If you're searching for "Fakespot alternative" or "Fakespot replacement," you've probably already discovered the bad news: Fakespot shut down on July 1, 2025.

After Mozilla acquired Fakespot in 2023, they integrated it into Firefox to help users navigate fake reviews using AI. But by May 2025, Mozilla announced they were discontinuing Fakespot (along with Pocket) to refocus entirely on Firefox. The reason? The idea resonated, but it didn't fit a model Mozilla could sustain.

This left millions of users—particularly Firefox users who relied on Fakespot's built-in review checker—without a tool they trusted.

I built Review Radar for Amazon to fill that gap. This post explains what Fakespot did well, why it couldn't survive, and how Review Radar picks up where it left off.

What Was Fakespot?

Fakespot was a browser extension and website that analyzed product reviews on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and other platforms. It used machine learning to detect fake reviews, assigning each product a letter grade from A (trustworthy) to F (mostly fake reviews).

What Fakespot Did Well

  • Simple to use - Install extension, visit product page, see grade
  • Free for everyone - No paywalls, no subscriptions
  • Privacy-focused - Mozilla's acquisition brought strict data handling policies
  • Platform coverage - Worked on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Best Buy, Shopify

Why Fakespot Shut Down

According to industry analysis and Mozilla's own statements, Fakespot's infrastructure costs were unsustainable:

  • Pre-LLM technology - Fakespot was built using traditional machine learning models (not modern LLMs), which required expensive dedicated servers and constant retraining
  • No revenue model - Being completely free meant no way to cover infrastructure costs
  • High traffic volume - 10+ million users generating millions of API requests daily
  • Mozilla's priorities - Mozilla needed to focus resources on core products like Firefox

The Key Lesson: Free Isn't Always Sustainable

Fakespot's shutdown teaches us that "free forever" tools can disappear overnight when the organization behind them can't justify the costs. This is why Review Radar uses a sustainable freemium model with a generous free tier and paid options for power users.

How Review Radar Is Different

Review Radar was built from the ground up to address the problems that killed Fakespot while improving on what users actually needed.

1. Per-Review Analysis (Not Just Product Grades)

Fakespot gave you a single letter grade for the entire product. If a product got a "C," you didn't know which reviews to trust and which to ignore.

Review Radar shows you a trust indicator for every individual review with colour-coded verdicts:

  • Green - Likely genuine
  • Yellow - Uncertain (proceed with caution)
  • Red - Suspicious (signs of manipulation)

Hover over any indicator to see exactly why we flagged it: incentivised language, promotional tone, suspicious timing patterns, reviewer history, etc.

2. Modern AI = Lower Costs, Better Analysis

Fakespot's pre-LLM machine learning models were expensive to maintain. Review Radar uses modern AI (DeepSeek) that costs approximately $0.00014 per review—roughly 100x cheaper than running custom ML infrastructure.

This means:

  • We can offer a generous free tier (150 scans per month) without burning money
  • Paid tiers are affordable (£15/year for Pro, £45/year for unlimited)
  • We're not going anywhere—this model is sustainable long-term

3. All Amazon Marketplaces with Native Language Analysis

Fakespot only supported 5 Amazon marketplaces. Review Radar works on all 20+ Amazon marketplaces worldwide including:

  • Amazon US, UK, Canada
  • Amazon Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Turkey
  • Amazon Japan, India, Australia, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt

And we don't just translate reviews—our AI analyzes them in their native language (13+ languages supported including English, German, French, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, Turkish, Arabic, and Hindi).

4. Privacy-First by Design

Like Fakespot, we take privacy seriously:

  • Review text is analyzed and immediately discarded - never stored
  • No browsing tracking - we don't know what sites you visit
  • No purchase tracking - we don't see what you buy
  • Anonymised pattern detection - we store hashed reviewer IDs (one-way cryptographic hashes) to detect coordinated fake review campaigns, but these cannot be reversed to identify anyone

You can verify this yourself - our extension code is inspectable, and our privacy policy explains exactly what data we collect and why.

Comparison Table

Feature Fakespot (RIP) Review Radar
Status Shut down July 2025 ✓ Active & maintained
Analysis level Product-level letter grades ✓ Per-review trust indicators
Explanation Single grade, no details ✓ Shows exactly why each review was flagged
Amazon marketplaces 5 marketplaces ✓ All 20+ marketplaces worldwide
Language support English only ✓ 13+ languages with native analysis
Technology Pre-LLM machine learning ✓ Modern AI (cost-effective)
Pricing Free (unsustainable) ✓ Free tier + affordable paid options
Privacy ✓ Privacy-focused ✓ Privacy-first (review text discarded)
Browser support Firefox, Chrome (before shutdown) ✓ Chrome, Firefox, Edge (via Chrome store)

What About Other Fakespot Alternatives?

Several Fakespot alternatives emerged. For more on choosing the right tool, see our blog for comparisons and tips after the shutdown. Here's how Review Radar compares:

ReviewMeta

Format: Web-only (no browser extension)
Issue: Requires copying product URLs to a separate website - no inline integration
Review Radar advantage: Works directly on Amazon product pages

Savino

Format: Chrome extension
Monetization: Affiliate links (earns commission when you buy)
Issue: Potential conflict of interest—they make money when you purchase
Review Radar advantage: No affiliate conflicts; subscription model means we're aligned with YOU, not merchants

Null Fake

Format: Open source extension
Issue: US Amazon only
Review Radar advantage: All 20+ Amazon marketplaces with multilingual analysis

Pricing: Why Not Free Like Fakespot?

Fakespot's completely free model is exactly why it shut down. Running AI-powered review analysis at scale costs money—and without revenue, sustainability is impossible.

Review Radar uses a freemium model:

  • Free tier: 150 scans per month (try before you buy)
  • Pro: 1,000 scans/month for £15/year
  • Power User: Unlimited scans for £45/year

Our pricing covers infrastructure costs while staying affordable. And because we use modern AI (not expensive pre-LLM models), we can keep prices low without compromising quality.

Getting Started with Review Radar

If you're a former Fakespot user looking for a replacement:

  1. Install Review Radar from the Firefox Add-ons or Chrome Web Store
  2. Visit any Amazon product page
  3. Scroll to reviews—they're automatically analyzed
  4. Look for colour-coded trust indicators next to each review
  5. Hover over any indicator to see why we flagged it

Start with the free tier (150 scans/month) to see if Review Radar fits your needs. No credit card required.

The Bottom Line

Fakespot did important work helping millions of people avoid fake reviews. Its shutdown created a gap in the market—but also an opportunity to build something better.

Review Radar doesn't just replicate what Fakespot did. It improves on it:

  • Per-review analysis instead of vague product grades
  • Detailed explanations so you understand exactly what's suspicious
  • All Amazon marketplaces with native language support
  • Sustainable pricing so we'll still be here next year (and the year after that)
  • Privacy-first architecture with review text immediately discarded

If you miss Fakespot, give Review Radar a try. We built it specifically for former Fakespot users who need a trustworthy, sustainable alternative.

Install Review Radar for Firefox →

Install Review Radar for Chrome →

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