Introduction
Choosing the right wishlist app can look simple on the surface: add a button, let shoppers save favorites, and send alerts. The reality is more complex. Merchants must weigh features, integrations, scalability, analytics, and long-term value when a single feature can influence retention and lifetime value.
Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) is a strong choice for merchants who want a highly customizable wishlist with white-glove onboarding and unlimited wishlists at predictable monthly prices. Swym Wishlist Plus is better for stores that need quick setup, robust third-party integrations, and tiered usage plans that scale with wishlist activity. For merchants seeking a higher-value path that reduces tool sprawl, an integrated retention suite like Growave is an alternative that combines wishlist capabilities with loyalty, referrals, and reviews to drive repeat purchases.
This post provides an objective, feature-by-feature comparison of Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Swym Wishlist Plus to help merchants choose the most appropriate solution. It covers usability, features, integrations, pricing and value, support, technical capabilities, and real-world fit. After the comparison, there is a section that explains the limitations of single-purpose apps and shows how an all-in-one retention platform can reduce complexity while improving retention outcomes.
Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Swym Wishlist Plus: At a Glance
| Aspect | Swish (formerly Wishlist King) | Swym Wishlist Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Swish | Swym Corporation |
| Core Function | Feature-rich, fully customizable wishlist with advanced notifications and analytics | Easy-to-set-up wishlist with robust APIs and alerts for price drops and restocks |
| Best For | Brands that want deep customization, free setup, and unlimited use across plans | Brands that need fast deployment, broad third-party integrations, and scalable action limits |
| Rating & Reviews | 5.0 (272 reviews) | 4.8 (1,408 reviews) |
| Notable Features | Unlimited wishlists and saved items, free setup and customization, GA4/Klaviyo/Meta integrations, advanced analytics, headless/Hydrogen support | Anonymous wishlists, multiple wishlists per customer, price-drop/restock alerts, customer accounts extension, powerful APIs, many third-party integrations |
| Setup | Free, personalized setup included across plans | Code-free setup in minutes; optional extensions |
| Pricing Range | $19–$99 / month (Plus plan for Shopify Plus at $99) | Free – $99.99 / month with usage-based action limits |
| Unique Selling Point | Personal onboarding + customizable UI + headless/Plus support | Fast setup + highly connected ecosystem + scalable action tiers |
| Integrations | Klaviyo, GA4, Meta, Hydrogen, headless, Customer Accounts | Klaviyo, Yotpo, Mailchimp, POS, page builders, many ESPs and CRMs |
Feature-by-Feature Deep Dive
Core Wishlist Functionality
Swish (formerly Wishlist King)
Swish positions itself as a full-feature wishlist tool geared toward merchants that want a highly tailored customer experience. Core functional highlights include:
- Unlimited wishlists and saved items across all paid plans.
- Wishlist access throughout the shopping journey, including product pages, collection pages, and possibly search results.
- Highly customizable appearance to match the store aesthetic.
- Notifications for wishlist activity tailored to trigger at key conversion moments.
- Free setup and customization included, which removes an initial implementation barrier and helps ensure the widget fits brand design and UX expectations.
These features make Swish attractive for brands that need a wishlist to feel like a native part of the storefront, not an off-the-shelf widget.
Swym Wishlist Plus
Swym’s wishlist aims at broad adoption and quick impact. Key functional points:
- Shoppers can save favorites and create multiple wishlists.
- Anonymous wishlist support, allowing non-logged-in visitors to save items and return later.
- Sharing options via email, SMS, social media, and direct links to encourage gifting or social proof.
- Alerts for low stock, restock, and price drops delivered through integrated ESPs.
- A Customer Accounts extension that centralizes wishlists, recent views, and offers to create ongoing engagement.
Swym emphasizes immediate ease of use and features that feed into revenue-driving moments such as price-drop alerts and social sharing.
Customization & Onboarding
Swish
Swish includes free setup and customization across plans, which can be a decisive differentiator for merchants without in-house front-end resources or design bandwidth. The promise of white-glove onboarding on the Shopify Plus plan and dedicated support for headless/Hydrogen stacks signals readiness for complex storefront architectures. Customization is accessible, and merchants can expect the wishlist to closely match the brand’s look and feel.
Strengths:
- Professional setup included at no extra cost.
- Ability to tailor visuals and behavior to store nuances.
- Headless and Hydrogen support for advanced implementations.
Considerations:
- Deep customization may require coordination with the Swish onboarding team, which is a pro for UX but adds dependency on vendor timelines for complex changes.
Swym
Swym focuses on speed and low-friction deployment. The app claims setup in under five minutes with code-free options for typical storefronts. For merchants who prefer self-serve, Swym’s setup is attractive. The availability of powerful APIs provides developers room for advanced customizations if needed.
Strengths:
- Extremely fast code-free deployment.
- Clear extension model (Customer Accounts) for additional functionality.
- APIs available for custom flows on higher plans.
Considerations:
- While initial setup is fast, advanced visual parity with the store may require developer effort when deviating from standard themes.
Integrations & Ecosystem
Integrations are essential because wishlist activity becomes valuable when it ties into email flows, advertising, analytics, and CRM.
Swish
Swish provides out-of-the-box integrations for Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta, and supports Hydrogen and headless setups. These integrations enable automated wishlist-driven messages and measurement across channels. For merchants already using Klaviyo or Google Analytics 4, this reduces integration lift.
Swym
Swym lists an extensive ecosystem of integrations: Klaviyo, Yotpo, Mailchimp, Postscript, Attentive, Tapcart, PageFly and many ESPs and CRMs. This breadth is especially helpful for merchants that rely on multiple marketing tools across channels. Swym’s long list of connectors makes wishlist events usable in ad retargeting, email automation, and POS flows.
Practical implication:
- If the store relies on one or two core tools (eg. Klaviyo and GA4), Swish has the essentials and easier onboarding.
- If the stack includes a variety of marketing or POS providers, Swym’s broader compatibility may reduce custom work.
Notification Automation & Revenue Signals
Automated notifications convert wishlists into measurable revenue through timely messaging.
Swish emphasizes personalized, automated wishlist notifications designed to drive conversions at optimal moments. With Klaviyo and Meta integrations, merchants can trigger lifecycle messages and retargeting ads based on wishlist events. Swish's approach seems to prioritize curated, behavior-driven communications.
Swym explicitly offers alerts for low-stock, restock, and price drops. These notifications are a well-documented tactic to accelerate purchases from wishlisters who are sensitive to price or availability. Swym’s integrations with a wide range of ESPs and messaging platforms enhance its reach for cart recovery and reactivation.
Which approach fits better:
- For merchants seeking advanced behavioral curation and a more tailored automation design, Swish’s setup and analytics might be more fitting.
- For merchants prioritizing immediate transactional signals (price drop, stock alert) and cross-channel reach, Swym’s alert features are compelling.
Analytics & Reporting
Swish provides advanced analytics and wishlist curation capabilities aimed at surfacing meaningful insights about saved items and shopper intent. Aggregated wishlist data can inform merchandising, inventory planning, and marketing trigger design.
Swym supplies detailed reports on shopper behavior and wishlist actions. The volume-based nature of Swym’s pricing (wishlist actions per month) makes reporting visibility important so merchants can forecast and manage costs. The availability of customer account history also enriches reporting on shopper intent.
Operational note:
- Merchants who plan to use wishlist data to inform merchandising or to create custom audiences should verify whether each app exposes the required event-level data to analytics platforms and CDPs.
Multi-Device & Anonymous Support
Swym explicitly supports anonymous wishlists, allowing visitors to save items without an account—this reduces friction for first-time visitors. It also enables later conversion paths by email capture and linking saved items to customer accounts.
Swish appears focused on persistent, authenticated experiences but includes the ability for shoppers to save items throughout the shopping journey. Merchants should confirm anonymous wishlist support and the mechanism for converting anonymous saves into tracked customer records if anonymous support is a priority.
Headless & Shopify Plus Readiness
Modern enterprise storefronts require support for headless architectures and Shopify Plus features.
Swish advertises explicit support for Hydrogen and headless stacks, with plus-level features like white-glove onboarding and a dedicated account manager for Shopify Plus customers. That indicates attention to enterprise-grade scalability and performance.
Swym supports Shopify Plus on Pro and Premium plans and exposes REST & Javascript APIs for custom integrations. The API access on higher tiers is useful for headless or highly customized storefronts, but merchants may need to move to higher-priced plans to unlock the required capabilities.
Decision factor:
- If a merchant uses Shopify Plus or headless architecture and values vendor-led implementation support, Swish’s enterprise-level onboarding can reduce friction.
- If developers prefer API-first control and the team is prepared to manage implementation, Swym’s API options are suitable but may cost more for higher usage tiers.
Pricing & Value
Pricing impacts both immediate cost and long-term value, particularly when usage grows.
Swish Pricing Summary
- Basic Shopify: $19 / month — All features included, free setup, unlimited wishlists & saved items.
- Shopify: $29 / month — Same feature set for Shopify Plan merchants.
- Advanced Shopify: $49 / month — All features included.
- Shopify Plus: $99 / month — Additional Plus features including white-glove onboarding, priority support, dedicated account manager, and Hydrogen/headless support.
Value considerations:
- Swish’s pricing is flat by Shopify plan rather than usage. The inclusion of free setup and unlimited wishlists provides predictable billing and easy scaling without surcharges for usage.
- The Shopify Plus plan delivers enterprise services at a relatively modest premium compared to some enterprise tooling.
Swym Pricing Summary
- Free: Free — 500 lifetime wishlist actions; basic reports; simple setup.
- Starter: $19.99 / month — 1,000 wishlist actions/month; core integrations like Klaviyo; alerts.
- Pro: $59.99 / month — 10,000 wishlist actions/month; retargeting support; Shopify Flows; Shopify Plus support.
- Premium: $99.99 / month — 25,000 wishlist actions/month; REST & JS APIs; Plus support.
Value considerations:
- Swym’s tiered, action-based pricing ties cost directly to activity, which can be efficient for low-usage stores but costly if wishlist saves grow substantially.
- The free tier provides a useful way to test impact before committing, but the 500 lifetime action cap can be limiting.
- Additional integrations and API access are gated behind higher plans.
Pricing comparison practical guidance:
- For merchants who prefer predictable monthly fees and unlimited wishlist traffic, Swish offers better value for money at scale due to unlimited items across plans.
- For smaller stores or early-stage merchants that want to experiment with wishlists without upfront cost, Swym’s free tier and low-cost starter tier provide low-friction entry.
- For stores with high wishlist activity but constrained budgets, project expected wishlist saves to estimate whether Swym’s action limits will drive unexpected costs.
Support & Onboarding
Support and onboarding influence time-to-value and long-term satisfaction.
Swish markets free setup and customization on all plans and white-glove onboarding plus dedicated account management on the Plus plan. That suggests merchants will receive hands-on assistance in integrating the wishlist cleanly into their UX.
Swym offers code-free setup in minutes and a customer accounts extension for richer use. Support tiers are tied to pricing plans. Swym’s broad ecosystem and long-standing presence indicate mature documentation and community knowledge.
Buyer guidance:
- Merchants with limited development resources or those that value vendor-managed setup benefit from Swish’s included onboarding.
- Merchants with in-house developers who prefer self-serve setup and fast deployment may appreciate Swym’s quick setup and API access.
Data Portability, Privacy & Compliance
Wishlist data includes signals tied to consumer behavior and possibly personal contact details if wishlists are linked to accounts.
Both apps integrate with common analytics and ESPs, which means merchants can route wishlist events to their data warehouses and CRMs. Merchants should request details on:
- How wishlist data is stored and exported.
- Support for GDPR, CCPA, and other regional compliance requirements.
- Mechanisms for anonymizing or deleting wishlists on user request.
This technical and legal due diligence should occur before selection, especially for merchants operating in privacy-sensitive jurisdictions.
Performance & UX Impact
Wishlist widgets must not hurt page load times or interfere with storefront performance. Both vendors are established in the Shopify ecosystem, but implementation choices (client-side scripts vs. server-side rendering, image lazy-loading, etc.) matter.
- Swish’s focus on customization and headless support suggests attention to integration methods that work well with modern storefront architectures.
- Swym’s quick setup and broad compatibility can sometimes default to client-side scripts; merchants should evaluate implementation options and request best practices for performance.
Merchants should test each app on representative traffic patterns and measure Core Web Vitals to ensure the wishlist doesn’t become a UX liability.
Practical Use Cases and Recommendations
Ideal Scenarios for Swish
- Brands on Shopify Plus or headless setups that require vendor-assisted implementation.
- Stores that prioritize design parity and a wishlist that looks native to the brand.
- Merchants who want unlimited wishlist usage without worrying about action caps.
- Teams that prefer predictable billing and included onboarding services.
Ideal Scenarios for Swym Wishlist Plus
- Small to mid-size stores that want a fast, code-free deployment to start capturing wishlist data immediately.
- Merchants who rely on a broad toolset (ESP, POS, page builders) and need the wishlist to feed many downstream systems.
- Stores that want actionable alerts like price-drop or restock reminders to convert wishlisters.
- Teams that prefer to handle advanced customizations via APIs and are comfortable on usage-based pricing.
When to Consider Moving Beyond Single-Purpose Wishlist Apps
- If wishlist data is only one of several retention tactics (loyalty, reviews, referrals), using separate single-purpose apps increases integration complexity and reporting fragmentation.
- When the marketing stack needs consolidated loyalty and wishlist data in order to build cohesive lifecycle campaigns, an integrated platform may reduce operational overhead and data-silo leakage.
- If each new feature requires a different vendor, managing billing, support, data flows, and theme conflicts increases maintenance costs and slows iteration.
Migration, Compatibility, and Exit Strategies
Choosing the right wishlist app should include planning for migration and future changes.
- Verify whether the app provides a data export of wishlists and associated metadata (timestamps, product IDs, customer association).
- Check compatibility with theme versions and page builders to avoid rework during theme updates.
- Ensure that wishlist events can be routed to the merchant’s analytics or CDP to preserve historical intent data during migration.
- Clarify vendor policies for account closure to ensure data portability and compliance.
Both Swish and Swym likely have migration paths, but merchants should request specific documentation and a migration runbook before committing.
Pricing Scenarios and ROI Considerations
Estimating ROI requires assumptions on wishlist conversion lift and average order value (AOV).
- Calculate baseline wishlist conversion rates by testing on a subset of products or customer segments.
- For Swym, project monthly wishlist actions to estimate whether a starter or pro plan is needed; take into account that higher action volumes may justify moving to a higher tier.
- For Swish, the flat pricing model simplifies forecasting: the cost will not increase with wishlist usage, which can be valuable if the wishlist is expected to scale or be used heavily around promotions.
- Consider the value of vendor onboarding. For teams with limited developer time, Swish’s included setup may speed time-to-value and reduce internal implementation costs.
Practical exercise for merchants:
- Determine expected incremental conversions attributed to wishlist notifications and price-drop alerts.
- Multiply incremental conversions by AOV and gross margin to estimate incremental gross profit attributable to the wishlist.
- Compare that to monthly cost plus any implementation spend to calculate payback period.
Support, Reviews, and Social Proof
User feedback is a practical lens into reliability and product-market fit.
- Swish: 272 reviews with a 5.0 rating. A perfect rating across a few hundred reviews indicates strong satisfaction among adopters, particularly around customization and support.
- Swym: 1,408 reviews with a 4.8 rating. A much larger review base with a very strong rating suggests wide adoption and general reliability across many merchant types.
- Growave (for context): 1,197 reviews with a 4.8 rating, reflecting strong user satisfaction for an integrated retention platform.
Review counts and ratings matter. A higher volume of reviews typically means broader test coverage across store types, while a higher average rating with fewer reviews may reflect a niche but satisfied segment. When evaluating vendors, read recent reviews for information about support responsiveness, upgrade experiences, and integration pain points.
The Alternative: Solving App Fatigue with an All-in-One Platform
Many merchants arrive at a wishlist decision as part of a broader retention strategy. Over time, adding single-purpose apps for loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist increases operational complexity. This section explains app fatigue and introduces an integrated alternative.
What Is App Fatigue and Why It Matters
App fatigue describes the operational burden caused by running many single-purpose apps in a storefront:
- Multiple monthly bills and contract renewals.
- Overlapping scripts that slow page load and create theme conflicts.
- Fragmented data stored across systems, making it harder to build unified customer profiles.
- Duplicate features with inconsistent user experiences across touchpoints.
- Increased support overhead—multiple vendors, different SLAs, and longer troubleshooting cycles.
For merchants focused on retention and repeat purchases, these cumulative costs can erode margins and slow growth.
The "More Growth, Less Stack" Approach
A consolidated platform can reduce friction by centralizing retention functions—wishlist, loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers—into a single product. Benefits include:
- Unified data model for customer activity and intent.
- Consistent UX across modules, improving perceived brand quality.
- Fewer third-party scripts and reduced risk of theme conflicts.
- Centralized reporting and cohort analysis to measure lifetime value (LTV), repeat purchase rate, and program ROI.
- Simplified vendor relationship and support channels, saving time during launches and promotions.
This model is particularly relevant for merchants prioritizing long-term retention, higher LTV, and operational efficiency.
Growave as an Integrated Alternative
For merchants looking to consolidate retention tooling, Growave offers a combined suite that includes wishlist capabilities alongside loyalty programs, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers. The platform’s emphasis is on enabling repeat purchases and increasing lifetime value without the need to stitch together multiple single-function apps.
Key benefits of choosing an integrated retention suite:
- Ability to create combined campaigns that, for example, reward customers for wishlist shares, social reviews, or successful referrals—turning discovered intent into repeat purchases.
- Centralized analytics that tie wishlist activity to loyalty behavior and referral outcomes, making it easier to justify program investments.
Merchants can explore how to consolidate retention features and compare implementation options by visiting the Growave pricing and app listing.
Loyalty and Rewards
An integrated loyalty program lets merchants convert wishlist engagement into repeated spending. For instance, rewarding customers for converting wishlists into purchases or for sharing wishlists with friends can increase customer lifetime value. Growave supports customizable loyalty programs and VIP tiers, helping to turn single purchases into repeat behavior.
Learn more about building loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
Reviews & User-Generated Content
Bringing reviews and wishlist data together strengthens social proof. When wishlisted items collect reviews, the merchant can surface product trust signals where they matter most. Growave supports review collection and display, enabling merchants to collect and showcase authentic reviews alongside wishlist interactions.
Wishlist Plus Loyalty Integration
Combining wishlist features with loyalty and referral mechanics creates more powerful retention flows. For example, converting wishlists into loyalty points for completing a purchase or for sharing wishlists can shorten conversion cycles and enhance average order value.
To evaluate how an integrated solution compares to a stack of single-purpose apps, merchants can install a single retention app to reduce fragmentation and centralize data collection.
Customer Stories and Examples
Seeing how other brands solved similar problems helps validate decisions. Case studies and inspiration galleries show how integrated retention stacks drive measurable growth. Merchants can review customer stories from brands scaling retention to see practical uses of wishlist + loyalty + reviews.
How Growave Addresses the Limits of Single-Purpose Apps
- Reduces the number of scripts placed on the storefront by replacing several vendors with a single platform.
- Consolidates customer activity into one system for clearer attribution and more actionable segments.
- Provides unified support for multi-feature campaigns, simplifying troubleshooting and iteration.
- Offers tiered pricing to align with growth stages and reduces surprise costs related to usage caps across multiple apps.
To compare pricing and see whether consolidating is cost-effective, merchants can review options to consolidate retention features or install an integrated retention app from the Shopify App Store to evaluate it in a live environment.
Integration Considerations
When consolidating, confirm that the platform supports the merchant’s essential integrations. Growave lists many integrations across email, SMS, POS, and helpdesk platforms. Merchants should test integration flows with core systems (ESP, CRM, analytics) before decommissioning existing apps.
Growave’s presence on the Shopify App Store makes it straightforward to add an all-in-one retention app and test compatibility with the existing storefront and marketing stack.
Choosing the Right Path: Checklist for Decision-Making
Use this non-numbered checklist to evaluate whether to choose Swish, Swym, or consolidate with an integrated platform.
- Identify primary objective for the wishlist (intent capture, price alerts, social sharing, loyalty integration).
- Audit current marketing stack to see which integrations are essential.
- Estimate expected wishlist usage to model Swym’s action-based pricing versus Swish’s unlimited model.
- Check development resources and appetite for vendor-led onboarding versus self-serve setup.
- Evaluate performance and Core Web Vitals impact during a short trial or staging install.
- Confirm data export and privacy protections for compliance.
- Calculate total cost of ownership for single-purpose versus integrated solutions, including subscription, implementation, and maintenance.
- Consider future retention needs beyond wishlist: loyalty, referrals, reviews—will multiple apps scale gracefully or create more work?
Conclusion
For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Swym Wishlist Plus, the decision comes down to priorities. Swish excels for brands that want customization, unlimited wishlist usage, and vendor-led onboarding—particularly beneficial for Shopify Plus and headless storefronts. Swym Wishlist Plus is a better fit for merchants who prioritize rapid deployment, extensive third-party integrations, and tiered usage pricing that accommodates an experimental approach.
Beyond those choices, many merchants face app fatigue as retention strategies multiply across single-purpose tools. Consolidating wishlist functionality into a retention suite can reduce complexity and improve lifetime value by unifying loyalty, referrals, and reviews with wishlist intent. Merchants can review options to consolidate retention features or test an integrated app from the Shopify App Store to see how it fits existing workflows and systems.
Start a 14-day free trial to see how a unified retention stack accelerates growth. Compare pricing and plans to understand what consolidation could save.
Explore the app on the Shopify App Store to evaluate compatibility and install a single retention app for testing. Install an all-in-one retention app
FAQ
What are the practical differences between Swish and Swym for a small store?
- Swish provides unlimited wishlists and free onboarding for a predictable monthly fee, which is valuable if the store expects high wishlist usage or wants vendor-managed setup. Swym offers a free tier and starter plans with action limits, making it low-cost to experiment with but potentially more expensive as wishlist activity grows.
How do the two apps compare on integrations and third-party reach?
- Swym has a broader list of integrations across ESPs, POS systems, and page builders, which helps brands with complex stacks. Swish covers essential integrations like Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta and focuses on closer onboarding and headless support. Choose Swym for maximum connector coverage; choose Swish for tight integration with core analytics and marketing platforms plus personalized setup.
Are analytics and attribution capabilities similar between them?
- Both apps provide reporting and contribute wishlist events to analytics tooling, but merchants should verify event-level export and the ability to route events into their CDP or data warehouse. Swish highlights advanced analytics and curation; Swym emphasizes detailed shopper behavior reports and the Customer Accounts extension for tracking activity.
How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized wishlist apps?
- An all-in-one platform reduces the number of vendors, centralizes customer data, and enables cross-functional campaigns (e.g., rewarding wishlist conversions through loyalty). While specialized apps can excel at a single feature and may be preferable for narrow use cases, an integrated solution simplifies maintenance, reduces script bloat, and often provides better long-term value when retention requires more than a wishlist. Merchants can review options to consolidate retention features or collect and showcase authentic reviews as part of a unified retention strategy.
Additional resources:
- Review real brand examples to see how integration reduces complexity and increases retention by visiting customer stories from brands scaling retention.
- Learn more about combining wishlist activity with loyalty to drive repeat purchases by reading about how to build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.







