Gift Cards and Vouchers
/Best Restaurant Gift Card and Voucher Software in the UK (2026)
An independent comparison of the leading gift card, voucher, prepaid experience, and promotional revenue platforms for UK restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotels, and hospitality groups
Oliver Hartley ยท Published 18 June 2026
Compare the best restaurant gift card and voucher software in the UK in 2026, including VoucherCart, Toggle, Giftpro, Gift Up!, Square Gift Cards, and Shopify.
Gift cards and vouchers are one of the most underrated revenue tools in hospitality. Sold well, they generate cash upfront, before a single plate leaves the kitchen, and a meaningful share is never redeemed, which goes straight to the bottom line. They turn your restaurant into a giftable product, bring in new customers introduced by existing ones, and create natural campaigns around Christmas, Valentine's, Mother's Day, and birthdays. For pubs, hotels, and experience-led venues, prepaid packages and experiences can become a serious revenue line in their own right.
The right gift card and voucher software helps a restaurant generate upfront cash, sell experiences and packages, drive bookings and visits, create giftable products, run seasonal campaigns, increase customer spend, improve retention, support corporate gifting, track redemption cleanly, and cut the manual admin that makes most paper voucher schemes more trouble than they are worth. The wrong software, or a spreadsheet and a book of paper vouchers, leaves most of that value on the table.
This guide compares the six best gift card and voucher platforms available to UK and Ireland hospitality operators in 2026, across restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotels, and groups. We assessed each on hospitality fit, selling and campaign tools, redemption tracking, integrations, pricing, and overall value. The result is a clear winner. VoucherCart takes the top spot because it is built specifically around vouchers, gift cards, experiences, and promotional selling for hospitality, leisure, and local businesses, rather than treating gift cards as an afterthought.
That said, the right platform depends on your venue type, how much you want to sell experiences versus simple gift cards, and what you need it to connect to. Read on for full breakdowns of all six.
The best gift card and voucher software at a glance
- VoucherCart: best specialist voucher, gift card, and experience sales engine for hospitality
- Toggle: best for digital gift cards connected to hospitality and bookings
- Giftpro: best for hotels, restaurants, and experience-led venues
- Gift Up!: best simple, no-monthly-fee gift card tool for any website
- Square Gift Cards: best for operators already using Square POS and payments
- Shopify: best for food brands already selling through Shopify
Prices are as published by each provider for the UK and Ireland market at the time of writing. Where pricing is not public, this is noted and quote-based pricing is indicated. Scores reflect our editorial assessment across the criteria set out at the end of this guide.
/quick comparison
| Vendor | Best for | Pricing From | Key Strengths | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VoucherCart | Specialist voucher and experience sales engine | Quote-based monthly subscription | Vouchers, gift cards, experiences, memberships, tickets, automation, redemption tracking | 4.8 |
| Toggle | Digital gift cards connected to hospitality | Quote-based | Digital gift cards, hospitality focus, booking and POS connections, branded design | 4.5 |
| Giftpro | Hotels, restaurants, and experience venues | Quote-based | Monetary and experience vouchers, strong for hotels, polished gifting journey | 4.3 |
| Gift Up! | Simple gift cards for any website | No monthly fee (3.49% per card sold) | No monthly or setup fee, fast setup, works on any website, physical and digital cards | 4.1 |
| Square Gift Cards | Operators already on Square POS | Included with Square (card fees apply) | Native to Square POS and payments, digital and plastic cards, simple to launch | 3.9 |
| Shopify | Food brands already selling through Shopify | From ยฃ19/month (Basic) | Gift cards built into Shopify plans, strong for ecommerce-style food brands | 3.8 |
/top 6 platforms
01. VoucherCart
๐ Best Specialist Voucher and Experience Sales EngineVoucherCart is a specialist sales engine built around vouchers, gift cards, experiences, and promotional selling for hospitality, leisure, and local businesses. Where most tools treat gift cards as a single feature, VoucherCart treats selling prepaid products as the whole job, which is exactly why it leads this guide.
Starting software price: Quote-based monthly subscription. Transaction fees from: Payments are taken directly to your nominated bank account; processing fees apply.
VoucherCart's strength is breadth of what you can sell and how aggressively it helps you sell it. You can create and sell gift cards, monetary vouchers, experiences, packages, memberships, and tickets, all uniquely branded to your venue, and publish them across your website, social channels, and email. The platform is loaded with automation and incentives designed to drive repeat purchase, and because payment is taken in full and in advance, you get the cash upfront with the redemption risk firmly in your favour. The company notes that a meaningful share of vouchers go unredeemed, which is margin that lands directly on your bottom line.
For hospitality operators that want to run serious seasonal campaigns, sell experiences and packages, and support corporate gifting, this depth matters. Redemption tracking is built in, so the admin burden of managing a voucher programme manually disappears. For pubs, restaurants, hotels, and experience-led venues that see prepaid selling as a real revenue line rather than a token gesture, VoucherCart is the most capable specialist option here.
It is worth thinking about how voucher campaigns connect to the rest of your stack. Restaurants that sell vouchers should consider how those campaigns link to their online ordering, POS, payments, loyalty, and customer marketing workflows, so that a voucher sale becomes the start of a repeat-customer relationship rather than a one-off transaction.
The honest drawback is that VoucherCart is a specialist tool, priced as a monthly subscription with no public rate card, so it is more investment than an operator who only wants the occasional simple gift card needs. For a venue genuinely committed to prepaid and promotional revenue, the capability justifies it.
Pricing: Quote-based monthly subscription, scoped by venue and feature set. Payment is taken in advance directly to your bank account, with standard processing fees. No public rate card, so a demo is required for a quote.
- Sell gift cards, vouchers, experiences, memberships, and tickets from one platform
- Strong automation and incentives to drive repeat purchase
- Payment taken in full and in advance, straight to your bank account
- Built-in redemption tracking that removes manual admin
- Branded selling across website, social, and email
- Excellent for seasonal campaigns, experiences, and corporate gifting
- Sell gift cards, vouchers, experiences, memberships, and tickets from one platform
- Strong automation and incentives to drive repeat purchase
- Payment taken in full and in advance, straight to your bank account
- Built-in redemption tracking that removes manual admin
- Branded selling across website, social, and email
- Excellent for seasonal campaigns, experiences, and corporate gifting
- Specialist tool with a monthly subscription rather than a free entry point
- Quote-based pricing with no public rate card
- More than an operator needs if they only want occasional simple gift cards
Best for: Restaurants, pubs, hotels, and hospitality groups that want a serious, capable platform for selling vouchers, gift cards, and experiences as a real revenue line.
View full profile โ02. Toggle
Best Digital Gift Cards Connected to HospitalityToggle is a digital gift card platform with a strong hospitality focus, designed to let restaurants and venues sell branded digital gift cards online and connect them to their wider operation. It sits a step below VoucherCart on breadth but is a clean, well-designed option for operators focused primarily on gift cards.
Starting software price: Quote-based. Transaction fees from: Processing fees apply.
Toggle's appeal is a polished digital gift card experience that fits hospitality. Customers buy branded digital gift cards through your site, the design and journey reflect your venue, and the platform connects to hospitality systems including bookings and POS so that redemption is clean rather than a manual reconciliation. For a restaurant or group that wants digital gifting done well and tied into the rest of the operation, it is a strong, focused choice.
Where it sits below VoucherCart is breadth. Toggle is centred on gift cards rather than the full spread of experiences, memberships, packages, and tickets that the category leader supports. For operators whose primary need is digital gift cards rather than a broad prepaid product range, that focus is a strength rather than a weakness. Pricing is quote-based, so a conversation is needed to get your number.
Pricing: Quote-based, scoped by venue and integrations. Processing fees apply on sales. No public rate card.
- Polished, branded digital gift card experience built for hospitality
- Connects to bookings and POS for clean redemption
- Strong design and customer journey
- Good fit for restaurants and groups focused on digital gifting
- Polished, branded digital gift card experience built for hospitality
- Connects to bookings and POS for clean redemption
- Strong design and customer journey
- Good fit for restaurants and groups focused on digital gifting
- Centred on gift cards rather than the full prepaid product range
- Quote-based pricing with no public transparency
- Less breadth than a full experience and voucher sales engine
Best for: Restaurants and hospitality groups that want a polished digital gift card programme connected to bookings and POS.
View full profile โ03. Giftpro
Best for Hotels, Restaurants, and Experience VenuesGiftpro is a gifting platform widely used across UK hotels, restaurants, and experience-led venues. It is built around selling both monetary gift vouchers and experience or package vouchers, with a polished customer journey that suits venues where gifting and experiences are a meaningful part of the business.
Starting software price: Quote-based. Transaction fees from: Processing fees apply.
Giftpro's strength is the experience side of gifting. As well as straightforward monetary vouchers, it lets venues package and sell experiences, afternoon teas, tasting menus, overnight stays, and similar, with a branded purchase journey that feels premium. That makes it a particularly strong fit for hotels and restaurants with a dining-and-stay or experience proposition, where a voucher is often for a specific package rather than just a cash amount. Redemption and management tools reduce the manual admin of running an experience-led gifting programme.
For a pub or restaurant that mainly wants simple gift cards, Giftpro may be more than needed, and its experience focus is best matched to venues that genuinely sell packages and experiences. Pricing is quote-based. For hotels and experience-led hospitality, it is one of the strongest options in the UK market.
Pricing: Quote-based, scoped by venue and product range. Processing fees apply. No public rate card.
- Strong for both monetary and experience or package vouchers
- Polished, premium-feeling gifting journey
- Particularly well suited to hotels and experience-led venues
- Redemption and management tools that reduce manual admin
- Strong for both monetary and experience or package vouchers
- Polished, premium-feeling gifting journey
- Particularly well suited to hotels and experience-led venues
- Redemption and management tools that reduce manual admin
- Experience focus is more than a simple gift card programme needs
- Quote-based pricing with no public transparency
- Best value for venues that genuinely sell experiences and packages
Best for: Hotels, restaurants, and experience-led venues that want to sell monetary and experience vouchers through a polished, premium gifting journey.
View full profile โ04. Gift Up!
Best Simple, No-Monthly-Fee Gift Card ToolGift Up! is the simplest way to sell gift cards online, with no monthly or setup fee and a model built around a single per-card commission. It works on any website and earns its place here as the lowest-commitment way for a restaurant to start selling gift cards.
Starting software price: No monthly or setup fee. Transaction fees from: 3.49% per gift card sold, subject to a small minimum fee per card.
Gift Up!'s appeal is that there is almost nothing to commit to. There is no monthly fee, no setup fee, and no contract or tie-in. You add it to any website, including WordPress, WooCommerce, Squarespace, and others, and you can be selling branded digital and physical gift cards within an hour. You receive the gift card revenue in full and are invoiced once a month for the 3.49% fee per card sold. For a small restaurant or cafe that wants to start selling gift cards with zero risk and no fixed cost, it is an excellent entry point.
The trade-off is depth. Gift Up! is a focused gift card tool, not a full hospitality voucher and experience engine. It does not offer the experience packages, memberships, tickets, automation, or deep hospitality integrations of the specialists above. For simple gift cards on any website with no commitment, it is hard to beat. For a serious prepaid and experience revenue strategy, you will outgrow it.
Pricing: No monthly or setup fee. 3.49% per gift card sold, subject to a minimum fee per card. No contract or tie-in. Works on any website.
- No monthly or setup fee and no contract
- Works on any website, including WordPress and Squarespace
- Sell branded digital and physical gift cards
- You receive gift card revenue in full, invoiced monthly for the fee
- Fastest, lowest-risk way to start selling gift cards
- No monthly or setup fee and no contract
- Works on any website, including WordPress and Squarespace
- Sell branded digital and physical gift cards
- You receive gift card revenue in full, invoiced monthly for the fee
- Fastest, lowest-risk way to start selling gift cards
- A focused gift card tool, not a full voucher and experience engine
- No experience packages, memberships, or deep hospitality integrations
- Per-card commission can cost more than a flat fee at high volume
Best for: Small restaurants and cafes that want to start selling gift cards on any website with no monthly fee and no commitment.
View full profile โ05. Square Gift Cards
Best for Operators Already Using SquareSquare Gift Cards is the gift card capability built into the Square ecosystem. For any restaurant or cafe already running Square POS and payments, it is the path of least resistance to launching a gift card programme, because everything is native and there is nothing extra to integrate.
Starting software price: Included with Square. Transaction fees from: Standard Square processing fees apply on sales.
The advantage is integration. Square Gift Cards lets operators sell digital and physical gift cards that work natively with the Square POS, so selling and redeeming a card is part of the same flow staff already use, with no separate system to manage. You can launch online and plastic gift cards in a few clicks, and the data sits alongside the rest of your Square reporting. For a cafe or small restaurant already on Square that wants a simple, well-integrated gift card programme, it is genuinely convenient and low-effort.
The limitation is that it is tied to Square and is a gift card feature rather than a full voucher and experience platform. It does not offer the campaign automation, experience packages, or hospitality-specific gifting depth of the specialists. For Square operators with simple needs it is the obvious choice. For operators wanting a serious prepaid revenue strategy, or those not on Square, a specialist is better.
Pricing: Included within Square at no separate software fee. Standard Square card processing fees apply on gift card sales and redemptions.
- Native to Square POS and payments, with nothing extra to integrate
- Sell and redeem digital and plastic gift cards in the same flow staff use
- Launch in a few clicks with data in your Square reporting
- Convenient and low-effort for existing Square operators
- Native to Square POS and payments, with nothing extra to integrate
- Sell and redeem digital and plastic gift cards in the same flow staff use
- Launch in a few clicks with data in your Square reporting
- Convenient and low-effort for existing Square operators
- Tied to the Square ecosystem
- A gift card feature rather than a full voucher and experience platform
- No campaign automation or experience and package selling
Best for: Cafes and restaurants already using Square POS that want a simple, native gift card programme with no extra system to manage.
View full profile โ06. Shopify
Best for Food Brands Already Selling Through ShopifyShopify includes gift card functionality within its ecommerce plans, which makes it a sensible option for food brands that already sell online through Shopify. It is not a hospitality voucher specialist, but for an ecommerce-style food business it adds gifting without a new platform.
Starting software price: From ยฃ19/month (Basic plan). Transaction fees from: Shopify Payments fees from 2.0% + 25p on Basic.
For a meal-prep company, a bakery shipping nationwide, a packaged-food brand, or any food business already running a Shopify store, gift cards are built into the plans and integrate with the existing storefront, checkout, and customer accounts. Customers buy a gift card the same way they buy any other product, and it works within the store they already shop in. If Shopify is already your commerce platform, turning on gift cards is straightforward and keeps everything in one place.
The limitation for traditional hospitality is the same as it is for Shopify generally: it is built for shipping products, not for restaurant service or experience-led gifting. It does not offer the hospitality-specific campaign tools, experience packages, or booking and POS connections of the specialists. For a food brand that behaves like an ecommerce retailer, Shopify gift cards are convenient. For a restaurant, pub, or hotel running real service, a hospitality specialist will sell prepaid revenue far more effectively.
Pricing: Gift cards included within Shopify plans. Basic from ยฃ19/month, with higher tiers above. Shopify Payments fees from 2.0% + 25p on Basic, falling on higher plans. Apps and themes are extra.
- Gift cards built into Shopify plans with no separate platform
- Integrates with the existing storefront, checkout, and customer accounts
- Convenient for food brands already selling through Shopify
- Strong for ecommerce-style and nationwide food businesses
- Gift cards built into Shopify plans with no separate platform
- Integrates with the existing storefront, checkout, and customer accounts
- Convenient for food brands already selling through Shopify
- Strong for ecommerce-style and nationwide food businesses
- Built for shipping products, not restaurant service or experiences
- No hospitality-specific campaign, experience, or booking and POS tools
- Only makes sense if you already run a Shopify store
Best for: Meal-prep, bakery, and packaged-food brands already selling through Shopify that want to add gift cards without a new platform.
View full profile โ/verdict
How to choose the right gift card and voucher software
The right platform depends on what you want to sell, how seriously you want to sell it, and what it needs to connect to.
Decide between simple gift cards and a prepaid revenue strategy. If you want to dip a toe in with basic gift cards at minimal cost, Gift Up! or Square Gift Cards will do it cheaply and simply. If you want prepaid and promotional revenue to be a real line in the business, with experiences, packages, campaigns, and corporate gifting, a specialist like VoucherCart is built for that and will return far more.
Match the platform to your venue type. A hotel or experience-led restaurant selling tasting menus and stays needs experience vouchers, where Giftpro and VoucherCart excel. A pub or restaurant wanting branded digital gift cards tied to bookings suits Toggle. A small cafe wanting the simplest possible option suits Gift Up! or Square. Buy for what you actually sell.
Understand how you pay. Models range from no monthly fee with a per-card commission (Gift Up!), to native inclusion in a platform you already pay for (Square, Shopify), to a specialist monthly subscription (VoucherCart, Toggle, Giftpro). At high volume, a flat subscription usually beats a per-card commission. At low volume, no-monthly-fee tools win. Model your expected sales before choosing.
Check redemption tracking and admin. The hidden cost of voucher schemes is manual admin and reconciliation. Strong platforms track issuance and redemption automatically, which is one of the main reasons to use software rather than paper. Make sure whatever you choose removes admin rather than adding it.
Think about connection to the rest of your stack. A voucher sale is most valuable when it becomes the start of a customer relationship. Consider how your gift card and voucher campaigns connect to your online ordering, POS, payments, loyalty, and customer marketing, so a one-off gift turns into repeat visits rather than a single transaction.
How we ranked these platforms
We assessed each platform across six factors weighted by importance to a gift card and voucher decision:
- Selling and campaign capability (30%): breadth of products, automation, and how well it helps you actually sell.
- Hospitality fit (25%): how well suited it is to restaurants, pubs, hotels, and experiences.
- Redemption and admin (15%): how cleanly it tracks issuance and redemption and reduces manual work.
- Pricing and value (15%): subscription, commission, or inclusion, and value relative to revenue generated.
- Integrations (10%): connections to POS, bookings, and the wider stack.
- Reputation (5%): customer feedback and track record.
VoucherCart leads because it is the most capable specialist sales engine for prepaid and promotional revenue in hospitality, covering the widest range of products with strong automation. The remaining platforms each serve a clear and different need, from experience-led hotels to simple no-fee gift cards.
Next steps
If prepaid revenue could be a real line in your business, start by mapping what you want to sell, gift cards, experiences, packages, or all three, then take a demo of the platform that matches. For venues serious about voucher and experience revenue, VoucherCart is the strongest starting point. Whichever you choose, think about how voucher campaigns connect to your online ordering, POS, loyalty, and customer marketing so each sale builds a longer relationship.
/frequently asked questions
What is the best restaurant gift card software in the UK?
VoucherCart is our top pick for 2026 because it is a specialist sales engine built around vouchers, gift cards, experiences, memberships, and tickets for hospitality, with strong automation and built-in redemption tracking. Giftpro is excellent for hotels and experience-led venues, Toggle is strong for connected digital gift cards, and Gift Up! is the simplest no-monthly-fee option.
Is VoucherCart good for restaurants?
Yes. VoucherCart is built specifically for hospitality, leisure, and local businesses, and lets restaurants sell branded gift cards, vouchers, experiences, packages, and memberships with payment taken in advance straight to their bank account. Its automation and redemption tracking make it a strong fit for operators that want prepaid and promotional selling to be a genuine revenue line rather than an occasional gift card.
What is the difference between gift cards and vouchers?
A gift card is typically a monetary value that a customer can spend like cash at your venue. A voucher is usually for a specific product, experience, or package, such as a tasting menu, afternoon tea, or overnight stay. Many platforms sell both, but specialist tools like VoucherCart and Giftpro are stronger for experience and package vouchers, while simple tools focus on monetary gift cards.
How much does voucher software cost?
It varies by model. Gift Up! has no monthly fee and charges 3.49% per gift card sold. Square Gift Cards and Shopify include gift card functionality within platforms you already pay for, with standard processing fees. Specialist platforms like VoucherCart, Toggle, and Giftpro use quote-based monthly subscriptions. At higher volume a flat subscription often works out cheaper than a per-card commission.
Can restaurants sell gift cards online?
Yes, and most should. Every platform in this guide lets restaurants sell digital gift cards or vouchers online, usually with the option of physical cards too. Selling online generates upfront cash, reaches customers who want to gift your venue, and is especially valuable around seasonal peaks like Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Mother's Day.
What is the best gift card software for pubs and hotels?
For hotels and experience-led venues, Giftpro and VoucherCart are the strongest because they handle experience and package vouchers as well as monetary gift cards, with a polished gifting journey. For pubs wanting branded digital gift cards connected to their systems, Toggle and VoucherCart are both strong options. The best fit depends on whether you mainly sell cash-value cards or experiences and packages.
Should voucher software connect to POS?
Ideally, yes. Connecting voucher and gift card software to your POS makes redemption part of the normal service flow rather than a manual reconciliation, reduces errors, and keeps reporting accurate. Platforms with hospitality POS and booking connections, such as Toggle and VoucherCart, make this cleaner. Operators already on Square benefit from Square Gift Cards being native to the POS. More broadly, connecting voucher campaigns to your online ordering, POS, loyalty, and marketing turns a one-off gift into a repeat-customer relationship.