Testimonials · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode ShowTrust?

YES· one-shottable

A testimonial wall for your own site is a hosted form, an approval queue and a script tag that draws cards, and an agent builds it in one sitting on SQLite with the videos on your disk. ShowTrust's own pitch is that an agent can install it for you, and it costs $4.99, so the honest question is why build at all: at that price a build saves nothing. Build only if you want the data on your own server or no third-party script on the page. What you give up is hosting and polish: browser video recording that works on any phone, imports from X, the App Store and pasted reviews, and a widget that behaves inside page builders.

$4.99/moprice

$60you'd save a year

one sittingbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeAn afternoon, plus time to put it online

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
A public addressThe form and the widget script must be reachable from the web: a tunnel or a small VPS with HTTPS.
A site that can take a script tagAny page where you can paste one line of HTML.

Before you buildShowTrust Free already has unlimited testimonials and five layouts, and Pro is $4.99. Try it first: a build mainly buys control over where the data lives.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a testimonial collector and wall of love to replace ShowTrust. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Hono server (`@hono/node-server`) with server-rendered pages (`hono/jsx`).
  `npm start` serves http://localhost:4710: dashboard at /admin, collection page at /c/<slug>, JSON at /api/walls/<slug>.json.
- Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/wall.db (projects, testimonials with status pending, approved or pinned, tags,
  source). Uploads go to ./data/uploads/ under random file names. Escape every submitted string wherever it is rendered.
- Collection page: name, role, 1-5 stars, text, an optional photo (JPEG or PNG, 2 MB) and an optional video,
  either recorded in the browser (`MediaRecorder`, 5-second countdown, retake, 3-minute cap, WebM or MP4
  whatever the browser makes) or uploaded (MP4, WebM or MOV, 100 MB). Add a consent checkbox, a honeypot field and
  `hono-rate-limiter` at 5 submissions per IP per hour.
- Dashboard: one password in .env (signed cookie) to approve, pin, reject, edit and tag; CSV import with column
  mapping (name, text, rating, date) and a CSV export of the current filter.
- Widget: /widget.js reads data-project, data-layout (grid, masonry, marquee, single or list) and data-max from its
  own script tag, fetches the JSON and draws the cards inside a Shadow DOM. Keep the built file under 8 KB gzipped
  and print its size from `npm run build`. The JSON endpoint answers only origins listed in ALLOWED_ORIGINS (.env).
- Tests (Vitest): a CSV round trip keeps quotes and commas, a pending testimonial never appears in the JSON, and
  an upload with the wrong type is refused.
- Single owner. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first. Outbound calls: none.
- Out of scope: imports from X, App Store or review sites, AI tagging, payments, several projects with billing.
- README: exposing the server through a tunnel or a VPS with HTTPS (browser recording needs HTTPS or localhost),
  the script tag to paste, where ./data lives for backups, and a warning that phone videos run tens of MB each.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

Share on X

Max MiskowSponsoredAI agents, automations and MVPs, built for your company.Visit site ›

Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own ShowTrust.

Add a ShowTrust importer to the testimonial wall in this folder. Requirements:

- A command `npm run import-showtrust -- export.csv` that reads a ShowTrust CSV export (columns: author, email, text, rating, status, video and photo links, tags, source, permission).
- Map status to pending, approved or pinned, and keep tags and the permission flag; print a summary of new, duplicate and skipped rows before writing anything.
- Download video and photo links into ./data/uploads/ under random names, with a size cap and a 30-second timeout per file; list the ones that failed.
- Running it twice must not create duplicates (match on author plus text).
- Update the README with the export steps from the ShowTrust dashboard.

Add video processing to the testimonial wall in this folder. Requirements:

- After a video upload, run ffmpeg in a queue to make a JPEG poster at 1 second and an H.264 MP4 capped at 720p; keep the original until the new file passes an ffprobe check.
- Show processing status in the dashboard and use the poster in the widget until the video is clicked.
- Delete originals older than 7 days only when the dashboard setting allows it.
- Fail safely if ffmpeg is missing and say so in the dashboard.
- Update the README.

Add invitations to the testimonial wall in this folder. Requirements:

- Paste up to 100 names and emails, or upload a CSV; each person gets a unique link /c/<slug>?i=<token> with a random 32-byte token stored hashed.
- Send mail through nodemailer SMTP (settings in .env), 20 a minute at most, with one reminder after 5 days to people who have not answered.
- A submitted form marks the invitation as used and prefills the name and email, locked.
- Unsubscribe link in every mail; never mail the same address twice about the same project.
- Update the README.

What you lose

Hosted video storage and a recorder that works in any phone browser
Imports from X posts, App Store reviews and pasted review text
Five ready-made layouts and a lazy-loaded widget script of about 5 KB
A hosted collection page at showtrust.to/your-name that you do not have to run
The REST API and the agent skill that installs the widget for you

Why people still pay

At $4.99 the plan is a rounding error next to an afternoon of building, and the free tier already has no testimonial cap. Founders pay for the parts that are dull to own: video recording that survives phone browsers, a widget that stays small, and a place to collect quotes without hosting anything. The product is new and run by one person on the side, so the risk people take on is continuity, not price.

Moatexecution polish

Do the math

ShowTrust or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time3h ×$/h

ShowTrust, 1 yr$60

Your own copy, 1 yr$44running + build session

You keep$16pays for itself in 4 months

Estimate · Runs on a free tunnel or a $5 VPS, which already costs about what Pro does; video uploads are what grow. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving ShowTrust

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of ShowTrust

1Open your project's testimonials list, filter by status, tag or type if you want a subset, and click Export: you get a CSV of the testimonials currently shown.
2The CSV has author, email, text, rating, status, links to videos and photos, tags, source and permission. The videos and photos are links, so download the files yourself.
3Widget layout and styling settings, and the hosted collection page design, have no export in what we read: note or screenshot them.

2 · Cancel ShowTrust

1Open Account Settings > Billing: it shows your plan, billing period and project slots.
2Choose Manage Billing, which opens Stripe's portal for payment methods, invoices and cancellation.
3A whole project can be removed with Delete a project in its settings.
4Account deletion and refunds are not covered in the docs we read: email support@showtrust.to.

Export before you cancel: the CSV follows your current filters, so clear them for a full copy.
The docs do not say what happens to video testimonials when Pro ends, so download the video files first.
The terms say the service is free during early access and promise notice before charges begin: check Billing to see whether a paid plan is actually active on your account.
Swap the widget snippet on your site for its replacement before you delete the project; the script stops drawing cards once the wall is gone.

Checked 2026-10-19 against ShowTrust's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

FamewallFreeHosted wall of love; the free plan keeps 10 testimonials, one published wall and one collection page, with paid plans from $12 a month.they host it
WebVisit ↗SenjaFreeHosted testimonial tool; the free plan keeps 15 testimonials with unlimited widgets and walls, and extra ones stay hidden until you upgrade.they host it
WebVisit ↗testimonials (Rails engine)Open sourceMIT-licensed Rails engine with a star-prompt widget, text and in-browser video, a public collection page and a triage dashboard. It is a gem for an existing Rails app, and the display side is yours to write.★ 16 · active Oct 2026 · self-host, real ops
WebVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to ShowTrust ›

The numbers

ShowTrust pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Free	$0	$0	One project, unlimited testimonials, grid, masonry, marquee, single and list layouts, a hosted collection page, CSV import and export.
Pro	$4.99	$4.17	Video testimonials with no cap on their number, recorded in the browser or uploaded, up to 5 minutes each; removes the ShowTrust credit; adds one more project per slot.

Free tier: One project, and video testimonials are Pro only.
Billing: $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year per project slot, with payment method, invoices and cancellation in Stripe's billing portal. The terms still say the service is currently free during early access and promise notice before charges start, so confirm that Pro is billable on your account.
Hidden costs: Pro is sold per project slot, so a second site means a second slot. We found no usage fees on the pages we read.
Source: showtrust.to

Also on the list

Senja$29/mo · TestimonialsYES

GetWaitlist$15/mo · WaitlistsYES

Feedspace$29/mo · TestimonialsYES

Questions

ShowTrust, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

Free covers one project, unlimited testimonials and all five layouts; the docs mention a small ShowTrust credit under the wall that Pro removes.

Yes. An AI coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor can build a usable personal version in one session with the prompt on this page, running on your own machine.

About $4.99 a month on the Pro plan, $59.88 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Hosted video storage and a recorder that works in any phone browser; Imports from X posts, App Store reviews and pasted review text; Five ready-made layouts and a lazy-loaded widget script of about 5 KB; A hosted collection page at showtrust.to/your-name that you do not have to run; The REST API and the agent skill that installs the widget for you. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.