Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

Introduction

Choosing the right retention and engagement tools is one of the more consequential decisions a Shopify merchant will make. Apps can drive conversion, increase repeat purchases, and lift lifetime value — but they can also create complexity, duplicate costs, and maintenance overhead when multiple single-purpose tools are stacked together.

Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) is a focused, high-quality wishlist app well suited to stores that want a dedicated wishlist experience with strong customization and concierge onboarding. Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist is a multi-module retention platform that includes wishlist functionality plus loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers — a better value for brands that want to consolidate tools and scale retention across channels.

This article provides an in-depth, feature-by-feature comparison of Swish and Growave to help merchants choose the best fit. Each app’s strengths and trade-offs are covered objectively, followed by a practical discussion of when a specialist wishlist app is preferable and when an all-in-one retention stack is the smarter play.

Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Product Focus and Philosophy

Swish: Single-Purpose, Best-in-Class Wishlist

Swish positions itself as a specialist wishlist solution designed to maximize the commercial impact of saved items. That focus shows in the feature set — emphasis on wishlist curation, automated and personalized wishlist notifications, theme-matching visual integration, and analytics targeted at wishlist behaviors. The product’s pitch highlights concierge onboarding and customization, which lowers the implementation barrier for teams without developer resources.

Strengths tied to this focus:

• Laser-focused feature development around wishlist workflows.
• Free setup and customization that drives faster time-to-value.
• Integrations keyed toward retargeting and analytics (Klaviyo, GA4, Meta).

Growave: Integrated Retention Platform

Growave’s philosophy is to combine complementary retention tools into a single platform so merchants can run loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist features from one place. The goal is to drive customer lifetime value rather than just one-off conversions. This approach reduces the operational and technical friction that comes with multiple apps, and it centralizes customer behavior and rewards logic.

Strengths tied to this approach:

• Cross-functional features that reinforce each other (e.g., rewards for reviews, points for referrals).
• Fewer integration points to maintain, and a single source of truth for customer rewards/status.
• Designed for growth-oriented brands, including Shopify Plus support and checkout extensions.

Features — Wishlist Capabilities Compared

Wishlist UI and UX

Swish:

• Offers deep visual customization to match store themes and brand style.
• Seamless integration with all themes is emphasized, reducing the risk of design conflicts.
• Focus on saved items anywhere in the journey (product page, collection page, quick view).

Growave:

• Provides a fully functional wishlist as part of a broader suite.
• Allows back-in-stock wishlist emails and account-linked wishlists that map to loyalty accounts.
• Good UX with consistent branding across loyalty and wishlist modules; useful when the wishlist is part of a larger retention program.

When to prefer Swish for UI/UX:

• If the wishlist needs to be a polished, stand-alone conversion driver and visual parity with site design is critical.
• If the merchant lacks internal development resources and wants white-glove setup.

When to prefer Growave for UX:

• If the wishlist must be tied to loyalty, back-in-stock flows, and customer accounts to create repeat behavior.

Wishlist Notifications and Automation

Swish:

• Emphasizes “highly personalised + automated Wishlist notifications” designed to drive conversion at the moment of intent.
• Integrates out-of-the-box with Klaviyo for richer notification sequences.

Growave:

• Supports back-in-stock wishlist emails and notification flows.
• Because Growave controls loyalty and communications within the platform, wishlist signals can fuel broader lifecycle automations (e.g., reward nudges or VIP invitations).

Trade-off:

• Swish shines where wishlist notifications require bespoke, highly optimized messages; Growave wins when wishlist signals should trigger lifecycle campaigns across multiple retention channels.

Analytics and Insights

Swish:

• Marketed with “advanced analytics and wishlist curation.” Expect focused metrics covering saved items, conversion from wishlist, and customer-level wishlist behavior.
• Useful for merchants primarily interested in measuring wishlist-to-purchase conversion.

Growave:

• Provides analytics across loyalty, referral, reviews, and wishlist interactions, enabling correlation between engagement and revenue.
• Offers dashboarding that ties loyalty behavior to repeat purchases and LTV improvements.

Which analytics to choose:

• Choose Swish for deeper, dedicated wishlist analytics.
• Choose Growave for multi-channel retention analytics that show how wishlist behavior interacts with rewards and reviews.

Pricing & Value

Swish Pricing Structure

• Basic Shopify — $19 / month
• Shopify — $29 / month
• Advanced Shopify — $49 / month
• Shopify Plus — $99 / month (includes white-glove onboarding, priority support, dedicated account manager)

Swish’s plans are straightforward and focused solely on wishlist functionality. Each tier promises the same core features, with higher tiers adding support and headless capabilities. The inclusion of free setup across plans is a meaningful value-add for merchants that want rapid, hands-off implementation.

Value proposition:

• Strong for merchants who need a single wishlist tool and prefer lower monthly fees with included setup.

Growave Pricing Structure

• Free plan — includes wishlist, basic loyalty, product reviews (with Growave branding), and limited orders/month.
• Entry — $49 / month — advanced rewards, referral program, nudges, review requests, Shopify POS integration, +1 integration, 24/7 email support.
• Growth — $199 / month — VIP tiers, dedicated loyalty page, account extensions, review attributes, Google Shopping Reviews, back-in-stock wishlist emails, stronger onboarding and support.
• Plus — $499 / month — checkout extensions, headless API & SDK, loyalty page custom design, unlimited integrations, CSM, dedicated launch plan, 24/7 support.

Value proposition:

• Better value for merchants that need multiple retention tools. The consolidated cost of running separate apps for loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlist typically exceeds Growave’s bundled pricing once the brand scales beyond entry-level order volumes.

How to assess value:

• For solo wishlist needs and a tight budget, Swish may be better value-for-money than multiple apps.
• For merchants looking to build structured retention programs and reduce tool sprawl, Growave often becomes more economical as features are bundled and cross-functional value accumulates.

Integrations & Ecosystem Compatibility

Integrations — Swish

• Works with: Checkout, Hydrogen, Markets, Klaviyo, Customer Accounts, Search, Recommendations, GA4, Meta.
• Focused on integrations that strengthen wishlist utility: email flows, analytics, and ad/retargeting platforms.

Integrations — Growave

• Broad integration list: Checkout, Shopify POS, Customer accounts, Shopify Flow, Page builders (Pagefly, GemPages), Klaviyo, Omnisend, PushOwl, Postscript, Recharge, Gorgias, Attentive, and more.
• Built-in bridges between loyalty, reviews, and communication channels mean fewer external workflows.

Which app integrates better?

• Swish integrates with critical marketing and analytics tools needed for wishlist optimization.
• Growave has a wider ecosystem footprint and is optimized for merchants who use multiple promotional and support tools.

Onboarding, Support, and Implementation

Swish Onboarding & Support

• Free setup and customization service across all plans.
• White-glove onboarding available on higher tiers.
• Concierge orientation reduces friction, making it ideal for merchants without developer resources.

Growave Onboarding & Support

• Free plan with 48-hour email support; higher tiers include 24/7 support, live chat, phone support, and dedicated customer success managers on Plus.
• 5-star onboarding experience promoted on Growth and Plus tiers.
• Documentation and account teams support more complex integrations, such as headless implementations and checkout extensions.

Practical implication:

• Swish reduces initial time-to-live with personalized setup for wishlist features.
• Growave offers broader, ongoing support for multi-module configurations and enterprise-level implementations.

Performance, Scalability, and Platform Suitability

Scalability

Swish:

• Scales with wishlist usage; offers Plus-tier features for Shopify Plus and headless stores.
• Ideal for merchants whose primary retention lever will remain wishlist-driven.

Growave:

• Built to scale across multiple retention vectors; Plus plan supports headless and checkout extensions that matter to high-growth and enterprise merchants.
• Better suited for stores that expect to scale loyalty programs, referral volume, and review management.

Shopify Plus and Headless Considerations

• Swish has Plus-tier options for headless/Hydrogen stacks and dedicated support.
• Growave explicitly offers headless API & SDK features on Plus and checkout extensions for advanced Plus use cases.

Recommendation:

• For Shopify Plus merchants building a cohesive post-purchase and loyalty experience, Growave provides more advanced checkout and headless capabilities integrated into a single product suite.

Security, Data Ownership, and Privacy

Both platforms operate within Shopify’s ecosystem and adhere to common app security practices. Two practical considerations:

• Data Centralization: Growave’s consolidated platform centralizes loyalty, wishlist, and review data, making it simpler to manage customer profiles and consent preferences across features.
• Export & Ownership: Both platforms provide data import/export features, but merchants should verify how easy it is to extract loyalty and wishlist histories if switching platforms.

For privacy-sensitive merchants, the fewer third-party apps that access PII, the lower the exposure. Consolidation with Growave reduces the number of vendors handling customer data compared to a multi-app stack.

Implementation Considerations and Time to Value

Swish:

• Fast time to value driven by free setup and customization.
• Minimal developer involvement expected for standard implementations.

Growave:

• Initial setup for multi-module configurations requires more planning (e.g., loyalty rules, referral incentives, review flows).
• The pay-off is longer-term retention uplift and reduced maintenance overhead from running multiple apps.

Decision heuristics:

• If a merchant needs immediate wishlist functionality with minimal internal bandwidth, Swish is a high-confidence choice.
• If the merchant has retention goals tied to loyalty and reviews and can allocate time to configure an integrated program, Growave delivers broader long-term impact.

Use Cases and Merchant Profiles

When Swish Is the Better Fit

• Small to mid-sized stores that want a dedicated wishlist experience as the primary conversion lever.
• Merchants that prioritize pixel-perfect theme integration and want a vendor-managed setup.
• Teams with limited technical resources that need quick deployment with specialized wishlist analytics.
• Brands where wishlist-to-purchase conversion is a measurable driver of revenue and warrants a specialist tool.

When Growave Is the Better Fit

• Brands aiming to grow repeat purchases and customer lifetime value through loyalty and referral programs.
• Merchants who prefer to consolidate loyalty, wishlist, referrals, and reviews into a single platform for operational simplicity.
• Shopify Plus merchants who need checkout extensions, headless APIs, or a dedicated customer success manager.
• Stores that want cross-feature automation (e.g., reward customers for reviews, convert wishlist signals into loyalty nudges).

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

App fatigue is a real operational cost. Every additional app added to a store can increase monthly expenses, create integration work, and require ongoing management when versions change or conflicts arise. The cumulative maintenance of multiple single-purpose tools often outweighs their initial functional benefits.

An alternative approach is to use an integrated retention platform that reduces tool sprawl and centralizes customer data, rules, and communications. Growave’s philosophy — summarized as "More Growth, Less Stack" — argues that merchants can get faster, more predictable retention results by consolidating wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews within the same system.

Benefits of reducing app sprawl:

• Less technical debt: Fewer theme conflicts, API calls, and app-to-app mapping.
• Centralized customer identity: Loyalty points, wishlist items, and review behaviors live on a single customer profile.
• Cross-feature automation: Wishlist signals can automatically be used to trigger loyalty campaigns or review requests without stitching together multiple third-party services.
• Simplified billing and vendor management.

How an integrated platform delivers value in practice:

• When a customer saves items and later converts, Growave captures that journey and can award points or upgrade VIP tiers, reinforcing the desired behavior.
• Reviews triggered by rewarded customers are easier to collect and display because the review and loyalty systems share data and activation logic.
• Referral incentives can be tied to loyalty points, creating a single rewards currency that’s easier to manage and more motivating for customers.

For readers evaluating consolidation, a practical next step is to explore how Growave’s pricing and product fit with current retention goals. For merchants comparing costs and feature fit, the following resources can clarify specific options and pricing tiers:

• For merchants considering plan tiers or trialing the platform, review the options and start a trial via the pricing overview at consolidate retention features.
• To see how the app appears in the Shopify ecosystem and install directly, view the Growave listing on the Shopify App Store.

Growave’s wishlist works in tandem with its loyalty and reviews modules. Merchants exploring how loyalty and wishlist features work together should look at the section on loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases. For brands focused on social proof and user content, there is a clear path to collect and showcase authentic reviews that integrate natively with rewards and referral flows.

Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated stack improves retention. (This sentence is an explicit call to action that links to a demo scheduling page.)
Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated stack improves retention.

Practical Migration Notes

• Consolidation should be staged. Export wishlist data, loyalty histories, and review archives before migrating to ensure no data loss.
• Prioritize features that impact revenue and customer experience: loyalty rules, checkout widgets, and wishlist notifications.
• Map existing automations (e.g., Klaviyo flows triggered by wishlist events) and re-create them inside the integrated platform when possible, or maintain only the most critical external flows.
• Validate that the integrated solution’s reporting surfaces the KPIs used to justify the shift (repeat purchase rate, LTV, average order value uplift).

How Growave Fits Common Merchant Goals

• Increase repeat purchases: Loyalty programs and VIP tiers create ongoing incentives for customers to return.
• Improve conversion from intent: Wishlists linked to back-in-stock alerts and triggered reward offers nudge customers to buy.
• Boost trust and discovery: Reviews and UGC become more powerful when paired with incentives for customers to leave authentic feedback.
• Reduce operational complexity: Single billing, single vendor relationship, and shared customer profiles simplify growth execution.

To evaluate specific feature fit relative to current stack and scale needs, merchants can compare modules and pricing directly on the pricing page or inspect the Growave app listing on the Shopify marketplace:

• Learn about plan features and trial options at consolidate retention features.
• Install or review marketplace details at the Shopify App Store.

Migration Checklist and Implementation Timeline

• Audit current apps: Identify overlapping feature areas (e.g., loyalty, wishlist, review requests).
• Export data: Wishlist exports, loyalty points ledgers, and review databases.
• Map customer journeys: Identify touchpoints where wishlist signals interact with email, SMS, or loyalty.
• Plan phased rollout: Start with wishlist and reviews or wishlist and loyalty, then expand to referrals and VIP tiers.
• QA and measurement: Monitor conversion rates on wishlist notifications, loyalty enrollment rates, and repeat purchase lift post-launch.

Estimated timeline:

• Quick switch (wishlist only): 1–2 weeks with concierge setup (Swish-like speed).
• Integrated rollout (wishlist + loyalty + reviews): 4–8 weeks depending on customizations and checkout integrations.

How Each App Supports Growth Metrics

• Retention (repeat purchase rate): Growave’s loyalty and VIP features directly impact retention by rewarding repeat behavior. Swish contributes indirectly by converting wishlists into purchases.
• Average Order Value (AOV): Both apps can help increase AOV. Swish by re-engaging customers with saved carts and product bundles; Growave through rewards that incentivize larger purchases for points/tiers.
• Customer Lifetime Value (LTV): Consolidated reward strategies and cross-feature automation on Growave have a stronger, measurable effect on LTV because they orchestrate multiple engagement channels.
• Acquisition Efficiency: Referral programs (available in Growave) reduce cost-per-acquisition by leveraging existing customers. Swish does not natively offer referral mechanics.

Support, SLAs, and Enterprise Needs

Swish:

• Strong onboarding support and a focus on personalized setup across all plans. The presence of a dedicated account manager at the Plus tier addresses enterprise concerns.

Growave:

• 24/7 support options, customer success managers on Plus, and phone support at the enterprise level. Growave’s broader feature set requires more robust support channels for complex integrations (headless, checkout, POS).

For enterprise merchants:

• Growave’s Plus plan is purpose-built for Shopify Plus and includes launch planning and custom integrations, making it a full-service alternative to running multiple specialist vendors.

Cost Comparison Scenario (Example)

Rather than stating a single winner on price, consider this hypothetical: a merchant needs wishlist, loyalty, reviews, and referral capabilities.

• Using separate apps could easily be: Wishlist app ($19–$49/mo) + Loyalty app ($50–$200/mo) + Reviews app ($15–$50/mo) + Referrals ($50–$300/mo) = $134–$599+ / month.
• Growave bundles these features starting from $49/mo (Entry) through $199 (Growth) and $499 (Plus), which can represent better value-for-money once a merchant requires more than one function.

This comparison highlights why consolidation often delivers better value at scale, even if a single-purpose app like Swish is cheaper initially for wishlist-only needs.

Final Decision Framework: How to Choose

Consider the following decision points when selecting between Swish and Growave:

• Primary need is wishlist-only, rapid deployment, and pixel-perfect theme integration → Swish is a compelling, focused choice.
• Need to run a cohesive retention strategy across loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist → Growave is a more strategic fit.
• Budget-conscious startup that needs baseline loyalty + wishlist with branded limitations → Growave’s Free or Entry tier may provide more initial features than separate low-cost apps.
• Shopify Plus merchant or brand planning headless/checkout customizations → Growave’s Plus-tier features and APIs are tailored for these use cases.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist, the decision comes down to scope and strategic objectives. Swish is an excellent, specialist wishlist solution with concierge setup and a strong focus on wishlist analytics and notifications — ideal for stores that prioritize a dedicated wishlist experience. Growave is best for merchants who want to consolidate retention tools, reduce app sprawl, and build a cohesive program that combines loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist to increase LTV.

Both apps have strong support offerings and integrations, but the broader business impact differs: Swish optimizes a single high-impact touchpoint, while Growave optimizes repeat behavior across the customer lifecycle.

To evaluate Growave further and compare plan options, merchants can review detailed plan features and start a trial via the pricing page here: consolidate retention features. For a quick look at how the app appears in the Shopify marketplace, see the listing here: install the app from the Shopify marketplace.

Start a 14-day free trial to see how a unified retention stack accelerates growth.
Start a 14-day free trial to see how a unified retention stack accelerates growth.

FAQ

• How do Swish and Growave compare on wishlist features?
  • Swish focuses narrowly on wishlist UI, curation, and personalized notifications with concierge onboarding. Growave provides wishlist functionality as part of a broader retention suite, including back-in-stock emails and account-linked wishlists. Choose Swish for specialized wishlist performance; choose Growave when wishlist behavior should feed loyalty and lifecycle programs.
• Which app is better for increasing repeat purchases?
  • Growave is better positioned to increase repeat purchases because loyalty, VIP tiers, and referral programs are designed to create recurring behavior. Swish supports conversion from intent but does not provide the same breadth of retention levers.
• How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps?
  • An all-in-one platform reduces tool sprawl, centralizes customer data, and enables cross-feature automations (e.g., awarding points for reviews or using wishlist signals to trigger loyalty nudges). Specialized apps may perform one function exceptionally well but often require additional apps to achieve the same breadth of impact.
• Is migration from a wishlist-only app to an integrated platform difficult?
  • Migration is feasible and often staged. Export wishlist and customer data first, map automations and rewards, and plan a phased rollout to reduce downtime. For merchants that prioritize rapid launch, Swish’s free setup is an advantage; for those prioritizing long-term retention, the consolidation benefits of the integrated platform typically outweigh the initial implementation effort.

Additional resources for merchants exploring consolidation and product fit:

• Examine how loyalty and wishlist interact to drive repeat behavior: loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• Review options for collecting and showcasing product feedback and UGC: collect and showcase authentic reviews.
• Explore customer success stories and examples from brands that adopted an integrated retention approach: customer stories from brands scaling retention.
• For merchants on Shopify Plus evaluating headless and checkout extensions, review specialized Plus features: solutions for high-growth Plus brands.