Introduction

Choosing the right retention and engagement tools is one of the trickiest decisions a Shopify merchant makes. Single-purpose apps can solve a specific problem quickly, but they also add code, billing lines, and cognitive load. This article compares two focused Shopify apps—Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Likely ‑ Like Me Button—so merchants can decide which fit their short-term needs and when to consider a broader platform.

Short answer: Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow is a strong, low-cost option for stores that want a robust wishlist with alerts, multi-language support, and developer-level customization. Likely ‑ Like Me Button delivers a simple social-proof feature — a like button — that can boost product discovery for stores prioritizing lightweight engagement. For merchants seeking long-term retention, fewer apps, and combined loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist capabilities, a unified platform like Growave often provides better value for money and reduces tool sprawl.

The purpose of this article is to give an in-depth, feature-by-feature comparison of Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Likely ‑ Like Me Button. The evaluation covers features, pricing and value, integrations, technical flexibility, support, real-world use cases, and a realistic appraisal of trade-offs. A pivot section introduces a consolidated alternative for merchants tired of single-purpose apps.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow vs. Likely ‑ Like Me Button: At a Glance

AspectMst: Wishlist + Marketing flowLikely ‑ Like Me Button
Core FunctionFull-feature wishlist with alerts and multiple wishlistsSimple like button (social proof) for product pages
Best ForStores that need a robust wishlist, back-in-stock/price alerts, and deep customizationStores that want a lightweight social-proof layer with a simple like metric
Rating (Shopify reviews)4.7 (150 reviews)3.6 (10 reviews)
Key FeaturesMultiple wishlists, guest wishlist, price drop & back-in-stock alerts (email, SMS, push), unlimited items, liquid template support, API/headlessLike button on product pages, customizable icons/colors, reports of most liked products, export likes
IntegrationsKlaviyo, Brevo, PushOwl, Apploy, Shopify Flow, Customer accountsNone listed (minimal integrations)
Pricing (entry)$2/month (all features)$1.99/month (Starter) / $2.99/month (Basic)
Typical Trade-offMore features and alerts; adds UX elements and requires configurationExtremely lightweight; limited functionality and growth paths

Feature Comparison: What Each App Actually Does

Wishlist Functionality and Product Saving

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow

Mst is built around a full wishlist experience. Core wishlist features include saving items for later, support for multiple wishlists per customer, guest wishlist functionality, and no limit on item or customer counts. The wishlist page is customizable with Liquid, HTML, and CSS enabling theme-consistent layouts, and the app supports multi-language and multiple currencies. These points make it suitable for stores that want the wishlist to feel native to the storefront.

Benefits merchants will notice:

  • Customers can maintain multiple lists (useful for gift registries, repeat orders, or seasonal shopping).
  • Guest wishlist capability helps capture interest from non-account holders.
  • Deep theme customization maintains brand consistency.

Potential downsides:

  • More features introduce complexity during setup.
  • Custom Liquid templates may require developer time for advanced layouts.

Likely ‑ Like Me Button

Likely focuses on a single social interaction: a like button on product pages and featured product areas. That like count becomes a lightweight signal of product popularity.

Benefits merchants will notice:

  • Extremely quick to install and small UX footprint.
  • Adds social proof without committing to a wishlist or account-based flow.

Limitations:

  • Likes do not create a saved list for future purchase; they serve primarily to inform other shoppers and internal merchandising.
  • No native alerts, cart-saving, or follow-up marketing tied to likes.

Alerts, Re-Engagement, and Marketing Flow

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow

Mst includes Price Drop and Back in Stock alerts via email, SMS, and push notifications. Those are crucial features for converting latent demand into purchases. The app also lists integrations with Klaviyo and other messaging providers, which allows merchants to include wishlist signals in broader lifecycle campaigns.

Value for merchants:

  • Ability to re-activate browsers with relevant, automated messaging.
  • Seamless connection to ESPs for personalized workflows.

Trade-offs:

  • Proper use of alerts requires attention to messaging cadence and segmentation to avoid unsubscribes.
  • SMS and push often add additional costs beyond the app’s monthly fee (via the messaging provider).

Likely ‑ Like Me Button

Likely provides no direct alerting functionality. Likes are a behavioral signal that can be exported, but the app does not provide native back-in-stock or price-drop notification flows. For stores that want to act on likes, external processes would be needed to make likes actionable.

Social Proof and Merchandising

Both apps touch social proof, but in different ways.

  • Likely centers social proof — likes are an explicit social count visible to shoppers and can influence buying decisions by signaling popularity.
  • Mst can create social proof indirectly through shared wishlists and public wishlist sharing but is primarily conversion-focused through alerts and saved items.

For merchandising teams:

  • Likely gives a quick metric for “most-liked” products that can inform promos or featured lists without much overhead.
  • Mst offers richer shopper intent signals (saved items + alerts) that can integrate into lifecycle marketing and inventory decisions.

Customization and Front-End Control

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow

Mst promotes fully customizable wishlist pages and UI through Liquid, HTML, and CSS. For stores that prioritize brand experience and have custom themes or headless setups, that level of control is a major strength. API and headless theme support make the app suitable for stores with developer resources.

Likely ‑ Like Me Button

Likely allows customization of icons and colors so the like button can match brand colors. The customization is limited to the button appearance rather than page-level templates. That makes it friendly for merchants who want a consistent look but not deep layout changes.

Analytics, Reporting, and Export

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow

Mst lists price-drop and back-in-stock alerts, and with its integration points it supports inclusion of wishlist data in ESP dashboards and reporting tools. The app’s features suggest event-level data can be routed to analytics platforms via integrations or APIs.

Likely ‑ Like Me Button

Likely offers real-time reports and the ability to export liked products with counts. This provides a simple dataset that merchandising and acquisition teams can use.

Trade-offs:

  • Likely’s exports are straightforward and require little processing.
  • Mst’s data may require integration into existing analytics stacks to realize full value.

API, Developer Tools, and Headless Support

  • Mst explicitly lists API and headless theme support, making it compatible with custom storefronts and server-side rendering strategies. This reduces friction for advanced builds.
  • Likely does not list API/headless capabilities, indicating limited use in headless or custom checkout flows.

For enterprise or bespoke storefronts, Mst is the more developer-friendly option.

Pricing and Value: Comparing Cost Against Benefits

Price alone is rarely the best metric. It makes more sense to look at the cost relative to the outcomes each app provides: capturing intent, converting saved shoppers, increasing average order value, or improving conversion through social proof.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow Pricing

  • Monthly plan at $2/month for full features, no usage caps on items or customers, plus alerts.
  • The low monthly cost with unlimited items is compelling for small and mid-size stores seeking a robust wishlist and alerts.

Value considerations:

  • The minimal fee is attractive; the main investment might be configuration or developer time for advanced customization.
  • When paired with an ESP (for delivery of alerts), there may be incremental costs for SMS or email sends.

Likely ‑ Like Me Button Pricing

  • Starter: $1.99/month (simple installation, unlimited likes, variety of icons)
  • Basic: $2.99/month (adds “Most Liked Products,” priority support)
  • Very low price points and a simple feature set make this a low-friction addition for stores that need a lightweight social signal.

Value considerations:

  • The app is designed to be cheap and simple. For merchants who only want a like counter and a minimal ongoing bill, the app is appropriate.
  • Because the app’s value is bounded by the single feature, growth beyond social proof requires additional tools.

Value for Money Comparison

  • Both apps are priced under $5/month for entry tiers, making them accessible to new stores. Mst delivers more functionality per dollar when factoring in alerts, multiple wishlists, and developer-level customization.
  • Likely offers very targeted value: a cheap way to add social proof counts with minimal configuration and maintenance.

For merchants looking for the best value per retained customer or for increasing repeat purchases, a single small app may be insufficient. Consolidated platforms can deliver a higher return on monthly spend by bundling loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist features in one subscription.

Integrations and Ecosystem Fit

Integration depth is a major determinant of how an app fits within an existing marketing and operations stack.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow Integrations

Mst lists integrations or compatibility with:

  • Klaviyo (Email & SMS)
  • Brevo/Sendinblue (Email, Push, SMS)
  • PushOwl (Push notifications)
  • Apploy (Mobile app builder)
  • Shopify Flow, Customer accounts

This set suggests Mst is oriented toward connecting saved-item signals and alerts into lifecycle tools, helping turn saved interest into conversions. For merchants running advanced email and automation, these integrations make Mst a solid fit.

Likely ‑ Like Me Button Integrations

No integrations are listed for Likely. Data export is available, which can be used to move like counts into other systems manually. For stores that want a plug-and-play metric without integration complexity, this may be sufficient. For stores that want supercharged automation, Likely’s lack of integrations is a constraint.

Support, Reviews, and Trust Signals

Ratings and review counts provide a sense of adoption and user satisfaction.

  • Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow — 150 reviews, rating 4.7. This is a strong signal that the app is reliable and meets merchant needs across different stores. A higher review count and high rating suggest solid support and stability.
  • Likely ‑ Like Me Button — 10 reviews, rating 3.6. A lower review count and middling rating indicate either early-stage adoption or mixed experiences on functionality or support.

Support channels and response quality matter:

  • Mst’s integrations with major ESPs and the app’s higher review count typically reflect more mature support.
  • Likely’s priority support in the Basic plan may offer faster response for paying merchants, but the limited feature set keeps support channels narrow.

Installation, Performance, and Code Quality

Performance overhead is a practical concern when adding client-side widgets or server calls.

  • Mst’s deeper feature set likely injects more code into storefronts (wishlist UI, API calls for alerts, script for push/email triggers). For most stores this is acceptable, but performance testing is recommended.
  • Likely is lightweight by design: a single button and count typically add minimal page weight. This makes it attractive for speed-sensitive stores.

Both apps should be evaluated for script load order, lazy-loading behavior, and compatibility with caching/CDN strategies. The presence of headless and Liquid template support in Mst points to a developer-friendly approach that can be optimized for performance.

Common Merchant Use Cases and Which App Fits Best

Below are practical use-case recommendations that match typical merchant priorities.

When Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow is the better fit

  • A store wants customers to save items and receive back-in-stock or price-drop alerts.
  • The merchant uses Klaviyo, PushOwl, or another ESP to run lifecycle campaigns and wants wishlist events in those workflows.
  • Multiple wishlists, guest wishlists, or wishlist sharing are important (gift registries, weddings, wishlists for events).
  • The store uses a custom theme or headless architecture and needs template-level control and APIs.
  • The team plans to measure saved-item intent and act on it using automation.

When Likely ‑ Like Me Button is the better fit

  • A store wants a very low-cost, minimal-impact social-proof metric on product pages.
  • There’s limited developer bandwidth, and only a visual like-count is needed to aid conversions.
  • The merchant wants to use product-likes as merchandising signals with manual exports rather than automated flows.

When neither single-purpose app is sufficient

  • A store aims to build retention programs (loyalty points, VIP tiers), referral campaigns, review generation, and wishlist-driven re-engagement. Adding separate apps for each need risks “app fatigue,” duplicated features, and billing complexity.

Risk and Trade-Offs of Single-Purpose Apps

Using single-function apps has immediate benefits (speed of deployment, focused feature set) but also cumulative costs:

  • Slower decision cycles: Multiple vendors, different support channels, and varying update cadences make coordinated changes slow.
  • Duplication of features: Several apps may each add loyalty-like badges, popups, or scripts that overlap and bloat the storefront.
  • Analytics fragmentation: Tracking customer journeys across multiple apps requires stitching data in the merchant’s analytics stack.
  • Billing overhead: Multiple monthly subscriptions can add up, and the incremental cost per app can exceed the value of consolidated plans.
  • Increased technical maintenance: Each app adds scripts and endpoints that need to be monitored, optimized, and version-controlled.

For merchants planning growth, these operational costs compound, which is why consolidation can be an attractive strategic move.

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

App fatigue is the steady burden merchants feel as feature-focused apps multiply. Each small app solves a narrow problem but increases maintenance, billing lines, and integration complexity. An all-in-one retention platform reduces that drag by designing features to work together: wishlist signals feed loyalty and referral triggers, reviews provide social proof to loyalty members, and referral rewards convert advocates into repeat buyers.

Growave’s positioning centers on the principle “More Growth, Less Stack.” That phrase captures a strategic trade-off: invest in a single integrated platform that handles loyalty, referrals, reviews, wishlists, and VIP tiers rather than managing a collection of single-purpose apps.

Why consolidating features matters

  • Cohesive data model: Customer actions (wishlist saves, purchases, reviews) are stored in one schema. This makes programmatic reward logic and audience segmentation simpler and more reliable.
  • Reduced integration overhead: A single integration with an ESP or helpdesk propagates across multiple engagement features, saving setup time and reducing points of failure.
  • Unified user experience: Customers interact with one set of widgets and pages that share look-and-feel and purpose, which increases trust and reduces confusion.
  • Predictable support and roadmaps: One vendor owning the product roadmap ensures alignment between features like reviews, loyalty, and wishlist capabilities.

Growave builds on that principle by combining several retention primitives into one platform. Merchants can manage loyalty programs, referrals, reviews and UGC, wishlists, and VIP tiers from a single interface. For merchants considering consolidation, evaluating the economics and friction of migration versus continuing to add one-off apps is critical.

How Growave maps to the gaps left by single-purpose apps

  • Convert wishlist intent into rewards actions. Rather than merely saving items, wishlist events can award points, trigger referral nudges, or create customized offers to re-engage shoppers. Explore how merchants can set up loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
  • Showcase social proof and collect authentic testimonials. Reviews collected through an integrated review engine can be surfaced alongside wishlists and product likes to increase conversion. See how to collect and showcase authentic reviews.
  • Reduce the number of storefront scripts. A single, modular suite lowers third-party script bloat and simplifies performance optimization.
  • Scale to Shopify Plus with configurable enterprise features: checkout extensions, headless API support, and a customer success manager are available for high-growth merchants seeking tighter integrations. Reference solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Practical examples of consolidated flows

  • A customer saves a shirt to a wishlist; the wishlist event triggers both a back-in-stock alert and a small rewards enrollment offer, boosting both conversion and lifetime value.
  • A highly liked product (social signal) is automatically promoted in loyalty campaigns and on landing pages with verified user reviews shown next to the like counts.
  • VIP tiers automatically surface exclusive product bundles to top members with priority access to back-in-stock alerts.

These are direct outcomes that single-purpose apps alone struggle to deliver without custom integration work.

Growave links and where they fit in merchant evaluations

Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack improves retention. (This is a direct call to action for merchants who prefer a walkthrough.)

How consolidation affects total cost of ownership

  • Consolidation often shifts costs from multiple small subscriptions to a single, slightly higher subscription. However, because the combined features amplify customer lifetime value (LTV), the net ROI can be strongly positive.
  • Growave’s tiering (Entry, Growth, Plus) is designed so stores pay for the scale and features needed, with the potential to replace several smaller subscriptions with a single, well-supported platform. Merchants can evaluate pricing that scales with growth and compare that against the cumulative monthly cost of multiple single-purpose apps.

Migration and Implementation Considerations

Switching from single-purpose apps to a consolidated platform requires planning. Key considerations include:

  • Data export/import: Ensure wishlist saves, like counts, and review records can be migrated or re-collected if needed.
  • Script removal: Remove duplicate widgets and monitor site performance after consolidating.
  • Workflow mapping: Translate automation and alert rules from multiple apps into the single platform’s rule engine.
  • Staged rollout: Consider a staged approach (e.g., migrate wishlist first, then reward logic) to minimize disruptions.

Growave offers migration assistance and customer success for Plus plans that include a dedicated launch plan and manager. For merchants evaluating consolidation, testing on a non-production theme and verifying analytics tracing before full deployment reduces risk.

Support, SLA, and Long-Term Vendor Risk

Choosing between single-purpose vendors and an integrated vendor also involves vendor risk assessment.

  • Single-purpose vendors may be lightweight and responsive early on, but discontinuation or limited roadmaps can leave merchants with gaps.
  • Integrated vendors often focus on cross-feature reliability and long-term roadmap alignment across retention primitives.

Growave includes higher-touch support tiers (Entry through Plus) with differing SLA and onboarding options. Merchants should balance price sensitivity with the strategic importance of retention and brand experience.

Final Recommendations: Which App Is Best For Which Merchant

  • Choose Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow if the immediate priority is a robust wishlist with back-in-stock and price-drop alerts, multi-language support, headless compatibility, and integration with ESPs. It is particularly suited for stores that want to convert saved intent into purchases via automated notifications.
  • Choose Likely ‑ Like Me Button if the only need is to add a simple, lightweight social-proof metric (a like button) quickly and cheaply, with minimal configuration and negligible ongoing maintenance.
  • Consider an integrated retention platform if the objective is sustained growth through higher retention, higher LTV, and fewer apps. Consolidation simplifies operations, centralizes data, and enables more sophisticated cross-feature campaigns.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Likely ‑ Like Me Button, the decision comes down to scope and long-term strategy. Mst provides a fuller wishlist and alerting system that integrates with lifecycle tools and supports headless setups. Likely is a focused, lightweight solution for adding social proof via a like button. Both have very low entry prices, but they address different merchant needs.

For merchants looking to reduce tool sprawl and maximize retention from a single system, an integrated platform that combines loyalty, wishlist, referrals, and reviews will often deliver better long-term value. Growave follows a “More Growth, Less Stack” approach—consolidating multiple retention tools into one platform so that wishlist saves, reviews, and referral activity can feed into loyalty and VIP programs without juggling multiple apps. Merchants can evaluate pricing that scales with growth or choose to install from the Shopify App Store to test the fit. Start a 14-day free trial to test Growave's integrated retention stack. (This is a direct call to action for merchants ready to replace multiple apps with one coordinated solution.)


FAQ

Q: How does Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow compare to Likely ‑ Like Me Button in terms of driving repeat purchases?

  • Mst is designed to drive repeat purchases with wishlist intent signals and price-drop/back-in-stock alerts that can be delivered via email, SMS, and push. Likely provides social proof through likes, which can improve conversion but does not directly create repeat purchase triggers.

Q: Which app is better if a store needs developer-level customization and headless support?

  • Mst explicitly lists API and headless theme support and provides Liquid/HTML/CSS customization. That makes it a stronger choice for developer-led storefronts. Likely focuses on a small, reusable UI component with limited customization.

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

  • An all-in-one platform consolidates data and features—loyalty, reviews, referrals, wishlists—into one vendor and interface. This reduces integration overhead, unifies support, and enables cross-feature campaigns that are difficult to implement with multiple single-purpose apps.

Q: Are there good intermediate options if a merchant wants some consolidation but not full migration?

  • A staged consolidation approach can work: migrate wishlist and reviews first, then retire appraisal apps and fold engagement into loyalty programs. Merchants can evaluate integrated vendors’ migration support and test via sandbox themes before decommissioning existing apps.
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