Smart Wishlist vs. Webkul Product Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app can feel like threading a needle: merchants want features that increase retention and conversion without adding theme conflicts, slow load times, or dozens of single-purpose apps to manage. Wishlists are a deceptively simple growth lever — when implemented well they recover interest, encourage social sharing, and feed personalized marketing. When implemented poorly they introduce friction and technical debt.

Short answer: Smart Wishlist is a solid, low-cost option for stores that want a lightweight, guest-friendly wishlist with quick setup; Webkul Product Wishlist is better suited to merchants who need category-based wishlists, reminder emails, and enforced account-based workflows. For merchants who want to avoid app sprawl and get wishlist functionality alongside loyalty, referrals, and reviews, a single integrated platform like Growave offers better value for money and long-term retention impact.

This article provides a neutral, feature-by-feature comparison of Smart Wishlist (Webmarked) and Webkul Product Wishlist (Webkul Software Pvt Ltd). The aim is to clarify strengths, trade-offs, and ideal use cases so merchants can decide which tool fits their priorities — and to explain when an all-in-one retention platform becomes the smarter long-term choice.

Smart Wishlist vs. Webkul Product Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

The following sections compare the two apps across functional, technical, and commercial criteria merchants care about. Each section highlights outcomes (retain customers, increase LTV, reduce tech risk) and explains where one app might be a better fit.

Feature Set

Wishlist creation & user flow

Smart Wishlist

• Focus on low friction: allows one-click saving and supports both guest and logged-in users.
• Shareable lists enable social or group shopping without forcing account creation.
• Placement flexibility: wishlist buttons on product pages, collections, search results, and cart pages.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Enforces login to access saved wishlist items, so user lists are tied to customer accounts.
• Offers wishlist categories, letting customers organize products into multiple lists (e.g., "Birthday", "Home Office").
• Includes admin-visible tracking and the ability to send reminder emails for items in wishlists.

Trade-offs

• If the priority is minimizing friction and capturing anonymous intent (and thereby potentially more saves and shares), Smart Wishlist’s guest-friendly approach is a clear advantage.
• If the priority is structured customer data and lifecycle marketing tied to known accounts (for example, sending targeted reminder emails or building customer segmentation), Webkul’s account-bound lists and categories offer stronger foundations.

Sharing and social features

Smart Wishlist

• Explicitly promotes shareable lists as a core capability, which helps social shopping and referrals without forcing users to create an account.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Focuses on wishlist categories and internal reminders; sharing features are less emphasized in the provided data.

Outcome

• To drive word-of-mouth and social discovery of planned purchases, Smart Wishlist’s out-of-the-box shareability supports discovery and conversion paths that produce measurable uplifts in referral visits or social-driven conversions.

Activation and re-engagement

Smart Wishlist

• Relies on saved lists and share links to bring users back; integrates with email tools via supported services like Sendgrid.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Delivers reminder emails sent by the store owner to customers who saved items, which can be effective at converting high-intent saved items, but only if users are logged in and have provided contact details.

Outcome

• Webkul’s reminder emails are valuable for converting saved items to purchases when account data exists. Smart Wishlist’s guest approach can capture broader intent but may require additional marketing setup to re-engage anonymous users.

Customization and extensibility

Smart Wishlist

• Provides JavaScript and REST APIs for custom integrations or bespoke UX needs.
• Lightweight payload and claims of clean uninstall reduce theme risk.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Offers configurable icons and categories but seems more limited on developer-facing API details in the provided data.

Outcome

• Developers who need to integrate wishlist behavior into custom flows or headless setups will appreciate Smart Wishlist’s API surface. Stores that prefer standard account-based features may be fine with Webkul’s built-in options.

Pricing & Value

Pricing is rarely the only decision factor — merchants should evaluate price against expected impact on retention, conversion, and the cost of additional apps required to reach parity in functionality.

Smart Wishlist

• Standard plan: $4.99 / month.
• Low entry price makes it attractive for stores experimenting with wishlist features.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Basic plan: $7 / month.
• Slightly higher price but bundled with features like wishlist categories and admin reminder emails.

Value for Money

• Both apps are inexpensive compared to enterprise retention tools, but the key question is functionality-per-dollar. Smart Wishlist’s low-cost plan delivers immediate guest-friendly wishlist behavior, shareability, and APIs; it offers good value for stores that want a fast, low-tech install.
• Webkul’s higher base price may deliver better value if merchants will actively use account-linked categories and reminder emails to recover basket intent and segment customers.

Hidden costs to consider

• If a store uses a guest wishlist but also wants loyalty or referral programs, additional apps will be required. That increases monthly app spend and operational complexity.
• If using Webkul and wanting social proof, reviews, or loyalty programs, separate apps will also be needed. Comparing the total cost of ownership — not just the wishlist app price — is necessary to judge value for money.

Integrations & Ecosystem

Smart Wishlist

• Works with Sendgrid and ShareThis, enabling email and social share workflows.
• Offers APIs for custom integrations with email providers, analytics, or backend systems.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Works with Product Auction (per provided data), and is primarily designed to work within the account-based Shopify customer model.

Integration implications

• Smart Wishlist’s API-focused approach is better for shops that use external marketing platforms (Klaviyo, Omnisend) and want to feed wishlist data into those flows.
• Webkul’s built-in email reminders reduce the need for external email automation to re-engage wishlist owners but depend on customer account data being collected consistently.

Onboarding, UX, and Theme Compatibility

Smart Wishlist

• Stresses “no coding required” and super-easy setup. Marketing claims a lightweight payload and no theme break on uninstall — practical benefits for merchants without dev resources.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Enforces login for wishlist access, which changes UX and may require clear UI prompts and account flows. Admin controls for reminders and categories suggest a more settings-focused onboarding process.

Considerations for merchants

• Stores with custom themes or page builders should test the app in a staging environment to validate CSS and JS compatibility.
• Guest-friendly wishlists reduce friction but raise questions about how to surface wishlist activity in email or CRM unless integration work is done.

User Support & Reliability

Smart Wishlist

• Has 81 reviews with an average rating of 3.6. This indicates a more substantial review base but mixed sentiment — useful to explore review content for recurring issues.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Has 2 reviews at a 5.0 rating. A perfect score sounds appealing, but the sample is too small to generalize reliability.

What the review numbers imply

• A larger review base (Smart Wishlist) provides more signals around consistent edge cases, support responsiveness, and performance under different store configurations.
• A tiny review count (Webkul) can mean the app is new, niche, or simply lightly adopted; merchants should contact the developer to evaluate support SLAs and active maintenance.

Support considerations

• Look for evidence of active development (recent updates, changelog), support channels, and response times.
• For revenue-impacting features, merchants should assess whether the developer offers timely bug fixes and compatibility updates for major Shopify releases.

Performance & Technical Risk

Smart Wishlist

• Markets itself as lightweight and safe to uninstall (doesn’t break theme). These are meaningful claims because many apps inject persistent snippets that persist after uninstall.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Ties wishlist to the customer account model, which may reduce persistent front-end code but can introduce complexity if the store requires custom account behavior.

Technical assessments to run before installing

• Measure page load impact in a staging environment or using Lighthouse audits after installing the app.
• Confirm whether the app adds scripts sitewide or loads conditionally; global scripts can harm Core Web Vitals.
• Verify uninstall behavior in a test store to ensure no orphaned theme code remains.

Data, Privacy, and Customer Ownership

Smart Wishlist

• Guest lists are shareable and may be stored without a login. Merchants should verify data retention, privacy policy, and whether the app stores PII or only product and list metadata.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Requires login to access wishlist data, which makes it clearer how wishlist activity ties to known customers and can be used in consented email marketing.

Compliance considerations

• If the app stores customer email or other PII, merchants must ensure the vendor’s data handling meets GDPR, CCPA, and Shopify’s data policies.
• For guest wishlists, determine how to contact users (if allowed) — guest saves may not provide a direct re-engagement channel without subscription prompts or explicit collection of contact details.

Reporting & Analytics

Smart Wishlist

• No explicit reporting features detailed in provided data; merchants likely need to export or forward events via API to analytics platforms.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Admin tracking of wishlist data is noted; this suggests built-in reporting tools that help identify popular products and wishlist-to-purchase conversion through reminder email performance.

Analytics trade-offs

• Built-in wishlist reporting (Webkul) is convenient for merchants who want dashboard visibility without custom tracking.
• Smart Wishlist’s API-first approach enables richer, centralized analytics if the store integrates wishlist events into existing analytics stacks (e.g., sending events to GA4 or segmenting in Klaviyo).

Customization & Developer Tools

Smart Wishlist

• Offers JavaScript and REST APIs for advanced use cases, enabling bespoke UI or headless storefronts to surface wishlist data.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Offers configurable frontend options like icon sets and categories, but fewer advertised developer API options in the given description.

Recommendation

• For merchants with developer resources or headless architecture, Smart Wishlist’s APIs provide future-proofing.
• For merchants without engineering capacity who prefer packaged features, Webkul’s admin options may be simpler to operationalize.

Security & Maintenance

Smart Wishlist

• Favors a minimal payload and claims safe uninstall. Vendors that promise clean removal reduce maintenance burden.

Webkul Product Wishlist

• Account-based models require robust handling of authentication and data access. Confirm reviews around security practices.

Maintenance checklist

• Confirm the app is updated for Shopify platform changes.
• Ask the developer how they handle critical bug fixes and whether they provide migration help.

Use Cases & Decision Framework

To narrow which app fits, match the app's capabilities to the merchant’s objectives.

Smart Wishlist is best for merchants who:

• Want fast, low-friction wishlist saves for both guest and logged-in shoppers.
• Need shareable lists to support social shopping and gift registries.
• Have developer resources to integrate wishlist events into marketing stacks (or wish to use an app with APIs).
• Prioritize low cost and minimal theme risk.

Webkul Product Wishlist is best for merchants who:

• Want structured wishlist categories to help customers organize intent-driven lists.
• Prefer wishlist data to be tied to customer accounts to enable targeted reminder emails and lifecycle marketing.
• Want basic built-in reporting and admin controls for wishlist data without external integrations.

When neither single-purpose app is enough

• Stores that require loyalty programs, referral campaigns, review collection, VIP tiers, or cross-functional retention workflows should evaluate an integrated retention platform. While single-purpose wishlist apps are inexpensive, stitching multiple apps together creates management overhead, possible conflicts, and duplicate integration work.

Pros and Cons (Quick Reference)

Smart Wishlist — Pros

• Low monthly cost ($4.99).
• Guest-friendly; one-click saving.
• Shareable lists for social/viral potential.
• APIs for custom integrations.
• Marketed as lightweight with safe uninstall.

Smart Wishlist — Cons

• Rating of 3.6 across 81 reviews suggests inconsistent experiences for some merchants.
• Limited native lifecycle marketing (relying on integrations).
• Smaller feature set for account-based segmentation.

Webkul Product Wishlist — Pros

• High rating in available reviews (5.0) — but sample size is very small (2 reviews).
• Wishlist categories and admin tracking.
• Built-in reminder emails to customers.
• Better fit for account-driven workflows.

Webkul Product Wishlist — Cons

• Requires login to access wishlist data, which reduces friction for some shoppers.
• Fewer reported integrations and developer API details.
• Slightly higher monthly price ($7) with unclear incremental ROI unless reminders are actively used.

Implementation & Migration Considerations

• Testing: Install either app in a duplicate or staging theme first. Evaluate load times, visual alignment, and mobile behavior.
• Uninstall: Confirm uninstall behavior by installing and then uninstalling in a test store. Check for orphaned code snippets in theme files.
• Data migration: If switching between wishlist apps, confirm whether saved lists can be exported and imported to avoid losing user intent data.
• Email flows: For guest-save models, plan how to surface saved items in email and CRM tools. For account-bound models, ensure customer accounts are encouraged and easy to create.

Merchant Checklist Before Choosing

• Primary objective: Is the wishlist meant to capture anonymous interest or to build logged-in user profiles?
• Marketing stack: Does the store use Klaviyo/Omnisend/etc., and does the app integrate or provide events?
• Development resources: Are APIs needed for custom integrations or headless setups?
• Long-term roadmap: Will loyalty, referrals, and reviews be added later? If yes, consider an integrated platform.
• Budget vs. operational cost: Low monthly fees can compound into higher maintenance and app sprawl costs if multiple single-feature apps are added.

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

Many merchants discover a common pattern after they install the first wishlist app: one feature leads to another need. A guest wishlist raises the need for email capture; email capture leads to loyalty incentives; social shares demand review collection and UGC. Adding single-purpose apps for each feature creates "app fatigue" — an accumulation of integrations, duplicate data, theme conflicts, multiple billing lines, and more backend work.

App fatigue impacts outcomes:

• Slower time to value when features live in separate tools.
• Fragmented customer data that’s hard to use for lifecycle automation.
• Increased risks of third-party script bloat harming performance and conversion.
• Higher operational costs and coordination overhead.

“More Growth, Less Stack” — a different proposition

• Instead of bolting separate wishlist, loyalty, referral, and reviews apps together, consider a unified retention platform that bundles these capabilities so they share data, UX patterns, and lifecycle automations.
• Consolidation reduces the number of third-party scripts, the chance of theme breakage, and the time spent on cross-app integrations.

Why Growave addresses app fatigue

• Growave combines wishlist capabilities with loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers in one platform. That reduces duplicate workflows and centralizes customer data for retention-focused automations.
• By bringing multiple retention tools under one roof, merchants gain unified reporting and consistent UX across features, which improves adoption and LTV.

Feature highlights that change decision logic

• Loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases: Growave supports customizable reward rules and VIP tiers so wishlists can feed directly into loyalty incentives. This means wishlist saves can be used as triggers or signals for reward-based campaigns. Explore how loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases can be implemented with flexible rules and VIP tiers: loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• Collect and showcase authentic reviews: Instead of a separate reviews app, Growave includes review collection and display functionality so social proof and wishlist behavior can be tied to product-level feedback: collect and showcase authentic reviews.
• Customer stories and proof points: See how other brands solved retention with a consolidated platform and learn practical examples to adapt: customer stories from brands scaling retention.

Operational benefits of consolidation

• Single billing and one integration reduces reconciliation work.
• Centralized support and product roadmap alignment — updates to the wishlist can be coordinated with loyalty or referral feature updates.
• Reduced script footprint compared to multiple separate apps.

Try it in practice

• Install Growave from the Shopify App Store to test integrated workflows and see how wishlist saves flow into loyalty and review campaigns: install Growave from the Shopify App Store.
• Compare plans and see whether consolidation costs less than running multiple single-purpose apps by visiting the pricing page: see plans and pricing.

Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack improves retention: Book a personalized demo.

Integrations and enterprise readiness

Growave integrates with popular marketing and commerce tools, reducing manual syncs between wishlist events and messaging platforms. The platform lists direct compatibility with many widely used tools so wishlist activity can be used in lifecycle campaigns without additional engineering work.

Relevant integrations and benefits

• Built to work with commerce and marketing tools that merchants already run, enabling immediate activation of wishlist-driven campaigns.
• For higher-volume merchants, solutions for high-growth Plus brands allow scalability and advanced customization without adding a separate wishlist vendor: solutions for high-growth Plus brands.
• See how loyalty and reviews are used in real brand examples and sourcing inspiration for how wishlist behavior could be used in broader retention programs: customer stories from brands scaling retention.

How consolidation affects KPIs

• Retention: Loyalty and reward programs bundled with wishlists increase the probability that a saved item turns into a purchase because of program incentives.
• Average Order Value (AOV): VIP tiers and targeted offers triggered by wishlist behavior can increase basket size.
• Repeat purchase rate: Referrals and reward sharing are easier to operationalize when the incentive engine shares the same data model as the wishlist.
• Operational efficiency: Fewer integrations mean faster time-to-launch for campaigns that tie wishlist signals to email, SMS, and onsite banners.

Practical scenarios for switching to an all-in-one platform

• Merchants spending on multiple apps: If monthly spend across wishlist + loyalty + reviews + referrals equals or exceeds the cost of an integrated platform, consolidation often yields better value for money.
• Merchants with fragile page performance: Removing redundant scripts by consolidating features will often improve Core Web Vitals and conversion rates.
• Merchants seeking unified lifecycle marketing: When wishlist events need to feed loyalty, review requests, and referral incentives seamlessly, a single platform reduces segmentation gaps and orchestration complexity.

More resources and next steps

• Test Growave from the Shopify App Store to evaluate the integrated workflow and reduce app sprawl: install Growave from the Shopify App Store.
• Compare plans and determine if consolidation is cost-effective for the store size and roadmap: see plans and pricing.
• Review how wishlist events can feed loyalty and review flows: loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases and collect and showcase authentic reviews.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Smart Wishlist and Webkul Product Wishlist, the decision comes down to priorities and context: Smart Wishlist is a strong choice for stores that value low friction, guest-friendly wishlists, shareability, and developer-friendly APIs at a low monthly cost. Webkul Product Wishlist is better for stores that want structured wishlist categories, account-linked lists, and built-in reminder emails tied to known customers.

For merchants whose roadmap includes loyalty, referrals, reviews, and a unified retention strategy, a single integrated platform changes the equation. Consolidating wishlist functionality into a broader retention stack reduces tool sprawl, simplifies data flows, and often delivers better value for money over time. To evaluate an integrated alternative, test how Growave brings wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews together and whether consolidation reduces complexity and increases lifetime value. Start a 14-day free trial to test Growave's integrated retention stack: Start a 14-day free trial.

If the goal is to maximize retention while minimizing the number of separate tools to manage, an integrated approach typically produces better operational outcomes and clearer ROI than stitching together multiple single-purpose apps.

FAQ

What are the main differences in how the two wishlist apps handle user identity?

• Smart Wishlist supports both guest and logged-in users, enabling anonymous saves and shareable lists. Webkul Product Wishlist requires login to view saved items, tying wishlist data to customer accounts and enabling account-based reminders and segmentation.

How should a merchant choose between guest wishlists and account-bound wishlists?

• Choose guest wishlists if the priority is removing friction and encouraging shareable behavior; choose account-bound wishlists if the priority is collecting first-party customer data, sending reminder emails, and building lifecycle marketing around known users.

Does a higher app rating always mean a better app?

• Not necessarily. Webkul’s 5.0 rating looks strong but is based on only 2 reviews. Smart Wishlist’s 3.6 rating across 81 reviews shows a broader sample but more mixed experiences. Always read recent review content and test the app in a staging environment to assess support and compatibility.

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

• An all-in-one platform consolidates wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews into one data model and UI, reducing integration overhead and often improving lifecycle effectiveness. Specialized apps can be cheaper upfront for a single feature but may cause increased operational cost and technical risk as feature needs grow.