The answer depends on whether you buy or build the platform, how rewards are funded and how much operational work remains with your team. A useful budget separates implementation, subscription, customer value and internal ownership.
A realistic loyalty budget includes implementation, recurring platform fees, reward or customer-value funding and internal resource. Businesses often compare supplier subscriptions while leaving their own product, engineering, finance, support and marketing costs outside the model.
That produces an incomplete decision. The right comparison is the total cost of launching and operating the programme over an agreed period, normally at least 12 to 24 months.
Gift Cards costs £950 per month plus £500 setup for API, or £1,500 per month plus £1,000 setup for white-label. Gift Cards + Affiliates costs £1,600 per month plus £1,200 setup for API, or £2,500 per month plus £1,500 setup for white-label. For businesses with 1 million+ customers, Enterprise offers custom APIs, bespoke integrations and other enterprise features with individually agreed commercials. All prices exclude VAT.
Pricing can change and Enterprise requirements vary, so use the live Spendstream pricing page as the authoritative source before making a budget decision.
The platform fee does not necessarily include the economic value given to each customer. A programme may fund discounts, cashback, entries, points or another benefit from merchant commission, from the client’s own budget or through a mixture of both.
Where customer value is taken from merchant commission, that value is applied before the remaining Net Commission is shared under the agreed Spendstream plan. The amount available varies by merchant, category and transaction.
White-label reduces the amount of client-side product and engineering work because Spendstream provides the customer interface and maintains the platform. The client still needs resource for branding, legal and commercial review, access decisions, testing, launch communications and ongoing programme ownership.
For many businesses, this creates a more predictable cost than an internal build. The subscription should still be assessed alongside the internal time required to launch and promote the proposition.
API fees cover access to Spendstream’s reward infrastructure, but the client funds its own customer-facing build. That can include discovery, UX design, front-end and back-end development, wallet logic, analytics, accessibility, security review, QA and continuing maintenance.
The cost depends on the existing product and the number of journeys required. Developers should review the API documentation before estimating effort.
A full internal build adds supplier sourcing, contracts, integrations, balance management, merchant updates, fulfilment operations, affiliate tracking, reconciliation and support tooling to the customer-interface project. It can be appropriate where loyalty is strategically central, but it should not be treated as a one-off software project.
The build-versus-white-label guide sets out those responsibilities in more detail.
Consider a business choosing Gift Cards + Affiliates white-label for a 12-month programme. At £2,500 per month, the platform subscription is £30,000 for the year. The one-off setup fee is £1,500, producing a supplier-platform total of £31,500, excluding VAT, customer reward funding and internal costs. The API route is £1,600 per month plus £1,200 setup, totalling £20,400 for the first year before those additional costs.
The same business should then add its own programme manager, legal and compliance time, technical work, marketing, customer support and any reward value funded outside merchant commission. This is an illustration, not a forecast of revenue or return.
Eligible transactions can generate commission, and the client’s share of Net Commission rises by plan. Published shares are 50% on Gift Cards and 65% on Gift Cards + Affiliates, after customer value where applicable. Businesses with 1 million+ customers can discuss bespoke Enterprise features and commercials.
Revenue depends on eligible active customers, transaction frequency, average order value, merchant rates and reward design. Do not use a best-case adoption assumption to justify fixed programme costs.
Ask whether the quoted price includes merchant access, the customer interface, integrations, reporting, fulfilment, reconciliation, support, fraud controls, catalogue updates and ongoing product improvements. Clarify implementation scope and any usage or transaction charges.
A cheaper subscription may create a more expensive total programme if the client must fund missing technology and operations. Conversely, a managed service only represents value when the organisation has a clear audience and a credible plan to drive use.
| Plan | Integration | Monthly subscription | One-off setup | First-year platform total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gift Cards | API | £950 | £500 | £11,900 |
| Gift Cards | White-label | £1,500 | £1,000 | £19,000 |
| Gift Cards + Affiliates | API | £1,600 | £1,200 | £20,400 |
| Gift Cards + Affiliates | White-label | £2,500 | £1,500 | £31,500 |
All prices exclude VAT. First-year totals include 12 monthly payments and one setup fee for your chosen integration. Businesses with 1 million+ customers can get in touch for custom APIs and other enterprise features, with bespoke pricing.
Gift Cards is £950 per month plus £500 setup for API, or £1,500 per month plus £1,000 setup for white-label. All prices exclude VAT. Check the live pricing page for current details.
Not automatically. Customer value may be funded from merchant commission, the client budget or a combination, depending on the programme.
API has lower subscription and setup fees, while white-label normally requires less client-side product and engineering work. Compare the total launch and ongoing costs for your programme.
Yes, eligible activity can generate commission, but the outcome depends on adoption, transaction behaviour, rates and customer-value design.
Internal product time, technical maintenance, marketing, customer support, finance reconciliation and the opportunity cost of engineering resource are commonly omitted.
A bespoke build gives your business complete control, but the visible interface is only a small part of a functioning rewards product. Compare the full technology, supplier and operational workload before deciding.
Give customers useful savings across everyday spending through one managed platform. Spendstream combines digital gift cards, cashback and affiliate offers, delivered through a fully branded white-label service or embedded using our API.
Both routes can provide access to the same underlying Spendstream reward infrastructure. The real decision is who builds and maintains the customer experience, how quickly you need to launch and how much control your product team needs.
Book a 30-minute founder demo to see the white-label and API routes.
