TryBadge vs WalletWallet API

TryBadge (the product is branded “Badge”) is enterprise embedded wallet infrastructure for platforms like POS networks, payments processors, and loyalty SaaS, covering Apple and Google Wallet with full lifecycle, white-label embedding, push, NFC, and analytics. Pricing is messaging-based and quote-only.

WalletWallet is a REST API for Apple Wallet passes, served sub-200ms from Cloudflare’s global edge. POST creates a signed .pkpass; PUT updates it and pushes the refresh over APNs. The same .pkpass opens in Google Wallet on Android too. $19/month flat with no Apple Developer account.

These products serve different buyer profiles. This page lays both out honestly.

Summary

TryBadge is a wallet platform for enterprise teams embedding passes into a larger product. Apple + Google Wallet (with Samsung mentioned at the API layer); ships pass updates, push, NFC, analytics, an embed SDK, and a customer-engagement platform. Three tiers (Core, Enterprise, Strategic), all quote-only. Free sandbox; no indefinite free tier. Customers bring their own Apple Developer Program account ($99/year) and Pass Type ID.

WalletWallet is a REST API for Apple Wallet passes, served sub-200ms from Cloudflare’s global edge. POST creates a signed .pkpass; PUT updates it and pushes the refresh over APNs. The same file opens in Google Wallet on Android (live updates on Google are on the roadmap). $19/month flat for up to 100,000 passes, with 1,000/mo free indefinitely. We sign with our certificate, so no Apple Developer account is needed.

Different products, different buyers.

What TryBadge is

TryBadge calls itself “The wallet platform built for scale.” The product is embedded infrastructure: businesses put wallet passes inside their customer-facing product, often serving many downstream merchants at once.

The docs describe a model around workspaces, pass templates, and per-user passes. The API base is https://api.trybadge.com/v0/..., and the surface is wide: pass template CRUD, pass upsert and void, push dispatch and batching, webhook management, embed SDK token, and a dedicated NFC endpoint. The full reference is publicly browsable at docs.trybadge.com/reference.

The marketing site lists logos including Carrefour, Hoka, Shift4, Stripe, Synchrony, and Yale under a “Trusted by leading businesses” carousel. We didn’t find detailed published case studies for Stripe or Shift4 in the body copy. The logos appear in a “Trusted by” placement, which is a real signal at enterprise scale but isn’t the same as a written case study. Security posture is enterprise-shaped: SOC 2 Type 2 claimed on the site, GDPR readiness, localization for 70+ countries, and the Strategic tier adds isolated infrastructure and audit logs (pricing page).

What WalletWallet is

WalletWallet is a REST API for Apple Wallet passes, served from Cloudflare’s global edge. Two write endpoints (POST, PUT), one read endpoint, no template or project state on our side.

• Apple Wallet, fully. POST /api/pkpass creates a signed pass and returns an X-Serial-Number header. PUT /api/pkpass/{serial} updates the pass and fans out an APNs push to every installed device. Identical bodies are free no-ops.
• Google Wallet via .pkpass conversion on Android. The signed pass we return opens directly in Google Wallet on Android, so one API call lands a pass in both wallets. Live push updates on Google Wallet are on the roadmap, not shipped.
• Fast and cheap. Sub-200ms pass generation and instant push, served from Cloudflare’s co-located global edge. $19/mo flat for up to 100,000 passes, with 1,000/mo free indefinitely. No Apple Developer account required, since we sign with our certificate.
• Everything a pass needs. Geofencing (up to 10 locations surface the pass on the lock screen near a coordinate), barcode formats (QR, PDF417, Aztec, Code128), expirationDays, six color presets free plus custom hex on Pro, brand assets (logoURL / thumbnailURL / stripURL / iconURL), changeMessage templates for lock-screen banners, and organizationName as the notification title. See /llms.txt for the full list.
• Start simple, stay simple. The Pass Editor on the homepage previews every pass change live, including push updates. Tune the fields, colors, and images, watch the pass update, then copy the equivalent code and run it. The dashboard editor handles signed-in push-to-installed-passes too.
• Agent-ready docs. Point Claude or any LLM at /llms.txt and it knows how to call the API.
• Usable by non-developers. The Pass Editor doesn’t require writing code to design or test a pass.

Side-by-side: a different shape of comparison

A typical “vs” article shows two API calls. Here, the shape itself is the signal.

TryBadge is template-based. You create a Pass Template (in the workspace UI or via the API), then call userPassUpsert with the template ID and a user object. From the API reference:

POST https://api.trybadge.com/v0/rpc/userPassUpsert
Authorization: Bearer <token>

{
  "passTemplateId": "<uuid>",
  "user": { ... },
  "pass": { ... },
  "sendEmailInvite": true
}

The endpoint is documented as: “Given a pass template and user information, ensure a pass exists for the user.” The same call creates and updates. The Apple Wallet payload is delivered via a separate passAppleWalletPkpass endpoint that returns either a JSON download URL or the binary .pkpass depending on the Accept header.

WalletWallet is one call:

curl -X POST https://api.walletwallet.dev/api/pkpass \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ww_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "barcodeValue": "MEMBER-12345",
    "barcodeFormat": "QR",
    "logoText": "Loyalty Card",
    "primaryFields": [{"label": "BALANCE", "value": "$42.50"}],
    "secondaryFields": [{"label": "MEMBER", "value": "Sarah K."}]
  }' \
  --output member.pkpass

The response body is the .pkpass file.

Both approaches are valid. TryBadge’s template + workspace model is built for lifecycle and multi-tenant embedding. WalletWallet’s stateless model fits backends that already own the rest of the lifecycle.

Pricing — what we can and can’t say

TryBadge does not publish dollar figures. Their pricing page lists three tiers (Core, Enterprise, Strategic) and every one carries a “Request Pricing” button. The model: “Badge pricing is based on the number of wallet messages sent or managed. Each plan includes unlimited passes, and your costs scale with messaging volume and feature tier.”

Tiers differ at the feature level (message delivery rate of Industry-Leading / Accelerated / Priority, support SLA of 24h / 12h / 6h, data locality on Enterprise and Strategic, plus isolated infrastructure and audit logs on Strategic only) but not at the dollar level. A free sandbox trial is available, and there is no indefinite free tier.

So if someone asks “is TryBadge cheaper than WalletWallet at 10,000 passes?” the honest answer is: we don’t know, and neither do you until you talk to their team. We won’t invent a number to fill our pricing table.

WalletWallet’s pricing is on our pricing page: free at 1,000 generations/month indefinitely, $19/month flat for up to 100,000 generations, then $0.00019/generation overage. Apple Developer account not required since we sign by default.

Two items remain comparable honestly:

• TryBadge requires an Apple Developer Program account (cert setup guide): “In order to issue passes, Apple requires that you have an Apple Developer Program account.” That’s $99/year to Apple. WalletWallet customers don’t pay it.
• TryBadge includes unlimited passes on every tier, with messaging as their cost driver. WalletWallet bills on pass generations with no per-message component (no per-installed-pass charge, since APNs push is included on every changed PUT).

If your decision rides on a verifiable dollar number, request a TryBadge quote and compare it against our posted $19.

What WalletWallet doesn’t do (yet)

Compared to TryBadge, today WalletWallet:

• No Google Wallet live updates. Our .pkpass opens in Google Wallet on Android, but Google Wallet doesn’t honor webServiceURL, so our PUT updates and APNs push only reach iOS. TryBadge ships a passGoogleWalletJwt endpoint with live updates.
• No Samsung Wallet. TryBadge’s marketing mentions Samsung once, in “a unified API layer across Apple, Google, and Samsung,” but the claim isn’t echoed in documented endpoints. Either way, we don’t ship Samsung and it isn’t on our roadmap.
• No NFC. TryBadge has a dedicated /reference/nfc endpoint.
• No analytics dashboard, embed SDK, or customer-engagement platform. TryBadge ships all three.

If any of these are blocking, TryBadge is the better pick.

Feature comparison

	TryBadge	WalletWallet
Apple Wallet pass generation	✓	✓
Google Wallet support	✓	—
Samsung Wallet support	marketing-claimed	—
Pass updates (Apple Wallet)	✓	✓ (PUT /api/pkpass/{serial})
Push notifications (Apple Wallet)	✓	✓ (APNs fan-out on every PUT)
Pass updates / push on Google Wallet	✓	—
NFC (Apple VAS / equivalents)	✓	—
Embed SDK / white-label	✓	—
No-code Pass Editor	✓	✓ (homepage + dashboard)
Wallet analytics	✓	—
Webhooks	✓	—
Customer-engagement / segmentation	✓	—
Multi-template management	✓	—
Apple cert handling	bring your own ($99/yr)	platform handles
API model	template → upsert → wallet delivery	POST + PUT, stateless
Free tier	sandbox trial (no card)	1,000 passes/mo, indefinite
Public pricing	no (quote-only, 3 tiers)	yes ($19/mo flat)
SOC 2 Type 2	claimed	—
Data locality / isolated infra	✓ (Enterprise / Strategic)	—
Edge delivery	not stated	Cloudflare Workers

When TryBadge is the better pick

• You’re a platform, not an end-merchant (think POS, payments, loyalty SaaS, financial services) embedding wallet into a product that serves many downstream tenants. TryBadge’s embed SDK, white-label, and template architecture are built for that.
• You need Apple + Google + Samsung from one vendor, or at least Apple + Google with a Samsung story for procurement.
• You need Google Wallet live updates, NFC, or analytics shipped today. All three are in TryBadge’s reference and none ship in WalletWallet. (Apple-Wallet pass updates and push are on both sides.)
• Your buying process involves SOC 2 Type 2, data locality, isolated infrastructure, named SLAs, procurement review. That’s the Strategic tier, and we don’t offer any of those.
• Messaging volume is your cost driver, not pass count. TryBadge bills on messages and includes unlimited passes.
• You have, or can easily get, an Apple Developer account. TryBadge requires it.

When WalletWallet is the better pick

• You want the fastest pass generation and push. Sub-200ms generation from Cloudflare’s co-located global edge, with APNs push landing on every installed device within seconds. Most competitors don’t publish latency numbers and we do.
• You want a live preview before writing any code. The Pass Editor on our homepage previews every pass change (fields, colors, images, push), and the dashboard editor sends real push updates to installed passes after signup. Copy the equivalent code when you’re ready.
• You want agent-ready docs. Point Claude or any LLM at /llms.txt and it can call the API end-to-end. No SDK plumbing needed, since the docs are designed for both humans and agents.
• Non-developers on your team will touch this too. The Pass Editor doesn’t require writing code to design or test a pass.
• You skip the Apple Developer Program entirely. We sign with our certificate by default, so there’s no $99/yr fee, no Pass Type ID setup, and no certificate renewal calendar.
• You’re a developer or small product team adding wallet passes to a product you already own. Self-serve, card-on-file, no procurement.
• Apple Wallet is enough for now. Paying for Google, Samsung, NFC, and an engagement platform you won’t use is wasteful.
• You’d rather hold member/tenant data in your own backend. We sign and push updates, but we don’t try to be the source of truth for users, segments, or analytics, since TryBadge’s embed model owns more of that.
• You don’t want to manage an Apple Developer account. We sign by default, with BYO cert supported.
• A predictable $19/month is easier to budget than a quote. Below 1,000 passes/month, the free tier covers you indefinitely.
• You want to be live in an afternoon. One curl for create, one for update, one binary back.

Try it before you decide

Get a free API key with 1,000 passes/month indefinitely and no card. After signup the Pass Editor in the dashboard previews every pass change live (including push updates to installed passes), so you can dial in fields, colors, and images, then copy the equivalent code and run it. Before signup the homepage Pass Editor runs the same preview live.

FAQ

Is TryBadge cheaper or more expensive than WalletWallet? We can’t tell you, because TryBadge does not publish dollar figures. Their pricing page lists three tiers (Core, Enterprise, Strategic) and every one is “Request Pricing.” The model is messaging-based (“based on the number of wallet messages sent or managed; each plan includes unlimited passes”), not per-pass. WalletWallet is publicly $19/month flat for up to 100,000 passes. If pricing is decisive, request a TryBadge quote and compare directly.

Does TryBadge require an Apple Developer account? Yes. Their cert setup guide is explicit: “In order to issue passes, Apple requires that you have an Apple Developer Program account.” Customers register a Pass Type ID, generate a CSR via Badge’s API, and upload the cert. That’s the $99/year Apple Developer Program fee. WalletWallet does not require this, since we sign by default.

Does TryBadge support Samsung Wallet? TryBadge’s marketing mentions Samsung once, in “a unified API layer across Apple, Google, and Samsung.” That isn’t reflected in any documented endpoint we found, since Apple and Google have dedicated reference endpoints while Samsung does not. Treat it as a marketing claim and ask their team if Samsung is decisive. WalletWallet does not support Samsung Wallet.

Can I migrate from TryBadge to WalletWallet? Apple-Wallet generation, updates, and push translate cleanly. Flows depending on Google-Wallet live updates, NFC, the embed SDK, webhooks, or analytics don’t have equivalents on our side.

Is TryBadge a competitor to WalletWallet? Not really. TryBadge sells to platforms embedding wallet into products serving many downstream merchants, with procurement-grade compliance and an engagement platform. WalletWallet is a self-serve $19/month API. Most teams know within five minutes which side of that line they’re on.

Does WalletWallet plan to add Google Wallet live updates, NFC, or Samsung Wallet? Apple-Wallet pass updates and push already ship via PUT /api/pkpass/{serial}. Google-Wallet live updates are on the roadmap, not yet shipped. NFC, Samsung Wallet, an embed SDK, and analytics are not on the current roadmap.

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Last verified 2026-05-20. TryBadge pricing, feature, and customer-logo claims are pulled from trybadge.com, trybadge.com/pricing, and docs.trybadge.com. Samsung Wallet support is asserted on TryBadge’s marketing site but not echoed in their documented endpoints, so we describe it as “marketing-claimed.” If you spot something out of date, especially if TryBadge has published dollar figures since, let us know and we’ll correct the page.