Judge.me is the #1 Shopify review app with 127 million reviews collected. It's excellent at what it does — but its "verified" badge trusts your Shopify order data, not an independent payment processor. Here's how they compare.
| Capability | Signed Reviews | Judge.me |
|---|---|---|
| Verification source | Stripe — independent payment processor confirms the charge. Processor-attested (Level 4). | Shopify order data — the app matches a reviewer to a Shopify order. Merchant-supplied (Level 3). |
| Fake review prevention | Structural — no Stripe charge = no review. Would require faking a real payment with Stripe fees and account-closure risk. | Order-matched — reviews must match a Shopify order, but a merchant could create fake orders in their own store. |
| Platform | Stripe — works with any platform that uses Stripe: Shopify, WooCommerce, Squarespace, custom, SaaS. | Shopify-only — Judge.me is exclusively a Shopify app. No support for other platforms. |
| Cryptographic proof | Yes — every review is cryptographically signed at submission. Tamper-evident, independently verifiable. | No — reviews are database records with no cryptographic signature. |
| Refund handling | Automatic — Stripe refund webhook hides refunded reviews immediately. | Manual — merchants can hide reviews, but there's no automatic refund→hide pipeline. |
| Pricing | Free plan (25 invitations/mo) + paid from $29/mo to $199/mo. | Free plan (unlimited reviews) + Awesome plan at $15/mo. Very competitive pricing. |
| Review volume | Early stage — growing review base. | 127M+ reviews collected. Massive volume, high consumer trust through sheer scale. |
| Shopify integration | Works with Shopify if you use Stripe as your payment processor (including Shopify Payments, which runs on Stripe). | Native Shopify app — one-click install from the Shopify App Store. Deep Shopify admin integration. |
| Review request automation | Automatic — every Stripe charge triggers a review invitation. Configurable timing and reminders. | Automatic — sends review requests based on order fulfillment status. Highly configurable. |
| Review ownership | Business owns the reviews — exportable, portable, accessible via API. | Business owns the reviews — can be exported and migrated. |
When to choose Signed Reviews
If verification strength is your #1 priority, the difference between "matched to a Shopify order" and "attested by Stripe" is the whole ballgame. Signed Reviews gives you processor-attested verification with cryptographic proof — something no Shopify review app can claim. If you sell across multiple platforms (Shopify + custom site + invoices), Signed Reviews works everywhere Stripe does.
When Judge.me may be a better fit
If you're a Shopify-only store, want the lowest possible price ($15/mo for unlimited reviews), and need deep Shopify admin integration, Judge.me is the category leader for good reason. Its review volume and Shopify App Store presence give it distribution and credibility that a newer entrant can't match yet. If verification method isn't your differentiator, Judge.me is an excellent, affordable choice.
Start collecting verified reviews →
Related: What "Verified Buyer" means · Signed Reviews vs Trustpilot · Stripe Verified Reviews