Smile.io and Growave are two popular options for Shopify merchants looking to build a loyalty program. Both offer points, rewards, referrals, and VIP tiers, while Growave also includes tools such as wishlists, reviews, and UGC.
But having similar core features doesn't mean the two platforms offer the same experience or value. They differ in which features are included at each pricing tier, how their pricing scales with order volume, and how much control merchants have over their loyalty programs. Their customization options, Shopify integration, ease of setup and management, broader integrations, and support also differ.
In this article, I'll compare Smile.io and Growave at 500, 2,000, and 5,000+ orders per month, break down what you get at each pricing level, and show a third option that offers more features, flexibility, and value than either platform.
Smile.io: A solid self-serve choice if you only need loyalty and don't need wishlists or reviews bundled in. VIP tiers are included on the $199/month Growth plan, which covers up to 2,500 orders.
Growave: Worth it if you actually want wishlists, reviews, and loyalty on one connected platform. Otherwise you're paying for scope you won't use, and its Growth plan costs the same $199/month for fewer included orders (1,500) than Smile.io's.
Love Loyalty is the best Shopify loyalty app for stores that want VIP tiers, referrals, and paid memberships together at a fixed, published price starting at $79/month for 2,000 orders, well below what either Smile.io or Growave charges for VIP tiers alone.
I've compared both Smile.io and Growave across the areas that matter most when choosing a Shopify loyalty app for your store.
Now let's get into the details.
Most loyalty app pricing looks straightforward until you factor in order limits, overage fees as your order volume grows, and which features are actually included at each tier.
Here's the real cost breakdown.
At 500 orders a month, you're paying:
All three land close together at this volume. The real differences don't show up until VIP tiers enter the picture at the next tier.
This is where the value gap gets obvious.
At 2,000 orders a month, you're paying:
Both Smile.io and Growave charge $199/month at the base of this tier, but Smile.io's plan covers 1,000 more orders before overage kicks in. Love Loyalty includes the same VIP tier functionality as both, plus paid memberships, at less than half of what either charges.
At this tier, you're paying:
Both competitors land at the same $699/month here, and neither includes paid memberships at any price. Love Loyalty stays flat at $399/month with no overage at all.
Growave's flat Unlimited plan becomes the more predictable option at this volume over staying on Plus with overage, but it still costs over twice what Love Loyalty charges for the same unlimited coverage. Smile.io moves to a custom Enterprise quote at this scale, so there's no published number to compare directly.
Let's say you're running a growing Shopify store processing 2,000 orders a month, and you want VIP tiers, referrals, and paid memberships for your loyalty program.
With Love Loyalty: $79/month for 2,000 orders, with VIP tiers, referrals, POS support, and paid memberships all included.
With Smile.io: $199/month for 2,500 orders, with VIP tiers and referrals included, but no paid membership option at any tier.
With Growave: roughly $274/month once overage is added at this volume, with VIP tiers and referrals included, also no paid membership option at any tier.
Both platforms gate VIP tiers behind the same $199/month price point, and neither offers paid memberships at any tier.
Smile.io's entry plan at $15/month covers points, referrals, free product redemption, and a dedicated loyalty page.
VIP tiers aren't available until the $199/month Growth plan, and points expiration and syncing VIP tiers to Shopify metafields wait for that same tier too.
Growave's Entry plan covers points, referrals with fraud protection, nudges, and email campaigns. VIP tiers, points expiration, gift cards, and store credit all arrive at the $199/month Growth plan, the same price point as Smile.io's equivalent tier.
Love Loyalty includes VIP tiers, referrals, and paid memberships together starting at $79/month, less than half of what either Smile.io or Growave charges just for VIP tiers alone.
At $79/month, you get:
Neither Smile.io nor Growave bundles all of that together at any published price point.
Smile.io and Growave take different approaches to scope: Smile.io is a dedicated loyalty tool with dual Shopify certification, while Growave bundles loyalty alongside wishlists, reviews, and UGC into one connected platform.
Smile.io holds both Shopify's Built for Shopify badge and Shopify Technology Partner certification, and is managed entirely through the Smile dashboard without developer involvement.
Growave's loyalty program shares customer data with its wishlist, reviews, and referral tools inside the same platform, so a review earning points or a wishlist save feeding a VIP tier happens without a separate integration between apps. That connected design is Growave's main pitch over single-purpose tools, though it only pays off for a merchant actually using the wishlist and reviews features alongside loyalty.
Love Loyalty is built exclusively for Shopify. That's a structural choice, and it shows up in how the app performs.
What that means in practice:
Neither Smile.io nor Growave offers paid membership functionality at any tier. That's the option for a customer to pay upfront for ongoing benefits like free shipping or a standing discount. A merchant who wants that model has to run it through a separate app on either platform.
Smile.io doesn't offer paid memberships at any tier, including its $999/month annual Plus plan.
Growave doesn't offer paid memberships at any tier either, including its flat-rate $999/month Unlimited plan.
Love Loyalty includes paid memberships starting at $79/month, with a 1.8% transaction fee that drops to 0.8% at $399/month.
A merchant sets the benefits, whether that's a percentage discount, free shipping, early access, or bonus points, and customers pay upfront to unlock them. That's a retention model built around predictable revenue rather than hoping a one-time buyer comes back.
Support matters most the moment a customer can't redeem a reward and every minute of downtime costs trust.
Smile.io offers 24/7 live chat support, email/help desk, and a knowledge base on every plan, including Free, with a dedicated Loyalty Program Strategist available to Plus merchants specifically.
Growave includes chat support on every plan.
Love Loyalty includes live chat and email support on every plan, including Free. On the Growth and Plus tiers, that expands to founder-led onboarding, performance audits, and on-demand development, support that scales with the plan rather than gating basic responsiveness behind a higher tier.
Both platforms are built for no-code setup, but Growave's setup spans more surface area once wishlists and reviews are configured alongside loyalty.
Smile.io is designed for a marketing team to launch and adjust without a developer. Reward structures, on-site widgets, and campaign settings are all managed through the Smile dashboard.
Growave's core loyalty setup is available from the Entry plan, but VIP tiers and deeper customization require moving up to Growth or Plus, and configuring the wishlist and reviews tools alongside loyalty adds setup steps a single-purpose app doesn't have.
Love Loyalty is designed to be configured once and managed easily from there. Because it's built exclusively for Shopify, its settings map directly to Shopify's native functionality rather than translating from a multi-platform system. Adjusting VIP tier thresholds, adding a reward, or changing where a widget appears takes a few clicks, with live chat support available starting on the $12/month Professional plan.
Smile.io and Growave both connect to standard Shopify marketing tools, but Growave's integration list extends to reviews and wishlist syncing that Smile.io doesn't offer, since that's outside Smile's scope entirely.
Smile.io connects with Klaviyo, Recharge, and other standard ecommerce tools, with unlimited integrations available from its Growth plan onward. Smile's dual Shopify certification reflects deeper native integration than most multi-platform tools offer.
Growave's integration list expands with plan tier, with custom integrations specifically reserved for the $999/month Unlimited plan.
Love Loyalty stores all loyalty data in Shopify metafields, which makes it accessible to other Shopify apps without a custom API integration. Because there's no external database being queried, integrations like Klaviyo, email marketing, and POS all read from the same native Shopify data rather than syncing between two separate systems.
Smile.io and Growave both gate VIP tiers behind the same $199/month price point, and neither offers paid memberships at any tier. Growave's bundled wishlist and reviews tools are a genuine advantage if you'd use them, but they don't change the loyalty math: you're still paying $199/month or more just to unlock VIP tiers on either platform.
That's where Love Loyalty outperforms both. It includes VIP tiers, referrals, paid memberships, POS support, and B2B loyalty together at just $79/month, and unlimited orders for only $399/mo. No add-on fees, no overage surprises, no custom quotes.
Yes. Love Loyalty supports migrating existing customer data, including points balances, at scale, and has handled migrations from other platforms tested at over a million customers.
Both Smile.io and Growave charge $199/month or more to unlock VIP tiers. Love Loyalty includes VIP tiers, referrals, and paid memberships together at $79/month.
Love Loyalty includes paid memberships starting at $79/month. Neither Smile.io nor Growave offers paid membership functionality at any tier.
Love Loyalty stores all loyalty data in Shopify metafields and doesn't rely on external API calls to load that data, a structural difference from platforms built to support broader feature sets or multiple platforms.
Yes. Love Loyalty integrates with Shopify POS for both online and in-store transactions, starting on the $12/month Professional plan.
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