Loyalty Interchange Protocol vs Loyalzoo

Loyalty Interchange Protocol (LIP) is an open-source loyalty platform and vendor-neutral transaction protocol for restaurant technology teams that own integration work. Its checkout lifecycle includes member lookup and enrollment, balances and ledger history, order evaluation, accrual, redemption, reversal, and refund-safe adjustments. Its restaurant order model represents items, modifiers, discounts, fees, taxes, tips, tenders, and totals across channels such as drive-thru, kiosk, web, mobile, pickup, delivery, and catering. Supported program types include points, visits or stamps, wallet credit, paid membership, and hybrid multi-account programs.

The `/platform/v1` API covers profiles, consent, behavioral events, segments, campaigns, connectors, imports, analytics, and attribution. The maker provides an Apache-2.0 reference stack for self-hosting with Docker Compose or Node.js 22 and newer. Storage described includes SQLite-backed local storage and tenant-scoped PostgreSQL for multi-instance use. Customer sign-in remains external. LIP 0.2.0 is described as pre-1.0 infrastructure, not a turnkey no-code marketing service; CSV member imports are limited to 1 MiB and 1,000 rows.

Loyalzoo gives independent and small to medium-sized businesses tools for digital loyalty, marketing, memberships, and subscriptions. Merchants can create points or stamp programs with discounts, coupons, or free items, then send manual or automated campaigns by SMS, email, and push notification. Subscription features handle recurring and one-time card-on-file payments, membership benefit tracking, and declined or expired cards. Customers can join with an email address or phone number without installing an app, or use a branded web app or Loyalzoo app. The service lists POS integrations including Clover, Epos Now, Aevi, Poynt, Square, Sunmi, and PAX; online rewards can be connected through Zapier. Merchants use a browser on PC or Mac or the Loyalzoo for Business apps on iOS and Android. Grow costs $77 a month and includes loyalty, basic marketing, subscriptions, and automated recurring payments. Smart costs $167 a month and adds targeted promotions, tiered loyalty, personalization, and 5000 messaging credits. SMS promotions and points notifications require credits; Grow and Smart each include 5000. A 7-day trial is available, with no free plan.