Mst: Wishlist + Marketing Flow vs. Keep on Hold Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app can look simple on paper but becomes complex fast. Many Shopify merchants face a pile of single-purpose apps that promise quick wins but create maintenance, design inconsistencies, and fragmented customer data. That tension matters: wishlists are more than a convenience feature — they are a channel for recovery, personalization, and long-term retention when used correctly.

Short answer: Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow is a strong, low-cost choice for merchants that need a highly configurable wishlist with multi-wishlist support, price-drop and back-in-stock alerts, and integrations for email, SMS, and push. Keep on Hold Wishlist is a lean option focused on save-for-later cart behavior and lightweight analytics around cart and wishlist transactions. For merchants trying to reduce technical debt and grow retention across loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists, an integrated platform like Growave is often a better value — it replaces multiple single-purpose apps with one coherent retention stack.

This post provides a feature-by-feature comparison of Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Keep on Hold Wishlist. The goal is to help merchants understand strengths, trade-offs, implementation effort, and which tool best fits specific store needs. After an impartial comparison, the piece pivots to how an all-in-one retention platform addresses the real business problem: tool sprawl and missed cross-channel retention opportunities.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow vs. Keep on Hold Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Features

Core Wishlist Behavior

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow focuses on a broad wishlist feature set. It supports multiple wishlists per customer, guest wishlists, no hard limits on items, and an ability to share wishlists. The app also highlights price-drop and back-in-stock alerts delivered by email, SMS, and push notifications — useful for conversion recovery and inventory-driven urgency.

Keep on Hold Wishlist centers on the "save for later" mental model. It adds a wishlist button on product pages and a save-for-later action within the cart. The key behavioral difference is that Keep on Hold treats the wishlist as an extension of the cart: items saved for later can be retrieved into the cart, and abandoned-cart items can be converted into wishlists for future purchase.

How this affects merchants:

• If shoppers commonly maintain multiple lists (e.g., gift lists, occasion lists, favorites across categories), Mst’s multiple wishlist support wins for user experience.
• If the primary need is to keep items visible that were removed from the cart — turning forgetfulness into future purchases — Keep on Hold’s cart-oriented flow is more focused and faster to implement.

Marketing, Alerts, and Recovery

Mst advertises built-in alerting: price-drop and back-in-stock notifications across email, SMS, and push. It lists direct connections with Klaviyo and push providers (PushOwl/Brevo). That indicates Mst supports automated marketing workflows tied directly to wishlist events, enabling re-engagement sequences and conversion nudges.

Keep on Hold documents reporting for cart and wishlist transactions, which helps merchants see how often shoppers save items and re-add them to carts. The app does not prominently list direct marketing platform integrations, so merchants relying on advanced segmentation and lifecycle messaging may need to export data or layer on other tools.

What merchants should infer:

• Merchants that want immediate alert-based recovery triggered by inventory or price changes will likely prefer Mst for its integrated notification approach.
• Merchants that want visibility into cart behavior and a low-friction “save for later” function may find Keep on Hold sufficient for incremental uplift.

Customization & Theming

Mst emphasizes deep customization: fully customizable My Wishlist page, Liquid template support, HTML/CSS control, and headless/API support. That flexibility suits merchants who require precise branding or need to adapt wishlists to complex templates and bespoke storefronts.

Keep on Hold touts fast compatibility with all themes and a quick install. That suggests a smaller footprint and fewer custom styling options, but a simpler installation path and fewer conflicts with theme code.

Decision factors:

• Stores with custom themes, multiple storefronts, or headless setups will value Mst’s templating and API support.
• Stores that need a low-risk, fast-to-launch wishlist will appreciate Keep on Hold’s lightweight approach.

Multi-language & Multi-currency Support

Mst lists multi-language and multiple currency support explicitly, which is critical for merchants operating across regions or serving multilingual audiences.

Keep on Hold does not list these capabilities on the public description. Merchants with international audiences should verify localization capabilities in Keep on Hold before adoption.

Analytics & Reporting

Keep on Hold clearly includes reporting around cart and wishlist transactions (adds/removes, populate products), which is helpful to track the effectiveness of save-for-later features and to identify products frequently saved rather than purchased.

Mst’s analytics are more implicit: integrations with Klaviyo and other marketing tools imply that wishlist events are actionable in broader marketing analytics, but the app listing does not promise built-in dashboards for wishlist transaction reporting. Merchants may rely on integrated analytics tools for reporting.

Implication:

• Keep on Hold gives immediate, focused behavior metrics out of the box.
• Mst connects wishlist events into marketing platforms for richer lifecycle analytics, but merchants may need to assemble dashboards across tools.

Pricing & Value

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow lists a single monthly plan at $2/month with all features included and no limits on items or customers. That price point represents strong value for early-stage merchants or those prioritizing cost-effectiveness.

Keep on Hold Wishlist has no public pricing listed on the Shopify listing provided. Absence of listed pricing requires merchants to follow up for quotes or infer that pricing may vary by store size, feature needs, or require direct contact.

Value assessment criteria:

• Mst presents a clear, low-cost entry path that includes many features merchants commonly need.
• Keep on Hold’s unlisted pricing can be a barrier to quick evaluation. Merchants should request pricing while evaluating the app’s analytics to ensure total cost of ownership is acceptable.

A word on "value for money": at $2/month, Mst offers substantial perceived value if the feature set fits. But price alone should not override the need for integration with marketing systems, reporting needs, and long-term maintenance costs tied to multiple single-purpose apps.

Integrations & Ecosystem

Mst lists integrations with customer accounts, Shopify Flow, Klaviyo, PushOwl/Brevo, and mobile app builders (Apploy). These are meaningful because wishlists produce behavioral events (save, price watch, back in stock) that work best when connected to broader lifecycle automation.

Keep on Hold highlights integration with Shopify login (to persist wishlists across devices) and its own reports. The limited integration list suggests a more self-contained feature — fast and simple, but potentially more siloed.

Why integrations matter:

• A wishlist that feeds into a marketing stack enables triggered flows (abandoned wishlist reminders, reactivation messages, cross-sell offers). Mst’s integration list points to this capability.
• Keep on Hold may require manual exports or additional connectors for the same level of lifecycle automation.

Support, Maintenance & Trust Signals

Mst has 150 reviews with a 4.7 rating on the Shopify App Store. The combination of review count and high rating is a trust signal: more merchants have used the app and rated it highly.

Keep on Hold has 5 reviews and a 4.3 rating. A smaller review sample increases uncertainty. For a merchant making a long-term decision, review count matters: it reflects a larger install base and more publicly surfaced feedback about edge cases, support responsiveness, and compatibility.

Support considerations:

• Merchants should evaluate support SLAs, documentation, and the ability to get a quick fix for theme conflicts. Look for changelogs, public response to reviews, and whether the developer provides live support or priority services for enterprise customers.

Performance & Theme Compatibility

Keep on Hold markets itself as “fast and compatible with all themes,” and emphasizes a quick install. Lightweight apps often reduce the risk of theme conflicts and slow page loads.

Mst’s advanced customization options mean it modifies storefronts more deeply. That can introduce potential theme conflicts if not implemented carefully. However, the trade-off is more control and better UX when designed correctly. Merchants with limited developer capacity may prefer Keep on Hold for simplicity; merchants with developers can leverage Mst’s customization to craft tailored experiences.

Performance checklist for merchants:

• Test both apps on staging or a development theme.
• Monitor page load times, script placement, and any reported console errors.
• Confirm that mobile UX for wishlist actions is smooth, given that a large share of traffic is mobile.

Implementation Effort & Developer Needs

Mst requires theme adjustments for deep customization but provides Liquid and headless API support, enabling advanced implementations. It’s suitable where a developer can refine the wishlist page, integrate with third-party marketing tools, or build headless flows.

Keep on Hold is designed for quick enablement and minimal theme work. This suits merchants without developer resources wanting to add save-for-later behavior quickly.

Advice for implementation:

• If the merchant has in-house development or an agency, Mst provides more flexibility and future-proofing.
• If the merchant needs the feature immediately with minimal risk, Keep on Hold is the lower-effort path.

Data Privacy, Ownership & Compliance

Neither listing replaces the need for merchants to confirm how user data is stored, exported, and shared. Both apps interact with customer accounts or guest data; merchants should confirm:

• Where event logs are stored and for how long.
• Whether integrations transmit customer contact data to third parties (e.g., Klaviyo, Brevo).
• GDPR, CCPA, and other compliance needs for the store’s operating regions.

Best practice: merchants should request a data processing addendum (DPA) if handling EU resident data and verify export options for data portability.

Business Fit & Use Cases

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow fits merchants who:

• Need multiple wishlist types and deep customization that integrates with theme and brand.
• Require automated alerts for price-drop and back-in-stock across email, SMS, and push.
• Want a low monthly cost with all features unlocked.

Keep on Hold Wishlist fits merchants who:

• Need a fast save-for-later flow tightly integrated with the cart experience.
• Prioritize lightweight implementation and quick time to value.
• Want basic analytics for cart/wishlist transactions without adding heavier marketing integrations.

Merchant scenarios without fictionalization:

• A small apparel brand that runs frequent sales and needs price-drop alerts for wishlisted items may prefer Mst for integrated notifications and multi-wishlist user experience.
• A grocery supplement store with low SKU complexity that wants to reduce cart churn by allowing shoppers to save items for future replenishment may prefer Keep on Hold for its cart-first workflow.

Pros & Cons Summary

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow

• Pros:
  • Rich feature set: multiple wishlists, guest lists, sharing.
  • Price-drop and back-in-stock alerts across email, SMS, push.
  • Integrations with Klaviyo and push providers.
  • Headless/API and Liquid/HTML/CSS customization.
  • Clear, low-cost pricing ($2/month).
  • Multi-language and multi-currency support.
• Cons:
  • More implementation work for deep customization.
  • Potentially more theme changes to manage.
  • Merchants must assemble analytics if they need a single dashboard.

Keep on Hold Wishlist

• Pros:
  • Fast install and theme compatibility.
  • Focused save-for-later cart workflow.
  • Out-of-the-box reporting for cart and wishlist transactions.
  • Optional login persistence across devices.
• Cons:
  • Limited integrations listed publicly.
  • Fewer public reviews and lower review count (higher uncertainty).
  • Pricing not listed, requiring inquiry.
  • Less support for multi-wishlist scenarios and advanced customization.

Migration, Combination, and Long-Term Considerations

Adopting a wishlist solution has long-term implications beyond immediate conversions. Several points to weigh:

• Technical debt: Each additional app adds maintenance surface area. Multiple single-purpose apps (one for wishlist, one for loyalty, one for reviews) increases update complexity and cost.
• Data fragmentation: If wishlist events end up in different systems, it becomes harder to create unified customer profiles and run effective retention campaigns.
• Cross-channel activation: Wishlists fuel email, SMS, push, loyalty programs, and social proof when connected. If the wishlist is isolated, cross-channel opportunities are lost.
• Total cost of ownership: A low upfront price can still result in high TCO if merchants must buy and maintain multiple apps to cover related retention activities.

These considerations create the context for exploring consolidated retention platforms.

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

Why app fatigue matters

App fatigue is the accumulation of small friction points: multiple billing lines, overlapping features, theme conflicts, and fragmented data. Each single-purpose app can appear cheap and effective in isolation. Together, they become a stack that creates significant overhead: additional maintenance, troubleshooting across vendors, and inconsistent customer experiences during cross-channel campaigns.

The central issue is not the wishlist itself: it’s the ecosystem around it. Wishlists are most powerful when they integrate with loyalty to reward saves, with reviews to surface social proof for popular wishlisted items, with referral systems to turn wishlisters into advocates, and with marketing automation to convert saved intent into sales. Piecing those capabilities together across different vendors increases complexity and reduces the effectiveness of each channel.

Growave’s "More Growth, Less Stack" approach

An alternative to single-purpose apps is an integrated retention platform that groups wishlist, loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers under one roof. Growave positions itself as such a platform, following a "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy: consolidate related retention features into a single product to reduce maintenance, unify data, and coordinate cross-channel campaigns.

Key benefits of consolidation:

• Unified customer profiles with wishlist events feeding loyalty, referral, and review automation.
• Reduced development and QA effort since a single vendor maintains inter-tool compatibility.
• Consistent UX across wishlist, rewards, and review touchpoints.
• Centralized reporting and attribution for lifetime value (LTV) improvements.

Merchants evaluating consolidation can compare the time and cost of multiple single-purpose apps versus an integrated suite that includes wishlist functionality plus adjacent retention tools.

How integrated features map to wishlist value

A wishlist is not an island. Here’s how adjacent features improve wishlist performance and retention:

• Loyalty and rewards: Rewarding actions like adding items to a wishlist or purchasing from a wish list increases engagement and LTV. See how merchants can build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• Reviews & UGC: Items that are wishlisted and later purchased can trigger review requests, amplifying social proof for products that customers are considering. Tools to collect and showcase authentic reviews make wishlisted items more convincing.
• Referral campaigns: Wishlists reveal purchase intent that can be turned into referral incentives. When a wishlist converts, merchants can encourage referred customers to add similar items — compounding growth effects.
• Centralized alerts: Price-drop and back-in-stock alerts work better when messages are coordinated with loyalty offers or review-based social proof campaigns.

Growave’s practical offering for merchants

Growave packages wishlist capabilities within a broader retention suite that includes loyalty programs, referrals, reviews & UGC, and VIP tiers. This reduces the need for multiple apps and keeps customer data centralized. For merchants assessing options, two practical resources are useful: a place to evaluate pricing and plans and an easy channel to install an integrated retention stack from the Shopify App Store.

To evaluate the platform in context:

• Examine the available plans and banded limits at the pricing page to see where volume and support needs align. Merchants can evaluate pricing and plans to determine which tier matches order volume and feature needs.
• For merchants on larger or enterprise plans, Growave lists solutions targeted at high-growth merchants and headless storefronts; those evaluating headless or checkout extensions should check solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Integrations that matter

Growave integrates with many commonly used commerce tools (Klaviyo, Omnisend, Gorgias, Recharge, and popular page builders). That means wishlist events trigger lifecycle automations without stitching separate vendor webhooks together.

Specific feature links that illustrate how this consolidation drives value:

• To build a program that ties wishlists into rewards and repeat purchase incentives, merchants can look into loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• To automate post-purchase review invitations tied to wishlist behavior or VIP tiers, merchants can use tools to collect and showcase authentic reviews.

These features show how an integrated platform turns wishlist signals into coordinated retention plays.

Customer evidence and scale

Growave lists over 1,197 reviews with a 4.8 rating, indicating significant adoption and high customer satisfaction. For merchants considering switching from single-purpose apps, that scale suggests the platform has worked across a variety of stores.

Merchants looking for real-world examples can study customer stories and inspiration to see how similar brands leverage an integrated retention stack. For one-click exploration of how peers use integrated retention features, see curated customer stories from brands scaling retention.

Try it or see it in action

For merchants who prefer a guided evaluation, there is an option to book a personalized demo of the integrated platform. A demo shows how wishlist data can feed loyalty, referral, and review flows without needing separate integrations.

Book a personalized demo to see how a unified retention stack improves retention. (Hard CTA)

Note: The previous sentence is an explicit call to action. Later in the conclusion, a second and final Hard CTA will invite merchants to start a trial.

Economic comparison: stack vs. suite

When weighing cost, consider full stack economics:

• Many single-purpose apps have low monthly costs individually but add up across wishlist, reviews, referrals, and loyalty.
• An integrated suite often consolidates those line items into one subscription with clearer support, unified reporting, and fewer points of failure.

Merchants should compare:

• Direct subscription costs across required apps.
• Implementation and developer hours for integrations and theming.
• Opportunity cost from fragmented data (missed personalization and coordinated campaigns).
• Long-term maintenance and the risk of theme conflicts after platform updates.

To quickly assess whether consolidation makes sense, merchants can evaluate pricing and plans and compare the total monthly spend against the combined cost of specialized apps.

Which Merchant Should Choose Which App?

This section avoids declaring a single winner. Instead, it maps specific merchant needs to the app that best fits those needs.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow is best for merchants who:

• Need advanced wishlist features like multiple wishlists per customer and guest wishlists.
• Want built-in price-drop and back-in-stock alerts across email, SMS, and push.
• Require deep theme-level customization, headless API support, and multi-language/multi-currency capabilities.
• Are cost-sensitive and want a clear low-price entry point ($2/month) that includes all features.

Keep on Hold Wishlist is best for merchants who:

• Prioritize a fast, low-risk save-for-later flow tied directly to the cart experience.
• Need out-of-the-box reporting on cart-to-wishlist behavior without additional integrations.
• Prefer minimal theme changes and immediate launchability.
• Have simpler wishlist needs and limited developer resources.

Growave’s integrated approach is best for merchants who:

• Want to reduce tool sprawl and centralize retention programs (loyalty, referrals, reviews, wishlists) in one platform.
• Need coordinated campaigns across channels and want wishlist signals to influence loyalty and review automation.
• Value centralized reporting, consistent UX, and fewer vendors to manage.
• Prefer investing in a consolidated toolset to increase customer lifetime value rather than assembling multiple single-purpose apps.

Implementation Checklist for Each Option

Below are practical, general steps merchants should follow when evaluating or implementing a wishlist solution. These are high-level, actionable items that apply regardless of vendor.

Common pre-launch checks:

• Test on a development theme: confirm visual alignment and no console errors.
• Mobile-first validation: ensure wishlist interactions are easy on small screens.
• Data flow verification: confirm wishlist events are tracked and routed to marketing tools.
• Privacy verification: request data handling policies and DPAs if required.
• Performance monitoring: use Lighthouse or similar tools to measure page load impact.

Specific checks for Mst:

• Validate multi-wishlist UX flows and sharing behavior.
• Configure price-drop and back-in-stock alert templates and test email/SMS/push delivery.
• Ensure headless/API endpoints meet technical needs for a non-standard storefront.

Specific checks for Keep on Hold:

• Confirm cart-save and restore actions work reliably with the store’s checkout flow.
• Validate analytics for cart and wishlist transactions and how they map to product SKUs.
• Ensure login persistence behaves consistently across devices.

Specific checks for Growave:

• Map wishlist event triggers to loyalty and review automation rules.
• Determine which Growave plan matches monthly order volume and feature needs; merchants can evaluate pricing and plans.
• Confirm integrations with marketing platforms like Klaviyo or Omnisend for advanced lifecycle campaigns.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Keep on Hold Wishlist, the decision comes down to feature depth versus simplicity and the broader retention strategy. Mst offers a highly configurable wishlist with multi-wishlist support, price-drop/back-in-stock alerts, and strong integrations at a compelling price point, making it an excellent choice for merchants who need configurable UX and integrated alerting. Keep on Hold provides a fast, lightweight save-for-later experience with focused cart analytics and is suited for merchants who want minimal setup and a cart-centered workflow.

Beyond that single-choice decision, the strategic question is whether a wishlist should sit alone or be part of a broader retention suite. Multiple single-purpose apps can solve isolated needs but often lead to app fatigue, fragmented data, and higher long-term operational costs. An integrated retention platform consolidates wishlist behavior with loyalty, reviews, referrals, and VIP tiers to increase retention and lifetime value while reducing the number of vendors to manage.

Growave presents an alternative by combining wishlist functionality with loyalty, referrals, and reviews under the "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy. Merchants can evaluate pricing and plans to see if consolidation reduces their total cost of ownership while boosting retention. For merchants who prefer to install an integrated solution directly, it is possible to add an integrated retention stack from the Shopify App Store. To explore how wishlist events can feed loyalty and review programs, look at how merchants can build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases and collect and showcase authentic reviews. For real-world examples of how similar brands solve retention, review customer stories from brands scaling retention.

Start a 14-day free trial to explore Growave’s integrated retention tools and see whether consolidating wishlist, loyalty, and reviews reduces complexity and improves retention. (Hard CTA)

FAQ

Q: Which app offers the most advanced wishlist features for segmented communications? A: Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow offers more advanced wishlist features out of the box, including multiple wishlists, price-drop and back-in-stock alerts, and integrations with lifecycle platforms like Klaviyo. That makes it easier to trigger segmented communications based on wishlist events.

Q: Which app is faster to implement with minimal developer work? A: Keep on Hold Wishlist is designed for quick installs and broad theme compatibility, making it faster to launch for merchants without developer resources. It focuses on save-for-later cart behavior and requires limited customization.

Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps? A: An all-in-one platform consolidates wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews so that wishlist events feed directly into rewards and review flows. This reduces maintenance, improves data consistency, and enables coordinated campaigns that are difficult to achieve with multiple specialized apps.

Q: If a merchant wants both deep customization and centralization of retention features, what is a practical path? A: Evaluate whether the wishlist’s customization needs are part of a larger retention strategy. If so, compare the combined cost and overhead of Mst plus additional apps (for loyalty, reviews, referrals) versus a consolidated platform where wishlist customization and adjacent retention features are built into one product. Merchants can evaluate pricing and plans and request a demo to map the migration path.