Google Reviews Widget vs Starfish Reviews
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| Feature | Google Reviews Widget v7.2 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.9/5 Visit Details | Starfish Reviews v3.1.31 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.6/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 100,000+ | 100+ |
| Last updated | October 20, 2026 | October 23, 2026 |
| Editions | Rich Showcase for Google Reviews | Starfish Review Generation & Marketing for WordPress · Starfish Reviews Premium ($) |
| Pros | Slider, grid, list and rating layouts; Widget, shortcode and block options; Daily review refresh once an API key is set | Funnels route happy customers to public review sites; Testimonials and feedback collected on your own site; Shortcode and embed options for funnels and testimonials |
| Cons | Daily updates depend on a Google API key; Calls go to third-party hosts such as the theme CDN and an IP check; Support debug and feedback forms send data when used | Review importing, reports and scraping need Premium; Freemius licence and account flow comes with the plugin; Large plugin with many premium-gated screens |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Slider, grid, list and rating layouts, Reviews widget, Reviews block, Scheduled review refresh, Connect to Google Places for reviews, Layout themes loaded from the vendor CDN | Review funnels that route happy customers to review sites, Funnel shortcode for embedding on pages, Testimonial capture and storage on your own site, Private feedback entries from unhappy customers, Custom branding on funnels and collections ($), Scheduled scraping of existing review profiles ($), Import reviews from funnel destinations and display them ($), Basic reports ($), Premium-only feedback screens ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | — | Freemius |
| Other | Google Places API, Google Maps, Rich Plugins theme CDN | Starfish community feed |
| Requires WordPress | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.0.4 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | maps.googleapis.com, places.googleapis.com, app.richplugins.com, ip6.me, cdn.reviewsplugin.com, admin.richplugins.com | starfish.reviews, api.freemius.com, checkout.freemius.com, cdnjs.cloudflare.com |
| Blocks | 1 | — |
| Shortcodes | 1 | 1 |