Quick answer
Yes — Star Stack is a one-time-purchase alternative to Trustpilot Business. It costs $29 once, while Trustpilot Business runs $199+/mo — about $2,388 per year, every year. Self-hosted widget aggregating Google, Facebook and CSV reviews with moderation and a star badge. It is for people who want the job done on their own hardware without a renewal date — not for teams that live inside Trustpilot Business's ecosystem.
The verdict
Switch to Star Stack if you are an individual or small team paying Trustpilot Business $199+/mo for work your own machine can do. Costs less than a single month of Trustpilot Business, then displays your stars for free.
Stay with Trustpilot Business if your workflow depends on its integrations, you need enterprise features (SSO, admin controls, SLAs), or your team is large enough that per-seat collaboration tooling is worth the bill. Star Stack does not try to replicate those.
Head to head
| Star Stack | Trustpilot Business | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | $199+/mo |
| Cost after 1 year | $29 | $2,388+ |
| Show your existing reviews on your site | Yes | Yes |
| Your data, your server | Yes | No |
| Moderation / curation | Yes, full control | Limited |
| Widget branding | Yours | Theirs |
| Review invitations / SEO snippet network | No | Yes |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
| 5-year cost | $29 | $11,940 |
Where Trustpilot Business still wins
- Ecosystem and integrations. Established tools accumulate years of third-party integrations, templates and add-ons. If your workflow is wired into Trustpilot Business's ecosystem, switching means rebuilding that plumbing — a real cost.
- Team and enterprise features. Shared workspaces, granular permissions, SSO, audit logs and a vendor to call when something breaks — that is what the higher subscription tiers actually buy, and a pay-once app does not come with it.
- Familiarity and hiring. Trustpilot Business is the name people already know. Onboarding a team onto a tool nobody has used before takes time the subscription never charges for.
Where Star Stack wins
- Price, permanently. $29 once versus $2,388/yr for as long as you use it. There is no renewal, no seat count and no tier gate.
- Multiple sources. Google Business Profile, Facebook Page reviews, and manual or CSV import for everything else.
- BYO API keys. You plug in your own free-tier Google and Facebook credentials, so there is no proxy service to bill you monthly.
- Moderation first. Synced and imported reviews arrive hidden — approve, hide or feature from the dashboard, so nothing goes public without your click.
The math
Costs less than a single month of Trustpilot Business, then displays your stars for free.
- After 1 year: Star Stack has cost you $29 total — Trustpilot Business has cost $2,388.
- After 3 years: Star Stack is still $29 — the subscription is at $7,164.
- After 5 years: Star Stack is still $29 — the subscription is at $11,940.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — the source is MIT, forever, at github.com/bensblueprints/review-aggregator-widget-mvp. The $29 buys a packaged Windows installer with updates; building from source is free.
Where does my review data live?
On your server. Star Stack is one Node process and one SQLite file, and because you bring your own free-tier API keys there is no proxy service to bill you monthly.
Does it replace Trustpilot?
No. Trustpilot sells a review platform with invitations, TrustBoxes and an SEO snippet network. If you just need the five stars you already earned displayed on your homepage, that is Star Stack.
Try Star Stack — $29, one time
Or get Star Stack plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.