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

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is a frequent challenge for Shopify merchants. Wishlist features can lift conversion, recover interest, and feed remarketing — but not every wishlist app is built the same. Merchants must weigh customization, integrations, reporting, onboarding, and the cost of adding another single-purpose tool to the stack.

Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) is a feature-rich, white-glove wishlist solution that suits merchants who want deep customization, onboarding help, and enterprise-friendly capabilities. XB Wishlist is a lighter, simpler wishlist built for stores that want quick setup and straightforward functionality. For merchants who want to reduce tool sprawl and gain broader retention capabilities (loyalty, referrals, reviews, VIP tiers) in one place, an integrated platform like Growave often delivers better value for money than adding a standalone wishlist app.

This post provides a detailed, objective, feature-by-feature comparison of Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and XB Wishlist to help merchants choose the right fit for their needs. It then explains the trade-offs of single-purpose wishlist apps and introduces a consolidated alternative that addresses retention more holistically.

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

Deep Dive: Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Product Focus and Positioning

Swish: Purpose and positioning

Swish presents itself as a full-featured wishlist platform aimed at brands that want more than a basic “save for later” button. The developer emphasizes full customization, white-glove setup for higher tiers, and integrations that matter for retention and tracking (Klaviyo, GA4, Meta). With 272 reviews and a perfect 5-star rating on the Shopify App Store, Swish has traction and consistent merchant satisfaction in its category.

Strengths in positioning:

• Emphasizes personalization and automated wishlist notifications to drive conversion.
• Free setup and onboarding across plans reduces implementation friction.
• Explicit support for headless/Hydrogen setups and Shopify Plus signals readiness for enterprise needs.

XB Wishlist: Purpose and positioning

XB Wishlist is framed as a clean, straightforward wishlist that gets customers to save favorites and return to buy. It targets merchants who prioritize a quick install and a minimal UI footprint. With 19 reviews and a 5-star rating, it appears reliable but has a much smaller review base than Swish.

Strengths in positioning:

• Simple setup and account-based wishlist access make it user-friendly.
• Built-in analytics and sharing features cover basic merchant needs without complexity.
• Appealing to stores that don’t want advanced onboarding or heavy customization work.

UX & Customization

Interface and storefront fit

Swish: Focuses on seamless theme matching and customization. The vendor promises integration with "all themes" and free customization services. For merchants that rely heavily on brand aesthetics and need the wishlist to look native, Swish’s emphasis on customization and onboarding is a major advantage.

XB Wishlist: Offers tailoring for the wishlist button and a minimal interface. Good for merchants who want brand-consistent styling but don’t require deep layout changes or bespoke UI behavior.

Practical differences:

• Swish is better when the wishlist needs to be visually integrated with complex, bespoke themes or when the merchant wants custom placement and behavior across templates.
• XB Wishlist works well when the design requirements are modest and merchants prefer to keep store complexity low.

Saved items, accounts, and sessions

Swish: Supports unlimited wishlists, saved items, and unlimited sessions across plans, which simplifies scaling and avoids per-user caps. This is important for stores with high traffic and repeat visits.

XB Wishlist: Supports wishlists accessible from customer accounts and includes sharing; the dataset does not list limits but positioning suggests a typical, account-based model. Merchants who use customer accounts heavily will find this fits standard expectations.

Notifications, Automation & Conversion Tools

Swish: Automated engagement

Swish highlights “highly personalised + automated Wishlist notifications,” which helps convert saved interest into purchases via targeted messaging. The inclusion of Klaviyo and Meta integrations out of the box is significant: merchants can trigger email/SMS flows or social campaigns based on wishlist behavior.

Why it matters:

• Wishlists are valuable intent signals. When an app can convert those signals into automated flows (price drop, back-in-stock, abandoned wishlist), merchants can recover incremental revenue.
• Native links to analytics and ad platforms mean wishlist events can feed into audience building and measurement.

XB Wishlist: Basic conversion support

XB Wishlist includes built-in analytics to track wishlist activity and supports sharing. It does not emphasize advanced automation or deep third-party orchestration in the provided description. For merchants who primarily want the wishlist as a convenience feature rather than a revenue-driving touchpoint, XB covers the basics.

Analytics & Reporting

Swish: Advanced analytics and curation

Swish explicitly lists "gain meaningful insights with advanced analytics and wishlist curation." For merchants focused on merchandising and product demand signals, this capability helps prioritize restocks, promotions, and inventory decisions.

Analytics use-cases:

• Identify products with the most wishlist saves to prioritize marketing and stock levels.
• Segment customers who save but do not buy and surface them to remarketing flows.

XB Wishlist: Built-in analytics

XB offers built-in analytics suitable for tracking activity and engagement. This is appropriate for smaller stores or teams that need basic metrics without a complex reporting setup.

Comparative takeaway:

• Swish has a clearer focus on data-driven merchandising and integrates analytics into broader workflows.
• XB provides sufficient analytics for straightforward operational use but lacks the explicit advanced curation features promoted by Swish.

Integrations & Technical Compatibility

Swish: Integrations and technical breadth

Swish lists compatibility with: Checkout, Hydrogen, Markets, Klaviyo, Customer Accounts, Search, Recommendations, GA4, Meta. It also explicitly supports headless/Hydrogen and Shopify Plus scenarios. That breadth signals readiness to slot into complex stacks and large-scale workflows.

Integration advantages:

• Direct Klaviyo and GA4 links enable advanced segmentation and cross-channel measurement.
• Hydrogen/headless support and dedicated Plus features (white-glove onboarding, account manager) reduce risk for enterprise migrations.

XB Wishlist: Integrations and simplicity

XB Wishlist lists Shopify Flow compatibility. Shopify Flow can enable automation but requires the merchant to build flows for more complex behaviors. XB’s lighter integration surface implies easier setup with fewer moving parts, but limited depth for enterprise orchestration.

Integration trade-offs:

• Swish is advantageous where merchants need tightly integrated behavior with marketing and analytics systems.
• XB is suitable when simplicity and low integration overhead are priorities.

Pricing & Value

Swish pricing (as provided)

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

Value notes:

• Swish’s pricing is tiered by Shopify plan, which simplifies plan selection but may be costlier for merchants already on Basic plans who need advanced support.
• The free setup and customization at all tiers increase perceived value for merchants that need help implementing wishlist features without paying for developers.

XB Wishlist pricing

• Pricing information was not available in the provided dataset. That often means merchants will ship to the vendor or the Shopify App Store listing for current pricing, or it may be included in a free/basic tier with paid upgrades. Merchants should check the app listing or contact the developer for precise pricing and any usage limits.

How to evaluate value for money:

• Compare the monthly cost relative to the incremental revenue the wishlist drives (e.g., conversion from saved items, recovery from reminders).
• Factor in implementation costs: Swish includes free setup which reduces upfront developer time; XB may be quicker for stores that can self-implement.
• Consider the cost of adding another single-purpose app vs. purchasing a multi-function retention platform that bundles wishlists with loyalty and reviews.

Onboarding, Support & Reviews

Swish: Onboarding and review footprint

Swish offers free setup and customization across plans and white-glove onboarding for Plus customers, plus priority support on Plus. A review base of 272 with a 5-star rating indicates broad satisfaction and experience across multiple merchants.

Implication:

• Strong review count combined with high rating suggests reliable support and consistent product quality.
• Free setup removes an important barrier to adoption for stores lacking in-house development.

XB Wishlist: Onboarding and review footprint

XB’s description focuses on simple setup and integration. With 19 reviews and a 5-star rating, XB seems well-received by its users, though the smaller review base means fewer data points to judge long-term reliability or support responsiveness.

Implication:

• XB is attractive for merchants who want a no-friction install with lower complexity.
• Merchants wanting in-depth support or customized workflows may find XB’s offering limited.

Technical Considerations: Headless, Hydrogen, and Shopify Plus

Swish: Explicitly supports Hydrogen and headless stacks and offers Plus-tier features including dedicated onboarding and account management. This makes Swish a practical choice for merchants using modern front-end architectures or planning to scale into Plus.

XB Wishlist: No headless or Hydrogen claims in the provided data. It lists Shopify Flow and standard account access, which suggests a classic Shopify storefront orientation.

Recommendation:

• If a merchant runs a headless storefront or plans an enterprise migration, Swish is likely the safer option.
• For standard themes and straightforward storefronts, XB is functionally sufficient.

Data Ownership, Exporting & Privacy

Swish: Integrations with analytics and marketing platforms usually mean wishlist events flow into merchant-owned data stores (GA4, Klaviyo). Merchants should verify export options and event schemas during onboarding.

XB Wishlist: Built-in analytics are useful, but merchants should confirm whether wishlist events are exportable to external analytics or marketing platforms and how data retention is handled.

Checklist merchants should use when assessing both apps:

• Can wishlist events be pushed to the merchant’s analytics and CDP?
• Are subscribers or wishlisters exportable in CSV or via API?
• How is user consent for tracking handled? Are there built-in options for GDPR/CCPA compliance?

Security & Performance Impacts

Both apps are listed in the Shopify App Store (Swish has a larger presence), which implies adherence to Shopify’s app policies. However, merchants should confirm:

• Whether the app makes heavy front-end calls that could slow page performance.
• If the app uses asynchronous loading and lazy scripts to minimize performance impact.
• How server-side rendering is handled for headless setups.

Swish’s focus on headless suggests the vendor is aware of performance considerations. XB’s simpler approach may also have minimal impact due to fewer features.

Practical Use Cases: Which App Works Best For Which Merchant?

When Swish is the right choice

• Brand requires deep visual integration and theme-level customization.
• The store needs automated, personalized wishlist notifications tied to Klaviyo, GA4, or Meta.
• The business runs a headless or Hydrogen storefront, or plans to scale to Shopify Plus.
• Merchants value free setup and want vendor-led onboarding to avoid developer time.
• Teams want advanced analytics and wishlist curation to inform merchandising and ad targeting.

Key outcomes expected:

• Faster time-to-value due to onboarding.
• Better conversion from saved intent through automated flows.
• Stronger merchandising decisions driven by wishlist analytics.

When XB Wishlist is the right choice

• Merchant wants a fast, low-effort wishlist addition with minimal configuration.
• The store runs standard Shopify themes and doesn’t require headless flows.
• The team prefers simplicity and can live without robust third-party integrations.
• Budget-conscious merchants who prefer to keep the app count low but don’t need advanced features.

Key outcomes expected:

• Low friction install that improves user convenience.
• Baseline wishlist analytics for operational decisions.
• Minimal ongoing maintenance and simpler UI behavior.

When neither single-purpose wishlist is enough

• The brand needs a consolidated retention strategy that includes loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlists.
• Managing multiple single-purpose apps is causing tool sprawl, higher monthly costs, integration headaches, or duplicate customer data.
• Teams prefer a single place to run promotions, reward programs, and collect UGC alongside wishlist-driven campaigns.

For these merchants, a unified platform with wishlist plus other retention tools can improve customer lifetime value and reduce operational complexity.

Implementation & Migration Considerations

Installing for the first time

• Swish: Free setup reduces technical risk. Merchants should use onboarding to confirm event tracking, Klaviyo mapping, and design placement across templates.
• XB Wishlist: Expect a lightweight install. Validate how account-based wishlist data is stored, and map basic analytics if needed.

Migrating wishlists between apps

Migrating wishlist data between apps can be non-trivial. Merchants planning to switch should:

• Export wishlists and customer associations if the app supports data export.
• Confirm whether the source app provides APIs or CSV exports for wishlist items and customer IDs.
• Coordinate a migration window to preserve wishlist integrity and avoid duplicate records.

Swish’s larger feature set and onboarding team may assist with migration for paid tiers, while XB may require more in-house effort.

Testing and verification checklist

Before rolling a wishlist out to live traffic, merchants should:

• Test saved item flows on desktop and mobile.
• Validate automated notification triggers (price drop, back-in-stock).
• Confirm event mapping into analytics and email platforms.
• Check theme compatibility across templates (product, collection, search results).
• Measure any front-end performance impact via Lighthouse or a similar tool.

Cost of Ownership and Measuring ROI

Merchants should calculate ROI on any wishlist app by estimating incremental revenue attributable to wishlists. Useful metrics:

• Conversion rate of saved items to purchases.
• Average order value for wishlist-converted purchases.
• Email/SMS open and conversion rates from wishlist-triggered flows.
• Operational savings if free setup reduces development time for Swish.

Considerations:

• Low monthly app cost does not equal low total cost if it adds developer hours or duplicate functionality covered elsewhere in the tech stack.
• Look for the net margin impact: incremental revenue minus app and implementation costs.

Pros and Cons Summary

Swish (formerly Wishlist King)

Pros:

• Robust customization and theme integration.
• Free setup across plans; white-glove onboarding for Plus.
• Built-in integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, Meta.
• Explicit support for headless and Shopify Plus.
• Large review base (272 reviews) with a 5-star rating.

Cons:

• Monthly cost tiers may feel high for very small merchants.
• Additional app to manage if merchant already uses other retention tools.

XB Wishlist

Pros:

• Simple, fast setup and clean UI.
• Provides account-based wishlists and sharing features.
• Built-in analytics for basic measurement.
• Lower complexity for merchants that only want wishlist functionality.
• 5-star rating (19 reviews) suggests good satisfaction among its users.

Cons:

• Smaller review base reduces public evidence of reliability at scale.
• Less emphasis on advanced integrations and headless support.
• Pricing details were not available in the provided data; merchants must verify costs.

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

The problem: app fatigue and fractured retention stacks

Many merchants add single-purpose apps to solve specific needs (wishlist, referral, loyalty, reviews). Over time, the store accumulates multiple vendors, each with separate billing, data silos, and fragmented customer experiences. This "app fatigue" creates problems:

• Higher collective monthly cost and difficulty assessing aggregate ROI.
• Integration gaps that require custom engineering or manual exports.
• Fragmented customer messaging (different platforms sending emails or rewards).
• Increased operational overhead to manage support tickets across vendors.

The value of consolidation

Consolidating complementary retention features into one platform reduces complexity and increases strategic coherence: shared customer data, unified loyalty and wishlist triggers, and single support ownership.

Merchants looking to consolidate retention features can review plans and pricing to assess how a single platform compares against the combined cost of multiple single-purpose apps and the internal work required to make them talk to each other. Explore pricing and plans to understand how consolidation impacts total cost of ownership: consolidate retention features.

Introducing Growave’s "More Growth, Less Stack" approach

Growave positions itself as a unified retention platform combining Loyalty & Rewards, Referrals, Reviews & UGC, Wishlist, and VIP Tiers into one suite. The value proposition is simple: instead of toggling between several apps, run retention programs from a single dashboard where wishlists feed loyalty triggers, reviews influence VIP tiers, and referrals reward advocates.

For merchants evaluating a move away from multiple tools, a demonstration of integrated workflows helps reveal operational benefits. Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack improves retention. (This sentence is a hard CTA.)

How consolidation solves wishlist-specific pain points

• Shared customer identity: wishlist saves tie directly into loyalty accounts and VIP segmentation.
• Unified automation: a wishlist save can trigger a loyalty point offer, a targeted review request, or a referral incentive from the same dashboard.
• Reduced duplicate costs: a single vendor handles wishlists plus other retention programs, often offering better value for money than multiple apps combined.

Merchants can install Growave applications directly to streamline onboarding and reduce app sprawl. For stores that prefer to add the whole suite via the platform storefront, Growave is available for direct install: reduce tool sprawl with one app.

Growave modules and how they map to wishlist needs

Loyalty & Rewards

Loyalty programs amplify wishlist value by rewarding customers for actions beyond purchases (refer a friend, leave a review, or create wishlists). Merchants can configure points for wishlist-related actions and create VIP tiers that use wishlist behavior as part of eligibility. See how merchants build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.

Wishlist (built-in)

Growave includes wishlist functionality as part of the suite, eliminating the need for a separate wishlist app. Wishlist behavior flows into loyalty, referral, and review logic within the same platform, enabling more powerful automation and measurement.

Reviews & UGC

Collecting and using product reviews turns wishlists into conversion catalysts. When a customer saves an item and later sees authentic reviews on the product page, conversion probability increases. Merchants can collect and display reviews across the site: collect and showcase authentic reviews.

Referrals & VIP Tiers

Wishlists help identify high-intent customers who can be targeted for referral campaigns or VIP upgrades. Using a single platform ensures the referral rules and VIP thresholds use consistent customer data.

Integrations and enterprise readiness

Growave supports an extensive integration set (Klaviyo, Omnisend, Gorgias, Recharge, plus headless & Shopify Plus support), which simplifies wiring wishlist events to broader marketing and CX systems. It’s available for stores scaling to Plus with specialized support: discover solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Growave is also listed on the Shopify App Store, which makes installation straightforward for merchants who prefer the app store workflow: install Growave from the Shopify App Store.

Pricing overview and how to evaluate it

Growave offers multiple plans from a free tier through enterprise-grade Plus plans. The value calculation should compare:

• Combined cost of standalone wishlist + loyalty + reviews apps vs. a single subscription to Growave.
• Implementation time saved by using one vendor with unified onboarding.
• Incremental revenue gains from cross-functional automation (e.g., wishlist save → review reminder → loyalty reward → conversion).

Merchants can compare plans that scale with growth to determine which tier replaces their existing tools most effectively.

Proof points and customer examples

Growave’s public customer stories demonstrate how brands using a consolidated retention stack improved repeat purchase rates and simplified marketing operations. Merchants considering consolidation can examine customer stories from brands scaling retention for practical examples and inspiration.

Merchants who prefer the app-store installation flow can also add Growave directly via Shopify: install Growave from the Shopify App Store.

Migration Considerations: Moving From a Single-Function Wishlist to an Integrated Platform

What to plan for

• Data migration: export wishlist items and map them to customer accounts in the consolidated platform.
• Campaign migration: recreate or migrate wishlist-triggered automations into the integrated platform (e.g., price drop notification → loyalty-triggered offer).
• Testing: confirm that wishlist actions still produce the intended outcomes (emails, points, VIP status) after migration.

Operational benefits post-migration

• Single source of truth for customer retention metrics.
• Unified reporting across wishlists, loyalty redemptions, and review influence.
• Simplified vendor management and billing.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and XB Wishlist, the decision comes down to scope and scale. Swish is a robust wishlist solution for merchants who need deep customization, enterprise integrations, and hands-on onboarding (backed by 272 reviews and a 5-star rating). XB Wishlist is a streamlined option for stores that want a fast, simple wishlist with account access and basic analytics (19 reviews and a 5-star rating). Both apps serve clear use cases: choose Swish for advanced workflows and headless readiness; choose XB Wishlist for straightforward, low-friction wishlist functionality.

For merchants looking to reduce tool sprawl and build retention without juggling multiple single-purpose apps, a unified platform is a compelling alternative. Growave combines wishlist functionality with loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers so wishlist signals feed directly into rewards and retention workflows. Merchants can evaluate how consolidation improves efficiency by reviewing plans that scale with growth. Start a 14-day free trial to explore how a unified retention stack accelerates growth. (This sentence is a hard CTA.)

FAQ

Q: Which app has stronger support for enterprise and headless stores?
A: Swish explicitly supports Hydrogen, headless architectures, and Shopify Plus features (white-glove onboarding and a dedicated manager), making it better suited for enterprise and headless implementations. XB Wishlist focuses on standard storefronts and does not advertise headless support in the provided data.

Q: How do the apps compare on integration with marketing platforms like Klaviyo?
A: Swish lists Klaviyo and GA4 among its integrations, which helps convert wishlist signals into email/SMS flows and analytics. XB Wishlist’s listed integrations include Shopify Flow; deeper marketing platform connections may require custom setup. Merchants who depend on Klaviyo-style workflows will find Swish’s native integrations more immediately useful.

Q: If a merchant wants wishlist functionality plus loyalty and reviews, is a single vendor preferable?
A: Yes. Using a single platform that combines wishlist, loyalty, and reviews reduces operational overhead and allows wishlist events to directly trigger rewards and review requests. Merchants can explore consolidated retention options and pricing to compare total cost of ownership: consolidate retention features. For example, combining wishlist saves with loyalty incentives and review automation in one tool generally yields faster implementation and clearer ROI than wiring several separate apps together.

Q: How should a merchant choose between Swish and XB Wishlist based on reviews and reliability?
A: Review count and rating both matter. Swish has a larger review base (272 reviews) and a 5-star rating, offering more public evidence of use across many merchants. XB Wishlist has a smaller review base (19 reviews) but also a 5-star rating, indicating satisfaction among its users. Merchants should consider the scale of their store, required integrations, and support expectations when interpreting review metrics.