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

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is a common decision point for Shopify merchants trying to improve conversion, increase average order value, and capture intent from undecided visitors. With hundreds of single-function apps available, merchants must balance features, reliability, integrations, and the downstream cost of adding one more tool to their stack.

Short answer: Smart Wishlist is a lightweight, no-code wishlist focused on simple one-click saving and sharing, making it a solid choice for merchants who want a fast, dependable wishlist button at a low monthly price. ESC Wishlist + Save for Later offers basic save-for-later behavior and customization options at a similar price point but shows limited social proof and lower ratings. For merchants who want to reduce tool sprawl while adding loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist in a single platform, an integrated option such as Growave provides better long-term value.

This post provides a feature-by-feature, objective comparison of Smart Wishlist (by Webmarked) and ESC Wishlist + Save for Later (by Eastside Co®). The goal is to help merchants decide which app suits their immediate needs and whether a broader retention platform might be a smarter investment for growth and long-term customer retention.

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

Deep Dive Comparison

Product Positioning and Philosophy

Smart Wishlist

Smart Wishlist positions itself as a “next generation” wishlist that emphasizes speed, simplicity, and minimal friction for customers. It markets the ability to save items with one click, support guests (no login required), and maintain performance-friendly behavior with a lightweight payload and safe uninstall. The product design appears to prioritize a fast shopper experience and minimal developer involvement.

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later markets itself as a combined wishlist and save-for-later solution focused on increasing conversions by surfacing saved items at checkout (under the cart) and allowing visual customization of how save buttons and saved sections appear. It emphasizes helping customers return to their saved items and adds social sharing to amplify reach.

Ratings and Social Proof

Both apps must be evaluated through the lens of customer feedback and reliability signals.

• Smart Wishlist: 81 reviews with an average rating of 3.6. The volume of reviews indicates wider merchant adoption and enough data points to form a pattern of strengths and weaknesses. A mid-range rating suggests consistent functionality for many merchants, but with some recurring pain points for certain use cases or support issues.
• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later: 2 reviews with a rating of 1.0. The very low count and low score imply early-stage usage or unresolved issues for the reviewers. That limited set of data makes it harder to rely on this app for larger or more complex shops.

What this means for merchants: a higher review count usually correlates with broader compatibility testing across themes, edge cases, and merchant types. A lower review count with a poor rating raises caution about stability or support responsiveness.

Feature Comparison

Core Saving Mechanisms

• Smart Wishlist
  • One-click saving from product, collection, search result, and cart pages.
  • Works for guests and logged-in users; wishlists are shareable.
  • Uses JavaScript and REST APIs for advanced use cases.
  • Unlimited wishlists across stores.
• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later
  • Save for later lives under the cart to surface items at checkout.
  • Allows unlimited wishlists so customers can organize products.
  • Emphasizes social sharing and a range of customization for visuals / placement.

Interpretation: Smart Wishlist focuses on fast, frictionless wishlist creation across multiple touchpoints. ESC centers on the cart-to-checkout path, attempting to capture intent right before purchase. For brands that want to drive conversions from browsing behavior, Smart Wishlist’s placement across collection and search pages is useful. For brands aiming to recapture near-checkout shoppers, ESC’s cart placement can be effective if implemented properly.

Guest vs. Account-Based Experience

Both apps support guest saving, which lowers friction for first-time visitors. That’s important because forcing account creation before wishlist actions reduces save rates and limits the merchant’s ability to capture intent from browsers.

Sharing and Social Reach

Both apps offer social sharing of wishlists. Smart Wishlist explicitly includes shareable lists, while ESC highlights free social sharing. Sharing increases organic reach and can support referral-driven sales, but without integrated referral or multi-channel tools, social sharing is a one-off channel rather than part of a growth engine.

Customization and Theming

• Smart Wishlist claims a lightweight payload and theme-safe uninstall behavior, which suggests limited risk to theme code.
• ESC advertises a broad range of options for customizing how the app looks in the store, which could appeal to merchants wanting a visual match.

Merchants should evaluate how each app’s front-end widgets blend with the storefront theme, and whether CSS or template edits are required. Preference will vary: some merchants prefer out-of-the-box matching provided by customizable widgets; others prioritize minimal custom code and safe uninstalls.

APIs and Extensibility

Smart Wishlist exposes JavaScript and REST APIs for advanced integrations, which allows developers to connect wishlist behavior to back-office processes or third-party tools. ESC’s listing does not specify public APIs, which could be a limitation for merchants planning automation or deeper integrations.

Implication: For stores with development resources or plans for headless storefronts, Smart Wishlist’s APIs provide an advantage. For merchants without dev resources, both apps are usable, but Smart Wishlist gives a pathway to scale and automation.

Performance and Theme Impact

Performance is a critical consideration. Scripts that slow page load or conflict with theme code can degrade conversion rates.

• Smart Wishlist emphasizes a lightweight payload and claims it won’t break the theme on uninstall. That is important for maintaining site speed and avoiding manual clean-up after removal.
• ESC does not make explicit claims about payload size or uninstall behavior. Merchants should test both on staging shops to measure front-end load time and ensure no theme conflicts.

A recommended practice: install the app in a duplicate or unpublished theme to monitor Core Web Vitals and check for JavaScript errors before deploying to the live site.

Integrations & Ecosystem Compatibility

Integration ability determines how wishlist activity feeds into marketing automation and analytics.

• Smart Wishlist: explicit mentions of working with SendGrid and ShareThis. It also offers APIs that support integration with email providers and custom analytics.
• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later: no integrations are listed on the public profile. That lack raises concerns about out-of-the-box connectivity with common marketing stacks.

Merchants should ask whether wishlist saves can trigger lifecycle emails, feed into abandoned cart flows, or sync with CDP tools. If the wishlist data is siloed, its long-term value for retention programs decreases.

Pricing and Value

Both apps target the low-cost end of the market.

• Smart Wishlist: Standard plan at $4.99 / month.
• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later: Monthly plan at $5.00 / month.

At face value, pricing is comparable. The better value for money depends on reliability, support, integrations, and how the wishlist contributes to measurable outcomes (e.g., recovered sales, increased AOV, higher repeat purchases). Given similar price points, merchants should weigh functionality and support rather than cost alone.

Key considerations when evaluating value:

• Does the app provide analytics to measure wishlist-to-purchase conversions?
• Are there any usage limits hidden behind the “unlimited wishlists” wording (e.g., API rate limits, saved-item caps)?
• What level of support is included for setup or theme conflicts?

Support and Documentation

Real-world usability often hinges on developer and merchant support.

• Smart Wishlist’s higher review count suggests more merchant interaction with support and more public issues/solutions to learn from.
• ESC’s low review count makes it difficult to assess support responsiveness.

Before committing, merchants should:

• Review support channels and average response times.
• Request documentation for installation and for any APIs offered.
• Confirm whether paid setup assistance is available for complex themes.

Security, Data Ownership & Privacy

Wishlist data often contains purchase intent and personal preferences. Merchants should confirm:

• How the app stores wishlist data (Shopify metafields, external database).
• Whether wishlist data can be exported and transferred if the app is uninstalled.
• Compliance with privacy laws (e.g., GDPR) and how guest saves are treated.

Smart Wishlist’s claim of safe uninstall indicates attention to data handling for theme code, but merchants should still verify data retention policies and export options. ESC lacks explicit statements in the public description, so merchants should contact support for clarification.

Uninstall Behavior and Migration

An often-overlooked element is uninstall behavior. If wishlists are embedded in theme code, uninstall may leave broken UI elements.

• Smart Wishlist emphasizes that it "doesn't break your theme upon uninstall," which reduces the migration cost and technical debt.
• ESC does not mention uninstall behavior publicly.

Merchants planning to test multiple wishlist apps should prioritize apps with clean uninstall processes to avoid repeated theme fixes.

Use Cases and Ideal Merchant Types

To make the choice practical, here are the scenarios where each app shines:

• Smart Wishlist is best for:
  • Merchants who want a simple, reliable wishlist with minimal setup.
  • Stores that want wishlists available across product lists, collections, search results, and cart pages.
  • Teams that may later want API access to integrate wishlist data with email or analytics.
• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later is best for:
  • Merchants focused specifically on recovering near-checkout intent by surfacing “saved” items in the cart area.
  • Stores that need visual customization and care about the appearance of save-for-later elements.
  • Small shops that want a quick, low-cost save-for-later widget and are willing to accept fewer integrations.

Pros and Cons: Quick Summary

Smart Wishlist

• Pros:
  • Low monthly price ($4.99).
  • One-click saving across multiple store pages.
  • Guest and logged-in user support.
  • API access for extensibility.
  • Lightweight, theme-safe uninstall.
  • Broader review base (81 reviews).
• Cons:
  • Mid-range rating (3.6) indicates some merchants have had issues.
  • Limited native integrations listed (SendGrid, ShareThis) — reliance on APIs for more complex flows.

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later

• Pros:
  • Focused save-for-later placement under the cart to influence checkout.
  • Customization options for look and feel.
  • Social sharing features.
  • Comparable low monthly price ($5).
• Cons:
  • Very low review count (2) and poor rating (1.0).
  • No listed integrations or API details.
  • Limited social proof makes reliability harder to verify.
  • Unclear uninstall and data portability behavior.

Practical Evaluation Checklist Before Installing

When testing any wishlist app, merchants should review the following items. These checks reduce surprises and align the app with business goals:

• Theme compatibility: test in a staging theme.
• Page load performance: measure before and after install.
• Data export: verify how wishlist data can be exported or synced.
• Uninstall behavior: confirm whether theme code is removed cleanly.
• Integration points: confirm how wishlist saves will feed into email, analytics, or ad platforms.
• Support SLA: establish expected response time for setup and troubleshooting.
• Tracking: ensure wishlist events can be tracked in analytics or tag managers.

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

App fatigue is a common pain point among merchants: adding single-purpose tools for each incremental need increases subscription spend, creates multiple places to manage customer data, and raises the risk of technical conflicts between scripts injected by different vendors.

Why app fatigue matters

• Fragmented customer data: each app often stores data separately, making it harder to build a unified profile or run orchestrated campaigns.
• Multiple billing lines: adding many $4–$10/month tools scales quickly and becomes more expensive than a consolidated platform as a store grows.
• Conflicting front-end scripts: multiple injected scripts can slow page speed and introduce theme conflicts that require developer time to fix.
• Higher operational overhead: teams must log into different dashboards, manage separate support flows, and reconcile data manually.

A single integrated retention platform reduces these problems by combining wishlist, loyalty, referrals, reviews, and customer tiers into one system that centralizes data and automates common flows.

Growave’s "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy addresses these challenges by offering an integrated set of retention tools designed to increase customer lifetime value while minimizing the number of third-party scripts and vendor dashboards merchants must manage.

• For merchants looking to build more than a wishlist — including incentives for repeat purchases, referral traffic, and social proof — integrating loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases directly with wishlist data creates a more coherent growth engine.
• When review content is part of the retention loop, merchants can collect and showcase authentic reviews alongside product wishlists to improve social proof and reduce purchase hesitation.

Growave’s design emphasizes enterprise-grade features while still being accessible for growing stores:

• Loyalty and rewards, VIP tiers, referrals, and wishlists are available in one platform — reducing the need to manage separate subscriptions for each function.
• Native integrations with third-party platforms are included, which helps connect wishlist behavior to email flows, SMS providers, and customer support tools.
• For merchants on Shopify Plus or with advanced technical requirements, the platform supports headless and checkout extensions.

For merchants evaluating consolidation, it helps to compare aggregated subscription costs and operational complexity:

• Adding multiple single-purpose apps can cost close to or exceed the price of a unified suite once loyalty, referrals, and review automation are added.
• A single platform centralizes customer behavior (wishlists, referral activity, review submissions) under a unified customer profile, enabling targeted campaigns that increase retention and LTV.

Explore Growave’s pricing and plan structure to see how consolidating functionality can reduce long-term cost and complexity while unlocking coordinated retention workflows. Merchants evaluating consolidation may want to compare Growave plans and pricing to their current stack.

For merchants who want to see how an integrated stack performs in context, it’s sensible to look at relevant examples and case studies. Growave’s customer stories highlight how brands used consolidated features to streamline retention and increase repeat purchase rates. Merchants can review real merchant examples to evaluate whether an all-in-one approach fits their size and ambitions.

If a merchant needs a direct demonstration of how integrated loyalty, reviews, and wishlist data can accelerate retention, booking an interactive walkthrough can clarify migration steps and expected outcomes. Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack accelerates growth. (This is an explicit call to action inviting merchants to schedule a demo.)

How the integrated approach addresses limits of single-point wishlists

• Unified incentives: Wishlist saves can automatically trigger targeted rewards or referral incentives when a saved item goes on sale or when a customer reaches a tier threshold.
• Coordinated messaging: Rather than a standalone wishlist email, merchants can route wishlist triggers into a loyalty campaign that increases the chance of conversion and future repeat purchases.
• Reduced tech friction: One vendor handling multiple features reduces the chance of front-end script conflicts and simplifies theme maintenance.
• Better analytics: Centralized reporting shows hatched customer journeys from wishlist save → review → referral → repeat purchase, allowing merchants to optimize across the lifecycle.

If the wishlist is only one component of a larger retention strategy, integrating it with loyalty and review systems creates more durable growth than adding yet another single-function app.

Where Growave fits compared to Smart Wishlist and ESC

• If a store truly only needs a minimal wishlist with a tiny monthly spend and no plans to expand into loyalty or referrals, Smart Wishlist or ESC might be a short-term fit.
• For merchants who anticipate scaling retention efforts, or who prefer to consolidate tools for cleaner data and fewer scripts, Growave is designed to combine wishlist functionality with loyalty, reviews, referrals, and VIP tiers under one roof.

Merchants can see the app on the Shopify App Store or review plan options directly:

• To see the app listing and install options, merchants can find Growave on the Shopify App Store.
• To analyze plan features and pricing tiers, merchants can compare Growave plans and pricing.

Repeated exposure to the plan structures and the app listing helps merchants weigh monthly costs against the cost of multiple separate apps. For merchants that prioritize integrated retention, a single platform often delivers better long-term ROI.

Implementation and Migration Considerations

• Data migration: Moving from a standalone wishlist to a unified platform requires exporting existing wishlist data and mapping it to new customer profiles. Confirm export formats and migration assistance.
• UI consistency: Consolidation may require styling changes to match the storefront. The benefit is fewer distinct widgets to manage across the site.
• Testing: Run the integrated suite in a staging environment and compare wishlist save-to-purchase conversion, email open/click rates for wishlist triggers, and site performance metrics.

Growave offers a range of plans to fit different scales — from entry-level packages to enterprise-level custom setups — enabling merchants to scale without proliferating vendors. For merchants on Shopify Plus, there are dedicated capabilities and migration support available to meet higher-volume requirements and complex site architectures.

• For more information on enterprise support and specific Plus features, merchants can explore solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Migration Checklist When Moving from a Single-Function Wishlist to an Integrated Platform

• Export existing wishlist data and confirm format compatibility.
• Map guest saves to customer identifiers when possible.
• Decide whether existing wishlists will be merged, archived, or reissued to customers.
• Test event triggers for wishlist saves and ensure they generate loyalty points or email notifications as intended.
• Validate the uninstall process for the old wishlist app and confirm no leftover theme artifacts.
• Monitor analytics for any changes in conversion or page speed, and iterate.

Decision Framework: Which Option to Choose

To make a practical decision, use this decision framework:

• If immediate priority is a minimal, reliable wishlist widget with flexible placement and API access, and the store has some developer resources, Smart Wishlist fits the bill.
• If the priority is surfacing saved items at checkout and visual customization of the save-for-later area, ESC could be considered — but limited reviews and a low rating warrant cautious testing.
• If the broader priority includes building repeat purchase behavior, integrating reviews, referrals, and loyalty, consolidation with an integrated platform provides greater long-term value.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Smart Wishlist and ESC Wishlist + Save for Later, the decision comes down to specific short-term needs versus long-term retention strategy. Smart Wishlist provides a fast, low-cost, and developer-friendly wishlist that works across product listings, collections, search results, and cart pages. ESC Wishlist + Save for Later focuses on cart-level save-for-later placement and visual customization but has limited public reviews and questionable reliability signals.

If the objective is long-term customer retention, higher LTV, and reduced tool sprawl, consider a single platform that centralizes wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews. Consolidating these features reduces friction, centralizes customer data, and unlocks coordinated campaigns that drive repeat purchases. For merchants ready to evaluate that path, start a 14-day free trial to compare consolidated retention tools and pricing.

Start a 14-day free trial to test a unified retention platform that combines wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews into one stack. (This is an explicit call to action encouraging trial.)

Additional resources:

• Merchants can compare Growave plans and pricing to estimate cost savings from consolidation.
• For a hands-on look at how loyalty and wishlist can work together, explore loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• To understand review automation integrated with wishlists and social proof, view how to collect and showcase authentic reviews.
• For merchants who want to install and test via the app store, find Growave on the Shopify App Store.

FAQ

How do Smart Wishlist and ESC Wishlist + Save for Later differ in real-world impact?

Smart Wishlist emphasizes one-click saves across multiple pages and offers API access for extensibility, which helps capture browsing intent early. ESC emphasizes save-for-later placement within the cart to nudge conversions at checkout. Real-world impact depends on where shoppers most commonly abandon intent: during browsing or at checkout.

Which app offers better long-term value for scaling retention programs?

Neither single-function app includes built-in loyalty, referral, or review automation. For scaling retention programs and increasing customer lifetime value, an integrated platform that combines wishlist with loyalty and reviews typically offers better long-term value and fewer moving parts.

Can wishlist saves be used for targeted marketing and rewards?

Smart Wishlist provides APIs that allow merchants to integrate wishlist events into marketing automation or loyalty workflows. ESC’s public listing does not detail API support, so merchants should verify integration options. For out-of-the-box targeting tied to loyalty or referral incentives, an integrated platform that natively supports those channels offers the fastest route.

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

An all-in-one platform eliminates multiple subscriptions, centralizes data, reduces the risk of script conflicts, and enables coordinated retention campaigns that single-function apps cannot deliver alone. It can also simplify operations and improve ROI as the store grows, but merchants must weigh the upfront monthly cost against the benefit of consolidated capability and reduced operational overhead.