Rivo vs Stamped vs Joy Loyalty for Shopify in 2026

Rivo, Stamped, and Joy Loyalty each occupy a different position in the Shopify loyalty market in 2026. Rivo is a Shopify-exclusive retention platform combining loyalty points, VIP tiers, referral programs, and paid memberships, with its Scale plan starting at $49+/month on a month-to-month basis. Stamped builds its product around reviews and UGC, offering loyalty as a complement to its social proof engine, with Reviews starting at $23/month on Shopify and Loyalty at $299/month at the 5,000-order tier. Joy Loyalty centers on flexible loyalty touchpoints and a gradual pricing ladder, with its Essential plan at $29/month for Shopify merchants who want to step up from free over time.

Across pricing, feature depth, and Shopify integration, Rivo leads for brands that want a unified retention platform with checkout depth and paid memberships. Stamped leads for brands where reviews and conversion trust are the first priority. Joy Loyalty leads for merchants that want an accessible, flexible starting point with room to grow.

Teams comparing these three are often asking a version of the same question: how much should loyalty do on day one versus what can it grow into? A platform with a gradual pricing ladder gives you an easy start but may lack the architecture for memberships and checkout later. A reviews-first suite works well when social proof needs solving before loyalty does. And a full retention platform is worth the commitment if the roadmap already includes VIP tiers, referrals, memberships, and checkout engagement working together.

Key Takeaways

• Rivo's Scale plan starts at $49+/month with loyalty points, VIP tiers, referrals, paid memberships, and 50+ integrations included. The Plus plan is $499/month. All plans are month-to-month with no annual contract.
• Stamped lists Reviews starting at $23/month on Shopify, with Loyalty at $299/month on both Shopify and Stamped's own pricing page. Stamped presents Loyalty pricing by monthly order volume. Reviews and Loyalty are separate product tracks.
• Joy Loyalty lists a free Starter plan, Essential at $29/month, Advanced at $129/month, and Ultimate at $499/month on its pricing page. Paid plans include per-100-order overage fees above included order thresholds.
• Rivo is the only platform in this comparison to include native paid memberships as a core retention lever. According to Rivo case studies, Fresh Chile Co. achieved a 156% AOV increase from its paid membership program.
• According to Rivo platform data, VIP tier customers show 73% higher average order value ($435 vs $291) and purchase 3.6x more frequently than non-tier members.
• Shopify App Store ratings as of May 2026: Rivo at 4.8/5 (approximately 1,351 reviews), Stamped at 4.7/5 (approximately 3,626 reviews), Joy Loyalty at 4.9/5 (approximately 1,661 reviews). Confirm current ratings directly on the Shopify App Store.

Why Merchants Compare Rivo, Stamped, and Joy Loyalty

Most merchants reaching this comparison share common challenges. They're evaluating whether loyalty should sit inside a reviews-first suite, scale gradually through a step-up pricing ladder, or operate as a Shopify-native retention platform connected to accounts, checkout, and memberships. Four scenarios drive most platform evaluations.

• Deciding when to build vs. when to buy retention depth. Merchants comparing Stamped and Joy Loyalty are often at different stages: Stamped suits brands anchoring on reviews first, while Joy suits brands that want to start free and step up through $29 and $129 tiers. Both paths eventually reach a ceiling where paid memberships, 8 native checkout extensions, or a unified Shopify-native retention layer become the next requirement. Rivo covers that fuller scope from $49+/month, including paid memberships as a native feature. According to Rivo case studies, Fresh Chile Co. achieved a 156% lift in member AOV.
• Needing loyalty tied to reviews. Retailers that want loyalty rewards and review collection operating from the same data layer, with ratings, UGC, and social proof workflows managed alongside loyalty, find that Stamped is the only platform in this comparison built for that combined use case. For Shopify brands where review syndication is a core priority alongside retention, Stamped's combined offering is a genuine differentiator.
• Wanting a gradual pricing ladder. Teams that want to start free and step up through clearly priced tiers find Joy Loyalty's Starter, Essential, Advanced, and Ultimate progression the easiest to model. The move from free to $29 to $129 is more gradual than Rivo's Scale-to-Plus jump and more accessible than Stamped's Loyalty entry at $299/month.
• Discovering checkout and membership gaps at higher tiers. Joy Loyalty's checkout extensions, API access, and developer toolkit are locked behind the $499/month Ultimate plan, so brands that want those capabilities earlier face a steeper jump than expected. Stamped's Loyalty product starts at $299/month on its website. Rivo includes a full retention stack with VIP tiers, referrals, and paid memberships starting at $49+/month, giving brands a more complete foundation earlier in the growth curve.

Rivo vs Stamped vs Joy Loyalty: Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Here's how Rivo, Stamped, and Joy Loyalty compare across the features that matter most for Shopify merchants in 2026.

• Shopify-native: Rivo is fully Shopify-exclusive and carries the Built for Shopify badge. Joy Loyalty is also Built for Shopify. Stamped is available on the Shopify App Store.
• Free plan: Rivo supports up to 200 orders at no cost. Joy Loyalty's Starter plan is free for up to 150 monthly orders. Stamped does not offer a public free loyalty tier.
• Paid entry tier: Rivo Scale starting at $49+/month. Joy Essential at $29/month (500 included orders, with overage fees). Stamped Loyalty at $299/month.
• VIP tiers: Rivo from $49+/month. Joy from Essential ($29/month). Stamped on higher loyalty tiers.
• Loyalty points: Rivo, Stamped, and Joy Loyalty all offer loyalty points programs.
• Referral programs: Rivo, Stamped, and Joy Loyalty all include referral programs. Rivo includes 20+ referral fraud prevention tools.
• Paid memberships: Rivo only, natively. Joy Loyalty lists memberships on its Shopify App Store page. Stamped does not offer this natively.
• Reviews and UGC: Stamped only, as a core product strength. Rivo and Joy do not include a reviews platform.
• Checkout extensions: Rivo at 8, built natively for Shopify's checkout flow. Joy Loyalty on its Ultimate plan ($499/month). Stamped does not highlight checkout extensions as a loyalty module.
• Shopify POS: Rivo with Apple and Google Wallet integration. Joy Loyalty with POS support. Stamped does not highlight this as a loyalty module.
• Integrations: Rivo at 50+, including Klaviyo, Attentive, Recharge, Gorgias, and Okendo. Joy with 25+ integrations including Klaviyo, Judge.me, and Omnisend. Stamped with Klaviyo, Recharge, Gorgias, and more.
• API access: Rivo from $499/month at 100 req/sec with Shopify metafield access. Joy on Ultimate plan. Stamped varies by product mix.
• Headless and Hydrogen: Rivo with full support added in Spring 2026. Stamped and Joy have their own integration approaches.
• Developer toolkit: Rivo from $499/month. Joy on Ultimate ($499/month). Stamped not highlighted on listing.
• White-glove migration: Rivo for qualifying brands. Stamped and Joy do not offer this.
• Sub-100ms load times: Rivo confirmed, per Rivo. Stamped and Joy not specified on this metric.
• Contract terms: Rivo month-to-month on all plans, no commission fees. Joy month-to-month with usage-based overage on paid plans. Stamped billing terms should be confirmed directly with the vendor.
• Ownership: Rivo is 100% bootstrapped. Stamped and Joy are VC-backed.
• Shopify App Store rating (May 2026): Rivo at 4.8/5 (approximately 1,351 reviews). Stamped at 4.7/5 (approximately 3,626 reviews). Joy Loyalty at 4.9/5 (approximately 1,661 reviews). Confirm current ratings directly on the Shopify App Store.

Pricing Comparison

Pricing is where the three platforms diverge most sharply, especially when feature access by tier, order volume thresholds, overage fees, and total cost at real volumes are factored in. The headline monthly fee alone is rarely the full picture.

Rivo Pricing

Per Rivo's pricing page: the Free plan is $0/month for up to 200 orders and includes core loyalty and referral features. The Scale plan starts at $49+/month (usage-based, shown at approximately $49 for 400 orders/month) and adds full loyalty, referrals, VIP tiers, and 50+ integrations. The Plus plan is $499/month for up to 2,500 orders and unlocks 8 checkout extensions, API access at 100 requests per second, paid memberships, and advanced analytics. Enterprise pricing is custom for unlimited orders. All plans are month-to-month with no annual contract required.

One pricing note worth flagging: the jump from the Scale tier to $499/month has no mid-tier, which creates a gap for brands between those thresholds. Current plan details should always be confirmed at Rivo pricing.

Stamped Pricing

On Shopify, Stamped lists Reviews starting at $23/month (for up to 200 orders, scaling to $99/month for 1,000 orders and $199/month for 5,000 orders) and Loyalty at $299/month (for up to 5,000 orders). Stamped's own pricing page also lists Loyalty at $299/month and presents pricing by monthly order volume. Reviews and Loyalty are separate product tracks, which means the cost picture expands significantly when both are needed. Teams should confirm total pricing directly with Stamped before committing.

Joy Loyalty Pricing

Per Joy Loyalty's pricing page: the Starter plan is free for up to 150 monthly orders. The Essential plan is $29/month for up to 500 included orders, then $15 per additional 100 orders. The Advanced plan is $129/month for up to 2,000 included orders, then $10 per additional 100 orders. The Ultimate plan is $499/month for up to 7,000 included orders, then $5 per additional 100 orders. The Ultimate plan includes REST API, webhooks, JS SDK, and checkout loyalty extensions.

Joy's step-up pricing ladder is the most gradual in this comparison, but the usage-based overage structure on all paid tiers means effective monthly cost depends on order volume. Brands with uneven seasonality should model the overage impact before committing.

TCO at Scale: What You Actually Pay

At the entry tier, Rivo (starting at $49+/month, no commission fees) covers the full retention stack: loyalty points, VIP tiers, referrals, and paid memberships. Joy's $29/month Essential plan is the lowest paid entry point in this comparison, but checkout extensions, API access, and developer tooling are locked behind the $499/month Ultimate tier. Stamped's Loyalty product starts at $299/month, making it the highest paid entry point for loyalty in this comparison. Rivo and Joy both offer month-to-month billing. Stamped's billing terms should be confirmed directly before committing.

Platform Reviews

Rivo: The Retention Platform Built for Shopify

Rivo is a retention platform built for Shopify, not a general-purpose loyalty tool that happens to support Shopify. Every feature, every checkout extension, and every integration is purpose-built for the Shopify stack, which means Rivo can go deeper on native integrations than multi-platform competitors.

Over 9,000 Shopify brands use Rivo to convert one-time buyers into repeat customers. According to Rivo, the platform has driven more than $1.5B in revenue through its loyalty, referral, and membership programs, with a reported 52x median ROI based on weighted case studies across its merchant base, and 100+ product updates shipping per year.

Rivo is also 100% bootstrapped with zero venture capital, which has a practical implication for customers: pricing decisions are customer-first rather than investor-driven. No board targets. No product sunset risk. That structure shows in the monthly billing model and the weekly shipping cadence.

Key Features

• Native paid memberships offer recurring membership fees for exclusive perks, a capability not offered natively by Stamped or Joy Loyalty.
• 8 checkout extensions on the Plus plan ($499/month), capturing loyalty interactions at the moment of purchase inside the Shopify checkout flow.
• Loyalty points and referral programs available on all paid plans, including the Scale entry tier starting at $49+/month.
• Up to 5 configurable VIP tier programs starting at $49+/month. Per Rivo platform data, VIP customers average 73% higher AOV ($435 vs $291) and purchase 3.6x more frequently.
• 50+ integrations covering email, SMS, subscriptions, review platforms, and more, including Klaviyo, Attentive, Recharge, Gorgias, and Okendo.
• 20+ referral fraud prevention tools covering IP abuse, self-referrals, and suspicious payout pattern flagging.
• Sub-100ms load times with no site speed impact, per Rivo.
• Developer API toolkit at 100 requests per second with custom Shopify metafield access and full Hydrogen support, available from $499/month.
• Free white-glove migration for qualifying brands switching from Stamped, Joy Loyalty, or other platforms.

What Works Well

Rivo is Shopify-exclusive with deep native checkout integration. Paid memberships are available as a native feature, not offered natively by Stamped or Joy Loyalty. The referral fraud prevention suite includes 20+ tools. The platform ships 100+ product updates per year. Sub-100ms load times mean zero performance penalty. Month-to-month pricing with no annual contract and no commission fees on any plan.

Things to Consider

The jump from the Scale tier to $499/month has no mid-tier, which creates a pricing gap for brands between those order thresholds. Rivo is Shopify-only and is not an option for merchants on WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Magento.

Best For

Growing Shopify brands that want VIP tiers, referrals, and loyalty starting at $49+/month. Especially strong for brands planning to launch a paid membership program alongside traditional loyalty, merchants who need checkout extensions that capture loyalty interactions at the point of purchase, and Shopify Plus brands building headless or Hydrogen storefronts.

According to Rivo case studies: HexClad achieved 92x referral ROI and $450K in referral revenue within 90 days. OSEA Malibu reached a 77% repeat purchase rate among loyalty redeemers. Fresh Chile Co. saw a 156% AOV increase from its paid membership program. BERO generated 1 billion impressions via omnichannel membership.

Stamped

Stamped is a reviews-led customer marketing platform that pairs ratings, UGC, and social proof workflows with loyalty capabilities. Its Reviews product is well established on Shopify, covering product reviews, photo and video reviews, Q&A, Google Shopping integration, and SEO-related review features. The Loyalty product sits alongside that reviews engine, making Stamped a natural fit for brands that want both workflows under one vendor.

Its approach is different from a loyalty-first platform. The center of gravity is the reviews and UGC ecosystem, with loyalty available for brands that want to reward customers for more than just purchases. Stamped's Reviews start at $23/month on Shopify, and Loyalty starts at $299/month on both Shopify and Stamped's own pricing page.

Key Features

• Reviews, photo and video reviews, Q&A, and UGC workflows alongside loyalty capabilities in a single vendor relationship.
• Loyalty points, VIP tiers, and referral programs available on loyalty tiers.
• Multi-channel review syndication to Google Shopping and other retail channels.
• Established Shopify presence with broad merchant familiarity among reviews-led brands.
• Integrations including Klaviyo, Recharge, Gorgias, and more.

What Works Well

Reviews and loyalty operating from the same vendor reduces tool stack complexity for brands where social proof and retention strategy overlap. The reviews engine is the strongest in this comparison for brands where customer content drives a large share of acquisition and conversion. Loyalty can be layered alongside reviews without managing separate systems, simplifying vendor and billing management for the team.

Things to Consider

Loyalty starts at $299/month, which is the highest loyalty entry point in this comparison. Reviews and Loyalty are separate product tracks, meaning the full cost picture depends on which Stamped products are needed. Teams that want loyalty as their primary focus may find more purpose-built alternatives better suited to their retention roadmap. Billing terms should be confirmed directly with Stamped.

Best For

Brands that already treat reviews and UGC as a major conversion asset and want loyalty in the same vendor orbit. It makes the most sense when the team prefers one customer marketing vendor relationship and wants reviews, ratings, and loyalty managed together. Merchants whose near-term roadmap centers on review collection and social proof, with loyalty as a supporting layer.

Joy Loyalty

Joy Loyalty is a Built for Shopify loyalty platform built around a clear step-up pricing ladder and a broad range of loyalty touchpoints. Its listing highlights 30+ customizable loyalty touchpoints, points, referrals, VIP tiers, memberships, POS, Shopify Flow, customer accounts, and a developer toolkit on higher tiers.

The combination of a free Starter plan, a $29/month Essential plan, and a gradual progression to $499/month makes Joy one of the most accessible loyalty platforms for merchants who want to start simply and add sophistication over time. The Ultimate plan ($499/month) includes checkout loyalty extensions, REST API, webhooks, and JS SDK.

Key Features

• Points, referrals, VIP tiers, and a focused loyalty setup across 30+ customizable touchpoints.
• Free Starter plan for up to 150 monthly orders, followed by a clear paid tier progression.
• Memberships listed as a supported program type on Joy's Shopify App Store page.
• Shopify POS support and Shopify Flow integration.
• Checkout loyalty extensions, REST API, webhooks, and JS SDK on the Ultimate plan ($499/month).
• 25+ integrations including Klaviyo, Judge.me, Omnisend, and Gorgias.

What Works Well

The step-up pricing ladder is the most gradual in this comparison, making it easy for lean teams to model cost and stage feature adoption. The broad touchpoint coverage across POS, customer accounts, Flow, and checkout gives Joy a strong platform feel at higher tiers. Joy Loyalty holds a 4.9/5 rating on the Shopify App Store as of May 2026, the highest of the three platforms in this comparison.

Things to Consider

Checkout extensions, API access, and developer tooling are locked behind the $499/month Ultimate tier. Paid plans include usage-based overage fees above included order thresholds, which means effective monthly cost can vary with order volume. Joy does not include a native reviews platform. Paid memberships are listed on Joy's Shopify App Store page but are not as central to its positioning as Rivo's dedicated membership product.

Best For

Shopify brands that want to start at a low entry price and build toward a more advanced loyalty setup over time. Particularly strong for merchants who want broad loyalty touchpoints including POS, Flow, and customer accounts without a large upfront investment. Teams that plan to grow into checkout extensions, API access, and developer tooling as the program matures.

Which Platform Has the Deepest Shopify Integration?

The practical test for Shopify integration depth is whether a loyalty platform can show up at the moment of purchase, inside customer accounts, and in the post-purchase flow. That requires native Shopify architecture, not just an app that connects to Shopify from the outside., and it matters because loyalty and referral programs drive the most value when they can intercept the purchase journey natively at cart, at checkout, and post-purchase.

Because Rivo is 100% Shopify-exclusive, its engineering is concentrated entirely on deepening that native experience. No cross-platform roadmap competes for development cycles. That singular focus produces:

• 8 checkout extensions that capture loyalty interactions across multiple distinct touchpoints in Shopify's purchase flow, including point balances at cart, redemption options at checkout, tier progress post-purchase, and referral prompts in the order summary, all running natively through Shopify's checkout infrastructure without redirects or JavaScript injection.
• Sub-100ms load times with no measurable impact on Shopify store speed scores. Page speed directly affects conversion rates, and a loyalty app that adds load time carries a real operational cost on every page view.
• Native Shopify Flow integration for automating loyalty triggers inside Shopify's own automation layer with no third-party middleware required.
• Developer API toolkit at 100 requests per second with custom Shopify metafield access and full Hydrogen support, letting Shopify Plus merchants build loyalty logic directly into custom storefronts and headless builds.

Joy Loyalty also offers checkout extensions and a developer toolkit, but these are locked behind the $499/month Ultimate tier and do not match Rivo's 8 native checkout extensions available from its Plus plan. Stamped's primary Shopify integration centers on review collection, ratings display, and social proof workflows rather than loyalty checkout depth.

Paid Memberships: A Feature Rivo Includes Natively

Paid memberships are where the roadmap divergence between these three platforms becomes most concrete. Rivo includes them natively. Joy Loyalty lists memberships on its Shopify App Store page, but they are not as central to its positioning as Rivo's dedicated membership product. Stamped does not include them.

What makes paid memberships strategically different from points is the direction of the relationship. Points reward customers for what they already did. A paid membership fee asks customers to invest in what they're about to do. That investment changes behavior: fee-paying members buy more often, spend more per order, and churn less because their membership balance creates a reason to return before the next purchase impulse arrives.

According to Rivo case studies, Fresh Chile Co. achieved a 156% increase in average order value following its paid membership launch. BERO leveraged Rivo's omnichannel membership capabilities to generate 1 billion impressions at launch.

Stamped does not offer paid memberships natively. Joy Loyalty lists memberships on its Shopify App Store page, but memberships are not as central to Joy's retention positioning as they are to Rivo's dedicated membership product. For brands planning to generate direct revenue through their loyalty program or diversify into subscription-tier retention, Rivo is the strongest fit in this comparison for that use case.

Final Verdict

The right platform depends on where your retention program is today and where it needs to go. There's no single winner across every growth stage.

For Shopify merchants wanting loyalty, referrals, and paid memberships in one platform, Rivo delivers the strongest combination of Shopify-native depth, feature breadth, and competitive pricing in this comparison: starting at $49+/month, month-to-month, no annual contract, no commission fees, 8 checkout extensions, and a reported 52x median ROI based on weighted case studies across 9,000+ brands.

For brands where reviews, UGC, and social proof are central to acquisition and conversion, Stamped is the right fit. It is strongest when the team already treats customer content and retention as one connected customer marketing motion and wants reviews, ratings, and loyalty managed in the same vendor relationship.

For merchants who want a gradual step-up pricing ladder with broad loyalty touchpoints, Joy Loyalty is the most accessible path. Its free-to-$29-to-$129 progression is the easiest to model in the early stages, and its platform footprint covers POS, Flow, customer accounts, and touchpoint customization. Brands that also need 8 native checkout extensions, paid memberships as a core retention lever, or a full Shopify-native retention platform will find Rivo the stronger long-term fit.

For Shopify brands at any growth stage where retention is a strategic priority, Rivo's month-to-month pricing, 100+ annual product updates, and the full retention stack in one Shopify-native build make it the strongest default choice in this comparison.

Acquiring new customers costs 5 to 25x more than retaining them. The platform you choose for loyalty has a direct line to your revenue, and it's worth choosing the one built specifically for the platform you run on.

Request a demo to see how Rivo can help you build a higher-performing loyalty program on Shopify.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main difference between Rivo, Stamped, and Joy Loyalty?

The main difference is product focus. Rivo is a Shopify-native retention platform combining loyalty, referrals, VIP tiers, and paid memberships, with its Scale plan starting at $49+/month. Stamped is a reviews-led platform where loyalty sits alongside its UGC engine, with Reviews starting at $23/month on Shopify. Joy Loyalty centers on flexible loyalty touchpoints and a gradual pricing ladder, with its Essential plan at $29/month and overage fees above included order thresholds.

Is Rivo better than Joy Loyalty for Shopify?

Rivo is the stronger fit when you need paid memberships, 8 native checkout extensions, or a retention platform designed to influence the full Shopify customer journey. Joy Loyalty is the stronger fit for merchants who want to start at a lower paid entry point and step up through $29 and $129 tiers before committing to a full retention platform. Checkout extensions, API access, and developer tooling on Joy are only available at the $499/month Ultimate tier.

Is Stamped a loyalty platform or a reviews platform first?

Stamped is primarily a reviews and UGC platform, with loyalty as a companion capability. On Shopify, Reviews start at $23/month and Loyalty is listed at $299/month at the 5,000-order tier. That structure makes Stamped a natural fit when social proof drives conversion and loyalty supports it, but a narrower fit for brands that need loyalty depth as the primary retention motion.

Does Joy Loyalty offer paid memberships?

Joy Loyalty lists memberships on its Shopify App Store page, but paid memberships are not as central to Joy's retention positioning as they are to Rivo's dedicated membership program. Rivo includes native paid memberships as a core product feature available on the Plus plan. According to Rivo case studies, Fresh Chile Co. achieved a 156% AOV increase from its paid membership program.

Does Rivo work with headless Shopify and Hydrogen?

Yes. Rivo added full Hydrogen and headless Shopify support in its Spring 2026 update cycle. The developer API toolkit runs at 100 requests per second with custom Shopify metafield access. Joy Loyalty and Stamped have their own integration approaches for headless environments.