echocard vs Blinq (2026): a card customers keep, or a card you hand out
Blinq is a very good card for handing out at networking events, and a fair choice for a team. echocard is the better choice for a local business that wants the card to stay on the customer's phone and keep working after the job.
Published 20 October 2026 · Prices and quotes checked 20 October 2026
Blinq is an Australian-made digital business card app with a lot of users and a high rating. You build a card in the app, share it by QR code, link, text, email, a lock screen widget or an NFC card, and the other person opens a page and saves your details to their contacts. Two cards are free. Premium adds branding, a scanner and AI notes; Business adds team management and CRM sync.
echocard is a business card that lives on the customer's phone. The customer scans a code or taps a link, presses Add, and the card sits in their Apple Wallet or Google Wallet with call, book, Google review and save contact on the back. On Pro, the card sends a thank you the next day and a reminder a month on, as lock screen notifications.
Here is how the two compare across seventeen things a local business would ask about, with Blinq's prices as shown on its pricing page on 20 October 2026.
Feature comparison
Blinq's app is rated 4.9 from 133K ratings on the App Store and 4.8 from 33.2K reviews on Google Play. The column on the right is what Blinq's own pages and listings say it does; where a page did not say, the cell says so.
| Feature | echocard | Blinq |
|---|---|---|
| Where the card livesThe one difference that decides the rest | echocard In the customer's Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, next to their bank cards | Blinq On the owner's phone and a web page. The customer's details get saved straight to contacts, in Blinq's words |
| The customer needs no appAnd neither does the owner | echocard Scan or tap, press Add. Wallet is already on the phone, and you build the card in a browser | Blinq Yes to receive the card. The owner builds and shares from the Blinq app |
| Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passesWhose Wallet, and what the pass does | echocard The customer's copy is a pass in their Wallet, with call, book, review and save contact on the back | Blinq The owner's own card as a pass in the owner's Wallet, to share from. Nothing goes into the customer's Wallet |
| QR code and link sharingOn the van, on the invoice, in a text | echocard A QR code and a link on every card, free, plus a card page for desktop | Blinq QR code, link, text, email, widget, smart watch, email signature |
| NFC hardware neededA tag or card you have to buy and carry | echocard No. Nothing to buy, nothing to tap, nothing to lose | Blinq Not needed. Blinq sells NFC cards from $24.99, metal $49.99, custom from $59.99 |
| Follow-up messages to the customerAfter they have your card, without you doing anything | echocard Pro. A thank you the next day and a reminder a month on, as lock screen notifications from your card | Blinq Not stated. Notes, tags and an AI notetaker help you follow up yourself |
| Google review button on the cardOne tap to the review box | echocard On the back of every card, free, beside call, book and save contact | Blinq A link you add yourself among up to 20 fields. Not a dedicated button |
| Update the card after it has been sharedNew number, new hours, new logo | echocard Change it once and every saved card updates on its own | Blinq Cards update in real time, and the owner's Wallet pass updates with the card |
| A message to every phone that has the cardHoliday hours, a new service, a thank you | echocard Pro. One update, sent once, to every phone that has your card, one a week at most | Blinq Not stated. There is no channel to a customer's phone after the save |
| Save to Wallet button for your websiteFor the visitor who is not in front of you | echocard Pro. One line of code, a button in your colour, no developer | Blinq A QR code image you can put on your website, brochures and stickers |
| Team cardsCards for staff, managed from one place | echocard No. One business, one owner. Pro adds a personal card beside the company card | Blinq Business, $4.99 per user a month billed annually, five-card minimum: templates, SSO, admin dashboard |
| Paper card and badge scannerFor collecting other people's details | echocard No. The card is for your customers to keep, not for collecting contacts | Blinq Premium: a universal contact scanner and AI contact enrichment |
| CRM integrationsSalesforce, HubSpot and the rest | echocard No. There is no contact list to sync | Blinq Business: native integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho and Pipedrive |
| Numbers you can seeIs it working | echocard Pro. Saves over time and every tap on book, call and review, card by card | Blinq Premium and Business add card analytics |
| Free planWhat you get for nothing | echocard One card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, unlimited saves, QR code, link, card page, updates | Blinq Two cards, unlimited sharing, QR code and widget, Wallet, personal email signature, virtual backgrounds |
| Paid plan priceFor one person | echocard US$9.99 a month, cancel any time | Blinq Premium $9.99 a month billed monthly, or $7.33 a month billed annually, 7-day trial |
| Built for local trades and servicesWho the product is for | echocard Yes. A card the customer keeps, so they rebook, call and leave a review | Blinq Built for networking and for sales teams; the pricing page leads with lead capture |
Pricing comparison
Both sets of prices as shown on 20 October 2026. Blinq’s can change; the references at the end say where to check.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| FreeFree for as long as you like | $0 |
|
| ProCancel any time. | US$9.99a month |
|
Nothing to print and no card details to start. Pro runs to the end of the month you paid for when you cancel.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| FreeFree forever, for individuals | $0 |
|
| Premiumor $7.33 a month billed annually, 7-day free trial | $9.99a month billed monthly |
|
| Businessor $4.99 per user a month billed annually; the FAQ says a five-card minimum | $6.99per user a month billed monthly |
|
| EnterpriseBook a demo | Custom |
|
The App Store also lists Blinq Pro at $22.49 a month, $199 a year or $6.99 a week as in-app purchases. The website does not describe a Pro plan; we have listed what the pricing page shows.
Blinq's card is saved. echocard's card is kept.
Blinq says it plainly on its Wallet page: recipients don't need the app, your details get saved straight to contacts. That is the end of the journey. Your customer now has a phone book entry called Dave Plumber, with no way back to you except to remember it exists.
An echocard is a pass in the customer's Wallet, with your logo on the front and four buttons on the back: book, call, leave a Google review, save contact. It sits next to their bank cards, not in a list of three hundred contacts. When their hot water goes in July, the card is the thing they open.
The same words, Apple Wallet, mean different things
Both products say Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. Blinq means the owner's Wallet: you open the Blinq app, tap Send, tap Add card to wallet, and from then on you can show your card from Wallet. The pass updates when you edit the card, which is a nice touch. The person you show it to still opens a web page.
echocard means the customer's Wallet. You can put your own copy in too, by scanning your code, but the point of the product is the other direction. The customer presses Add and the pass is theirs, in their Wallet, updated whenever you change your details, carrying your buttons and, on Pro, your messages.
Nothing happens after the save, or something does
Blinq's follow-up features are for you: notes and tags on each contact, an AI notetaker on Premium, CRM sync on Business. They help you remember who you met. Nothing on Blinq's pages describes a message going to the person who received your card, and we could not find one.
echocard Pro sends two. The day after someone saves your card, a thank you arrives on their lock screen from your card, with your logo. A month on, a reminder. Both are written for you, both are editable, both stop the moment someone removes the card, and you can send a one-off update to every phone when your hours change.
Free plans and what the paid plans are for
Blinq's free plan is generous for what it is: two cards, unlimited sharing, Wallet, an email signature and virtual backgrounds. Premium at $9.99 a month, or $7.33 billed annually, is mostly about collecting: a scanner, AI notes, contact enrichment, export. Business is per user with a five-card minimum, which one App Store reviewer calls out as forcing a single operator to pay for five seats to unlock an integration.
echocard's free plan is one card, in both Wallets, with the QR code, link and card page and the buttons on the back, updated on every phone that has it. Pro at US$9.99 a month is about keeping: the follow-ups, the update message, the website button, your numbers, and a second card. There is no team tier and no per-seat minimum, because the product is for one business.
Where Blinq is better, plainly
If you go to networking events and want to collect as many contacts as you hand out, Blinq is better. It has a scanner that reads paper cards and badges, AI notes, contact export, a lock screen widget and a watch app, a team dashboard with templates and SSO, CRM sync to Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics, Zoho and Pipedrive, and physical NFC cards you can order from the app. Two free cards against echocard's one, and custom colours on Premium.
echocard has no scanner, no contact list, no CRM, no team tier, no watch app and nothing to order. It is a card for the customer to keep, and the parts that make that work.
What Blinq users complain about
These are recent public reviews of Blinq, quoted as written, from the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot. Each one has what echocard does about it, including where echocard has the same limit.
Five seats to unlock one feature
“Forcing a single operator to pay for 5 seats just to unlock a basic API token or Zapier connection makes no sense.”
echocard: echocard has two plans, Free and Pro, and Pro is one price for one business. There is no seat count and no team tier to grow into. There is also no API or Zapier connection, so if you need one, Blinq Business is the honest answer.
The other person has to do too much
“After scanning there are too many steps for people to share their data or store mine.”
echocard: The customer's side of echocard is one tap: Add to Apple Wallet or Add to Google Wallet. There is no form, because echocard does not collect their details. If you want their details, that is a different product.
Setup that would not save
“The app repeatedly failed to save my information and would not upload images”
echocard: echocard is built in a browser, not an app, in three steps: your details, your logo and colour, your links. Every field shows its character limit, and the preview is the real pass. Blinq replied to this reviewer and asked them to contact support, which is fair to note.
Ads on the card unless you pay
“App is barely functional, if at all.”
echocard: The reviewer objects, among other things, to Blinq advertising in the vCard unless the user subscribes. An echocard pass carries the business's own name, logo and colour on the front, and the back is the business's buttons. The customer never sees echocard compete with your brand, on Free or Pro.
Support that does not come back
“Worst, most unresponsive support.”
echocard: echocard is a small Australian company, and support is an email address answered by the people who built it. We will not pretend that scales like a help desk; it does mean the person replying can fix the thing.
Bottom line
Blinq is a polished networking card with a generous free plan, a scanner, a team tier and NFC cards to order. echocard is a card for the customer's Wallet, with a Google review button on the back and follow-ups on the lock screen for US$9.99 a month. If you want to collect contacts at events, choose Blinq. If you want the customer to keep your card and come back, choose echocard.
References
- Blinq pricing (checked 20 October 2026)
- Blinq digital business card (sharing, no app for recipients, CRMs) (checked 20 October 2026)
- Blinq: Apple and Google Wallet (checked 20 October 2026)
- Blinq help centre: add your Blinq card to Apple Wallet (checked 20 October 2026)
- Blinq: NFC business card prices (checked 20 October 2026)
- Blinq: Digital Business Card on the App Store (checked 20 October 2026)
- Blinq: Digital Business Card on Google Play (checked 20 October 2026)
- Blinq on Trustpilot (checked 20 October 2026)
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Blinq alternative for a local trade or service business?
Yes. echocard is a digital business card that goes into the customer's Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, with call, book, Google review and save contact on the back. Pro follows up on the customer's lock screen. It is free to start and needs no app or NFC card.
Is Blinq free?
Yes, for individuals. Blinq's free plan includes two digital business cards, unlimited sharing, QR code and widget sharing, Apple and Google Wallet, a personal email signature and virtual backgrounds. Premium is $9.99 a month, or $7.33 a month billed annually, as of 20 October 2026.
Does Blinq put the card in the customer's Wallet?
No. Blinq's Wallet feature adds your own card to your own Apple Wallet or Google Wallet so you can share it from there. The person you share with opens a page and saves your details to their contacts. echocard puts the card in the customer's Wallet.
Does Blinq send follow-up messages to the people I share with?
Not that its pages describe. Blinq's follow-up features are for the owner: notes and tags, an AI notetaker on Premium, and CRM sync on Business. echocard Pro sends a thank you and a reminder to every phone that has your card, as lock screen notifications.