Free alternative to Rivalert
for Shopify stores.
Rivalert has no free plan and checks prices only every 12 hours on its $19/mo Starter tier. Beaconmon monitors competitor prices, promotional copy, and uptime from a free plan that never expires.
Last updated: June 2026
See Rivalert pricing vs Beaconmon on the pricing page.
Why Shopify stores look for a Rivalert alternative
Rivalert targets Shopify stores and does price and stock tracking well. These are the points where stores start looking elsewhere.
No free plan.
Rivalert requires a paid subscription from day one. A 7-day trial is all you get before committing. Beaconmon gives you 10 monitors and 1 competitor free forever, with no credit card required.
12-hour check frequency on Starter.
A competitor could launch a flash sale, run it for eight hours, and end it before Rivalert detects anything. Beaconmon checks at least every hour on all plans, including the free tier.
Price and product changes only.
Rivalert does not monitor promotional copy, homepage banners, campaign headlines, or content changes. If a competitor updates their store copy without touching individual product prices, Rivalert will not alert you. Beaconmon covers all of it with CSS-selector targeting.
No uptime monitoring.
Rivalert is competitor-only. You need a separate tool to know when your own store goes down or your SSL certificate is about to expire. Beaconmon covers both in one subscription.
No Intelligence Digest.
Rivalert sends individual email alerts per event. Beaconmon Starter includes a weekly Slack or email digest that groups every competitor change from the past week into a single readable summary.
What Beaconmon covers instead
Beaconmon uses CSS-selector targeting to track specific HTML elements on competitor pages. Not just price and stock, but any content change you choose to watch. See the Shopify competitor monitoring guide for how it works.
- Free plan: 10 monitors, 1 competitor, no card required (Rivalert has no free plan)
- Hourly checks on free and Starter plans (Rivalert checks every 12 hours on its $19/mo Starter)
- Monitors promotional copy, homepage banners, and content changes (Rivalert does not)
- Uptime monitoring included at no extra cost (Rivalert has none)
- SSL and domain expiry alerts at 30, 14, and 7 days
- Intelligence Digest on Starter ($29/mo): weekly Slack or email competitor summary
Where Rivalert still wins
Here is where Rivalert is the better choice.
Lower entry price.
Rivalert Starter is $19/mo versus Beaconmon Starter at $29/mo. If you only need price and stock tracking and the 12-hour frequency is acceptable, the lower price point is a real advantage.
Longer price history.
Rivalert stores 30 days of price history on Starter and 180 days on Pro. Beaconmon history is bounded by plan retention windows, which may be shorter for basic plans if you need long-run trend data.
Narrower, simpler scope.
Rivalert is purpose-built for Shopify price and stock tracking. If that is the only thing you need and the broader Beaconmon feature set is not useful to you, the simpler tool may be a better fit.
For a full side-by-side breakdown, see the Beaconmon vs Rivalert comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Does Rivalert have a free plan?
No. Rivalert offers a 7-day trial but no ongoing free tier. Beaconmon's free plan covers 10 monitors and 1 competitor forever, with no credit card required.
How often does Rivalert check for price changes?
Every 12 hours on the $19/mo Starter plan. Every hour on the $179/mo Pro plan. Beaconmon checks at least every hour on all paid plans, and the free plan also runs hourly checks.
Can Rivalert tell me when a competitor runs a promotion?
Rivalert tracks price changes and new product appearances. It does not monitor promotional copy, homepage banners, or campaign copy. If a competitor launches a "Summer sale, 25% off sitewide" campaign on their homepage without changing individual product prices, Rivalert will not catch it. Beaconmon will.
Is Beaconmon more expensive than Rivalert?
Beaconmon Starter is $29/mo versus Rivalert Starter at $19/mo. However, Beaconmon Starter includes features Rivalert does not offer at any price: uptime monitoring, SSL alerts, content and promo change monitoring, and the Intelligence Digest. And Beaconmon has a free plan Rivalert does not.
Try Beaconmon free.
10 monitors free forever. 14-day Growth trial, no card required.
Running a Shopify store? See the Shopify-specific setup →