A Loyalty Program That Works Next to Any POS

A regular pays at your register for the fifth time this week. She asks if you have a loyalty card. Your POS has one, but it costs extra, and you do not want to change systems.

Owners often search for "a loyalty program that works with any POS". No program connects to every POS, and we will not pretend one does. The honest answer is simpler. Keep your POS. Add a free stamp card next to it. Two small manual steps link them.

We make KANJIN, one tool that can do this. So we keep two rules. Every fact about another company has a link and the date we checked it. And we say where the POS add-on is the better choice. The advice comes first. Our own tool has one section, near the end.

Why most owners should keep their POS

Your POS rings up sales, takes cards, prints tickets and sends orders to the kitchen. It is the one system your staff already know. It does that job well.

Changing it costs real money and time. You buy new hardware, retrain staff and move your menu. Most owners lose a few weeks of focus. A loyalty card is not a good enough reason to do that.

So treat loyalty as a separate question. Your POS keeps doing sales. A second tool keeps the list of regulars and their stamps. The list is also yours to take along if you ever do change POS.

If your plan already includes loyalty, use it. Skip the rest of this post.

What a POS loyalty add-on costs

Most POS brands sell loyalty as an add-on. Each one works only with its own POS. Here are three examples.

Square. Loyalty comes with Square Plus at $49 per location a month. The free Square plan has no loyalty. Square says it has no locked-in contracts. Square pricing, checked October 5, 2026.
Toast. A third party reports $185 a month for the Marketing Essentials bundle, on top of your Toast plan. We could not read Toast's own price page. FaveCard report, checked September 22, 2026.
Clover. A third-party guide says basic Rewards come with Clover plans. It says Customer Engagement Plus costs $99 a month. We could not confirm that on Clover's site. LoyaltyPass guide, checked September 22, 2026.

For the full side-by-side table, read our POS loyalty comparison. We do not repeat it here.

Before you pay for any add-on, do one sum. Divide its monthly price by what one visit leaves you after costs. The free Break-even calculator helps with the second number.

How a separate stamp card works next to a POS

A separate card keeps its own list. It does not read your sales, so it needs no link to your POS. That is why it works next to any brand.

The flow is plain:

A customer gives a phone number at the counter, or scans a printed sign with their own phone.
Staff open the card on a tablet and give the stamp.
At ten stamps, or your own number, the customer gets a reward.

Say the limit out loud to your staff. The stamp does not happen inside your POS. It is one extra step at the counter, on a second screen. A POS add-on has no such step.

Your customers need no app if the card runs as a web page. Check this before you choose a tool. Some tools ask customers to download an app or add a wallet pass.

The two bridges

Two jobs keep a separate card useful. Both are manual. Neither needs a connection to your POS.

Bridge 1, once: bring your customer list over

Your POS already holds names and phone numbers of regulars. Move them to the new card on day one, so nobody starts at zero.

Export the customer list from your POS as a CSV file. Most POS dashboards have an export button in the customer section.
Open the file in a spreadsheet. Look at the top row of column names.
Check that one column holds a phone number. A card keyed on phone numbers cannot use a row without one.
Fix any column name the tool does not recognize.
Import the file. A good tool shows what it will do before it saves anything.

One rule matters more than the rest. Do not treat an old POS list as permission to send marketing. A spreadsheet cannot prove anyone said yes to email. Ask again at the counter, and keep that yes on record.

Bridge 2, daily: type the day's total

Your POS knows each day's sales. A separate card does not. Once a day, read the total on the POS end-of-day report. Type it into a daily sales log.

This is the day's total and nothing more. It does not match a stamp to a sale. It does let you see regulars and sales side by side over a month.

If the log is a spreadsheet, that works too. The habit matters more than the tool.

When the POS add-on is the better choice

A separate card is not always right. The add-on wins in these cases:

You already pay for it. If your plan includes loyalty, extra cost is zero.
You want the stamp inside the register. The customer pays and the points go on in one step. With a separate card, staff take a second step.
You need text messages. Square Plus lists 500 texts a month, then 3 cents each, per Square's marketing pricing, checked October 5, 2026. KANJIN sends no texts.
You never plan to switch POS. The list then stays safe inside one system.
Your counter is very busy. Staff who will not use a second screen will skip the stamp.

If two or more of these fit you, use the add-on. If none fit, a separate card is worth a try.

Pick your POS

Each guide below covers one POS: where its customer export lives and what to check in the file. The Square guide is live today. The others are coming, so they have no link yet.

Square. Free plan owners can add a stamp card without Square Plus. See Square loyalty without Square Plus.
Toast. Guide coming soon.
Clover. Guide coming soon.
Shopify POS. Guide coming soon. A third-party app vendor says Shopify POS has no built-in loyalty. Joy, checked September 22, 2026.
Lightspeed. Guide coming soon. Lightspeed does not show a loyalty price on its restaurant pricing page, checked September 22, 2026.
Loyverse. No guide planned. Its free POS includes a loyalty program, per Loyverse pricing, checked September 22, 2026. If you use Loyverse, start there.
iCHEF (繁體中文). Guide coming soon. Its pricing page lists member points at the register, checked September 22, 2026.

To compare free card apps, read the best free digital stamp card apps.

Where KANJIN helps

This section is about our own tool. Everything above works with any card that has a phone-number list, an import and a daily log. Here is what KANJIN has, with its limits.

Free, no card and no time limit

Stamp card. Staff type the customer's phone number, set the stamps with the minus and plus buttons, and press Give stamps. There is no limit on customers.
Counter poster. It has a QR code. Customers scan it when staff press Ready for the next scan, then type their number on their own phone. Press Print the poster.
Kiosk. Pair a tablet in Settings with Open the kiosk on this tablet. Customers type their number there. Nothing to install.
Counter Mode. It locks the tablet to the Stamp card with a PIN.
Daily ledger. It holds Log daily sales. Break-even, Profit by item and Shift notes are free too.
Your list, as a spreadsheet. In Settings, the Take a copy card has a Customers button. It gives phone, email, marketing consent, stamps, visits, and first and last visit.
Messages. One email a month to up to 150 people, and 20 Google review requests a month.
Staff logins, and 5 review reply drafts a month.

Paid plan

Import is part of the paid plan. A free account does not have it. Here is the rest of what the paid plan adds:

Your logo and colors on the kiosk and on every customer's card
Bring a friend: a new customer names who sent them, and that friend gets a stamp
A welcome treat and a birthday treat, with your own offer
Supplier payment and profit reports, printable for your accountant
Up to 5 shops on one account, $39 each
Local creator discovery, with the invitation drafted
Messages to your regulars: the slow-day email, a rainy-day email, a Win-back email, and Google review requests with no monthly cap (one per customer after a visit, then not again for a year). It sends up to 1,000 customers at a time, two sends a week. KANJIN drafts the slow-day and rainy-day emails. You read them and press Send.

The free plan has no time limit and nothing is charged until you start the paid plan yourself. The paid plan is $39 a month, or $390 a year, per shop, and the first 30 days are free. See pricing.

The two bridges in KANJIN

These times are our estimates for a list of a few hundred customers. We did not run a timed test.

Bridge 1 (about 10 minutes once, plus the POS export). First set your shop's country in Settings. Only the owner can import.

Export your customers from the POS. Allow about 3 minutes. It depends on your POS.
Check the top row. KANJIN needs a phone column. It reads "Phone Number", "Phone" and "Mobile". It reads "First Name" and "Email Address" too. Allow about 2 minutes.
Open Stamp card. Under the customer list, find Bring your existing list in. Press Choose your file. There is also a Download the template button.
Read the box called Here is what this file will do. It shows how many customers will be added, how many are already on your card, and how many rows cannot be used. Nothing is saved yet.
Press the Import button. Steps 3 to 5 take about 5 minutes.

Imported customers arrive as "not agreed" to marketing, whatever the file says. They can say yes on the kiosk or from their own card page.

Bridge 2 (about 1 minute a day). Read the day's total on your POS report. Open Daily ledger and press Log daily sales. Type it into Today's sales total, then press Log the day's sales. Logging the same day twice replaces the first number. A manager or owner does this. In Counter Mode, the owner can tick Let staff log the day's sales while locked.

Honest limits

KANJIN does not connect to your POS. Nothing moves between them on its own.
It has no text messages. Email works in every country.
Staff take a second step at the counter.

Square, Toast, Clover, Lightspeed, Shopify, Loyverse and iCHEF are trademarks of their owners. KANJIN is not affiliated with them.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a loyalty program that works with any POS?

No program connects to every POS. A separate card works next to any POS because it needs no connection. A few apps list POS links. Loyalzoo lists eight POS brands on its integrations page, checked September 22, 2026. Check that yours is on the list.

Can I use a loyalty program without changing my POS?

Yes. Keep your POS for sales. Run a separate card on a tablet or phone at the counter. You trade one extra step at the counter for no switch and no add-on fee.

How do I import my customer list into a loyalty program?

Export a CSV file from your POS. Check that it has a phone number on every row. Import it, and read the preview before you save. Do not assume the people on the list agreed to marketing. In KANJIN, import is on the paid plan.

Do I need to connect my loyalty app to my POS?

No. A separate card needs no connection. The cost is manual: you type the day's sales total once a day, and staff give stamps on a second screen. A connected add-on removes both steps but works only with its own POS.

Will my customers need to download an app?

Not with KANJIN. Customers join on a web page, by scanning the poster or using the kiosk tablet. Other tools differ. Stamp Me says customers download its app, per its pricing page, checked October 5, 2026.

Your next step

Print the free Counter poster and put it next to your register today. Your POS keeps ringing up sales. The card starts collecting your regulars.

Then work out how many stamps a reward should take. Use the free Loyalty card calculator. To see what a loyalty add-on must earn each month, try the Break-even calculator. A free KANJIN account gets you the poster, and it takes no card.