-day free trial, which gives the same allocations as the Bronze plan and gives you access to all the features to see if the app is the right fit for your store.

Features – 4.8/5

Gift Card Factory offers a selection of features and one thing I do like is that you get access to all of the features that the app offers, none are locked behind higher tiers.

In terms of features, the app offers:

• Bulk Operations – send out bulk gift cards in one go, import codes from CSV files and top up store credit for specific customer segments
• Campaigns – set up campaigns to reward customers such as cashback gift card for orders over a certain amount or automatically delivered gift cards on customers birthdays along with reminders to encourage customers to come back to your store
• Refunds – refund orders to a gift card rather than sending the money back to their bank, which keeps the money in your stores eco-system
• Automated Flows – add automated flows that generates and sends a gift card after a certain action is triggered, such as a review being left (integrates with most popular review apps)

Gift Card Factory is one of the most feature-rich gift card apps out there.

Ease Of Use – 4.0/5

Gift Card Factory can be a bit overwhelming to start with, even though they have an onboarding wizard, there are so many options to start with that it can be hard to know where to start.

They do have a live chat option directly in the app to help you get set up but even once you have got the initial setup done, there is still quite a learning curve to figure out all the features and how they all work to enable you to get the most out of the app.

2. Gift Card Hero – Best For Stores with POS

Rating:

4.3/5

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Gift Card Hero – Quick Summary

• Pricing – 4.0/5
• Features – 4.4/5
• Ease of Use – 4.4/5

Ideal for stores that need an app that integrates with POS that allows them to sell digital and physical gift cards and allows them to manage all of it through an easy to use dashboard.

Pricing – 4/5

Gift Card Hero is pretty straightforward when it comes to pricing, as the free-to-install plan lets you try the app out and see if it is going to work for your store.

If you find that it is the app for you, the pro plan is the most cost-effective for any store that isn’t on Shopify Plus as in most cases, it will work out cheaper and give you more predictable pricing every month.

They also offer a 7-day free trial of the Pro and Shopify Plus plans.

Features – 4.4/5

Gift Card Hero comes with some really useful features for making the most out of your Gift Cards:

• Customer Control – lets customers pick the design of the card (you can let them add their own image), schedule when the card is sent and they can even add a video message for extra personalization
• Balance Control – let customers top up and reload gift cards, with a balance checker widget that can be quickly added to your store, either on its own page or by inserting a small code snippet to any page of your store
• Balance Reminders – set up balance reminders to automatically remind customers of any balance they have available
• POS Integration – whether you use Shopify POS or a 3rd party POS, you can quickly and easily integrate the app to allow you to sell physical as well as digital gift cards
• Bulk Options – send gift cards in bulk to your customers or import them to your store via CSV

Ease Of Use – 4.4/5

Gift Card Hero is really easy to use as it just takes a few clicks to get the app set up on your store, there are also easy walk-throughs to get additional features set up (some are just the click of a button).

Adding a new gift card is also very easy as it uses the standard Shopify add gift card screen to create them.

3. Rise Gift Cards & Store Credit – Best For More Than Just Gift Cards

Rating:

4.3/5

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Rise – Quick Summary

• Pricing – 4.0/5
• Features – 4.6/5
• Ease of Use – 4.4/5

Rise is more than just a gift card app, it is a customer retention app that offers a bunch of features including loyalty and referrals.

Some other apps offer more gift card specific features but if you want to offer more than just gift cards, then Rise is definitely worth considering.

Pricing – 4.0/5

Another app that is on the more expensive side but as you will see when we get to the features section, this is more than just a gift card app and when you look at the features the app offers as a whole, the pricing isn’t as bad.

Rise doesn’t offer a free plan but they offer a 7-day free trial for all of their plans.

Features – 4.6/5

Rise offers a number of different features, with some of these being locked to the higher tiered plans but features include:

• Gift Cards – create custom gift cards, with a nice feature to add a “Send a gift card option instead” for out of stock products
• Loyalty – offer a loyalty program with things like cashback, anniversary and birthday rewards to keep customers coming back
• Referrals – create a referral program so that customers can earn a reward by referring friends and family to your store
• Refunds – offer store credit instead of refunding directly to the customers bank account to keep the money in your store
• Workflows – set up automated workflows for your rewards programs and gift cards

As you can see, Rise is more of a customer retention app than just a gift card app but it doesn’t offer as many gift card focused features as some of the other dedicated apps but but when looking at it as an overall package, it offers a lot.

Ease Of Use – 4.4/5

Rise is very easy to get started with but it isn’t a built for Shopify app, meaning you have to manage everything through the rise.ai app, rather than directly in your dashboard.

The app is well laid out and easy to navigate but if you are new to setting up workflows, it might seem a bit daunting but on most pages, they do have a link to the documentation showing how to do things but no video tutorials unfortunately.

4. GiftKart – Best Free Option

Rating:

4.3/5

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GiftKing – Quick Summary

• Pricing – 5/5
• Features – 4.1/5
• Ease of Use – 4.5/5

GiftKing is a great app if you just want to add more features to your gift cards and offer cashback rewards.

While it doesn’t offer as many features as the other apps, it is very easy to use and best of all, completely free to use!

Pricing – 5/5

It’s free, not sure what more I can say.

Features – 4.1/5

GiftKart offers a good selection of features, including:

• Gift Cards – create an unlimited amount of gift cards with fixed denominations
• Cashback Gift Cards – automatically generate cashback gift cards when certain rules are met (such as customer spends a certain amount)
• Store Credit – offer customers the chance to have their refund issued in store credit, rather than sending it back to their bank account
• Bulk Gift Cards – create and send out gift cards in bulk for promotional campaigns

While it may not offer the depth of features as some of the other apps on the list, if you are just looking to expand beyond the standard Shopify gift cards, then GiftKing offers most the stuff you are going to need.

Ease Of Use – 4.5/5

Getting started with GiftKing is really easy. One thing that is different about this app is that it doesn’t force you to go through an onboarding wizard (you can choose to go through the quickstart guide from the dashboard if you want).

The app has been well designed in terms of layout, with the dashboard being easy to navigate and they have included plenty of links to the pages that have video walkthroughs showing you how to set everything up.

5. iziGift: Gift Cards & Rewards

Rating:

4.1/5

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iziGift – Quick Summary

• Pricing – 4.0/5
• Features – 4.0/5
• Ease of Use – 4.4/5

iziGift is one of the simpler apps that I tried and if you are just looking for an app to add more than what the standard Shopify gift card offers, without too many bells and whistles, then this could be the app for you.

Pricing – 4.0/5

There are also additional tiers for stores processing more than 2,000 orders a month.

One thing I do like about the pricing of iziGift is that you get all features on every plan, which means it simply comes down to the amount of orders you have a month as to which one is going to be the best for you.

If your store is currently in development mode, it is free to use or if it is live, then you do get a 14-day free trial on every plan.

Features – 4.0/5

iziGift does offer a good selection of gift card specific features, including:

• Gift Cards – with fixed amounts or discounts
• Cashback – create campaigns that allow customers to earn cashback on purchases
• Automated Gift Card Campaigns – automatically send gift cards out to customers (you will need the Shopify flow app in order to use this)
• Bulk Gift Cards – send out gift cards or store credit in bulk, you can also choose to target specific customer segments

The features do offer a lot more than the standard Shopify Gift Cards but there aren’t any real standout features when compared to the other apps.

Ease Of Use – 4.4/5

The onboarding of iziGift is very straightforward and you are set up in a couple of clicks and the dashboard is easy to use, there isn’t much to say here as it is just a simple app.

6. Givy → Gifting & Gift Cards

Rating:

4.0/5

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Givy – Quick Summary

• Pricing – 3.6/5
• Features – 4.2/5
• Ease of Use – 4.3/5

A good option if you want to offer product or subscription gifting options alongside the standard gift cards and the multi-currency gift cards will be very useful for international sellers.

For the features it offers, Givy does seem like quite an expensive option, especially when factoring in the transaction fee.

Pricing – 3.6/5

*Transaction fee is a percentage of the value of gifts and gift cards created using the app. Only applies to gifts & gift cards processed using Givy

Givy is a little on the expensive side and I am not a fan of the additional transaction fee but I do like that you get to create unlimited gifts and gift cards, no matter which plan you are on.

Givy doesn’t offer a free plan but they offer a 7-day free trial of the intro plan.

Features – 4.2/5

Givy offers a range of different features, with many available on the Intro plan, these include:

• Gifting Options – offer more than just gift cards as the app also allows customers to gift products and subscriptions
• Custom Amounts – allow customers to select their own gift card amount
• Multi-Currency – one of the unique features of Givy is that you can offer gift cards in multiple currencies based on the customer’s preferences, it will then send the gift card and show the balance in the customer’s selected currency
• Gift Wrapping – add an option to your checkout to offer gift-wrapping (with an additional cost if you choose)
• Shopify POS Integration – sell physical gift cards through Shopify POS

Ease Of Use – 4.3/5

Givy is very easy to get started with and has a very basic onboarding process.

The one thing I do like is that they have created documentation links for all the main features along with videos showing how to get these things set up.

7. Vify: Professional Gift Cards

Rating:

4.0/5

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Vify – Quick Summary

• Pricing – 4.2/5
• Features – 4.0/5
• Ease of Use – 4.0/5

The least user-friendly app that we tried but does offer a decent selection of features and is reasonably priced.

Will get the job done but there are better options out there.

Pricing – 4.2/5

While Vify is reasonably priced, I don’t like that the plans are linked to which Shopify plan you have but it does seem that you get the same features on all of the paid plans.

They do offer a free plan and a 14-day free trial for the paid plans.

Features – 4.0/5

In terms of features, the app is quite basic as it offers:

• Custom Value – let customers choose a custom value for their gift card
• Physical Option – on paid plans you can offer a physical gift card alongside digital ones
• Balance Check – create a page where customers can check the balance of their gift card
• Expiry Reminder – let customers know when their gift cards are due to expire

The features are quite basic when compared to some of the other apps but they still offer more than the standard Gift Card feature.

Ease Of Use – 4.0/5

The app is relatively easy to use but I didn’t find the dashboard the most intuitive, especially when compared to some of the other apps I tried and there are a lack of links to documentation/videos to help you if you get stuck but there is a live chat icon in the dashboard for support.

Conclusion

4 of the apps scored the same but they performed better in different areas and my recommendation is:

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Gift Card Factory, simply for the amount of features that the app offers when it comes to gift cards as it offers more than any other app on the list.

It isn’t perfect as it does have a steep learning curve and isn’t the cheapest but in terms of what it can do, it came out on top.

It really does depend on what you require for your website and you may find that one of the other apps is better suited.

Paul

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Hi, I'm Paul, the Owner and Founder of EcommerceGold.
I ran my own Ecommerce Business for over 7 years and now help others start their own online retail empires!

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