Reviews.io vs Trustpilot: which should a small business use?

Short answer: choose by where your customers look and what you sell. If people find you on a map or by searching your name and town, put your effort into Google. If you sell online and want a public profile on an independent review site, look at Trustpilot. If you run an online shop and want reviews of each product on your own pages, that is the job Reviews.io is built for.

What Trustpilot is, and what it is for

Trustpilot is a public review site. Its guidelines for businesses say reviewers don’t need to be invited, and anyone with a genuine experience can leave a review at any time. Those rules apply whether or not the business has claimed its profile, so a page about you can exist before you have ever signed up.

Claiming your profile is free. Trustpilot’s guidelines say a claimed profile gets the free plan features, with paid plans for more advanced tools. Its plans page says the free account includes a monthly allowance of review invitations and needs no credit card. Allowances and features change, so read the plans page before you decide.

Trustpilot encourages businesses to invite customers, within the rules covered below. For the practical side, see our guides on asking customers to review you on Trustpilot and replying to Trustpilot reviews.

What Reviews.io is, and what it is for

Reviews.io describes itself as an ecommerce review platform that helps online brands collect, manage and display verified customer reviews. It handles two kinds: company reviews, about your business, and product reviews, about what you sell. You show them on your own site with widgets, which its help centre lets you set to company or product reviews.

Most reviews arrive by invitation. Its moderation FAQ says genuine customers are invited by email or SMS after a transaction, and reviews written that way carry a “Verified Buyer” banner. Some businesses also allow reviews written directly on their Reviews.io page. Those start unverified until the reviewer sends proof of purchase. The same FAQ says no genuine, verified and factually correct review will be deleted from a company page, whatever its star rating.

Cost is the other big difference. Reviews.io’s help centre says it has no free plan for direct sign-ups. The only free option is a limited plan for Shopify merchants, and paid plans come with a 14-day trial. For prices, check their current pricing page instead of a figure quoted on a comparison site.

Side by side: who each suits

	Trustpilot	Reviews.io
What it is	A public review site	A tool for collecting and displaying reviews
Can customers review you uninvited?	Yes, at any time	Only if the business allows it, and those reviews start unverified
Free option	Free plan for a claimed profile	Only a limited Shopify plan; otherwise paid, with a 14-day trial
Main job	A public profile shoppers can look you up on	Company and product reviews shown on your own site

A plumber, salon or cafe usually needs neither on day one. An online shop with a product range is where Reviews.io makes most sense. Trustpilot suits a business that sells beyond its local area and wants to manage a public profile that customers may already be writing on.

Rules that apply on both (no gating, no incentives)

The rules on asking are the same whichever platform you use.

• Ask everyone the same way. Trustpilot’s guidelines say to invite consistently and fairly: everyone in the same way, at the same point in the customer journey, whether their experience was good or bad. Inviting only people you know were happy is prohibited.
• Offer nothing in return. Trustpilot does not allow incentivised reviews, including discounts, prize entries and refunds. Google’s policy bans offering payment, discounts or free goods or services in exchange for a review.
• Don’t filter. Google’s policy also bans discouraging negative reviews or selectively asking for positive ones. Sending happy customers to a review page and unhappy ones somewhere else is exactly that.

Reviews.io’s moderation FAQ says that, as a Google Review Partner, its clients must follow strict standards for review collection. UK law sits on top of all of this. The CMA’s guidance for businesses says fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews are banned. It also says that if you publish reviews, including ones collected by someone else, you are still responsible for preventing and removing banned content. That covers a review widget on your own website. Our guide to fake reviews and UK law explains it in more detail.

Where Google reviews fit for a local business

For a local business, Google is usually where customers look before they ring or book. Google’s own tips page says you can ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code, and that a mix of positive and negative reviews often seems more trustworthy. The same no-incentive, no-gating rules apply there, as covered in our guide to the rules on asking for Google reviews.

If your profile isn’t sorted yet, start with setting up Google reviews for your business. You can run Google and Trustpilot side by side. A Trustpilot profile still needs looking after, because customers can write there whether you ask them to or not.

How to choose in three questions

1. Do customers find you locally or buy from you online? If it is mostly locally, stay with Google for now.
2. Do you want a public profile or reviews on your own pages? A public profile points to Trustpilot. Company and product reviews in widgets on your shop point to Reviews.io.
3. Can you ask every customer, every time, the same way? If not, a second platform just gives you another place to neglect. Fix the asking habit first.

Whichever you pick: ask and reply the same way

The platform matters less than the routine. Ask every customer with the same link or message at the same point, such as after delivery or after the job is finished. Reply to good and bad reviews politely, without arguing. Offer nothing in return.

If you want a head start on the asking, the review request message builder drafts a neutral SMS, WhatsApp or email message you can send to every customer. A steady habit on one platform beats a patchy one on three.

Questions people ask

Is Reviews.io the same as Trustpilot?

No. Trustpilot is a public review site where anyone with a genuine experience can review a business without being invited. Reviews.io is an ecommerce review platform that helps businesses collect company and product reviews, mostly by invitation, and display them on their own site.

Is Trustpilot free for businesses?

Trustpilot has a free plan. Its business guidelines say a claimed profile gets the free plan features, and paid plans add more advanced tools. Its plans page says no credit card is needed for the free account. Check the plans page for the current limits.

How much does Reviews.io cost?

Check their current pricing page, because figures change. Reviews.io's help centre says there is no free plan for direct sign-ups. The only free option is a limited plan for Shopify merchants, and paid plans come with a 14-day trial.

Can I use Reviews.io and Trustpilot together?

Nothing in either platform's pages we read rules it out. The same rules apply wherever you collect: invite every customer the same way and offer nothing in return. It is usually better to get one routine working before you add a second platform.

Do I need either if I already have Google reviews?

Usually not, if your customers find you locally. Put your effort into your Google Business Profile first. Consider Trustpilot or Reviews.io later if you sell online and want a public profile or reviews on your product pages.