Knockoff
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| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2026 |
| Product Type | Browser extension |
| In Production | Yes |
| Official Website | https://knockoff.co/ |
Knockoff is a browser extension created by Josh Pigford in July 2026. News outlets such as CNET[1] and 404Media[2] praised it for its local operation and lack of telemetry servers.
Consumer-impact summary
[edit | edit source]
User freedom
[edit | edit source]User privacy
[edit | edit source]-
Privacy policy (July 22, 2026)
Business model
[edit | edit source]The browser receives profit from advertisers that get access to telemetry data from the extension users, such as visitors per month, Amazon clicks, and click rate from item categories.[3]
Market control
[edit | edit source]According to an interview with CNET, the extension is built off of other open source extensions such as AmazonBrandFilter and Amazon Brand Detector.[1] As of July 15, 2026, over 100,000 browsers use this extension.[4]
Incidents
[edit | edit source]This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Knockoff category.
Revocation of open-source status (July 2026)
[edit | edit source]When the browser extension released, it was released under an MIT functional source 1.1 license.[5]
With version 0.9.0 released on July 16, 2026, the browser extension started to send back data automatically to servers despite what was said in recent interviews.[6] The privacy policy was updated on July 19 to state how only seller and product info is sent to the Knockoff API automatically by default (when the new permissions are granted in the browser), though it is difficult for the average user to verify these claims with the browser extension now being privately developed[7], unless they view the unbuilt JavaScript[7] that replaced the MIT licenses from before with "all rights reserved" on July 22.[8]On July 15, the extension page data collection section was updated from "The developer says this extension doesn't require data collection" to include the following:
Required data collection, according to the developer:
- Browsing activity
- Website content
By default on browsers such as Firefox, extension updates occur automatically and checks once a day unless the user disables the action manually.[10] Shortly after this change, an "advertise" page appeared on the Knockoff website, which allows sellers to pay $99 per month to advertise their products using the "Find US alternatives" feature added in version 0.9.0.[3]
-
The message on the project's GitHub stating the move to private development. -
A preview of the "US alternatives/Shop U.S" sponsored popup.
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hindy, Joe (2026-07-16). "Are You Sick of All the Fake Amazon Brands? Try This Free Browser Extension". CNET. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
In an interview with 404 Media, Pigford says that Knockoff is built on prior extensions that aim to do this, such as AmazonBrandFilter and Amazon Brand Detector. The extension, which runs locally, doesn't require an account, doesn't send data to any company servers and doesn't cost anything. It's also open-source (as of version 0.7.2), and you can find the source code on GitHub.
- ↑ Koebler, Jason. "'Knockoff' Browser Extension Hides Sketchy Brands on Amazon covered this browser extension". 404Media. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
The extension runs locally and doesn't require an account to use, and doesn't send data back to any server. It is free. "I stand to benefit nothing directly economically, it's a nice little tool I wanted to make," Pigford said.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Put your product in front of shoppers leaving the knockoffs behind". Knockoff.co. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ↑ Josh Pigford (2026-07-15). "Frequently asked questions". Knockoff.co. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ↑ "Shpigford/knockoff: Chrome extension that filters pseudo-brand junk out of Amazon". Github. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
This is a frozen public snapshot. Active development has moved to a private repository, and future versions are no longer built in the open — so nothing here phones home. Loaded as-is, this build makes zero calls to any Knockoff server: it runs entirely on the brand lists bundled in the repo, and it won't receive further updates. For the maintained, auto-updating extension, install from the stores below. To run the fully local build yourself, see Self-contained by default.
- ↑ "Changelog". Knockoff.co. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Privacy Policy". Knockoff.co. 2026-07-19. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
Two features do send facts about products and sellers to our API, never anything that identifies you. Both are on unless you turn them off, both are listed below, and both can be switched off in the extension's options.
- ↑ Ordinary Systems. "Knockoff - Amazon Brand Filter". Firefox Add-Ons. Archived from the original on 2026-07-22.
- ↑ Firefox user 20038783 (2026-07-15). "Reviews for Knockoff - Amazon Brand Filter - Add-ons for Firefox (en-US)". Firefox Browser Add-Ons. Retrieved 2026-07-22.
Explain why you need this? Has been working fine without. "Required data collection, according to the developer: Browsing activity Website content"
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help); line feed character in|quote=at position 113 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Re-enable add-ons that were disabled when updating Firefox". Mozilla Support. 2025-06-16. Retrieved 2026-07-22.