Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Navigating the Shopify App Store for tools that genuinely enhance customer engagement and drive sales can be a complex task for any merchant. With thousands of options available, selecting the right application to integrate into a storefront requires careful consideration of features, cost, compatibility, and long-term value. Wishlist functionality, in particular, has emerged as a crucial component for customer retention, allowing shoppers to save desired products for future purchase and providing valuable insights into consumer intent.

Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) offers a highly polished, deeply integrated wishlist experience with white-glove setup and strong analytics, best suited for established brands valuing premium support and robust integrations. Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow provides a highly cost-effective solution with built-in marketing automation and deep customization for merchants prioritizing budget and direct control. Both excel in their niche, but merchants often find themselves needing more than a single-function app as their operations scale, pointing to the efficiency of integrated platforms that streamline multiple retention efforts. This comparison aims to dissect the offerings of these two popular Shopify wishlist apps to empower merchants in making an informed decision tailored to their specific operational needs and growth objectives.

This analysis will provide a feature-by-feature comparison of Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow. The goal is to highlight their respective strengths, uncover potential limitations, and identify ideal use cases. By examining core functionalities, customization options, pricing models, integration capabilities, and overall value proposition, merchants can gain a clearer understanding of which app aligns best with their business strategy, current tech stack, and future growth ambitions.

Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Wishlist functionality has evolved beyond a simple "save for later" button. Modern e-commerce platforms leverage wishlists as a data-rich source of customer intent and a powerful driver of conversion and repeat purchases. This section explores how Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow address these needs through their specific feature sets, customization capabilities, and strategic integrations.

Core Wishlist Functionality

The foundational capability of any wishlist app is to allow customers to save products. However, the nuances of how this experience is delivered can significantly impact customer engagement and conversion rates.

User Experience and Wishlist Creation

Swish (formerly Wishlist King) emphasizes a seamless integration into the customer's entire shopping journey. The app's design philosophy ensures that shoppers can add items to their wishlist intuitively, whether browsing product pages, category listings, or search results. The core strength here lies in its promise of a "fully customizable" and "feature-rich" solution that aims to match the store's aesthetic without requiring merchants to intervene. The "unlimited wishlists & saved items" and "unlimited sessions" across all its plans indicate a focus on scalability and unrestricted customer usage, encouraging comprehensive product curation. For brands where the user interface and journey consistency are paramount, Swish aims to provide a native feel, ensuring the wishlist doesn't feel like an external add-on.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow also offers robust wishlist creation capabilities, with a significant emphasis on flexibility for both customers and merchants. A key differentiator is the ability for customers to create "multiple wish lists per customer." This feature caters to shoppers who might categorize desired items, perhaps for different occasions or recipients, offering a more organized and personalized saving experience. Like Swish, it imposes "no limit on number of items in Wishlist" and "no limit on number of customers," reinforcing its capability to handle high volumes of user activity without additional costs. The focus on a "feature-packed wishlist" implies a broad set of tools designed to cover various user behaviors and merchant needs.

Guest Wishlists and Sharing Capabilities

The ability for non-logged-in users (guests) to create wishlists is a critical feature for capturing intent from new visitors and reducing friction in the initial stages of the shopping funnel. Both apps address this.

Swish enables customers to wishlist items throughout their entire shopping journey, which implicitly covers guest users, as the setup ensures "unlimited sessions" and seamless integration. While the description doesn't explicitly highlight "guest wishlists" as a distinct feature, the overarching design for a smooth customer journey suggests this functionality is supported. For sharing, Swish focuses on personalized and automated notifications to drive conversion, implying that while direct sharing features might exist, the primary mechanism for leveraging wishlists for conversion is through the merchant's engagement efforts.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow explicitly states "Wishlist for guest users" as a core feature. This clarity is beneficial for merchants prioritizing the capture of early-stage browsing data from anonymous visitors. Furthermore, Mst highlights that "Customers can share wishlist," which is a powerful virality mechanism. Allowing customers to easily share their curated lists with friends and family can significantly extend a product's reach and drive new traffic to the store, turning personal shopping desires into social recommendations. This direct sharing capability can be particularly impactful for gift-giving seasons or community-driven purchasing decisions.

Customization and Branding Alignment

The appearance and functionality of a wishlist must seamlessly blend with a store’s existing brand identity to maintain a cohesive user experience. Both apps offer customization, but their approaches differ.

Seamless Theme Integration and Aesthetic Control

Swish places a strong emphasis on aesthetic integration. It claims to "integrate with all themes to seamlessly match your store's aesthetic." A unique selling proposition is its "Free setup & customisation service across all plans," which "ensures everything looks and works perfectly." This service significantly reduces the technical burden on merchants, allowing them to achieve a polished, on-brand wishlist without needing extensive design or coding expertise. For brands that value a consistent, high-quality visual experience but have limited in-house development resources, Swish's hands-on approach is a distinct advantage. This "white glove" service suggests a commitment to ensuring the app functions as a native part of the storefront, reflecting the brand's premium image.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow also promises full customizability, stating it can "Fully customized the My Wishlist page to match your store's theme." Its approach, however, leans more towards providing merchants with the tools for self-customization, including "liquid template, HTML and CSS" support. This level of granular control is highly beneficial for merchants with in-house developers or those comfortable with direct code manipulation. It offers unparalleled flexibility to tailor every pixel and interaction to exact specifications, potentially creating a truly unique wishlist experience. While this offers immense power, it also implies a higher technical requirement on the merchant's part if they want to move beyond basic styling. For stores that need to support multi-language and multiple currencies, Mst also offers this capability, crucial for internationalization.

Advanced Template and Code-Level Customization

For merchants operating on more complex platforms or requiring deep control over their storefronts, the underlying technology support is critical. Swish supports "Hydrogen & headless stacks" specifically for its Shopify Plus plan, indicating readiness for modern, decoupled e-commerce architectures. This means that brands running a headless setup can integrate Swish's wishlist functionality without compromising their architecture's flexibility or performance. Its integration with Checkout and Customer Accounts further ensures a smooth, end-to-end experience within the Shopify ecosystem.

Mst also features "API and headless theme support," making it suitable for modern e-commerce builds. This commonality with Swish for headless setups is important for growing brands. The explicit mention of "liquid template, HTML and CSS" customization in Mst suggests that while Swish offers a service for customization, Mst provides the direct access and tools for a merchant to implement these changes themselves. This difference highlights a choice between a managed customization service (Swish) and direct developer control (Mst).

Marketing Automation and Engagement Tools

Beyond simply saving items, wishlists serve as powerful conduits for re-engagement and conversion. Both apps offer features to capitalize on this, though Mst’s approach includes a more direct marketing flow.

Notifications and Lifecycle Triggers

Swish focuses on "highly personalised + automated Wishlist notifications" to drive conversion "at the optimal moment." This indicates a system capable of triggering communications based on specific customer actions or product status changes, though the exact triggers (e.g., price drop, back in stock) are implied rather than explicitly detailed in its main description. The integration with Klaviyo is a significant strength here, allowing merchants to leverage a powerful email marketing platform for sophisticated, data-driven wishlist re-engagement campaigns. This means that while Swish provides the wishlist data, the actual marketing automation primarily occurs within the connected CRM.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow explicitly integrates "Price Drop and Back in Stock alert via email, sms and push notifications." This is a significant built-in marketing automation feature that directly addresses common conversion bottlenecks. When a product on a customer's wishlist drops in price or becomes available again, Mst can automatically notify them, prompting immediate action. This capability reduces reliance on external marketing tools for these specific, high-impact alerts, simplifying the marketing stack for some merchants. Its integrations with Klaviyo, PushOwl/Brevo, and Shopify Flow further enhance its ability to participate in broader marketing automation workflows, but the core alerts are handled internally.

Integrated Marketing Channels

Swish boasts out-of-the-box integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta. These integrations are crucial for a comprehensive marketing strategy. Klaviyo enables sophisticated email and SMS campaigns, GA4 provides advanced analytics on user behavior with wishlist items, and Meta integration supports targeted advertising to wishlist users. These connections transform wishlist data into actionable marketing intelligence, allowing merchants to segment audiences, retarget shoppers, and measure the ROI of their wishlist strategy effectively. The app operates as a data conduit, feeding rich customer intent data into existing marketing platforms.

Mst integrates with Customer accounts, Shopify Flow, Klaviyo, PushOwl/Brevo, and Apploy - Mobile App Builder. The inclusion of PushOwl/Brevo directly supports the push notification aspect of its price drop/back-in-stock alerts. Shopify Flow integration allows for custom automation based on wishlist events, which can be immensely powerful for creating unique customer journeys. The Apploy integration is notable for merchants who operate a dedicated mobile app, extending wishlist functionality beyond the web browser. While Swish relies on external platforms for marketing automation, Mst brings some of that capability in-house while still offering integrations for more expansive campaigns.

Integrations and Ecosystem Compatibility

The value of any Shopify app is significantly amplified by its ability to integrate seamlessly with other tools in a merchant's tech stack.

Key Marketing and Analytics Integrations

Swish's integrations are clearly geared towards powerful marketing and analytics. Its direct connections to Klaviyo for email marketing, GA4 for web analytics, and Meta for advertising mean that wishlist data can be centrally managed and acted upon across major marketing channels. This streamlined data flow helps merchants understand customer behavior more deeply, optimize ad spend, and personalize communications based on explicit product interest. The "Works With: Checkout, Hydrogen, Markets, Klaviyo, Customer Accounts, Search, Recommendations" list positions Swish as a robust component within a broader Shopify ecosystem, enhancing various touchpoints from discovery to purchase.

Mst's integration list also includes Klaviyo, indicating a shared commitment to email marketing prowess. The additional integration with PushOwl/Brevo supports its native push notification capabilities. The inclusion of Shopify Flow is a notable strength, enabling merchants to build custom automation rules triggered by wishlist actions. This allows for highly tailored responses, from tagging customers to initiating specific follow-up sequences. "Works With: Customer accounts, Shopify Flow, Klaviyo: Email Marketing & SMS, PushOwl/Brevo: Email, Push, SMS, Apploy - Mobile App Builder" suggests a focus on broader customer engagement and multi-channel communication, including mobile app integration.

Headless and Shopify Plus Readiness

For merchants operating at scale or with complex technical requirements, compatibility with Shopify Plus and headless commerce architectures is crucial.

Swish explicitly highlights its Shopify Plus plan exclusives, which include "Hydrogen & headless stacks" support. This positions Swish as a strong contender for enterprise-level stores that leverage modern frontend frameworks for greater flexibility and performance. The inclusion of "Free white glove onboarding," "Priority support," and a "Dedicated account manager" in the Plus plan further underscores its readiness to meet the demanding needs of high-growth merchants. These dedicated resources ensure seamless implementation and ongoing optimization within a complex Plus environment, a critical consideration for capabilities designed for Shopify Plus scaling needs.

Mst also mentions "API and headless theme support," confirming its technical capability to integrate with decoupled storefronts. While it doesn't offer a specific Shopify Plus tier with dedicated support like Swish, its underlying architectural flexibility makes it a viable option for Plus merchants who prefer a more hands-on approach or have in-house development teams capable of managing integrations. The multi-language and multiple currencies support also makes Mst appealing for internationalized Shopify Plus stores or those planning global expansion. For any business evaluating features aligned with enterprise retention requirements, considering the level of dedicated support versus code-level flexibility is key.

Pricing Structure and Value Proposition

The cost of an app is always a significant factor, but it must be weighed against the features provided, the level of support, and the overall impact on business goals.

Tiered Plans vs. Fixed Cost Model

Swish employs a tiered pricing model that aligns with Shopify's own subscription plans: Basic Shopify ($19/month), Shopify ($29/month), Advanced Shopify ($49/month), and Shopify Plus ($99/month). Each tier promises "all features," "Free setup and onboarding," and "Unlimited wishlists & saved items" and "Unlimited sessions." The key difference in the higher tiers, particularly for Shopify Plus, is the addition of white glove onboarding, priority support, and a dedicated account manager, alongside headless/Hydrogen support. This structure means that as a merchant scales their Shopify plan, the cost for Swish increases, presumably reflecting the increased operational complexity and support demands of larger stores. This model provides clear upgrade paths tied to store growth, ensuring consistent feature access but with enhanced service at higher levels. For merchants comparing plan fit against retention goals, understanding these tiers is vital.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow offers a strikingly different and simpler pricing model: a single "Monthly" plan at $2/month. This "One fixed cost for all features" is exceptionally competitive and includes "No limit on number of items in wishlist" and "No limit on number of customers." This flat-rate approach makes Mst highly attractive to budget-conscious merchants, startups, or those who want comprehensive wishlist functionality without a variable monthly expense. The low price point, coupled with its feature set, positions Mst as a strong value proposition for merchants prioritizing cost-effectiveness. When considering selecting plans that reduce stacked tooling costs, Mst's pricing stands out for its simplicity and affordability for its core functionality.

Total Cost of Ownership and Feature Access

For Swish, the total cost of ownership extends beyond the monthly fee to include the value of the free setup and customization service. This service can represent a significant saving in developer time and ensures that the app is properly integrated and styled from day one. While the monthly fees are higher than Mst's, the implicit value of professional setup, advanced analytics integrations, and dedicated support (especially for Plus plans) adds to its overall value proposition. Merchants seeking a polished, managed experience with less hands-on effort will likely find the Swish model aligns with their desire for premium service. Evaluating feature coverage across plans needs to consider these implicit services.

Mst's low fixed cost significantly reduces the barrier to entry and ongoing expense. However, merchants should factor in potential time or cost for deeper customizations if they require a bespoke look or highly specific functionality that goes beyond the app's standard offerings. The comprehensive feature set for just $2/month, including marketing flows, is excellent value for money. For merchants with technical expertise or those on a tight budget who don't require extensive white-glove service, Mst offers a robust, affordable solution. The consideration of a clearer view of total retention-stack costs often brings Mst to the forefront for those managing tight budgets.

Analytics, Reporting, and Insights

Wishlists are more than just customer tools; they are powerful data sources that can inform product strategy, marketing efforts, and inventory management.

Wishlist Data for Strategic Decisions

Swish emphasizes gaining "meaningful insights with advanced analytics and wishlist curation." Its integration with GA4 (Google Analytics 4) is a significant advantage, allowing merchants to track wishlist activity, popular items, and conversion paths within a robust analytics environment. This enables data-driven decisions regarding product merchandising, marketing campaign focus, and even inventory forecasting. The ability to curate wishlists likely refers to internal tools that help merchants understand customer intent by aggregating and analyzing saved items, informing product development or marketing segmentation.

Mst's description mentions a "feature-packed wishlist" and "marketing flow," which implies some level of data collection for its price drop and back-in-stock alerts. However, it does not explicitly detail "advanced analytics" or "wishlist curation" tools in the same way Swish does. While data on saved items is inherently collected, the depth of reporting or dedicated dashboards for merchant insights is not specified in the provided information. Its integration with Shopify Flow suggests that merchants could build custom reporting or trigger actions based on wishlist data, but this would require custom configuration rather than out-of-the-box analytical dashboards.

Customer Support Expectations and Reliability Cues

The quality of customer support and the perceived reliability of an app are crucial for merchant confidence and operational continuity.

Onboarding and Ongoing Assistance

Swish prominently advertises a "Free setup & customisation service across all plans," indicating a high level of proactive support from the outset. This service ensures smooth integration and proper aesthetic alignment, minimizing technical hurdles for merchants. For Shopify Plus users, this is elevated to "Free white glove onboarding" and includes "Priority support" and a "Dedicated account manager," signifying a comprehensive, high-touch support model designed for enterprise clients. The 5.0 rating from 272 reviews strongly suggests that Swish delivers on its promise of excellent service and app reliability, reinforcing its position as a trustworthy solution.

Mst's description mentions "Easy app setup," implying a straightforward installation process that merchants can typically manage independently. While direct support details are not as explicitly highlighted as Swish's white-glove service, its 4.7 rating from 150 reviews indicates a generally positive user experience and satisfactory support. Given its significantly lower price point, merchants might expect a more self-service oriented support model, potentially relying on documentation or standard email support. The reliability cue from its solid rating, despite fewer reviews than Swish, suggests that it is a stable and functional application for its users.

Performance, Compatibility, and Operational Overhead

Both apps generally perform well within the Shopify ecosystem, but their architectural and integration strategies have implications for overall operational overhead.

Swish's "seamless integration with all themes" and explicit support for "Hydrogen & headless stacks" for Plus plans indicate a focus on high performance and broad compatibility, reducing the likelihood of theme conflicts or performance degradation. The pre-emptive "free setup and customization service" also directly addresses potential operational overhead by preventing integration issues from the start. Its integrations with major analytics and marketing platforms are designed to reduce manual data transfer and consolidate data for analysis, thereby lowering data management overhead.

Mst also emphasizes its responsive design and "API and headless theme support," ensuring broad compatibility and good performance across devices and modern store architectures. Its "fully customizable wishlist page with liquid template, HTML and CSS" offers deep control, but also means that complex customizations could introduce additional maintenance overhead if not carefully managed. The built-in marketing flow for price drop/back-in-stock alerts can reduce the operational burden of setting up these specific automations in external tools, streamlining a key aspect of re-engagement.

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

For many growing e-commerce businesses, the accumulation of single-function apps for every specific need can quickly lead to "app fatigue." This phenomenon manifests as tool sprawl, where a merchant uses a dozen or more apps, each with its own interface, data silo, and monthly subscription. This fragmentation often results in disjointed customer experiences, increased operational overhead for integrations and maintenance, and a higher total cost of ownership. The data collected by one app might not easily communicate with another, making a unified view of customer behavior or the effectiveness of retention strategies challenging to achieve.

While specialized wishlist apps like Swish and Mst offer excellent functionality within their niche, a comprehensive retention strategy often requires more. Merchants need tools for loyalty programs, customer reviews, referrals, and integrated analytics to truly drive sustainable growth. This is where an all-in-one platform offers a distinct advantage, consolidating multiple functionalities into a single, integrated solution. Growave embodies this "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy by combining loyalty programs, rewards, referrals, reviews and user-generated content (UGC), and wishlists into one platform. This unified approach eliminates the need for separate apps for each function, leading to a more consistent customer experience, centralized data, and reduced management complexity. Stores interested in a tailored walkthrough based on store goals and constraints can explore a guided evaluation of an integrated retention stack.

An integrated platform means that data from wishlists can seamlessly inform loyalty points and rewards designed to lift repeat purchases, for example, by awarding bonus points for adding items to a wishlist or purchasing a wishlisted item. Similarly, customer feedback mechanisms through collecting and showcasing authentic customer reviews can be directly tied to loyalty program tiers or referral incentives. This synergy is difficult to achieve with disparate apps that require complex, custom integrations, which also adds to their pricing structure that scales as order volume grows. Growave’s approach aims to provide a holistic view of the customer journey, from initial interest (wishlist) through purchase (reviews, social proof that supports conversion and AOV) to repeat engagement (loyalty programs that keep customers coming back). By reducing the number of individual app subscriptions, merchants also gain a clearer understanding of total retention-stack costs.

The capabilities designed for Shopify Plus scaling needs are particularly relevant for high-growth merchants. Growave is built to support these requirements, offering features aligned with enterprise retention requirements and robust integrations for complex operations. For stores looking to enhance their retention programs that reduce reliance on discounts, an integrated loyalty solution is key. Furthermore, the platform offers UGC workflows that keep product pages credible and reviews that reduce uncertainty for new buyers, demonstrating the breadth of its functionality. Merchants interested in comparing plan fit against retention goals often find that a single platform offers better value and less overhead, allowing them to map costs to retention outcomes over time. When reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from, the comprehensive nature of integrated apps like Growave stands out against single-function tools.

Choosing an integrated solution like Growave means investing in a platform designed for long-term customer lifetime value. It centralizes customer data, allowing for highly personalized experiences across all touchpoints, from wishlist alerts to VIP tiers and incentives for high-intent customers. This unified data also simplifies analytics, providing a single source of truth for understanding customer behavior and the effectiveness of various retention initiatives. Merchants can benefit from a streamlined workflow, reduced chances of app conflicts, and a single point of contact for support, all while ensuring that their retention strategy is cohesive and impactful. If consolidating tools is a priority, start by selecting plans that reduce stacked tooling costs.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow, the decision comes down to a balance of budget, desired feature depth, and the level of hands-on technical involvement a team is prepared for. Swish, with its 5.0 rating across 272 reviews, offers a premium, high-touch wishlist solution, ideal for established brands and Shopify Plus stores that prioritize seamless integration, advanced analytics integrations, and professional setup and support services. Its tiered pricing reflects this comprehensive offering, providing a managed experience that minimizes merchant effort.

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow, with a 4.7 rating from 150 reviews, stands out for its exceptional value, offering a feature-rich wishlist with built-in price drop and back-in-stock marketing alerts at a remarkably low fixed price of $2/month. It is best suited for budget-conscious merchants, startups, or those with in-house technical capabilities who appreciate deep customization control through liquid, HTML, and CSS. The app provides robust core functionality and effective marketing automation for specific use cases without the higher investment.

However, as e-commerce businesses grow, managing an expanding stack of single-function apps for loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists can become inefficient. These siloed tools often lead to fragmented customer data, inconsistent user experiences, and increased operational complexity. An integrated retention platform like Growave offers a strategic alternative, unifying essential retention functionalities under one roof. This approach provides a more holistic view of customer engagement, streamlines data flow, and reduces overall app management overhead, allowing merchants to focus on holistic growth strategies. By consolidating tools, businesses can implement more cohesive and impactful loyalty programs that keep customers coming back across all customer touchpoints. To reduce app fatigue and run retention from one place, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from.

FAQ

What is the primary difference between Swish and Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow?

The primary difference lies in their pricing model, target audience, and scope of built-in marketing. Swish (formerly Wishlist King) uses a tiered pricing model based on Shopify plans and offers a premium, high-touch experience with free setup/customization and advanced integrations, catering to established and Shopify Plus brands. Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow offers a very affordable fixed price, including built-in marketing automation like price drop and back-in-stock alerts, appealing to budget-conscious merchants and those preferring direct customization.

Which app offers better value for budget-conscious merchants?

Mst: Wishlist + Marketing flow offers significantly better value for budget-conscious merchants with its single, fixed-price plan of $2/month that includes all features and unlimited usage. While Swish offers a strong value proposition through its white-glove service and advanced integrations, its higher tiered pricing makes Mst the more economical choice for those prioritizing cost savings without sacrificing core wishlist functionality.

Can these apps support Shopify Plus stores and headless commerce?

Yes, both apps are designed with capabilities to support Shopify Plus stores and headless commerce architectures. Swish explicitly details its Shopify Plus plan benefits, including "Hydrogen & headless stacks" support, along with dedicated onboarding and account management. Mst also features "API and headless theme support," making it compatible with modern, decoupled storefronts, although it does not offer specific Plus-tier support services like Swish.

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

An all-in-one platform like Growave centralizes multiple retention functionalities—such as loyalty programs, reviews, referrals, and wishlists—into a single integrated solution. This contrasts with specialized apps like Swish or Mst, which focus solely on wishlists. All-in-one platforms offer advantages such as unified customer data, a cohesive customer experience, reduced app stack complexity, streamlined analytics, and potentially lower total cost of ownership by avoiding multiple subscriptions. While specialized apps excel in their niche, integrated platforms provide a holistic approach to customer lifetime value and long-term growth.