Top 5 Free Live Shopping Tools Compared
Introduction
In today’s fast paced digital market place, live selling has rapidly increased in popularity with the market estimated at $128 billion in 2024, expected to reach $2.4 trillion by 2033 (Grandview Research, 2024).
Live selling’s explosive growth is fueled by its higher conversion rates estimated to range from 9-30%, 10x higher than traditional e-commerce (Ozdoruk, 2025). Thus, live selling is an excellent way for businesses to scale quickly, and better engage their target audiences.
With the growing popularity of live selling, more platform tools have been developed for the market, but not all tools are created equal, many come with platform fees, limited customisation and audience engagement tools. This can easily inconvenience and increase costs for your business.
Introducing SPREE, a multistream live selling platform allowing you to engage your audience across multiple platforms with no-code checkout, and interactive features, starting at $0 per month. SPREE was built with your business in mind, offering you full control over your livestreams and online shops without the cost and complexity of traditional livestreaming platforms.
In this article, we will compare SPREE with other live shopping tools, and multistream platforms to explore which live stream shopping service is right for your business.
What is Live Shopping & Why it Matters
Live shopping – also known as live commerce or shoppable livestreaming – is a digital retail experience wherein hosts (brand representatives, influencers, creators, business owners), showcase their products via real-time video broadcasts. During the livestream, viewers can ask questions, make instant purchases without leaving the stream. It combines the entertainment of live shopping channels with the convenience of ecommerce.
Unlike traditional e-commerce, live shopping transforms the passive browsing experience into an interactive event, mimicking the in-store shopping experience. This fosters stronger connections and easing their doubts about e-commerce purchases. Here are the core elements of live shopping:
1. Real-Time Connection:
Users can interact directly with the live stream hosts. They can ask their questions, and purchase their desired products from the live stream, essentially recreating the in-store experience while cultivating online trust.
2. Urgency & Exclusivity
Hosts often offer exclusive promotions during live shopping events such as limited time deals, real-time promotions that only occur during the duration of the stream. This leverages FOMO, encouraging immediate purchases.
3. Social Proof & Community
Seeing other viewers Interact, comment, purchase items provides real-time validation to potential customers, similar to word-of-mouth in traditional retail.
4. Personalised Experiences
Hosts can tailor recommendations, and demonstrate selected product features in real-time based on audience feedback. This increases customer engagement and satisfaction, encouraging them to joi future live shopping events.
Live shopping’s popularity continues to rise as it easily boosts customer engagement and sales conversions, allowing businesses to scale faster. Here’s a list of live shopping’s impact on businesses:
1. Higher Conversion Rates
Live commerce events can easily achieve conversion rates ranging from 9-30%, 10 times higher than traditional e-commerce’s 2-3% (Ozdoruk, 2025). Thus, live shopping is ideal for businesses looking to improve their digital conversion rates, and social media presence.
2. Increase in Order Value
Interactive sessions increase the average order value by 12-15% (Ozdoruk, 2025), as live demonstrations help encourage shoppers to purchase multiple products. The limited promotions, bundle deals offered during these events further encourage immediate purchases.
3. Improved Engagement & Loyalty
Brands leveraging live shopping have experienced increased brand loyalty, and decreased return rates by demonstrating transparency, and product functionality in real time.
Today, Asia-Pacific (especially China) leads the global adoption of live shopping with it projected to grow by 26.8% annually in Singapore (Grandview Research, 2025). Thus, live shopping is definitely an excellent way for your business to improve customer outreach, engagement and loyalty.
Benefits of Using Free Live Shopping
Free live shopping tools are transforming the digital retail landscape, making it easier for small businesses to adopt, experiment, and scale sales channels – without the upfront costs or complex implementation.
1. Lowering Barriers for Small Businesses
With a 0 upfront investment, the free plans allow smaller retailers to easily enter the live commerce space without committing to expensive platform costs. With simple set-ups and intuitive interfaces, free live shopping platforms like SPREE allow businesses to quickly launch live stream events without needing technical expertise.
2. Enable Risk-Free Testing & Rapid Iteration
Brands can try different formats, hosts, products and event programs without undertaking financial risks. This allows them to discover what resonates well with their audiences. Through interactive features such as live chats, polls and reactions, live stream shopping provides brands with instant feedback, allowing them to improve events accordingly.
3. Seamless Upgrade Paths
As sales grow, and needs become more complex, free live stream commerce platforms like SPREE often offer a variety of paid plans. SPREE offers paid upgrades ranging from Basic ($29), Pro ($79), and Spree+ (139), which offer more streaming offers, channel destinations, and increased customer engagement, and analytics features (Spree, 2025) This allows businesses to easily scale live stream operations to better match their current needs, without being locked into expensive long-term contracts.
Top 5 Free Live Shopping Tools Compared
With the rise of live shopping, a growing number of live commerce platforms now offer free plans to help businesses get started without the upfront costs. Each platform provides its own unique features, vary in complexity, and offer different premium upgrades. Here’s an overview of the Top 5 live commerce platforms to help you find the correct one for your business.
1. Upmesh
Overview & Pricing: Free Plan Limits
Upmesh specializes in comment-to-cart automation and order management for Facebook and Instagram Live sellers. The free plan covers a limited number of live sessions and a cap on automated orders per month. Extended features such as bulk order processing, custom branding, and deep analytics are unavailable or restricted in the free version.
Key Features
- Platform Integrations: Facebook Live, Instagram Live with direct comment selling.
- Interactive Elements: Automated invoicing, live giveaways, mini-games, buyer credits, and instant customer notifications.
- Checkout Options: Buyers complete purchases through automated chat links, connecting directly to payment gateways within Facebook or Instagram.
Pros & Cons
- Pros: Outstanding automation for social sellers, viral engagement mini-games, and strong order capture.
- Cons: Best suited for Facebook/Instagram only; users outgrowing the free plan will need to pay for higher volume; limited analytics on free tier.
Best For
Upmesh is perfect for SMEs and micro-sellers heavily focused on Facebook/Instagram live commerce, wanting to automate sales flows and build interactive communities.
Overview & Pricing: Channelize.io provides branded live shopping modules for e-commerce sites and simulcast to social media. The free plan generally restricts the number of live events, viewer capacity, and integrations (e.g., basic Shopify support, no customization). Paid tiers expand access to advanced analytics, unlimited multistreaming, and white-labeling.
Key Features
- Platform Integrations: Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, plus simulcast to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.
- Interactive Elements: Real-time chat, polls, product highlights during streams, live audience analytics.
- Checkout Options: Instant add-to-cart from within the video/live event, connected to the host’s online store.
Pros & Cons
- Pros: Seamless e-commerce integration, multi-channel broadcasting, and built-in audience engagement and analytics.
- Cons: Custom branding, unlimited events, and advanced reporting are paid-only; viewer or event limits apply on the free plan.
Best For
Channelize.io fits D2C brands or retailers aiming for professional, multi-channel live commerce directly tied to their existing online stores.
3. Livebuy.tv
Overview & Pricing: Free Plan Limits
Livebuy.tv turns live and recorded videos into shoppable moments. The free tier allows for a restricted number of videos/streams, basic product embedding, and standard analytics. AI subtitling, global notifications, and remarketing tools are mostly behind paywalls.
Key Features
- Platform Integrations: Supports all e-commerce platforms, web embedding, messaging app links (LINE, Telegram, SMS), and multiple social channels.
- Interactive Elements: “Watch & Buy” shoppable player, AI subtitles for accessibility, targeted remarketing prompts.
- Checkout Options: Embedded checkout within video, instant cart creation, and follow-up links for missed purchases.
Pros & Cons
- Pros: Easy for beginners, strong product-video pairing, accessible global support, and effective remarketing.
- Cons: Free plan limits usage and analytics depth, fewer customization options unless upgraded.
Best For
Livebuy.tv is ideal for brands looking to monetize video content (live or on-demand) and reach global, multilingual shoppers across websites and social platforms.
4. Shopee Live
Overview & Pricing: Free Plan Limits
Shopee Live is a built-in livestream shopping tool for Shopee’s marketplace. It’s free for sellers already on Shopee, but livestreaming is tied to product listing limits and marketplace commission. There are no charges for streaming itself, but exposure and advanced sales tools favor power sellers or campaigns with higher sales volume.
Key Features
- Platform Integrations: Shopee’s own app/website—no external platform broadcasting.
- Interactive Elements: Live chat, in-stream product demos, timed flash deals, Shopee coin rewards.
- Checkout Options: Viewers check out instantly within the Shopee ecosystem, streamlining purchase from discovery to payment.
Pros & Cons
- Pros: Built-in exposure to Shopee’s massive regional audience, seamless checkout, and integrated incentives.
- Cons: Limited to Shopee users; less brand control or customization compared to standalone solutions; commission applies.
Best For
Best suited for Southeast Asian brands and sellers whose main customer audience is already active in the Shopee marketplace and prefers in-app shopping.
5. Spree
Overview & Pricing: Free Plan Limits
Spree offers a multi-channel, no-code, live commerce platform allowing sellers to broadcast simultaneously to their online shop and social platforms. The free tier supports streaming to both social platforms and the native Spree shop, unified chat, basic analytics, and a limited number of livestream hours or sales per month. Most advanced tools like email automations, loyalty programs, and extended integrations are reserved for paid plans.
Key Features
- Platform Integrations: Facebook, Instagram, Spree branded store, and limited support for other social channels.
- Interactive Elements: Unified live chat, comment capture for automated sales, real-time audience Q&A, and promo overlays.
- Checkout Options: Viewers can check out directly on a Spree online shop or via links sent through social chats, with payment gateways integrated for a seamless experience.
Pros & Cons
- Pros: Easy onboarding, multi-channel reach, efficient unified chat and sales automation, flexible scaling from free to paid.
- Cons: Full analytics, advanced marketing, and full social platform integrations require paid tiers; limited livestream hours on the free plan.
Best For
Spree is ideal for small brands, retailers, and live sellers seeking an accessible way to start and scale live shopping across multiple channels, especially those interested in a unified workflow with upgrade potential as sales grow.
How to Choose the Best Free Tool for Your Brand
Selecting the right free live shopping tool can have a major impact on your brand’s reach, engagement and sales conversions. Here’s a step-by-step approach to evaluate your needs and make the right choice.
1. Define your must have features.
Choose a live shopping tool that supports your target platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or your website). Consider whether you need multistreaming, your expected audience size, and whether the platform offers interactive features, integrated checkout, and detailed analytics to support your goals.
2. Evaluate the Free Plan Limits
Check caps on streaming hours, number of shows per month or order/checkout value. Review which integrations, and engagement tools are included for free, and which require a pay upgrade. This will depend on which platform you decide to use. From here, you can decide whether a paid subscription will be better for your needs.
3. Compare Integration & Ease of Use
Match the available integrations to your current sales channels (i.e Social Media Platform, WooCoomerce, Shopify, and Native Store). Assess the simplicity of onboarding. For beginners, we recommend picking a platform like SPREE with automations to minimise manual work. This lowers the learning curve, allowing you to get started immediately.
4. Futureproof Your Choice
Check whether your selected tool offers a clear upgrade path, which will allow you to scale as your audience grows. Ensure that the premium features align with your future goals for your business. Some features to look out for include: more streaming hours, channel destinations, no watermarks, robust analytics and etc.
Here’s a general checklist guide to help you pick a live shopping tool:
Quick Start Guide: Getting Up & Running with Spree
SPREE is the best free live shopping tool that allows businesses to multistream across various platforms. It is a no-code live shopping platform well-suited for beginners with no technical expertise needed. It’s easy to use, and set up within minutes.
Here is our 4-step guide to help you get started on your SPREE journey today.
Step 1: Create your SPREE shop (no‑code setup).
Sign up for SPREE, and you can easily create your very own store with a custom URL.
Add in your products, and payment methods using simple drop down tools.
Step 2: Connect social channels for live streaming.
Connect your preferred social media channels and e-commerce platforms to SPREE. This is the first step to allow you to multistream across different platforms.
Step 3: Add interactive features—polls, product tags, live chat.
Under the free SPREE plan, you can add in live auto messages, create polls, tag your products in preparation for your first live stream.
Step 4: Launch your first event and track orders in‑stream.
Go live across your selected platforms. Enjoy chatting, interacting and live-selling during your stream.
To multistream across Instagram, web, and more in one go, see our guide: How to Multistream Your Live Shopping Event on Instagram & More
Frequently Asked Questions:
Free vs. Paid Live Shopping Tools: key differences
Free live shopping tools typically offer essential features such as basic live streaming, limited branding options, and standard checkout capabilities.
These are ideal for businesses testing live commerce for the first time. Paid plans, on the other hand, often include advanced analytics, customizable branding, CRM integration, multistreaming capabilities, and priority support. As your business scales, upgrading to a paid plan allows for greater control, deeper insights, and enhanced user experiences.
Transaction Fees on Free Plans: what to expect
Most free live shopping platforms offset the cost of offering no subscription fee by charging a transaction fee on each sale. These fees can range from 2% to 10%, depending on the provider. For example, some platforms offer 0% platform fees but may include payment gateway fees (e.g., Stripe or PayPal). It’s important to review fee structures carefully, as they can impact profit margins over time.
Viewer Limits: understanding plan caps
Free plans often include viewer or session limits to manage server load and encourage upgrades. These caps may range from 50 to 500 concurrent viewers per session, depending on the platform. Exceeding these limits may result in stream interruptions or require an automatic upgrade to a higher tier. Businesses expecting larger audiences should consider paid plans with higher or unlimited viewer capacity.
Integrations: Shopify and other e‑commerce platforms
Many live shopping tools—both free and paid—offer integrations with popular e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce. These integrations streamline product syncing, inventory management, and order fulfillment. Some platforms may reserve full integration capabilities (e.g., real-time stock updates or automated checkout syncing) for paid users, while free tiers may support only manual uploads or basic linking.
