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

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is a small decision with outsized effects: it affects conversion uplift, email recovery flows, and how many tools a merchant must manage. With hundreds of Shopify apps available for even narrow use cases, merchants need clear, outcome-focused comparisons that highlight real trade-offs.

Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) is an excellent choice for merchants that want a polished, high-touch wishlist solution with unlimited wishlists, onboarding, and strong integrations out of the box. Ultimate Wishlist is a better fit for shops that need a lightweight, low-cost entry point or an affordable path to email reminders and social sharing. For merchants seeking to reduce tool sprawl and capture more retention value from a single investment, a unified retention stack can deliver better value for money than adding a dedicated wishlist app.

This post compares Swish and Ultimate Wishlist feature-by-feature—covering capabilities, pricing, integrations, customization, analytics, and support—to help merchants choose the right tool for their business. After the direct comparison, this analysis explains the limitations of single-purpose apps and presents an integrated alternative that replaces multiple point solutions.

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

Deep Dive Comparison

Product Positioning and Target Merchant

Swish (formerly Wishlist King) — Who it serves

Swish targets merchants that view wishlists as a strategic driver of sales and retention rather than a simple UX convenience. The app emphasizes unlimited wishlists, a free setup and customization service included at every plan level, and integrations with analytics and marketing platforms like Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta. The pricing ladder scales up to Shopify Plus with white-glove onboarding and dedicated support, indicating a focus on growing or mission-critical stores.

Ultimate Wishlist — Who it serves

Ultimate Wishlist positions itself as an accessible, low-friction wishlist option. It supports guest wishlists, social sharing, and a free tier that covers many entry-level needs. Pricing starts at $0 and moves to modest monthly fees, which makes it attractive to small stores and merchants experimenting with wishlists before committing to a higher-value tool.

Features Comparison

Wishlist Core Capabilities

• Swish
  • Persistent, unlimited wishlists per customer.
  • Unlimited sessions and saved items across plans.
  • Wishlist accessible throughout the shopping journey (product pages, collection pages, etc.).
  • Cross-device support via Customer Accounts integrations.
  • Headless/Hydrogen compatibility for advanced storefronts.
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Guest and registered user wishlists.
  • Wishlist on collection pages and product pages.
  • Up to defined monthly wishlist item limits depending on plan.
  • Social sharing (Facebook, Twitter) and email share options.

Analysis: Swish is designed for scale and persistent personalization, offering unlimited items and sessions that suit high-volume catalogs. Ultimate Wishlist is functionally complete for typical browsing flows but includes usage caps on lower plans that could constrain fast-growing catalogs or high-traffic sites.

Communication & Recovery (Email Reminders & Notifications)

• Swish
  • Automated, highly personalized wishlist notifications.
  • Direct integrations with Klaviyo for segmented, behavior-driven flows.
  • Meta integration for potential retargeting use.
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Customizable email template options.
  • Tiered email reminder quotas (e.g., up to 5,000 reminders on Premium).
  • Ability to send reminders to individual users on higher plans.

Analysis: Both apps provide reminder capabilities, but Swish emphasizes highly personalized automation through native integrations, while Ultimate Wishlist provides built-in email reminder quotas and template customization. Merchants that already use email platforms like Klaviyo may prefer Swish’s native ties for more advanced segmentation and A/B testing.

Analytics & Insights

• Swish
  • Advanced analytics and wishlist curation to surface demand signals.
  • Integrations with GA4 and other analytics tools for end-to-end measurement.
  • Wishlist data usable to inform merchandising and promotional decisions.
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Dashboard reporting: wishlist adds, page views, added-to-cart metrics.
  • Full reports available even on the free plan.
  • Product/variant-level stats to identify popular SKUs.

Analysis: Ultimate Wishlist provides straightforward usage metrics that are immediately useful for small teams. Swish’s analytics are built to slot into a broader analytics stack, enabling deeper attribution and A/B testing when used alongside Klaviyo and GA4.

Integrations & Headless Support

• Swish
  • Explicit support for Klaviyo, GA4, Meta.
  • Works with Checkout, Hydrogen, Markets, Customer Accounts, Recommendations.
  • Shopify Plus and headless/hydrogen capability on higher plans.
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Basic social sharing and Facebook Pixel on higher tiers.
  • Standard Shopify storefront compatibility; no listed headless/checkout extension features.

Analysis: Swish is positioned for merchants that require robust marketing and analytics integrations plus the ability to support headless storefronts. Ultimate Wishlist covers common e-commerce needs but lacks the built-in advanced marketing connectors and headless/checkout features that enterprise merchants often need.

Design & Customization

• Swish
  • Full theme integration and a free customization service included.
  • Aimed to preserve store aesthetics across all themes.
  • White-glove onboarding for Plus customers.
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Customizable text and appearance to match store branding.
  • Non-English support and simple UI options.
  • Free plan includes basic color and text customizations.

Analysis: Swish provides a higher-touch setup model, which reduces internal development time and ensures visual consistency. Ultimate Wishlist gives merchants control over text and color but expects merchants to manage deeper visual integration themselves.

Pricing & Value

Raw price points

• Swish
  • Basic Shopify: $19/month
  • Shopify: $29/month
  • Advanced Shopify: $49/month
  • Shopify Plus: $99/month (extra Plus inclusions)
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Free plan: $0 (up to 500 wishlist items/month)
  • Basic: $4.99/month (up to 1,000 items/month)
  • Pro: $9.99/month (up to 5,000 items/month)
  • Premium: $14.99/month (up to 10,000 items/month + Facebook Pixel)

Value for Money

Swish’s pricing reflects a higher-service model: free setup and customization, unlimited wishlists, and deeper integrations. Merchants who value time saved on implementation and need reliability at scale may find Swish better value for money despite a higher monthly fee.

Ultimate Wishlist offers clear cost control: a free entry point and small monthly fees that scale with usage. Small shops or sellers testing wishlist-driven recovery will likely find Ultimate Wishlist better value for money at the early stage.

Important considerations when assessing value:

• Expected wishlist volume: If wishlist item counts or sessions are likely to exceed Ultimate Wishlist’s caps, the effective cost rises (through plan upgrades or migration).
• Implementation costs: Swish includes setup; Ultimate Wishlist expects in-house or agency-level adjustments for deeper styling or behavior customities.
• Marketing integration needs: If the wishlists must feed into sophisticated email or ad flows, Swish’s integrations save implementation time and unlock revenue sooner.

Integrations & Ecosystem Fit

Marketing & Email Platforms

• Swish integrates out-of-the-box with Klaviyo, enabling direct use of wishlist triggers in email automation. This benefits merchants that rely heavily on segmented flows and lifecycle email programs.
• Ultimate Wishlist provides internal reminder capabilities and a Facebook Pixel integration on Premium, but its email automation strengths are more self-contained and limited compared to a Klaviyo-native workflow.

Analytics & Attribution

• Swish’s GA4 integration helps align wishlist behavior with store analytics and conversion funnels.
• Ultimate Wishlist provides built-in reports but requires export or manual integration for enterprise analytics use cases.

Headless & Shopify Plus Readiness

• Swish supports Hydrogen and headless stacks and offers Plus-level white-glove onboarding and account management. This makes it more suitable for stores pursuing headless implementations or with high customization needs.
• Ultimate Wishlist does not present headless/checkout-level features and is better suited to standard Shopify storefronts.

Setup, Support, and Onboarding

• Swish
  • Free setup and customization across all plans.
  • Priority support and dedicated account manager included at the Shopify Plus tier.
  • Onboarding service reduces launch time and mitigates implementation errors.
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Quick, self-service onboarding designed for small teams.
  • Documentation and in-app options for customization.
  • Lower-touch support model aligned with the price point.

Analysis: Swish’s high-touch onboarding is a differentiator for merchants that lack development resources or need a rapid, polished implementation. Ultimate Wishlist is intentionally lightweight; it’s fast to deploy but may require more in-house adjustments to achieve shop-specific UX.

Scalability & Performance

• Swish
  • Built for unlimited wishlists and high session volumes.
  • Performance and support options aimed at growth merchants and Plus stores.
  • Headless compatibility supports advanced architectures.
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Usage caps on lower plans could restrict scaling unless merchants upgrade.
  • Well-suited for low to moderate traffic stores.

Analysis: For growth-stage and enterprise merchants, Swish offers predictable scaling without worrying about monthly caps. Smaller stores will find Ultimate Wishlist sufficient and cost-effective, but should plan for potential migration when volumes grow.

Localization & Internationalization

• Swish
  • Integration with global analytics and marketing stacks supports international strategies.
  • Design and setup services can accommodate multi-language needs per implementation.
• Ultimate Wishlist
  • Explicit Non-English support, making it straightforward for multilingual stores.
  • Customizable text across the UI.

Analysis: Ultimate Wishlist makes a clear play on supporting non-English stores out of the box. Swish can support internationalization, but merchants should coordinate specifics during onboarding.

Data Ownership, Privacy & Compliance

• Both apps handle wishlist data tied to customer accounts or guest sessions. Merchants should confirm how each app stores data, deletion policies, and compliance with GDPR/CCPA as relevant. Swish’s integrations (Klaviyo, GA4) mean data flows between services and should be accounted for in privacy policies.

Recommendation: Before selecting an app, merchants should confirm data export capabilities, retention windows, and consent flows for wishlist-driven emails and pixel-based retargeting.

Real-World Pros and Cons

• Swish — Pros
  • Unlimited wishlists and sessions.
  • Free setup and customization (time-saving).
  • Strong integrations with Klaviyo and GA4.
  • Headless and Shopify Plus support.
• Swish — Cons
  • Higher monthly cost than entry-level alternatives.
  • Overkill if a store only needs a simple wishlist with low volume.
• Ultimate Wishlist — Pros
  • Free plan available; low-cost upgrades.
  • Built-in email reminders and social sharing.
  • Simple to implement and customize text/colors.
  • Non-English support.
• Ultimate Wishlist — Cons
  • Usage caps on lower plans; may require upgrades as volume grows.
  • Fewer advanced integrations and no explicit headless support.
  • Less white-glove onboarding.

Choosing the Right App: Use Case Recommendations

• If wishlist is a strategic retention driver and the store already uses platforms like Klaviyo or GA4, or plans to go headless or migrate to Shopify Plus: Swish is the stronger, more future-proof choice.
• If the store is small, testing wishlists for the first time, or needs a zero/low-cost option to validate demand: Ultimate Wishlist provides an economical, capable solution.
• If reducing technical debt, avoiding multiple point solutions, or maximizing customer lifetime value are priorities: consider a broader retention platform that bundles wishlists with loyalty, reviews, and referrals.

Migration & Exit Considerations

When evaluating either app, merchants should plan for possible future migration:

• Export capabilities: Confirm whether wishlist item data, user mappings, and analytics exports are available to avoid losing historical insights.
• Email consent continuity: Ensure reminder flows and user permissions can be migrated or re-subscribed without violating opt-in rules.
• Implementation portability: Note theme customizations, Liquid snippets, or script tags that will need removal or rework.

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

Why app fatigue matters

App fatigue happens when store operations become fragmented across multiple single-purpose tools. Each app adds:

• Additional monthly cost and billing complexity.
• More integrations to monitor and maintain.
• Increased potential for script conflicts and page-speed impacts.
• Fragmented data that makes lifecycle analytics and measurement harder.

Merchants who rely on separate apps for loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlist functionality often pay for overlapping features (email templates, analytics integrations, and A/B test capabilities) and miss the compounded value that comes from data sharing across retention channels.

The "More Growth, Less Stack" approach

An integrated retention platform centralizes customer signals—wishlists, loyalty interactions, reviews, and referrals—so merchants can act on them together. This approach reduces tool sprawl while delivering:

• Unified customer profiles for personalized rewards and re-engagement.
• Consolidated integrations with email and analytics providers.
• Consistent UX across loyalty, wishlist and referrals.
• Single billing and one place for support and onboarding.

This is the core philosophy of Growave’s platform: help merchants capture more lifetime value without multiplying technology overhead.

Growave as an integrated alternative

Growave combines loyalty and rewards, referrals, reviews & UGC, wishlist, and VIP tiers into a single suite. That consolidation keeps the wishlist functionality that merchants need while adding retention levers that create compounding value.

Key benefits of switching to an integrated platform:

• Using wishlist data to power loyalty actions (e.g., reward points for adding high-value items to a wishlist).
• Feeding wishlist interest signals into review or referral campaigns to re-engage high-intent visitors.
• Consolidating analytics to measure how wishlists feed into loyalty-driven repeat purchases.

Merchants can explore how Growave packages these capabilities and how pricing aligns with business goals by viewing options to consolidate retention features. Growave is also available to install directly from the Shopify App Store, which simplifies evaluation.

Where Growave fits vs. Swish and Ultimate Wishlist

• Compared to Swish:
  • Swish offers a focused, high-touch wishlist product with strong integrations; Growave adds wishlist capability as part of a broader retention stack. For merchants who want wishlist data to automatically inform loyalty and referral programs, Growave provides native cross-feature workflows that avoid stitching together separate apps.
• Compared to Ultimate Wishlist:
  • Ultimate Wishlist provides an economical wishlist with native reminders and social sharing. Growave gives that wishlist functionality plus loyalty, reviews, and referrals in one place—typically delivering better value for money for merchants who want to scale retention beyond single-purpose features.

Merchants interested in how loyalty and wishlist together can increase repeat purchases should review the platform’s options to build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases. Similarly, merchants focused on reputation and social proof can see how to collect and showcase authentic reviews across product pages and social channels.

For case studies and inspiration, merchants can read customer stories from brands scaling retention to understand how integrated approaches change metrics like repeat purchase rate and lifetime value.

Implementation, Support, and Pricing Considerations

Growave offers multiple plans (including a free plan and tiered paid plans) so merchants can start with core capabilities and scale. The pricing tiers are designed to align with order volume and feature needs; merchants can see plan comparisons that highlight where consolidation reduces overall monthly spend by eliminating overlapping apps—view the detailed options to consolidate retention features.

For merchants evaluating migration from a single-purpose wishlist app, Growave’s onboarding and support can be compared to the white-glove model offered by some specialized vendors. For those who prefer a demo before committing, a personalized walkthrough is available. Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack improves retention and reduces app sprawl.

(That sentence is a product-focused call to action intended for merchants who want a guided evaluation.)

Integration fit and technical compatibility

Growave supports a broad set of integrations (email platforms, headless storefront patterns, and commerce tools) so wishlist signals can be routed into existing marketing workflows. Merchants on enterprise plans receive additional customization and integration assistance, which helps align Growave with bespoke headless or Plus-level stacks. For merchants on Plus-level architectures, Growave highlights solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

When integrated makes sense

Consider an integrated platform like Growave if:

• The business strategy emphasizes retention, lifetime value, and repeat purchase growth.
• Teams want to reduce decision friction: one login, one set of analytics, one support channel.
• Wishlist behavior should trigger loyalty rewards, review prompts, or referral incentives without building custom middleware.

In these scenarios, the cost of a slightly higher single monthly plan can be offset by eliminating multiple specialty app fees and by capturing more revenue through coordinated retention programs.

Migration and Practical Trade-offs

For merchants currently using Swish or Ultimate Wishlist, migration to an integrated platform requires planning:

• Data mapping: Ensure wishlist items, user IDs, and historical metrics map into the new platform.
• Communications: Update consent and email flows to reflect where reminders will now be triggered.
• Theme integration: Carry over or re-implement custom styling to preserve brand continuity.
• Testing: Validate notification triggers, loyalty accrual, and review workflows before the public launch.

Growave’s onboarding and support materials can reduce migration risk and streamline the process; merchants can compare implementation options and supported integrations to the current setup by visiting the pricing and app pages to consolidate retention features or to install directly from the Shopify App Store.

Decision Checklist: Which Option Fits Right Now?

Use this checklist to decide quickly:

• Need high-touch onboarding and enterprise integrations (Klaviyo, GA4, headless): favor Swish.
• Budget-conscious, testing wishlists or small catalogs: favor Ultimate Wishlist.
• Want to reduce the number of apps, leverage wishlist data across loyalty, reviews, and referrals: favor an integrated platform like Growave; explore consolidate retention features.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Ultimate Wishlist, the decision comes down to scope and scale. Swish is best for merchants who need unlimited wishlists, strong marketing integrations, and a white-glove setup to support growth and headless storefronts. Ultimate Wishlist is best for smaller stores or those testing wishlist functionality with budget-friendly plans and a useful free tier.

However, wishlists are most valuable when connected to broader retention strategies—rewarding interest, prompting reviews, and feeding referral incentives. For merchants that want to reduce tool sprawl and turn wishlist behavior into measurable repeat purchases, a unified retention platform can be a better value for money than stacking specialized apps. Explore plans and see how consolidating retention features can reduce friction and amplify results by starting a 14-day free trial.

Compare plans and pricing and install directly from the Shopify App Store to evaluate whether a single platform makes sense for the store.

FAQ

Q: How do Swish and Ultimate Wishlist compare on pricing for growing stores?

• Swish has higher starting prices but includes free setup, unlimited wishlists, and enterprise features that scale without caps. Ultimate Wishlist begins with a free plan and low-cost tiers with item and reminder caps that may require upgrades as the business grows. Evaluate expected wishlist volume and service needs to determine which option offers better value for money.

Q: Which app provides better marketing integrations for email automation and analytics?

• Swish includes native integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta, making it easier to use wishlist events in advanced segmented email flows and analytics. Ultimate Wishlist has built-in reminder systems and a Facebook pixel on higher plans, but lacks Klaviyo-native hooks.

Q: Can an all-in-one platform replace a dedicated wishlist app?

• An integrated retention platform can replace a standalone wishlist app if the merchant benefits from combining wishlists with loyalty, reviews, and referrals. Centralized data creates cross-feature actions (e.g., rewarding wishlist additions with points), which can increase lifetime value and simplify operations. For an overview of how loyalty and wishlist together increase retention, see how to build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.

Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps like Swish and Ultimate Wishlist?

• Specialized apps can provide deeper or more focused functionality (for example, Swish’s white-glove onboarding or Ultimate Wishlist’s low-cost entry). An all-in-one platform trades some point-product depth for integrated workflows and consolidated data, which often yields better outcomes for retention-focused merchants. See examples of brands using an integrated approach in customer stories from brands scaling retention.