Blocky vs SOptim — what each app actually blocks

The 30-second version

Blocky and SOptim both call themselves bot-blocking apps. They aren't doing the same job.

• Blocky blocks visitors based on where they come from: country, IP address, VPN, proxy, and basic spy-bot detection. It can refuse to render the storefront based on email, name, address, or phone. It runs on theme JavaScript — homepage, product page, cart page.
• SOptim blocks visitors based on where they come from too, plus how they behave: mouse-movement variance, keystroke cadence, paste detection, scroll velocity, a 0-100 behavior score. And critically, SOptim blocks inside the Shopify checkout via a Validation Function — the part of the funnel Shopify protects from third-party storefront apps.

If your problem is "shoppers from countries I don't ship to keep visiting" or "I want a clean UI for country and IP rules," Blocky covers that and it's been doing it for five years. If your problem is "card-testers are reaching checkout despite my country block" or "I need order-level fraud rules and dispute evidence," that's a different problem and it needs a different tool.

The feature table

What each app ships today, based on the public App Store listing for Blocky and our own product. Anything we can't verify from a primary source we leave blank rather than guess.

Feature	Blocky	SOptim
Country / region blocking	Yes (Basic+)	Yes
IP address allow/block list (IPv4 + IPv6)	Yes (Advanced+)	Yes
VPN / proxy detection	Yes (Pro)	Yes (Grow+)
TOR detection	—	Yes (Grow+)
iCloud Private Relay allow-list	—	Yes
Country redirect (geolocation)	Yes (Advanced+)	—
Custom block page (branded)	Yes	Yes
Content protection (right-click disable)	Yes (Pro)	—
Storefront conditional block (email / name / address / phone)	Yes (Pro)	—
Visitor analytics (IP, country, browser)	Yes	Yes
Server-side checkout block (Validation Function)	—	Yes
Behavior scoring (mouse, keys, paste, scroll)	—	Yes
Heavy fingerprint hash (canvas + audio + WebGL)	—	Yes
Cross-shop reputation (Defense Network)	—	Yes
Order-level fraud rules (BIN mismatch, disposable email, velocity)	—	Yes (6 templates, Free)
Dispute evidence packets (signed PDF + JSON)	—	Scale+
Lighthouse store audits (LCP, CLS, INP)	—	Yes (Free, unlimited)
Built for Shopify badge	Yes	Yes
Free tier	7-day trial only	Free forever (50 blocks/mo)

Sources: Blocky App Store listing (apps.shopify.com/blocky-simple-country-blocker, 288 reviews, 4.6 stars, launched 2021-04-07, as of 2026-05-22) and SOptim pricing page. Dashes mean the feature isn't documented on the public listing — not that it's impossible to add later.

The architectural gap at checkout

Blocky's listing describes blocking visitors by country, IP, VPN, proxy, and form fields like email or phone. All of that runs from the theme — Shopify's storefront layer. The block fires before the visitor sees a product page, or before a contact form submits.

Shopify's checkout is a different surface. Third-party JavaScript can't run there. Third-party redirects can't fire there. Third-party rate limits don't apply there. This isn't a Blocky limitation — it applies to every storefront-layer app.

Until 2023, that was the end of the story. Then Shopify shipped Functions — server-side WebAssembly modules that run inside Shopify's own infrastructure, with explicit hooks like cart.validations.generate.run that fire during checkout. A Function inspects the cart, the buyer's IP, custom attributes from theme extensions, and shop metafields — and either allows the checkout or refuses it with a message the buyer sees.

SOptim's Validation Function reads our behavior score, our heavy fingerprint hash, our quota state, and the Defense Network reputation lookup. If a session looks like a card-tester — say, behavior score under 30, fingerprint already blocking on three other stores in the last week, ASN matching a known hosting provider — the Function refuses the checkout. The buyer sees a message you control. No abandoned-checkout junk in your funnel.

This is the architectural gap between the two apps. Blocky isn't refusing to do it — it's running at a layer where it can't.

Where Blocky is the better pick

Three real cases where we'd point you at Blocky instead of SOptim, with no caveat:

• You need country-based redirects. SOptim blocks or allows by country, but it doesn't redirect a visitor from store.com to store.com/eu/ based on geo. Blocky does, on the Advanced plan and up.
• You sell digital products and want right-click disabled on images. Blocky's Pro plan includes content protection. SOptim chose not to ship it because it doesn't actually stop a determined scraper, but if your brief from a stakeholder is "disable right-click on the catalog," Blocky ticks that box and SOptim doesn't.
• You want a focused, well-rated country and IP blocker at a low entry price. $9.99/mo gets you unlimited country blocking with a Built for Shopify badge from a developer with 288 reviews and a 4.6 rating since 2021. That's a long, public track record. If your scope ends at country and IP rules and you don't need behavior signals or checkout-time blocking, Blocky Basic is cheaper than SOptim Grow.

Where SOptim is the better pick

Symmetrically, here's where SOptim handles cases Blocky either can't reach or only addresses on its top tier:

• You're seeing failed-card transactions despite Blocky being installed. Card-testing bots are reaching your checkout and the storefront block isn't catching them. This is the Validation Function gap. SOptim's order-rules templates (disposable email, BIN-country mismatch, IP velocity) plus the checkout-time behavior score catch the class of attack that storefront-layer apps architecturally can't.
• You want one app to cover bots and order fraud. Blocky's listing doesn't describe order-level fraud rules — BIN country mismatch, disposable email, large-order-from-new-customer flag, same-IP-multiple-emails velocity. SOptim ships six such templates on the Free tier. If a bad order slips past the storefront, you still get a second chance to catch it.
• You operate multiple Shopify stores. A bot blocked on one SOptim-installed store earns reputation that protects the others, via the Defense Network. No equivalent in Blocky's stack.
• You handle disputes regularly. SOptim's Scale tier auto-generates a signed PDF + JSON evidence packet per blocked checkout — GDPR-safe, timestamped, ready to upload to a Visa or Mastercard dispute. Blocky doesn't ship dispute evidence.
• You want a free site audit alongside fraud defense. SOptim's audit module is unlimited on the Free tier — full Lighthouse Performance, Accessibility, SEO, Best Practices, with PDF download. Bundled because the same theme.js that hosts our behavior signals also reports Core Web Vitals.

Pricing, side by side

Both apps charge in USD, monthly through Shopify's billing system, with annual discounts. Blocky offers a 7-day free trial on all plans (no permanent free tier); SOptim has a free tier without time limit. Snapshot taken 2026-05-22 from each app's public listing.

Tier	Blocky	SOptim
Free	7-day trial on every paid plan, no permanent free tier	50 bot blocks/mo + unlimited audits + 5 countries / 10 IPs + 24h RUM + 6 order-rule templates
Entry paid	$9.99/mo Basic — unlimited country blocker, customizable blocked page, online support	$19/mo Grow — 500 blocks/mo, VPN+iCloud Relay, 5 custom rules, 30d RUM
Mid paid	$12.99/mo Advanced — country + IP (IPv4/IPv6), whitelist, country redirector	$49/mo Scale — unlimited blocks, 50 custom rules, full Defense Network, dispute evidence, Slack+Klaviyo
Top paid	$19.99/mo Pro — adds email/name/address/phone block, AI bot/VPN/proxy, content protection, add-ons block	$99/mo Max — 3 shops, ML auto-tuning, revenue impact, Care tier (2h/mo dev), 4h founder SLA

The meaningful comparison for most stores is Blocky Pro ($19.99) vs SOptim Grow ($19) — similar price point, different scope. Blocky Pro gives you full storefront filtering across country, IP, VPN, content protection, and field-based blocking. SOptim Grow gives you 500 server-side checkout blocks, behavior scoring, iCloud Private Relay handling, and order-level fraud rules. Both apps offer annual billing with a 30% discount on Blocky and matching annual options on SOptim.

Can you run both at once?

Yes. They sit at different layers and don't conflict. We've seen merchants run Blocky for country-blocking + right-click disable + country redirect, and SOptim alongside it for checkout-block + Defense Network + audits. Both apps respect the Shopify Theme Editor; install order doesn't matter.

If you do run both, watch for double-counted blocked sessions in your analytics. Each app reports its own block count; the visitor was only blocked once.

How to switch (or add SOptim)

Install SOptim from the App Store, run through the 4-step onboarding (your industry + your Auto-Pilot mode + theme activation + your first quick-protection country list). Free tier — no credit card, no trial countdown. The audit runs on the homepage and one sample product page; results land in the dashboard within about 90 seconds.

If after a week Blocky's dashboard and our dashboard tell consistent stories, you'll know which gaps each fills for your traffic. Reviews are unanimous on one thing: bot defense looks different in every storefront's logs.

Footnotes

• Blocky app data — name, developer, rating, review count, launch date, feature list, pricing tiers — taken from the public listing at apps.shopify.com/blocky-simple-country-blocker on 2026-05-22. The listing shows 4.6 stars from 288 reviews, Built for Shopify badge, and a launch date of 2021-04-07.
• Blocky's developer is Effective Apps (effectify.io), based in Ashdod, Israel. Support is at effectify.help.
• Pricing reflects monthly USD as displayed on the listing on 2026-05-22. Blocky advertises a 30% discount on annual billing; SOptim's annual discount is shown on our pricing page.
• The reference to Shopify's Validation Function API is the public cart.validations.generate.run hook, documented at shopify.dev. SOptim's Function is open and visible in our extension manifest after install.
• SOptim is independent and is not affiliated with Blocky or Effective Apps. We have not used the Blocky app in production.
• We will update this page when either app ships meaningful changes. Last review: 2026-05-22.