There's no shortage of "best digital business card apps" lists online, and most of them read like the writer never actually used more than one of the products. Here's a straight comparison of the platforms worth knowing about in 2026 — what each is genuinely good at, and who it's built for.
1. Blinq
Blinq is the most established name in this space, with a large user base and broad CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics). It's a safe, feature-rich choice if you want a platform with a long track record — the tradeoff is team plans that can require a minimum seat count you may not need yet.
2. HiHello
HiHello has a clean, polished card builder and solid free tier for individual use — good for professional sharing and team directories. Its lead capture, when available, tends to sit as a secondary, optional step rather than being built into the core sharing flow, so it works better for straightforward contact sharing than for treating every card share as a lead-gen moment.
3. Popl
Popl leans into NFC hardware — physical taps at booths and events — paired with lead retrieval tools built for trade shows. If most of your networking happens at conferences and you want a hardware-first workflow, Popl is a strong fit. It's less suited to everyday, hardware-free networking.
4. Wave
Wave keeps things simple: easy card creation, decent NFC support, and a straightforward free plan. It's a good pick for individuals who want the basics done well without a steep learning curve, though deeper features like custom dashboards are often reserved for team plans.
5. Cardlyx
Cardlyx's core difference from the four above: the lead capture gate is built into the card-sharing flow itself, not bolted on as an optional extra. When someone taps to save your contact, they can be prompted for their own info first — toggle it as optional or mandatory depending on the context — and it syncs automatically to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, or Zoho.
There's a genuinely free plan (one card, no credit card required), Professional at $4.99/month ($3.99/month billed yearly), and Business at $12.99/month ($10.99/month billed yearly, 5 seats included). It's newer than Blinq or HiHello, so it doesn't yet have their track record or user base — but if lead capture is the actual point of your digital card, it's built around that from the ground up rather than as an add-on.
How to actually choose
- Want the most established, broadest-feature platform? → Blinq
- Want a clean, simple card for professional sharing? → HiHello
- Mostly networking at trade shows and want NFC hardware? → Popl
- Want the simplest possible setup with no learning curve? → Wave
- Want every card share to double as a captured lead in your CRM, with a real free plan to test it? → Cardlyx
There's no single "best" app here — it depends on whether you're optimizing for brand maturity, event hardware, simplicity, or lead generation. If it's the last one, that's the specific gap Cardlyx is built to fill.
Try Cardlyx free — no credit card required.