One snippet, pasted into the product or page template itself — because a live count only changes behaviour when it sits in the same line of sight as the price or the button. Shopify powers well over 4 million live stores, and almost none of those sites want another app just to render a small piece of live data. No app. Shopify renders raw HTML and script tags inside a Custom Liquid block, so there is nothing to install from the App Store.
The free online users counter that stays honest. It counts only the visitors active in a live five-minute window: the number rises the moment someone lands and ticks back down five minutes after they leave, so it never parks at an invented figure. Bots are filtered server-side, so you're showing people. Six themes and a micro size small enough to sit inline beside a price or a signup button — which is where a live count actually changes behaviour. Free forever, no signup.
Shopify lets you customise an unpublished theme, and the editor looks identical either way. If you pasted the snippet, saved, and the live store shows nothing, you almost certainly edited a draft or the duplicate you made as a backup. Online Store → Themes shows which one is under Live — edit that one, or publish the one you edited.
Shopify's rich text editor for pages, articles and product descriptions strips script tags on save without warning you. The Custom Liquid block, the <> Show HTML view, and raw .liquid files in Edit code all pass markup through untouched. If your snippet disappeared the moment you saved, that is the reason.
Shopify does not allow third-party scripts on checkout — that is a platform restriction, not a widget limitation. Everything else is fair game: home, collection, product, cart, blog, pages and the 404. Put the widget in the footer and it covers all of them in one paste.
No app. Shopify renders raw HTML and script tags inside a Custom Liquid block, so there is nothing to install from the App Store. Installing an app for this would mean an extra dependency, an update cycle and a security surface to render one snippet. Paste it into the product or page template itself and you're done.
The product or page template itself — because a live count only changes behaviour when it sits in the same line of sight as the price or the button. Open Online Store → Themes → Customize and select the Product or Default page template. Click Add block inside the main content area and choose Custom Liquid. Paste the snippet, then drag the block to sit directly under the price, the Add to cart button, or wherever it earns its place. Save, then view the live page to confirm.
No. The script tag is async, so it never blocks your page from rendering, and the widget draws itself after your content is already on screen. Shopify serves your storefront from its own CDN and that doesn't change — the snippet is a single async tag, so it loads alongside your theme instead of in front of it. Nothing needs excluding from Shopify's own minification.
Shogun: drag in the HTML/Liquid element and paste there. PageFly: use the HTML/Liquid element. GemPages: use the Liquid element. Shopify's own theme editor: add a Custom Liquid block. Any builder with a raw-HTML or code block will render it, because there's nothing framework-specific in the snippet.