Wave Connect vs Blinq: Honest Comparison (2026)

George El-Hage 🔗 LinkedIn

Founder, Wave Connect | Tested 15+ digital business card platforms since 2020

I've used both Wave and Blinq with real teams - not just test accounts. This comparison is based on hands-on admin experience, actual deployment data, and dashboard screenshots from Q4 2025 testing.

Wave Connect vs Blinq - you've narrowed it down to two of the top digital business card platforms, and now you need to figure out which one actually fits how you work.

I get it. The auto-generated Capterra pages and thin comparison blogs don't tell you what it's actually like to use these platforms day-to-day. So I did something none of those pages do: I took real screenshots of both dashboards, compared what's truly free vs paywalled, and tested what happens when you share your card with someone on each platform. Here's what I found.

At a Glance: Wave vs Blinq (2026)

Here's the full side-by-side. I'll dig into the details that matter most below the table.

Prices and features verified as of February 2026. Check Blinq's pricing page for their latest.

The Free Plan - What You Actually Get (and What's Hidden)

This is where the two platforms differ the most, and where I think a lot of people get surprised after they sign up.

Wave's free plan gives you analytics (page views, link clicks, contact saves), contact export, Apple Wallet, unlimited sharing, and zero branding on the card itself. You can see who viewed your card, export those contacts to a CSV, and follow up. All at $0.

Blinq's free plan gives you a card and unlimited sharing - but no analytics, no contact export, and it adds "Powered by Blinq" branding to your card. To unlock analytics and export? That's $9.99/mo on their Premium plan.

That zero-solicitation difference is the single biggest reason teams switch to Wave Connect. Imagine you're a sales rep at a conference. You share your card with 50 prospects. With Blinq, all 50 of them get nudged to sign up for Blinq. With Wave, they just get your contact info. Clean.

Wave Connect Analytics Dashboard - included free on all plans (Q4 2025 testing - UI may change)

Dashboard UX - What It's Actually Like to Use

I've spent thousands of hours in the Wave admin dashboard (obviously) and quite a few in Blinq's. Here's the honest breakdown.

Wave's dashboard is simple. Almost aggressively simple. You see your team's cards as a visual grid, manage templates with drag-and-drop locking, and bulk-import users via Excel. Our customers consistently tell us the UX is the reason they chose Wave over other platforms. It's clean, fast, and doesn't overwhelm you with options.

Wave Connect User Management - visual card grid layout (Q4 2025 testing - UI may change)

Blinq's dashboard is sleek and polished - very Apple-like aesthetic. It's got more surface area to cover though, which means more tabs and more places to get lost, especially during initial card creation. The template setup flow has a few extra clicks that can confuse first-time admins. But once you're past that learning curve, it works well. I'd give Blinq an 8.5/10 on UX and Wave a 10/10, but I'm biased - and I'll own that. 😄

Blinq Admin Dashboard - sleek Apple-like design (Q4 2025 testing - UI may change)

For Teams - Deployment and Management

If you're rolling out digital business cards for a team, here's what the deployment experience actually looks like.

Wave: Upload an Excel spreadsheet with your team's names, titles, emails, and phone numbers. Map the columns, hit import, and 200 cards are created in about 5 minutes. No minimum user count. You can lock template sections so employees can't change your brand colors or logo, and our Active Directory integration pulls profile pictures and syncs team structures automatically. We regularly see 80%+ activation rates on team deployments.

Blinq: Has a similar bulk upload feature through their Cards tab. They require a 5-user minimum on the Business plan ($6.99/user/mo monthly, $4.99/user/mo annual). They now offer a 30-day free trial, which is a nice improvement from their previous credit-card-required signup. Template controls are solid, and they have more granular field-level locking.

Blinq Team Members Dashboard - table view layout (Q4 2025 testing - UI may change)

What Blinq Does Better (Honest Assessment)

Let's be real - Blinq has some features that are genuinely strong. If I'm going to ask you to trust this comparison, I need to be straight about where they win. 🎯

Multiple profiles. This is Blinq's strongest unique feature. You can create multiple card profiles under one account - one for your sales role, one for your advisory board position, one for your side project. Wave currently supports a single profile per user. If you wear multiple hats and need separate cards for each, Blinq handles this well.

Virtual backgrounds. Blinq lets you create branded virtual backgrounds for Zoom/Teams calls with your card link embedded. You pick a background image, it overlays your QR code, and you download it ready to use. It's a nice touch for distributed teams. Wave doesn't offer this feature.

Blinq Virtual Background Builder - branded backgrounds with QR code for video calls (Q4 2025 testing - UI may change)

Apple Watch widget. You can show a QR code right on your wrist. Is it a little awkward when someone has to scan your watch? Sure. But it's undeniably cool. Wave doesn't have this.

What Wave Does Better

Okay, now my turn. Here's where I believe Wave Connect genuinely outperforms Blinq - and these aren't minor differences.

Zero recipient solicitation. I've mentioned this already, but it's worth repeating because it's the #1 reason teams switch to us. When someone receives your Wave card, they see your info and nothing else. No "Download Wave" pop-ups. No solicitation emails. No "Create your own card" banners. Your contacts don't become our marketing leads. This is unique in the industry - every other platform we've tested solicits your recipients in some way.

AI enrichment that actually covers the real world. Both platforms have AI contact enrichment, but Wave's goes further. We enrich contacts exchanged digitally, paper business cards scanned with your camera, and event badges captured at conferences. Any contact source gets enriched automatically. Blinq's enrichment focuses on LinkedIn data for digital exchanges only.

Deep Active Directory integration. Wave syncs directly with Active Directory - pulling profile pictures, syncing team structures, and auto-provisioning cards when employees join. If your IT team manages users through AD, Wave plugs right in. This is a major advantage for enterprise deployments where directory sync matters more than HRIS breadth.

Analytics and contact export on the free plan. You shouldn't have to pay $10/month just to see who viewed your card. With Wave, you get page views, link clicks, contact saves, and full CSV export at $0. Blinq paywalls both of these behind their $9.99/mo Premium plan. For a deeper breakdown, see our free vs paid digital business card guide.

Browser-based, no app required. This matters more than people realize. When you tell 200 employees to "download this app and set up your card," you lose maybe half of them. When you send a link that opens in their browser, adoption goes through the roof. No App Store friction, no storage complaints, no "I'll do it later." For more on sharing methods like QR and NFC, we've got a separate deep-dive.

Metal engraved NFC cards. Blinq sells branded plastic NFC cards. Wave offers metal engraved NFC cards that feel premium and make a real impression. If you want hardware that matches the quality of your brand, this matters.

Volume pricing. At 100+ users, Wave drops to $48/user/year. Blinq stays at approximately $60/user/year. The savings compound fast at enterprise scale.

No minimum users for Teams. Want to try Wave's team management dashboard with just 2 people? Go for it. Blinq requires a minimum of 5 users on their Business plan.

Wave Connect Template Section Locking - standardize brand across your entire team (Q4 2025 testing - UI may change)

Pricing Breakdown (February 2026)

I just re-checked both pricing pages this month. Here's where things stand:

Pricing verified February 2026. Sources: wavecnct.com and blinq.me/pricing.

Here's the thing most comparison pages miss: the sticker price is almost identical for small teams. Both platforms land around $60/user/year at under 100 users. The real pricing difference is twofold:

1. Volume discount: Wave drops to $48/user/year at 100+ users. Blinq doesn't offer volume pricing.
2. What's included: Wave gives you analytics and contact export free. With Blinq, those are paywalled behind Premium ($9.99/mo per user). That hidden cost adds up fast.

Which One Should You Choose? My Recommendation

Choose Blinq if:

• You need multiple card profiles under one account (their strongest unique feature)
• You want virtual backgrounds for Zoom/Teams calls
• Apple Watch QR codes matter to you

Choose Wave if:

• You don't want your contacts spammed with "Download Blinq" pop-ups
• You need AI enrichment for digital contacts, paper cards, and event badges
• You need analytics and contact export without paying $10/mo extra
• You manage a team and want the simplest admin experience possible
• You need Active Directory sync with profile pictures and team provisioning
• You want to try before you buy - Wave's free plan includes everything
• You need metal engraved NFC cards for executives
• You have 100+ users and want volume pricing ($48 vs $60/user/yr)
• You prefer browser-based tools over downloading another app

Wave Connect Integration Dashboard (Q4 2025 testing - UI may change)