Sway vs Smile.io (2026): Free VIP, Cart Redemption & Savings

Sway vs Smile.io

Updated October 2026

VIP tiers, points expiry, a customer hub and cart redemption are free on Sway. On Smile, VIP alone costs $199 a month, and customers can’t redeem points in the cart on any plan.

Switch from Smile

See the full comparison

Full comparison

5.0 on the Shopify App Store

Free migration, live in 24 hours

What you’d pay each month

Tick what your program needs, then drag to your monthly order count.

IntegrationsCart redemption

Orders per month

Smile.io

Growth plan

$199/mo

No cart redemption on any plan

Sway

Basic plan

$35/mo

You save

$1,968/yr

$5,904 over three years

Smile pricing and plan features from smile.io/pricing and help.smile.io, checked October 2026. Smile allows 1 integration on Essential and 2 on Standard. Both apps count all store orders. Smile’s Free, Essential and Standard plans have soft order caps, so we assume an upgrade once the cap is passed. Smile Plus is billed yearly. Sway overage is billed per order ($0.05 on Basic and Starter, $0.03 on Growth and Plus). Sway Enterprise is $209/mo billed annually.

The short version

Choose Sway if you want

VIP tiers without paying $199 a month

Customers to redeem points in the cart and cart drawer

An API and webhooks for $49, not $999

Room to grow past a 200-order free plan and $20 per 100 extra orders

A free, done-for-you migration that’s live in 24 hours

Smile may still fit if you need

Your store runs on BigCommerce

Industry benchmarks built into your analytics

An integration Sway doesn’t have yet, and you can’t wait the couple of days it takes us to build it

What $199 a month buys you on Smile

Smile’s Growth plan is where VIP tiers, points expiry and the customer hub unlock. Here’s the same list on Sway’s free plan.

Smile.io Growth

billed monthly

VIP tiers

Growth plan

Points expiry

Growth plan

Reward code expiry

Growth plan

Customer account hub

Growth plan

Award points after delivery

Growth plan

Earning limits

Growth plan

More than 2 integrations

Growth plan

Cart and cart drawer redemption

Not on any plan

Total

$199/mo

Includes 2,500 orders. Each extra 100 orders costs $20.

Sway Basic

free plan

VIP tiers

Included

Points expiry

Included

Reward code expiry

Included

Customer account hub

Included

Award points after delivery

Included

Earning limits

Included

More than 2 integrations

Included

Cart and cart drawer redemption

Included

Also free on Sway, paid on Smile

Custom referral domain

Smile: $999

Bonus points campaigns

Smile: $79

Points on product pages

Smile: $79

Total

$0/mo

Includes 500 orders. Each extra 100 orders costs $5.

Customers decide in the cart. Smile isn’t there.

Smile’s help docs list four places customers can spend points. None of them is the cart. Sway puts redemption in the cart page and the cart drawer, on the free plan.

Where customers redeem

Sway

Smile.io

Rewards widget

Free

Loyalty page

Free

$15, view only

Customer account hub

Free

$199

Cart page and cart drawer

Free

Not offered

Checkout, Shopify Plus stores

$99

$199

Shopify POS

$15

Your cart

Cold brew concentrate

1 L · Qty 1

$34.00

Ceramic pour-over set

Slate · Qty 1

$52.00

1,240 pointsGold member

Subtotal$86.00

Total$86.00

Check out

Tap a reward. This is how Sway’s cart block works on your store.

Sway vs Smile.io, feature by feature

Prices show the cheapest plan that includes each feature. Every Smile cell comes from Smile’s own help docs.

FeatureSwaySmile.io

Pricing3 rows

Free plan orders per month500200

Extra orders, per 100$5 Basic and Starter, $3 Growth and PlusUpgrade prompt below Growth, $20 on Growth, $5 on Plus

Unlimited orders$209/mo, billed annuallyCustom Enterprise pricingAt least $999/mo, billed yearly. That’s the price of Plus, Smile’s highest advertised plan, which still caps at 7,500 orders.

Earning4 rows

Orders, signup, birthday, social and reviewsIncludedIncluded, reviews from $15/mo

Anniversary rewardsIncludedNot offered

Award points after deliveryFree$199/mo

Earning limitsFree$199/mo

Rewards7 rows

Discounts and free shippingIncludedIncluded

Free product rewardsFree$15/mo

Shopify store credit$49/mo$79/mo

Points Shop$49/moNot offered

Reward code expiryFree$199/mo

Points returned when a code goes unusedIncludedNot offered

Refund an order as pointsFreeNot offered

Where customers redeem6 rows

Widget or panelFreeFree

Loyalty pageFree, customers redeem on the page$15/mo, view only

Customer account hubFree$199/mo

Cart page and cart drawerFreeNot offered on any plan

Checkout, Shopify Plus stores$99/mo$199/mo

Shopify POS$9/mo$15/mo

VIP, referrals and campaigns4 rows

VIP tiersFree$199/mo

Referral program and analyticsFreeFree, analytics from $15/mo

Custom referral domainFree$999/mo

Bonus points campaignsFree$79/mo

Storefront and retention4 rows

NudgesFree, on cart pages and cart drawers$15/mo, cart page only, not with cart drawers

Points on product pagesFree$79/mo

Thank-you pageFree$79/mo

Points expiryFree$199/mo

Integrations and data8 rows

Klaviyo and Shopify FlowFree$15/mo

How many integrations you can connectNo limit, on every plan1 on $15 Essential, 2 on $79 Standard, unlimited from $199 Growth

Number of integrations6 direct, plus most apps through Shopify FlowMissing one? We’ll build it, usually in a couple of days.34

API$49/mo$999/mo

Webhooks$49/mo, with the APINot offered to merchants

Loyalty revenue and referral analyticsFree$15/mo

AI reportsFreeNot offered

Industry benchmarksNot offered$199/mo

Platform, support and migration3 rows

PlatformsShopifyShopify and BigCommerce

OnboardingFrom $9/mo$999/mo, Plus plan

Migration from SmileFree, done for you, live in 24 hoursNot applicable

Sway bills overage per order ($0.05 on Basic and Starter, $0.03 on Growth and Plus), shown per 100 orders for readability. Both apps count all store orders. Smile data from smile.io/pricing and help.smile.io, October 2026.

Live in 24 hours. Every point comes with you.

Migration is free on every plan. We do the work, and your customers see the same balance on day one.

Hour 0

Install Sway

Add Sway from the Shopify App Store. No developer needed.

Hours 1 to 12

We import everything

Every customer and point balance, with your earn rules, rewards and VIP tiers mapped one to one.

Hour 24

Go live

Turn on your widget, loyalty page and cart redemption. Customers keep every point.

After the import

Uninstall Smile

Only once we’ve confirmed your data is in Sway.

Import before you uninstall. Smile deletes all of your loyalty data within 48 hours of uninstalling, so we bring it over first.

Book a migration call

Still in a Smile contract? Talk to us and we’ll work out the best way to switch.

Where Smile is ahead

Smile offers three things Sway doesn’t. Here’s each one, and what we do about it.

On Smile

On Sway

34 integrations

Smile connects to apps Sway doesn’t yet, including Tapcart for mobile apps, Recharge for subscriptions and Gorgias for support. Sway has 6.

Count the apps you actually use, not the logos. Sway sends every loyalty event to Shopify Flow, which connects to most of the apps in your stack, and we’ll set those workflows up for you. Need a direct integration we don’t have? Request it, and it’s usually live within a couple of days. And Sway never limits how many you connect. Smile allows 1 on its $15 plan and 2 on its $79 plan.