What's going on with the Product Reviews app it's no longer available?

Shopify Apps

Topic summary

Shopify discontinued its free Product Reviews app on September 5, 2023, directing users to third-party alternatives. Merchants who had the app installed can access and export their reviews until January 2024.

Key concerns raised:

  • Migration challenges: Users with thousands of existing reviews face technical difficulties transferring data and custom coding to new platforms
  • Cost implications: Third-party review apps typically charge $10-20/month, adding to Shopify’s base subscription fees
  • Theme compatibility: Older themes may not work seamlessly with new review apps, requiring expensive updates

Community reaction:

  • Strong negative sentiment from merchants who valued the simple, free solution
  • At least one user decided to close their Shopify store and return to WooCommerce due to increasing costs
  • Multiple users expressed willingness to pay a small fee to keep the original app rather than migrate

Shopify’s rationale:
Third-party apps offer more robust features like review verification and provide more complete solutions.

Suggested alternatives:
Judge.me, Stamped.io, Yotpo, Loox, Okendo, and Kooee Reviews (free option with migration guide).

The discussion remains unresolved, with Shopify staff acknowledging feedback but making no commitments to reverse the decision.

Summarized with AI on October 27. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
27

Just received email notice the other day about the Shopify Reviews App sunsetting. This is a real bummer.

What is everyone out there doing to transition away from the in-house app? Judge.me looks like a possible solution but hard to tell. This is a big issue for our business since we have 2300+ reviews in the 8 years we’ve been on Shopify. https://italiastraps.com/collections/all

Additionally, we did some extra coding early on to make the review stars from the Shopify app appear on the home page and the collections pages etc. This coding obviously wouldn’t work with a new app.

We are also running an older theme (Venture). I would say it’s pretty unlikely a new version of a third-party app will work seamlessly with an older theme. In our case we’re probably looking at a theme update and integrating a new third-party reviews app hopefully with the look we currently have which all results in $$$ cost to develop.

Shopify: We’d be willing to consider a small monthly fee to continue using the Shopify Reviews app and avoid what will surely be a hassle of transitioning to a new third party reviews app.

Hopefully Shopify considers something like this.

Thanks for listening. :slightly_smiling_face:

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