Alpine IQ Alternatives for Dispensaries, Priced per Store

The short answer

The main Alpine IQ alternatives for a dispensary are springbig (reported from about $600 a month), Blackleaf (the only one with a public rate card, $25 to $125 a month plus $0.03 to $0.05 a text), Sticky (quote-only, month-to-month, credit based), Sprout (Weedmaps' CRM) and the loyalty modules built into your POS, such as Dutchie Loyalty and Marketing Pro, Treez Loyalty and BLAZE Growth. Which one is cheaper depends on one number: how many text segments you send a month. Below about 13,000 segments a store, a low platform fee wins. Above it, a low per-text rate does.

Page one of Google for this search is directories (G2, SourceForge, Slashdot) and competing vendors' own "AIQ alternative" pages, each of which recommends itself. This is a directory's comparison. We sell listings for licensed dispensaries, not CRM software, and we take no referral fee from any vendor named here.

What are the best Alpine IQ alternatives?

They fall into three groups: another full cannabis CRM (springbig, Sprout), a lighter texting platform (Blackleaf, Sticky), or the loyalty module your POS already sells. The table puts them side by side on what they cost and how the bill is metered. We opened every price source in September 2026.

AIQ's figures come from its own charge policy that applied before March 2023, which is the last rate card it published. We break that bill down for one, three and ten stores on our Alpine IQ pricing page, including where the widely quoted $70,000 a year average comes from.

Is Blackleaf cheaper than Alpine IQ?

At low volume, yes. At high volume, no. Blackleaf charges a small platform fee and a higher price per text, while AIQ's published card charged a larger per store license and a much lower price per text. For one store, the two cross at roughly 13,000 SMS segments a month. Below that, Blackleaf is cheaper. Above it, AIQ's card is.

Here is the arithmetic, so you can rerun it on your own numbers. On AIQ's card a segment costs $0.0085 plus about $0.0033 in carrier fees, so $0.0118, on top of $399 a store. On Blackleaf's top self-serve plan a segment costs $0.03 plus the 10% compliance fee, so $0.033, on top of $125 a month with carrier fees already included.

• 5,000 segments a month: AIQ about $458, Blackleaf about $290.
• 13,000 segments a month: both about $550.
• 20,000 segments a month: AIQ about $635, Blackleaf about $785.
• 40,000 segments a month: AIQ about $871, Blackleaf about $1,445.

To find your number, multiply your opted-in texters by campaigns a month by segments per text. A store with 5,000 texters sending four single-segment campaigns is at 20,000. Most promotional texts with a link and the "Reply STOP" line are two segments, which doubles it. The comparison also leaves out what AIQ does beyond texting (wallet, audiences across stores, brand co-marketing), so if you use those, price them too.

Is springbig cheaper than Alpine IQ?

For a single store they tend to land in the same band, somewhere between $600 and $1,200 a month once messaging is included. The difference is the meter. springbig sells message bundles and charges extra when you exceed the package, which its own SEC filings describe as additional revenue "when the quantum of messages sent to consumers exceeds the amounts in the subscription package". AIQ meters every segment from the first one.

The bigger difference in 2026 is ownership. In July 2026 springbig's listed parent transferred all of its equity in the operating company to a lender, so a multi-year contract signed today is with a new owner. That is a change of control, not a shutdown, and the platform keeps running. Our springbig pricing page lists every published springbig price point with who published it, and springbig alternatives covers the reverse move.

Should I use my POS's built-in loyalty instead of Alpine IQ?

If your program is a points balance, a birthday reward and a weekly text, probably yes. Dutchie sells Loyalty and Marketing Pro inside its POS with rewards, segments, email, push and automated campaigns, and texting as an add-on arranged through your account manager. Treez launched Treez Loyalty in August 2025 and BLAZE launched BLAZE Growth in July 2026. Paying for AIQ on top of one of those, for the same four features, is paying twice.

The catch is lock-in. A POS module keeps your members, points balances and opt-in records inside the POS, so if you switch registers in two years, the loyalty program moves with the decision. A standalone CRM survives a POS change. If you think a POS switch is likely, that independence is worth part of the price difference. Our dispensary loyalty program software page sets out what a points program should cost per member either way.

How do I switch from Alpine IQ without losing my text list?

Export three things before you give notice: the contact list with the date, time and source of each opt-in, the loyalty points balance per member, and the opt-out list. The opt-in record is the one that matters most. It is your evidence of consent if a customer ever disputes a marketing text, and a new platform should import it rather than asking customers to opt in again.

1. Check the notice period. AIQ sells custom contracts. Find the renewal date and the notice window before you sign anything new.
2. Export with timestamps. A bare list of phone numbers is not enough. Ask for opt-in date and source as columns.
3. Import opt-outs first. A customer who texted STOP on the old platform must be suppressed on the new one before the first campaign.
4. Register the new number. Business texting in the US goes through 10DLC brand and campaign registration, which can take days. Start it early so there is no gap in sending.
5. Plan for replies. Campaign texts get answered with real questions about hours, stock and orders, and a platform's default response does not answer them. If replies pile up, an AI assistant that answers customer messages can handle the routine ones so staff are not reading texts at the register.
6. Carry balances over as-is. Members notice a missing point faster than a new logo. Import balances before you announce the change.

Which Alpine IQ alternative is best for a single dispensary?

For a single store that mostly texts and sends under about 13,000 segments a month, Blackleaf's published pricing is the easiest to budget, because you can calculate the bill before the demo. If your POS is Dutchie, Treez or BLAZE and your program is simple, price the POS's own loyalty module first. If you want a full CRM with a wallet and richer segments, get springbig and AIQ quoted on the same send volume and compare the twelve-month totals rather than the headline fee.

Whichever you pick, ask every vendor the same four questions: the platform fee per store, the price per SMS segment and per MMS, whether opt-in, opt-out and order texts are billable, and whether rates can rise at renewal. The best dispensary SMS software comparison covers deliverability and compliance, which a price table cannot show.

How to compare quotes, in the order that saves money

1. Measure your volume. Opted-in texters, campaigns a month, segments per text, emails sent. Every quote depends on these four numbers.
2. Model the AIQ card. $399 a store plus $0.0118 a segment gives you a checkable baseline sourced to AIQ itself.
3. Model Blackleaf's card. Plan fee plus the per-segment rate plus 10%. It is the only other published price in the category.
4. Get two quotes on the same volume. springbig, Sticky or your POS's module, each priced on your real numbers, not a sample store.
5. Compare twelve months, then renewal. Messaging volume grows with your list, so the second year is where metered platforms get expensive.

Dispensaries is a directory of state-licensed stores. Loyalty and texting bring back customers you already have. A verified listing is how new customers nearby find you in the first place, and it costs $99 a month with a published price.