Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Hulk Advanced Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is a small decision with outsized consequences: it affects conversion rates, cart recovery, customer experience, and the number of apps piled into a store’s backend. Merchants face dozens of wishlist tools in the Shopify App Store, each promising similar outcomes but differing sharply on customization, integrations, pricing, and support.

Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) is a strong pick for merchants who want a polished, boutique wishlist experience with free setup and strong integrations for notifications and analytics; Hulk Advanced Wishlist is a better fit for brands that need granular customization, public/shared wishlists, and flexible, low-cost tiers for smaller catalogs. For merchants who prefer to reduce tool sprawl and manage retention from a single place, an all-in-one platform like Growave often delivers better value for money and faster impact on retention.

This article provides an in-depth, feature-by-feature comparison of Swish and Hulk Advanced Wishlist. It examines functionality, pricing and value, integrations, analytics, UX, onboarding, and the practical trade-offs merchants should weigh. The goal is to help merchants understand which app fits specific business requirements — and to show when a consolidated retention stack becomes the smarter long-term choice.

Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Hulk Advanced Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

This section evaluates both apps across critical merchant-facing dimensions. Each sub-section explains what matters, compares the apps objectively, and highlights trade-offs.

Features & Core Functionality

Understanding the core wishlist capabilities is the first step. Merchants should map needs — saving items, multi-device sync, multiple wishlists, public/sharable lists, notifications — to what an app delivers.

Wishlist Basics: Save, Sync, Multiple Lists

Swish:

• Offers unlimited wishlists and saved items across all plans.
• Focuses on persistent wishlists that follow a shopper through sessions and devices when accounts are used.
• Emphasizes a consistent visual match to a store’s theme via custom design and free setup.

Hulk Advanced Wishlist:

• Supports multiple wishlists per customer and guest/public wishlists.
• Highlights multi-device sync and the ability for customers to create gift lists.
• Starter tiers limit the number of wishlist items (e.g., 1,000 for STARTER), scaling up in PRO/PRO PLUS.

Trade-off summary:

• Choose Swish if unlimited lists out of the box and guaranteed design parity are priorities.
• Choose Hulk if shoppers need to create multiple named lists or share public gift lists and if controlling item caps matters for pricing.

Sharing, Social, and Gift Lists

Swish:

• Provides sharing capabilities and automated messaging, but its public messaging emphasizes personalized notifications and data-driven curation.

Hulk Advanced Wishlist:

• Built with sharing and social distribution in mind: share via email, social, or web links, with templates for share communications.
• Explicit features for “Buy from Shared Wishlist” in higher tiers, useful for gift-commerce.

Trade-off summary:

• Hulk takes the lead for social and share-first use cases (gift lists, social campaigns).
• Swish aims for broader lifecycle automation rather than share-first play.

Notifications: Stock Alerts, Price Drops, Automated Messaging

Swish:

• Offers automated, highly personalized wishlist notifications designed to nudge conversion at optimal moments.
• Native integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta mean messages can be routed into existing flows quickly.

Hulk Advanced Wishlist:

• Built-in stock alerts, price-drop emails, and restock notifications are core selling points.
• Merchants can incentivize purchases on restock (special discounts) to create urgency.

Trade-off summary:

• Both platforms cover notifications, but Swish pitches automation and data-driven curation; Hulk focuses on explicit restock/price triggers and discount incentives.

Analytics & Wishlist Curation

Swish:

• Promotes “advanced analytics and wishlist curation,” implying curated lists and meaningful insights to guide merchandising decisions.
• Analytics are positioned as a way to identify high-demand items and plan restocks or promotions.

Hulk Advanced Wishlist:

• Delivers an in-depth Wishlist Dashboard with analytics about wishlisted items and customer behaviors.
• Also supports import/export for reporting workflows in external tools (e.g., Google Sheets via Zapier).

Trade-off summary:

• Both provide useful analytics. Preference depends on how merchants want to consume data: Swish integrates analytics into messaging and curation workflows; Hulk exposes dashboards and export options for custom analysis.

Pricing & Value

Price matters beyond headline subscription numbers. Consider per-customer limits, feature unlocks, onboarding costs, and long-term value.

Swish Pricing Structure

• Basic Shopify: $19/month — all features, free setup, unlimited wishlists.
• Shopify: $29/month — same benefits, for stores on Shopify plan.
• Advanced Shopify: $49/month — for stores on Advanced plan.
• Shopify Plus: $99/month — includes white-glove onboarding, priority support, dedicated account manager, Hydrogen & headless support.

Key points:

• Pricing is tied to Shopify plan rather than wishlist volume; merchants get unlimited items and sessions across tiers.
• Free setup and customization is built into every plan, which shifts implementation cost away from the merchant.

Hulk Advanced Wishlist Pricing Structure

• DEVELOPMENT: Free — for partner development stores.
• STARTER: $4.90/month — 1,000 wishlist items, basic features, guest wishlist.
• PRO: $14.90/month — 10,000 wishlist items, import/export, multi-language.
• PRO PLUS: $29.90/month — 50,000 wishlist items, share features, social/web sharing.

Key points:

• Hulk scales by wishlist item count — attractive for small catalogs or stores wanting a very low entry price.
• Advanced features like “Buy from Shared Wishlist” and social templates sit in higher tiers.

Value for Money Considerations

• Swish represents better value for merchants who need unlimited capacity, white-glove setup, and deeper out-of-the-box integrations; pricing is predictable and tied to Shopify plan rather than usage volume.
• Hulk is better value for budget-conscious or early-stage stores that need shareable wishlists and can operate within item caps. Its $4.90 starter plan lowers the barrier to entry for experimentation.

A merchant choosing purely on cost should evaluate expected wishlist volume, desired automation, and whether assignment of implementation time vs paid onboarding is acceptable.

Integrations & Compatibility

Integrations can determine how smoothly a wishlist app fits into a broader stack for email, analytics, and advertising.

Swish Integrations

• Built-in integrations: Klaviyo, GA4, Meta (out of the box).
• Works with Checkout, Hydrogen, Markets, Customer Accounts, Search Recommendations.
• Headless/Hydrogen and Shopify Plus-facing features for enterprise setups.

Why it matters:

• Native Klaviyo integration makes sending personalized wishlist flows easier without custom API work.
• GA4 and Meta support help maintain consistent tracking across wishlist events.

Hulk Advanced Wishlist Integrations

• Integrates with Klaviyo, Zapier, Google Sheets, Pagefly, Search Filter, Shopify Flow, and POS.
• Works with third-party mobile builders and conversion tools.

Why it matters:

• Zapier and Google Sheets integration are useful for custom workflows where merchants want to push wishlist data into CRMs or external dashboards.
• Shopify Flow and POS support help unify online/retail experiences.

Trade-off summary:

• Swish is optimized for marketing automation and analytics platforms that power lifecycle messaging.
• Hulk provides flexibility for custom automations and POS unification.

Customization & UX

A wishlist must look native to the store. Design, iconography, and how wishlists behave across devices affect conversion.

Design and Theming

Swish:

• Offers free setup and customization to match store aesthetic.
• Emphasizes seamless integration with any theme and bespoke support, which reduces the need for merchant-side CSS.

Hulk Advanced Wishlist:

• Full control over design: colors, fonts, text, and custom JS/CSS are supported.
• Requires the merchant to apply customizations or use the app’s UI for adjustments.

Trade-off summary:

• Swish is ideal for merchants who prefer implementation handled by the app team for pixel-perfect results.
• Hulk suits merchants with in-house developers who want hands-on control.

On-site Widgets and Placement

Both apps provide floating widgets and wishlist icons with customizable placement. Merchants should check how widgets perform on product pages, collection pages, and quick-view modals.

Performance and mobile responsiveness are variable depending on theme complexity — testing before purchase is essential.

Notifications, Automation & Marketing Use Cases

Wishlist apps are most valuable when wishlist data is turned into targeted communications that recover sales.

Swish Automation & Marketing

• Focused on highly personalized and automated wishlist notifications.
• Out-of-the-box integrations with Klaviyo enable direct insertion of wishlist events into lifecycle campaigns.
• Strong fit for email/SMS strategies that rely on event data to trigger recovery flows.

Hulk Automation & Marketing

• Emphasizes stock and price alerts with restock email and promotional discount workflows.
• Built-in incentives to drive purchases on restock make it attractive for inventory-heavy merchants.
• Zapier enables pushing events into numerous marketing tools for bespoke flows.

Trade-off summary:

• Swish is preferable when a merchant wants an integrated, marketing-friendly event stream to feed existing flows.
• Hulk offers flexibility and explicit urgency mechanics (discounts on restock) that can boost short-term conversions.

Analytics, Reporting & Merchandising Insights

Wishlist data can inform catalog decisions, restock priorities, and promotional planning.

Swish:

• Highlights advanced analytics and wishlist curation to surface high-demand SKUs.
• Analytics appear designed to inform both marketing and merchandising teams.

Hulk:

• Provides Wishlist Dashboard and supports import/export for offline analysis.
• Use-case suited for merchants who want to combine wishlist data with external BI tools.

Practical advice:

• Merchants needing immediate action on trending wishlists will appreciate Swish’s curated alerts.
• Merchants that prefer to run custom reports or aggregate wishlist data across multiple sources will prefer Hulk’s export and Zapier connectors.

Performance, Compatibility & Headless Support

Site speed and compatibility affect SEO and conversion. Headless or Hydrogen setups require special attention.

Swish:

• Explicitly calls out Hydrogen and headless support, and Shopify Plus exclusives.
• Higher-tier plans include dedicated account management and white-glove onboarding for headless stacks.

Hulk:

• Works with a range of storefront builders and supports customization via JS/CSS, but headless/Hydrogen compatibility may require additional development.

Recommendation:

• Headless or enterprise merchants should evaluate Swish’s Plus-tier offerings for guaranteed onboarding support.
• SMBs on standard themes can use Hulk with minimal friction and lower cost.

Support & Onboarding

Merchants often undervalue onboarding; the right setup reduces time-to-value and avoids costly development.

Swish:

• Free setup and customization are included across all plans.
• Shopify Plus plan includes priority support and dedicated account manager.
• High-touch support model reduces friction for merchants without technical teams.

Hulk:

• Offers free development plan for building and testing.
• Lower-priced tiers may require merchants to handle theme adjustments; support is available but typically relies more on documentation and developer resources.

Implication:

• Stores that prefer a hands-off setup or lack developer resources will find Swish’s onboarding a significant advantage.
• Merchants with developer resources aiming to keep costs minimal will find Hulk’s approach favorable.

Security, Privacy, and Compliance

Wishlist apps handle customer data. Ensure events are tracked securely and privacy controls exist.

Both apps:

• Operate within Shopify’s app framework and follow standard requirements for data handling.
• Offer integrations that can pass events to marketing platforms. Merchants must ensure tracking complies with regional privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and that consent management is aligned with wishlist communications.

Best practice:

• Audit event firing and email triggers during setup. Confirm that guest wishlist sharing respects privacy settings and that opt-in/opt-out flows are respected in marketing platforms.

Migration & Exit Considerations

If the app is deactivated, how portable is wishlist data?

Hulk:

• Explicit import/export features in PRO tiers simplify data portability and migration.

Swish:

• Focused on curated insights and arguably more integrated workflows; merchants should verify export options during onboarding.

Recommendation:

• Confirm export capabilities before committing. If data portability is important, Hulk’s explicit export tooling may be an advantage.

Support for Omnichannel (POS & Retail)

If the brand sells in retail and online, wishlist data unification matters.

Hulk:

• Supports Shopify POS and provides ways to synchronize offline/online wishlist behavior.

Swish:

• Works with Customer Accounts and advanced storefronts but positions itself more around online lifecycle automation.

If omnichannel is a core requirement, Hulk’s POS support is an important differentiator.

Evaluating Trade-Offs: Which App Is Best For Which Merchant?

Use these decision criteria to match app to merchant profile.

• Merchants prioritizing a polished, low-effort setup and enterprise-ready integrations: Swish. The free setup and dedicated onboarding for higher tiers reduce implementation risk, and unlimited wishlist capacity avoids scaling surprises.
• Merchants on a limited budget or testing wishlist functionality: Hulk Advanced Wishlist. Low-cost starter tier, granular item caps, and share-first features let merchants experiment before scaling.
• Merchants emphasizing shareable gift lists, social sharing, and POS/unified retail experiences: Hulk, for its emphasis on sharing templates and Shopify POS/Flow support.
• Merchants with headless stores or Shopify Plus looking for white-glove implementation and integrated analytics: Swish’s Plus-plan offerings are tailored to these needs.
• Merchants who want direct integration with Klaviyo and off-the-shelf GA4/Meta event support for immediate lifecycle automation: Swish traditionally offers frictionless integration here.

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

Installing a single-purpose wishlist app is a fast way to add one capability, but it often contributes to tool sprawl. App fatigue — the operational overhead of managing multiple single-point solutions — increases maintenance, slows experimentation, and raises monthly SaaS spend without guaranteeing lifts in customer lifetime value.

What Is App Fatigue and Why It Matters

App fatigue occurs when a store accumulates many narrowly focused apps (wishlists, reviews, loyalty, referrals, forms), each with a separate UI, separate data, and separate billing. Consequences include:

• Fragmented customer data that makes personalized messaging harder.
• Increased likelihood of integration conflicts and slower page load times.
• Higher total cost of ownership and complexity in scaling retention strategies.

Consolidating core retention capabilities reduces these problems. An integrated platform can leverage wishlist data inside loyalty and referral programs, use reviews as user-generated content in email flows, and reuse the same event layer across channels to keep tracking consistent.

Growave’s “More Growth, Less Stack” Approach

Growave builds loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist into one retention platform designed to increase repeat purchases and customer lifetime value while reducing the number of apps a store runs. The central idea is to consolidate retention features so merchants can act on shared data without stitching together multiple vendors.

Key elements of the approach:

• Unified data layer: Wishlist events feed into loyalty and referral incentives, enabling cohesive strategies that drive repeat purchases.
• Consolidated billing and support: One platform to manage loyalty, reviews, referrals, wishlists, and VIP tiers.
• Enterprise readiness: Support for Shopify Plus, headless shops, and advanced integrations.

Merchants evaluating consolidation can explore options to consolidate retention features and compare how a single tool can replace several point solutions.

How Growave Maps to the Gaps Identified Above

• Wishlist + Loyalty synergy: Wishlist data can trigger loyalty points offers or VIP perks when high-value products are added to lists, increasing the chances of conversion. See how merchants can build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases to make wishlist events part of a broader retention loop.
• Reviews + Social Proof: Growave bundles collect and showcase authentic reviews, turning wishlisted items into social content and improving conversion on product pages.
• Reduced setup overhead: Instead of onboarding separate vendors for wishlist notifications, review requests, and referral rewards, the platform centralizes onboarding and event handling, speeding time-to-value.
• Enterprise and Plus support: For higher-growth merchants, Growave supports headless setups and Plus-level needs with specialized services for scaling. Merchants looking for solutions for high-growth Plus brands will find features tailored to enterprise workflows.

These integrations are not theoretical: the combined feature set reduces the need to coordinate event naming, mapping, or export/import between apps. This reduces engineering time and lowers the likelihood of tracking discrepancies between marketing platforms.

Practical Examples of Consolidation Benefits (No Fictional Scenarios)

• A merchant running separate wishlist and loyalty apps must map wishlist events manually into the loyalty provider to give points when an item is saved. With a unified platform, wishlist saves can trigger native reward actions, removing intermediary mapping.
• Wishlist analytics contained in a single dashboard alongside review and referral metrics make it easier to spot products with both high interest and strong social proof — enabling quicker merchandising decisions.

To see how consolidation looks in practice, merchants can install Growave from the Shopify App Store or review plans to consolidate retention features.

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

Pricing and Migration Considerations for Consolidation

Moving from single-purpose apps to a consolidated platform requires evaluating the following:

• Overlap and redundancy: Identify which features in existing apps would be redundant after consolidation.
• Migration of historical data: Ensure wishlist and review data can be imported or mapped to the new platform.
• Time-to-value: Calculate how quickly combined capabilities will deliver increased repeat purchase rates and reduced churn.

Growave’s pricing tiers are designed to fit different scales, and merchants can explore Growave's pricing and free trial to determine cost-effectiveness relative to their current stack.

How Growave Integrates with Existing Marketing Tools

Growave connects with common marketing stacks, enabling merchants to retain control over email and SMS vendors while consolidating retention data:

• Connects with Klaviyo and Omnisend for advanced lifecycle flows, so wishlist events continue to power email automation.
• Integrates with Shopify POS and Shopify Flow to support omnichannel stores.
• Supports headless shops and Page builder tools, enabling a smooth migration from theme-based wishlist scripts.

Merchants can review Growave’s integration approach and install options to install Growave from the Shopify App Store.

Complementary Features That Replace Multiple Apps

• Loyalty & Rewards: Replace separate loyalty apps and point engines by running a single, customizable program in-platform. Learn more about creating loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• Reviews & UGC: Swap distinct review collectors for a built-in solution that feeds product pages and marketing campaigns. Explore how to collect and showcase authentic reviews.
• Wishlist: Maintain wishlist functionality while tying saves directly into loyalty and referral strategies.
• Referrals & VIPs: Use the same customer profiles to run referral campaigns and VIP tiering without exporting CSVs.

These consolidations improve data consistency and make it easier to iterate on retention experiments.

Implementation & Migration Checklist

If considering a move from a standalone wishlist to an integrated platform, the following checklist helps plan the migration.

• Audit current wishlist usage: total saved items, top wishlisted SKUs, active users with wishlists.
• Evaluate data export options of current app: confirm CSV/JSON exports or API access for historical records.
• Map event triggers: wishlist saved, wishlist removed, wishlist purchased, price alert triggered.
• Decide on integrated flows: assign which wishlist events will trigger loyalty points, review requests, or referral nudges.
• Test on development store: confirm UI parity, widget placement, and event tracking.
• Monitor after launch: track wishlist conversions, email recovery open rates, and LTV changes.

To evaluate migration steps and receive tailored guidance, merchants can consolidate retention features and request a demo.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Hulk Advanced Wishlist, the decision comes down to priorities: Swish excels when merchants want unlimited wishlists, white-glove onboarding, and tight marketing integrations; Hulk Advanced Wishlist wins on low-cost entry, public/shared wishlists, and POS/Flow flexibility. Swish’s 5.0 rating from 272 reviews signals strong satisfaction among users who value support and integrations, while Hulk’s 4.8 rating from 131 reviews reflects reliable functionality and customization at attractive price points.

For merchants seeking to reduce tool sprawl and unlock compounded retention effects (loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist working together), an integrated platform can be a more efficient route. Growave’s “More Growth, Less Stack” approach consolidates wishlist functionality into a broader retention suite so stores get loyalty, reviews, referrals, VIP tiers, and wishlist without juggling multiple apps. Explore Growave’s plans and start a 14-day free trial to test whether consolidating retention into a single platform improves retention and reduces operational overhead: Explore pricing and start your free trial.

FAQ

Q: How do Swish and Hulk differ in notifications and marketing integrations? A: Swish focuses on automated, personalized wishlist notifications and provides out-of-the-box Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta integrations to embed wishlist events into lifecycle flows. Hulk includes built-in stock and price alerts and relies on Zapier/other connectors for more custom marketing workflows.

Q: Which app is better for social sharing and public gift lists? A: Hulk Advanced Wishlist places heavier emphasis on sharing via social, email, and web links and offers explicit “Buy from Shared Wishlist” features on higher tiers. Swish supports sharing but positions itself more around personalized wishlist automation and curation.

Q: Is it better to use a single-purpose wishlist app or an all-in-one retention platform? A: Single-purpose wishlist apps are effective when a store needs a quick, focused capability at low cost. An all-in-one platform reduces integration complexity, centralizes customer data, and enables loyalty, referrals, and reviews to act on wishlist signals. For a view of how consolidation works, merchants can explore how to consolidate retention features.

Q: Can Growave replace both wishlist apps and additional retention tools? A: Growave combines wishlist, loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers into one platform. Merchants evaluating consolidation can compare features and install options to install Growave from the Shopify App Store.