Tips and digital tip jars
TiPJAR is for the bar staff. What about the band?
As the band in the corner you need your own way to reach the room: take their requests, tell them where you play next, and catch the person who wants you for a party. GigTag gives you that on one tag you carry from pub to pub. TiPJAR, which you searched for, is the venue's tool for its staff.
- No app for your audience
- Free to start
- One code that never changes
Why GigTag
TiPJAR is the venue's. GigTag is the band's.
TiPJAR collects and shares tips for hospitality teams. A band is not on the rota. GigTag is built for the visiting act: one permanent code for song requests, your gigs, your links and booking enquiries, in any venue, on a free plan. GigTag tips work in the UK too, into the act's own Stripe account.
- 1
It belongs to the act
Your tag, your page, your code. It goes on your mic stand at every pub you play and needs nothing from the landlord. TiPJAR is adopted by a business for its employees. GigTag is adopted by a musician, and it leaves with you at the end of the night.
- 2
Requests from every table
People scan from their seats, pick a song from your list or type one if you open requests, and it joins the live queue on your phone. A pub afternoon becomes a conversation with the room. Requests are part of Pro and work across the UK.
- 3
The next gig, already saved
Your page lists your next gig and any weekly residency, and a customer can add them to their calendar before they finish their pint. That gives a pub crowd a way to become yours. Every gig and residency is on the free plan.
- 4
Party bookings without a middleman
The booking enquiry form is on your page. Someone planning a sixtieth sends the date from the bar, and it waits for you on the website or the GigTag app. On Pro you invoice in your own design. GigTag takes no commission on bookings.
- 5
Low cost to start in the UK
The free plan covers the tag design and print file, your page, links, gigs and the booking form for one act. Pro is £11.99 a month. A printed tag is £24.99 with free UK delivery, or print your own for free.
In short
TiPJAR and GigTag, in four lines
- TiPJAR is a UK tipping platform for hospitality: it collects card tips for staff and shares them out.
- GigTag belongs to the act: one tag and one code for every venue you play.
- From one scan a pub crowd can request songs, save your next gig and enquire about booking you.
- Our recommendation for bands: use GigTag. In the UK it takes tips into your own Stripe account, as well as requests and bookings.
Side by side
GigTag vs TiPJAR, topic by topic
Whose tool it is
Yours, in every venue you play
The act owns it. Your tag, page and code go with you to every venue, and the same account can hold more than one act on Pro.
TiPJARIts site is written for hospitality operators and their employees. The business adopts it and the team is paid through it.
How the public takes part
Camera, browser, no app or account
The audience scans the QR code on your tag. The page opens in the browser, with no app, no account and nothing to download.
TiPJARCustomers tap a card or phone on a Tap to Tip device, or tip through a QR code or link, according to its product pages.
Where tips end up
GigTag tips: every country, 0% taken
Tips work in every country. They go by card or Apple Pay into the performer's own Stripe account, or Ziina account in the UAE, with 0% taken by GigTag.
TiPJARTips are distributed by who was working when they came in and for how many hours, then paid to each person's bank account.
Connecting to other systems
Nothing to connect: a tag and a phone
It stands alone. You manage everything from the website or the GigTag app, and your page links out to your socials, website and music.
TiPJARFor bigger businesses it connects to tills and scheduling tools already in use, and its site describes an API for custom setups.
After the night
Booking enquiries, then invoices on Pro
Booking enquiries wait for you on the website or app. On Pro you send the client an invoice in your own design, paid online.
TiPJARStaff can look up what they earned in tips and how it was shared, and its site describes regular payouts to their accounts.
The quick view
| GigTag | TiPJAR | |
|---|---|---|
| A QR code your audience scans | Yes, one that never changes | – |
| Song requests from the crowd | Yes, on Pro | – |
| Tips by card or Apple Pay | Yes, on Pro, into your own Ziina or Stripe. GigTag takes 0% | Yes |
| Booking enquiries | Yes, on the free plan | – |
| Your gigs and weekly residencies | Yes, on the free plan | – |
| Invoices for bookings | Yes, on Pro | – |
| A printed tag for your mic stand | Yes, in your own design | – |
| Works without an app for the audience | Yes, it opens in the browser | – |
A dash means we did not confirm it for TiPJAR, not that it is missing: see what TiPJAR offers above, or ask on its site.
A TiPJAR alternative
Where GigTag is different from TiPJAR
A venue's team and a visiting act
TiPJAR is set up around a workplace: a team, shifts, and a fair split at the end of the week. A band is a visitor. You arrive, play two sets and leave. GigTag belongs to the act, not the venue. Your tag goes on the mic stand in whichever pub you are in tonight, and it opens your own page with your own songs, dates and links.
What the customer is asked to do
With TiPJAR the customer does one quick thing: tap or scan, tip, done. A GigTag page asks for a bit more of their evening. They can request a song from your list, which reaches a live queue on your phone. They can see your next gig and weekly residencies and add them to their calendar, follow you, or send a booking enquiry for their own event.
Tips for musicians in the UK
Be clear on this one. GigTag tips work in the UK, where TiPJAR is based: by card or Apple Pay into the performer's own Stripe account, with 0% taken by GigTag. They go to the act, not to a venue's staff. For a UK act, GigTag also covers requests, gigs, residencies, links and booking enquiries, and invoices on Pro for the bookings that follow.
A night with GigTag
Sunday afternoon in a village pub
You are the trio in the corner of a village pub on a Sunday afternoon. The roast is still being served and half the room is families. Your GigTag tag is on the mic stand. A grandmother asks her grandson how it works, he scans it, and your page opens in his browser. They choose a song together from your list. It comes up in the live queue on your phone and you play it two songs later, to a small cheer from their table.
Whatever the pub uses for its staff tips is the pub's business, and your tag has nothing to do with it. Your own tips come through the tag, by card into your own Stripe account. The tag also gives you this afternoon is requests, a couple who add your next gig to their calendar, and a booking enquiry for a sixtieth from the landlord's friend. You read it in the car park on the GigTag app. If it goes ahead, the invoice goes out in your own design and is paid online.
About TiPJAR
What is TiPJAR?
TiPJAR is a cashless tipping platform for the hospitality industry. Its site talks to two groups: operators of pubs, bars, coffee shops, restaurants and hotel groups, and the staff who work in them. The aim is that staff are tipped when customers no longer carry cash, and that tips and service charge are shared out fairly. It also covers tronc, the UK system for pooling and distributing tips.
Customers tip by tapping a card or phone on a Tap to Tip device, or through a QR code or link. Tips go into the team's TiPJAR account, and its site says they are then shared according to who was working and for how long, and paid to each person's bank account. For larger businesses it connects to tills and other systems the venue already runs.
- Where
- United Kingdom
- Website
- wearetipjar.com
How TiPJAR works
- 1
The venue signs up. A pub, bar, restaurant or hotel group sets TiPJAR up for its team. Its site talks to operators first, then to the staff who will be paid through it.
- 2
Customers tap or scan. Customers leave a tip by tapping a card or phone on a Tap to Tip device, or by using a QR code or a link. Its site stresses how quick the tap is.
- 3
Tips reach the team. The tips go into the team's own TiPJAR account, which its site says keeps them apart from the takings of the business and under the team's control.
- 4
Everyone is paid. Tips are then divided according to who was working and for how long, and each person's share is sent on to their own bank account.
Who TiPJAR is for
Independent pubs and coffee shops. Its Tap to Tip page is aimed at independent pubs, bars and coffee shops with a busy counter. A contactless device by the till lets a customer leave a tip with a tap of a card or phone at the moment they are served.
Restaurant and hotel groups. For larger operators the site covers tronc and service charge: how pooled tips are distributed, the records behind it, and links to tills and other systems the business already runs. It also points to guidance on UK tipping law.
The staff themselves. Employees are the other audience. Its site describes staff being able to see what they have earned in tips and how it was shared, and receiving their share in their bank account on a regular schedule.
The verdict
GigTag or TiPJAR: which should you choose?
The bottom line
If you are a musician, GigTag is the one of these two made for you. Its strongest point is that it belongs to the act: one permanent code that travels to every venue and brings requests, a following and booking enquiries. TiPJAR is the right choice for a pub, restaurant or hotel that needs to collect and share tips among staff, which is a job GigTag does not do. GigTag's own tips, for the act rather than the staff, work in the UK too.
They do different jobs and never meet. The venue may run TiPJAR for its bar staff, and that has nothing to do with the band. You bring your own GigTag tag for requests, your dates and booking enquiries. If you manage a venue and also perform, you could sensibly have both: one for the team, one for the act.
- Step 1
Leave the venue's tipping alone
If the pub runs TiPJAR, that is between the pub and its staff. As a visiting act you do not need to join or change anything.
- Step 2
Bring your own tag
Set up your GigTag page with your song list, gigs and links, and carry the tag in your gig bag. It goes on the mic stand at every venue.
- Step 3
Use it for the work
In the UK, treat GigTag as your tool for song requests, tips into your own Stripe account, building a following and taking booking enquiries.
Choose GigTag if
You are the act, not the venue, and you want your own code for song requests, your gigs and residencies, and booking enquiries from the people watching.
Start freeTiPJAR may still suit you if
You manage a bar, restaurant or hotel team and need card tips collected and shared fairly between staff.
GigTag FreeYour page, your tag design, every gig and residency, a booking form. One act.
GigTag ProSong requests, tips, invoices, more than one act. AED 30, £11.99 or $15.99 a month.
GigTag Printed tagFrom AED 100 in the UAE, £24.99 in the UK or €28.99 in the EU, delivered free, with a large size for more; $32.99 elsewhere, plus postage from the UK. Or print your own, anywhere, for free.
Is GigTag better than TiPJAR for a band?
They are for different people. TiPJAR is written for hospitality operators and their staff. GigTag is written for the act on stage, and for a band that makes it the right pick: song requests in a live queue, your gigs and residencies, your links and a booking enquiry form from one tag. GigTag tips work in the UK too, with 0% taken.
I searched TiPJAR for a digital tip jar for my UK band. What should I use?
GigTag. It takes tips in the UK by card or Apple Pay into your own Stripe account, with 0% taken, and gives a UK band everything around the tip: requests, dates the audience can save, links and booking enquiries, with invoices on Pro.
Is TiPJAR a tip jar for musicians?
TiPJAR describes itself as a cashless tipping platform for the hospitality industry. Its pages are written for operators of pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels and for their staff, and cover how tips are shared within a team. If you are a band, check with TiPJAR before planning around it.
Can a band take tips with GigTag in the UK instead of TiPJAR?
Yes. GigTag tips work in the UK, by card or Apple Pay into the performer's own Stripe account, with 0% taken by GigTag. A band can use GigTag for everything else too: song requests, a list of gigs and weekly residencies, links, booking enquiries and invoices. All of that works in every country.
What does GigTag do if it is not a TiPJAR alternative?
GigTag gives a live act one permanent QR code on a custom tag for the mic stand. Fans scan it and your page opens in the browser. They can request a song, see your next gig, follow your links or send a booking enquiry. You run it from the website or the GigTag app.
The venue I play uses TiPJAR. Can I still put my GigTag on the mic stand?
The two are separate. TiPJAR is the venue's arrangement for its own staff. Your GigTag tag is yours: it opens your act's page for requests, upcoming gigs and booking enquiries. The tag is only a printed code that opens your page, so it has nothing to do with the venue's tipping setup.
How can a pub band take song requests from the audience?
Put a GigTag tag on the mic stand. People scan it from their tables, your page opens in the browser, and they pick from your song list or type a request if you have opened requests. Each one joins a live queue on your phone. Song requests are part of GigTag Pro and work in the UK.
How much is GigTag in the UK?
The free plan covers the tag design and print file, your page, links, every gig and residency, the booking enquiry form and one act. Pro is £11.99 a month or £119.99 a year and adds song requests, invoices and more than one act, plus tips. A printed tag is £24.99, with free delivery in the UK.
Can a venue and a band both have QR codes out on the same night?
Yes. They are for different things. A venue's TiPJAR code or device is for tipping its staff. The band's GigTag tag opens the act's own page for song requests, upcoming gigs and booking enquiries. A customer can use either or both, and neither system needs to know about the other.
Does TiPJAR work with a tap as well as a QR code?
Its product pages describe both. Tap to Tip is a contactless device that customers tap with a card or phone, and its digital tipping page covers QR codes and links. GigTag uses one printed QR code on a tag for the mic stand, which opens the act's page in the browser.
Looking for TiPJAR itself?
This page is GigTag's. TiPJAR's sign-in, prices, reviews and support are on its own site.
Apps like TiPJAR: more tips and digital tip jars compared
- TipsMevs GigTag
- Venmovs GigTag
- The Busking Projectvs GigTag
- Buy Me a Coffeevs GigTag
- Cash Appvs GigTag
- EZTiprvs GigTag
TiPJAR is the name of its owner's product; GigTag is not connected with it. What is said about TiPJAR here comes from its own public website, checked on 7 October 2026. Products change: if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
For musicians
One code on your stand. Requests, tips and the next gig behind it.
No app for your audience, nothing to download. Free to start.