Disclosure: we make Rushly, one of the apps below. It does not have the most reviews, the lowest price, or a free tier. We have said where it loses. The test in the middle of this article works on our app too, and you should run it on ours before believing us.
All figures checked 31 July 2026, from vendor pricing pages and Shopify App Store listings.
Why this widget specifically
27 people are viewing this product.
Of all the social proof formats, the live visitor counter is the one where the gap between measuring and inventing is widest — and the hardest for a shopper to check. A purchase notification at least names a product that exists. A viewer count is a bare number with nothing attached to it.
It is also the format where fabrication is easiest to build. Math.floor(Math.random() * 28) + 12 produces a plausible-looking counter forever, on any store, with no data of any kind.
We are not accusing any app on this list of doing that. We have not tested them, and until we have, saying so would be exactly the kind of unsubstantiated claim this article is about. What we can tell you is how to find out for yourself, in about two minutes.
The apps
| App | Reviews | Rating | Built for Shopify | Paid from | Free tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP Sales Pop up (Care Cart) | 986 | 4.9 | Yes | $6.99/mo | 500 visitors/mo |
| Qikify Sales Pop up & Proof | 567 | 5.0 | Yes | $6.99/mo | 500 visitors/mo |
| Fomo | 125 | 4.5 | No | $25/mo | No |
| ProveSource | 84 | 4.9 | No | $29/mo | 1,000 visitors/mo |
| Nudgify | 50 | 4.3 | No | $9/mo | 1,000 impressions/mo |
| WiserNotify | 9 | 5.0 | No | $5/mo | 1,000 visitors/mo |
| Rushly (ours) | 5 | 5.0 | Yes | $5.99/mo | No |
If review count is how you choose, Care Cart and Qikify are 100–200× ahead of us and you should install one of those.
The two-minute test
Run this on any app, including ours.
1. Get your store quiet. A development store with no traffic, or your live store at 4am. You want to be certain the real number of concurrent visitors is zero or one.
2. Open a product page in a private window. You are now the only visitor. The honest answer for a viewer counter is either “1”, or nothing at all.
3. Read the counter. If it says 14, or 27, or anything that is not roughly one, it is not counting sessions on your store.
4. Reload a few times. A real counter tracks reality: it stays at 1, or ticks to 2 if you open a second window. A generated one drifts around a range, because that is what the range is for.
5. Check the setup screen. If it offers a “minimum” and “maximum” viewer count, that is not a display preference — it is the bounds of a random number generator, and it tells you the answer without running the test at all.
That last one is the fastest check. A field labelled minimum viewers to show has no meaning for an app that counts actual sessions.
What we do, so you can hold us to it
Rushly’s live viewer count is the number of concurrent sessions on that product page, recached every 15 seconds. When nobody is viewing, it shows nothing rather than a floor value. There is no minimum setting because there is nothing to set a minimum on.
That is a claim, and the test above is how you check it. Install us on a quiet store and the counter should read nothing. If it reads 12, we are lying and you should uninstall us and say so publicly.
Picking one
Most installed, cheapest credible option. SP Sales Pop up by Care Cart at $6.99 — 986 reviews, Built for Shopify, 9 languages, plus low-stock bars and sold counters. Its free tier bills automatically past 500 visitors a month rather than stopping, which is worth knowing before you rely on it.
Best rating at volume. Qikify, 5.0 across 567 reviews, $6.99, with a free tier that appears to be hard-capped rather than billing over.
Most generous free tier. ProveSource at 1,000 visitors a month, though its paid step is $29. Nudgify matches the cap and steps up to only $9, with automatic translation into 32 languages, but has the lowest rating here at 4.3.
Cheapest paid. WiserNotify at $5/mo. Nine Shopify reviews, so there is very little track record to judge it on.
Counters rather than popups. Ours. Rushly does live viewers, sold-today, cart activity, product views and low stock as inline counters — no purchase popups, no review notifications. Narrower than most of this list, no free tier, and 5 reviews. Install it if the honest-data argument above is the thing you care about; install Care Cart or Qikify if track record is.
Corrections
If anything here is wrong, email [email protected] — competitors included, and we will note what changed.
Related: all ten apps compared · the free tiers · sales pop apps