Digital business card with no subscription: four ways to pay once, and what each one keeps

Updated November 1, 2026 · by POC Card

Most digital business cards are billed every year. If you would rather pay once, there are four ways to do it, and they are not the same thing.

Why there is almost always a subscription

A digital card is a web page, and someone has to keep it online for as long as your printed card or NFC tag points at it. A subscription is the simplest way to pay for that. “No subscription” means somebody else pays: you, once; a paid tier you never buy; or you, by running the page yourself.

1. A free plan

Blinq’s free plan gives you up to two cards and unlimited sharing, “free forever” on its pricing page. Popl also has a free plan, with its contact form included; its site does not itemize the other limits.

What you trade: the company decides what stays free, and the features worth paying for (exporting contacts, reading paper cards, your own design) sit in the paid plan. For one person who shares a card now and then, that can be enough.

2. Pay for the device, profile included

Dot sells its NFC card with a profile that is “free for life” with that one-time purchase; its extra features are a monthly or yearly plan. V1CE sells its card once, with the software free, and an optional AI plan that is monthly. V1CE’s free software has limits of its own, such as one live page and one booking link.

What you trade: you pay for plastic or metal, and the profile is whatever the company includes with it. Offers change in both directions: in October 2026, V1CE moved from a monthly plan to paying once.

3. A lifetime plan

You pay once for the software itself, with or without a card. POC Card has one: two profiles, 20 paper card scans a month and statistics with no time limit, and it does not expire or renew. You can write it to your own NFC tag, print the QR code, or buy our card separately.

What you trade: a larger payment up front, and you depend on the company that serves the page staying in business. That is true of every option on this page except the next one.

4. Do it yourself

A blank NFC tag and a QR code can point at your own website, or at a contact file you host. Nobody bills you, and nobody can change the offer.

What you trade: you keep the page up, you edit it yourself, and there is no form for people to leave their details and no email when they do. If you already run a website, it is a real option and costs only the tag.

What it costs over 5 years

The cheapest paid option of each brand we compare, added up over five years. They do not include the same things; the brand comparisons say what each one does.

Plan	How you pay	After 5 years
POC Card Personal	US$29 a year	US$145
POC Card Lifetime	US$129 once	US$129
HiHello Professional	US$72 billed yearly	US$360
Popl Pro (US App Store)	US$76.99 a year	US$384.95
Blinq Premium	US$7.33 a month, billed yearly	US$439.80
Dot dot.Profile+	US$12 a month, billed yearly	US$720
V1CE card	US$82 once, card and software	US$82

Devices and free plans are not in this table: digital business card prices compared has all of them.

Ask this before you pay once

• What exactly is free for life, and what moves to a plan later? Ask for the page that says it.
• What does the printed card show if I never pay again? A card that turns into a dead link is the worst outcome, because you cannot recall what you handed out.
• Can I change where the card points? If you can, an old card keeps reaching you after you change job or phone.
• Can I take my contacts with me? An export to a file is enough.
• Is there a refund window? A one-time payment is easier to try if you can change your mind.

How POC Card answers them

The lifetime plan is everything listed above in section 3, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you choose the yearly plan instead and stop paying, you get 15 days of grace and then the card goes to basic mode: your name, title, company, phone, WhatsApp, email and photo stay visible, links and the form switch off, nothing is deleted, and renewing brings it all back. Your link, QR code and NFC card keep pointing at you, and you can change what they show at any time.

There are two limits. The lifetime plan covers two profiles; plans for a team are yearly. And like every option except doing it yourself, it relies on us keeping the page online.

You can try a BIZ Card for 14 days without registering a payment card, and decide afterwards between the yearly plan and paying once.

Sources

• Blinq: Pricing (read on October 31, 2026)
• Popl: The lead capture form (read on October 18, 2026)
• Dot: dot.Profile (read on October 18, 2026)
• V1CE: Pricing (read on October 31, 2026)

Try it free for 14 days

30-day money-back guarantee on plans · A physical card can be returned until it ships

• Pay by card (Stripe) or PayPal
• Refunds handled by a person
• No automatic renewal
• Support by email and WhatsApp

Questions people ask before buying.

Before you choose

Learn and compare.

• ComparisonDigital business card prices compared (2026): what you pay over 3 years
• ComparisonBlinq vs Popl: what each one charges you for, and where POC Card fits
• ComparisonPOC Card vs V1CE: features and prices compared

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