ZonifyThere are dozens of country blocker apps on the Shopify App Store, and most of their listings say the same things. This guide compares five of them side by side: what each one costs, what its free plan really includes, and what each asks to see in your store.
We build one of them, Zonify, so read this with that in mind. We've tried to be fair: where another app does something Zonify can't, we say so plainly.
The quick answer
- You want every feature free, and an app that can't see your orders or customers: Zonify.
- You need VPN, proxy or city blocking, or order fraud filters: Blockify or Kedra, on a paid plan.
- You want the cheapest paid plan with VPN and city blocking: BM Country Blocker, at $3.99 a month.
- You also want to block buyers by email or phone: Blocky or BM.
Side by side
| Zonify | Blockify | Kedra | BM Country Blocker | Blocky | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free, then $9.99–$39.99/mo | Free, then $7.99–$22.99/mo | Pay as you go (max $4/mo) or $3.99/mo | $9.99–$19.99/mo |
| Limits on the free plan | None | 4 rules, 200 visitors tracked | Analytics for the first 300 visitors | First 500 page views | Development stores only |
| Block or allow countries | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Block single IP addresses | Yes, IPv4 and IPv6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Block IP ranges | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| State or city rules | No | Yes | Paid plans | Yes | No |
| VPN and proxy detection | No | Paid plans | Paid plans | Yes | Yes |
| Bot blocking | Yes, by bot type | Yes | Paid plans | Yes | Pro plan |
| Proves real Googlebots | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Content protection | Yes, free | Paid plans | Yes, free | Not listed | Yes |
| Order or checkout rules | No | Yes | Fraud alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Asks for customer or order data | No | Yes | Yes | See listing | Yes |
1. Zonify: free, with every feature
Zonify is the app we build. It blocks countries, single IP addresses and the bot types you choose, and records every visit it turns away.
What stands out
- Free, with nothing held back. Every rule, bot detection, content protection and 90 days of analytics are included. There are no plans to compare.
- It can't see your store's data. It asks for one permission: read-only access to your themes. Nothing for orders, products or customers.
- It proves search engine bots. It checks Google, Bing, Apple, OpenAI, Perplexity and DuckDuckGo bots against the addresses they publish. A fake Googlebot is labelled "Fake" and can be blocked, while a real one is never blocked by a bot rule.
- Your store stays open if Zonify is down. If a check fails or is slow, the visitor is let in.
- You can't lock yourself out. "Always allow my IP" lets you, your team and your agency in, whatever the other rules say.
What it can't do
- No IP-based location. The country is a best guess from the browser's time zone, then its language. Someone who changes those settings can appear to be elsewhere.
- No VPN detection, IP ranges, or state and city rules. Rules match whole countries and exact addresses.
- No checkout or order rules. It runs on your store's pages, not on checkout.
- The first page shows for about a second on a first visit, before the block replaces it.
Best for: stores that want to choose which countries can visit, block a few troublesome addresses and keep scrapers out, at no cost, without giving an app access to customer data.
2. Blockify: the most features, for a monthly fee
Blockify is the best-known app in this group, with about 1,750 reviews and a 4.9 rating. It goes well beyond country blocking, into fraud filters for orders.
What stands out
- Blocks countries, states, cities, IP addresses and IP ranges.
- VPN and proxy blocking on Premium ($9.99 a month). Tor and ISP filtering on Enterprise ($19.99).
- Checkout rules by email, phone or name, and, on Shopify Plus ($39.99), automatic cancelling of high-risk orders.
What to know
- The free plan allows 4 rules and tracks 200 visitors.
- It asks for access to customer names, emails, addresses and recent order history, which its order features need.
Best for: stores fighting fraudulent orders and chargebacks, who are happy to pay for it.
3. Kedra: a free plan with content protection
Kedra combines blocking with content protection, and is one of the few apps that blocks by ASN or ISP (the network a visitor connects through).
What stands out
- Country and IP blocking, and content protection, on the free plan.
- City, VPN, proxy, bot and ASN/ISP blocking from $7.99 a month.
What to know
- On the free plan, analytics covers the first 300 visitors.
- It asks for access to customer data, products and orders.
Best for: stores that want city or network blocking at a low monthly price.
4. BM Country Blocker: the cheapest paid plan
BM covers a lot for a small fee: countries, states, cities, IP ranges, ISPs, referrers, VPNs and proxies, plus checkout rules.
What stands out
- Pay as you go: the first 500 page views are free, then $0.20 per 100 views, capped at $4 a month. Or a flat $3.99 a month.
- Detects VPNs, proxies and visitors from data centres.
What to know
- On pay as you go, the bill grows with your traffic, up to the cap.
Best for: stores that need VPN and city blocking and want the lowest fixed price.
5. Blocky: blocking plus buyer rules
Blocky (by Effective Apps) pairs country and IP blocking with rules against specific buyers.
What stands out
- Blocks buyers by email, phone or address, as well as by country and IP.
- VPN, proxy and Tor detection, and a country redirector.
What to know
- There's no free plan for live stores: the free plan works on development stores only. Country blocking starts at $9.99 a month, IP blocking at $16.99 and bot detection at $19.99.
- It asks for access to customer data and order history.
Best for: stores that keep getting orders from the same bad buyers.
How to choose
Ask yourself four questions.
- Do you need to see through VPNs? If people hiding their location is your main problem, choose an app with VPN detection on a paid plan. Zonify doesn't detect VPNs.
- Is the problem visitors, or orders? If bad orders are the problem, an app with checkout rules and fraud filters fits better. If you just want some countries to stop seeing your store, a country blocker is enough.
- How much store data are you happy to share? Apps with order features need access to your customers and orders. A blocker that only controls who can visit doesn't.
- What will it cost when you grow? Check what the free plan stops at: a number of rules, visitors or page views.
Things every country blocker shares
Whichever app you choose:
- None of them replaces Shopify Markets. Markets and your shipping settings decide where you sell. A blocker decides who can visit. See Shopify Markets vs country blocking.
- Location is never certain. IP-based apps can be fooled by VPNs they don't recognise. Time-zone-based apps can be fooled by changed browser settings.
- Search engines are visitors too. A country rule can block a crawler if it appears to come from a blocked country. After changing country rules, check a page with the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console.
The short version
- Zonify is free, with every feature, and can't see your orders or customers, but it has no VPN detection, IP ranges or city rules.
- Blockify and Kedra add VPN, city and fraud features on paid plans.
- BM is the cheapest paid plan with VPN and city blocking.
- Blocky adds rules against specific buyers, from $9.99 a month.
Ready to set one up? Follow how to block countries on your Shopify store.
