# Linq review (2026): is the free plan enough?

> NFC business cards and a pocket CRM with a second phone line

Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 24, 2026 by ToolGPA.

Linq sells NFC and QR business cards, badges and hubs that open a Linq page, a contact page built in its iOS and Android app. The Linq One subscription, which is needed to activate any card, adds lead forms, a card scanner, contact enrichment, a second phone number with call transcription and a team dashboard. The company's main site now sells an iMessage messaging API instead.

- **Category:** Digital Business Cards
- **Made by:** Linq, LLC (since 2020)
- **Website:** https://buy.linqapp.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Who should skip it:** Pricey if you just want a card, because every Linq product needs Linq One at $29 a user a month to activate.
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 23, 2026

## Pricing

As of Oct 23, 2026, Linq has a free plan, and paid plans start at $29 per user / month (Linq One).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** The app is free and Linq calls Linq One optional, but a free account shows only the 5 most recent contacts and cannot activate a Linq card or other NFC product.
- **Free trial:** Free trial on Linq One's monthly plan in the iOS app; the length is not stated.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | A Linq page in the app that shows only your 5 most recent contacts. Cards and other NFC products cannot be activated. |
| Linq One | $29 per user / month, billed monthly ($249 per user billed yearly) | 2 pages per seat, lead forms, card scanner, enrichment, a second number with call transcription and AI summaries, CRM links and admin tools. |
| Linq Card | $14.99 one-time, per card | NFC and QR card that opens your Linq page; needs Linq One to activate. Custom printed $34.99, metal $39.99, engraved metal $59.99. |

Read from https://linqapp.com/linq-one on Oct 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Linq before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save 29% with yearly Linq One** (Annual discount): Linq One is $29 per user a month, or $249 per user a year, which Linq's page says saves 29%. Source: https://linqapp.com/linq-one
- **15% to 60% off products ordered in bulk** (Other savings): Orders of 10 to 24 products get 15% off, rising by tiers to 30% at 100, 50% at 1,000 and 60% at 10,000 or more, applied automatically at checkout. Source: https://help.linqapp.com/en/articles/7861392-how-do-i-order-bulk-products-and-get-a-bulk-discount

## Key features

- **Linq pages:** A contact page with links, photos, video, Calendly embeds and a lead form. Linq One allows more than one page, with two pages per seat.
- **NFC and QR products:** Cards, mini cards, badges and hubs open your page with a tap or scan; Hyper Linq products show an iPhone App Clip preview that Linq One can customize.
- **Contact capture and follow-up:** People who tap your card can send their details back. Linq One adds a paper card scanner, contact enrichment, reminders, follow-up templates and message snippets.
- **Linq Phone:** Linq One includes a second phone number with call forwarding, call recording and transcription, AI call summaries, text suggestions and auto-replies.
- **Team admin dashboard:** Admins add team members, activate and reassign products, manage phone numbers, bulk-edit pages and publish a team directory.

## Good for

- Salespeople and realtors who want an NFC card plus a light mobile CRM
- Teams handing out many cards or badges at events, with bulk discounts
- People who want a separate work number and call notes in the same app

## Worth knowing

- Every Linq card or NFC product needs an active Linq One subscription ($29 per user a month) to work; buying the product does not include account access.
- Linq's main site now sells an iMessage API and says it is no longer a digital business card company, though the card store and apps are still live.
- CRMs connect through Zapier or webhooks; Linq's help says the app has no native one-click CRM integrations.
- The US App Store still lists older Linq Pro ($4.99 a month or $49.99 a year) and Pro Plus purchases that Linq's help pages no longer describe.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Oct 24, 2026. Linq pairs NFC cards with an app that collects contacts and adds a second phone number with call transcripts. Every card needs Linq One at $29 a user a month just to switch on, the free app shows only your last 5 contacts, and Linq's main site now says it's no longer a business card company.

- **Value for money: D.** Linq One is $29 a user a month, or $249 a year (about $20.75 a month), in this category's dearest tenth, where the middle is $5. A card bought on top, $14.99 to $59.99, won't work without it.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** The app is free, but a free account shows only your 5 most recent contacts and can't activate a Linq card or any other NFC product. You hit that cap on day one.
- **Features: C.** Contact pages, NFC cards and badges, lead forms, a card scanner, enrichment, a second phone number with call transcription and AI summaries, and a team dashboard. The listing's gap: no native CRM, only Zapier or webhooks.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. Before a card works you buy it, subscribe to Linq One and activate it in the app, and the trial length isn't stated.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with Zapier, webhooks, Calendly, Acuity Scheduling and Apple Wallet. No desktop app and no native CRM integration.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Linq's own pages on 23 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among digital business cards

- Linq's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 0 of the 10 other digital business cards we grade, and level with 1.
- It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 1 of 10) and worst on value for money (D, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $29 a month for each person, against a middle price of $5 for the category: 8 of the 8 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 6 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/business-cards

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Linq you would be making phone numbers and calls carried over the phone network. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 9 of the 10 other digital business cards grade higher. It costs $348 a year.

- You could make: Digital business card and email signature: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Phone numbers and calls carried over the phone network.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Zapier, Calendly, Acuity Scheduling, Apple Wallet

**Tags:** Digital business card, Business phone line, Email signature

## Alternatives

- [Mobilo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mobilo): NFC business cards and digital wallet cards with team lead capture. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/linq-vs-mobilo)
- [Dot](https://toolgpa.com/tools/dot-cards): NFC cards, bands and stickers that share a free browser-based profile. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/dot-cards-vs-linq)
- [V1CE](https://toolgpa.com/tools/v1ce): NFC business cards bought once, with free lead capture software. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/linq-vs-v1ce)
- [Popl](https://toolgpa.com/tools/popl): Digital business cards and event badge scanning for sales teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/linq-vs-popl)
- [Blinq](https://toolgpa.com/tools/blinq): Digital business cards with contact scanning and event lead capture. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/blinq-vs-linq)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 23, 2026:

- https://linqapp.com/linq-one
- https://buy.linqapp.com
- https://buy.linqapp.com/collections/cards
- https://buy.linqapp.com/blogs/news/best-digital-business-card-experience-yet-introducing-hyper-linq
- https://linqapp.com
- https://help.linqapp.com/en/articles/9845164-what-is-linq-one
- https://help.linqapp.com/en/articles/7861439-where-is-linq-from
- https://help.linqapp.com/en/articles/7861392-how-do-i-order-bulk-products-and-get-a-bulk-discount
- https://help.linqapp.com/what-crms-can-i-integrate-with-linq-app
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-digital-business-card-app/id1492946255
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linq.app&gl=US&hl=en

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/linq
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).