Disclosure: we make Rushly, which is not on this list — it has no free tier. That is the honest reason it is absent, and it is worth saying up front, because most “best free apps” lists are written by companies that made sure to qualify for their own list.
All figures checked 31 July 2026, from each vendor’s own pricing page or Shopify App Store listing.
The thing nobody tells you about free tiers
There are two completely different products being called “free” in this category, and the difference only shows up when you succeed.
Hard-capped free stops working when you hit the limit. Your widget goes quiet and you decide whether to upgrade. Annoying, predictable, safe.
Bill-over free keeps working and charges you. Care Cart’s listing says it plainly: free up to 500 visitors a month, “then usage-based charges”. A store that quietly grows past the cap starts paying without ever choosing a paid plan.
Neither is wrong. But if you are installing a free app specifically because you do not want a bill, you need to know which kind you just installed.
The free tiers
| App | Free limit | What happens at the cap | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOMO Sales Pop Up (SnapSell) | No limit — no paid plan exists | Nothing, it is just free | — |
| ProveSource | 1,000 visitors/mo | Not documented | $29/mo |
| Nudgify | 1,000 impressions/mo | Not documented | $9/mo |
| WiserNotify | 1,000 visitors/mo | Not documented | $5/mo |
| Qikify | 500 visitors/mo (~5,000 impressions) | Not documented | $6.99/mo |
| SP Sales Pop up (Care Cart) | 500 visitors/mo (~5,000 impressions) | Usage-based charges | $6.99/mo |
| SalesPop | 200 sessions/mo | Not documented | $29/mo |
| Sales Popup Autoketing | 1,000 views — “only once” | Unclear whether it renews | $9.99/mo |
“Not documented” means the vendor does not say on their pricing page. It does not mean you will be billed — it means ask before you rely on it.
The one that is actually free
FOMO Sales Pop Up by SnapSell (171 reviews, 4.9) has no paid plan at all. Both its App Store listing and the vendor’s own page confirm it: there is nothing to upgrade to.
That is genuinely unusual and worth taking seriously if budget is the constraint. The tradeoff is the obvious one — a product with no revenue model can change or disappear, and there is no paid tier to escalate to when you need something. Note it is a different company from Fomo (fomo.com), despite the near-identical name.
Most generous cap with a real company behind it
ProveSource and Nudgify both give you 1,000 visitors or impressions a month, twice what Care Cart and Qikify offer and five times SalesPop’s 200 sessions.
ProveSource shows its own branding on the free tier, which is the usual trade. Its paid step is steep at $29/mo. Nudgify’s paid step is much gentler at $9/mo and it translates automatically into 32 languages, but it carries the lowest rating in this category at 4.3.
Best free tier you would actually keep paying for
Qikify (5.0 across 567 reviews) and SP Sales Pop up (4.9 across 986) are the two most-installed dedicated apps here, both Built for Shopify, both $6.99 when you outgrow free.
Qikify’s cap appears to be hard — its listing documents no overage language. Care Cart’s explicitly is not. If you want a free tier that cannot surprise you, that difference is the whole decision, and it points at Qikify.
Care Cart earns its 986 reviews elsewhere: 9 interface languages on every tier including free, plus low stock bars, trust badges, a free shipping bar and a sticky cart drawer bundled in.
Cheapest path off free
WiserNotify at $5/mo is the lowest paid entry in the category, with a 1,000-visitor free tier before it. The caveat is its Shopify track record: nine reviews. It is cited constantly in other roundups as a leading alternative, which is not the same thing as being widely installed on Shopify.
What to check before you rely on any free tier
- Is the cap hard or soft? Ask support directly if the pricing page does not say. “What happens on the 501st visitor?” is a one-line email.
- Is it a free tier or a free trial? Several apps here advertise both. A 7-day trial of a paid plan is not a free tier.
- Does free include branding? ProveSource’s does. That is a fair trade, but you should choose it knowingly.
- Does the free tier include the widget you actually want? Free plans often exclude the specific feature you installed the app for.
- Test it on a quiet store first. Install, watch what the widget claims when your store has no traffic. If a counter shows visitors you do not have, it is generating numbers rather than measuring them — free or paid.
Corrections
Figures move. If something here is wrong or out of date, email [email protected] and we will correct it and say what changed — competitors included.
Full comparison of all ten apps, free and paid: the best Shopify social proof apps.