CompareComparison
Loox vs Judge.me
Loox is the visual-review specialist. Judge.me is the cheapest serious option with the most generous free plan and the most search-friendly markup.
Verdict
Choose Loox if photo and video reviews are central to your brand and you will pay for the polish. Choose Judge.me if you want strong reviews on a tight budget, a real free plan, and the most crawlable, search-friendly markup. Most stores starting out should begin with Judge.me.
- Loox: Visual-first brands in fashion and beauty that sell on photos.
- Judge.me: Budget-conscious stores that want reviews indexed and cited.
Which is right for you?
Which is better for a visual fashion or beauty brand?
Loox. Photo and video galleries are its entire design, and the widgets are the most polished in the category. If your product sells on how it looks on a real customer, Loox earns its higher price.
Which is better on a tight budget?
Judge.me, though by less than it was. Loox made its Beginner tier free in 2026, so both now have a permanent free plan. Judge.me still wins on what is in it: unlimited review requests with photo and video included. Loox caps Beginner at 500 orders and keeps video for the $49.99 Convert tier.
Which gets my reviews into Google and AI answers?
Judge.me. It is the reference standard for server-readable review markup plus JSON-LD, which is what search crawlers and answer engines can actually read. Loox renders through a JavaScript widget, so the review text is harder for a crawler or an AI model to quote.
Which is easier to grow into?
Judge.me is flat-priced with no volume caps, so your bill does not climb as orders rise. Loox is order-gated and can auto-upgrade you to a higher tier as you grow, so model your real order volume before committing.
Each tool in detail
Judge.me
The default volume choice. Flat $15-a-month pricing, the most generous free tier, and the most search-friendly markup, backed by the largest review base in the category.
Judge.me · Strengths
- Genuinely free plan: unlimited reviews and requests, photo and video, rich snippets
- Flat $15 a month with no order-volume caps
- Server-readable review HTML plus JSON-LD, the strongest for SEO and AI citation
- 5.0 stars across 46,417 Shopify App Store reviews, the most in the category
Judge.me · Trade-offs
- Widgets are functional rather than design-forward out of the box
- Some advanced features (AI, referrals, deeper customisation) are paid-only
Loox
The visual-review specialist. The most polished photo and video galleries, at a price that rises with your order volume.
Loox · Strengths
- Best-in-class photo and video review collection and display
- On-brand, design-forward widgets that suit visual storefronts
- 4.9 stars across more than 9,000 Shopify App Store reviews
Loox · Trade-offs
- Free up to 500 orders; the next tier is $49.99 a month
- Video reviews require the $49.99 Convert tier or higher
- Order-volume gating, with possible automatic upgrades as you scale
- Widget-rendered review text is less crawlable than Judge.me
BeyondReviews
The two ends of this category: the best-looking gallery and the most crawlable markup. We take the second half seriously and add the thing neither does, which is writing the reply.
BeyondReviews · Strengths
- Every review answered in a voice learned from your own writing, carrying real phrases from your own Search Console data, rather than a suggestion box you still have to staff
- The reply is published into the same server-rendered page as the review, so the answer is readable by a crawler and not just by a shopper
- Product schema and aggregateRating on every product page, so your stars are eligible in the result itself
- Every price on the page: free plan, $29 to $249 by volume, Enterprise from $750. No demo required to find out what it costs
BeyondReviews · Trade-offs
- No loyalty, subscriptions or retail syndication. Reviews and replies only, on purpose
- Judge.me already serves review text in the HTML, so against it the difference here is the reply and not the rendering
By the numbers
- Uncapped vs 500
- Orders included on each free plan. Both are free to start; Judge.me does not cap orders, Loox stops at 500Shopify App Store listing, checked August 2026
- 46,417 vs 9,511
- Shopify App Store review countsShopify App Store, checked September 2026
- 5.0 vs 4.9
- Shopify App Store ratingsShopify App Store, checked September 2026
Frequently asked questions
Is Judge.me really free?
Yes. Judge.me has a free plan with unlimited reviews and review requests, photo and video reviews, and rich snippets. The paid Awesome plan, at $15 a month, adds features rather than lifting a volume cap.
Does Loox have a free plan?
Yes. The Beginner tier is free for up to 500 orders and includes 17+ widgets and Google rich snippets. Video reviews and higher order volumes begin on Convert at $49.99 a month.
Which is better for SEO?
Judge.me. It outputs server-readable review markup and JSON-LD structured data, which is what gets your star ratings into Google and your review text into AI answers. Loox supports rich snippets but renders the reviews through a JavaScript widget.
Can I switch from Loox to Judge.me without losing reviews?
Yes. Both apps support exporting and importing reviews, so you can migrate your existing reviews. Plan a short overlap so widgets do not go blank during the move.
Do either of them get my reviews cited by ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews?
Neither is built specifically for that. Judge.me gets you closer because its review HTML is crawlable, but getting customer reviews quoted by answer engines is the gap BeyondReviews is built to close.