Loox vs Judge.me: free forever or pay per order? (2026)

Loox and Judge.me are the two most installed review apps on Shopify, and both have changed shape in the last year, which is why most comparisons you’ll find quote plans that no longer exist.

Loox discontinued its mid-tier Scale plan. The ladder now jumps from a limited free tier straight to Convert at $49.99 a month, billed in order-volume blocks.

Judge.me went Shopify-exclusive in January 2026, sunsetting its WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace, and Wix apps.

I run WiserReview, a review platform that competes with both, so read this with that in mind. Every number below was verified against live pricing pages and App Store listings in August 2026.

Reviews billed by requests, not your order count

Photo and video on every plan from $9 a month, collected by email, SMS, and WhatsApp, on ten platforms.

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Quick verdict: Loox or Judge.me?

Judge.me wins on price at every volume, Loox wins on visual polish, and neither works outside Shopify anymore.

Pick Judge.me if the budget decides. The Forever Free plan includes unlimited review requests with photos and videos, and Awesome, at $15 flat, adds branding removal and Google Shopping syndication. No order meter at any size.

Pick Loox if your products sell on appearance, and you’ll pay for it. Fashion, beauty, home, and food stores get the strongest photo-first collection flow and gallery widgets in the category, from $49.99 a month.

Pick a different shape if your store isn’t on Shopify or might not stay there. Both apps are now Shopify-only. WiserReview offers the same review job for $9 a month across 10 platforms.

Loox vs Judge.me vs WiserReview: quick comparison

What changed for Loox and Judge.me in 2026?

Both apps narrowed. Loox cut its mid-priced plan, and Judge.me cut every platform except Shopify, so older comparisons misprice one and misplace the other.

Loox dropped the Scale plan

The $34.99 Scale tier that most guides still quote is gone. The current ladder runs Beginner at $0 for reviews only, capped at 100 orders a month and 500 total reviews, or $9.99 with referrals.

Then it jumps to Convert at $49.99, which includes 300 orders and bills $50 for each additional 300 orders. Unlimited sits at a flat $299.99. The practical entry price for a growing store increased by about $15 per month.

Judge.me went Shopify-exclusive

In its own help center announcement, Judge.me confirmed the staged shutdown of its WooCommerce, Square, Squarespace, BigCommerce, Duda, and PrestaShop apps, to be completed on January 31, 2026.

The migration catch: reviews imported into a new Shopify store lose their verified status and don’t flow into the Google Shopping ratings feed. My Judge.me vs Yotpo breakdown covers that side of the story.

What does it mean for this comparison

The old tiebreakers are dead. You can’t pick Judge.me for its platform reach anymore, and you can’t get Loox’s visuals at Scale-plan money. What’s left is a clean trade: free-or-flat text-first or metered visual-first.

Loox overview: the visual-first premium

Loox has been running since 2016 and serves 130,000+ Shopify and Shopify Plus brands, with a 4.9 rating from 9,024 merchants on the App Store. Its whole product is built around one bet: customer photos sell better than customer sentences.

What it does well: the collection flow. Review request emails lead with a photo upload button and trade discounts for pictures, and the gallery widgets make the results look like a lookbook rather than a comments section. Loox Studio turns reviews into social posts, and syndication reaches Google Shopping, the Shop app, and TikTok Shop.

The AI suite on Convert adds review replies, auto-translation, smart visual sorting, and review highlights.

Where it stops: the meter and the gap. The beginner’s 100-order cap makes it a demo, and the next rung is $49.99, with $50 blocks stacking as you grow. There’s no rung in between since Scale was retired, so the app’s actual price is Convert’s.

Ideal fit: visual-category Shopify stores with roughly 300 orders a month that treat customer photos as marketing assets.

Also check: 7 Best Loox Alternatives for Any eCommerce Platform (2026)

Judge.me overview: free forever, Shopify only

Judge.me claims to have 450,000+ stores and holds a 5.0 rating from 43,292 merchants on the App Store, making it the most-reviewed review app on Shopify. Nothing else in the category is close.

What it does well: the price. Forever Free includes unlimited review requests, text, photo, and video reviews, rich snippets, and Q&A, with Judge.me branding attached. Awesome at $15 flat removes the branding and adds Google Shopping syndication, coupons, SMS requests, AI reply drafts, and cross-shop syndication.

The widget is one of the lightest in the category, which matters for Core Web Vitals, and CSV export is painless if you ever leave.

Where it stops: the walls. It’s Shopify-only as of January 2026, offers no referral program, and doesn’t do Google Seller Ratings, so your stars appear on product listings but not text ads. Design customization runs shallower than Loox’s gallery system.

Ideal fit: Shopify stores of any size where reviews need to work hard and cost nothing, in categories where words carry the sale.

Judge.me pricing with Loox-grade visuals

Photo and video reviews, 18+ widgets, and both Google star types from $9 a month, with WhatsApp collection neither app offers.

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Where WiserReview fits: reviews beyond Shopify

WiserReview is my product, so judge this section accordingly. It exists for the store; both of these apps now exclude anyone not on Shopify or not planning to stay.

What it does: collects reviews by email, SMS, WhatsApp, and QR code, displays them in 18+ widgets with photo and video on every plan, and syncs rich snippets, Google Shopping product ratings, and Google Seller Ratings. AI moderation runs before anything is published.

It runs on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Webflow, Magento, PrestaShop, and headless builds, billed per review request: $9 for 1,000 per month, $19 for 3,000, $31 for 5,000 with the AI suite.

Where it stops: no free plan, just a 7-day trial, so Judge.me’s $0 tier wins the zero-budget case outright. The referral engine is a $6 add-on rather than Loox’s built-in system, and there’s no photo-discount flow as polished as Loox’s.

Ideal fit: multi-platform stores, WooCommerce and BigCommerce stores that Judge.me has offboarded, and Shopify stores that want both Google star types without a meter. The spec sheets live on WiserReview vs Loox and WiserReview vs Judge.me.

Pricing compared: the real numbers

Loox runs from $0 to $299.99, with order blocks in between; Judge.me runs at $0 or $15 flat; and WiserReview runs from $9 to $31 by request. Verified against live pricing pages in August 2026.

Loox pricing

All paid plans start with a 14-day trial. The number to model is the block math: Convert at 1,500 orders means the base plus four extra blocks, roughly $250 a month, and around 3,000 orders it crosses Unlimited’s flat $299.99.

The full block-by-block table lives in my Loox pricing breakdown.

Judge.me pricing

There is no third tier and no meter. A 100-order store and a 10,000-order store pay the same $15, which is the whole argument.

WiserReview pricing

Billed by review requests sent, no overage fees, yearly billing takes 3 months off, and every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.

The worked example at 1,500 orders a month: Loox Convert lands near $250, Judge.me Awesome stays at $15, WiserReview Pro covers it at $19.

At that volume, you’re paying Loox roughly $230 a month for the visual layer specifically. If that layer drives conversions in your category, it can be worth it. If not, that’s the decision made.

Features beyond pricing

Review collection and photos

Loox’s photo-first flow is the category benchmark: upload button front and center, discounts for pictures. Judge.me collects photos and videos as well, but the flow is optimized for text volume. WiserReview collects via email, SMS, WhatsApp, and QR from $9.

Winner: Loox for photo yield, Judge.me for volume per dollar, WiserReview for channels.

Widgets and page weight

Loox’s galleries are the best-looking displays here. Judge.me’s widget is the lightest, which protects Core Web Vitals. WiserReview ships with 18+ widget types, including photo and video, on every plan.

Winner: Loox on looks, Judge.me on speed, WiserReview on range per dollar.

Google syndication

All three push product star ratings toward Google surfaces: Loox and Judge.me to Google Shopping on paid plans, WiserReview from $9. Google Seller Ratings for text ads sit outside both apps’ feature sets; WiserReview includes them.

Winner: WiserReview, the only one covering both star types.

Who should pick which app?

Loox fits visual brands with a budget, Judge.me fits every price-sensitive Shopify store, and WiserReview fits the stores neither app serves anymore.

Loox is right for

1. Visual-category brands have had the past 300 orders a month. Fashion, beauty, home, and food stores where customer photos are marketing assets worth $49.99+.
2. Stores that want referrals inside the review tool. Loox builds it in; Judge.me doesn’t offer one.
3. Shopify Plus brands using the content pipeline. Loox Studio social posts plus TikTok Shop and Shop app syndication.

Judge.me is right for

1. Any Shopify store starting at $0. The unlimited collection of photos and videos on the free plan is unmatched in the category.
2. Stores where the bill must survive growth. $15 flat at 100 orders and at 10,000 orders, no renegotiation.
3. Text-heavy categories. Supplements, tools, and electronics, where written detail carries the sale.

WiserReview is right for

1. Stores off Shopify. WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, and Squarespace stores that both apps now exclude on ten supported platforms.
2. Stores that want both Google star types. Product ratings and Seller Ratings from $9, without a meter.
3. Brands collecting over WhatsApp. The channel is not offered by either Loox or Judge.me on any plan.

For the stores Shopify-only apps left out

WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, and six more platforms, with reviews from $9 a month and no order meter.

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Wrap up: Which one should you pick?

One question decides most of it: are customer photos your sales engine, or are reviews just proof?

Photos as the engine, with budget: Loox, from $49.99 and metered. Proof at the lowest possible cost: Judge.me, free or $15 flat. Reviews on any platform with both Google star types: WiserReview, from $9.

The expensive mistake in 2026 is deciding on last year’s pages. Loox’s Scale plan doesn’t exist, Judge.me’s WooCommerce app doesn’t either, and most comparisons still cite both.

Check both live pricing pages, run your order volume through Loox’s blocks, then pick.