Tolstoy Review: Features, Pricing, & Alternatives

Tolstoy is an interactive video builder and platform for companies. It allows businesses to embed shopping and other interactive videos on a website, landing page, or blog.

You can also share your Tolstoy videos in emails, texts, or on social media. Videos can be used for ecommerce, lead qualification, and hiring.

Tolstoy makes video marketing simple. Create engaging, interactive shopping videos in minutes with this intuitive software. Read on to find out everything you need to know.

SMB Guide’s Verdict for Tolstoy

Based on our analysis, I’m giving Tolstoy an overall score of 8.5 out of 10.

Tolstoy is an AI-driven video manipulation tool that allows you to turn videos you create or collect into interactive presentations.

You can use it for various purposes, to link directly to a shopping app for purchases, quiz users, or offer links that branch out to informational or shopping pages.

Factor	Rating (out of 10)
Pricing & Plans	7.5
Video Quality and Presentation	9
Ease of Capturing and Uploading	9
Performance Analytics and Tracking	9.5
Accessibility and Responsiveness	9
User Interface and User Experience	8
Integrations and Compatibility	8.5
Customer Support	7.5
SMB Guide Rating	8.5

In this Tolstoy review, I’ve followed SMB Guide’s detailed criteria for evaluating video commerce platform.

Pricing & Plans

Tolstoy offers a pricing plan to fit every budget, plus a free 14-day trial for every level.

Free forever

With the free plan, you can create unlimited videos for your Shop app, but they have limited features. Free videos do not include a shopping button, and you don’t get many customization or analytics options.

Price

• $0 forever

Features

• Be featured on Shop app home video feed 
• Shop Videos – shoppable videos on your Shop app listing
• Share in emails/SMS or via socials
• Sync, upload, or import from anywhere
• Create interactive videos
• Create video quizzes
• Connect to your platforms, social and tools

Who it’s for: Tolstoy’s Free is great for small businesses. It won’t provide all the features of a paid plan, but you’ll draw some attention to your shop and your product.

Pro

The Pro plan offers additional features and flexibility for an affordable price. With this plan, you’ll get extensive customization, white labeling, and other features.

Price

• $19/month/5,000 views
  • Add additional views for $10/10,000 views

Features

Everything in shop videos, plus:

• Publish videos anywhere on your website
• Publish & host unlimited videos
• Video search
• Personalized video feed (‘For You’) based on AI recommendations
• Custom branding
• Advanced analytics, customer journeys, and notifications

Who it’s for: Tolstoy’s pro plan is a great option for a small business on a budget. It lacks many of the advanced features available in higher-priced plans, but it’s an effective way to boost engagement and sales.

Business

The Business plan offers more features, more views, longer videos, and VIP training and support. 

Price

• $299/month/5000 views
  • Add additional views at $5/1,000 views

Features

Everything in pro, plus:

• Connect multiple stores
• White Labeling
• Personalized onboarding
• VIP support
• Off site videos custom domains

Who it’s for: Small to medium businesses with a lot of traffic – up to 50K views.

Enterprise

The Enterprise plan is custom-designed for larger businesses with a lot of web traffic. Views are unlimited, and you get some additional perks and features.

Price

• Custom/Unlimited views

Features

Everything in business, plus:

• 30-Day free trial
• Fixed price
• Custom analytics
• Dedicated success manager
• Periodic strategy and performance analysis

Who it’s for: For medium to large businesses, this plan offers priority training, custom analytics and strategy and performance analysis.

Video Quality and Presentation

While you can record video directly by choosing “Record Video” or “Record Screen” as you create your Tolstoy, you also have additional options for sourcing the videos to include in your presentation: 

• Upload a pre-recorded file in any format
• Link to a TokTok video
• Import an Instagram video to Tolstoy
• Upload from your video library, a selection of videos you have already uploaded. This will be empty when you start.  
• Upload from Tolstoy’s stock video or in-house video creation library.

Tolstoy recommends using videos recorded in Mp4 format for compatibility with Shopify and other apps.

Ease of Capture and Uploading

To create your first video, you’ll need to designate the sources of your content.

The last choice at the bottom of the page is “Record Video,” and from there you can choose video or screen.

For my first Tolstoy experiment, I chose a video we made while driving. Selection and upload were fast and easy. The video was uploaded and ready in 41 seconds.

With the video in my personal library, I went to the home page to get started. There, I had a couple of choices, Product Page Stories and Homepage Spotlight. I chose Homepage Spotlight.

On the next screen, I am invited to start creating.

The next choice is where it will be shared. Since this is simply an experiment, I chose Google Drive.

Google offers the usual cautions. I used an empty account created for this purpose to avoid any potential exposure.

After choosing a folder, Tolstoy went to the source I designated, my library of one video. At this stage, you can add additional videos or other content.

Next is a review screen, followed by a congratulations screen. This was confusing. Nothing about the video has changed and there are no instructions about what to do next.

You’re on your own. At the top, there’s a tab labeled “Design,” and that takes me to a screen with customization options.

Without a premium account and a Shop or Shopify account, this is all the information I can test. Shopping information is drawn directly from your product page or from an uploaded csv file.

The next steps are from the knowledge base.

Importing a csv file looks fairly simple. You’ll need to upload your file to Google Drive in csv format, and paste a link to the document in the “import from csv” field.

Bottom line: Your shopping structure and products need to be detailed and established before creating a video, but it all looks straightforward after some basic training and practice.

The knowledge base and process are not intuitive. This program is going to be challenging for beginners but well worth the effort to learn.

Once mastered, it easily creates eye-catching interactive videos or carousels for shopping or engagement.

Performance Analytics and Tracking

With all paid plans, you get plenty of analytics options:

• Conversions dashboard
• Views and engagement dashboard
• Onsite performance dashboard
• Video performance analytics
• Step-by-step viewer journeys

With the Enterprise, custom analytics are also included.

Accessibility and Responsiveness

Tolstoy is responsive and accessible in any browser or mobile device. When you set up your video you can choose a widget for your website or a format to fit various mediums, like Instagram stories or TikTok.

User Interface and User Experience

The interface is not intuitive and requires training to master the features. Uploading videos was simple enough, but adding shopping features, branding, or interactive elements was not guided and not obvious.

Integrations and Compatibility

Tolstoy integrates with most popular ecommerce solutions, WordPress websites, CMS, and social media.

Tolstoy easily integrates with more than 100 apps, including:

• Aligned
• Bigcommerce
• Billo app – Find a Creator
• D-ID — Create avatar from your picture
• Freshsales by Zapier
• Google Sheet by Zapier
• Gorgias
• Greenhouse
• HubSpot
• Intercom
• Klaviyo by Zapier
• Linkedin
• MailChimp by Zapier
• Make
• Monday.com
• Omnisend by Zapier
• Outreach
• Salesforce by Zapier
• Salesloft
• Shopify
• Slack by Zapier
• Synthesia
• Wix
• WordPress
• Zoorix

In addition, developers can use Tolstoy’s API to create additional features and functions.

Customer Support

Many Tolstoy customers report great customer service. Help is available via online chat and social media channels.

The Business plan offers priority support, and the Enterprise plan comes with a dedicated customer success manager and personalized onboarding.

Tolstoy — Unique Features

Tolstoy’s AI-powered recommendation engine that shows each customer a video tailored to their own preferences is their most standout feature.

Available with all plans, including the free version, AI features include the recommendation engine plus suggested videos for products, assisted video search, and AI co-pilot.

What the Experts Say About Tolstoy

Tolstoy had the following reviews:

• Shopify rating: 5/5 (160+ reviews)
• G2 rating: 4.7/5 (15+ reviews)
• Shopify App Store rating: 5/5 (170+ reviews)

Loving this app so far, it’s been great to get some videos up on my website and really showcase our products. One of the best parts about this app is the support. Niezl was so helpful in getting this set up for me and has been super responsive. I’m looking forward to checking out the analytics and seeing how this improves our store and our customers shopping experience.

Shopify user – Verified Shopify review

The Team at Tolstoy have been amazing. Quickly fixing an issue with our out of stock feature. Communication was excellent with Niezl, was the best experience from any app we work with! Would definitely recommend this app, easy to set up, create carousels and user friendly + great customer service if you run into any hiccups!

Shopify user – Verified Shopify review

Tolstoy Alternatives

Not sure Tolstoy is the right video app for you? Here are a few alternatives to check out.

VideoPeel

VideoPeel is a comprehensive video survey solution designed for organizations looking to collect user-generated content at scale. It has no free option, and plans start at $4.99 per month and include a full range of tools for video capture and management. 

This platform is ideal for larger enterprises or those that want significant video input, as it is scalable and has comprehensive functionality to suit demanding requirements.

Give VideoPeel a try for free today!

VideoAsk

VideoAsk’s interactive video discussions transform consumer relationships, and they start at $24 per month. It also includes a basic free plan, and is ideal for firms that prioritize interaction and adds a personal touch to consumer conversations. 

VideoAsk stands out as a scalable option for businesses looking to improve customer interactions and encourage meaningful connection with their target audience.

Sign up for VideoAsk for free today

Bonjoro

Bonjoro focuses on improving customer engagement through video messages and testimonials. Like VideoAsk, Bonjoro integrates with CRMs, calendars, and sales platforms. It also allows users to create custom videos to help establish customer connections.

Like VideoAsk, Bonjoro offers a forever-free plan. The paid plan starts at $39 monthly. It makes Bonjoro suitable for marketers looking to use personalized videos for outreach and sales pitches.

Start your free trial of Bonjoro

Getting Started with Tolstoy

Tolstoy’s paid plans can be pricey for a small business, but you can start with the free trial to find out if it’s the right fit for your needs.

Few shoppable video apps on the market compare, and if you’re looking to spice up your sales with personal, interactive shopping videos, Tolstoy might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Start with a free trial today!

FAQs