What is a live cart tracker on Shopify?
A live cart tracker is analytics software that surfaces shopping carts while they are still open — including items added or removed, approximate cart value, and related browsing context — so merchants can understand demand before the cart becomes an abandoned cart, abandoned checkout, or completed order.
Shopify already records orders, abandoned checkouts, and many marketing reports. What merchants often lack is a clear window into carts that are active right now: which products are being considered, which campaigns fed the session, and how the shopper moved from early page views toward checkout. CartPulse – Track Live Cart sits in that gap as an Analytics-category App Store product from Web6.
The listing positions CartPulse around live customer journeys, traffic sources and UTM campaigns, cart additions/removals/changes with CSV export, and Excel reports for daily cart trends and top products. Pro features emphasize an analytics dashboard, real-time cart analytics, top cart products, CSV export, customer insights for all carts, and traffic & conversion performance views. Those are visibility and reporting capabilities — not automated recovery, session replay, or AI coaching.
It helps to keep four states distinct. An active (live) cart is a session where items exist in the cart and the shopper is still shopping or idle without a completed purchase. An abandoned cart is a cart that was built and then left without progressing through checkout in a meaningful way — definitions vary by tool. An abandoned checkout is Shopify’s more specific state: the shopper reached checkout and entered enough information for Shopify to create a recoverable checkout record, then left. A completed order is a paid (or otherwise finalized) order that left the cart funnel successfully.
CartPulse is most useful when you care about the active and recently active portion of that funnel: what people put in carts, what they remove, which products dominate cart activity, and which traffic sources feed those carts. Abandoned-cart and abandoned-checkout recovery tools answer a different question: how do we message people who already left? Use CartPulse to see; use recovery apps or Shopify’s native messaging to reach out — they are complementary, not substitutes.
Because CartPulse works with Checkout, Shopify Admin, abandoned cart, Excel, and Live Cart Tracking (per listing tags), expect an Admin-first workflow: install, open the app, watch dashboards and exports. Confirm exact menu labels and retention windows in your store after the trial starts.
Active cart (live cart)
Items are in the cart; the shopper may still be browsing. CartPulse’s live analytics are aimed at this state so you can see demand forming in near real time.
Abandoned cart
The shopper built a cart and left the store without completing purchase. Useful for merchandising diagnosis; recovery apps may message later if contact details exist.
Abandoned checkout
Shopify created a checkout record (typically after contact details) and the shopper did not complete payment. Native Shopify recovery and WhatsApp/email recovery apps usually target this state.
Completed order
The purchase finished. Shopify Analytics, order reports, and finance tools dominate here. CartPulse’s value is earlier: understanding how carts formed before this outcome.