ESC Wishlist + Save for Later vs. Stellar Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist solution is a common decision point for Shopify merchants trying to increase conversions, recover abandons, and drive repeat purchases. A wishlist can be a small conversion lever or a central retention feature depending on how it integrates with email, customer accounts, and the rest of the tech stack.

Short answer: ESC Wishlist + Save for Later is a very basic, single-purpose tool that works for merchants who only want a simple save-for-later widget at a low monthly cost, while Stellar Wishlist offers more wishlist-specific features—especially around email follow-up and reporting—at a higher price. For merchants looking to consolidate retention features and get better long-term value, an integrated platform that combines wishlist functionality with loyalty, referrals, and reviews often provides a stronger return on investment than either single-purpose app.

This article provides an objective, feature-by-feature comparison of ESC Wishlist + Save for Later (Eastside Co®) and Stellar Wishlist (Severium) to help merchants choose the best fit for their store. Each section evaluates strengths, weaknesses, pricing implications, integration needs, and the merchant types that will benefit most from each app. After examining both apps, the article introduces an alternative approach designed to reduce tool sprawl and improve customer lifetime value.

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later vs. Stellar Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Product Positioning and Market Fit

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later: Where it sits

ESC positions the app as a straightforward way to let customers save items and share lists. The pitch centers on converting interest into future purchases by keeping saved items visible at checkout and providing customization options for look-and-feel. For merchants whose needs stop at a basic wishlist tied to the cart, this is a practical position.

Strengths of that positioning include low entry cost ($5/month) and simple setup expectations. Weaknesses include very limited social proof (2 reviews, 1.0 rating) and uncertain long-term product support given the low review count.

Stellar Wishlist: Where it sits

Stellar positions itself as an advanced wishlist tool that not only stores favorites but also drives re-engagement via emails and provides analytics. The app markets increase in conversion rates and revenue per order as outcomes of using its features.

This positioning suits merchants looking for wishlist behavior to feed marketing automation and reporting. The presence of multiple pricing tiers aligns with stores of varying size, but pricing scales quickly as wishlist activity grows, which can be a consideration for fast-growing stores.

Features Comparison

Wishlist Storage & Capacity

• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later:
  • Unlimited wishlists per customer is a headline feature. That allows customers to create categorized lists, which can be helpful for gift registries or product collections.
  • However, the app provides minimal detail on storage limits, account linking, or per-month activity limits.
• Stellar Wishlist:
  • Explicit limits are built into pricing tiers (e.g., up to 1,000 WL items for $9.99/month, up to 50,000 items at $89.99/month).
  • Tiered limits make costs predictable for known volumes but can create a scaling cost as wishlist usage rises.

Verdict: ESC offers simpler unlimited lists but without visible controls for volume or usage reporting; Stellar provides predictable, tiered usage limits better suited to scaling operations.

Customer Accounts & Persistence

• ESC:
  • Saves items under the cart and relies on the cart session to display saved items at checkout. There is mention of unlimited wishlists, but little explicit detail on how items persist across devices or whether items are tied to customer accounts.
  • For merchants relying on account-level persistence (logged-in customers), lack of clarity is a downside.
• Stellar:
  • Emphasizes saving items and resuming shopping later, which implies account-level persistence and better tie-in with returning users. Stellar also offers email-based re-engagement that depends on tracking wishlist actions.

Verdict: Stellar looks stronger for persistent customer account experiences and cross-device continuity; ESC may be adequate for session-based saves and carts.

Email & Re-Engagement

• ESC:
  • No explicit email automation is described in the available details. Social sharing is supported, but automated reminders or personalized wishlist emails appear absent or not documented.
• Stellar:
  • Includes personalized emails based on wishlist actions and highly customizable email templates. That capability allows merchants to drive traffic back to the store directly from saved lists and target users who didn’t complete the purchase.

Verdict: Stellar provides a measurable advantage here. For merchants who want wishlist activity to fuel email marketing and recovery flows, Stellar is a better fit.

Sharing & Social Reach

• ESC:
  • Free social sharing is explicitly highlighted, enabling customers to share lists with friends. Integration with social platforms to expand reach is a straightforward promotional tool.
• Stellar:
  • Also supports sharing and adds customizable share templates. The question for merchants is how well shared links maintain brand experience across channels.

Verdict: Both apps support sharing; ESC emphasizes simplicity, Stellar emphasizes branded sharing and email.

Customization & UX

• ESC:
  • Promises a broad range of UI customization options to match the store theme. For merchants wanting a consistent aesthetic without heavy engineering, this is helpful.
  • Depth of customization (CSS injection, advanced templates) is not well-documented.
• Stellar:
  • Highlights “highly customizable email template and UI to match your brand.” This suggests deeper options for both on-site widget styling and outbound messages.

Verdict: Stellar appears to have more advanced customization for stores that need branded email and UI control. ESC is likely sufficient for basic brand matching.

Reporting & Analytics

• ESC:
  • No explicit reporting features are described beyond the functional save/share behavior. Absence of engagement reports limits the ability to measure wishlist-driven revenue or conversion lift.
• Stellar:
  • Offers detailed engagement reports as a standard feature across plans. These reports help merchants evaluate how wishlist interactions translate to visits, conversions, and average order value.

Verdict: Stellar is superior for merchants who want data-driven insights from wishlist activity.

Pricing & Value

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later Pricing

• Single Monthly plan at $5 / month.
• Very low cost, making it attractive for budget-conscious merchants or stores testing wishlist functionality.

Value considerations:

• Low monthly cost lowers the barrier to experimentation.
• Risk: Limited features and minimal reviews may result in missing capabilities and a need to swap apps later.

Stellar Wishlist Pricing

• Multiple tiers:
  • Basic Plan: $9.99 / month (up to 1,000 WL items)
  • Standard Plan: $29.99 / month (up to 5,000 WL items)
  • Premium Plan: $39.99 / month (up to 10,000 WL items)
  • Business Plan: $89.99 / month (up to 50,000 WL items)
• Each tier includes custom branding, email templates, detailed engagement reports, and share wishlist features.

Value considerations:

• Pricing scales with usage, which matches demand but can become expensive as wishlist activity grows.
• Includes reporting and email features that provide direct ROI tracking and potential increases in conversion and revenue per order.

Comparative Value Analysis

• Upfront cost:
  • ESC is better value for raw price-sensitive merchants.
• Feature return on investment:
  • Stellar is better value for stores that will use email automation and reporting to drive measurable sales lift.
• Total cost of ownership:
  • Consider the long-term cost if wishlist activity grows rapidly—Stellar’s tiered model could increase monthly fees significantly, while ESC remains flat but functionally limited.

Integrations & Technical Considerations

Integration With Other Apps and Platforms

• ESC:
  • Works within the store theme and cart flow, with a presence under the cart. Publicly available integration details with third-party marketing, email, or CRM platforms are sparse.
  • If a merchant needs deep integrations (Klaviyo, Recharge, or other backend systems), ESC’s lack of documented integrations is a constraint.
• Stellar:
  • Focuses on email triggers and reporting, which suggests some level of integration with email systems; however, specific integrations (Klaviyo, Omnisend, Recharge, etc.) are not listed in the available description.
  • Merchants should validate integration options with their critical systems before committing.

Integration impact:

• For merchants with an existing martech stack, confirm whether wishlist events can be exported to email tools or analytics. Poor integrations lead to data silos and manual workflows.

Performance and Theme Compatibility

• ESC:
  • The app runs a save-for-later widget displayed near the cart. That placement should be compatible with most themes, but merchants should test for layout clashes and mobile behavior.
• Stellar:
  • Emphasis on custom UI suggests more granular control over where and how wishlist elements render, which is beneficial for complex themes or heavily customized storefronts.

Recommendation:

• Test both apps on development or staging themes, confirm mobile responsiveness, and check that wishlist rendering does not negatively impact site speed.

Data & Analytics

• ESC:
  • Minimal visible analytics; merchants may need to rely on broader Google Analytics events or purchase attribution to measure wishlist impact.
• Stellar:
  • Provides engagement reports designed to link wishlist behavior to conversions and revenue metrics.

Implication:

• For merchants who intend to optimize based on data and iteratively improve campaigns, Stellar’s reporting creates a closed-loop measurement approach; ESC requires additional instrumentation to achieve the same insights.

Support & Onboarding

• ESC:
  • Limited public data on support channels or response SLAs. With only 2 reviews and a 1.0 rating, merchants should investigate the developer’s support responsiveness before installation.
• Stellar:
  • More reviews and a mid-level rating (3.2) suggest a larger user base and more established support, but merchants should still request details on onboarding, troubleshooting, and support hours.

Best practice:

• Ask both developers about response times, setup assistance, and migration help. For stores with limited developer resources, responsive vendor support can be decisive.

UX for Customers

• ESC:
  • Simple workflow: save items, see them under cart, share lists. That simplicity reduces friction for customers unfamiliar with wishlists.
  • Potential downside: If wishlists aren’t persistent across devices, customers can be frustrated.
• Stellar:
  • Offers bookmarking, branded UI, and email re-engagement, providing a richer experience and multiple touchpoints that encourage return visits.

Customer outcome:

• Simple experiences (ESC) reduce cognitive load; richer experiences (Stellar) create more opportunities to re-engage and convert.

Security & Compliance

• Both apps operate within Shopify’s app model and are expected to follow Shopify’s guidelines for data handling. Merchants should confirm:
  • How wishlist data is stored and whether it is exportable.
  • Whether any personal data used for emails complies with privacy regulations (e.g., consent handling and unsubscribe mechanisms).

Migration & Exit Considerations

• ESC:
  • With minimal storage complexity, migrating off ESC should be straightforward if data export options exist. Confirm existence of export APIs or CSV exports.
• Stellar:
  • With more robust data and email triggers, migration requires mapping wishlist items and history. Confirm data export and whether wishlist IDs can be retained.

Advice:

• Before onboarding, request clarity on data portability to avoid vendor lock-in.

Practical Use Cases: Which App Fits Which Merchant?

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later — Best For:

• Small stores with limited budgets that want a lightweight save-for-later feature visible at checkout.
• Merchants testing the wishlist concept and seeking a low-cost proof-of-concept.
• Stores that want social sharing of lists without needing automated emails or analytics.

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later — Not Ideal For:

• Merchants with a strong emphasis on email remarketing and customer lifecycle marketing.
• Brands that need detailed reporting to measure wishlist impact on revenue.

Stellar Wishlist — Best For:

• Merchants who plan to use wishlist data as part of email marketing and want built-in templates.
• Stores seeking engagement reports that connect wishlist activity to conversions and revenue.
• Brands that anticipate higher wishlist volumes and want the option to scale through tiered plans.

Stellar Wishlist — Not Ideal For:

• Merchants with very limited budgets who only need a basic save-for-later function.
• Brands that want a single, consolidated retention platform combining loyalty and reviews with wishlist features.

Pros & Cons — Quick Reference

• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later — Pros:
  • Very low entry cost ($5/month).
  • Unlimited wishlists and social sharing.
  • Simple implementation for basic needs.
• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later — Cons:
  • Extremely small review base (2 reviews) and low rating (1.0).
  • Limited public documentation on integrations, reporting, and persistence.
  • Potential for needing additional apps for marketing automation.
• Stellar Wishlist — Pros:
  • Built-in personalized email automation and customizable templates.
  • Detailed engagement reports that allow measurement of wishlist-driven revenue.
  • Multiple pricing tiers aligned to usage volume.
• Stellar Wishlist — Cons:
  • Pricing grows with wishlist activity and can become costly.
  • Moderate rating (3.2) and limited reviews (8) suggest some mixed experiences among merchants.
  • Integration specifics need to be validated for each merchant tech stack.

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

Understanding App Fatigue

Many merchants start with a handful of single-function apps and quickly find the stack growing out of control. App fatigue occurs when multiple specialized tools create management overhead, inconsistent customer experiences, and overlapping fees. The consequences include:

• Increased monthly costs and a fragmented budget.
• Duplicate or conflicting customer touches (e.g., separate loyalty points emails and wishlist reminder emails).
• Harder data alignment across tools, making it difficult to measure true ROI of retention initiatives.

Shopify merchants frequently face this trade-off: add a single-purpose app to fix one problem, and a month later there are five more single-purpose tools to manage.

The "More Growth, Less Stack" Philosophy

An alternative approach is to consolidate retention features into a unified platform that includes wishlist functionality plus loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers. This reduces the number of vendors, simplifies data flows, and improves the consistency of customer experience.

Growave follows a "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy that pursues three practical outcomes:

• Reduce vendor complexity by combining multiple retention tools into one integrated product.
• Increase lifetime value by coordinating wishlist data with loyalty and referral incentives.
• Improve operational efficiency through a single dashboard that reports cross-channel retention metrics.

What an Integrated Platform Delivers

• Unified customer profiles that link wishlist items with loyalty status and referral history.
• Consistent branding across emails, on-site widgets, and post-purchase flows.
• Cross-functional automation: wishlist triggers can award points, send personalized review requests, or prompt referral incentives.
• Consolidated analytics to measure retention metrics such as repeat purchase rate, average order value, and customer lifetime value.

These capabilities help merchants translate wishlist behavior into measurable growth rather than leaving wishlist data siloed.

Growave as a Practical Alternative

For merchants seeking an integrated retention stack, Growave combines wishlist features with loyalty and rewards, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers in a single platform. The goal is to help merchants build programs that increase repeat purchases and improve customer engagement without the overhead of multiple apps.

• Wishlist is built into the same suite that handles loyalty, referrals, and reviews, enabling cross-functional automation.
• Enterprise-ready options include multi-language support and integrations with major tools so the solution scales with the merchant’s business.
• Consolidating features reduces the need to stitch together separate tools and decreases the risk of data silos.

Merchants who want to consider consolidating should compare ongoing costs and operational overhead across their current app stack versus a single integrated solution. For price and plan comparisons that clarify how consolidation affects monthly spend and features, merchants can examine options to consolidate retention features.

How Wishlist + Loyalty + Reviews Work Together

• Wishlist triggers can be used to award loyalty points for creating a list or for converting a wishlisted item into a purchase, increasing repeat purchase likelihood.
• Wishlist activity can be surfaced in review requests, encouraging customers who saved and purchased to leave social proof.
• Combining wishlist data with referral campaigns helps merchants tailor incentives—customers who frequently create lists can be targeted with special referral rewards.

These cross-functional flows make retention programs more effective than standalone wishlist reminders.

Integrations That Matter

An integrated platform must fit into the broader martech stack. Growave offers integrations that help keep data synchronized and workflows automated. Relevant integrations include popular email providers and commerce platforms, which reduce the amount of manual setup required. For merchants migrating from single-purpose tools, getting clarity on integration points helps estimate migration effort and expected time to value. For an overview of the integrations that support enterprise use cases, see resources on solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Example Benefits of Consolidation

• Reduce duplicate email sends by coordinating loyalty and wishlist emails from one platform.
• Use consolidated reporting to measure lift in LTV attributable to combined programs, rather than estimating across multiple vendors.
• Decrease monthly vendor fees and time spent managing multiple dashboards.

For merchants deciding whether consolidation is worth it, practical evidence comes from customer stories and usage examples. Explore customer stories from brands scaling retention for real-world results.

Getting Started with an Integrated Approach

Merchants interested in evaluating a consolidated platform can explore pricing tiers and the scope of included features to understand potential savings and uplift. Compare current monthly spend across wishlist, loyalty, reviews, and referral apps and contrast that with consolidated plan pricing to estimate ROI. For clarity on plans and capacity, merchants can look into how to consolidate retention features.

If a merchant prefers a walkthrough or wants help mapping legacy features into a consolidated stack, it’s possible to book a personalized demo that demonstrates how wishlist actions translate into loyalty benefits, reviews, and referrals.

Feature Parity and Migration

• Wishlist features that merchants value—save-for-later, persistent lists, sharing, and email follow-ups—are all available within most consolidated platforms that include wishlist modules.
• Migration concerns include exporting existing wishlist data and mapping customers. When evaluating consolidation, confirm the vendor’s migration support to minimize downtime and data loss.
• For merchants managing multiple regions or languages, consolidated platforms may offer multi-language support and Shopify Plus integrations to ensure a consistent experience at scale.

During evaluation, merchants should ask whether wishlist events can trigger reward actions and whether wishlists are accessible in customer account pages and checkout flows.

Where Consolidation Might Not Make Sense

• Extremely small merchants with a single need and a very tight budget may prefer the lowest-cost single-purpose app to avoid paying for features they won’t use.
• Stores built around a custom, unique wishlist experience that a consolidated platform cannot match might opt for a tailored single-purpose solution.

For most merchants serious about retention and LTV growth, consolidation reduces friction and improves overall outcomes when compared with maintaining multiple single-purpose apps.

Learn More and Evaluate

Merchants can review plan structures and understand which retention features are included in each tier to make an informed assessment about consolidation. For details on plan features and how consolidation affects billing and capabilities, merchants can compare plans to consolidate retention features. For merchants who want step-by-step help, it’s possible to book a personalized demo that walks through migration scenarios and program design. For a quick option to install and try the app on a storefront, merchants can download from the Shopify App Store.

Migration Checklist: From Single-Purpose App to Consolidated Platform

• Inventory current wishlist usage and identify key flows (e.g., email triggers, sharing links, VIP triggers).
• Export existing wishlist data and customer mappings from the current app.
• Map wishlist events to reward actions in the new platform (e.g., points for conversion).
• Test rendering on theme staging and across mobile devices.
• Validate integration with email provider and CRM; ensure webhook or event forwarding works.
• Define success metrics (repeat purchase rate, wishlist-to-conversion rate, uplift in average order value).
• Roll out gradually and monitor analytics to confirm expected impact.

If support is needed during migration, merchants can book a personalized demo to discuss migration assistance and timeline.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between ESC Wishlist + Save for Later and Stellar Wishlist, the decision comes down to scope and scale. ESC delivers a low-cost, simple widget that makes sense for stores that need only a basic save-for-later and social sharing feature. Stellar offers more advanced wishlist features—personalized emails, branding, and engagement reports—that are useful for merchants who will actively use wishlist data to drive marketing and measure impact. Each app has trade-offs between price, reporting, and scalability.

Beyond choosing between these two single-purpose options, merchants should consider the strategic benefits of consolidating retention tools into a single platform. A consolidated approach reduces tool sprawl, aligns customer experiences, and makes it easier to measure the impact of wishlist behavior on lifetime value. For merchants ready to evaluate a single retention stack that combines wishlist functionality with loyalty, referrals, and reviews, review plan options to consolidate retention features and learn how integrated programs work for larger merchants on solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Start a 14-day free trial to see how an integrated retention stack improves customer lifetime value: Start a free trial.

FAQ

How does ESC Wishlist + Save for Later differ from Stellar Wishlist in practical terms?

ESC is a lightweight, low-cost tool focused on simple save-for-later behavior and on-site social sharing. Stellar expands into email automation, engagement reporting, and tiered usage limits, making it a better fit for merchants who want wishlist events to drive measurable marketing outcomes.

Which app is better for stores with limited budgets?

For strictly minimal budgets, ESC’s $5/month plan is the lowest-cost option and works for basic wishlist needs. If the goal is better long-term value that ties wishlist behavior to revenue through emails and reporting, Stellar’s higher-priced tiers may provide better ROI.

How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps like these?

An all-in-one platform links wishlist behavior with loyalty rewards, referrals, and reviews, creating coordinated customer journeys and consolidated analytics. That reduces vendor management overhead and typically improves lifetime value compared with piecing together multiple single-purpose tools.

What should merchants check before installing a wishlist app?

Merchants should confirm persistence across devices, details about email automation and integrations, available reporting, data export options for migration, theme compatibility, and vendor support responsiveness. These factors determine whether the wishlist will be a tactical improvement or a siloed tool.