LeafLink Pricing and Alternatives for Dispensaries and Brands

The short answer

For a dispensary, LeafLink costs nothing to start. Its pricing page says signing up to shop is free, and retailers order from every brand on the marketplace in one cart. LeafLink also sells a paid retailer tier, which SaaSworthy lists as Plus at $299 a month with inventory insights and integrations. Brands pay on a custom quote based on volume and location, and LeafLink's payments product carries its own fees on top. The main alternatives are DistruCommerce, which is free for retailers and says it takes zero commission from sellers, and Apex Trading, a quote-only wholesale platform that pitches a low setup and monthly fee.

So the question is different depending on which side of the order you sit. A dispensary buyer is deciding whether the $299 tier earns its keep. A brand or distributor is deciding whether a marketplace fee is worth the reach. We cover both below. We are a directory for state-licensed dispensaries. We do not sell wholesale software and take no referral fee from any platform named here.

How much does LeafLink cost?

LeafLink publishes no dollar figures. Its pricing page asks brands to contact sales for pricing "based on your brand volume, location, etc." and tells retailers that signing up to shop is free. The one retailer number in circulation is SaaSworthy's, which captured a Plus plan at $299 a month from LeafLink's site in February 2025, covering the marketplace, payment processing, inventory insights and integrations. The same listing shows brand tiers called Basic, Standard and Premium, all custom priced.

Two more facts shape a LeafLink bill. First, payments are separate from the subscription. LeafLink's own help center published a payments price increase FAQ in 2023, with new payments rates from April 3, 2023 and higher payment extension fees from February 15, 2023, citing the rise in the federal funds rate. Second, LeafLink now owns a bank-adjacent business: in July 2024 it bought the banking division of Dama Financial, which had processed more than $3 billion in transactions. Expect the sales conversation to bundle ordering, payments and banking, and ask for each line priced on its own.

Is LeafLink free for dispensaries?

Yes, the core marketplace is. A licensed retailer can create an account, browse brands, and send purchase orders without paying LeafLink a subscription. What costs money is the paid retailer tier, reported at $299 a month, and any payment extension you use to stretch terms with a brand. For a single store placing a few dozen orders a month, the free tier usually covers ordering. The case for Plus is inventory insight and a POS integration that pulls orders straight into your menu, and that is worth testing against what your register already does. If you are still picking the register, our comparison of dispensary POS systems covers which ones have LeafLink integrations built in.

LeafLink alternatives compared on price

We opened each vendor's site in September 2026. Where no number is published, the table says so rather than repeating directory estimates. Treat every figure as a starting point for a written quote.

What is the best LeafLink alternative for a dispensary?

For most dispensaries the best LeafLink alternative is simply to accept orders on whichever free portal each brand uses, because every major platform is free on the buying side. DistruCommerce and LeafLink both charge retailers nothing to order. The thing worth paying for is not the portal, it is getting purchase orders into your POS and Metrc without retyping them.

That is where the real cost sits for a buyer. A store receiving from twenty brands on three different portals spends staff hours reconciling manifests, and the error that follows a mistyped package tag is a compliance problem, not a clerical one. Before you pay $299 a month for any retailer tier, ask your POS vendor which wholesale platforms it imports from directly, and choose the portal that matches. Our guide to cannabis inventory software covers how inbound transfers flow into Metrc and which tools handle it.

What is the best LeafLink alternative for brands and distributors?

For a brand, the choice is between paying a marketplace for reach and paying an ERP for control. LeafLink's value is its buyer network: retailers already have accounts and browse there. DistruCommerce's pitch is the opposite. You bring your own buyers, it takes no commission, and Distru says some marketplaces take up to 25% in fees, whether you sell $5,000 or $500,000. That comparison only works if you are already paying for the Distru ERP, which third parties report at about $1,200 a month for five users. We break that down, and price it against Flourish's public rate card, on our Distru pricing page.

Apex Trading, a competitor, published a post in November 2023 arguing that brands needed alternatives to LeafLink and claiming LeafLink had raised subscription prices two to three times that year. That is a rival's claim, not a disclosed figure, so treat it as a reason to ask LeafLink for your renewal price in writing, not as a fact about your contract.

Whichever platform you sell through, wholesale in cannabis often runs on net terms, and the days between delivery and payment are where brands lose cash. If you extend terms to dispensaries, a system that sends automated invoice reminders by email and text on a fixed schedule does more for cash flow than a platform switch, because it works the same way whichever portal the order came through.

Does LeafLink charge a fee on payments?

Yes. LeafLink Payments is priced separately from the marketplace subscription, and LeafLink raised those rates in 2023. Its help center said payments rates changed from April 3, 2023 and payment extension rates from February 15, 2023, pointing to higher interest rates. The article now sits behind a login, and LeafLink does not publish the current percentage, so ask for the per-transaction rate, who pays it, and the cost of extending terms before you enable it. For the retail side of card and ACH payments, our guide to cannabis payment processing compares every rail a dispensary can use.

What to ask before you sign

Whether you are the buyer or the seller, put five questions in writing. What is the monthly subscription, and is it fixed at renewal? What does each payment cost, and who pays it? Is there a commission or fee on each order? Which POS and ERP systems does the platform sync with, in which direction, and how often? And what happens to your order history and customer list if you leave? The last one matters more than it sounds. A marketplace that holds your buyer relationships is harder to leave than a tool that only holds your orders.

Distru syncs with Metrc directly, and LeafLink connects to many cannabis POS systems, so ask each one exactly how an order becomes a Metrc transfer in your state. The difference is where your buyer list lives. On a marketplace, the buyers are the platform's. On an ERP storefront, they are yours. That single point decides most of these comparisons once the prices are on the table.

Frequently asked questions

Is LeafLink free for retailers?

Yes. LeafLink's pricing page says signing up to shop is free for retailers. A paid retailer tier with inventory insights and integrations has been listed at $299 a month. Payment extensions and some payment features carry separate fees.

How much does LeafLink charge brands?

LeafLink does not publish brand pricing. It quotes brands based on volume and location, across tiers listed as Basic, Standard and Premium. Payments are priced separately. Ask for the subscription, payment fees and any advertising costs as separate lines.

Is DistruCommerce free?

For retailers, yes, with no subscription. For sellers, Distru says DistruCommerce takes no commission per order, but it runs on the Distru ERP, which is a paid, quote-only subscription reported near $1,200 a month for five users.

Who owns Dama Financial?

LeafLink acquired the assets of Dama Financial's banking division in July 2024. Dama had processed more than $3 billion in cannabis transactions. Dama's other product lines were rebranded as GrowFlow.

What is the difference between LeafLink and a POS?

LeafLink is a business-to-business wholesale marketplace where retailers buy from brands. A POS is the register a dispensary uses to sell to consumers. They connect: many POS systems import LeafLink orders into inventory.