Swish vs. Squadkin: In-Depth Wishlist App Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is a common decision point for Shopify merchants aiming to capture intent, reduce cart abandonment, and build a repeat-customer base. Single-purpose wishlist tools promise focused features, but differing functionality, integrations, and support models can make the choice confusing.

Short answer: Swish (formerly Wishlist King) is a mature, full-featured wishlist platform aimed at brands that want a polished, managed wishlist experience with expert onboarding and enterprise-ready touches. Squadkin ‑ Multi Wishlist App is a lightweight, budget-friendly option that delivers core wishlist features, multi-category lists, and guest functionality with straightforward customization. For merchants who want wishlist plus a retention stack (loyalty, referrals, reviews, VIP tiers) without multiplying apps, an integrated platform like Growave will often be better value for money.

This article provides an objective, feature-by-feature comparison of Swish and Squadkin to help merchants choose the right tool for their needs. It also explains when combining single-purpose apps makes sense and when moving to an all-in-one platform reduces complexity and improves outcomes.

Swish (formerly Wishlist King) vs. Squadkin ‑ Multi Wishlist App: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Features

Wishlist Core Functionality

Swish implements a complete wishlist experience that covers the entire shopping journey. Its core strengths include saved items that persist across devices and sessions, account-based wishlists, automated notifications, and advanced curation tools that let merchants promote items from wishlists. Swish emphasizes a polished front-end that matches store themes, ensuring the wishlist looks native and consistent.

Squadkin focuses on the fundamental wishlist use cases: customers can favorite items, save them into multiple categories, and return later to pick up where they left off. Squadkin supports guest wishlists (no account needed) and provides shareable links for sending wishlists via social media or email.

Points to consider:

• Swish is focused on providing a robust end-to-end journey for logged-in customers and cross-device persistence; Squadkin places greater emphasis on simple guest flows and category organization.
• For stores that rely heavily on account retention and personalized notifications, Swish’s account-linked approach offers better long-term engagement capabilities.
• For catalogs where customers expect to organize favorites into many lists (e.g., home decor boards, outfit planning), Squadkin’s multi-category feature is a pragmatic fit.

Customization & On-Brand Experience

Swish highlights integration with store themes and offers a free setup and customization service across plans. This effectively outsources front-end UI work to the Swish team, reducing merchant workload and improving visual consistency. For merchants using headless or Hydrogen stacks, Swish explicitly supports those environments on higher tiers, which is important for advanced storefront architectures.

Squadkin allows fully custom CSS and text edits, enabling merchants who are comfortable with front-end changes to style the wishlist however they prefer. This offers flexibility for DIY teams but also places the burden of implementation on the merchant if custom work is needed.

Considerations:

• Merchants without internal front-end resources will likely appreciate Swish’s free setup and managed styling.
• Merchants with a developer or designer who wants full control may prefer Squadkin’s direct CSS customization and simpler implementation footprint.

Sharing, Social, and Guest Functionality

Both apps support sharing wishlists via links. Squadkin highlights guest wishlist functionality explicitly — visitors can create wishlists without an account and share them. Swish supports sharing and focuses on converting those interactions through personalized notifications and remarketing pathways.

Tactical differences:

• Squadkin’s social-sharing focus is useful for viral or social discovery use cases (gift registries, social shopping).
• Swish’s approach ties sharing into analytics and conversion pipelines, which benefits merchants prioritizing measurable revenue outcomes.

Notifications, Automation & Conversion Tools

Swish offers automated wishlist notifications and integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta to enable remarketing and lifecycle communications. These automations turn wishlist signals into recovery or promotional flows, allowing merchants to nudge shoppers when wishlisted items go on sale or are low in stock.

Squadkin includes basic analytics (top-10 wishlisted products) to identify popular items that can be promoted but does not provide the same built-in lifecycle automation or deep integration list out of the box.

Practical impact:

• Merchants who rely on lifecycle email marketing and ads will find Swish’s integrations and notification workflows more actionable.
• If the goal is simple popularity insights and manual campaigns, Squadkin’s analytics may be sufficient.

Analytics & Product Insights

Swish positions itself with advanced analytics and wishlist curation tools. With 272 reviews and a 5.0 rating, the app is clearly trusted by many merchants to provide meaningful data and recommendations. These analytics can inform merchandising, inventory decisions, and targeted marketing.

Squadkin’s analytics focus is narrower: the app surfaces the top wishlisted products (top 10), which is useful for quick promotional campaigns but lacks the depth of cross-segment analysis, funnel attribution, and behavior-triggered metrics Swish provides.

How that matters:

• For retailers treating wishlists as a conversion signal and revenue lever, Swish’s analytics are a stronger fit.
• For stores needing simple signal capture to inform manual promotions, Squadkin’s data is often adequate.

Pricing & Value for Money

Swish Pricing Structure

Swish uses tiered pricing aligned with Shopify plans:

• Basic Shopify: $19 / month (includes all features, free setup)
• Shopify: $29 / month
• Advanced Shopify: $49 / month
• Shopify Plus: $99 / month (adds white glove onboarding, priority support, dedicated account manager, Hydrogen & headless stack support)

Swish’s pricing communicates an expectation of ongoing managed support and a richer enterprise feature set for Plus customers. The inclusion of free setup and onboarding on all plans is an important cost-offset for merchants that would otherwise pay developers to integrate and style the wishlist.

Value considerations:

• For merchants without developer resources, the free setup frequently makes Swish better value for money than the sticker price suggests.
• Plus-plan features justify the higher monthly fee for high-volume or headless stores seeking dedicated assistance and SLA-like support.

Squadkin Pricing Structure

Squadkin’s pricing is straightforward:

• Basic: $3.99 / month (Multiple categories, guest wishlist, custom CSS, social sharing, unlimited wishlists, analytics)

The single low-cost tier positions Squadkin as an accessible choice for bootstrapped stores and those experimenting with wishlist features.

Value considerations:

• Squadkin offers excellent entry-level value for stores that want wishlist features at minimal monthly cost.
• The lack of higher tiers means advanced features, enterprise support, or headless compatibility may be limited or absent.

Comparative Value Assessment

When comparing value for money, merchants need to weigh immediate subscription cost against the cost of implementation, time to launch, and expected revenue impact from wishlist-driven conversions.

• Swish offers higher upfront value for stores that lack technical resources, because free setup and managed styling reduce hidden costs.
• Squadkin offers the lowest monthly cost, which is attractive for small stores or those with developer bandwidth to implement and customize.

Integrations & Technical Compatibility

Third-Party Integrations

Swish advertises out-of-the-box integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta, plus compatibility with Checkout, Hydrogen, Markets, Customer Accounts, Search, and Recommendations. These integrations enable wishlists to feed into customer journeys, analytics, and ad targeting efficiently.

Squadkin lists basic compatibility and relies on shareable links and top-10 analytics for external campaign use. It does not highlight the same breadth of marketing and analytics integrations as Swish.

Why integrations matter:

• Integrations with major ESPs and analytics platforms let wishlist signals be converted into revenue through automated flows and audience building.
• If a store relies heavily on Klaviyo or GA4, Swish’s direct integrations reduce engineering time and allow immediate activation of wishlist-driven campaigns.

Theme and Storefront Support

Swish states that it integrates with all themes and offers special support for headless and Hydrogen architectures, especially on higher tiers. This is relevant for merchants with custom storefronts.

Squadkin’s customization via CSS means it can be adapted, but merchants may have to do more manual work for complex themes or headless implementations.

API & Extensibility

Swish’s higher-tier Plus plan mentions Hydrogen and headless stacks, implying access to APIs and advanced integrations suitable for larger teams. Squadkin does not prominently advertise headless or API-first capabilities.

For merchants planning to scale with custom storefronts or specialized flows, Swish’s compatibility is a decisive point.

Implementation & Onboarding

Time to Launch

Swish’s free setup and customization service across plans is designed to minimize implementation time and errors. Managed onboarding accelerates time to value and ensures the wishlist aligns with the brand’s visual language and conversion strategy.

Squadkin’s single low-cost plan is often simpler to install but expects the merchant or developer to handle customization. Time to launch can be fast for default implementations, but building a bespoke UI will require internal resources.

Technical Support & Documentation

Swish provides managed onboarding and, for Shopify Plus customers, white glove onboarding plus a dedicated account manager. This support model suits merchants who want a vendor relationship and predictable SLA.

Squadkin’s support model is lighter: merchants should expect standard app-store support and community resources. For small stores, this may be perfectly suitable.

Risk & Dependency

Swish’s managed setup reduces implementation risk and keeps the vendor responsible for compatibility through theme updates. Squadkin’s approach makes merchants more responsible for maintaining customizations and compatibility as themes evolve.

Customer Support & Reputation

Use of review counts and ratings provides insight into reputation and scale:

• Swish: 272 reviews; rating 5.0. A higher review count at a perfect rating indicates wide adoption and strong customer satisfaction.
• Squadkin: 5 reviews; rating 4.9. A near-perfect rating but small review count suggests either a newer app or limited adoption.

Implications:

• Higher review volume is a proxy for reliability, recurring support interactions, and business maturity.
• Smaller apps with excellent ratings can still be reliable, but potential buyers should verify support SLAs and active development cadence.

Performance, Scale & Reliability

For fast-growing stores, performance under load and compatibility with complex storefronts is essential.

• Swish’s Plus plan and headless support indicate production readiness at scale; the company’s offer of dedicated onboarding and account management suggests investments in reliability.
• Squadkin’s lightweight architecture can be fast for small catalogs but may not provide the same level of integration or enterprise assurances for large traffic spikes.

Merchants expecting high traffic or heavy wishlist use should validate response times and CDN behavior during a trial or with the vendor before going live.

Data Ownership, Portability, & Privacy

Both apps operate within Shopify’s ecosystem, but merchants should investigate data export capabilities and how wishlist data maps to customer profiles.

• Swish’s integrations with analytics and email platforms imply that wishlist events can be pushed to systems where merchants control data and segmentation.
• Squadkin’s export and integration options are less explicit; merchants should confirm whether top-10 analytics are exportable or if there’s event-level webhook support.

Privacy considerations:

• Ensure wishlist signups and guest lists comply with local data laws; ask vendors how they handle opt-ins and data retention.
• For merchants who build remarketing flows from wishlist signals, ensure the integration with ESPs respects consent frameworks.

Use Cases & Merchant Profiles

The right app depends on merchant priorities and resources.

Swish is well suited for:

• Mid-market brands with limited developer resources that want managed setup.
• Stores that rely on lifecycle marketing and need Klaviyo/GA4/Meta integrations.
• Shopify Plus merchants or headless storefronts that require dedicated onboarding and technical support.
• Merchants who value analytics-driven merchandising and conversion optimization.

Squadkin is well suited for:

• Small stores and startups seeking the lowest monthly cost for wishlist functionality.
• Merchants with internal front-end resources who want full CSS control.
• Stores using wishlists primarily for guest users, social sharing, or simple category-based organization.
• Merchants testing wishlist features before committing to a managed solution.

Pros & Cons — Quick Bulleted Summaries

Swish (formerly Wishlist King)

• Pros:
  • Free setup and onboarding on all plans.
  • Advanced analytics and integrations (Klaviyo, GA4, Meta).
  • Headless/Hydrogen and Plus-level support.
  • High review count (272) and perfect rating (5.0).
• Cons:
  • Higher monthly pricing for Plus-level enterprise features.
  • Focused on wishlist — merchants may still need separate apps for loyalty, reviews, and referrals.

Squadkin ‑ Multi Wishlist App

• Pros:
  • Very low monthly price ($3.99).
  • Multiple categories and guest wishlist support.
  • CSS-level customization and social sharing.
  • Simple, minimalistic approach reduces complexity.
• Cons:
  • Limited review volume (5 reviews) — smaller installed base.
  • Fewer integrations and less enterprise support.
  • Single-tier pricing may lack scalability for large merchants.

Migration, Reporting, and Long-Term Considerations

Moving Between Apps

Migrating wishlist data is rarely trivial. Merchants should request data export capabilities and evaluate how wishlist items map to customer accounts and SKUs.

• Swish can likely assist in migration thanks to its managed setup services; ask the vendor about export formats and mapping services.
• Squadkin’s data export capability should be confirmed; small merchants may be able to extract CSVs, but automated mapping to accounts may require work.

Reporting & Long-Term Measurement

Wishlist impact is measured through conversion lift, reduced time-to-purchase, and increased customer lifetime value (LTV). Merchants should track:

• Conversion rate of wishlisted items.
• Revenue attributed to wishlist-driven campaigns.
• Repeat purchase rate and average order value of customers who use wishlists.

Swish’s deeper analytics and integrations will make these measurements easier to automate. Squadkin may require manual attribution or custom analytics setup.

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

As stores grow, adding single-purpose apps for every micro-function becomes costly, noisy, and fragile. "App fatigue" is the operational drag caused by a proliferating app stack: overlapping features, multiple billing lines, inconsistent UX for customers, and increased maintenance overhead.

Growave approaches this problem with a "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy. Instead of installing standalone wishlist tools, merchants can consolidate retention features—loyalty programs, referrals, reviews, wishlists, and VIP tiers—into a single platform that reduces complexity and centralizes data.

Key benefits of consolidating with an integrated platform:

• Unified customer profiles that combine wishlist data with loyalty activity and review history, enabling richer segmentation.
• Fewer integrations to maintain and a single point of contact for support.
• Cross-feature campaigns (e.g., reward points for leaving a wishlist item or earning points for sharing a wishlist) that are difficult to coordinate across multiple single-purpose apps.
• Streamlined billing that often leads to better value for money compared to multiple subscriptions.

Growave’s suite includes a wishlist module alongside loyalty, referrals, and review tools. Merchants can see how combining those features improves retention by integrating wishlists into loyalty campaigns and review prompts.

Merchants considering consolidation should evaluate:

• Whether an integrated solution supports the store’s priority features at sufficient depth.
• The migration path for wishlist and customer data.
• The cost comparison between multiple single-purpose subscriptions and an all-in-one subscription.

For merchants interested in seeing an integrated retention stack in action, a useful step is to try the Growave app on the Shopify App Store. The app listing shows the product lineup and merchant feedback and helps evaluate immediate compatibility with Shopify storefronts (try the Growave app on the Shopify App Store).

Growave’s placement as an integrated solution also means merchants can directly build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases and collect and showcase authentic reviews without adding multiple vendors. These features appear inside the same admin experience and share customer data, which makes campaign orchestration faster and reporting more coherent.

To learn more in a hands-on way, merchants can book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack accelerates growth. This provides a chance to evaluate the wishlist module in the context of loyalty, referrals, and reviews, and to explore how consolidating tools reduces engineering overhead and improves customer experience. (Hard CTA)

How Consolidation Improves Outcomes

• Retention: Combining wishlists with loyalty and VIP tiers encourages customers to return and earn rewards for engagement.
• LTV: Multi-touch campaigns using wishlist signals and reward incentives increase average order value and repeat rates.
• Efficiency: A single integration point for marketing platforms (e.g., Klaviyo) simplifies audience building from wishlist events and loyalty triggers.
• Data clarity: Centralized analytics reduces attribution confusion when multiple apps generate events for the same customer.

Growave — Feature Highlights Relevant to Wishlist Use Cases

• Wishlist module that integrates with loyalty and referral flows, enabling campaigns that convert wishlist intent into purchases.
• Loyalty and rewards engine that supports custom actions (allowing wishlist interactions to tie into point accrual).
• Reviews & UGC functionality to encourage user-generated content around wishlisted or purchased items.
• Shopify Plus compatibility and headless support for large merchants seeking enterprise-grade features.
• A robust integration list for ESPs, recharge platforms, and customer service tools.

For merchants comparing the standalone wishlist options described earlier, a centralized strategy should be part of the evaluation: compare the incremental value of a single app against the broader growth outcomes of combining wishlist signals with loyalty, reviews, and referral mechanics.

Merchants wanting to evaluate how Growave’s all-in-one model would fit into their tech stack can also review customer stories and implementation inspiration to understand real implementation patterns and outcomes (customer stories from brands scaling retention). Additionally, for stores operating at enterprise scale, Growave has resources tailored to solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Beyond feature parity with single-purpose wishlist apps, consolidation can save time and improve campaign sophistication. For example, a merchant that wants to run a points-for-wishlist campaign will find it faster and cleaner to implement on a single platform than by wiring events across multiple vendors and automation tools.

Practical Recommendation Matrix

The following guidance helps translate features into practical decisions:

• Choose Swish when:
  • The merchant prioritizes white-glove onboarding and a vendor-managed front-end integration.
  • The store relies heavily on lifecycle marketing and needs deep integrations (Klaviyo, GA4, Meta) out of the box.
  • The store is running a headless or Hydrogen architecture and requires dedicated Plus-level support.
• Choose Squadkin when:
  • The merchant is budget-sensitive and needs a low monthly cost.
  • The team can handle front-end customization via CSS and wants guest wishlist functionality with social sharing.
  • The wishlist use case is narrow and the merchant prefers a minimal app footprint.
• Consider Growave when:
  • The merchant wants to reduce tool sprawl and consolidate loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist in one platform.
  • The business is focused on increasing retention, LTV, and cross-channel campaign sophistication.
  • The merchant prefers centralized analytics and unified customer profiles to drive automated growth strategies.
  • To evaluate Growave directly, merchants can review pricing and plan options and begin a free trial by checking pricing and plans (consolidate retention features).

Note on cost comparison: while squadkin’s $3.99/month sticker is attractive, adding a loyalty program, review system, and referral tool as standalone apps quickly increases total monthly spend and operational complexity. Growave’s bundled approach often results in better value for money once more than one retention function is needed.

Implementation Checklist & Evaluation Questions

Before installing any wishlist app, use this checklist to make a pragmatic choice:

• Does the app support the desired customer flow (guest vs. account-based)?
• Are lifecycle integrations required (Klaviyo, GA4, Meta)? If yes, prefer apps with native integrations.
• Is a managed setup important to reduce internal resource demands?
• What analytics are needed to measure wishlist-driven revenue?
• Is headless or Hydrogen compatibility necessary?
• How will wishlist events be used in broader retention campaigns?
• What is the migration path if switching providers later?

If the answer to multiple items points toward cross-feature needs (loyalty, referrals, reviews), evaluate an integrated platform and test it with the store’s traffic levels (try the Growave app on the Shopify App Store).

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Swish (formerly Wishlist King) and Squadkin ‑ Multi Wishlist App, the decision comes down to resources and ambition. Swish is the better fit for brands that want a managed, analytics-driven wishlist that integrates with marketing systems and supports enterprise storefronts. Squadkin is a strong choice for very small stores or experimental use cases where low monthly cost and basic multi-category functionality are the priority.

As stores grow, single-purpose apps tend to multiply and create maintenance overhead. Consolidating wishlist functionality with loyalty, referrals, and reviews can improve retention and simplify operations. Growave offers that integrated approach—combining wishlist with loyalty and rewards, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers—so merchants can reduce tool sprawl and run coordinated campaigns from a single platform. Start a 14-day free trial to explore Growave and see how a unified retention stack reduces complexity and accelerates growth. (Hard CTA)

For additional hands-on evaluation, merchants can compare plan levels and integration details on the Growave pricing page (consolidate retention features) and review the Growave listing on the Shopify App Store (try the Growave app on the Shopify App Store).

FAQ

What are the biggest functional differences between Swish and Squadkin?

• Swish emphasizes managed onboarding, deeper analytics, and native integrations with Klaviyo, GA4, and Meta, plus headless support on Plus plans. Squadkin focuses on low-cost multi-category wishlists, guest functionality, and CSS customization. Choose Swish for enterprise needs and Squadkin for low-cost, DIY setups.

How does support and onboarding compare between the two apps?

• Swish includes free setup and customization on all plans and offers white-glove services and dedicated account management for Shopify Plus customers. Squadkin provides a lighter support model that is typical for low-cost apps; merchants should confirm SLA expectations before choosing it for mission-critical use.

Which app is better for driving revenue from wishlists?

• Swish’s automation and integrations position it to drive revenue more directly by enabling lifecycle messaging and ad targeting. Squadkin can surface popular items for manual campaigns, but it requires more manual work to convert wishlist signals into revenue.

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

• An all-in-one platform consolidates wishlist data with loyalty, referrals, and reviews, enabling coordinated campaigns, centralized analytics, and lower operational overhead. If long-term retention and LTV growth are priorities, a single-platform approach can be better value for money and easier to scale. Merchants can examine integrated solutions and pricing to compare the total cost of ownership (consolidate retention features) and try the solution on the Shopify App Store (try the Growave app on the Shopify App Store).