What are the best gift cards for incentive programs in 2026?
By Ian Floyd●8 min. read●Dec 11, 2025
Whether you're a researcher, a marketer, or an HR professional, gift card incentive programs can motivate people to achieve goals and contribute to your organization's success.
For example, in an incentives experiment, Tremendous found that offering gift cards to prospects who book sales demos doubles response rates and decreases cost per lead by 81%.
But which gift cards do employees and customers prefer?
There are virtually thousands of options, and it’s difficult to pick one retailer that will satisfy the vast majority of people.
In this article, you can compare the 12 of the most popular gift card options this year.
What is a gift card incentive program?
A gift card incentive program is a way for businesses to reward people with gift cards in exchange for doing something that benefits the business. That might mean completing a survey, hitting a sales target, referring a friend, or showing up to a product demo.
Businesses use gift card incentive programs to support all kinds of goals, including driving research participation, building customer loyalty, motivating sales teams, and more. And with the right reward platform, everything can run on autopilot.
The basics of gift cards
Gift cards remain one of the most popular gift ideas around the globe, with the market expected to rise to $865 billion by 2030. As part of an incentive program, one study found that gift cards increase
performance even more than cash. Plus, gift cards have the ability to cater to an individual's specific interests.
What types of gift cards can be used for incentives?
All gift cards fall into one of two formats: open-loop and closed-loop.
Open-loop: Open-loop cards can be used at any retailer (as opposed to only a specific, predefined retailer). Prepaid cards like Visa® or Mastercard®, which are accepted at a wide variety of locations, are among the most popular options. Prepaid cards give the recipient freedom of choice. Though users may be inclined to spend the money on necessities rather than on splurges.
Closed-loop: By contrast, closed-loop gift cards limit users to specific retailers, like Starbucks or Target. These types of gift cards can seem more personal, especially if coupled with a thoughtful note. Closed-loop cards often require knowledge of an individual's needs, wants or preferences.
Physical gift cards versus e-gift cards
When you set up an incentive program that rewards with gift cards, you have a choice to make: physical cards or digital cards?
In society's seemingly unstoppable shift to all-digital-everything, the benefits of digital gift cards certainly outweigh those of physical cards.
| Digital gift cards | Physical gift cards | |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering and inventory | Order individually, in bulk or automatically by API; no inventory | Buy in bulk for the best value; must manage and track inventory |
| Delivery time | Instantaneous | Days or weeks by snail mail |
| Costs |
1. Face-value cost of the card | 1. Cost of the card 2. Postage fees 3. Manual labor overhead |
| Security | Tracking is much more thorough, allowing for better customer support in the event of theft or fraud | Cards could get stolen by mail or lost by the recipient; hard to track fraud |
| User experience | Add eligible cards to your digital wallet; use card in store or online | Recipients must carry and keep track of the physical card |
| Eco friendly | Yes. Digital gift cards skip the plastic and don’t need to be shipped. | No. Physical gift cards use manufacturing and shipping resources for single-use cards that ultimately end up in landfills. |
Pros and cons of gift card incentives
When you build gift cards into your incentive programs, you should understand the pros and cons of offering them.
Pros
You empower recipients to buy products and services that matter to them.
People can easily understand, claim, and spend gift cards.
You can receive discounts if you purchase a high volume of digital cards.
You can connect your program to a gift card provider’s API to automate sending gift card rewards.
Cons
Some gift cards require activation fees. You should research fees before buying cards.
Recipients may find themselves with a small, unusable amount of money left on the card.
Cards can seem impersonal. To avoid this, add warmth to the reward by including a personalized note.
Popular gift card categories
The key to building a successful gift card-based reward and incentive program:
Offer what people want.
To find the best mix of practicality, ease of use, choice, and an excuse to splurge, assess the options in one of these categories:
| Card type | Best for | Pros | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prepaid Visa or Mastercard | Global/distributed teams, diverse demographics | Maximum flexibility | Feels less personal; may be used for necessities |
| Amazon | Remote workers, all-ages | International reach, huge product range, easy to use | Some people prefer browsing in-store |
| Multi-brand choice card | Large programs, varied workforces | Recipient autonomy | Requires a platform to manage |
| Individual retailer (Starbucks, Target, etc.) | In-office employees, targeted gifting | High perceived value; "treat" feel | Limited geographic/demographic appeal |
| Charity cards | CSR-aligned programs | Brand alignment | Not universally preferred |
12 popular gift cards in 2026
The following are the most popular gift cards of the year, using a combination of monthly search volume and internal expertise as a proxy for interest.
1. Visa gift card
Visa gift cards are the top-searched and most popular gift card option, and it’s easy to see why — it offers one of the best gift card programs for retailer acceptance. Recipients can buy just about anything with a Visa gift card, and it’s almost as valuable as cash.
Unlike store-specific gift cards, Visa gift cards can be used at any location that accepts Visa. This includes millions of merchants both online and in-store. This flexibility ensures that recipients can use their gift card in a way that best suits their needs and preferences.
Some other gift cards tend to cater to some demographics over others. But Visa gift cards have near-universal appeal. Everyone from young professionals to retirees love these cards.
2. Amazon gift card
You can find almost anything you want to buy on Amazon. The retailer’s extensive product range makes it a close second to Visa's wide appeal.
Amazon is, of course, the largest online retailer with millions of products across various categories, from electronics and books to clothing and home goods. Recipients can find items that suit their specific tastes and needs.
Another bonus: Amazon gift cards are extremely easy to use. The Amazon site and mobile app is decently user-friendly. Recipients can buy little-known products on Amazon from niche sellers through an easily accessible, intuitive user interface.
3. Target gift card
The third-most popular gift card of the year is for Target. These gift cards don't have as broad a product selection as Amazon or as much flexibility as a Visa prepaid card, but Target is the second-most popular department store in the country.
Recipients can use their Target gift cards online or in-store. A Target gift card gives people the chance to do some guilt-free shopping, or to get their necessities without having to worry as much about the price tag.
There are more than 1,900 Target locations across the U.S., and the retailer has at least one store in every state. Plus, Target's wide variety of items means there's truly something for everyone.
4. Walmart gift card
Walmart is one of the most shopped retailers in the U.S., making its gift cards a natural fit for incentive programs. Recipients can use them in-store or online across a huge range of categories: groceries, electronics, clothing, home goods, and more.
This retailer gift card shares some of the broad appeal of Target cards, but skew toward a slightly different demographic. Walmart shoppers tend to prioritize value and practicality, so these cards work especially well for programs targeting a wide, geographically distributed audience. With more than 4,600 U.S. locations, there's a good chance your recipients live near one.
6. DoorDash gift card
Food delivery has become a staple service for a lot of people, and DoorDash is the most popular platform for it in the U.S. That makes DoorDash gift cards a reliable, well-received reward for almost any program.
Part of the appeal is the instant gratification factor. Recipients can redeem a DoorDash gift card the same day they receive it, which might make the reward feel more immediate and tangible than something they need to plan around. And because food is universally appealing, these cards tend to land well across a wide range of demographics.
5. Starbucks gift card
Fourth on the list: Starbucks. It’s the second-most valuable restaurant brand worldwide. And while Starbucks prices come in a bit higher than rivaling chains Dunkin’ and Tim Horton’s, people feel less guilty splurging on a latte if they know they’re paying with a gift card.
Another reason it’s so popular is because coffee is, for most people, a daily necessity. So if someone receives a Starbucks gift card, they’re highly likely to actually use it.
Starbucks gift cards are equally convenient in digital and physical form. The coffee chain has a popular mobile app and more than 32,000 locations worldwide. It feels like there’s one on every corner in major cities, and chances are, many of your recipients pass one on their way to work.
6. DoorDash gift card
Food delivery has become a staple service for a lot of people, and DoorDash is the most popular platform for it in the U.S. That makes DoorDash gift cards a reliable, well-received reward for almost any program.
Part of the appeal is the instant gratification factor. Recipients can redeem a DoorDash gift card the same day they receive it, which might make the reward feel more immediate and tangible than something they need to plan around. And because food is universally appealing, these cards tend to land well across a wide range of demographics.
7. Disney gift card
Perhaps surprisingly, Disney gift cards are fifth on the list. Recipients can use them for just about anything Disney-related, from merchandise online to theme park tickets or resort stays.
A word of caution: While these gift cards are extremely popular, they are limited in use and won't work for everyone. Unless you’re specifically targeting families with young children or known Disney fans, you may want to skip this one.
It likely makes more sense to offer recipients a Visa prepaid card. That way, even if some recipients don’t have a Disney vacation on the docket this year, they can still get plenty of use out of their gift.
8. Sephora gift card
While Sephora gift cards aren’t a universal crowd pleaser, they’re by far the most popular cosmetic gift card of the year. Sephora carries over 340 different brands and more than 45,000 products, from Chanel to Glossier.
One reason Sephora gift cards are so popular is because makeup and cosmetics are seen as luxurious vs. utilitarian. In other words, people buy indulgent beauty products for pleasure rather than necessity.
Pleasurable purchases are more strongly associated with feelings of excitement. However, hedonic purchases can also make us feel guilty. Fortunately, if someone purchases these types of goods with a gift card, (which feels like free money,) they can splurge without experiencing the buyers' remorse that sometimes comes with impulse purchases.
9. American Express gift card
The appeal of an American Express gift card is the same as that of a Visa gift card, meaning they can be used just about anywhere to buy just about anything. Like Visa prepaid cards, prepaid American Express cards function like debit cards and are accepted by millions of retailers.
10. eBay gift card
eBay gift cards are like Amazon gift cards for people who love thrifting. eBay is one of the world’s largest online marketplaces, and shoppers can find anything from electronics and fashion to rare collectibles and vintage furniture.
With an eBay gift card, recipients can purchase new, used, or rare items. And because eBay offers so many used goods in great condition, the platform appeals to recipients who want more bang for their buck.
11. Apple gift card
Apple gift cards are even more useful in 2026 as they were back in the iTunes days. Beyond using these gift cards to buy music, recipients can redeem them for Apple TV+ subscriptions, apps, games, Apple News+ subscriptions, or more iCloud storage space.
This type of gift card gives recipients access to an extensive content library that includes movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and more. And a lot of people can benefit from them. iPhones are hugely popular in the U.S., with 50% of market share. Chances are pretty good that your recipients have an iPhone, or at least a TV that can stream Apple TV+.
12. Chick-fil-A gift card
Chick-fil-A is the fifth-most-valuable restaurant chain in the world. The restaurant's popularity has exploded in the past decade or so. While Chick-fil-A started as a regional chain in the southern U.S., locations have cropped up all over the country.
Like Sephora, Chick-fil-A gift cards are appealing to recipients because they allow for guilt-free indulgent purchases. No one feels great about spending $25 on fast food, but it stings a lot less if you know you received the money as a gift.
How businesses use gift cards as rewards and incentives
A corporate gift card program can be a powerful business tool when coupled with clever strategies.
There are many use cases for leveraging gift cards to achieve business goals. You can break down these strategies into three categories: marketing incentives, research incentives, and employee incentives.
Marketing incentives
The options for marketing with gift card reward programs are vast. You can offer gift card incentives to customers who leave a review or refer new clients or for big purchases.
You can also build a gift card loyalty program to better retain customers. For instance, customers can earn a certain amount of points with each purchase, adding up to a free item down the line.
Marketing incentive programs could include:
Sales lead generation programs
Customer acquisition programs
Customer loyalty programs
Customer advocacy programs
Event attendance and monetization programs
Partner and vendor incentive programs
Research incentives
Many companies conduct research of some kind, or employ a market research firm to do it for them. This research includes everything from surveying employees to conducting user research for a new product or running a dedicated market research department.
A common way to incorporate rewards into research is to compensate participants for their time — for completing a survey, interview or some other task.
Research incentive programs could include:
Employee or customer surveys
Market research
Clinical research
Academic research
User experience (UX) research
Employee recognition
How do you maximize employee output and well-being?
By aligning employee interests with business goals.
One way to do that is through employee rewards and incentives, which can be used in various ways to both encourage behavior or reward it after the fact. According to research from Deloitte, high-performing organizations are 1.7 times more likely to embed recognition into their rewards philosophy than their lower-performing peers.
Employee incentive programs include:
Employee recruiting and referral programs
Employee reward and recognition programs
Sales incentive programs
Employee safety programs
Continuing education programs
How to evaluate the best gift card incentives for employees or customers
While the above are the most popular gift cards by search volume, ultimately, individual preferences are fickle and unique. Everybody is different, and there’s no way to accurately paint your entire workforce or customer base with a broad brush.
Consider the following before making a selectio:
Employee or customer preferences: Consider the attributes of your target demographic. Are your customers largely young professionals, suburban women, men with young children, etc? If you’re targeting a specific demographic, it may be easier to pick a single gift card that will appeal to most. However, if you have a broad customer base or distributed employees, it may make more sense to let them choose their own gift card.
Personalization: Think about how much or how little you’d like to personalize the gift. Tremendous's own research found that recipients don’t care much whether a gift was picked out specifically for them. Rather, 85% would be satisfied with a simple thank-you note given along with the gift.
Inclusivity: Make sure to gift something anyone can use, no matter where in the world they are. With Tremendous, you can send gift cards to recipients in more than 230 countries and regions.
Budget: You don’t need to break the bank to send the right work anniversary gift. Between $50 and $100 should satisfy most employees.
Let recipients choose their own gift card
Rather than trying to pick one gift that suits all, let recipients choose the gift they want most with Tremendous. Tremendous offers more than 2,500 reward options in over 230 countries or regions, including everything from direct deposit and Venmo payouts to DoorDash and Amazon gift cards.
Plus, it’s free to use. Only spend what you send.
Sign up now and send your first incentive in minutes, or chat with the sales team.
