Popl vs Dot: Which Should You Choose?

Popl and Dot are two popular digital business card services that can both offer a convenient way to store, share, and manage your contacts.

There are clear benefits over paper business cards but choosing the right solution is an important decision that you will have to live with when you make the transition.

So whether you are an individual or a global enterprise, we have all the pros and cons, top features, and pricing comparisons that you will need to make the right choice between Popl and Dot. 

Popl vs Dot at a glance

Popl and Dot are similar in their mission. They are both trying to offer NFC-enabled business cards to instantly share contact info. Popl has more devices available and generally more options but that comes at a price. 

Here’s a quick feature run down.

Popl Deep Dive

Popl is a digital business card solution that goes way beyond just cards. It has loads of NFC-enabled devices that you can use to share your contact details. There is a good selection of designs available and you can customize your cards as well. Android and iOS are both supported.

NFC Devices

One of Popl’s big strengths is all of its NFC-enabled products that you can use to share your contact info.

These range from:

You can get varying colors of most of these and you can also create custom graphics on some of them.

Setup and UI

Setting up Popl is quite straightforward and user-friendly. Once you have downloaded the app, you can add your contact information and then set up the card.

You can add a cover photo, profile picture, and logo.

Once you have done this, you can then add all the links and details you want to share with people. You can add as many as you want, including videos, links, files, and so on.

Here’s an example card that a recipient would receive.

There is also a contacts page within the app. You can fill this up by scanning paper business cards, saving other people’s details manually, or meeting other Popl users.

To share details from the app rather than via NFC or scanning a QR code on a physical device you hit the ‘Share’ button at the bottom and then get a ton of sharing options.

From the app, you can share via QR code, Email, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Instagram, SMS, and a few other ways. You can also add the card to your wallet and put the QR code on your phone’s lock screen which is perfect for exhibitions.

If you want to get a better feel for it, check out this short video on how you share details with an Iphone.

Pros and Cons

Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons of Popl.

Popl pricing

There are 3 different plans available for the individual. These are Popl Free, Popl Pro and Popl Pro+. On top of this, there is Popl Teams which is for businesses that need to manage multiple employees. 

Monthly subscription costs are:

You will also have the cost of the NFC-enabled devices to consider. A simple non-customized card starts at $5 with a custom metal card at $80. An Apple watch band is currently $50 and a rope band at $25.

You can start a free trial so you can understand all the options before you start buying the NFC devices.

Dot Deep Dive

The ‘dot.’ card is a digital business card designed for ease of use. They offer a no-frills approach compared to Popl. Once set up, it lets you share your easily share your contact information with just a single tap of your phone. 

You can customize your profile, add your social media links, and create different cards for different situations. Android and iOS are also both supported.

NFC Devices

Unlike Popl, the devices available are only a card and ‘dots’. ‘dots’ are small cylinders that stick onto the back of phones. You can get the dot classic or dot thin. The classic offers enhanced durability but the thin gives flexibility as it can fit underneath phone cases. 

Setup and UI

Unlike Popl, there is no app with Dot. You set everything up via their website and once your dot products arrive, you can then connect them by scanning the QR code. This syncs everything together.

Once you have added basic information and created an account, you can then start editing the visuals of your digital profile.

You can add a background image or logo, as well as a profile picture. The image editing features are poor so if your logo needs resizing or your profile picture isn’t bang on, don’t expect to edit it within the dot website.

You then have some customization options for the theme and color of the digital profile.

Once that’s all done, you add the links you want to show.

Once you have your links set up, you are all set. My example profile looks like this. This is what people will see when you share your contact info.

People can then check out your links as well as save your contact details. 

Pros and Cons

Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons

Dot pricing

Pricing is simpler than Popl as you only have the devices themselves as there is no monthly subscription. Standard cards and dots are $20 each. 

If you want to customize them then it will cost $55 per device. You do get some discount if you order in bulk.

Popl vs Dot: Sharing

Both Popl and Dot offer sharing via QR code. The QR code is only available on the Dot card and not the Dot classic or thin. Popl offers a QR code that can be scanned on the mobile app, card, badge, exhibition display, keychain, sticker, and Popl badges.

The act of sharing by NFC is similar across both products but the Popl UI is slightly ahead with how it presents the information and the profile customization options available.

Popl Vs Dot: Customization

Popl is more customizable than Dot and offers far more customization options on the website. It is quite clunky but does the job with a little persistence.

Popl’s Customization Options

With Dot, all you can do is change the color, upload a logo, order, then wait. A proof is then sent to you to accept. The options really are limited with Dot.

Dot’s Customization Options

Popl vs Dot: Which should you choose?

So, which should you choose? Based on my extensive research across the products as well as 100s of customer testimonials and reviews, the table below gives a solid scoring comparison of Popl vs Dot. 

Feature	Popl	Dot
Physical Devices	5	4
Device Customization	4	3
Sharing Capability	5	3
User Interface	5	4
Profile setup and options	5	4
Integrations	5	1
Customer Service	5	4
Pricing	4	5
Scores	38	28

Overall, Popl is the better solution. It offers more device types as well as customization options. The user interface and profile setup are more advanced too. 

Dot isn’t suitable for large teams as it doesn’t have analytics or team management features. But for small teams or individuals that just need an easy way to share details via QR code or NFC, then Dot can work. 

If you don’t want a monthly subscription and all you need is basic NFC-enabled sharing, then Dot is the one for you. For anything more than that you will want to go for Popl or check out another solution.