Conclusion first: Camweara (live since June 30, 2021; 5.0 across 58 reviews) is still the strongest live-AR pick for jewelry, watches, and eyewear — but it prices by catalog size ($39/mo covers just 70 products) and requires per-SKU asset prep (an edited image or GLB file each). For clothing and soft accessories, the 2026 default is generative photo try-on, which starts from product photos you already have and prices by usage. The tell: Camweara's own pricing page now bundles generative AI try-on allowances for clothing stores. Storeleads counts about 126 live stores on Camweara, with installs down 0.8% quarter-over-quarter. Every App Store figure below was observed live on the Shopify App Store on 2026-08-10.
| App (launched) | Mechanism | Entry pricing | Reviews · rating | Built for Shopify badge | Categories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camweara (2021) | Live AR overlay + new Gen AI add-on | $39/mo (70 products) | 58 · 5.0 | No | Jewelry, watches, eyewear, clothes, hats, shoes |
| Ello (2026) — ours | Generative photo AI | Free plan · paid from $49/mo | 1 · 5.0 | No | Clothing + accessories (hats, glasses, bags) |
| GenLook (2025) | Generative photo AI | Free plan · paid from |
"Virtual try-on" now means two different machines. A live AR overlay tracks your hand or face through the camera in real time — the right mechanism for rigid, scale-critical products like rings, watches, and glasses, and worth its per-product setup cost there. Generative photo AI renders the product onto a photo the shopper already has — the right mechanism for soft products (clothing, hats, bags), with zero per-SKU prep and compute costs around $0.067 per try-on (Ello internal data). Five of the seven alternatives are photo AI: GenLook (most reviews, badge), Antla (longest-running, badge, covers eyewear and handbags), TryPoint (badge, $0.29 pay-as-you-go), Looksy (cheapest entry, video try-on tier), and Ello (ours — the one covering clothing plus hats, sunglasses, and bags in one widget; only 1 review as of 2026-08-10, so GenLook and Antla beat us on social proof today). The two AR alternatives: mirrAR is the closest like-for-like Camweara swap at 5/mo entry; Banuba is the beauty specialist from $319/mo.
Worked example — catalog-priced vs usage-priced: a 500-SKU boutique doing ~300 try-ons a month pays $200/mo on Camweara (500 products exceeds the $90/mo tier's 300-product cap, forcing the $200/mo tier) versus about $49.99/mo on Antla (its 500-try-on tier) or $97/mo on Ello (its 300-try-on plan) — both tiers observed live 2026-08-10. Same store, 00–150/mo apart — and the gap widens with catalog growth, not usage.
Where AR still wins: rings and watches judged against your own moving hand, and live makeup or hair color. For a jewelry-first store, the best Camweara alternative may be Camweara itself, or mirrAR at a third of the entry price (with 5 reviews to Camweara's 58). The case for switching mechanisms is strongest when a mostly-soft-goods catalog is paying for an AR system built for rigid ones.