{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "essential-countdown-timer-bar",
 "name": "Essential Countdown Timer Bar",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "essential-apps.com",
 "category": "E-commerce",
 "task": "E-commerce growth",
 "summary": "Shopify countdown timer app for announcement bars, product pages, landing pages, carts and emails, with dated, recurring and evergreen timers, geo-targeting and a free plan; priced on how many times the timers load each month.",
 "best_for": "Shopify merchants who run real, dated promotions, launches or shipping cut-offs and want a top-bar, product-page or cart countdown without code, starting on a free plan",
 "skip_if": "your timers load tens of thousands of times a month and you are not ready to pay $29.99 for unlimited views, because on a lower plan the timers are switched off three days after you pass the limit; or your offers do not actually end, in which case a countdown is a claim you cannot stand behind",
 "honest_knock": "The free plan is smaller than it looks, because of what counts as a view. The help centre says a view is every time a timer loads: a shopper who refreshes the page, or browses three product pages with a timer on each, adds several views, and two timers on one page count twice. A thousand views a month is a few hundred browsing sessions on a store with a top bar on every page. Starter's 10,000 and Essential's 50,000 are counted the same way.\n\nRunning out does not cost money; it switches the timers off. There is no overage charge. When you reach the limit you get an email, and if you have not upgraded within three days every published timer is unpublished until views reset on the 1st of the month. The month you are most likely to hit the ceiling is the month of your biggest sale, so on a Black Friday campaign that is when the countdown disappears. If a promotion depends on the timer, size the plan on the traffic you expect at the peak rather than last month's, or watch the usage in the app while the campaign runs.\n\nThe cart timer, the one that tells shoppers their items are reserved, starts on the $9.99 Essential plan, not on Starter. Whether a claim like that is true depends on how you set it up, and the FTC treats false urgency and scarcity as deceptive practice; an evergreen fixed-minute timer starts fresh for each visitor, so keep it for offers that work that way. One incident is worth knowing about: a Chilean merchant with nearly three years on the app wrote that Shopify Support had traced a checkout button that redirected customers to an outside URL to a security vulnerability related to this app. Essential Apps replied that it fixed the issue within two hours of the first report, resolved the cause the same day and reported the incident to Shopify. We found no report of a repeat. We have not installed the app.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "public",
  "entry_price": "$6.99",
  "entry_price_terms": "Starter · per month for up to 10,000 timer views, or $67.08 a year",
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "(read 2026-09-28, re-read 2026-10-21 without changes, on apps.shopify.com/essential-countdown-timer, on essential-apps.com/countdown-timer and in the vendor's help article on timer views) Four plans priced on monthly timer views. Free covers up to 1,000 views a month with unlimited product-page and top-bar timers. Starter is $6.99 a month, or $67.08 a year at a stated 20% saving, for up to 10,000 views, and adds landing-page timers and scheduled and recurring timers. Essential is $9.99 a month or $95.88 a year for up to 50,000 views, and adds cart timers, email timers, placing timers by product tag and geo-targeting. Professional is $29.99 a month or $287.88 a year for unlimited views and every premium feature. Paid plans carry a 7-day free trial, and the vendor's own site adds a 30-day money-back guarantee. A view is counted every time a timer loads, not once per visitor. There is no overage charge: past the limit you get an email, and if you do not upgrade within 3 days every published timer is unpublished until views reset on the 1st of the month. All charges are in USD, billed through Shopify every 30 days. Developer Essential Apps, with an address in Vilnius, Lithuania; the listing gives a launch date of 10 February 2022 and shows 1,721 reviews.",
  "verified_at": "2026-10-21",
  "source_url": "https://apps.shopify.com/essential-countdown-timer",
  "schema_offer": {
   "price": 6.99,
   "currency": "USD",
   "description": "Starter, per month for up to 10,000 timer views, or $67.08 a year; free plan up to 1,000 views; Essential is $9.99 for 50,000 and Professional $29.99 for unlimited views; billed through Shopify every 30 days. Read on the vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-28.",
   "page": "https://marketingandsalessoftware.com/essential-countdown-timer-bar-review.html"
  },
  "source_quotes": null,
  "recent_change": null,
  "price_history": {
   "status": "stable",
   "tracked_since": "2026-09-29",
   "last_read": "2026-10-29",
   "read_days": 6,
   "stable": {
    "since": "2026-09-29",
    "until": "2026-10-29",
    "reads": 6,
    "days": 30
   },
   "changes": [],
   "method": "Stable = every amount on the vendor's pricing page identical across >= 3 of our reads over >= 30 days. A change is listed only after we confirmed the new price on the page, with a verbatim quote. Differences in raw readings are never published on their own."
  }
 },
 "free_plan": true,
 "free_plan_evidence": "Free covers up to 1,000 views a month with unlimited product-page and top-bar timers.",
 "cost_traps": [],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Scarcity.AI",
  "why": "Scarcity.AI is the closest comparison in our own dossiers: its developer also publishes a countdown timer, next to a low stock counter and a live visitors counter. On our reading of 22 August 2026 that countdown listing showed a free tier and no paid ladder, while Essential Countdown Timer Bar starts free at 1,000 timer views a month and charges $6.99, $9.99 or $29.99 for more views and for cart, email, scheduled and recurring timers. The difference is scope. Scarcity.AI spreads urgency over three small apps, each installed and billed on its own, and its stock counter reads your real inventory; Essential puts every kind of countdown in one app and prices it on how often the timers load. A store that also wants stock and visitor signals fits Scarcity.AI; a store that mainly needs dated countdowns in several places, including carts and emails, fits Essential."
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/essential-countdown-timer-bar.json",
  "review": "https://marketingandsalessoftware.com/essential-countdown-timer-bar-review.html",
  "marketplace": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/marketplace/essential-countdown-timer-bar/",
  "vendor_site": "https://essential-apps.com"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://platform.shoffi.app/r/rl_Z6OmBW0q",
  "affiliate": true,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "available",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": {
   "currency": "USD",
   "unit": "store",
   "axis": "stores",
   "plans": [
    {
     "id": "free",
     "name": "Free",
     "model": "free",
     "evidence": "Free covers up to 1,000 views a month with unlimited product-page and top-bar timers"
    },
    {
     "id": "starter",
     "name": "Starter",
     "model": "per_unit",
     "monthly": 6.99,
     "annual_year": 67.08,
     "evidence": "Starter is $6.99 a month, or $67.08 a year at a stated 20% saving, for up to 10,000 views"
    },
    {
     "id": "essential",
     "name": "Essential",
     "model": "per_unit",
     "monthly": 9.99,
     "annual_year": 95.88,
     "evidence": "Essential is $9.99 a month or $95.88 a year for up to 50,000 views"
    },
    {
     "id": "professional",
     "name": "Professional",
     "model": "per_unit",
     "monthly": 29.99,
     "annual_year": 287.88,
     "evidence": "Professional is $29.99 a month or $287.88 a year for unlimited views and every premium feature"
    }
   ],
   "notes": [
    "A Shopify app is billed per store that installs it; charges are billed in USD every 30 days.",
    "The plan you need is set by monthly timer views (1,000 / 10,000 / 50,000 / unlimited), which the cost engine cannot size: pick the plan by your views, then read the price per store."
   ],
   "not_computable": [
    "Timer views per month (every timer load counts); past the limit timers are unpublished after 3 days rather than charged."
   ],
   "rules_verified_at": "2026-10-21"
  },
  "growth": {
   "annual": {
    "product_id": "essential-countdown-timer-bar",
    "currency": "USD",
    "axis": "stores",
    "unit": "store",
    "billing": "annual",
    "rows": [
     {
      "units": 1,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 5.59,
       "essential": 7.99,
       "professional": 23.99
      }
     },
     {
      "units": 2,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 11.18,
       "essential": 15.98,
       "professional": 47.98
      }
     },
     {
      "units": 3,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 16.77,
       "essential": 23.97,
       "professional": 71.97
      }
     },
     {
      "units": 5,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 27.95,
       "essential": 39.95,
       "professional": 119.95
      }
     },
     {
      "units": 10,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 55.9,
       "essential": 79.9,
       "professional": 239.9
      }
     }
    ],
    "switch_points": [],
    "conflicts": [],
    "unknowns": [
     "Timer views per month (every timer load counts); past the limit timers are unpublished after 3 days rather than charged."
    ]
   },
   "monthly": {
    "product_id": "essential-countdown-timer-bar",
    "currency": "USD",
    "axis": "stores",
    "unit": "store",
    "billing": "monthly",
    "rows": [
     {
      "units": 1,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 6.99,
       "essential": 9.99,
       "professional": 29.99
      }
     },
     {
      "units": 2,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 13.98,
       "essential": 19.98,
       "professional": 59.98
      }
     },
     {
      "units": 3,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 20.97,
       "essential": 29.97,
       "professional": 89.97
      }
     },
     {
      "units": 5,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 34.95,
       "essential": 49.95,
       "professional": 149.95
      }
     },
     {
      "units": 10,
      "cheapest_plan": "free",
      "cheapest_plan_name": "Free",
      "total_month": 0.0,
      "billed": {
       "amount": 0.0,
       "every": "month"
      },
      "ranges": [],
      "per_plan": {
       "free": 0.0,
       "starter": 69.9,
       "essential": 99.9,
       "professional": 299.9
      }
     }
    ],
    "switch_points": [],
    "conflicts": [],
    "unknowns": [
     "Timer views per month (every timer load counts); past the limit timers are unpublished after 3 days rather than charged."
    ]
   }
  }
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "Being verified: free trial and refund terms are not yet matched to a verbatim line on the vendor's own pages. Not matched does not mean there is none.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "verification": {
  "price": "read",
  "free_trial": "being_verified",
  "refund": "being_verified"
 },
 "status_page": null,
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "essential-countdown-timer-bar:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "essential-countdown-timer-bar:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "essential-countdown-timer-bar:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "essential-countdown-timer-bar:pricing_gap_1",
   "key": "pricing_gap_1",
   "question": "Our price check could not put a number on this part of the cost: Timer views per month (every timer load counts); past the limit timers are unpublished after 3 days rather than charged. Can you publish the price or the rule?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_found",
   "detail": "No explicit support for purchases by AI agents on the vendor's own pages.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}