The short version.
Both keep a record of changes to a Shopify store. They differ in what they see, how long they keep it, how a person or app is named, and what you can do afterwards. The table puts each side by side, from the listing.
This page describes Shopwatch from its own listing, read on 2026-10-14, and links each fact to the page it came from. Its developer is The Beyond Group, and the listing gives 2026-06-09 as its launch date. Shopwatch may have changed since, so check it. Shopwatch is another company's product and Actorly is not affiliated with it. We make Actorly, so weigh our entry accordingly.
Side by side.
| Topic | Shopwatch | Actorly |
|---|---|---|
| The job | An automatic change log, searchable inside the Shopify admin, with a timeline for each resource. listing | A searchable record of what changed in your store, with the old and new value. |
| What it keeps | 33 resource types, from themes to markets, with the exact values before and after; its listing says never orders or customers. listing | The changes it sees across 25 parts of a store, from the day it is installed. Not a copy of the store. |
| Restore | Not stated. listing | One field at a time, for 15 named fields, after you confirm the exact value, checked afterwards. No bulk restore, no whole-store restore, no restore to a date. |
| Who made a change | Not stated. listing | Product changes only, when Shopify reports it, beside Likely or Possible, and Unknown where Shopify records no one. |
| History kept | Two years of logs, listed on both plans. listing | Three months on Watch. Unlimited while on Restore. |
| Price and trial | $49 or $89 a month, plus $1 per 1,000 log entries after 15,000 in a month; its higher plan adds MCP server access. No trial is stated for this app. listing | Watch is $0, with no clock. Restore is $29 a month or $240 a year. Billed by Shopify, never per change. No trial. |
A cell that says Not stated means Shopwatch's page does not say, not that the thing is missing. We make Actorly, so weigh our entry accordingly.
Which to pick.
- You want a timeline for each resource across themes, discounts, markets, metaobjects and navigation.
- You want a Slack digest of the changes you care about.
- You want to connect Claude or ChatGPT over MCP and ask what changed.
- You want two years of log.
- You want to see what changed, when, and from what to what, without a copy of the store behind it.
- You want who made a product change shown only when Shopify reports it, beside how sure Actorly is, with Unknown shown rather than a guess.
- You want to put one field back and have Actorly check that it took.
- You want your history free to see.
They can sit side by side: each keeps its own record.
What Actorly will not do.
- It does not copy or restore a whole store.
- It does not restore themes or customers, and it never changes an order.
- It does not bring back a deleted product: deleted items are kept and shown, not recreated.
- The record starts the day Actorly is installed. It cannot show what your store looked like before that.
Shopwatch source.
- Shopwatch: Store Change Log, read on 2026-10-14
Questions.
Is Actorly an alternative to Shopwatch?
They overlap: both keep a record of changes to a store. Shopwatch describes itself as the automatic change log for your store, with every edit captured as it happens. Actorly's own list of what it records, and what it cannot, is on the Coverage page. Which fits depends on the changes you need to see.
Can I use Actorly and Shopwatch together?
They are separate, and Actorly keeps its own record from the day it is installed, whatever else is on the store. What Shopwatch does on its own side is for its listing to say.
Does Actorly show who made a change?
Only for product changes, only when Shopify reports it, and always with how sure Actorly is. Where Shopify records no one, the answer is Unknown, and Unknown is permanent.
What does Actorly cost?
Actorly Watch costs $0 and keeps three months of change history and one restore a month. Actorly Restore is $29 a month or $240 a year. Shopify bills it, never per change. There is no trial.
Is Actorly affiliated with Shopwatch?
No. Shopwatch is another company's product, described here from its own listing as read on 2026-10-14. It may have changed since, so check it.