Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Smart Wishlist APP: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is one of many decisions Shopify merchants face when trying to convert interest into repeat purchases. Wishlists can increase conversion, capture intent, and feed remarketing programs — but not all wishlist apps are built the same. This comparison looks closely at Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Smart Wishlist APP so merchants can decide which tool fits their needs and when a broader retention platform may be the smarter long-term choice.

Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) is a polished, feature-rich wishlist solution that suits merchants who want advanced wishlist behaviour, analytics, and guaranteed onboarding. Smart Wishlist APP is an ultra-lightweight option that covers basic wishlist functionality at a lower monthly cost but lacks the integrations and enterprise features of Swish. For merchants who want wishlist functionality plus loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers in a single system, an integrated retention platform like Growave can deliver better value and reduce app sprawl.

Purpose of this post: provide an unbiased, feature-by-feature comparison of Swish and Smart Wishlist APP — covering features, pricing and value, integrations, support, implementation, and merchant fit — then explain why some merchants choose to consolidate into a single integrated solution instead of stacking single-purpose apps.

Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Smart Wishlist APP: At a Glance

Feature-by-Feature Deep Dive

Core Wishlist Functionality

Swish: Feature Depth and User Flows

Swish positions itself as a full wishlist solution for brands with ambition. Its core strengths are:

• Persistent wishlists across sessions and devices for logged-in users.
• Guest wishlist capability and unlimited saved items.
• Multiple UI placements: product pages, collection pages, quick view, and custom locations.
• Wishlist sharing and curation across social and email channels (where enabled).
• Automated wishlist notifications and personalized reminders to shoppers.
• Advanced analytics that show popular saved items, conversion from wishlist to purchase, and segmentation opportunities.

These features aim to turn passive interest into measurable purchase actions. Free setup and customization ensure the widget matches store aesthetics and UX flows, which matters when maintaining brand trust and mobile usability.

Smart Wishlist APP: Focused, Lightweight Functionality

Smart Wishlist APP provides the essential mechanics merchants expect:

• Add-to-wishlist button for both logged-in and guest users.
• Basic admin-side UI customization: button type, labels, and visibility.
• Enable/disable UI elements from the admin dashboard.

The product description emphasizes simplicity: it "adds products to the wishlist" and lets merchants control button appearance. For stores that only need the visual save-for-later interaction, Smart Wishlist APP covers the basics at a low monthly price.

Comparison Notes — Front-End Behavior

• Merchants that prioritize multi-touch automated flows (e.g., wishlist abandonment emails) will find Swish more capable out of the box.
• Stores that only need a save-for-later button without automation or analytics can get immediate value from Smart Wishlist APP for a fraction of the cost.
• Mobile performance, accessibility, and theme compatibility are areas where Swish’s free setup and customization services reduce implementation risk, especially for stores with bespoke themes or headless setups.

Analytics, Reporting & Insights

Swish: Built-In Analytics

Swish offers analytics and wishlist curation tools that let merchants:

• Track item-level wishlist adds and conversions.
• Identify trends in saved product demand to inform merchandising.
• Export and segment wishlist data for email or ad targeting.
• Integrate with GA4 to track wishlist events alongside other store metrics.

These analytics help merchants make wishlist data actionable across marketing channels.

Smart Wishlist APP: Minimal Reporting

Smart Wishlist APP does not advertise advanced analytics or external tracking integrations. Reporting appears limited to UI controls and the underlying act of saving an item — merchants should expect to rely on Shopify native reporting or additional apps if they want deep insight.

Comparison Notes — Using Wishlist Data

• For campaigns that rely on wishlist signals (e.g., targeted emails when sizes restock), Swish reduces the work required to operationalize those events.
• Smart Wishlist APP can capture the base event, but turning that event into a campaign requires manual exports or additional tools.

Integrations & Ecosystem Compatibility

Swish Integrations

Swish lists multiple integrations and compatibilities that matter to mid-market and enterprise merchants:

• Klaviyo for wishlist-triggered emails and flows.
• GA4 for event-level analytics.
• Meta for dynamic remarketing using saved items.
• Support for Checkout, Hydrogen, Markets and Customer Accounts — useful for headless or large-scale stores.

These integrations allow wishlist activity to feed into owned marketing channels and ad retargeting with minimal custom work.

Smart Wishlist APP Integrations

Smart Wishlist APP does not list third-party integrations. There is no explicit mention of Klaviyo, GA4, or Meta. That typically means custom integration is needed or wishlist events are not available in a way that marketing platforms can easily consume.

Comparison Notes — Marketing & Personalization

• Brands that already run email flows and ad campaigns should prefer a wishlist app that connects to those platforms. Swish’s Klaviyo and Meta integrations reduce engineering overhead.
• If integration is not important and budgets are tight, Smart Wishlist APP remains an option for a functional save feature.

Pricing & Value

Swish Pricing Breakdown

Swish offers tiered pricing mapped to Shopify plan tiers:

• Basic Shopify: $19 / month — unlimited wishlists & saved items, free setup.
• Shopify: $29 / month — same features, aligned to Shopify plan.
• Advanced Shopify: $49 / month — same features, higher plan.
• Shopify Plus: $99 / month — adds free white-glove onboarding, priority support and a dedicated account manager, plus Hydrogen/headless support.

Value factors in not just the monthly fee but the included services: free setup and onboarding across plans, plus enterprise-level support on Plus. That onboarding is valuable for stores that want a hands-off integration and pixel-perfect UI matching without hiring developers.

Smart Wishlist APP Pricing

• Basic: $4.99 / month.

Smart Wishlist APP’s price is attractive for micro merchants and stores trying to keep monthly costs low. The low price aligns with the app’s concentrated functionality, but may introduce hidden costs if merchants later need integrations or analytics not included.

Value Comparison

• Swish delivers a higher monthly cost but a higher feature set, integration capability, onboarding, and enterprise support that can accelerate time-to-value.
• Smart Wishlist APP delivers the most cost-effective raw price for basic wishlist needs but may become costly in time and engineering if merchants later require connected workflows.

Support, Onboarding & Reliability

Swish: White-Glove Onboarding and Support

Swish emphasizes an onboarding service included across plans and expanded white-glove services for Plus customers. Benefits include:

• Free setup and customization across tiers.
• Priority support and a dedicated account manager for Shopify Plus clients.
• Professional assistance to ensure the wishlist UI is visible, accessible, and integrated with analytics/events.

This model reduces the chance of configuration errors and ensures wishlist events are trackable by marketing platforms.

Smart Wishlist APP: Lightweight Support

Smart Wishlist APP appears to provide admin-level configuration without the same level of onboarding or integrations. The simplicity reduces support needs but raises risk for merchants that aren’t comfortable implementing JavaScript or configuring theme positions.

Comparison Notes — Time to Launch

• For stores with limited developer resources, Swish’s free setup can be a decisive advantage, cutting hours or days off implementation.
• For stores that can accept a basic button and configure it independently, Smart Wishlist APP is quick to install and cheap.

Developer & Headless Considerations

Swish: Headless and Hydrogen Support

Swish explicitly calls out Hydrogen and headless compatibility, as well as Shopify Checkout and Markets. For merchants running decoupled front ends or Shopify Plus shops with complex stacks, that matters. The Plus plan even mentions support and account management for more advanced implementations.

Smart Wishlist APP: No Headless Mentions

Smart Wishlist APP does not mention headless or API support. That typically means it is designed for traditional theme-based storefronts and might require custom work for headless setups.

Scalability & Enterprise Readiness

Swish: Scales with Store Complexity

Swish's tiered model and feature emphasis make it suitable for growing stores. The enterprise plan ($99/mo for Plus) adds support and account management that enterprise merchants expect. The unlimited wishlists and sessions model avoids artificial caps that can block scale.

Smart Wishlist APP: Best for Small Stores

The $4.99 price point and minimal feature set indicate Smart Wishlist APP is better suited for small stores with limited traffic and straightforward needs. No evidence of the enterprise support path lowers its suitability for scale.

Privacy, Data Portability & Compliance

Wishlist data may contain user intent and product preferences. Key considerations:

• Swish supports analytics integrations and event publishing, so merchants can retain ownership of wishlist data by forwarding events to GA4 or Klaviyo. White-glove onboarding helps ensure events are correctly implemented and compliant.
• Smart Wishlist APP does not list integrations or event hooks, so merchants should verify how wishlist data is stored and whether exports are possible if GDPR or portability is a requirement.

Mobile Experience & Accessibility

A wishlist widget must perform on mobile and respect accessibility standards:

• Swish’s customization and onboarding services reduce the risk of poor mobile layout or accessibility issues since the team helps with styling and placement.
• Smart Wishlist APP provides UI customization options, but merchants are responsible for verifying mobile touch targets, readouts for screen readers, and responsive placement.

Use Cases and Merchant Fit

Below are practical merchant profiles showing which app aligns best.

• Merchants who need wishlist data to trigger email and ad flows: Swish is the better fit because of Klaviyo and Meta integrations.
• Brands that want analytics to inform merchandising: Swish’s built-in insights reduce the need for separate data wrangling.
• Small stores that only want a simple save-for-later button and minimal monthly spend: Smart Wishlist APP delivers core functionality at the lowest price.
• Shopify Plus and headless stores that require dedicated onboarding and support: Swish’s Plus plan is designed for these cases.
• Merchants seeking to reduce the number of apps used for retention and review generation: Consider an integrated solution that combines wishlist with loyalty, reviews, and referrals.

Pros and Cons — Quick Reference

Swish (formerly Wishlist King)

• Pros:
  • Rich wishlist features and automation.
  • Integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, Meta.
  • Free onboarding and customization.
  • Headless/Hydrogen and Plus support.
  • Robust analytics for merchandising.
• Cons:
  • Higher monthly cost than ultra-budget options.
  • Wishlist-only focus — additional retention features require adding more apps.

Smart Wishlist APP

• Pros:
  • Very low monthly cost.
  • Simple UI for save-for-later functionality.
  • Minimal setup for basic needs.
• Cons:
  • No documented integrations for marketing platforms.
  • No analytics or advanced automation.
  • Limited support and unclear headless compatibility.

Implementation Checklist and Time Investment

Merchants assessing either app should evaluate the implementation steps and time required.

Swish implementation checklist (typical):

• Confirm Shopify plan and select corresponding Swish plan.
• Schedule free setup & onboarding session.
• Decide UI placement and request custom styling to match theme.
• Enable Klaviyo/GA4/Meta integrations and validate events.
• Configure automated wishlist notifications and email flows.
• QA on desktop and mobile; launch.

Smart Wishlist APP implementation checklist (typical):

• Install the app and enable the wishlist UI.
• Choose button type and label in the admin.
• Place button across product, collection, or quick-view templates as needed.
• Test on mobile and desktop.
• Launch.

Time estimates:

• Swish: with free onboarding, stores can be live within a few days depending on customization scope.
• Smart Wishlist APP: live in under an hour for basic placement if no custom styling is required.

Pricing Scenarios and Total Cost of Ownership

When evaluating cost, merchants should think beyond monthly fees. Consider the following hidden costs:

• Developer time to integrate wishlist events with email tools and ad platforms if the wishlist app does not include integrations.
• Cost of additional apps for loyalty, reviews, and referrals that often accompany wishlist usage to build retention.
• Time spent extracting wishlist data for reporting if analytics are not provided.

Illustrative examples:

• A merchant using Smart Wishlist APP at $4.99/month but needing Klaviyo flows may pay a developer hourly rate or subscribe to a middleware app to push events. Over a year, developer costs can exceed the premium charged by full-featured wishlist apps.
• A merchant on Swish paying $29/month gets integrations and onboarding that minimize development hours and accelerate time-to-value.

Customer Support & Review Signals

App review counts and ratings on the Shopify App Store provide helpful signals.

• Swish: 272 reviews with a 5.0 rating. High review volume and a perfect rating are strong indicators of product-market fit, reliable support, and customer satisfaction.
• Smart Wishlist APP: 0 reviews and a 0.0 rating. The lack of reviews makes it difficult to assess long-term reliability and merchant satisfaction.

When selecting an app, consider review volume as a proxy for support responsiveness, stability across Shopify updates, and continued feature development.

Migration, Data Portability & Exit Strategy

Merchants should always plan their exit or migration path:

• Swish: Given its integrations and analytics exports, merchants can typically export wishlist data or forward events to analytics platforms. Ask Swish support about data export options and event schemas.
• Smart Wishlist APP: Verify whether wishlist data is accessible via export or if uninstalling the app removes stored data. If data is essential, ensure a migration path exists prior to committing.

Security & Performance Considerations

Wishlist widgets are customer-facing and can add JavaScript to storefronts:

• Swish’s onboarding reduces the risk of performance regressions by guiding best practices and testing.
• Smart Wishlist APP’s lighter footprint may have less overhead, but merchants should still test performance and ensure lazy-loading where appropriate.

Decision Framework: Which App Fits Which Merchant?

Choose Swish if:

• Wishlist data will feed email flows or ad targeting.
• The merchant needs analytics to inform merchandising.
• Headless or Shopify Plus support is required.
• The store lacks developer resources and wants onboarding included.
• The merchant plans to scale and prefers a more enterprise-ready partner.

Choose Smart Wishlist APP if:

• Budget is the primary constraint and wishlist needs are minimal.
• The store simply needs a save-for-later button with basic UI control.
• The merchant has no immediate need for integrations or analytics.

Keep in mind: neither app replaces tools that drive customer retention beyond wishlists, such as loyalty, referrals, reviews, or VIP tiers. Adding those features typically means adding more apps, which introduces complexity and cost.

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

App Fatigue: The Problem With One-Feature Plugins

Merchants often begin with one small app to solve a single problem. Over time, the number of apps grows to cover loyalty, reviews, referrals, wishlist, and VIP tiers. The consequences are:

• Increased monthly costs and overlapping features.
• Higher engineering overhead to connect events across multiple vendors.
• Fragmented customer data that’s harder to analyze and act on.
• Longer onboarding time for new marketing tactics.

This is often referred to as "app fatigue" — the drain on time, budget, and strategic focus caused by maintaining many single-purpose tools.

Growave’s "More Growth, Less Stack" Approach

An alternative is to consolidate retention tools into a single platform. Growave follows a "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy, where wishlist functionality is one module in a broader retention suite that also includes loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers. Consolidation offers practical benefits:

• Unified customer profiles and activity streams across loyalty, wishlist and reviews.
• Centralized automation and fewer moving parts for marketing teams.
• Lower cumulative subscription costs compared with multiple single-purpose apps.
• Fewer integration points to test after theme updates or platform migrations.

Merchants considering consolidation should evaluate not just monthly price but the total time and cost saved by reducing the number of vendors.

Core Features That Make an Integrated Platform Attractive

• Loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases: Build points programs, custom reward actions, and VIP tiers that turn saved-item intent into long-term value. See how loyalty and rewards can raise lifetime value by integrating wishlist signals into reward triggers (loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases).
• Collect and showcase authentic reviews: Reviews are social proof that complements wishlists and loyalty programs. Platforms that combine both make it easier to reward reviewers and showcase UGC (collect and showcase authentic reviews).
• Referral programs that convert advocates into customers: A referral engine tied to loyalty increases the ROI of each retained customer.
• Wishlist functionality that feeds other programs: Wishlists can automatically create personalized rewards, trigger replenishment offers, or feed retargeting audiences without building custom pipelines.
• Built-in integrations: One integrated suite usually supports the main marketing platforms and avoids engineering heavy lifting.

Growave in Practice: What It Consolidates

Growave combines multiple retention tools into one platform so merchants can manage:

• Loyalty and rewards programs that are flexible and customizable.
• Referrals that reward advocates and track conversions.
• Reviews and UGC to build social proof and boost conversion rates.
• Wishlists that tie directly into email flows, loyalty segmentation, and ad audiences.
• VIP tiers and exclusive perks to increase customer LTV.

Merchants can explore pricing tiers and decide whether a free plan or a paid plan fits their scale and needs by looking to consolidate costs and streamline billing (consolidate costs and streamline billing).

Integrations and Platform Support

An integrated approach reduces the number of third-party glue apps. Growave supports notable integrations to ensure wishlist and retention data flows into marketing systems and customer service tools. For merchants on Shopify Plus or advanced stacks, Growave offers enterprise-level options and support for headless setups — see how Growave supports solutions for larger merchants (solutions for high-growth Plus brands).

Customer Stories and Proof Points

Reading real-world examples is useful when evaluating consolidation. Merchants interested in how similar brands solved retention challenges can review customer stories to see measurable outcomes and implementation patterns (customer stories from brands scaling retention).

Migration and Consolidation Strategy

If a merchant chooses to consolidate wishlist plus other retention tools, a pragmatic migration plan helps:

• Audit current apps and list overlapping features.
• Export existing wishlist, loyalty and review data where possible.
• Map triggers and automations that must be recreated in the new platform.
• Test flows in a staging environment and run parallel campaigns during transition.

To discuss migration specifics and whether consolidation will reduce total cost of ownership, merchants can Book a personalized demo.

Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack improves customer retention and simplifies operations.

How Consolidation Impacts Cost and Time

When calculated holistically, consolidation often reduces both recurring fees and time spent managing multiple vendors. It also simplifies reporting: one dashboard aggregates loyalty, wishlist activity, referrals, and review sentiment — providing clearer insight into customer lifetime value drivers. Merchants can compare plan pricing and features directly to determine whether consolidation fits their roadmap (compare plan pricing and features).

Where an Integrated Suite Doesn’t Make Sense

• Extremely small stores with very low transaction volume and no plans for loyalty or referrals may prefer the raw low cost of a single-purpose wishlist plugin.
• Merchant should weigh current needs against future growth; if expansion into loyalty, referrals, or reviews is likely, consolidation tends to be a better long-term value.

How Growave Makes Wishlist Signals More Actionable

Growave treats wishlist signals as first-class data that can immediately influence loyalty rewards, automated replenishment messages, personalized emails, and review requests. This reduces the friction of building multi-app automations and keeps more of the data within the merchant’s control.

Merchants can install Growave from the app store to test how a consolidated approach works in practice (install Growave from the Shopify App Store). For those weighing total cost savings, a direct comparison of plan tiers helps illustrate the trade-offs (consolidate costs and streamline billing).

Final App Comparison Summary

• Swish (formerly Wishlist King) offers a robust, enterprise-ready wishlist solution with strong integrations, analytics, and onboarding. It is best for merchants that need wishlist data to be actionable across marketing channels and who value support during implementation.
• Smart Wishlist APP is a low-cost, single-feature solution suited to merchants that only require a save-for-later UI and minimal administration.
• For merchants who want wishlist capabilities plus loyalty, reviews, referrals, and VIP tiers without stacking multiple apps, an integrated retention platform like Growave reduces maintenance overhead and often offers better value for money across the whole retention stack.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Smart Wishlist APP, the decision comes down to scope and scale. Swish is the superior wishlist specialty app when integrations, analytics, onboarding and enterprise support matter. Smart Wishlist APP is an economical way to add a save-for-later button for stores that expect to remain small and have limited integration needs. However, merchants who plan to build retention programs that include loyalty, reviews, referrals and VIP tiers should consider consolidating tools.

Consolidating wishlist, loyalty, referrals and reviews into one platform reduces vendor overhead and keeps retention data in a single system — a strategy summarized by the "More Growth, Less Stack" approach. Merchants can compare pricing tiers and assess whether consolidation reduces total cost and time spent managing multiple apps (consolidate costs and streamline billing). Install and evaluate Growave from the Shopify App Store to test a unified retention suite (install Growave from the Shopify App Store). For specifics on how loyalty and wishlist signals can work together to increase lifetime value, review how merchants use loyalty and rewards to convert intent into repeat purchases (loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases). To understand how reviews strengthen conversion when paired with wishlist signals, learn about review automation and UGC collection (collect and showcase authentic reviews).

Start a 14-day free trial to see how a unified retention stack accelerates growth (compare plan pricing and features).

FAQ

How do Swish and Smart Wishlist APP compare on integrations?

Swish includes integrations with Klaviyo, GA4 and Meta, and supports headless/Hydrogen setups and Shopify Checkout. Smart Wishlist APP does not list third-party integrations, so merchants should assume additional work is required to make wishlist events usable in marketing platforms.

Which app is better for small stores on a tight monthly budget?

Smart Wishlist APP is the most budget-friendly option at $4.99/month and suits small stores that only need a basic save-for-later button. If the merchant later needs integrations or analytics, total costs may increase.

How does support and onboarding differ between the two apps?

Swish provides free onboarding and customization across plans and a white-glove service with dedicated account management on Plus. Smart Wishlist APP offers lighter, admin-driven setup without the same level of onboarding support.

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

An all-in-one platform consolidates wishlist functionality with loyalty, reviews, referrals and tiers. This reduces app sprawl, centralizes customer data, and often lowers the total cost and time spent managing multiple integrations. Merchants can evaluate consolidated plans to determine if the benefits outweigh the flexibility of best-of-breed single-purpose apps (consolidate costs and streamline billing).