Clover loyalty program vs Lightspeed: is your POS enough?
What the Clover loyalty program and Lightspeed Loyalty include, what they cost, how Square and Toast compare, and when a wallet card does the job better.
If you ring up sales on a Clover or a Lightspeed, the loyalty program is already sitting in the menu. The Clover loyalty program comes with some service plans at no extra fee, and Lightspeed Loyalty is either built into the retail plans or sold as a restaurant add-on. Square and Toast work the same way. Switching it on is the easy part.
The harder question is what happens after the points. A loyalty program is only half the job: the other half is reaching the customer again once they have left. That is where the four POS programs differ most, and where each one quietly ties you to the system at the counter.
This piece sets out what each one includes, what it costs where the price is public, and when a loyalty card that lives outside the register is the better fit.
Key takeaways
- Every POS loyalty program here works only on its own system. Change systems and the program and the points stay behind.
- Clover Rewards is included in select Clover plans at no extra fee. Customers join with a phone number or email at the counter, and Clover’s help center says it does not import rewards from another platform.
- Lightspeed Retail includes loyalty from its Core plan, $149 a month billed annually in the US. Email and SMS automation sits in a separate product, Lightspeed Advanced Marketing.
- Messaging is where they split. Clover sends announcements by text, email, and its own app. Square, Toast, and Lightspeed Retail put campaigns in a second product. None of them puts a pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.
What a POS loyalty program actually is
A POS loyalty program is a points ledger attached to the register. The customer gives a phone number or email at checkout, the register adds points to that record, and a reward comes off a later bill. It is convenient because nothing new sits at the counter: the same screen that takes payment also looks up the customer.
That convenience is also the limit. The program identifies the customer by the transaction, so it knows what they bought. What it usually does not give you is a way to reach them that they can see between visits, unless you pay for the marketing layer on top.
The test for any of these programs is simple: once a customer walks out, how do you reach them again, and what does that cost?
The four programs side by side
All four are tied to their own POS. Here is what each one’s own pages say, retrieved November 1, 2026.
| Clover | Lightspeed | Square | Toast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works without that POS | No | No | No | No |
| How customers join | Phone number or email at the till; optional Clover app | Retail: at the till. Restaurant: at the till or the loyalty web-app | Phone number at the register or online | At the till, receipt, or online order |
| Loyalty price | Included in select service plans | Retail: from the Core plan. Restaurant (UK page): paid add-on | Monthly tiers by loyalty visits | Not published |
| Who writes the campaigns | Promos, inside Clover | Advanced Marketing, a separate product | Square Marketing, a separate product | Marketing Suite, a separate product |
| Channels for campaigns | Text, email, Clover app | Email and SMS (retail); SMS, email, push (restaurant) | Email; texts billed separately | Email and SMS |
| Pass in Apple or Google Wallet | No | No | No | No |
Sources: Clover Help Center, Lightspeed’s loyalty and pricing pages, and the Square and Toast pages cited in our dedicated posts, linked below.
The rows that decide the choice are the last three: who writes the campaigns, which channels they use, and whether the customer carries anything at all.
The Clover loyalty program
Clover calls it Rewards. Its help center says reward features “are included in select service plans with no additional fee.” You set up points toward discounts, free items, or perks, plus welcome, birthday, and VIP bonuses (Clover Help Center, set up a rewards program, retrieved November 1, 2026). By default a customer earns one point per dollar of pre-tax spend, and you choose what each reward costs in points.
Joining takes a phone number or email address, typed at the register or on the customer-facing screen. Customers can also check in through the Clover consumer app, which they download and sign up for separately (Clover Help Center, rewards program FAQs, retrieved November 1, 2026).
Two lines in that FAQ matter more than the feature list:
- Clover currently does not support reward transfers. Asked whether customer and rewards data can come over from your current platform, the FAQ answers no.
- If you deactivate Rewards, customers cannot redeem what they earned. The points come back if you reactivate, but only inside Clover.
Messaging runs through Clover Promos. Clover’s help center describes announcements sent by text message, email, and push notification to customers who use the Clover app, sent from the Clover dashboard. Text needs a toll-free number requested first, and texts go out between 9 AM and 9 PM Eastern (Clover Help Center, send announcements, retrieved November 1, 2026).
Clover does not publish one price for all of this. Its pricing page says plan fees “vary depending on your business type,” and Clover is sold through banks and more than a thousand other partners, whose terms differ (Clover pricing, retrieved November 1, 2026). Ask whoever sells you the device which plan includes Rewards and what Promos costs beyond the basics.
Lightspeed Loyalty
Lightspeed sells two different systems, and loyalty works differently in each.
Lightspeed Retail builds loyalty into the plan, but not the cheapest one. On Lightspeed’s US retail pricing page, “In-store and online loyalty” is checked for the Core and Plus plans and not for Basic (Lightspeed Retail pricing, retrieved November 1, 2026). The UK pricing page shows the same split.
The loyalty in those plans tracks points at the register, and Lightspeed’s retail loyalty page lists points set per product and double or triple-point events. Email flows and SMS campaigns are a different product, Lightspeed Advanced Marketing, which its own page describes as email and SMS with a drag-and-drop flow builder. Lightspeed does not list a price for it; the page asks you to talk to an expert (Lightspeed Advanced Marketing, retrieved November 1, 2026).
Lightspeed Restaurant treats loyalty as an add-on. The UK Lightspeed Loyalty page says it “can be purchased as an add-on to your existing Lightspeed subscription” (Lightspeed Loyalty, retrieved November 1, 2026). It is “compatible with Restaurant (L Series) only” and works only fully integrated with the Lightspeed Restaurant point of sale.
That page lists promotional SMS, email, and push notifications, a drag-and-drop email builder, and automated campaigns. Customers can be rewarded in person or through a loyalty web-app. It does not state a price.
Square and Toast, briefly
We have covered both in full, so here is the short version.
Square Loyalty is billed in monthly tiers by how many loyalty visits it records, on top of a Square POS plan. Its one automatic message is a confirmation text. Campaigns need Square Marketing, a second subscription, and text campaigns are billed again on top.
Toast’s loyalty program tracks points by spend or visit, with no messaging of its own. Email and SMS live in Toast’s Marketing Suite. Toast publishes no standalone price for either, so the exact figure comes from a sales call.
The pattern is the same across all four. The points come with the POS. The way to reach a customer afterward is a second product, a second price, or both.
What none of them does
None of these programs puts a pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. The customer is a record in the POS: a phone number, an email, or an account in the vendor’s own app or web-app. That has two consequences worth thinking through.
First, most customers have nothing in front of them between visits. There is no pass showing six stamps out of eight sitting in the wallet they already open. Clover’s consumer app and Lightspeed Restaurant’s loyalty web-app get closest, but only for customers who open them.
Second, the program belongs to the POS. Clover says it cannot import rewards. Lightspeed says its restaurant loyalty works with Lightspeed Restaurant exclusively. Square and Toast require their own POS subscriptions. If you ever change systems, plan for the loyalty program to start again from zero.
When the POS’s own program is enough
Be fair to the POS programs: for some shops they are the right call.
You plan to stay on your POS for years and mostly want points tracked. A reward that applies itself at checkout, with no scan and no extra step, is a real advantage at a busy counter. If messaging is an occasional email, the built-in program plus the vendor’s basic campaign tool will do the job.
You already pay for the tier that includes it. On Lightspeed Retail Core or a Clover plan with Rewards included, the loyalty itself costs nothing extra. Start there before buying anything.
You want everything in one dashboard. One login for sales, stock, and rewards is worth something to an owner who runs the till themselves.
When a wallet card does the job better
A loyalty card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet sits alongside the till rather than inside it. The customer scans a QR code at the counter, the card lands in the wallet app their phone already has, and staff scan the pass from a phone or tablet. Nothing connects to the POS, so nothing breaks when the POS changes.
Passumo works that way, and it is what we sell. One subscription covers the card, push notifications to it on the lock screen, and email. SMS runs from the same dashboard as pay-as-you-go credit packs, with no second product to set up. As of November 1, 2026, the plan is $78 a month in the US and £59 in the UK. The current details are on the pricing page.
That suits three kinds of shop in particular:
- You run more than one POS system, or expect to switch. The card, the members, and their history stay put.
- You want customers to see their progress. A pass that shows two stamps to go is a reason to come back this week, and an update to it can reach the lock screen of customers who allow notifications.
- You want the follow-up to happen without a second product. A win-back message to someone who has not visited in 60 days, an email about the new menu, or a text for an important offer, sent from the same place the card lives.
The trade-off is honest: a wallet card asks staff to scan the pass, a second or so at the counter, where a POS program applies the reward inside the sale. For most independents that is a fair price for a program they own outright. What the three channels are for explains which one to use when.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Clover loyalty program free? Clover’s help center says reward features are included in select service plans with no additional fee. Which plans qualify depends on your business type and on who sold you the system, so confirm it with your Clover provider.
Can I use Lightspeed Loyalty with a different POS? No. Lightspeed’s UK page says its restaurant loyalty works with Lightspeed Restaurant exclusively, and retail loyalty is part of the Lightspeed Retail plans.
Can I move my points from one POS loyalty program to another? Not easily. Clover states it currently does not support reward transfers. Lightspeed offers to port balances into its own restaurant program, but nothing in these programs is built to carry points out. A wallet card avoids the question because it is not tied to the till.
Do customers need an app for a POS loyalty program? Usually not, since most identify the customer by phone number or email at checkout. Clover’s consumer app is optional. A wallet card needs no app either: it lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Our Apple Wallet vs Google Wallet guide explains both.
Where to go next
The best loyalty card apps for small businesses compares the wallet-card tools an independent would actually consider. Why your loyalty card belongs in a wallet makes the case for the pass over an app. Running a restaurant? The restaurant page shows how the card works in service. Running a shop? Loyalty cards for shops covers independent retail.
Sources: Clover Help Center: set up a rewards program, rewards program FAQs, and send announcements; Clover pricing; Lightspeed Retail pricing and its UK version; Lightspeed retail loyalty; Lightspeed Advanced Marketing; Lightspeed Loyalty for restaurants (UK). All retrieved November 1, 2026. Square and Toast figures are sourced in our dedicated posts on each.
