Swish (Formerly Wishlist King) vs. WA Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is deceptively difficult. A wishlist tool can be a lightweight conversion driver, a data source for merchandising, and a retention touchpoint — but picking the wrong app creates maintenance overhead, inconsistent customer experiences, and workarounds that erode long-term value.

Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) is a feature-rich, enterprise-friendly wishlist solution with strong integrations and a proven track record, while WA Wishlist is a lean, low-cost option that covers the essentials like guest wishlists and multiple lists for logged-in customers. Both can increase conversions, but they solve different merchant problems — and neither addresses retention beyond wishlist-centered touchpoints. For merchants aiming to reduce tool sprawl and grow repeat purchases, a multi-feature retention platform often offers better value for money than stacking several single-purpose apps.

Purpose of this article: provide a head-to-head, feature-by-feature comparison of Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and WA Wishlist so merchants can decide which fits their current priorities and technical constraints. After the direct comparison, this article will explain how an integrated approach reduces friction and improves outcomes, and it will introduce Growave as a practical alternative for merchants who want wishlist capability as part of a broader retention stack.

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

Deep Dive Comparison

Product Positioning & Market Fit

Swish (formerly Wishlist King): Positioning

Swish positions itself as a fully customisable, feature-rich wishlist solution for brands that have ambition. With 272 reviews and a perfect 5-star rating on Shopify, the app demonstrates established merchant adoption and strong satisfaction among users who left feedback. Swish emphasizes free setup and customization, GA4 and Klaviyo integrations, and support for headless storefronts via Hydrogen — features that appeal to merchants focused on conversion optimisation, data-driven marketing, and complex storefronts.

WA Wishlist: Positioning

WA Wishlist is a lightweight wishlist app built around two user experience priorities: allowing guests to create wishlists, and letting logged-in customers manage multiple wishlists. The app’s pricing starts at a free tier, making it attractive for stores that want wishlist functionality without a monthly commitment. However, WA Wishlist currently has 0 reviews on Shopify, which means less social proof and fewer community-driven troubleshooting resources.

Feature Comparison

Core Wishlist Functionality

• Swish:
  • Unlimited wishlists and saved items across plans.
  • Ability to wishlist items across the entire shopping journey (product pages, collection pages, quick view).
  • Personalised and automated wishlist notifications to re-engage shoppers.
  • Wishlist curation and advanced analytics to identify high-intent customers and popular items.
  • Free setup and customisation to match store aesthetics.
• WA Wishlist:
  • Guest wishlist support — unregistered visitors can create and retain lists.
  • Multiple wishlists for logged-in users.
  • Tracking of most-added products to wishlists for merchandising insights.
  • Theme-level customization for appearance and feature toggles (guest wishlists on/off, multiple lists on/off).

Practical implication: For basic wishlist needs — saving items, guest lists, and enabling multiple lists — WA Wishlist covers essentials at a lower price point. For stores that want automation, analytics, and marketing triggers tied to wishlists (e.g., back-in-stock or abandoned wishlist emails synced to Klaviyo), Swish provides deeper capability.

Analytics and Merchandising

• Swish offers advanced analytics and wishlist curation, which helps merchandising teams and paid media managers understand product demand and backlog. Export-ready data and integration with GA4 allow wishlists to feed acquisition and retention reporting.
• WA Wishlist provides a simple "most added products" metric. That is useful for basic prioritization but lacks the depth needed to tie wishlist signals directly into lifecycle automation or A/B testing.

Implication: Brands that rely on behavioral data to drive promotions, inventory prioritisation, or personalized email campaigns gain more strategic value from Swish’s analytics.

Marketing Automation & Integrations

• Swish:
  • Out-of-the-box integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta.
  • Automated wishlist notifications for personalised touchpoints.
  • Works with Hydrogen and headless flows; supports Customer Accounts native experience.
• WA Wishlist:
  • Focus on theme-level customization and internal wishlist tracking.
  • Integrations are modest; no explicit mentions of Klaviyo, GA4, Meta, or headless compatibility in the provided data.

Implication: If wishlist events must feed email flows, ad audiences, or analytics, Swish is more ready-made. WA Wishlist will require additional work (webhooks, manual exports, or development) to achieve the same level of marketing automation.

Guest Wishlists and Multiple Lists

• WA Wishlist explicitly supports guest wishlists and enables logged-in users to manage multiple lists. This is a clear UX differentiator for certain merchants (gift registries, event planning, wedding registries, or shoppers who compartmentalize purchases).
• Swish allows wishlisting throughout the shopping journey and supports unlimited wishlists, but the provided data doesn't call out guest wishlist behaviour explicitly. Swish’s focus on customer accounts and advanced curation suggests better experiences for logged-in users and cross-device persistence.

Practical advice: Stores that depend on guest wishlists as a core UX requirement should confirm exact behaviour with Swish before assuming parity. WA Wishlist advertises guest wishlist support as a headline capability.

Customization & Theme Integration

• Swish advertises integration with all themes and free setup/customisation service across all plans. For stores prioritizing on-brand presentation and minimal developer time, this is valuable.
• WA Wishlist is "fully customizable" at the theme level, but it does not mention free setup. Customization likely falls to the merchant or their developer unless the app offers paid setup.

For merchants with limited dev resources, Swish’s included setup reduces implementation friction and preserves consistent UI/UX.

Headless & Hydrogen Support

• Swish lists Hydrogen and headless stacks as supported in the Shopify Plus plan, indicating enterprise and headless readiness.
• WA Wishlist does not list headless/Hydrogen support in the provided data. This suggests limited applicability for stores using modern headless architectures without additional development.

Headless stores will find Swish more straightforward to integrate.

Pricing & Value Assessment

Pricing shapes which merchants should evaluate each app.

Swish Pricing (as listed)

• Basic Shopify — $19 / month: For stores on Shopify Basic; includes all features, free setup, unlimited wishlists & saved items.
• Shopify — $29 / month: All features and free setup.
• Advanced Shopify — $49 / month: All features and free setup.
• Shopify Plus — $99 / month: Plus plan exclusives include free white glove onboarding, priority support, dedicated account manager, and Hydrogen & headless stacks.

Value analysis: Swish’s pricing scales with Shopify plan and adds Plus-specific enterprise services at $99/month. The key value drivers are the included setup, integrations, and advanced analytics. For merchants seeking enterprise-grade support and marketing integrations that reduce engineering time, Swish offers better value for money despite higher monthly fees on upper tiers.

WA Wishlist Pricing

• Free plan: Free
• Basic: $5.95 / month
• Advanced: $9.95 / month
• Professional: $19.95 / month

Value analysis: WA Wishlist is significantly lower-cost, and the free tier enables testing without commitment. For stores that only need wishlist save capability, guest lists, and multiple lists, WA Wishlist provides strong price-tier options. However, lower cost comes with trade-offs in integrations, analytics, and vendor support.

Which Is Better Value?

"Better value for money" depends on merchant objectives:

• For low-budget stores or those validating wishlist impact, WA Wishlist provides low friction and minimal expense.
• For merchants that measure wishlist signals, use email and ad platforms, or run headless storefronts, Swish’s included integrations and onboarding translate into operational time savings and higher ROI on marketing efforts.

Integrations & Technical Compatibility

Marketing & Analytics Integrations

• Swish: Explicit Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta integrations help create lifecycle campaigns and audiences from wishlist behaviour.
• WA Wishlist: No explicit mention of Klaviyo or GA4 in the provided data.

Implication: Merchants relying on email automation platforms (Klaviyo, Omnisend) and pixel-based advertising will get faster time to value with Swish.

Checkout & Customer Account Compatibility

• Swish lists compatibility with Checkout, Hydrogen, Customer Accounts, and Search Recommendations. That breadth enables cross-functional use of wishlist data.
• WA Wishlist’s compatibility list is empty in the provided data; merchants should confirm compatibility with Customer Accounts or apps like Recharge.

Due diligence: When implementation must work across checkout flows or subscription checkouts, verify compatibility before installing WA Wishlist.

Implementation & Onboarding

• Swish emphasizes a free setup and customization service across all plans, with Shopify Plus receiving white glove onboarding and a dedicated account manager. That reduces the need for in-house developer time and helps ensure the wishlist matches store aesthetics and behaviour expectations.
• WA Wishlist appears self-serve from the available information. For merchants with developer resources, this may be acceptable; for teams without, the lack of onboarding can increase time-to-launch and troubleshooting.

Recommendation: Merchants with limited development bandwidth will likely appreciate Swish’s included setup, especially for complex or customised themes.

Support & Social Proof

• Swish: 272 reviews and a 5-star rating signifies broad usage and high satisfaction among reviewers on the Shopify App Store. The Plus tier includes priority support and dedicated account manager, which matters for enterprises.
• WA Wishlist: 0 reviews and a 0 rating provide no public social proof on Shopify. That does not mean the app performs poorly; it simply reduces visibility into live merchant experiences.

Guidance: Use app reviews as a signal for long-term reliability and community-vetted issues. Swish’s review count and rating are strong trust indicators.

Data Privacy, Ownership & Exporting

Wishlist data often holds high-intent signals. Merchants should confirm how each app handles data export, ownership, and privacy compliance.

• Swish’s enterprise positioning and analytics indicate more robust data export options and GA4 compatibility, but merchants must still review the vendor’s data handling policies and any storage locations.
• WA Wishlist’s simpler feature set usually corresponds to straightforward data exports, but specifics (CSV export, API, webhooks) should be validated during evaluation.

Action item: Before committing, request documentation on data retention, export formats, and how wishlist signals are surfaced to CRM or analytics tools.

Performance & Theme Impact

Any frontend app touches storefront performance and theme code. Key considerations:

• Swish promises integration with all themes and offers setup service to ensure both look and performance align with the store. Merchant experience implies minimal theme breakage if implemented by Swish’s onboarding.
• WA Wishlist is described as theme-customizable; however, merchant or developer implementation quality determines performance impact.

Best practice: Run performance audits after installation and test on mobile to verify minimal layout shifts and script impact. Where possible, use asynchronous loading and lightweight scripts.

Product Roadmap & Vendor Stability

• Swish’s presence, significant review count, and paid Plus services imply stable vendor investment and roadmap commitments.
• WA Wishlist’s lack of public reviews increases uncertainty about long-term product roadmap and developer responsiveness.

Decision factor: For mission-critical UX elements, choose vendors that show consistent investment and documented roadmaps.

Use Cases and Decision Matrix

To make the comparison actionable, these high-level recommendations help match merchant needs to each app.

• Choose Swish if:
  • The wishlist must feed Klaviyo/GA4 and ad audiences with minimal engineering.
  • The store uses a headless/Hydrogen architecture or plans to.
  • Merchants need advanced analytics and curated wishlist campaigns.
  • Priority onboarding and enterprise SLAs matter.
• Choose WA Wishlist if:
  • Budget constraints or wish to trial wishlist functionality with a free tier.
  • Guest wishlists and multiple lists for logged-in users are the top priorities.
  • The store has dev resources to integrate wishlist events into marketing tools manually.
  • Simplicity and low monthly cost are primary drivers.

Avoid a single-app mindset if: wishlist data must be part of a broader retention strategy that includes loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP segmentation. Wishlist apps that stand alone create more integrations and more places to manage customer signals.

Swish (formerly Wishlist King) — Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

• High social proof: 272 reviews with a 5-star rating.
• Enterprise-ready integrations (Klaviyo, GA4, Meta).
• Free setup and customisation reduce dev time to launch.
• Headless/Hydrogen and Shopify Plus support.
• Automated wishlist notifications and detailed analytics.

Weaknesses

• Higher monthly cost at upper tiers compared to lightweight competitors.
• Might be more than needed for stores that only want a basic save-for-later button.
• Some merchants may not need Plus-level services; ensure chosen plan aligns with current needs.

WA Wishlist — Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

• Free tier for low-risk testing.
• Very low-cost paid plans.
• Explicit support for guest wishlists and multiple wishlists for logged-in customers.
• Theme-customizable for simple aesthetic control.

Weaknesses

• No public reviews on Shopify (0 reviews), creating lower trust signals.
• Limited documented integrations with email, analytics, and ad platforms.
• Not explicitly headless/Hydrogen-ready.
• Potentially higher internal development cost if integrations are required.

Migration & Exit Considerations

When evaluating any app, plan for migration and exit costs:

• Confirm data export formats (CSV, API endpoints, webhooks).
• Verify how wishlist IDs map to customer accounts for continuity.
• Ask about bulk export of wishlist items and timestamps for historical analysis.
• Test a data export during trial to ensure merchant systems can consume wishlist events.

Swish’s enterprise posture suggests more mature export and integration options; WA Wishlist’s simplicity will make exports straightforward but may lack structured APIs.

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

The Problem: App Fatigue and Tool Sprawl

Many merchants suffer from app fatigue — the cumulative cost, complexity, and maintenance burden of running many single-purpose tools. Each additional app introduces:

• More billing lines and unpredictable costs.
• More places where customer data is stored and requires reconciling.
• Increased risk of theme conflicts and performance degradation.
• More vendor relationships to manage for support and roadmap alignment.

Wishlist apps like Swish or WA Wishlist solve a specific problem but do not address adjacent needs such as loyalty, referral programs, review collection, or VIP segmentation. When wishlist signals need to become part of a broader retention strategy, merchants often end up adding multiple apps and custom integrations — creating the very tool sprawl they wanted to avoid.

The Solution: Consolidate Retention Features

Consolidation reduces friction. One integrated platform that includes wishlist functionality plus loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers simplifies data flows and reduces development overhead. Centralized customer profiles make it easier to run targeted campaigns, calculate lifetime value, and reward high-intent shoppers.

This approach also makes A/B testing and lifecycle optimization more straightforward because all customer signals live in one place.

Growave’s "More Growth, Less Stack" Philosophy

Growave promotes a single platform approach that bundles Wishlist within a broader retention suite: loyalty and rewards, referrals, reviews & UGC, and VIP tiers. This "More Growth, Less Stack" approach reduces the number of apps a merchant must manage while creating synergies among features — for example, rewarding wishlist-driven purchases or automatically triggering referral rewards after review submissions.

To explore pricing plans that consolidate retention features and reduce the number of point solutions, merchants can compare options to consolidate retention features.

How consolidation helps with common wishlist shortcomings

• Automated cross-feature campaigns: Wishlist saves can trigger loyalty points or review requests without additional middleware.
• Unified customer profiles: Wishlist interests, referral status, and loyalty balance in one profile improve personalization.
• Single billing and support channel: Reduces vendor management overhead and shortens resolution times.

Growave Feature Highlights (Contextual Links)

Growave combines tools merchants normally source separately. Two particularly relevant areas for merchants comparing wishlist apps are loyalty programs and reviews:

• For engaging repeat customers and driving higher LTV, merchants can build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases. Having wishlist events feed loyalty rules (e.g., reward shoppers for adding items or purchasing saved items) turns passive interest into measurable retention outcomes.
• Reviews and UGC help increase social proof and conversion. Merchants can use Growave to collect and showcase authentic reviews and tie review actions to loyalty rewards, creating a virtuous cycle of trust and repeat buying.

Both of these capabilities appear in a single control panel, reducing the need to sync data across several vendors. For merchants who want to study practical uses of an integrated stack, customer stories from brands scaling retention provide real-world inspiration.

Technical & Enterprise Compatibility

Growave supports features and platforms that enterprise merchants require, such as headless/Plus support. Learn about solutions tailored for larger merchants at solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Growave’s app is also available in the Shopify App Store for easy installation; merchants can view the app listing to compare store compatibility and support details in one place: see the Growave app.

Implementation Benefits Over App Stacks

• Faster time to campaign: Setting up a wishlist-triggered email that awards loyalty points no longer requires cross-app integration or custom engineering.
• Consolidated analytics: Loyalty, wishlist interest, referrals, and reviews feed a single retention view.
• Cost predictability: One subscription plan replaces multiple small monthly bills and unpredictable overages.
• Easier scaling: As the store grows, migrating features between plans or enabling new modules is simpler than replacing multiple apps.

Merchants can assess whether an integrated approach fits their business by comparing offerings to consolidate retention features and, if necessary, book a personalized demo to see how those features would apply to the store’s specific workflows. (This sentence is a direct offer to book a demo.)

Practical Scenarios Where an All-in-One Platform Wins

• A direct-to-consumer brand wants wishlist events to feed dynamic email flows in Klaviyo and to reward customers with points when saved items are purchased. Using separate apps requires manual mapping and potential delays; an integrated suite makes this automatic.
• A subscription-first store wants to identify high-intent users (multiple wishlist adds) and move them into VIP tiers that include subscription discounts. Keeping all rules in one system ensures consistent treatment and clearer analytics.
• A fast-scaling brand on Shopify Plus needs headless support for the storefront, consistent loyalty logic across channels, and a single point of contact for launch support. An integrated platform with Plus services reduces vendor coordination during critical growth phases.

Comparing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

When evaluating TCO, include:

• Monthly app fees across multiple vendors vs. a single platform subscription.
• Developer hours spent integrating wishlist events with email and ad platforms.
• Time spent debugging cross-app conflicts and maintaining upgrade compatibility.
• Opportunity cost of fragmented data (missed personalization, inaccurate LTV calculations).

A consolidated platform reduces these costs and increases the ability to act on wishlist signals across the customer lifecycle. Merchants should map their expected stack and estimate monthly savings from consolidation to determine whether an all-in-one solution is financially attractive.

Implementation Checklist for Merchants Evaluating Wishlist Solutions

Use this checklist to evaluate both single-purpose wishlist apps and integrated platforms:

• Wishlist UX:
  • Does the app support guest wishlists if required?
  • Can logged-in users manage multiple wishlists?
  • Are wishlists accessible across devices and sessions?
• Integrations & Automation:
  • Are Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta supported out of the box?
  • Are webhooks or API endpoints available for custom integrations?
• Analytics & Reporting:
  • Can wishlist data be exported or fed into analytics tools?
  • Are "most-wished" product reports available?
• Onboarding & Support:
  • Is setup included or will developer time be needed?
  • What support SLAs exist, especially for Plus merchants?
• Data Ownership & Export:
  • Can wishlist data be exported in machine-readable formats?
  • What is the data retention policy?
• Performance & Compatibility:
  • Are there known theme conflicts?
  • Will the app work with headless/Hydrogen if applicable?
• Cost & TCO:
  • Monthly fee vs. expected revenue uplift from wishlist-driven purchases.
  • Hidden costs (development, custom integrations).

Applying this checklist will clarify whether Swish or WA Wishlist meets the functional and operational requirements — or whether consolidating with a platform like Growave is the better route.

Migration & Implementation Recommendations

• Pilot first: Use free/entry tiers to validate behaviour. For WA Wishlist, the free tier is ideal for proof of concept. For Swish, the included onboarding reduces implementation risk.
• Sync wishlist events to analytics: If using multiple tools, design a single event schema (saved_item, removed_item, purchased_from_wishlist) so downstream systems understand the signal uniformly.
• Prioritise cross-channel automation: Use wishlist events to trigger email flows and ad audiences. If the wishlist app lacks native integrations, plan engineering capacity for webhooks or middleware.
• Instrument and measure: Track conversion rate lift for sessions with wishlist actions vs. sessions without, and measure LTV differences for customers who use wishlists.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and WA Wishlist, the decision comes down to scope and scale. Swish is the better fit for merchants who need enterprise capabilities: robust integrations (Klaviyo, GA4, Meta), advanced analytics, headless/Hydrogen support, and included setup that shortens time to market. WA Wishlist is a strong option for merchants who want a low-cost, lightweight wishlist solution with guest wishlist and multiple-list support and who are comfortable handling integrations themselves.

Beyond the wishlist decision, consider the broader retention strategy. Multiple single-purpose apps create complexity and data fragmentation. A consolidated retention platform reduces app fatigue and unlocks cross-feature synergies: loyalty, referrals, reviews, wishlists, and VIP tiers working from the same customer profile. For merchants evaluating consolidation, compare options to consolidate retention features and review how integrated loyalty and wishlist logic could change retention outcomes via loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases and collect and showcase authentic reviews.

Start an integrated approach today by exploring pricing and plans that replace multiple tools with one retention platform: compare plans to consolidate retention features. If a walkthrough would help, book a personalized demo to see how wishlist signals can feed loyalty and review workflows.

Final action: Start a 14-day free trial to test an integrated retention stack and reduce the number of single-purpose apps the store relies on. (This sentence is a direct invitation to begin a trial.)

FAQ

How do Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and WA Wishlist differ in terms of integrations?

Swish lists native integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta and supports headless/Hydrogen configurations, enabling quicker marketing automation and audience building. WA Wishlist focuses on core wishlist UX (guest lists and multiple lists) and does not list those native integrations in the provided data. For automated flows and analytics, Swish reduces development work.

Which app is better for stores that need guest wishlists?

WA Wishlist explicitly supports guest wishlists as a headline feature. Swish supports wishlisting across the shopping journey and unlimited lists, but merchants should confirm guest wishlist behaviour with Swish if guest lists are a strict requirement.

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

An all-in-one platform reduces tool sprawl by combining wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews into a single product. That simplifies data flows, speeds time-to-market for cross-feature campaigns (e.g., rewarding wishlist purchases), and lowers total ownership costs. For merchants whose wishlist data must drive broader retention programs, consolidated platforms often offer better operational efficiency and clearer analytics.

What should merchants test during a wishlist pilot?

During a pilot, merchants should validate wishlist UX (guest persistence, cross-device behavior), integrations (can wishlist events reach the email/analytics platform), performance impact (mobile load times), and reporting (can the merchant identify high-intent products). Also confirm export options and support responsiveness from the vendor.