A regular taps her card on your Square reader for the fourth time this week. She asks if you have a loyalty card. You look in Square and see that loyalty needs an upgrade.
You already run Square. It is one of the most used POS systems, with more than 4.5 million sellers in 2025, according to Block's annual report. Keep it. Square Loyalty needs Square Plus, at $49 per location a month. If you are on the free Square plan, this post shows how to add a free stamp card next to your Square register in about 15 minutes.
We make KANJIN, the stamp card in this post. So we follow two rules. Every fact about Square links to where we found it, checked on 22 September 2026. And we say when Square Loyalty is the better choice.
What Square does well
Square is a good POS. The free Square plan costs $0 a month and rings up your sales, per Square's pricing announcement.
Every Square account also comes with the Customer directory. It is Square's free customer list. It holds your customers, and you can sort them into groups.
Square's reports are clear too. The Sales summary shows your net sales for any day.
So keep Square for sales. Nothing in this post asks you to change how you ring up a sale. We only add the part the free plan does not include.
What loyalty costs on Square
Here is what Square's own pages said on 22 September 2026:
- Square Free, $0. No loyalty and no marketing.
- Square Plus, $49 per location a month. Loyalty and marketing are included. Premium costs $149 per location. (Square)
- Trial. Square Loyalty has a 30-day free trial. Square says there are "no hidden fees or locked-in contracts".
- Messages. Plus includes unlimited email campaigns and 500 texts a month, then 3 cents a text, per Square's marketing pricing.
Older articles show other prices. We use Square's own $49.
Now the sum. $49 a month is $588 a year for one location. Two locations cost $1,176 a year.
Take a $5 coffee at a 75% margin as an example. Each one leaves you $3.75. Square Plus then needs about 13 extra coffees a month just to pay for itself. Put your own prices into the free Break-even calculator to see your number.
Owners ask about this in Square's own seller community. For many shops, Plus is worth it. For a shop on the free plan that only wants a stamp card, it is a big step.
Step by step: Square Free plus a free KANJIN stamp card
KANJIN does not connect to Square. It works next to it. The bridge is manual and simple. You export a file from Square once. Then you type one number each night.
You need Square Dashboard on a computer, a free KANJIN account, a printer, and a tablet or phone at the counter. The times below are our estimates for a list of a few hundred customers.
Step 1: Export your customers from Square (about 3 minutes)
In Square Dashboard, go to Customers, then Customer directory, then Import / Export, then Export customers. Square gives you a CSV file. The steps are on Square's Customer directory page and in this guide.
Two things to know about the file:
- A customer in several groups appears only once.
- Only emails saved on a customer profile are exported. An email used only for a receipt is not in the file.
Step 2: Check the phone column name (about 2 minutes)
Open the file in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. Look at the top row.
KANJIN needs a phone number in every row. It finds the phone column by name. It reads "Phone Number", "Phone", "Mobile" or "Telephone". For first names it reads "First Name", "Given Name" or "Name". For email it reads "Email Address" or "Email". Capitals and spaces do not matter.
We could not confirm the exact name Square gives the phone column. If yours says something else, change that one cell to "Phone Number". Then save the file as CSV.
Step 3: Import your list into KANJIN (about 5 minutes)
First, create a free account. Your customer list lives in that account, so it is there on every device you sign in on. There is no limit on customers.
Now open Stamp card. Under the customer list you will see Bring your existing list in. Press Choose your file and pick your Square CSV.
KANJIN shows Here is what this file will do. It tells you how many new customers will be added, how many are already on your card, and how many rows cannot be used. Rows without a phone number are listed with the reason. They are not saved. KANJIN matches duplicates by the digits of the phone number, inside the file and against your card.
Nothing is saved yet. When the numbers look right, press Import (the button shows the number of customers).
About email. Imported customers get no marketing email from KANJIN until they say yes. A spreadsheet cannot prove anyone was asked, so everyone arrives as "not agreed". They can say yes at the counter on the kiosk, or later from their own card page.
About price. Import is a paid feature. A free account does not have it. The paid plan starts with 30 free days.
Step 4: Print the Counter poster (about 5 minutes)
Open Counter poster. Type how many Visits for a reward and The reward, like "a free coffee". Press Print the poster. Put it next to your Square register.
The poster has a QR code. When a customer pays, staff press Ready for the next scan on the Stamp card screen. The customer scans the poster and types their number on their own phone. A scan with nobody at the counter gets no stamp.
Staff can also type the number. On the Stamp card screen, pick Type the number, enter the Customer's phone number, and press Give stamps.
Be honest with your staff about one thing. This is a second step. Square rings up the sale, and KANJIN gives the stamp. To keep the counter tablet on the stamp card only, use Counter Mode. It locks the tablet with a PIN, and it is free.
Step 5: Type the day's net sales each night (about 1 minute)
At closing, open Square Dashboard. Go to Reports, then Sales summary. Find Net sales. That is your gross sales minus returns, discounts and items given away free, per Square's help page.
In KANJIN, open Daily ledger and press Log daily sales. Type the number into Today's sales total. Press Log the day's sales. If you log the same day twice, the new number replaces the old one.
If staff close the shop, open the Counter Mode settings and tick Let staff log the day's sales while locked. The locked tablet then shows one screen, Log daily sales, with the sales total and nothing else.
The Daily ledger lives in your KANJIN account, so you can type it on the counter tablet or on a computer at home. The ledger shows what your days add up to, next to your supplier costs.
One more help. In Settings, the Your basic costs card has a guide called Where to find these numbers. Its Square tab shows which Square report holds your average sale and your item sales, for the break-even figures.
What you get free, and what is paid
Free, with no card and no time limit:
- Stamp card, with no limit on customers
- Counter poster with a QR code, the kiosk, and Counter Mode
- Daily ledger, Break-even and Profit by item
- Shift notes
- One email to your list a month
- 20 Google review requests a month, sent for you
- Your customer list as a spreadsheet, and the whole shop as a file, from Settings in one press
Paid plan, $39 per location a month ($390 a year):
- The slow-day email: a one-tap email to regulars on a quiet day
- Google review requests with no monthly cap: one per customer after a visit, then not again for a year
- Rainy day email and Win-back email
- Up to 1,000 customers per send, and two promo emails a week
- Customer import
The free plan has no time limit and nothing is charged until you start the paid plan yourself. It is $39 a month, or $390 a year, per shop, and the first 30 days are free. See pricing for the full list.
KANJIN sends email only. Email works in eleven countries and regions: the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. In other countries the Stamp card works, but emails do not send.
To choose your reward, try the free Loyalty card calculator. To see what an email to regulars could bring in, use the Email marketing ROI calculator.
When Square Loyalty is the better choice
Square Loyalty is better in three cases.
- You already pay for Square Plus. Then loyalty costs you nothing extra. Use it.
- You want the stamp at the register. With Square Loyalty, the stamp happens in the same sale, with no extra step. Customers can also join on your Square website or an invoice. With KANJIN, staff take a second step on a separate screen.
- You want to send texts. Square Plus includes 500 texts a month. KANJIN sends no texts at all.
There is also the simple case for one system and one bill. Some owners will pay $49 a month for that, and it is a fair choice.
For a side-by-side look at Square, Toast and Clover loyalty, read our POS loyalty comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is Square Loyalty free? No. On 22 September 2026, Square Loyalty came with Square Plus at $49 per location a month, or Premium at $149. The free Square plan has no loyalty. There is a 30-day free trial.
Can I use Square Loyalty without Square Plus? Not on the free plan, per Square's pricing announcement. The other way is a separate stamp card that works next to Square, like the steps above.
How do I export my customer list from Square? In Square Dashboard, go to Customers, Customer directory, Import / Export, then Export customers. You get a CSV file. Only emails saved on a customer profile are in it.
How do I email my Square customers without Square Plus? Email campaigns are not part of the free Square plan. Square Plus includes them. In KANJIN you can email only customers who said yes. Imported customers have not said yes yet. They can say yes at the counter or from their card. Email works in the eleven countries and regions listed above.
Will KANJIN see my Square sales automatically? No. There is no connection to Square. You type the day's net sales into Log daily sales each night. It takes about a minute.
Your next step
Export your Square customers today. Then create a free KANJIN account, print the free Counter poster, and put it next to your Square register. You can read more about the free stamp card first. Want to know why regulars drift away in the first place? Read why customers stop coming back.
Square, Toast and Clover are trademarks of their owners. KANJIN is not affiliated with them.