Short answer. PerkClub and Toast Loyalty are different categories of product. Toast Loyalty is a points-based loyalty add-on built into Toast POS — the restaurant point-of-sale system — so it requires Toast at your till. PerkClub is a POS-agnostic, white-label subscription platform that books recurring monthly revenue under your own brand, delivered as an Apple or Google Wallet pass. Pick Toast Loyalty if you already run Toast POS and want simple points baked into the same system. Pick PerkClub if you want recurring revenue rather than retroactive points, the freedom to use any till, and a wallet pass instead of an app.
Different categories of product
Toast Loyalty is a feature inside the Toast ecosystem. Toast is a US-origin restaurant point-of-sale platform that has been expanding in the UK, and Toast Loyalty is the points-based loyalty programme that lives inside it. Customers earn points on their spend at the till, and redeem them on a future visit. Because it's part of the POS, it shares the same customer data and reporting as your sales.
PerkClub is a paid recurring-membership platform. Customers join your club through a branded landing page, pay you monthly through Stripe, and carry a wallet pass in Apple or Google Wallet. The mechanic is contractual, not retroactive — the customer has paid you up front for an ongoing perk, rather than earning points after the fact. And it doesn't care which till you use.
Toast Loyalty is points-based — earning can be set up per visit or per amount spent — and it's available in the UK. There's no separate hardware to buy beyond your Toast POS, and rewards are tracked across dine-in, online and takeaway. On cost, Toast doesn't publish a standalone price for the loyalty add-on; third-party guides report it as costing around £180–£250 a month in the UK depending on your Toast POS plan, so treat that as an indication rather than an official figure and confirm with Toast directly.
The lock-in question: Toast POS vs any till
The defining constraint of Toast Loyalty is that it requires Toast POS. It's designed to work as part of that system, so the loyalty programme is effectively tied to your choice of till. If you switch away from Toast, you'd be leaving the loyalty programme — and the data behind it — with the POS.
PerkClub has no such tie. There's nothing to integrate at the till at all. Whether you run Toast, Square, Lightspeed, Epos Now, or a paper book, PerkClub works the same. Membership lives in Stripe and in the customer's wallet, neither of which depends on your POS. For an independent who doesn't want their loyalty fortunes welded to one till provider, that portability is the point.
Retroactive points vs paid memberships
Toast Loyalty's mechanic is points: the customer earns a small reward for spending they were going to do anyway, and you discount a future visit to nudge frequency. It's a proven retention lever, and inside a Toast restaurant it's convenient because it's already there.
PerkClub's mechanic is a paid membership. The customer commits to paying you monthly in exchange for a defined perk. That books revenue before they arrive, rather than discounting after. A membership with 100 members at £40/month books £48,000 a year — a different order of magnitude, solving a different problem from a points uplift.
Wallet pass vs identifying at the till
With a points programme, the customer typically identifies themselves at checkout so points can accrue. PerkClub members instead carry a wallet pass in Apple or Google Wallet, sitting beside their bank cards. At redemption they show the pass and staff scan it — no app to download, and the pass updates automatically when billing renews.
How PerkClub is priced
PerkClub charges a flat monthly platform fee plus standard Stripe processing on what you bill members, independent of how many members or locations you run. See the pricing page for the current figure. Stripe pays out to your own bank account weekly.
When Toast Loyalty is the right pick
Be honest about where Toast Loyalty wins. If you already run Toast POS, want minimum-effort loyalty, and are happy with a points mechanic, Toast Loyalty is the natural choice — it's in the same system, shares the same data, and needs no extra setup. For a Toast restaurant that mainly wants a simple loyalty programme, that's a genuine advantage.
PerkClub would be over-engineering if all you want is points inside Toast. It's built for a different job.
Why a UK independent might choose PerkClub
If your problem is recurring revenue — booking cash before customers walk in, insulating against the quiet months, and owning the customer relationship under your own brand rather than inside a POS account — Toast Loyalty doesn't solve that, because points are retroactive by design. PerkClub is built for that exact job: white-label, POS-agnostic, wallet-first, flat monthly pricing.
Many restaurants run both: Toast at the till for transactions, PerkClub as the membership rail. They coexist cleanly because they solve different problems. For more on the economics, see subscription vs stamp card vs points.
Bottom line
If you're a Toast user who wants simple points, Toast Loyalty is fine. If you want booked recurring revenue under your own brand, with no till lock-in, PerkClub is. If you'd like to talk through which fits your business, the PerkClub team is happy to walk through your numbers.
Sources
Competitor details are accurate as of June 2026 and may change — check the provider's own site for current pricing.
