Cardlyx vs Linktree

Linktree was built to solve one problem: social platforms only allow one clickable link in a bio. It's a stack of buttons pointing to your content, shop, and profiles — optimized for creators and audiences scrolling in from Instagram or TikTok. Cardlyx solves a different problem: replacing the paper business card with a structured digital identity — name, title, company, phone, email, and socials — rendered as an actual card, not a list of buttons. If you're a creator promoting content, Linktree's link-list format fits. If you're a professional who needs to exchange verified contact details at a meeting, conference, or in an email signature, Cardlyx's structured format is built for that exchange.

Linktree's free plan charges a 12% fee on every digital product sale, dropping to 9% on Starter ($8/mo, or $5/mo billed annually) and Pro ($15/mo, or $12/mo annually), and only reaching 0% on Premium at $35/mo (or roughly $24/mo billed annually). Removing the Linktree logo alone requires the $15/mo Pro plan. Cardlyx charges no commission on anything — it's a flat subscription. Professional is $4.99/mo (or $3.99/mo billed yearly) and already includes branding removal, full analytics, and all 10 CRM integrations. There's no tier where a Cardlyx feature is gated behind a percentage cut of your revenue.

Cardlyx cards export as a real vCard (.vcf) with every field populated, and integrate with Apple Wallet and Google Wallet as an established feature — tap "save contact" and the person's full details land in your phone's contacts app. Linktree recently introduced a beta "Digital Card" that generates a QR code you can add to Apple or Google Wallet, but it points back to your Linktree page rather than exporting structured contact fields, and it's still in limited rollout. For actually exchanging usable contact information — not just a link — Cardlyx's approach is more mature and more complete.