Gift cards are extremely popular with e-commerce shoppers. As the 2025 survey by TSG and Bank of America states, 81% of buyers in the USA have purchased a gift card, with a 10% year-to-year growth in the digital card segment. This said, not having a gift card functionality in your Magento 2 store will result in losing potential customers and profits, which is not your business goal for sure.
To find a perfect gift card solution for your store, you need to research, analyze, and compare multiple options. Today, we’ve done all the hard work for you and created this comparison page for the 2 most popular Gift Card extensions: Aheadworks and Amasty. Our extension has 3 pricing options, so we’ll take the most feature-rich plan.
Why Gift Card Functionality Matters for E-Commerce Success
Gift cards aren’t just a “nice extra” for online stores anymore. They’re a core revenue, marketing, and customer retention tool. When implemented well, gift card functionality directly supports growth, conversion, and cash flow in ways regular discounts or promotions can’t match. Here is the list of benefits you can get from adding gift cards to your e-commerce store:
Instant Revenue & Better Cash Flow: When a customer buys a gift card, you receive the money before any physical product leaves your warehouse. That means immediate cash flow you can reinvest in ads, stock, or operations, and reduced risk of returns or refunds compared to regular orders.
Built-In Customer Acquisition: Every gift card is essentially a referral wrapped in a payment method, because existing customers buy a card for friends or family, the recipient might never have shopped with you before, and their first interaction with your brand is already prepaid and positive.
Higher Average Order Value: Most customers don’t stop at the exact card amount and often spend more than the card limit. Besides, customers are more willing to try premium products or bundles because part of the cost feels “free.”
Reduced Cart Abandonment & Friction: Gift cards give flexibility at checkout, as customers can split payment. In addition, shoppers who receive cards are less price-sensitive and more likely to complete their purchase.
Powerful Tool for Loyalty & Retention: Gift cards also work as store credit, allowing you to issue store credit instead of refunds to keep revenue in your ecosystem, use gift cards as rewards for loyalty tiers, referrals, reviews, or win-back campaigns, and turn customer service moments into positive experiences with small gift card gestures.
Smarter Handling of Returns & Exchanges: From an operations perspective, gift card functionality simplifies returns. Instead of refunding to the original payment method, you can refund to store credit. That keeps money in the business and nudges customers to reorder instead of leaving entirely. This feature is especially valuable during peak seasons when return volumes spike.
Perfect for Gifting Culture & Seasonality: Gifting is a huge driver of seasonal revenue (holidays, birthdays, events), as gift cards solve the classic “I don’t know their size/style/preference” problem. Besides, they are instant, which is perfect for last-minute shoppers, and can be localized, themed, and personalized with messages or designs.
Data & Personalization Opportunities: Modern gift card systems and extensions also give you data on who buys gift cards, what values they choose, and when (easy to spot seasonal trends), and how recipients redeem them, showing what segments you can target with tailored campaigns.
What is Aheadworks Gift Card for Magento 2?
Aheadworks Gift Card for Magento 2 is a powerful extension that adds flexible gift card functionality to your online store. It allows merchants to create and manage customizable gift card products – virtual, physical, or combined – so customers can easily purchase and redeem store credit, boosting sales, customer loyalty, and overall shopping convenience.
What is Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2?
Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 is a feature-rich gifting module that lets you easily boost customer experience and revenue by adding flexible, fully customizable gift card products to your store. You can create virtual, printed, or combined gift cards with fixed or open-amount pricing, single or multiple usage, and a choice of ready-made designs or custom images, turning gifting into a powerful sales driver that works across seasons, campaigns, and customer segments.
Unlike many similar solutions, Amasty Gift Card equips your website with a truly omnichannel gift card program: you can generate and import code pools in bulk, attach barcodes, track all purchased vouchers and their balances, set detailed conditions for card application, and even return remaining gift card balance during refunds or convert it into store credit. Built-in tools to import/export gift card data, restrict payment methods, configure lifetime and expiration notifications, and prevent fraudulent code usage help you run a secure, scalable certificate system that fits smoothly into your checkout, marketing promotions, and multi-store setup.
Key Features Comparison: Aheadworks Gift Card vs. Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2
Key Features | Amasty (Premium) | Aheadworks |
Support of printed, virtual, and combined card types | ✅ | ✅ |
Card code pools | ✅ | ✅ |
Fixed and open amount price types | ✅ | ✅ |
Card designs | ✅ | ✅ |
Support for custom image upload | ✅ | ❌ |
Gift message | ✅ | ✅ |
Delivery date | ✅ | ✅ |
Gift card preview | ✅ | ✅ |
Email notifications | ✅ | ✅ |
Gift card widget | ✅ | ❌ |
Admin management tools | ✅ | ✅ |
Refund of the gift card balance | ✅ | ❌ |
Possibility to redeem card balance for store credit | ✅ | ❌ |
Import and export | ✅ | ✅ |
GraphQL compatibility | ✅ | ✅ |
Store Credit | ✅ | ❌ |
Customer Group Auto Assign | ✅ | ❌ |
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Basic functionality
Both Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 and Aheadworks Gift Card come with all the basic features you may need. They allow you to generate an unlimited number of card codes and pools. These extensions support 3 cart types:
support of printed, virtual, and combined card types
possibility to generate card code pools
support of predefined and open card values
Also, you can create gift cards with predefined card values or let your customers enter any sum they want.
User experience features
Both extensions help you improve the user shopping experience by adding small but necessary features to the product page. Your clients can choose one of the several possible card designs, enter a personalized message and choose a delivery date. Thus, their gift will be more individual and arrive right in time. Also, they can preview how their gift card will look before sending it.
Card recipients will also get a seamless shopping experience in your store. They will get email notifications about any changes to the gift card status. In the customer account, they can check the available balance and expiration date. And the gift code can be applied to both the shopping cart and checkout page. Moreover, these extensions support One Step Checkout integration.
Admin functionality
Store managers can place orders and send gift cards right from the backend. They can set card expiration dates and check the card balance.
Import and export
Both Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 and Aheadworks Gift Card support REST and SOAP API. Thus, you can import and export gift card codes to any CRM or ERP system.
Advanced features
Both Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 and Aheadworks Gift Card plugins are GraphQL compatible, so you can adapt it when working on PWA, for example.
Key Differences Between Aheadworks Gift Card and Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2
Both Amasty Gift Card and Aheadworks Gift Card for Magento 2 deliver rich functionality for selling and managing gift cards in an online store. They enable merchants to offer flexible gifting options with configurable card types and values, support convenient redemption at checkout, and help turn gift certificates into a stable revenue and customer-retention channel.
While these extensions share core capabilities, they differ in how they handle user experience, backend management, data import/export, and advanced features such as integrations and bundled add-ons. Below, you can see the key differences between Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 and Aheadworks Gift Card in terms of UX, admin flexibility, integration options, and extra tools that influence overall functionality and long-term value for your store.
User experience features
Amasty Gift Card extension offers almost the same set of features for a better shopping experience:
personalized message
delivery date
preview
email notifications
gift card application on the cart and checkout pages
But there are several differences. First, users can not only choose among pre-made card designs but also upload their own images. Second, card recipients can track several gift codes at their customer account:
And finally, this extension comes with a custom widget that you can place on any page of your website and let users check their card balance without being distracted from their buyer journey.
Admin functionality
In addition to placing orders and sending gift cards from the backend, store admins can refund gift card balances and redeem card balances for store credit using Amasty’s extension.
Import and export
Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 comes with built-in import and export functionality and allows you to migrate gift card data using various sources, including REST API. Moreover, it is compatible with the Export Orders and Import Orders solutions.
Advanced features
Amasty Gift Card extension has GraphQL compatibility for both read and write.
Check out how to use GraphQL →
Also, it is compatible with SMS Notification Pro, so you can use them together and keep your customers updated.
Checkout features
While both extensions are compatible with Hyvä Theme, Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 also supports the Hyvä Checkout connectivity, which makes the module more functional and future-proof in modern environments.
Included extensions
The premium version of the extension comes with 2 additional plugins:
Store Credit allows you to retain more customers by providing them with store credits for future purchases.
Customer Group Auto Assign that helps you automate customer group management.
When to Choose Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 Over Aheadworks Gift Card for Magento 2
Amasty Gift Card for Magento 2 will be a perfect choice for your e-commerce business if you need a more flexible, deeply integrated gift card system that goes beyond basic functionality and supports advanced UX, admin, and marketing scenarios. Choose Amasty if you:
Need customers to fully personalize their gifts with not only pre-made designs, but also custom image uploads alongside gift messages, delivery dates, and previews.
Want recipients to conveniently track multiple gift codes and balances right in their customer accounts instead of managing them elsewhere.
Would like to place a gift card balance check widget on any page, so shoppers can verify their remaining funds without leaving the purchasing flow.
Need your admins to refund gift card balances and redeem remaining amounts into store credit directly from the backend for smoother customer service and retention.
Plan to migrate gift cards from third-party systems and require built-in import/export tools, including REST API support and compatibility with Amasty’s Export Orders and Import Orders solutions.
You are building or already running a headless / PWA storefront and want GraphQL compatibility for both read and write operations on gift cards.
Want to enhance your loyalty and segmentation strategy using the included Store Credit and Customer Group Auto Assign add-ons that come with the premium Amasty Gift Card package.
Already use (or plan to use) other Amasty modules like SMS Notification, Export Orders, or Import Orders, and want a gift card solution that integrates seamlessly into your e-commerce ecosystem.
To Sum It Up
Amasty Gift Card and Aheadworks Gift Card for Magento 2 both deliver advanced gift card functionality that can significantly improve your store’s customer experience and revenue potential. Each solution covers the essentials — multiple card types, flexible values, checkout integration, and balance tracking — so either can be used to run a solid digital gifting program on a Magento 2 website.
Aheadworks Gift Card may be a good option for small- and medium-scale merchants who want a straightforward, easy-to-manage gift card solution with basic functionality. Amasty Gift Card may better suit bigger stores that need a more scalable, feature-rich system with deeper personalization, store-credit workflows, and tighter integration into a broader Amasty ecosystem.
Make your decision based on your current business needs, tech stack, long-term growth plans, and future trends, so your chosen gift card solution can support future expansion in marketing, omnichannel sales, and customer loyalty.
![How to Increase Your Revenue with Magento 2 Gift Functionality [Ultimate Guide]](https://cdn-rel.amasty.com/media/amasty/blog/cache/g/i/915/433/gift_card_and_gift_wrap_magento_2.png)
