Transcription
Business cards provide the unique opportunity to stand out, whether you're networking, meeting clients, or applying to a job. It can set you ahead of the competition. But what if you could take it a step further? What if you could take that connection online with your card? Well, that's where smart business cards come in. An NFC chip put into a business card that, when tapped or scanned with your phone, brings you to a unique landing page.
And with so many digital business cards out there, all with their own unique take on what a card should be, to what your web page should look like, we're reviewing Link, Wave, .U, and Popple to figure out which one is the best smart business card of 2025. Use the chapters to jump to a specific section. Use the onscreen QR codes to view live pages in action, and stick around for a cheat sheet at the end that summarizes this video.
Quickly, I wanted to mention that this video is sponsored by Link, Wave, and Exter. I'll speak more about them later in the video, but just because they're sponsoring doesn't mean they had a say in the making of this video. In fact, none of them actually had the right to review this video until it was out, so they're watching this for the first time right now, just like you are. Okay, let's get started.
So we're starting with Dot card. This is a very minimal card with simple dot branding on the front and a QR code on the back. It's a solid-feeling card, which they then elevate with the metal card, giving a more premium feel. But new this year, with pre-sale starting today, they also have a brand new version of the metal card, which gives you a metal border around the card for a much more polished look. They've taken a very simple design and made it premium, and they've also given the option for custom branding on top of that.
But regardless of which card you choose, you can tap on the card and be brought to your custom Dot Page, offering a profile image and a banner that looks simple but great. From there, you get a prominent exchange button where the lead fills out their information, and you both get an email introduction, or they can download a contact card and then reach out later. From there, you also get a list of your custom links, like social media, email, website, Calendly, and more. At the bottom, you have the Dot branding, which can be disabled with a membership to Dot Profile Plus. You can customize the look and feel of your card, including the color of the buttons and the border, and completely change the theme in a variety of different settings. You can also change the icon styles, including the color, size, and shape of icons. This is a really great level of control for what is a very simple landing page, and I love that you can have a completely different look from someone else's page.
Insights let you see how often your profile is being viewed, exchanged, downloaded, and which links are being clicked. When a lead exchanges their contact information, they're automatically stored in your contacts tab. Here, you can send a quick text, call, email, set a follow-up, download, share, or view any details, including adding detailed notes about your interaction with them. An extremely simple approach that provides what you need to get connected with your leads. Dot also has a variety of other products that can link to your page, including a thin card which has the same benefits of the card with an adhesive back. They also gave a wristband that also gives both NFC tap and a QR code on it. There's the Dot Classic and thin version that are adhesive to your phone for a very simple and minimal approach. They also now have a wallet which can fit your Dot card and one additional card. It's built to enable tapping directly through the wallet, which is handy, but I feel like a missed opportunity here not to include MagSafe for your phone or to fit more than two cards at a time, which makes it less than ideal for, you know, a typical wallet. But it's great that you can get this for free with orders over $40, at least at the time of making this video.
In previous years, I've included Dot but sort of critiqued them for having this very limited platform, but each year I see more and more people searching for that card. So even though all of that is still true, I wonder if the beauty of the Dot card is in its simplicity. If you can easily manage it and easily view it, then nothing is overcomplicated, and it's a win-win for everyone. So overall, I give Dot three out of five briefcase emojis.
Link is always reliable when it comes to their card. On the custom card, there's a textured finish and a really high-quality design, which you can see around all of the edges and even thin font on the back. You have a QR code and a textured pattern, which looks and feels really cool. They also have a metal card, which has a matte finish and a gold foil that I love—sort of this premium take on what the .U card does, but we'll get to that a little later on. Then on the back, you get the QR code and an NFC window where you can tap, and when you do tap, you're given an extremely unique app clip experience that you can customize and looks incredible.
So unlike the typical smart business card page, this actually gives you app functionality in seconds. So not only does the page look and feel incredibly smooth, but you can actually push notifications to your lead. So if they exit out of your page, you can send them a reminder to download your contact info or finish connecting without even needing to send an email or a text, which is extremely intuitive, less invasive. I think it's just an awesome opportunity and that third touch point, which is great. On the Link page, you get a custom banner and a profile photo with a header and your details. Then you can set up individual modules like quick contact to text and call, an about section, Calendly link for booking a meeting without leaving the page, Social Links, embedded videos, integrated Typeform links, quick links which I use to show all of my other profiles and a custom image beside them, custom files where I host my Media Kit, drop-down text, and a lead form. You can easily create different variations of pages in case you want to swap it out for another look or feel or customize it for a networking event you're attending.
Now, I set up my page intentionally so that leads have a variety of ways to contact me. One is the exchange contact button, which allows them to fill out their info, download my contact card automatically. After that, we both get an email introducing us. Link lets you follow up with leads in the contact section of the app. You can contact them directly, set follow-up reminders, add tags and notes. But you can also take it a step further by automating the process, sending a templated email with built-in message snippets that'll save you time. Also, if you don't have the full contact details, you can hit enrich, and Link will actually complete their profile by finding additional contact information for that lead and adding it to their contact. Link also is the only business card to give you a custom phone number, separate from your cell phone number, which can make calls and send texts. You can make notes while on the call, add a tag to the contact, and the call is also automatically transcribed so you can look back on the conversation easily.
Link also has a huge lineup of other products that they sent over, like the Link Tap, which has an adhesive back, two versions of Link bracelets that look incredible, an Apple Watch band to easily bring Link on the go, an event badge in this oversized design which I love and it's definitely my favorite product, and a stand that you can put at an event or reception to access your page. So this was all scratching the surface on what Link can do. A lot more incredible features exist for teams and multi-member organizations that just can't be covered in this video; it would be way too long. For those features, stay tuned for the teams edition of the smart business card comparison that's coming next week on the channel. Overall, Link is an incredible choice, from high-quality products and extremely unique features, miles ahead of what competition can do, like app clips and in-app reminders, and the custom Link phone number to get a dedicated phone number for texts and calls and transcriptions, all within the Link app. For all of these features, I give Link a five out of five briefcase emojis.
Wave has silently become one of the top competitors in the space over the years by listening to feedback and consistently improving each year. The metal card is really premium with this vertical design and an NFC window on the front, which is perfect for introductions while showing off your logo. On the back, there's a QR code in case you can't tap, but they've really elevated the metal card by providing all of these other options, including a full custom front design that can tap on the back, a 24-karat gold design which is just blinding—also incredible—and then my personal favorite for its unique look, a brushed metal card that looks awesome. I think Wave gives the most custom options when it comes to the metal cards, and they really deliver on exceptional quality. When you tap on the card, the lead is automatically given a popup to exchange their contact info. This will automatically download your contact card and send you both an introduction. From there, you can get a sleek-looking page with custom header and profile photo, exchange contact, and a Calendly booking right on top, which I love. Then I customized my page with Social Links, an about section, embedded videos, links to other profiles that I have, a Typeform integration right on the page, and links to my other team members and a custom file upload. You can customize this page in a lot of amazing ways, like updating font, text color, secondary text, background color, or even things like button style and color. It's a great way to make your page look completely different than someone else's, which is really great, or simply just make sure everyone is specifically on brand. When a lead fills out their info, it gets stored in the contacts tab where you can tag the contact or download them to your contacts app. You can set auto tags, tag people for a specific event, or as a new lead until you follow up. You also get analytics like page views and clicks and graphs that dive deeper into those interactions. To start, you can use Wave and build your profile for free with no limit on the number of times that you can share it or the number of contacts you can store. Free users can use all of the page options like analytics, video embeds, and file uploads that are usually charged at a fee with competitors, and you can utilize all sharing options like QR codes, send via text or email, widgets on your home screen, live activities for iOS, and wallet passes. If you like additional branding and customization options, that's where you upgrade to the pro version. So overall, Wave is a really simple platform that you can use for free, and in my opinion, you can get most of the way to where you want to be for free, but then if you want that like last 10% of things like customization, or you want to get an optional physical card, you can pay to do that. I think they have the best free model and really great pay options, with more options for teams and Enterprise users that we'll get to later. Overall, I give Wave four out of five briefcase emojis.
I want to take a second to thank today's sponsor, Exter. I've been using their wallets for the past few years, and I honestly think they are the best quality out there. That's why I reached out to them to ask them to sponsor this video. Just as unique as my smart business card, they also have a really sleek design that launches the cards out of it, and it takes up next to no room in my pocket. They also have add-ons for these wallets to truly make it your own, like the tool card, the cash clip, the coin tray, an AirTag band, and more to truly make it your own. If you want to get an Exter wallet, use the link in the description and the code VITTE at checkout for additional savings on top of any current sales that are currently going on. As you can imagine, these videos take a ton of work to make, so I'm really proud to have them, along with Link, Wave, and Dot, all sponsoring this video to make it happen. Now, back to the video.
.U was the first card that I ever reviewed on the channel, and this was partly due to the quality of these cards. You can get this customized silver foil card that looks really polished yet minimal. On the back, you get a wireless indicator, QR code, and .U branding. But now you can also get these cards in a variety of customizations, like a white or black card and a black, silver, or gold foil. Then you can take it a step further and get this metal card that has a brushed finish and laser engraving. It feels textured and extremely premium. On the back, you get a simple QR code and wireless indicator. When you tap on the card, you're brought to a landing page that feels as premium as the cards. I've always found that .U takes the least amount of customization and just makes a beautiful page that I love. I have a card design header with my photo, name, and title, the ability to save the contact card or exchange details, I have an about section, Social Links, custom photo gallery, links to all my other profiles, video embeds in a carousel that can be swiped through, followed by my contact information. It's simple yet sophisticated. When a lead connects, they're stored in your contacts tab where you can see their details, insights on what they clicked through your profile, which can help shape your interaction with them, and then a notes section to keep track of those interactions. Now, one really important thing to note this year is that .U has now officially moved to a subscription model, so where you used to pay once and you were done, now you pay a monthly or annual subscription to use .U. And while this is a downside to me, they've still kept things affordable, and it's understandable that they would need to use a subscription model like everyone else to keep things sustainable long term. .U was the very first smart business card I heard of, and I'm so excited about these cards. To me, it's the simplest way to have a polished-looking smart business card, from the unique design to the great quality landing pages. They'll lose points as competitors outpace them in terms of things like new features or more customized ways of doing things, but I really like .U a lot, and I can't stress that enough. Still, with a lot more advanced features that competitors have, I think they're beginning to fall behind those competitors. With that in mind, I give .U a 3.0 out of five briefcase emojis.
Popple was almost immediately a leader in the smart business card space, and they've held that great title for years. Their card has this sort of soft-touch finish but raised print, which provides some texture to the design, and I like it a lot. If you're not going with a metal card, this is an awesome, cheaper option—really premium choice. On the back, you get Popple branding and a QR code to scan. Taking it up a notch to their metal card that is extremely heavy with a thick border and custom branding in the middle. On the back, you get a similar look with a custom QR code. This definitely isn't my favorite metal card out of the lot, but what's nice about it is you can actually tap either side to get to your page. The Popple page has always looked really iOS-inspired, which will be familiar to a lot of people. You get a custom header and profile image, then your details and an about section. From there, your lead can exchange contact details. Next, I have contact icons, a larger callout for YouTube, which just features larger than an icon. Next, I have social icons, embedded video, competitors' profiles, more featured videos, a file upload, and then dropdowns for questions. I think Popple is great, but aside from the video embeds and dropdowns, the page is just fairly limited to icons, which just end up feeling sort of repetitive. I loved that with other pages there was more character and more customization, and while you can customize the color and the page and featured sections, that's about it; there's not much more to it. When a lead interacts, they're saved in your contacts tab. You can add tags, notes, export the contact to a CSV, Outlook, Zapier, and more. You can also send follow-up messages. The cool thing that Popple really does right here is they're actually leveraging AI in a way that makes sense. They let you send a follow-up using AI that can pull in details like where you met and when. They also let you enrich the contact info to complete the contact if they haven't provided enough information in their profile. Popple also lets you do things like share your contact card with Name Drop by holding your phone to someone else's or add your contact card to Apple or Google Wallet or add a home screen widget or QR code to your lock screen using live widgets. They've really put a lot behind this integration with iPhones, and I do love that. Popple also has a variety of other products like the phone card that has custom branding on one side and an adhesive on the other, and they also have a stand that you could use in an event or reception and is quite a bit larger than competitors like Link. Overall, it's clear that Popple has invested a lot into building the most intuitive and smooth app. It's really fun to use, and everything just feels effortless. While the AI features are incredible, the limited feel of the landing page and the card quality, I would give Popple four out of five briefcase emojis.
Now you might think that the briefcase emoji rating 5 out of 5 is the card to go with, but there's a lot of unique factors to consider, and that's where the next segment comes in, called the Business Card Awards. The categories this year are Best Card (in terms of quality), Best Landing Page, Best Lead Experience, Best Follow-up, and Best New Features. Best Card Quality goes to Wave for the huge variety of metal card offerings that all look incredible. Best Custom Plastic Card goes to Popple with an incredible soft-touch finish and great rendering of my design. Best Landing Page goes to Link with the built-in app clip experience and extensive offerings on the page itself, like embedded videos and files. Best Lead Experience goes to Link with the ability to remind leads to follow up with iOS notifications for an effortless and high-quality customized experience. Best Follow-up goes to Popple with a built-in AI assistant that can pull in custom details from your interactions. Best New Features goes to Link with the app clip experience and the new Link phone feature that lets you make calls, get transcripts, and send texts with a unique phone number separate from your mobile phone number, all within the Link app.
So as promised, this is a summary of everything that we discussed in the video. We compared Dot, Link, Wave, Popple, and .U. While Popple won the best plastic card, Link and Wave also had the strongest card quality overall, considering the full lineup of products and their respective quality. Link had the overall best landing page. Wave had the most requested features in their free plan, which is awesome for those who don't want to pay a subscription right away. Link offered app clips and was the only one to do so; they also have iOS notifications, a dedicated phone number for texts and calls and transcription, and the ability to use multiple profiles. Wave offers Live Activities, home screen widgets, Typeform integration, and Calendly customized buttons for a nice look and feel and multiple profiles that you can swap in and out. Popple offered the best app hands down, AI for built-in follow-up, Name Drop for sharing your profile, and multiple profiles as well. .U also offers multiple profiles, which you can activate at the click of a button for pro features. The most expensive was Link, but with the benefit of things like your own dedicated phone number and contact enrichment that sort of make it worth it. The cheapest is Popple at $5 a month. The most expensive custom card is .U at $199 per card; however, you get an individual card with your name included in that monthly cost right away, so it's really just if you want a full custom card like the one shown in this video, then you're paying a price for that. Overall, the winner this year, taking all things into consideration, is Link, with the best new offerings pushing them miles ahead of what the competition can currently do. Honorable mention to Wave, who has been a close second.
Runner-up, with a lot of features and offering the best features for free without needing a pro membership for most of those things. It's worth noting that while Dot card was the lowest rating here, that's simply due to a lack of additional features when compared to everyone else.
If you want an extremely simple card that doesn't over-complicate anything, all of these cards are still in the top five choices that you can get.
If you have any questions about any of these cards, let me know that down in the comments. Also, let me know if you're picking one of them up and which one you chose. I'll leave links in the description for all of them.
If you're looking for a teams comparison, that's coming to the channel next week. As always, thank you guys so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.