Guide
Best brand protection apps and services for Shopify stores
By Josh Pigford, founder of Knockoff
Type your store's address into a browser with /products.json on the end. You'll see your catalog: titles, descriptions, prices and a link to every product photo at full size. Most Shopify stores publish this to anyone who asks, and the Shopify App Store sells apps that copy a store's products, photos included, from a product link.
So you can't hide your photos. What you're paying a brand protection app for is what happens after the copy goes live: does it tell you, and does someone send the notice that takes it down? Knockoff does both. It searches for your product photos every day, and a person files each takedown as your authorized agent, for $799 a month.
Shopify brand protection apps and takedown services compared
Every option does one of three jobs, and the second column says which. That column is the one that matters: an app that only hides your photos can't tell you when they turn up on someone else's store, and an app that only watches leaves the takedown to you.
| Option | Hide, watch or file | Tells you a copy went live? | Who sends the notice | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knockoff | Files | Yes. Searches the open web every day for your product photos | A Knockoff person, as your authorized agent | $799 a month |
| EnforceShield | Files | Yes. Finds the stores and watches for relaunches | EnforceShield | No published price |
| Red Points | Files | Yes. Scans the marketplaces you pay for | Red Points | From $1,250 a month at checkout |
| Corsearch | Files | Yes. Watches 300+ platforms, apps and marketplaces | Corsearch, under a signed Letter of Authority | No published price |
| MarqVision | Watches or files, by plan | Yes | MarqVision, on Advanced and up | $1,000 a month to watch, $2,000 to file |
| BrandShield | Files | Yes. Suggests targets for you to confirm | BrandShield, after you confirm | Quote only |
| StoreLock | Hides, watches and files | Yes. Copied storefronts, lookalike domains and your photos | StoreLock from the app on Premium, its team on Enterprise | $19 a month plus $0.20 per image, or $399 |
| IP Moat | Watches | Yes. Searches for your product images | Not stated on its Shopify page | No published price |
| Recon | Watches | Yes. Clone stores and lookalike domains | You, from its templates | Free, or $50 a month |
| Watermark apps | Hides | No | Nobody | Free for 100 images, then $7.99 a month |
| Right-click blockers | Hides | No | Nobody | Free to $2 a month |
Prices come from each company's own site or Shopify App Store listing, read between October 18 and 27, 2026. Knockoff is ours.
Do Shopify apps that disable right click protect product images?
They stop the casual save, and that's all. One of them, RT: Disable Right Click, is free, rated 4.9 from 325 reviews, and blocks right click, drag and drop and viewing the page source. MenuLock does the same on desktop for free and adds phones for $2 a month. A Shopify employee said in its community forum that while these apps "do offer protection against download, a determined thief would be able to find a way to ultimately circumvent them".
The thief doesn't have to try very hard. A copier doesn't right-click your product page at all. It reads the catalog feed. On October 27, 2026, Allbirds' feed listed every photo of its first product as a direct link to a 4,000 by 4,000 pixel file, and Kith's served 2,000 by 2,000. Robo Product Importer costs $6 a month. Paste in a product's URL and it will "import products from any store with one click", bringing the title, description, images, price and tags into the copier's own store. That's a store that looks like yours by the afternoon, and a right-click blocker never sees it happen.
Robo isn't alone. Search the App Store for "import products from any store" and you get a shelf of them: ProductUpload.ai promises to "copy products in bulk with one click", and Kopia and Kopy-fy both have free plans, so copying your catalog can cost a copycat nothing. Robo's own listing tells its users to "ensure you have rights to sell imported products". That warning doesn't stop anyone from pasting your product's address.
Watermarks do more. Shopify's staff in the same thread recommend them, and apps like Viking Product Image Watermark stamp your logo across the catalog, free for 100 images and $7.99 a month after that. A watermark doesn't stop the copy. It marks it as yours on someone else's page, which makes the takedown easier to argue.
Shopify apps that watch for copycat stores and stolen photos
These apps look for copies and tell you when they find one.
Recon checks for clone stores and lookalike domains every week on its free plan, and around the clock on Pro, $50 a month or $480 a year, which also scans 200 lookalike domains. It "prepares reports" and gives you takedown templates; you send them. It launched in December 2025 and had no reviews on its listing when we read it.
IP Moat connects to your store with read-only access, searches for your product images and creates a certificate for each one to use as evidence in marketplace takedowns. Its Shopify page offers a free audit and a call, with no price.
StoreLock does all three jobs. It blocks on-site copying, watches for copied storefronts, lookalike domains and your photos on other sites, and lets you file DMCA notices and abuse reports from the app. Premium is $19 a month plus $0.20 for each image it monitors. On Enterprise, $399 a month with unlimited images, its team files and follows up for you. Our StoreLock review covers both plans.
If an app leaves the notices to you, you've bought an alert and a pile of paperwork.
Brand protection services that file the takedown for Shopify stores
Knockoff is built for Shopify brands with original products. You connect your store with its domain and sign one Letter of Authorization, and from then on there's no case for you to approve. Knockoff files with Shopify, eBay, Walmart and Temu, and with the web host or registrar behind a fake site. It's $799 a month with no contract, and the free scan checks 20 of your products without an account.
EnforceShield sells a managed service for Shopify brands. In its words, it "finds the stores, builds the case, files it through the right Shopify route, and keeps watching for the relaunch". It publishes no price and starts with a demo call.
Red Points has a self-serve checkout, but it won't take an order under $1,250 a month, about $15,000 a year, and you sign a contract before the service starts. Our Red Points review walks through the checkout.
Corsearch says it watches more than 300 platforms, apps and marketplaces. You sign a Letter of Authority and an Order Form after a demo, with fees invoiced a year in advance unless the Order Form says otherwise. Our Corsearch review has the details.
MarqVision starts at $1,000 a month for detection alone. Takedowns start on Advanced, from $2,000 a month, and contracts renew for twelve months at a time. See our MarqVision review.
BrandShield suggests the copies it finds and takes them down after you confirm. It sells by quote, and its contracts renew unless you give notice 60 days before they end. More in our BrandShield review.
No matter who files, Shopify's process is the same. It wants one notice per copycat store that lists every page using your photos, because "a general shop link will not be accepted". It may send your contact details to the store you reported. If that store files a valid counter notice, it can usually put the content back in 10 to 14 business days unless you sue. A copier who files one is betting you can't prove the photo is yours, so keep your original camera files with their dates somewhere safe. Shopify can review what stores post but, in its own terms, "is not obligated to do so", so don't wait for Shopify to find the copy. Our guide to filing a Shopify DMCA takedown covers the form step by step.
What to look for in brand protection software for a Shopify store
Three questions sort these options faster than any feature list.
Does it look for your photos, or only for your store?
A clone of your storefront and a lookalike domain are easy to spot. The copy that costs you sales can be a single product, with your photos, on a store or marketplace that looks nothing like yours. Ask whether the app searches for every product photo in your catalog and where it searches. Knockoff counts a copy only when your photo is in the seller's own listing gallery, so a similar-looking product never turns into a takedown.
Can it file where your copies turn up?
A copy on a Shopify store goes to Shopify. A copy on its own site goes to the web host or the registrar. A marketplace listing goes through that marketplace's form. Ask which of those an app files. Whatever it doesn't, you do.
What does it cost at your catalog size?
Per-image and per-trademark pricing grows with you. StoreLock Premium with 1,000 monitored photos comes to $219 a month, and Red Points charges for each trademark and marketplace, with a $1,250 minimum. Knockoff stays at $799 a month with no cap on the products it watches.
Free ways to protect a Shopify store from copycats
You can cover a lot without paying anyone. Here's the free kit, in the order we'd set it up, quickest first.
- Watermark your hero shots. Viking's free plan covers 100 images, enough for the main photo on 100 products.
- Install Recon's free plan for a weekly check on clone stores and lookalike domains. It hands you takedown templates to send yourself.
- Once a month, run your best sellers' photos through Google Lens and TinEye. Our guide to finding stolen product photos shows how to read the results.
- When you find a copy on a Shopify store, report it yourself on Shopify's form. It needs a Shopify account, not a store. List every page that uses your photo, because Shopify won't accept a general shop link.
- Run Knockoff's free scan. It checks 20 of your products for copies, with no account.
The catch with the free kit is time. Each step is yours to repeat, and each report is yours to write. That's the job a paid service takes off your desk.
Questions
Do I need a registered trademark to take down a copycat Shopify store? +
Not for stolen photos. Copyright in a photo exists from the moment it's taken, and Shopify's copyright report asks for your contact details, links to your originals, every page that uses them and a signed statement, with no registration number. Registration only matters if you sue. Shopify's trademark report is different: it asks for the registration number and the countries it's registered in.
Does a brand protection app need access to my Shopify admin? +
Knockoff doesn't. It connects with your store's domain alone and reads the same public catalog any visitor can, so it never sees your orders or customers. IP Moat says its integration has read-only access to your product information.
What happens when a copycat store keeps coming back? +
Shopify says it terminates stores for repeat infringement, for example when a store gets several notices it doesn't counter. That only works if each new copy gets reported. Knockoff watches every listing it got removed for 90 days and files again if your photo comes back.
