Joy vs. BON: Which Loyalty App Is Better for Shopify Stores?

Joy and BON look similar at first. Both launched in 2021, both have strong ratings, and both offer a free plan.

But the differences become clear when you look at what each plan actually includes.

This guide compares Joy and BON feature by feature. It also breaks down their pricing, so you can see which app gives you more as your store grows.

Joy vs. BON in one minute

Joy is the stronger overall platform. It's free plan covers 250 orders a month. You also get a five-tab analytics dashboard and 48 integrations without upgrading.

Joy also keeps its pricing clear. You can see every plan, including the $499 Ultimate plan with full API access, before you decide.

BON has two clear advantages. Its native Shopify POS support starts at $29 a month, and its referral fraud protection is available on the free plan.

Best for stores that want more features, more integrations, and clear pricing: Joy.

Best for stores that sell in person and need early POS support or free fraud protection: BON.

Joy vs. BON at a glance

Here's how Joy and BON compare across the features that matter most.

Two things worth flagging from that table. First, the $129 coincidence: Joy and BON both unlock VIP tiers and B2B rewards at the exact same monthly price, on their Advanced and Growth plans. Second, BON's Plus plan works the same way Yotpo's top tier does elsewhere in this series: no dollar figure published anywhere, priced only as "Let's talk."

What each platform does well

What we like about Joy

Joy gives you more room to grow before you need to pay. It's free plan covers 250 orders a month.

It also gives you plenty of options for building your loyalty program. You get 30+ ways to earn points and 6 ways to redeem them.

Analytics is another major advantage. Joy includes its five-tab dashboard from the free Starter plan. You can track metrics such as retention rate, redemption rate, breakage rate, and referral conversion.

Joy also connects to 48 named integrations. These include Klaviyo and Judge.me, Gorgias, Recharge, and many more. You can use these integrations on every plan, including the free plan.

What we like about BON

BON is a better fit for stores that need in-person loyalty.

Native Shopify POS support starts at its $29 Basic plan. Customers can earn and redeem points in person without paying for the $129 tier.

BON also includes referral fraud protection, called Anti-Cheat, on its free plan. It helps block self-referrals and duplicate accounts.

BON has a strong track record, too. It launched in the same year as Joy and has more than 1,800 reviews.

If you want to see how Joy's side of this comparison, try Joy free on Shopify what you're using today.

Feature-by-feature: how they actually work

The table above gives you a quick overview. Now let's look at what these features mean for your store and your customers.

VIP tiers and B2B rewards

Both Joy and BON unlock VIP tiers and B2B rewards at $129 a month. Joy calls this the Advanced plan, while BON includes them in Growth.

The difference is less about price and more about how much control you get over the customer experience.

With Joy, you can build VIP tiers around points, total spending, or the number of orders. This gives you more options for deciding who reaches each tier.

Joy can also apply a discount automatically at checkout when a customer reaches a VIP tier. Customers do not need to remember a coupon code or look for a separate reward before buying.

BON takes a simpler approach. It starts with three tiers: Entry, Silver, and Gold. You can rename the tiers, change their icons, and adjust the requirements for each level.

For stores that want a straightforward tier system, that can be enough. But Joy gives you more flexibility if you want your VIP program to support a specific retention or spending strategy.

The same difference matters for B2B rewards. At the $129 level, both platforms let you build rewards for business customers. The value comes from being able to give different customer groups different reasons to keep buying.

Verdict: Joy. Both apps unlock VIP and B2B rewards at the same price, but Joy gives you more flexibility in how you structure your VIP program. That can make it easier to create rewards based on spending, order frequency, or points, rather than forcing every customer onto the same path.

POS and in-store loyalty

For stores that sell both online and in person, POS loyalty can make the customer experience much smoother. Customers can earn and use their points in-store, instead of having a separate loyalty experience for each sales channel.

BON has the clear advantage here. Its native Shopify POS support starts at the $29 Basic plan. Customers can earn and redeem points in person without upgrading to the $129 tier.

Joy also supports POS loyalty, but its POS loyalty extension starts at the $129 Advanced plan.

That makes BON the better choice if in-store loyalty is a key part of your business and you want to keep costs low.

Verdict: BON for stores that rely heavily on in-person sales. Joy may offer better overall value for stores focused mainly on online loyalty.

Referrals and fraud protection

A referral program works best when rewards go to genuine new customers. Without proper protection, shoppers can create duplicate accounts, refer themselves, or claim rewards more than once.

Joy uses several checks to detect suspicious referrals, including similar email addresses, browser activity, IP addresses, and previous purchase history. This gives merchants more ways to spot self-referrals and duplicate accounts.

Joy can also tie referral rewards to order status, helping prevent rewards from being issued for canceled or incomplete orders.

BON's Anti-Cheat feature also blocks self-referrals and duplicate accounts, covering the most common types of abuse.

Verdict: Joy. Its multi-layer approach gives merchants stronger control over referral abuse while helping keep rewards fair for genuine customers.

Earning and redemption

A loyalty program works better when customers have more ways to earn points and more options for how to use them. This gives you more ways to reward different actions and keep customers engaged.

Joy offers 30+ ways to earn points and 6 redemption options, including discounts, free shipping, free products, store credit, gift cards, and sending rewards to friends.

BON covers key earning actions, including purchases, account creation, birthdays, reviews, and social engagement. Its redemption options include amount discounts, percentage discounts, free shipping, free products, and POS discounts.

The difference comes down to flexibility. With Joy, you get more ways to build earning activities and more ways for customers to use their rewards.

Verdict: Joy. More earning and redemption options give you more ways to keep customers engaged with your loyalty program.

Analytics and reporting

Joy provides a five-tab analytics dashboard with the Starter plan. The Overview tab shows 8 key metrics, including revenue, retention rate, redemption rate, and AOV lift.

You can then go deeper into each part of the program. Members helps you track enrollment, activation, and retention. Rewards show points earned, points redeemed, and reward breakage. Referral gives you a conversion funnel and a list of top referrers.

This makes Joy useful beyond simply checking how many points customers have. You can see whether loyalty members are staying, spending more, using their rewards, and bringing in new customers.

BON also provides analytics, including monthly performance reports and an activity log. However, its published information gives less detail about the metrics and reports included.

Verdict: Joy. You get a clearer view of customer behavior and loyalty performance, making it easier to see what is working and where you can improve.

Integrations

Integrations matter because your loyalty program works best when it connects with the tools you already use. Email, reviews, subscriptions, and support tools can all work together with loyalty data rather than remain in separate systems.

Joy connects with 48 integrations across 6 categories, including Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend, Judge.me, Loox, Recharge, Gorgias, Intercom, Shopify Flow, and more. These integrations are available across all Joy plans, including the free plan.

BON has 14 integrations covering email marketing, reviews, chat, page builders, mobile apps, and subscriptions. The list includes familiar tools such as Klaviyo, Judge.me, Loox, and Seal. However, these integrations are not available on BON's free plan.

The bigger advantage with Joy is how much you can connect without having to rebuild your tech stack as your store grows. You can connect loyalty data with email, reviews, subscriptions, and other tools from the start.

Verdict: Joy. You get a much broader integration ecosystem with access across all plans. BON covers the key categories, but Joy gives you more flexibility to connect your loyalty program with the rest of your store.

What it costs at each stage of growth

The features above show what each platform offers. Now let's look at how the pricing changes as your store grows.

Just starting out: free plans

Joy's Starter plan covers 250 orders a month, while BON's Free plan covers 150. Joy also includes 150 referrals a month, while BON includes referrals with no published cap.

BON has one early advantage: its fraud protection is included from the start.

Verdict: Joy for more order capacity. BON for built-in fraud protection.

A stepping-stone tier BON has, and Joy doesn't

BON offers a $15 Starter plan that supports 300 orders per month. This adds an extra step between free and its $29 Basic plan.

Joy keeps its pricing simpler. It moves from the free Starter plan directly to the Essential plan at $29, which covers 500 orders per month.

For stores that want the lowest possible paid tier, BON has the cheaper option. For stores that want more order capacity at the $29 level, Joy gives you 500 orders instead of 300.

Verdict: BON for a lower-cost first paid plan. Joy for more order capacity at $29.

Reaching VIP and B2B tiers: same price, different mix

Both platforms unlock VIP and B2B rewards at $129 a month.

Joy's Advanced plan also includes POS support at this level. BON offers POS support earlier, starting with its Basic plan.

So the price is the same, but what you get along the way is different. BON makes POS available earlier, while Joy brings more of its broader loyalty features into the same tier.

Verdict: Even on price. The better choice depends on whether early POS access or a broader set of loyalty features matters more.

Full scale and beyond

Joy's Ultimate plan costs $499 a month and covers 7,000 orders. It also includes full API and webhook access, plus headless support for Hydrogen.

BON's Plus plan includes unlimited orders, API, SDK, and Hydrogen access, but its price is listed as "Let's talk."

That makes Joy easier to plan for as your store grows. You can see the cost of reaching its highest level before you need to contact sales.

Verdict: Joy for clear, predictable pricing at the top end.

The full price ladder

Joy pricing:

• Starter: Free (250 orders/mo)
• Essential: $29/month (500 orders/mo)
• Advanced: $129/month (2,000 orders/mo)
• Ultimate: $499/month (7,000 orders/mo)

BON pricing:

• Free: $0/month (150 orders/mo)
• Starter: $15/month (300 orders/mo)
• Basic: $29/month (500 orders/mo)
• Growth: $129/month (unlimited orders)
• Plus: "Let's talk" (unlimited orders, no published price)

Which one fits where you're headed

Now that you've seen how the features and pricing compare, the next question is which platform makes more sense for your store.

Choose Joy if you're:

• Starting free and want the most order headroom before you pay anything
• Building a program around a published, specific set of ways to earn and redeem points
• Planning to need API access eventually and want to know that cost today, not after a sales call

Choose BON if you're:

• Running a store with real in-person sales and want POS point-earning without paying for a $129/month plan
• Want referral fraud protection included from day one, before you've committed to a paid plan
• Already using BON and mainly need to confirm it still holds up on a track-record basis, which it does

Switching from BON to Joy

If Joy looks like the better fit, switching does not mean you have to start your loyalty program from scratch.

Joy's migration team can import your existing points, VIP tier assignments, and referral data through a CSV file. The team then rebuilds your program in Joy and validates it before launch, helping customers keep their existing balances.

You can follow the full process in Joy's guide to migrating from BON

Choosing between Joy and BON comes down to what's gated where

On paper, Joy and BON are close: same launch year, ratings within a tenth of a point, and a shared $129 price point for VIP and B2B tiers. The real decision comes down to specifics. BON gets you POS support and referral fraud protection earlier and at a lower cost. Joy gets you a bigger free-plan order allowance, a fuller analytics dashboard from day one, more integrations at every tier, and a published price even at the top of its ladder.

If you'd rather see what a fully published pricing ladder looks like in practice, try Joy free on Shopify and compare it against what you're using today.

Frequently asked questions