--- title: "Gift Card API for Open-Loop Branded Cards | Highnote" description: "Gift card API for issuing open-loop, branded prepaid cards with API-driven issuance, program-level spend controls, and one unified ledger on Highnote." url: "https://highnote.com/solutions/gift-cards" --- [Highnote Powers OneGold’s Launch of The OneGold Card](https://highnote.com/blog/highnote-powers-onegolds-launch-of-the-onegold-card) Gift Cards # The Gift Card API for Issuing Your Own Branded Cards Most gift card APIs help you resell someone else's cards. Highnote helps you issue your own. As the unified platform for embedded finance, Highnote helps startups and enterprises move faster and differentiate. Our gift card API issues open-loop, network-branded prepaid cards: your brand, your rules, your ledger. [Talk to Us](https://highnote.com/contact) [Start Testing](https://dashboard.highnote.com/auth/signin?screen_hint=signup) ![Blanc gift card](https://highnote.com/img/gift-card-blanc.svg)![Atlas gift card](https://highnote.com/img/gift-card-atlas.svg)![Marlowe gift card](https://highnote.com/img/gift-card-marlowe.svg) Gift Card Program BrandBlancAtlasMarlowe Prepaid Amount$50$1,000$250 Allowed CategoriesRetail, Apparel…Airlines, Hotels…Hotels, Dining… Form FactorPhysicalVirtualPhysical Join the companies building what's next in payments. ## Your Gift Card Should Be a Card Program Most gift card APIs are catalogs. You call them, they deliver someone else's closed-loop card, and your brand becomes a line item on the confirmation email. That model limits what you can own and control: the brand experience, program-level spend rules, transaction visibility, and the issuance workflow. You're investing in someone else's payment product instead of building your own. If you're evaluating gift card APIs, you're really making a decision about card infrastructure. We built gift card issuance as a full card program: open-loop, network-branded prepaid cards governed on one unified platform. It is issuing infrastructure, not a reseller agreement. ## What Highnote Gives You ### Open-loop, network-branded prepaid cards Issue virtual, physical, or tokenized cards under your brand, spendable anywhere the network is accepted. Your recipients carry your card, not a catalog item. ### API-driven issuance Create and deliver cards programmatically when they are earned, purchased, or granted, without relying on manual batch workflows. ### Spend and velocity controls Set merchant category, amount, and frequency rules at the program level. Rules are enforced before authorization, rather than applied after a transaction occurs. ### Web and mobile push provisioning Push cards to Apple Pay and Google Pay in your app, and to Apple Pay from the web, so recipients add them in one tap without typing card details. ### One ledger for the whole program Every issuance, load, and transaction posts to the unified real-time ledger, so finance reconciles the entire program at the transaction level. ## Why Issuing Beats Aggregating We built gift cards on issuing infrastructure so that your program is an asset, not a reseller agreement. | Capability | Aggregator API | ![Highnote](https://highnote.com/img/highnote.svg) | | --- | --- | --- | | Brand | Catalog brand or limited customization | Yours | | Card | Typically closed loop | Open loop | | Spend | Merchant-limited | Network-wide | | Controls | Catalog-dependent | Program-level rules | | Ledger | Separate reporting environment | Unified | | Data | Provider-defined visibility | Transaction-level program visibility | | Infrastructure | Catalog distribution | Issuing platform | With an aggregator, the provider controls the catalog, card experience, and available data model. You are distributing within its infrastructure. On Highnote, branded prepaid programs run as first-class card programs: account holders, financial accounts, and cards operate on one unified ledger, with program management and compliance oversight built into the platform. Issuing, acquiring, credit, and a real-time ledger on one system means the program you launch today runs on the same infrastructure as every payment product you build next. ## How Platforms Use This ### Rewards and incentives platforms Issue branded incentive cards programmatically as users earn them, with gift card program management rules governing where and how every card spends. ### Refunds and store credit Ecommerce brands can issue open-loop credit as an alternative to ACH refunds, keeping the brand in the customer's wallet and the funds on one ledger. ### Employee recognition and corporate disbursements Companies issue branded prepaid cards for recognition, rewards, and spot bonuses, with every transaction reconciled against a single program ledger. ## Go Deeper ![Highnote vs. Marqeta: choosing the right issuer](https://highnote.com/img/blog-comparison-guide.png) #### [Highnote vs. Marqeta: Choosing the Right Issuer](https://highnote.com/blog/highnote-vs-marqeta-choosing-the-right-issuer) What to look for when you evaluate issuing infrastructure. ![Unified payments platform: what it is, why it matters, and how to implement it](https://highnote.com/img/blog_unified.jpg) #### [Unified Payments Platform: What It Is, Why It Matters](https://highnote.com/blog/unified-payments-platform-what-it-is-why-it-matters-and-how-to-implement-it) The case for one platform over many. ![Is it time to migrate your card program](https://highnote.com/img/blog-migration-guide.jpg) #### [Is It Time to Migrate Your Card Program?](https://highnote.com/blog/is-it-time-to-migrate-your-card-program-heres-how-to-make-the-move-seamless) How to move an existing program without losing control. FAQ ## Think Beyond Gift Cards Don't settle for a place in someone else's catalog. Build a payment product your customers carry, your finance team controls, and your brand owns. Build your card program on one unified platform. --- Source: https://highnote.com/solutions/gift-cards Site index: https://highnote.com/llms.txt · Sitemap: https://highnote.com/sitemap.xml · API: https://highnote.com/openapi.json