Joy vs. Rivo: Which Shopify Loyalty App Wins for Growing Brands?

Growing a Shopify brand is not just about winning a first purchase. Retention, customer lifetime value, and lower reliance on paid ads matter just as much. And, a well-designed loyalty program can move all three.

Among Shopify loyalty apps, Joy and Rivo are two popular choices. Both help turn shoppers into repeat customers, but they take different approaches.

In this article, I’ll break down how Joy and Rivo compare in terms of pricing, integrations, customization, analytics, and support, so you can choose the right app for your growth.

Let’s dive in.

Joy vs Rivo: At a Glance

Joy

Joy is built for the customer experience. It places loyalty across more than 30 touchpoints such as homepage banners, product pages, the cart, checkout, widgets, and the account page so rewards are visible when shoppers make decisions.

To make this work even better, use segmentation data such as purchase history, spend level, VIP tier, and referral activity. This helps you show each shopper group the right prompt at the right time, leading to higher signups, more redemptions, and stronger repeat purchases.

Rivo

Rivo focuses on referrals and memberships, including paid memberships that unlock premium perks and bring recurring revenue. You can also build a dedicated account page and style it to match your brand. On that page, customers can see their points and perks, share referral links, manage their membership, and redeem rewards in one place. The experience feels unified and easy to use, which helps more shoppers engage and come back.

Joy vs. Rivo: Feature Comparison Table

Feature	Joy	Rivo	Who Wins
Pricing	Free planPaid plans start at $24.99 – $499/month	Free planPaid plans start at $49 – $499/month	Joy (better value at scale)
Ease of setup	Seamlessly built into the Shopify admin, fast setup with prebuilt templates	Smooth UX, but advanced features need setup outside Shopify Admin	Joy
Shopify embed	Deep native integration: Shopify Flow, POS, Hydrogen, metafields	Also deeply embedded with Shopify, especially the Plus stack	Tie
Reward Rules	Advanced: birthday points, holiday multipliers, streaks, milestones, reviews, social actions	Custom earning logic via developer toolkit; flexible but more technical	Joy
Checkout extensions	Included in Advanced+ plans; loyalty elements visible at checkout	Plus plan offers rich loyalty touchpoints in checkout	Tie
Custom API	Ultimate plan offers API, webhooks, and Hydrogen support	The Developer Toolkit is robust and flexible, especially for custom builds	Rivo
On-demand customization	Custom dev and feature support available on Ultimate	Open platform with more developer-level access and toolkit	Rivo
Account Manager	Dedicated manager in the Ultimate plan	Slack access, roadmap priority, onboarding, and monthly sessions at Plus/Enterprise	Rivo
POS Integration	Shopify POS integration is available on all plans	Shopify POS available; built for Shopify Plus	Joy
Support	24/7 chat support on all plans; loyalty consultants on higher tiers; multilingual support (6 languages)	24/7 live chat with high user satisfaction; English only	Joy

Joy and Rivo: Pros & Cons

Joy

Pros:

• Deep Shopify integration across cart, checkout, product pages, and POS with over 30 touchpoints.
• Segmentation-driven prompts, flexible reward rules, and 6-layer referral protection.
• Lower entry price, fast setup and migration, and 24/7 support.

Cons:

• Analytics are less advanced than some Ultimate tools.
• Smaller integration network than Rivo, and some developer tools sit on higher tiers.

Rivo

Pros:

• Strong referrals and memberships, including paid memberships for premium perks.
• A dedicated, fully customizable account page you can build to match your brand.
• Robust controls and APIs for teams that want fine-grained setup.

Cons:

• The account page is managed outside Shopify Admin, so changes take extra steps.
• Advanced features often need more setup and may increase costs as you scale.

Joy vs. Rivo: Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Pricing

Joy

Joy’s pricing is straightforward and flexible. The free plan includes 150 monthly orders. The Essential plan is $24.99 per month, which includes 500 orders. If you need more volume, you can add 100 orders at $5 to $15, depending on the plan, which helps you avoid upgrading too early.

Rivo

Rivo’s free plan includes 200 orders per month. The next tier is $49 per month for 400 orders, and there is no option to extend the cap within a plan. To increase volume, you must upgrade to a higher tier, with the Plus plan priced at $499 per month for 2,500 orders.

The verdict

In this pricing comparison, Joy will be the better choice. Its lower entry price and optional add-on order packs keep costs flexible as you scale, while Rivo’s non-extendable caps and larger tier jumps make growth more expensive.

Ease of Set Up

Joy

Joy is one of the easiest loyalty apps to launch I’ve ever used. It resides within Shopify Admin, so you don’t need a separate dashboard. Onboarding is quick with ready-made templates for points, referrals, milestones, and VIP tiers. In my hands-on test, I had a live program running in under 15 minutes.

Rivo

By contrast, Rivo takes longer to set up. Because the account page is not directly connected to Shopify Admin, advanced customizations such as branding, referral flows, and automation require additional configuration and testing, which adds time.

The verdict

Joy wins for speed and simplicity. In my hands-on setup, Joy felt more native to Shopify and I launched a live program in minutes, while Rivo took longer once I added advanced options.

Shopify embed

Joy

Joy offers deep native integration across Shopify. It works seamlessly with Shopify Flow, POS, Hydrogen, and metafields right out of the box. This means I could automate workflows, sync loyalty rewards in real-time both online and in-store, and customize the experience deeply without extra workarounds.

Rivo

Rivo also offers strong Shopify embedding, especially for Shopify Plus merchants, and I found their integration with Shopify POS and Flow to be solid. Their focus on the Plus stack gives them an edge for enterprise-level stores.

The verdict

It is a tie. Both Joy and Rivo deliver smooth, reliable Shopify embedding without extra tools, with Joy offering broad native coverage and Rivo aligning well with Plus-level needs.

Reward Rules

Joy

When it comes to reward rules, Joy stands out with a wide range of options. You can set birthday points, holiday multipliers, streak bonuses, milestone rewards, and rewards for reviews or social shares.

Additionally, you can segment your audience by profile details, location, order value, specific products or collections, and sales channels, including POS and online. This allows you to tailor rewards to the right groups, creating a more personalized and engaging experience for each customer segment.

Rivo offers great flexibility, too, especially with its custom earning logic through a developer toolkit. However, I found it more technical and less user-friendly if you’re not comfortable with complex setups. This might be great for developers, but it can be a barrier for merchants wanting quick, ready-to-use options.

The verdict

Joy wins for most merchants. It offers rich reward options and advanced segmentation that are easy to launch and manage. Rivo is powerful if you have technical resources and need highly customized earning logic, but it takes more time to configure.

VIP tier system

Joy

Joy’s VIP Tier system goes beyond the basics. It supports both consumer and B2B tiers, with automatic upgrades and unlockable rewards that make customers feel valued.

VIP members can receive tailored discounts and exclusive perks, they can unlock ongoing perks that apply automatically to every order once they reach a tier. For example, a Silver member might get 30% off all orders without needing to apply a code. Discounts can even scale by quantity, making the system very flexible.

Joy also has a reevaluation system. Customers need to maintain a certain spend to keep their tier.

For B2B stores, Joy adds exclusive options like catalog access and custom payment terms, giving wholesale buyers tailored benefits.

Rivo

Rivo also offers ongoing perks that apply to every order once a customer reaches a tier. Its system is usually based on spend, points, or order count and covers the essentials well. However, I found it a bit more limited compared to Joy, lacking advanced customization, tier reevaluation, and special B2B perks.

The verdict

Joy leads this category. Its flexible VIP and B2B tiers drive long-term loyalty while staying simple to manage.

Checkout extensions

Joy

Joy’s checkout features are available on the Ultimate plan and above. At that level, you can add three checkout extensions: Quick Redeem to redeem points instantly, All Discounts to show every loyalty discount in one place, and Available Rewards to apply issued coupons at checkout. Stores on lower tiers will still show loyalty elsewhere in the journey, but not directly at checkout.

Rivo

Rivo’s checkout features are available for Shopify Plus. It offers five checkout extensions, including checkout blocks, redeem points, redeem incremental points, redeemed rewards, and… This allows shoppers to use rewards right at checkout, while your team automates perks by tier and reduces manual work.

The verdict

I give this one to Rivo because it offers more checkout options for merchants to choose from, which can be a real advantage for growing stores looking to make a quick impact.

Custom API

Rivo

When it comes to custom API capabilities, Rivo really shines. Their Enterprise plan includes comprehensive API access, webhooks, and full Hydrogen support, which is a big deal if you want to build deeply customized loyalty features or integrate seamlessly with your existing systems.

Joy

On the other hand, Joy offers a Developer Toolkit that’s powerful and flexible too, especially for custom builds. Still, it’s not as extensive as Rivo’s API offering in the Ultimate tier. For me, if you’re a brand looking for the most advanced developer options and the ability to tailor every aspect of your loyalty program, Rivo takes the lead here.

The verdict

Rivo wins this one with its robust API and developer tools designed for full customization and scalability.

On-demand customization

Rivo

When I needed on-demand customization, I noticed that Rivo offers strong support for custom development and feature requests, especially on their Enterprise plan. Their platform is very open, providing developers with deeper access and a robust toolkit to tailor the loyalty program exactly as desired.

Joy

Joy supports on-demand customization without heavy lift. You get a flexible loyalty page builder, brandable widgets, and checkout blocks, plus a Developer Toolkit for custom endpoints when needed. Most requests can be scoped and delivered quickly with the help of a dedicated account manager and solutions support, allowing non-technical teams to launch tailored experiences quickly.

The verdict

It’s a tie. Joy excels at fast, merchant-led customization with strong integrations and guided support, while Rivo suits engineering-led builds that need deeper, code-level control.

POS Integration

Joy

Joy really stood out for its seamless Shopify POS support across all plans. This means that whether you’re just starting or scaling up, you can rely on Joy to keep your loyalty program connected smoothly with your in-store sales without any extra fuss.

Rivo

Rivo also offers Shopify POS integration, but it’s more tailored towards Shopify Plus merchants, which might not be as accessible for smaller or mid-sized stores. From my experience, Joy’s wider availability of POS integration gives it an edge, especially for growing businesses that want consistency across channels without breaking the bank.

The verdict

Joy wins here for offering robust Shopify POS integration on the Advanced plan, making it a more flexible and scalable solution for a wider range of stores.

Support

Joy

I value how Joy offers 24/7 chat support on all plans—it makes a huge difference when I need quick help without worrying about my subscription level. Additionally, having loyalty consultants available on higher tiers gives me confidence that expert guidance is just a message away.

Rivo

With Rivo, the 24/7 live chat is solid, but it’s only in English. Since I work with customers and teams who speak different languages, Joy’s support in Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Japanese feels way more inclusive and practical.

The verdict

I give Joy the edge here because its multilingual, always-on support and expert consultants make me feel backed up, no matter what plan I’m on.

For most Shopify merchants, Joy is the better all-around choice: it offers a lower entry cost, faster setup, generous usage, deep Shopify integration, customizable reward rules, and responsive support. Rivo excels for enterprise needs, such as checkout extensions and complex custom/API work, but it typically requires more setup and a larger budget. If you want a scalable, user-friendly loyalty app without extra complexity, go with Joy.

For a closer look at what makes Joy stand out, check out our full breakdown of Joy Loyalty’s upgraded features and improvements.

Joy and Rivo: Which Loyalty Program is Better For You?

Here’s a quick guide to who should choose Joy versus Rivo:

Joy is best for:

• Growing Shopify stores that want fast setup, deep native embed, and 30+ touchpoints.
• Teams that prefer merchant-led customization with strong integrations and 24/7 support.
• Brands seeking cost-effective pricing, flexible usage add-ons, and solid fraud protection.

Rivo is best for:

• Stores that prioritize referrals and memberships, including paid memberships.
• Shopify Plus brands that want 10+ checkout extensions and a custom account page.
• Teams with developer resources who need robust APIs and engineering-led customization.

Both apps are strong, but they fit different needs. Choose Joy for a cost-effective, customer-first rollout with a deep Shopify integration and fast setup. Choose Rivo if you need referrals and memberships at the center, Plus-level checkout extensions, and developer-led customization.

Successful story: Glamour Us achieved 197% MoM sales growth

Glamour Us, a cosmetics retailer with over 20 years in business, needed a single loyalty system for both in-store and online operations. Their previous setup kept channels separate, so customers could not consistently earn or redeem points, which hurt engagement and repeat purchases.

With Joy, the team migrated customer data into one place, including points, VIP tiers, and contact info. They then launched clear, customer-friendly earning options:

• Points for purchases
  
• Birthday rewards
  
• Points for Google reviews
  
• Incentives for following on social media
  

Results within the first month

• 197% month-over-month sales growth
  
• 55% reward redemption rate
  
• 60% of customers enrolled in 30 days
  

Why it worked
A unified program made rewards visible across channels and easy to use. Joy’s straightforward setup and flexible rules helped Glamour Us engage more shoppers, drive redemptions, and turn loyalty into measurable revenue.

Read the full case at: https://joy.so/case-study-glamour-us/ 

Frequently asked questions

In conclusion

In short, Joy is the better choice for most growing Shopify brands, offering flexible features, fair pricing, and deep Shopify integration. Rivo, on the other hand, is well-suited for larger stores that need advanced customization and enterprise-level support.

Joy and Rivo serve different needs, so the right choice depends on whether you want an affordable, scalable solution for everyday growth or an enterprise-focused platform with advanced customization.

Related post: 

• Joy vs. Yotpo: The Smarter Loyalty Solution for Shopify Stores
• Joy vs. Smile: The Better Shopify Loyalty Program for Real Results