Ask to Buy vs. SE Wishlist Engine: In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right Shopify app for wishlists or shared carts is a practical decision that affects conversion, retention, and site complexity. Merchants face a choice between narrow, single-purpose tools and broader platforms that bundle related retention features. Picking the wrong tool can create "app sprawl"—more maintenance, duplicated costs, and fractured customer data.

Short answer: Ask to Buy create & share cart is an effective, focused tool for merchants who need a simple way to let visitors create and share carts or enable assisted purchases. SE Wishlist Engine is a more mature wishlist and remarketing tool with deeper wishlist automation and a higher review count indicating broader real-world use. For merchants seeking fewer apps and more integrated retention capabilities, a consolidated platform often provides better value for money than assembling many single-purpose apps.

This article presents an objective, feature-by-feature comparison of Ask to Buy create & share cart and SE Wishlist Engine to help merchants decide which one fits their priorities. It also explains why an integrated retention platform can be a strategic alternative to multiple single-purpose apps.

Ask to Buy create & share cart vs. SE Wishlist Engine: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Core Purpose and Positioning

Ask to Buy create & share cart

Ask to Buy is purpose-built to let site visitors or sales reps create carts and send them to another party who completes payment. It targets scenarios where shoppers cannot pay themselves (e.g., teens, gift registries) or where a sales representative builds a cart for a customer. The app focuses narrowly on a single funnel: create → share → checkout.

Key positioning points:

• Facilitates assisted purchases and gift sharing.
• Drives conversion by pre-filling checkout details for the payor.
• Adds a simple sharing UX with tracking for conversions.

SE Wishlist Engine

SE Wishlist Engine is a wishlist-first tool designed to capture user interest and turn saved items into purchases through automated reminders and alerts. The app markets a variety of wishlist features and behavior-driven emails to reduce abandonment and re-activate shoppers when price or stock changes.

Key positioning points:

• Captures shopper intent through wishlists and guest saves.
• Automates wishlist emails for price drops, restocks, and low-stock alerts.
• Provides analytics on saved items to inform merchandising.

Feature Comparison

The two apps overlap conceptually (both aim to help shoppers save or share products) but diverge sharply in execution and scope.

Wishlist & Save Capabilities

Ask to Buy

• Not primarily a wishlist app; focused on creating and sharing full carts.
• Useful for group or assisted purchasing workflows rather than long-term wishlists.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Core strength lies in letting customers save favorites, including guest wishlist support.
• Supports multiple saves, wishlist pages, and social sharing of wishlists.
• Includes variant change detection and wishlist popups.

Verdict: For marketing-oriented wishlist functionality, SE Wishlist Engine is the stronger option.

Cart Sharing & Assisted Checkout

Ask to Buy

• Shines in pre-filling checkout details so the invitee only pays.
• Invitees land directly on checkout with a custom welcome message.
• Notable for group share support and notifications to inviters after purchase.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Not designed to share full carts or prefill checkout details in the assisted-purchase sense.

Verdict: For assisted purchases or sales-rep workflows, Ask to Buy is purpose-built and more appropriate.

Email Automation & Conversion Touchpoints

Ask to Buy

• Offers basic tracking of cart shares, conversions, and generated revenue.
• Does not emphasize multi-trigger email automations like price or restock alerts.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Includes auto-email alerts, price drop notifications, restock and low-stock alerts, and the ability to customize unlimited emails on higher plans.
• Integrates with email platforms (e.g., Klaviyo on advanced plans) and tracks which users saved which products.

Verdict: SE Wishlist Engine provides richer email automation geared toward reactivation and conversion from saved items.

Analytics & Merchandising Insights

Ask to Buy

• Focuses analytics on cart shares and final conversions—good for measuring assisted sales impact.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Offers reports that show most-saved products and who saved them, supporting merchandising decisions and targeted follow-ups.
• Advanced plans provide more robust insights.

Verdict: SE Wishlist Engine provides more actionable product-level wishlist insights.

Customization & UX Control

Ask to Buy

• Allows built-in AskToBuy buttons or custom buttons that merchants can style.
• Designed for simple implementation of sharing flow and checkout messaging.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Permits customization of buttons and icons and offers wishlist page and popup customizations.
• Higher plans allow multilingual emails and multi-currency support.

Verdict: SE Wishlist Engine offers broader customization options, especially for stores needing localization and stronger front-end branding.

Integrations & Compatibility

Ask to Buy

• Works within Shopify checkout flow and pre-fills checkout details for invitees. Specific third-party integrations are not prominent in the app description, which keeps its stack simple but may limit advanced automation.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Explicitly lists compatibility with Customer accounts, Klaviyo, and PageFly.
• Advanced plans include Facebook Pixel and Klaviyo integration for deeper remarketing and automation.

Verdict: SE Wishlist Engine has clearer ties to marketing tools, allowing merchants to plug wishlist data into broader email and ad campaigns.

Pricing & Value for Money

Pricing represents both cost and perceived value. Use cases and expected ROI determine which plan is the better value.

Ask to Buy create & share cart Pricing

• Basic plan: $15 / month
• Single-priced basic offering suggests a low barrier to entry for small stores that need assisted checkout or simple cart sharing.
• Value proposition: Fixed, predictable cost for a single, focused capability.

Considerations:

• For stores that need only assisted purchases or gift registry features, $15/mo may be good value.
• If additional wishlist, alerts, or multi-channel automations are needed, more apps will be required, increasing cost.

SE Wishlist Engine Pricing

• Free Plan: Free (limits: up to 100 wishlist items, basic insights)
• Basic Plan: $7.99 / month (unlimited wishlists, hide branding)
• Advanced Plan: $14.99 / month (alerts, price drop/restock notifications, product recommendations, advanced insights, Klaviyo integration)
• Premium Plan: $21.99 / month (multi-language/multi-currency, advanced insights, product recommendations)

Considerations:

• Free plan provides a reasonable trial and basic functionality for small stores.
• Advanced plan at $14.99 delivers wishlist automation that can drive measurable uplift in conversions through price and restock alerts.
• Premium plan targets merchants needing localization or broader analytics.

Value comparison:

• SE Wishlist Engine offers scalable tiers, meaning merchants can start for free and expand features as needs grow.
• Ask to Buy has a single paid plan at $15 that covers its narrow feature set; add-on purchases will be needed for wishlist alerts and automation.

Verdict: For merchants who plan to use wishlists and automated alerts as a conversion channel, SE Wishlist Engine offers better incremental value and scalability. For merchants exclusively seeking a cart-sharing solution, Ask to Buy’s single plan may be sufficient.

Setup, Installation, and Ongoing Maintenance

Ask to Buy

• Setup emphasis on adding AskToBuy buttons and configuring share flows.
• Likely straightforward for merchants who only need the sharing button and tracking.
• Maintenance is low if the scope remains limited to sharing and assisted checkout.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Setup includes embedding wishlist buttons, configuring popups, and enabling email automations and integrations (e.g., Klaviyo).
• Slightly more complex setup initially, particularly if connecting to external email tools or setting up advanced alerts.
• Ongoing value comes from regularly using analytics and email workflows; maintenance is moderate.

Verdict: Ask to Buy is generally quicker to launch and requires less maintenance. SE Wishlist Engine requires more initial setup but pays off with ongoing conversion and re-engagement features.

Reporting, Attribution & Measurable Outcomes

Both apps provide some level of measurement, but their attribution focus differs.

Ask to Buy

• Tracks cart shares, conversions resulting from shares, and generated revenue.
• Attribution centers on assisted conversions and measuring the impact of shared carts.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Tracks which products are saved and by whom, plus the performance of automated wishlist emails.
• Attribution centers on saved-item conversion rates and the effectiveness of alerts (price drops, restocks).

How merchants should evaluate outcomes:

• For social or peer-assisted purchase flows, measure metrics like shared-cart conversion rate, conversion speed, and average order value (AOV) from shared carts.
• For wishlist-driven programs, measure recovery rate from saved items (email click-to-purchase), uplift in AOV from wishlist emails, and the share of revenue attributable to wishlist flows.

Support & Community Signal

Review counts and ratings provide social proof and a proxy for product maturity.

Ask to Buy

• Rating: 4.4 across 7 reviews.
• Low number of reviews suggests limited adoption or a newer app; this makes it harder to infer broad merchant experiences.
• Support expectations: given the small footprint and simpler feature set, support needs may be modest.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Rating: 4.9 across 249 reviews.
• High rating with a substantial review base indicates wider adoption, more community feedback, and iterative product improvements based on merchant input.
• Support expectations: active user base suggests the developer is responsive and that the product has matured.

Verdict: SE Wishlist Engine has stronger social proof and a more visible user community.

Data, Privacy, and Checkout Constraints

Both apps must operate within Shopify's checkout and privacy constraints.

Ask to Buy

• Works by pre-filling checkout details and routing invitees directly to checkout; this requires careful handling of customer data and compliance with privacy rules.
• Because it touches checkout, merchants should confirm technical compatibility with their payment and checkout customizations (especially for Plus or headless setups).

SE Wishlist Engine

• Primarily stores wishlist data and triggers emails; integrations with Klaviyo or Facebook pixel mean more data flows outside Shopify.
• Merchants should configure data handling and respect consent, especially for guest wishlist features.

Recommendation:

• Ask questions to either vendor about how customer data is stored, how consent is collected for guest wishlists, and how the apps behave with checkout customizations or one-click purchase flows.

Use Cases: Which App Fits Which Merchant?

Ask to Buy is a solid fit for:

• Brands that frequently facilitate assisted purchases (e.g., high-ticket fashion, B2B orders where a rep builds the cart).
• Stores that want a simple gift registry or shared-cart workflow without adding wishlist automation.
• Merchants looking to measure revenue directly attributable to shared carts and rep-assisted orders.

SE Wishlist Engine is a solid fit for:

• Brands prioritizing wishlist capture and remarketing (e.g., fashion, beauty, consumer electronics).
• Stores wanting automated re-engagement through price-drop and restock alerts.
• Merchants who plan to integrate wishlist data into email platforms like Klaviyo.
• Stores that appreciate scalable pricing tiers and advanced insights.

Pros & Cons Summary

Ask to Buy create & share cart

• Pros:
  • Focused feature set for assisted checkout and cart sharing.
  • Simple pricing and setup for narrow use cases.
  • Direct pre-fill of checkout details reduces friction for the payor.
• Cons:
  • Limited wishlist or automation features.
  • Small review base makes long-term reliability and roadmap harder to assess.
  • May force merchants to add other apps for wishlist marketing and alerts.

SE Wishlist Engine

• Pros:
  • Rich wishlist feature set with automation for price and restock alerts.
  • Clear integration points with email and ad platforms.
  • Scalable pricing tiers, including a free starter plan.
  • High rating and many reviews indicate maturity and active development.
• Cons:
  • Not designed for assisted cart sharing or pre-filled checkout workflows.
  • Requires more setup and maintenance to realize full value from automations.

The Alternative: Solving App Fatigue with an All-in-One Platform

Merchants increasingly grapple with app fatigue: the cumulative cost, complexity, and data fragmentation that come from installing multiple single-purpose apps. Each app may work well in isolation, but stitching them together creates hidden costs:

• Increased monthly spend as features multiply across paid apps.
• Fragmented customer data that requires manual reconciliation or workarounds.
• Slower site performance as each app adds scripts and bloat.
• More vendor management, updates, and potential conflicts.

An alternative approach is to consolidate related retention capabilities into one platform that covers wishlists, loyalty, referrals, and reviews. This reduces overhead, centralizes customer data, and produces more strategic, joined-up campaigns.

Growave embraces a "More Growth, Less Stack" approach designed to reduce tool sprawl. The platform combines loyalty, referrals, wishlist, reviews, and VIP tiers in a single suite so merchants can run coordinated retention programs without feeding multiple apps.

• For merchants deciding between point solutions for wishlist work and assisted buying, consolidating retention features can eliminate gaps: retention signals captured in wishlists can feed loyalty programs, and reviews or UGC can be surfaced in reward campaigns.

To evaluate the consolidation option, consider these practical benefits:

• Centralized customer profiles that tie saved items, referral activity, and reward balances together.
• Consistent design and UX across retention touchpoints, improving conversion and brand experience.
• Fewer scripts and lower risk of app conflicts, which improves site speed and stability.

Growave offers merchant-friendly entry points and plans to migrate from multiple apps:

• Merchants can view ways to consolidate retention features and compare how a single platform changes total cost of ownership.
• The platform provides loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases, which turns one-off wishlist interest into repeat customers through points, tiers, and custom reward actions.
• Growave also helps merchants collect and showcase authentic reviews, using reviews as part of loyalty incentives and conversion tactics.

Key operational advantages of consolidation:

• Shared data and unified reporting that links wishlist saves to reward-triggered purchases.
• Built-in automations that reduce the need for separate email tools or complex integration logic.
• Native integrations with major marketing and commerce apps to keep workflows intact.

Merchants interested in seeing how consolidation works in practice can Book a personalized demo. This demo route helps brands map legacy app features into a single stack and project costs and migration steps.

Why consolidation improves lifetime value:

• Repeat purchases are driven by joined-up incentives. For example, a wishlist reminder plus a loyalty points incentive makes the conversion ask stronger and more relevant.
• Referral programs amplify the value of shared carts or wishlists when referral rewards are tied to successful purchases.
• Reviews and UGC become conversion multipliers when they plug directly into product pages, emails, and on-site social proof.

To explore implementation readiness, merchants can also see options to install from the Shopify App Store and test growave’s setup against current toolkit limitations.

Repeat references to plan and install options help merchants compare real costs:

• Merchants can scale with one retention platform instead of buying multiple monthly subscriptions for wishlist, reviews, and loyalty.
• For stores that need robust loyalty and review programs, Growave offers loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases and collect and showcase authentic reviews in one integrated suite.

Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated stack improves retention.

How consolidation addresses gaps left by single-purpose apps

• Automated orchestration: Instead of connecting wishlist events to a separate loyalty app via custom middleware, a unified system triggers rewards directly when a wishlist converts.
• Cross-channel consistency: Email templates, in-app messages, and storefront widgets follow the same branding and logic.
• Reduced monthly spend: One subscription can replace the cost of multiple smaller apps and lower cumulative expense over time.

When an all-in-one platform is less appropriate

Consolidation is powerful but not always the right fit:

• Very small stores with tight budgets and a single, occasional need (e.g., only wanting occasional shared carts) may prefer a cheap, purpose-built app to avoid paying for unused features.
• Highly bespoke checkout customizations or unique assisted-purchase flows might require a dedicated tool if the integrated platform’s checkout extension model doesn’t match specific technical constraints.

In most cases where retention, wishlists, and repeat purchase mechanics are strategic priorities, the integrated approach offers stronger long-term value for money.

Practical Decision Guide: Choosing Between Ask to Buy, SE Wishlist Engine, or an Integrated Platform

To make a pragmatic choice, evaluate along these dimensions:

• Business Need
  • Assisted sales and gift registry workflows → Ask to Buy
  • Wishlist capture + automated price/restock alerts → SE Wishlist Engine
  • Long-term retention strategy combining loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist → Integrated platform
• Budget & Cost Sensitivity
  • Minimal monthly overhead and single-purpose needs → Ask to Buy at $15/mo
  • Start free and scale wishlist automation affordably → SE Wishlist Engine (free → $21.99)
  • Willing to invest in a platform that replaces multiple apps for lower total cost of ownership → Explore consolidation and consolidate retention features
• Time to Value
  • Quick launch for shared carts → Ask to Buy (likely low setup overhead)
  • Wishlist automation requires setup but yields ongoing conversions → SE Wishlist Engine
  • Migration to a unified platform requires planning but yields cross-feature synergies → scale with one retention platform
• Data & Integrations
  • Need direct checkout prefill paths → Ask to Buy
  • Need Klaviyo or Facebook pixel wishlist signals → SE Wishlist Engine (Advanced plan)
  • Need unified data across loyalty, reviews, and wishlist → Consider an integrated platform and collect and showcase authentic reviews
• Growth Stage
  • Early-stage or low-volume merchants with single feature needs → Single-purpose app
  • Growing merchants ready to increase repeat purchases and lifetime value → Consolidated retention platform

Migration Considerations

Merchants moving from one or multiple apps to a consolidated platform should plan carefully:

• Data export/import: Confirm wishlist exports from existing apps and ensure the new platform supports imports.
• Widget replacement: Create a staged rollout to replace buttons and popups to avoid UX disruption.
• Email flows: Map existing wishlist/alert automations into the new platform to prevent gaps in customer communication.
• Tracking & attribution: Reconcile historical attribution to avoid losing measurement continuity.

Growave’s onboarding resources and install from the Shopify App Store pathways can simplify migration for merchants with moderate complexity.

Security, Compliance, and Performance

Security practices and the potential impact on site speed are important when adding any app.

• Ask to Buy interacts with checkout data; merchants should clarify how the app handles personal data and ensure checkout compatibility.
• SE Wishlist Engine stores wishlist data and connects to email/analytics channels; merchants should verify consent capture and GDPR/CACP compliance options.
• Consolidated platforms reduce the number of external scripts and data endpoints, improving performance and simplifying compliance.

For merchants concerned about checkout-level interactions, review technical documentation and seek staging tests to validate performance and behavior.

Case-Style Guidance (Actionable Paths Without Fictional Personas)

Use these actionable decision paths to select the correct approach:

• If the primary business goal is enabling assisted purchases (e.g., sales rep orders, gift payments), install Ask to Buy or a similar cart-sharing tool and test conversion rates from shared carts. Track AOV and time-to-purchase for shared carts versus direct purchases.
• If the primary goal is turning saved interest into purchases with minimal friction, install SE Wishlist Engine starting with the free or Basic plan, enable automated price/restock emails on the Advanced plan, and connect to Klaviyo for segmented campaigns based on wishlist behavior.
• If the strategic goal is to increase retention and LTV through a combination of loyalty, referral, wishlist, and reviews, evaluate a consolidated platform. Map current app costs and features, and compare total cost of ownership to a single subscription. Merchants who want to see a consolidated roadmap can Book a personalized demo to review migration and ROI scenarios.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Ask to Buy create & share cart and SE Wishlist Engine, the decision comes down to use case and growth plans. Ask to Buy is the focused choice for assisted purchases and shared-cart workflows, offering a simple $15/month plan that addresses those specific needs. SE Wishlist Engine is the stronger option for merchants prioritizing wishlist-driven automation, with a robust feature set, scalable pricing, and broad adoption (4.9 rating from 249 reviews). Both apps serve distinct needs and can be valuable depending on immediate goals.

For merchants who want to reduce tool sprawl and run cohesive retention programs across loyalty, referrals, wishlists, and reviews, a consolidated platform is often better value for money over time. Consolidation centralizes customer data, reduces maintenance, and enables cross-feature campaigns that increase repeat purchases and lifetime value. Merchants interested in exploring an integrated approach can compare how to consolidate retention features and evaluate install options via the Shopify App Store.

Start a 14-day free trial to see how a unified retention stack shortens the path from interest to repeat purchase.

FAQ

Q: Which app is better for enabling purchases by someone other than the shopper (e.g., parents paying for teens)?

• A: Ask to Buy create & share cart is specifically designed for this workflow. It pre-fills checkout details and sends invitees directly to checkout, minimizing friction for the paying party.

Q: Which app provides stronger wishlist-driven remarketing and automation?

• A: SE Wishlist Engine offers comprehensive wishlist features—guest wishlists, price-drop and restock alerts, and email automation—making it the better choice for wishlist-to-purchase workflows.

Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps like Ask to Buy and SE Wishlist Engine?

• A: An all-in-one platform unifies wishlists, loyalty programs, referrals, and reviews under one data model, reducing monthly costs, simplifying maintenance, and enabling cross-feature campaigns. Specialized apps can be less expensive initially for a single need but often require additional tools as the business scales.

Q: If a merchant needs both shared carts and wishlist automation, what is the recommended approach?

• A: Evaluate priorities and total cost of ownership. If both capabilities are strategic and expected to expand, consolidation into a single retention platform can offer better value for money and reduce complexity. For immediate or one-off needs, running both specialized apps temporarily can be acceptable, but plan for consolidation as growth accelerates.