Question 1

Is the Shopify store scan really free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Paste any Shopify store URL and get the detected apps, a list-price estimate of monthly spend, duplicate flags, and a cheaper-swap finding — no login, no install, no card. The scan is read-only and never writes to your store.

Question 2

How does the scan find which apps a store uses?

Accepted Answer

It reads publicly-visible storefront signals (theme code, injected scripts, asset domains) and matches them against a registry of known Shopify apps. It only sees storefront-visible apps — admin-only apps aren't shown.

Question 3

Can it find duplicate apps I'm paying for?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The scan flags likely duplicate apps (two tools doing the same job), surfaces a cheaper-swap opportunity, and gives a Stack Efficiency Score so you can see overlap that Shopify's per-app billing hides.

Question 4

Why won't Shopify just tell me which apps to cancel?

Accepted Answer

Shopify's billing shows what you pay, never whether you should — it earns from every app you keep, so it can't be the one to tell you to cancel. App Cost Watchdog is the independent check: it flags duplicates, cheaper swaps, and apps billing you off your storefront.

Question 5

Is the monthly spend a real bill or an estimate?

Accepted Answer

The free scan shows a list-price estimate from public pricing — clearly labeled. The paid Monitor tier reads your Shopify invoice and shows your confirmed per-app spend beside the estimate. The two numbers are shown side by side and never added together.

See what you're paying for.