Mst: Wishlist + Marketing Flow vs. Next Level Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Shopify merchants face a steady stream of add-on choices: a single-function wishlist, a review tool, a loyalty program — each promising incremental gains. Choosing which app to install can affect conversion, average order value, and long-term retention. This comparison focuses on two wishlist apps that appear similar at first glance but diverge in transparency, support signals, and integration choices.

Short answer: Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow is a compact, feature-rich wishlist focused on customization and simple marketing alerts, and it offers clear pricing and review data. Next Level Wishlist promotes advanced customization and theme automation but lacks public reviews and visible pricing, which increases adoption uncertainty. For merchants who want to avoid stacking many single-purpose tools, a consolidated platform that combines wishlists, loyalty, referrals, and reviews can deliver stronger retention and better long-term value than either standalone app.

This post provides a feature-by-feature, neutral comparison of Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Next Level Wishlist. The goal is to help merchants decide which app suits their store today and to explain when a move to an integrated retention suite makes more strategic sense.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow vs. Next Level Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Feature Set and Core Wishlist Capabilities

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow — Feature focus

Mst is positioned as a full-feature wishlist tool with built-in marketing touchpoints. Core capabilities include multiple wishlists per customer, guest wishlist support, unlimited wishlist items/customers, and shapeable UI for the "My Wishlist" page via Liquid/HTML/CSS. Marketing features extend beyond basic wishlisting: price drop and back-in-stock alerts are supported via email, SMS, and push notifications. API and headless theme support are explicitly listed, and multi-language and multi-currency functionalities are included.

Key functional strengths:

• Multiple wishlists allow customers to organize items by intent (gifts, want, buy later), which supports personalized communication.
• Guest wishlist support reduces friction for first-time browsers who are not ready to create accounts.
• Price drop and back-in-stock alerts provide direct conversion triggers tied to customer intent signals.
• Customizable wishlist page allows merchants to align the customer experience with brand identity.

Potential limitations:

• While the marketing flows are a plus, the app’s true capability depends on how well merchants integrate it with their email/SMS provider and whether the templates and flows are pre-built or require manual setup.

Next Level Wishlist — Feature focus

Next Level Wishlist emphasizes streamlined installation and API-driven customization. It speaks to merchants who want the wishlist to appear across product pages, collections, and quick views with a consistent icon and behavior. The app promises GDPR compliance and low-stock email notifications. REST and JavaScript APIs are provided for advanced use cases, and automated setup is promoted for popular Shopify themes.

Key functional strengths:

• One-click setup for popular themes reduces implementation time for stores on supported themes.
• API access enables developers to render or extend wishlist functionality in custom themes or headless builds.
• Seamless operation across quick views and collection pages can improve discoverability and increase wishlist interactions.

Potential limitations:

• The absence of public reviews and visible pricing raises practical questions about ongoing support, feature maturity, and long-term reliability.
• Merchants who rely on email/SMS integration for follow-ups should verify what pre-built integrations exist and how much custom work is required.

Comparative note

Both apps support guest wishlists and share functionality, and both claim working across product pages and collections. Mst explicitly lists price drop and back-in-stock alerts and specific integrations (Klaviyo, PushOwl, Brevo), whereas Next Level leans into API-first customization and automated theme installations. Merchants seeking out-of-the-box alerts and integration with common marketing stacks will find clearer signals in Mst’s public description.

Implementation, Theme Compatibility, and UX

Installation and setup speed

Mst: Installation aims to be straightforward but assumes the merchant or a developer will configure the wishlist page using Liquid/HTML/CSS for full visual parity with the store theme. That can be an advantage for brands requiring tight visual control, but it increases the hands-on configuration requirement.

Next Level Wishlist: Markets automated setup on popular Shopify themes and claims automated UI placement across product and collection templates. For stores using supported themes, this can reduce manual theme edits and accelerate time-to-live.

Front-end behavior and customer experience

Mst delivers responsive behavior for desktop and mobile and provides customizable wishlist icons and pages. The ability to create multiple wishlists and allow guest users helps reduce friction and increases the likelihood that a customer will save items.

Next Level’s emphasis on making the wishlist icon available in quick views and collection grids suggests a stronger focus on discoverability. For stores where the quick view is a primary browsing pattern, that placement can materially increase wishlist interactions.

Developer access and headless support

Both apps claim API or headless capability. Mst lists API and headless theme support explicitly. Next Level provides REST and JavaScript APIs for custom implementations. For development-heavy stores or headless setups, both offer hooks; for less technical stores, Next Level’s automated theme support may be more attractive.

Pricing and Value for Money

Mst: Clear, low-cost entry

Mst lists a Monthly plan at $2 per month with all features included and no limits on wishlist items or customer counts. This transparency is a strong point: merchants can evaluate risk (small monthly spend) and test the app with limited financial exposure. Given the feature set — alerts, multi-wishlist, customization — the app represents strong value for money for merchants whose primary need is wishlisting plus basic marketing triggers.

Next Level Wishlist: Pricing opacity increases risk

Next Level does not surface public pricing or plan tiers. Hidden pricing is not uncommon for certain apps, but a lack of visibility raises adoption friction: merchants cannot easily compare TCO or run ROI projections. For small merchants or those testing features, unclear pricing creates uncertainty and slows decision-making. For larger merchants considering API-driven customizations, direct vendor conversations are required to understand pricing, which may be slower.

Value consideration

Mst’s low, predictable price and complete feature list favor merchants prioritizing immediate value and predictable costs. Where Next Level might command premium fees for bespoke integrations or white-glove setup, the lack of upfront price transparency makes it difficult to judge whether it offers better value.

Integrations and Marketing Flow

Mst: Explicit integrations listed

Mst lists integrations with Klaviyo (email/SMS), PushOwl/Brevo for push/email/SMS, and compatibility with Shopify Flow and several mobile app builders. Those explicit, named integrations reduce integration risk and allow marketing teams to map wishlist signals into existing automation quickly.

Practical implications:

• Klaviyo-ready data paths let merchants create abandoned wishlist campaigns or price-drop notifications inside a familiar marketing platform.
• Push and SMS alert compatibility supports multi-channel recovery tactics that match modern omnichannel strategies.

Next Level Wishlist: API-first, but unspecified connectors

Next Level highlights REST and JavaScript APIs and claims “immediate support for popular apps” but does not list specific integrations. For teams with developer resources, the API approach enables custom integrations with any marketing platform. For non-technical teams, the lack of pre-built connectors increases implementation time and reliance on vendor support.

Integration takeaway

Merchants who already run Klaviyo or PushOwl and want quick mapping from wishlist events into marketing automation will find clearer support in Mst. Teams that prefer an API-led build and have developer resources may prefer Next Level for its flexibility, but should demand integration documentation and test hooks before committing.

Support, Reviews, and Vendor Signals

Public review counts and rating

Mst: 150 reviews with a 4.7 rating. That level of review volume and a strong rating is a meaningful trust signal for merchants evaluating stability and responsiveness.

Next Level Wishlist: 0 reviews and a 0 rating on the Shopify listing. A nil review count is not an instant disqualifier, but it means merchants must rely on other signals — vendor responsiveness, demo, or private references — before trusting the app for production use.

Support promises

Next Level promises “rapid and effective customer care” in its description. Mst’s public listing highlights easy app setup and responsive support via its integration partners. Actual support quality should be validated via a trial period and by asking pre-installation questions about response SLAs, escalation flows, and theme compatibility checks.

Practical guidance

• Before installing, merchants should request a demo or ask specific questions about theme testing, hidden costs, and response times.
• For Next Level, request references or documented installation checks since there are no public reviews to benchmark.

Data, Analytics, and Measurement

Event visibility and exportability

Mst’s explicit integrations with common marketing tools imply that wishlist events can be forwarded to those platforms for analysis. When wishlist events reach Klaviyo or a similar tool, teams can analyze conversion rates for wishlisted items, response rates to price-drop emails, and time-to-purchase.

Next Level’s API model should support event forwarding to analytics platforms, but the merchant must confirm how events are emitted and whether there are native exports or webhooks pre-built to simplify reporting.

Recommended measurement framework

Merchants should track a concise set of wishlist KPIs regardless of app choice:

• Wishlist-to-conversion rate: percentage of wishlisted items that convert within a set window.
• Time from wishlist to purchase: measures intent realization speed.
• Price-drop alert conversion: percentage of price-drop or back-in-stock notifications that lead to a purchase.
• Impact on average order value: whether customers who use wishlists increase their AOV.

Ensure the chosen wishlist app can deliver the raw event data or integrate with the merchant’s analytics stack to calculate these metrics.

Security, Privacy, and Compliance

Next Level explicitly calls out GDPR compliance. That matters for stores with EU customers or crossing privacy jurisdictions. Mst doesn’t list GDPR explicitly in the provided description, but Shopify apps operate within Shopify’s ecosystem where certain compliance considerations are standardized. Merchants should request privacy documentation and ensure that any customer identifiers used for wishlist alerts are handled per local data protection laws.

For both apps:

• Verify how customer identifiers for guest wishlists are stored and used.
• Confirm opt-in flows for email, SMS, and push alerts to avoid compliance violations.
• Ask about data retention policies and the ability to delete customer-created wishlists upon request.

Performance and Scalability

Both apps will add front-end scripts and back-end event handling. The degree to which page speed is affected depends on implementation quality, script size, and server response times for wishlist actions.

Tips to minimize performance impact:

• Use asynchronous loading for wishlist scripts where possible.
• Avoid rendering list-heavy components synchronously on page load.
• Test theme pages with Lighthouse or similar metrics before and after install.
• For stores with large catalogs or heavy traffic, confirm the app’s throughput and caching strategy with the vendor.

Merchant Use Cases and Which App Fits Each

Merchants who should consider Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow

• Small to midsize merchants who want a low entry cost and visible pricing.
• Stores already using Klaviyo, Brevo, or PushOwl that want quick mapping from wishlist events to email/SMS/push flows.
• Brands that require multiple wishlists per customer (e.g., gift lists, personal lists) and a fully customizable wishlist page to match brand design.
• Teams that value explicit review data as a trust signal.

Why it fits: Transparent pricing, pre-declared integrations, and a solid review base reduce adoption risk and accelerate implementation for marketing teams.

Merchants who should consider Next Level Wishlist

• Merchants on supported Shopify themes who rely on automated setup to reduce developer time.
• Stores with internal developer resources that want API-driven control over wishlist behavior and experience, or those building headless storefronts requiring REST/JS hooks.
• Brands prioritizing minimal manual theme editing and consistent wishlist UI across quick views and collection pages.

Why it fits: Automated theme support and APIs appeal to technically capable teams wanting a plug-and-play experience for supported themes and deeper custom control otherwise.

Merchants who should consider an integrated retention suite (preview)

• Teams that plan to run loyalty programs, referrals, reviews, and wishlists and want consolidated reporting and unified customer profiles.
• Stores looking to reduce the number of installed apps, simplify integrations, and improve LTV rather than adding point solutions to chase small uplifts.

The next section explains the advantages of consolidation and introduces an alternative built to reduce tool sprawl.

Pros and Cons (Quick Summary)

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow

• Pros:
  • Clear pricing ($2/month for full feature set).
  • Multiple wishlists, guest wishlist, and unlimited items.
  • Price-drop and back-in-stock alerts with named integrations.
  • 150 reviews with a 4.7 rating — meaningful social proof.
• Cons:
  • Customization may require Liquid/HTML/CSS edits for deep visual alignment.
  • Still adds another single-purpose app to the merchant’s toolkit.

Next Level Wishlist

• Pros:
  • Automated setup for popular themes reduces initial implementation time.
  • REST/JS APIs for advanced customizations and headless use cases.
  • Designed to appear across product, collection, and quick view interfaces consistently.
• Cons:
  • No public pricing or review data on the Shopify listing, increasing adoption uncertainty.
  • Integration specifics are not listed; likely requires developer involvement for marketing automation.

Migration, Coexistence, and Operational Considerations

If the wishlist is being added to a mature store with existing loyalty, review, or referral tools, consider the following operational principles:

• Avoid duplicate event streams: ensure only one wishlist app sends price-drop/back-in-stock alerts to avoid spamming customers.
• Centralize customer identifiers: if guest wishlist behavior maps into loyalty or CRM records, define a single source of truth to track customer intent.
• Test messaging cadence: price-drop and low-stock alerts are effective but can be perceived as spam if frequency and segmentation aren’t carefully controlled.
• Plan a rollback: before uninstalling any existing wishlist, export wishlist data and test import paths with the new provider to preserve customer-saved items.

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

App fatigue is a practical challenge for growing stores. Adding a new single-purpose app can improve one metric but increases theme complexity, disperses customer data, multiplies outbound messaging channels, and amplifies maintenance overhead. Over time, the cumulative cost in monthly subscriptions, integration work, and fragmented reporting can exceed the benefits of isolated improvements.

An integrated retention platform consolidates core post-purchase and pre-purchase engagement tools—loyalty, referrals, reviews, wishlists, and VIP tiers—into a single solution. That approach reduces the number of installed apps, centralizes customer profiles, simplifies event routing, and aligns incentives across acquisition and retention.

Growave’s philosophy, summarized as "More Growth, Less Stack," aims to address this exact problem by combining wishlists with loyalty, referral, and review functionality in one suite. Growave provides features designed to increase repeat purchases and lifetime value while lowering the operational cost of maintaining multiple single-purpose apps.

Key benefits of adopting an integrated platform:

• Unified customer signals: wishlist saves, referral clicks, and review submissions live in the same customer record, enabling richer segmentation and targeted offers.
• Consistent brand experience: one vendor manages the UI and messaging across loyalty and wishlist touchpoints, reducing design drift.
• Single integration surface: connect a merchant’s stack (email, SMS, helpdesk, subscriptions) once, and all retention features can leverage that integration.

To evaluate whether consolidation is right for a store, merchants should consider:

• How many retention apps are currently installed and how much overlap exists.
• Whether wishlist events are being used by loyalty or email flows today.
• The cost of maintaining multiple vendor relationships vs. the potential uplift in LTV from a cohesive retention strategy.

Growave integrates wishlist functionality with advanced loyalty programs. Merchants can build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases while keeping wishlist behavior tied to loyalty actions. For stores that want to showcase customer voices, Growave allows merchants to collect and showcase authentic reviews alongside wishlist and loyalty signals.

Growave’s platform is listed on the Shopify App Store and designed to be a one-stop retention hub. Merchants can install from the Shopify App Store or review plan options to see how consolidation affects TCO. For those focused on larger, enterprise needs, Growave provides features tailored to high-growth brands and headless storefronts, with scalable plans that support checkout extensions and dedicated success resources.

For teams that prefer to evaluate the platform live, a vendor demo surfaces how wishlist events feed into loyalty campaigns and review motions. Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated stack improves retention. (Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated stack improves retention.)

How Growave addresses common limits of single-purpose wishlist apps

• Fragmented customer data: By unifying wishlist events with rewards and referrals, Growave minimizes data silos and enables cross-feature promotions (for example, awarding points for adding items to a wishlist or for sharing a wishlist).
• Multiple integrations: Growave supports integrations across common marketing and support tools, so merchants can connect their stack once rather than per app.
• Reporting complexity: Centralized analytics combine loyalty, wishlist, and review metrics to show the full funnel impact on retention and LTV.
• Maintenance overhead: Fewer apps mean fewer updates, fewer theme conflicts, and a single point of contact for support.

Growave’s pricing plans offer different levels of support and feature access to match growth stages. Merchants can consolidate retention features with plans that scale as orders grow, from an entry plan to enterprise-level Plus offerings. The platform’s wishlist capabilities are complemented by loyalty and review functions, which together can reduce churn and drive repeat purchases more effectively than stand-alone wishlist apps.

Merchants can also read how other stores have combined loyalty, reviews, and wishlist into a single program by exploring customer stories and practical implementations. These case studies reveal the compounding benefits of linking wishlist behavior to reward incentives and review requests. To see these use cases, merchants can review customer stories from brands scaling retention.

Where an integrated platform may not be ideal

• Extremely small stores that only need a simple wishlist and have no interest in loyalty, referrals, or reviews might prefer the $2/month predictability of a single-purpose app like Mst.
• Technical teams that prefer to own every integration and build a custom stack might still favor API-first single-purpose solutions if they have the resources to maintain them.

However, for most merchants focused on retention and long-term growth, the consolidation argument is strong: the marginal cost to integrate additional retention features inside a single platform can be lower than the cumulative costs of multiple point solutions.

Final Comparative Assessment

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Next Level Wishlist both deliver wishlist functionality, but their operational profiles differ:

• Mst emphasizes clear pricing, pre-declared integration support, and a feature-rich wishlist that includes price-drop and back-in-stock alerts. The transparent $2/month plan and 150 reviews at a 4.7 rating provide social proof and predictable cost planning.
• Next Level highlights quick theme integration and API-first extensibility, which benefits merchants on supported themes or those with developer resources. The lack of visible pricing and public reviews raises practical concerns for merchants who need quick validation of vendor reliability.

Which app is best depends on the merchant’s priorities:

• Best for low-cost, low-risk testing with marketing integration: Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow.
• Best for theme-compatible stores that need quick, automated installation and developer-driven customization: Next Level Wishlist.

For merchants who want retention to be a strategic lever rather than a collection of one-off upgrades, an integrated platform such as Growave combines wishlist functionality with loyalty, referrals, and reviews to reduce tool sprawl and centralize customer signals. Merchants evaluating the path forward should compare the short-term lift of a single-purpose wishlist against the long-term benefits of a unified retention stack, and consider total cost of ownership and the ability to measure LTV uplift.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Next Level Wishlist, the decision comes down to transparency, technical approach, and marketing integration needs. Mst offers a low-cost, feature-rich option with clear integrations and healthy public reviews. Next Level offers potential time savings for stores on supported themes and API-level flexibility but lacks visible pricing and public review signals.

Beyond that binary choice lies another consideration: consolidating retention features into a single platform reduces integration overhead and unlocks strategic growth levers that single-purpose apps rarely deliver on their own. For merchants who want to overcome the limits of multiple point solutions and accelerate repeat purchase behavior, starting a 14-day free trial is a fast way to evaluate how a unified retention stack performs compared to separate wishlist apps. Start a 14-day free trial to explore consolidation and retention impact.

FAQ

• How do Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow and Next Level Wishlist compare on pricing?
  • Mst lists a clear Monthly plan at $2/month that includes all features. Next Level does not show public pricing on its Shopify listing; merchants should request a quote or demo to understand costs. The visible, low-cost plan for Mst makes it easier to test with minimal financial commitment.
• Which app integrates more easily with common email/SMS platforms?
  • Mst names integrations with Klaviyo, PushOwl, and Brevo, which simplifies mapping wishlist events into existing automation. Next Level provides REST/JS APIs for custom integrations; this is powerful for development teams but requires more setup for non-technical merchants.
• Which option is better for stores that want minimal theme editing?
  • Next Level markets automated setup for popular Shopify themes, which can reduce manual theme work for supported themes. Mst offers full customization via Liquid/HTML/CSS, which provides more control but may require developer time.
• How does an all-in-one retention platform compare to specialized wishlist apps?
  • An integrated platform centralizes wishlist events with loyalty, referrals, and reviews, improving segmentation, reporting, and the ability to drive LTV. Specialized wishlist apps can be lightweight and low-cost for narrow use cases, but sustaining multiple single-purpose apps increases integration complexity and operational overhead compared with a consolidated retention suite. For merchants aiming to scale retention systematically, the integrated approach often delivers better long-term value.