Pricing pages are usually evasive. Four columns, three checkmarks per column, no concrete numbers about when each tier actually starts making sense. This page is the opposite. We will show you exactly what each Viking Watermark plan costs, exactly how many images you can process per month, exactly how many watermark designs you can save, and exactly when you should move up a tier. No marketing dance. The math is short.
One thing first. Viking Watermark pricing is flat. It does not scale with your Shopify plan tier. Whether you are on Shopify Basic, Shopify, Advanced, or Plus, the same plan costs the same money. Most Shopify apps tie pricing to your merchant tier and the math gets ugly fast. We do not.
Quick facts
Viking Watermark has four plans priced by images processed per month, not catalog size or Shopify plan tier: Free ($0, 100 images, 2 designs), Starter ($5, 1,000 images, 5 designs), Growth ($15, 5,000 images, 20 designs), and Pro ($30, 20,000 images, 50 designs). Anti-theft is included on every plan, the free one too, with no image quota. Annual billing runs $50, $150, and $300, a 17 percent saving. 100 images covers roughly 30 products at three photos each, which is why small stores often stay on the free tier for a long time.
The pricing table (just the numbers)
Here is everything in one place. The numbers in the "Images per month" column include watermark applications, badge applications, and rollback operations. The "Watermark designs" column is the number of saved templates you can switch between in your dashboard.
| Plan | $/month | $/year | Images / month | Watermark designs | Anti-theft included |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | n/a | 100 | 2 | Yes |
| Starter | $5 | $50 (17% off) | 1,000 | 5 | Yes |
| Growth | $15 | $150 (17% off) | 5,000 | 20 | Yes |
| Pro | $30 | $300 (17% off) | 20,000 | 50 | Yes |
The two things to notice. First, anti-theft (right-click block, drag-save block, DevTools block) is included on every plan, including free. Most apps in the category lock anti-theft behind a paid tier. We do not. Second, the image quota scales 10x between Free and Starter, then 5x between each paid tier. That is intentional. Most merchants who outgrow Free settle on Starter for a long time before they need more.
The honest version: most stores never pay us. The free tier covers 100 images per month, which is enough for a small catalog forever. That is fine. We would rather have you on the free tier than not at all.
Free tier: what it actually covers
The Free plan is built to be useful, not crippled. 100 images per month is enough for a catalog of about 30 products if you watermark three photos each, applied once. It is enough for a catalog of 100 products if you only watermark hero shots. It is enough for an early store testing whether the feature stack matches the business model.
What you get on Free: bulk watermarking, auto-watermark on new uploads, 2 watermark designs you can switch between, the full badge library (Sale, New, Bestseller, AI Generated disclosure, etc.), full anti-theft (right-click, drag-save, DevTools block), original images stored in Shopify Files, one-click rollback per product or for the whole catalog. What you do not get: more than 100 images processed per month, more than 2 saved designs.
The Free tier is a real product. It will keep your hero photos watermarked, your storefront protected, and your originals safe. If your store stays small, you can run Viking Watermark on Free indefinitely.
Starter at $5: the typical small store fit
Starter is the upgrade most merchants take first, and most stay on for a long time. $5 per month gets you 1,000 images per month and 5 watermark designs. That is enough for a catalog of about 200 to 300 products if you watermark every product image, or a catalog of 1,000 products if you watermark heroes only.
Three honest signals that say it is time to move from Free to Starter.
- 01You hit the cap. You blew through 100 images in your first month and your auto-watermark stopped firing on new uploads (you will see a notice in the dashboard).
- 02You want more designs. Two saved watermark designs is not enough once you run more than one product line. Five (Starter) is.
- 03You changed photographers. A one-time bulk re-watermark of a 200-product catalog is around 600 images. Free will not finish the pass; Starter will.
$5 per month is also the math floor where the app has paid for itself with a single saved competitor takedown notice or one prevented image-scrape redirect. We have not benchmarked the average ROI. Most merchants tell us it is "obvious within the first month" and stop calculating.
Growth at $15: the catalog-builder fit
Growth at $15 per month opens 5,000 images per month and 20 watermark designs. This is the plan that fits stores actively adding products, with multiple product lines (each wanting its own watermark style), and recurring photographer sessions.
The numbers: 5,000 images per month is roughly a 1,000-product catalog watermarked once per quarter (existing products) plus 200 new products per month at three photos each. That is a real growth profile, the kind of pace at which Viking Watermark stops being a setup-and-forget tool and starts being part of the photographer-to-storefront pipeline. 20 watermark designs is enough for major product lines (apparel, accessories, prints, etc.) each having their own design, plus seasonal variations.
The honest indicator: you are running multiple bulk passes per quarter and the Starter cap interrupts. The cost-to-benefit math becomes obvious the first time a 1,000-product bulk re-watermark would have hit the Starter cap.
Pro at $30: when scale shows up
Pro at $30 per month covers 20,000 images per month and 50 watermark designs. This is the plan for stores with several thousand products, frequent new product launches (weekly+), and complex catalog structures (sub-brands, region-specific designs, A/B tests on watermark style).
20,000 images per month is roughly a 5,000-product catalog with three photos each, watermarked once per quarter, plus 500 new products per month. That is a serious store. If you are at that scale, you are probably also running enterprise email tools, a real PIM, and a photography studio on retainer. Pro fits stores at that profile.
50 watermark designs is more than most stores will use. Pro merchants typically use 15 to 25 designs across sub-brands, with the headroom for seasonal campaigns and A/B testing on hero photos. The 50 cap is there so you do not have to think about it.
Annual vs monthly: the 17 percent question
Every paid plan has annual billing for 17 percent off. Starter is $50 per year instead of $60. Growth is $150 instead of $180. Pro is $300 instead of $360. The discount is the same across tiers.
The honest math: take annual if you have already used the app for 60 days and the plan has clearly paid off (you have rolled back a watermark design, you have caught a stolen image attribution, your storefront has not slowed down). Take monthly if you are still evaluating. The 17 percent savings is real, but the bigger value of annual is one less recurring decision per year, not the dollar amount.
That is the whole pricing model. Four tiers, flat per-image, anti-theft included on every plan, annual saves 17 percent. Install free here. If you outgrow it, the upgrade is one click in the dashboard.
For broader context on what each of the protection layers actually does and where the limits sit, our studio image protection guide on Aegis Tech Lab covers the four layers in detail.
Frequently asked questions
Is Viking Watermark really free, or is the Free tier a trap?
It is genuinely free. 100 images per month covers a small catalog indefinitely. Anti-theft is included. Originals are stored. Rollback works. There is no trial period that converts to paid, no credit card on file, no surprise charge. Most stores using Viking Watermark are on the Free tier and stay there.
Does Viking Watermark pricing scale with my Shopify plan?
No. Pricing is flat, independent of whether you are on Shopify Basic, Shopify, Advanced, or Plus. The same plan costs the same money regardless of merchant tier. Most Shopify apps tie pricing to your plan tier; we do not.
What counts as an image in the monthly quota?
Watermark applications (bulk or auto), badge applications, and rollback operations all count toward the monthly image quota. If you watermark a product image and later roll back, that is 2 quota units used. The quota resets monthly.
What happens if I exceed my plan's image limit?
Bulk apply pauses until the next month, or until you upgrade. Auto-watermark also pauses. Anti-theft (right-click block, drag-save block, DevTools block) does not pause and stays active regardless of image quota. You see a notice in the dashboard with the option to upgrade.
Can I downgrade after upgrading?
Yes, any time. The new tier applies immediately. If you go from Pro to Starter, your existing watermark designs above 5 stay saved but are read-only until you delete some.
Is there a usage-based or per-image pricing tier?
No. The four tiers are flat monthly or annual. We considered usage-based but rejected it because most merchants want a predictable monthly cost. If you have a strong case for usage-based, email us.
What is the refund policy?
Shopify handles billing. Refund requests within 14 days of charge are typically approved, but the policy is Shopify's, not ours. Email us if you need help with a refund and we will support it.