Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist vs. Webkul Product Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right app for wishlist and retention features can be confusing. Shopify merchants face thousands of apps that appear similar at first glance, but the differences matter: functionality, integrations, long-term costs, and how each tool fits into a growth strategy all affect retention and lifetime value.

Short answer: Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist is best for merchants who want a multi-functional retention platform that combines loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlist features into one cohesive suite—making it easier to increase repeat purchases and lifetime value. Webkul Product Wishlist is an economical, narrowly focused wishlist tool that can work for stores that only need basic wishlist functionality at a low monthly cost. For brands planning to scale retention programs or reduce app bloat, Growave typically offers better value for money.

This post compares Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist and Webkul Product Wishlist feature-by-feature, using available review and pricing data, to help merchants pick the right solution for their store and growth stage.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist vs. Webkul Product Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Features

Wishlist Core Capabilities

Growave provides a built-in wishlist module as part of a broader retention suite. Wishlist items connect to review prompts, back-in-stock notifications, and customer accounts. The wishlist is designed to work alongside loyalty and referral incentives—so wishlist behavior can be turned into targeted outreach or rewards.

Webkul Product Wishlist focuses squarely on wishlist creation. Core features include customer-created wishlists, wishlist categories, reminder emails for wishlist items, and multiple wishlist icons. It requires customers to log in to save and access items, and the store owner can view wishlist data and send reminders.

Pros — Growave (wishlist):

• Wishlist integrated with loyalty, review requests, and back-in-stock emails.
• Works with Shopify customer accounts and Shopify POS (important for omnichannel stores).
• Wishlist activity can be used to trigger loyalty or referral incentives.

Cons — Growave (wishlist):

• Some stores that only want wishlist features may not need the broader suite.
• Advanced wishlist behavior may require higher-tier plans.

Pros — Webkul (wishlist):

• Very low monthly cost; simple setup for basic wishlist needs.
• Wishlist categories allow customers to organize items by occasion or priority.
• Reminder emails help recover potential purchases from wishlists.

Cons — Webkul (wishlist):

• Login requirement may reduce wishlist adoption for stores that prefer guest wishlist options.
• Limited connection to other retention features (no native loyalty or review automation).
• Small review base means less social proof about long-term reliability.

Loyalty, Rewards, and VIPs

Growave includes loyalty and rewards as core features—points programs, VIP tiers, customizable rewards, points expiration, and checkout extensions for Plus merchants. These features are designed to increase repeat purchases and customer lifetime value.

Webkul does not include loyalty or rewards features because it is a focused wishlist app. For merchants seeking incentive programs, a separate loyalty app is required.

Pros — Growave (loyalty):

• Built-in loyalty reduces the need for a separate third-party app.
• Supports VIP tiers, account extensions, and custom reward actions on higher plans.
• Integrates with checkout, POS, and headless setups for enterprise use.

Cons — Growave (loyalty):

• Access to advanced loyalty features requires paid tiers.
• More configuration needed to tailor sophisticated loyalty flows.

Pros — Webkul:

• Keeps the app footprint minimal; merchants can pick a dedicated loyalty provider as needed.

Cons — Webkul:

• Requires separate loyalty apps, increasing tool sprawl and potential integration work.

Reviews, UGC, and Referral Marketing

Growave bundles product reviews and referral programs with wishlist and loyalty. That means review request automation, Google Shopping Reviews (on higher plans), and the ability to collect UGC via social features. Referral campaigns include fraud protection and are tied to loyalty actions.

Webkul does not include review or referral features. Store owners must implement separate solutions for review collection and ambassador/referral programs.

Pros — Growave (reviews & referrals):

• Native review collection and social UGC tools reduce integration needs.
• Review automation can be used to trigger loyalty points or referral incentives.
• Review features increase trust and contribute to conversion lift.

Cons — Growave:

• If a merchant already uses a specialized review platform with deep custom features, migration may be necessary.

Pros — Webkul:

• Minimal complexity; merchants can choose best-of-breed review or referral tools.

Cons — Webkul:

• Adding review/referral tools increases costs and creates more systems to manage.

Pricing & Value

Pricing is a major decision driver. Value should be judged against outcomes: retention, repeat purchases, and reduced app maintenance time.

Growave pricing tiers:

• Free: Free plan with basic features (100 orders/month allowance, wishlist, loyalty points, product reviews, Growave branding, 48hr email support).
• Entry ($49/month): Advanced rewards, referral program with fraud protection, nudges, review request series, Shopify POS & Flow, +1 integration, customizable emails, 24/7 email support.
• Growth ($199/month): VIP tiers, dedicated loyalty page, POS loyalty QR, points expiration & gift cards, review attributes, Google Shopping Reviews, back-in-stock wishlist emails, priority onboarding/support.
• Plus ($499/month): Checkout extensions, API & SDK for headless, custom loyalty designs, unlimited integrations, CSM, launch plan, full support.

Webkul pricing:

• Basic Plan: $7/month (simple wishlist features).

Value assessment:

• Webkul offers the best immediate cost for simple wishlist functionality. For merchants on a tight budget whose only need is a wishlist, this is a straightforward choice.
• Growave delivers more value per dollar when measuring against retention outputs: loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist combined produce synergies that single-function apps cannot. For merchants planning to grow LTV and reduce the number of separate subscriptions, Growave's Entry or Growth plans can provide better value for money.

Where costs escalate:

• For stores that require only one feature (e.g., wishlist), Growave can feel like overkill unless the merchant plans to adopt additional retention tactics.
• Conversely, using Webkul plus separate loyalty, reviews, and referral apps often ends up costing more and creating integration overhead.

Integrations and Ecosystem

Growave has a broad integration set: checkout, Shopify POS, customer accounts, Shopify Flow, Pagefly, Klaviyo, Omnisend, PushOwl, Postscript, Recharge, Gorgias, Attentive, and more. The platform is built with Shopify Plus use cases in mind, and the Plus plan supports API/SDK and headless storefronts.

Webkul Product Wishlist lists a much narrower compatibility set (Product Auction is noted). Integration options are limited, meaning merchants may need to custom-develop connectors or rely on third-party middleware to sync wishlist data with email platforms or CRMs.

Implications:

• Growave's native integrations reduce engineering time and enable loyalty/marketing workflows tied directly to customer behavior.
• Webkul is lightweight but may force additional development to create the same automation.

Support and Onboarding

Growave offers tiered support aligned with plans: Entry includes 24/7 email support; Growth adds priority onboarding and 5-star onboarding support; Plus provides a customer success manager and launch plan. Documentation is described as world-class, and there is support for Shopify Plus merchants.

Webkul's listing doesn't advertise the same level of dedicated support. With only two reviews, evidence of hands-on onboarding and comprehensive live support is limited.

Support pros — Growave:

• 24/7 support on paid tiers, onboarding for Growth and Plus, and dedicated CSM on Plus.
• Designed to handle larger stores and complex integrations.

Support cons — Growave:

• Free plan support limited to 48-hour email replies.

Support pros — Webkul:

• Lower monthly cost typically implies less hands-on onboarding, but the simplicity of the app can mitigate some support needs.

Support cons — Webkul:

• Small review base; limited visibility into response times and proactivity.

User Experience and Design

Growave aims to provide polished, customizable widgets and pages that match brand design, especially on higher plans where loyalty pages and checkout extensions are available. The suite favors cohesive UI across loyalty, wishlist, and review modules.

Webkul’s wishlist features focus on utility: icons, wishlist categories, and reminder emails. Visual customization options are likely more limited and may require additional theme tweaks to match a brand design.

Design pros — Growave:

• More customization options, dedicated loyalty page design on Growth/Plus plans, and better fit for high-end storefronts.

Design cons — Growave:

• More moving parts require configuration; merchant must decide how much to customize.

Design pros — Webkul:

• Simple, functional wishlist UI with minimal setup.

Design cons — Webkul:

• Less control over branded experiences, and guest wishlist options are not included.

Data, Reporting & Analytics

Growave provides reporting across loyalty, rewards, referrals, and reviews—giving merchants a unified view of retention impact. Metrics can include points issued/redeemed, referral conversions, UGC performance, wishlist-to-order conversion, and order volume attributable to retention features.

Webkul provides wishlist data and allows store owners to track wishlist creation and send reminders. Its reporting is limited to wishlist-related metrics and lacks cross-channel attribution.

Why this matters:

• Measuring LTV improvements, repeat purchase rates, and referral revenue requires consolidated data. Growave's suite simplifies that measurement.
• With Webkul alone, merchants need to stitch wishlist data into analytics platforms to measure true impact.

Security, Privacy & Compliance

Both apps operate within Shopify’s app framework, but merchants should confirm data handling practices, especially if personal data is used for back-in-stock or reminder emails. Growave’s higher-tier enterprise focus suggests stronger SLAs and compliance support for larger stores.

Webkul offers basic wishlist functionality; merchants must ensure that their use of reminder emails and login requirements complies with local regulations for marketing and data storage.

Recommendation:

• For stores with strict compliance requirements (enterprise, EU data protection, or complex checkout flows), Growave’s enterprise and Plus plans provide a clearer support path.

Performance and Reliability

Growave is built as a full platform with optimizations for Shopify storefront performance and headless setups (Plus). Reliability is crucial when loyalty point systems and checkout extensions interact directly with customer purchases.

Webkul, being a single-purpose app, generally has a small footprint, which may limit performance impact. However, lack of active development visibility or a larger user base means less community feedback on long-term reliability.

Customization, Theming & Headless Support

Growave offers headless support via API & SDK on Plus plans and extensive theming options on higher tiers, making it suitable for brands with bespoke storefronts or complex checkout customizations.

Webkul’s wishlist does not advertise headless features, limiting its usefulness in modern headless implementations.

Migration & Exit Considerations

If a merchant starts with Webkul and later needs loyalty, reviews, or referral features, moving to a suite like Growave will require data migration and workflow rebuilding. Conversely, moving from Growave to separate specialized apps may also require exporting customer points, review history, and wishlist items.

Merchants should plan migrations carefully:

• Confirm export capabilities for wishlist data, customer points, or UGC.
• Consider long-term costs of maintaining multiple apps versus consolidating.

Use Cases: Which Merchant Should Choose Which App?

Growave is best suited for:

• Merchants who want to consolidate retention tools into one platform.
• Stores that plan to scale loyalty, referrals, and reviews alongside wishlist features.
• Shopify Plus stores or brands needing checkout/POC/headless support.
• Merchants who want a single source of truth for retention analytics.

Webkul Product Wishlist is best suited for:

• Small stores that only need a simple wishlist at a low monthly cost.
• Merchants testing wishlist demand before investing in broader retention tooling.
• Stores that prefer to keep app footprint minimal and add features only when necessary.

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

App fatigue is a real and growing problem. Many merchants layer specialized apps—one for wishlist, another for loyalty, a third for reviews, and so on. The result is duplicate data flows, fractured customer experiences, multiple subscriptions, and increased maintenance overhead.

Problems caused by app sprawl:

• Fragmented customer journeys: Customers may receive conflicting emails or inconsistent branding across wishlist, loyalty, and review prompts.
• Higher total cost of ownership: Multiple monthly fees add up and integration work increases engineering hours.
• Measurement blind spots: Attribution across several apps requires manual stitching and can misrepresent the ROI of retention programs.
• Operational complexity: More apps mean more interfaces to manage and more potential points of failure.

Growave’s "More Growth, Less Stack" proposition addresses these issues by providing a single platform that combines loyalty, reviews, referrals, wishlist, and VIP tiers. That approach reduces tool sprawl while enabling coordinated retention programs.

Why consolidate retention tools?

• Shared identity and consistent UX: Using unified customer profiles means wishlist activity can directly feed loyalty incentives or review requests without complex integrations.
• Faster time to value: Instead of wiring multiple apps together, merchants can set up cross-functional campaigns (e.g., reward points for product shares and automatically request reviews after purchase) within the same platform.
• Clear impact measurement: Unified reporting shows how loyalty and referral campaigns affect repeat purchases and lifetime value.

Growave features that enable consolidation:

• Built-in loyalty and rewards that can be tied to wishlist behaviors and purchases, helping increase repeat purchase rates and average order value. See how loyalty and rewards can be used to amplify retention by exploring how merchants consolidate retention features with Growave.
• Native review and UGC tools to capture authentic customer feedback and display social proof without adding a separate review app. Merchants can collect and showcase authentic reviews and reduce the number of tools required for social proof.
• Integrated wishlist functionality that connects to review automation and back-in-stock triggers, providing practical conversion opportunities from wishlist events.
• Support for Shopify Plus, headless storefronts, and checkout extensions for merchants that need high performance and custom checkout experiences, which reduces the need for custom middleware.
• Pre-built integrations with popular marketing and support tools to keep customer data in sync.

Contextual links to learn more:

• To evaluate plan capacity and cost side-by-side, merchants often compare options to consolidate retention features and check plan limits by visiting the pricing page.
• Many merchants prefer to install from the Shopify App Store to review recent merchant feedback and install details; viewing the app listing gives insight into review volume and common support topics.

How consolidation improves outcomes:

• Retain customers: Loyalty programs and referral incentives increase repeat purchase rates and lower churn.
• Increase LTV: VIP tiers and points systems encourage higher spend and more frequent purchases.
• Reduce time spent on integrations: Single-platform workflows cut days or weeks of engineering and QA.
• Improve measurement: Unified data reveals the true lift from retention investments.

Secondary features that matter when consolidating:

• Automation: Scheduled review requests, reminder emails for wishlist items, and automated points issuance all lower manual work.
• Customization: Brand-consistent loyalty pages and reward designs improve customer trust and clarity around earning/redeeming incentives.
• Support: Onboarding and customer success managers reduce time to launch and help create high-impact retention campaigns.

Contextual links to feature details:

• For merchants considering loyalty-first strategies, reviewing how integrated loyalty and rewards drive repeat purchases helps justify consolidation.
• For stores prioritizing social proof, exploring built-in review collection and UGC tools clarifies how consolidation reduces marketing friction.

Practical integration examples (no fictional scenarios):

• A merchant can use wishlist adds to trigger a follow-up nudges campaign, then convert wishlist interactions into reward points for purchases—without syncing multiple apps.
• Collecting reviews from customers who redeemed rewards can also produce UGC that feeds the product page and marketing emails within the same platform.

For merchants evaluating consolidation, the pricing page helps determine plan fit and capacity. Reviewing the app listing in the marketplace provides context on adoption and community feedback.

Implementation Considerations

Choosing an app isn’t only about features—it’s about how smoothly it can be implemented and maintained.

Checklist for evaluating implementation effort:

• Data exports and imports: Confirm the ability to export wishlist lists, customer points, and review data.
• Theme compatibility: Verify widget and script injection methods; request help documentation or developer support for theme customizations.
• Integration demands: Confirm native connectors for email, SMS, CRM, and customer service tools, or plan for middleware if required.
• Onboarding and success: Assess the level of onboarding needed and the availability of a dedicated customer success resource for larger launches.

Growave reduces implementation friction for merchants that need end-to-end retention by providing onboarding for Growth and Plus plans and integrations with marketing and support tools that merchants commonly use. Merchants that only need a lightweight wishlist may prefer Webkul for minimal setup.

Measuring ROI

Merchants should measure retention impact with these KPIs:

• Repeat purchase rate (RPR)
• Customer lifetime value (LTV)
• Average order value (AOV)
• Redemption rate of rewards
• Conversion rate from wishlist to purchase

Growave’s unified reporting helps attribute changes in these metrics to loyalty campaigns, referrals, or wishlist nudges. Using a single platform simplifies establishing causal links between activity and outcome.

With Webkul, merchants can measure wishlist-to-order conversion but will need to stitch data across separate tools to quantify the contribution of external loyalty or review platforms to LTV.

Migration Paths and Data Portability

Before choosing an app, confirm export abilities:

• Wishlist items and categories
• Customer IDs associated with wishlist items
• Loyalty points ledger and redemption history
• Review history and UGC assets

Growave documents data import/export options and provides support for plan migrations. For merchants moving from single-function wishlist apps to a consolidated platform, plan time to migrate wishlist data and align customer records.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist and Webkul Product Wishlist, the decision comes down to scope and growth plans. Webkul Product Wishlist provides a low-cost, simple wishlist solution appropriate for stores that only need basic wishlist functionality and want minimal monthly expense. Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist is the better option for merchants who aim to increase retention, lifetime value, and operating efficiency by consolidating loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlist features into a single platform.

If the priority is short-term cost and a basic wishlist, Webkul delivers immediate utility at a low monthly price. If the objective is to build lasting customer relationships and reduce tool sprawl while enabling coordinated retention campaigns, Growave provides better value for money across scalability, integrations, and support.

Start a 14-day free trial to see how a unified retention stack accelerates growth.(start a 14-day free trial)

For merchants who prefer to evaluate installation and merchant feedback before a trial, viewing the app listing in the marketplace is a quick next step.(view the app listing on the Shopify App Store)

FAQ

Q: Which app is better if the only requirement is a wishlist?

• A: Webkul Product Wishlist is a clear choice for merchants whose only need is a simple wishlist with categories and reminder emails. It offers a low-cost entry point and minimal setup. Growave is more suitable if wishlist activity will be tied to loyalty, reviews, or referral strategies.

Q: How do review counts and ratings affect trust in these apps?

• A: Growave has a large sample of merchant feedback (about 1,197 reviews, 4.8 rating), which provides more signals about long-term reliability and support. Webkul’s small sample (2 reviews, 5.0 rating) may reflect a good experience but lacks the broad evidence that many merchants rely on when choosing platform-level tools.

Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps for retention?

• A: An all-in-one platform reduces integration work, centralizes reporting, and creates coordinated customer journeys—advantages that typically lead to better retention outcomes. Specialized apps can be less expensive for single features but often result in higher total cost of ownership and fractured data when multiple tools are required.

Q: What should merchants check before migrating wishlist data?

• A: Merchants should confirm export capabilities for wishlist items, customer identifiers, and any associated metadata (categories, creation dates), verify how loyalty points or review history can be imported, and plan for theme/widget adjustments to preserve brand experience.

Additional resources for merchants interested in loyalty-first or review-first strategies and real customer stories can help decide whether consolidation or a modular approach is best.(compare plans and limits to decide if consolidation fits the roadmap)