OptionsCard vs One4all for Business: Which Multi-Store Card Is Right for Your Company?

How OptionsCard and One4all for business work

Both are multi-store cards, and Irish employers buy both in volume, most of all at Christmas. The difference is in what the employee ends up holding.

A One4all card is a prepaid electronic money card. It is issued by GVS Prepaid (Europe) Limited, an e-money institution regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. The employee spends the balance directly at participating retailers, much as they would a bank card, and One4all's business site puts its network at over 13,000 outlets nationwide. For business buyers, One4all sells physical and digital cards loaded with €15 to €150, plus higher-value Chip & PIN and digital cards from €150 to €5,000.

An OptionsCard is a swap card. The employee opens it, picks retailers from a catalogue of over 70 Irish and international brands and receives each retailer's own gift card. Penneys, Tesco Ireland, Brown Thomas and Apple are among them. The value can be split across several brands, with some used now and the rest kept for later. Staff of corporate customers can choose a Hollr Reward Mastercard instead, which can be spent anywhere Mastercard is accepted and carries a €0.25 fee per transaction.

So one is a balance spent at the till, and the other is exchanged for named gift cards. Most of the practical differences below follow from that.

Do both cards qualify for the Small Benefit Exemption?

Yes, provided the employer stays within the rules. The card does not decide the tax treatment; Revenue's conditions do. An employer can give each employee up to five benefits a year, with a combined value of no more than €1,500, and none of them can be redeemable for cash, in full or in part. A card that works at an ATM fails, whether or not the employee ever uses it that way.

Neither card can be used to take out cash. One4all's cardholder terms rule out ATM withdrawals and cashback, and an OptionsCard can only be swapped for retailer gift cards. Each benefit must also be reported to Revenue on or before the day it is given. Our Small Benefit Exemption guide sets out the rules in full, and our corporate gifting guide covers gifts to clients, which are treated differently.

One point applies to One4all's larger cards. They go up to €5,000, but the exemption is capped at €1,500 a year per employee, and a single benefit worth more than €1,500 is taxable in full. A bigger card does not raise the limit.

These rules are correct as at 2 October 2026. Budget 2027 was announced on 6 October, so check the guide for any change before placing a large order.

OptionsCard vs One4all: fees, delivery and features

The table compares the two cards on the points employers ask about most. Every figure comes from each company's own website or terms, checked on 2 October 2026.

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One4all has announced new cardholder terms that apply to all its cards from 13 November 2026, so check its current terms before you order.

Fees over time

Neither company charges a business to buy cards online. The difference is what happens to a balance nobody spends. One4all's terms take €1.45 a month, first charged 19 months after the card was bought and monthly after that until the balance reaches zero. A €100 card left untouched has lost €8.70 by the time it is two years old. An OptionsCard has nothing deducted for non-use and stays valid for five years from issue.

If your staff spend their cards within 18 months, the One4all fee never applies. It matters for the card that ends up in a drawer.

Re-gifting and combining

An OptionsCard can be re-gifted in part or in full. The employee sends some of the value to someone else as a new OptionsCard, with their own message, and there is no fee for doing it. One4all's terms say a physical card cannot be transferred to anyone else, and we found no feature for passing on part of a balance. One4all will combine cards up to €150 through customer services for a small fee, and its new One4all+ product combines cards after ID verification. OptionsCards combine too, and the value closest to expiry is used first. Our guide to re-gifting an OptionsCard shows how it works.

Delivery and ordering

Both companies send digital cards by email or SMS, and both work in Apple and Google wallets. OptionsCard adds a printable PDF and a Send Later option that schedules each card for a set date and time. One4all says its digital cards arrive within 15 minutes of card payment but asks buyers to allow up to 48 hours. For physical cards, One4all charges €3.20 for standard post or €9.99 registered; OptionsCard supplies physical cards on request, with pricing and minimum quantities agreed directly.

On ordering, an OptionsCard business account takes up to €5,000 by card and up to €25,000 online by invoice, with purchase order numbers, user access by department and tax reporting files monthly or annually, all set out on our OptionsCard for business page. One4all takes orders online, by phone or by email, with payment by card or bank transfer before dispatch unless agreed otherwise. Its business terms state that orders are non-cancellable.

Which card suits which company?

Neither card is the right answer for every employer. The trade-off usually falls like this.

When One4all fits

Your staff want to tap a card at the till without a swap step, and they are likely to spend it within 18 months. One4all's network is wide and takes in retailers that are not in any gift card catalogue, and physical cards to hand out in person are part of its standard range.

When OptionsCard fits

Rewards may sit unspent for a while, your team's tastes vary, or you want each card to arrive on a particular day. It also suits an employer who wants a record of where the budget went, because order and delivery history, budget controls and tax reporting files come with the business account. At Christmas there is one more reason: an employee can re-gift part of their reward, so it can become presents for their own family.

For the consumer side of the same question, including single-store vouchers, see our guide to the best gift cards in Ireland.

Try OptionsCard for your team

If a fee-free card your staff can split and share suits your company, set up a business account and place a first order. Sign up at app.optionscard.ie/register, or if you'd rather talk it through first, email us at [email protected].