SWishlist: Simple Wishlist vs. Folio: Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is a common friction point for Shopify merchants trying to balance customer experience, technical complexity, and budget. Many merchants must decide between small, focused tools that do one thing well and broader platforms that aim to reduce tool sprawl. This analysis compares two single-purpose wishlist apps—SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and Folio: Wishlist—so merchants can pick the tool that fits their immediate goals.

Short answer: SWishlist: Simple Wishlist is an effective pick for stores that want a lightweight, highly rated wishlist with a clear free tier and predictable pricing; Folio: Wishlist looks positioned to offer slightly different wishlist controls and display options, but it lacks public reviews and usage signals. For merchants aiming to grow retention without adding many point solutions, an integrated platform like Growave often represents better value for money by combining wishlist functionality with loyalty programs, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers.

The purpose of this article is to provide a detailed, feature-by-feature comparison of SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and Folio: Wishlist, highlight strengths and weaknesses, and outline which merchants each app best serves. The analysis then pivots to the benefits of consolidating retention features into a single platform to reduce "app fatigue" and improve long-term customer lifetime value.

SWishlist: Simple Wishlist vs. Folio: Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison: Feature-by-Feature

Feature Coverage Overview

Wishlist Creation & Core UX

SWishlist aims for a frictionless add-to-wishlist experience: customers can save favorites directly from product pages and share lists. The app emphasizes a clean interface and easy installation across themes, with free setup for up to two themes in the free tier. Customer-facing flows focus on simplicity and multilingual support.

Folio places emphasis on bookmarking at scale and offers features like guest wishlists and public wishlist counts. It also highlights "Wishlist Icon on Collection Page" in its premium plan—useful for stores that want persistent add-to-wishlist actions on collection listings as well as product pages.

Practical implications for merchants:

• Stores prioritizing minimal friction and theme consistency may favor SWishlist for its setup support and explicit language options.
• Merchants wanting wishlist access in collection views or requiring public wishlist counts for social proof might prefer Folio’s premium UI options.

Sharing, Social, and Guest Flows

Both apps include sharing functionality and guest wishlist capabilities in certain plans.

SWishlist:

• Explicitly calls out shareable wishlists and customization of the sharing experience.
• Offers multilingual storefront support, which helps social sharing across geographies.

Folio:

• Includes share wishlist and guest wishlist in its Basic plan.
• Public Wishlist Count gives a social proof element visible to potential shoppers.

Recommendation:

• If social sharing is a core acquisition or conversion lever, either app can serve that need. Choose based on how shareable lists are presented within the theme and whether the merchant needs public counts or multi-location language support.

Customization & Design Flexibility

SWishlist advertises “Customize everything to perfectly match your store,” with tiered language and theme support. The Premium plan opens the most customization and priority support.

Folio offers customizable button colors/text and a wishlist icon on collection pages in premium. The customization appears UI-focused rather than deep template editing.

Considerations:

• Merchants who need tight visual integration across multiple languages should value SWishlist’s explicit multi-language and theme setup details.
• For small changes to button appearance and placement, Folio’s Basic and Premium plans look sufficient.

Analytics & Reporting

SWishlist lists "Unlimited access to all statistics" in its Premium plan—suggesting built-in analytics that track wishlist additions and behavior.

Folio highlights a dashboard that keeps merchants posted with analytics "in real-time" and provides an overview of customers adding items to wishlists. However, Folio lacks public reviews and adoption signals, making it difficult to verify the maturity and depth of that dashboard.

How to evaluate analytics:

• Look beyond the marketing language to confirm which metrics are available (e.g., product-level saves, conversions from wishlist, customer-level lists).
• Consider whether analytics export, API access, or integration with email stacks is needed for operational workflows.

Performance & Scalability

SWishlist offers clear usage tiers: Free plan with 300 wishlist additions/month, Basic with 7,000 additions/month, and Premium with unlimited additions. This sets straightforward expectations about scaling and cost predictability.

Folio has a Basic plan capped at 1,000 items in wishlist and a Premium plan offering unlimited wishlist and items. Without public traction data, merchants should test performance under realistic traffic conditions.

Advice:

• Stores expecting high traffic spikes or large catalogs should verify Premium performance and ask the vendor about caching and CDN strategies.
• Confirm whether the apps store wishlists server-side or via cookies/local storage for persistence across devices.

Integrations & API

SWishlist notes "Works With: API" which is a positive signal for connecting wishlist events to other systems (email, CRM, analytics). Folio does not list specific integration endpoints or compatibility.

Why integrations matter:

• Capturing wishlist events into email flows (e.g., back-in-stock alerts or abandoned wishlist reminders) requires API hooks or native integrations.
• Merchants running sophisticated marketing stacks should prefer apps with documented APIs or direct integrations.

Pricing & Value

Pricing is a central part of choosing a small app. The two apps target merchants who want low-cost wishlist functionality, but they approach pricing differently.

SWishlist Pricing Structure

SWishlist offers three clear tiers:

• Free: 300 wishlist additions/month, 2 languages in storefront, free setup up to 2 themes, support within 24–48 hours.
• Basic ($5/month): 7,000 additions/month, 7 storefront languages, all Free features, support within 12–24 hours.
• Premium ($12/month): Unlimited wishlist additions, 20 storefront languages, full statistics access, top-priority support.

Value observations:

• The Free tier is generous for small shops testing wishlist behavior.
• The incremental cost is low to jump to Basic, which is a sensible bridge for growing merchants.
• Premium provides unlimited usage and faster support for a modest monthly fee—good for growing catalogs.

Folio Pricing Structure

Folio’s public pricing:

• Basic ($6.99/month): 1,000 items in wishlist, button customization, share wishlist, guest wishlist, public wishlist count.
• Premium ($12.99/month): All Basic features plus unlimited wishlist, unlimited items, wishlist icon on collection page.

Value observations:

• Folio’s Basic tier is priced between SWishlist’s Free and Basic, with a lower wishlist additions cap than SWishlist Basic.
• Premium pricing is near SWishlist Premium but without clear statements on language support or setup help.
• Without public reviews, perceived value is harder to validate.

Which App Offers Better Value for Money?

Value depends on the merchant’s needs:

• For low-cost experimentation with multilingual stores or clear support SLAs, SWishlist presents better value for money due to its free cap, higher Basic cap, and explicit support tiers.
• For merchants specifically needing collection-page wishlist icons or public wishlist counts and willing to pay slightly more for those UI elements, Folio may be a reasonable option—provided the merchant is comfortable with limited external validation.

Integrations & Ecosystem Fit

SWishlist Integrations

• Works With: API. This suggests the app can push and pull wishlist events into other tools or custom workflows.
• Merchants should confirm whether SWishlist integrates natively with common email providers (Klaviyo, Omnisend) or if API work is required.

Folio Integrations

• No explicit integrations listed publicly. Merchants should ask the vendor about available webhooks, APIs, or pre-built integrations.

Strategic note:

• An app’s integration surface matters more as the store scales. If wishlist events are part of lifecycle email flows or personalization, ensure integration capabilities are confirmed before installing.

User Support & Documentation

SWishlist Support

• Free plan: Support within 24–48 hours.
• Basic plan: Support within 12–24 hours.
• Premium plan: Top-priority support and fastest response.

These explicitly stated expectations make it easier for merchants to evaluate trade-offs between cost and responsiveness.

Folio Support

• No public SLA-style timelines visible in the product data. Lack of reviews adds uncertainty about responsiveness and resolution quality.

Recommendation:

• For time-sensitive deployments or stores without developer resources, SWishlist’s clear support commitments reduce risk.

Security, Data Ownership & Privacy

Both wishlist apps will store customer interactions. Merchants should evaluate:

• Where wishlists are stored and how persistent they are across devices.
• Whether data is exportable or accessible via API.
• Compliance with regional privacy regulations and Shopify’s requirements.

SWishlist’s API mention suggests data portability. For Folio, merchants should verify the data model before committing.

Implementation & Developer Considerations

Installation and Theming

SWishlist:

• Free setup up to 2 themes in free plan—useful for merchants running separate storefront themes or A/B tests.
• Multi-language options across tiers simplify localization.

Folio:

• Customizable buttons and collection icons are useful UI features but the extent of theme-level integration and support should be validated.

Developer checklist before install:

• Confirm support for the storefront architecture in use (Online Store 2.0, headless storefronts).
• If the store uses page builders (PageFly, GemPages, LayoutHub), confirm compatibility.
• Verify checkout or POS integration needs for wishlist flows—some advanced use cases require checkout-level data.

Analytics, Measurement & ROI

Measuring wishlist impact is essential to justify the tool.

Key metrics merchants should track:

• Wishlist additions per week/month and conversion rate from wishlist to purchase.
• Products with highest saves (product-level demand signals).
• Re-engagement performance from wishlist-driven emails.
• Incremental revenue attributable to wishlist campaigns.

SWishlist promises unlimited statistic access in Premium; Folio advertises real-time dashboard analytics. Merchants should request sample reports and the ability to export data or connect to BI tools.

Reliability & Signals from Public Reviews

Public reviews are an important proxy for reliability and product maturity.

• SWishlist: 106 reviews, rating 4.9. This is a strong social signal indicating solid merchant experience and trust.
• Folio: 0 reviews, rating 0. Lack of reviews makes it difficult to assess real-world performance, support quality, and any edge-case bugs.

Practical implication:

• If public validation is important for risk management, SWishlist has a clear advantage.

Use Cases: Which App is Best For Which Merchant?

The right choice depends on business priorities. Below are practical scenarios and recommendations.

Best for Small to Mid-Size Shops with a Tight Budget

SWishlist:

• The Free tier (300 additions/month) is robust enough for stores testing wishlist demand.
• Low-cost Basic and Premium plans scale capacity affordably.
• Clear support windows reduce setup risk.

Why choose SWishlist:

• Fast to deploy, low monthly cost, and strong public track record.

Best for Merchants Needing Collection-Page Wishlist Icons or Public Counts

Folio:

• Offers collection page wishlist icons and public wishlist counts in paid tiers.
• Pricing targets merchants willing to pay a little more for those display options.

Why choose Folio:

• If showing wishlist counts publicly is a core conversion tactic and collection page add buttons matter, Folio’s UI features may be attractive.

Best for Multi-Language or Theme-Heavy Stores

SWishlist:

• Supports multiple storefront languages across tiers and offers setup across themes.
• Premium supports up to 20 languages—useful for cross-border merchants.

Why choose SWishlist:

• Explicit language and theme support simplifies multi-regional deployments.

Best for Merchants Planning to Build a Broader Retention Stack

Neither single-purpose wishlist app handles loyalty, referrals, or automated review collection. For merchants who want an integrated retention strategy that increases repeat purchases and lifetime value, consider consolidating onto an integrated retention platform that bundles wishlist with loyalty and reviews.

Why consider an integrated platform:

• Reduces the number of installed apps and potential conflicts.
• Improves data sharing between wishlist events and loyalty or referral triggers.
• Centralizes customer lifecycle reporting.

The next section explores this alternative option in detail.

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

Understanding App Fatigue

App fatigue occurs when merchants install multiple single-purpose apps to solve different problems—wishlists from one vendor, loyalty from another, reviews from a third, and referrals from a fourth. The cumulative downsides include:

• Higher combined monthly costs and subscription overlaps.
• Fragmented customer data, making cohesive lifecycle campaigns harder.
• Increased risk of theme conflicts and slower site performance.
• Administrative overhead for multiple support channels and billing cycles.

Reducing tool sprawl often improves retention outcomes because behavioral signals (e.g., wishlist saves) feed directly into loyalty and re-engagement flows.

Introducing "More Growth, Less Stack"

An alternative value proposition is to consolidate key retention features into a single, integrated platform that treats wishlist data as part of a broader customer engagement lifecycle. This reduces app friction and enables more strategic automation—turning wishlist events into targeted rewards, referral prompts, and review requests.

Growave’s approach is an example of this consolidation, offering an integrated suite where wishlist functionality sits alongside loyalty programs, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers. For merchants evaluating the trade-off between single-purpose apps and consolidation, this approach emphasizes long-term customer lifetime value and operational simplicity.

How an Integrated Platform Changes Merchant Workflows

• Wishlist saves become triggers for automated email flows and reward offers without custom API wiring.
• High-demand products identified by wishlist analytics can be surfaced to loyalty campaigns (e.g., reward points for pre-orders or referrals).
• Reviews and UGC can be requested from customers who move from wishlist to purchase, closing the feedback loop.

This kind of integration reduces the need to connect multiple apps via APIs or custom workarounds.

Growave: What It Brings to the Table

Growave packages several retention features into a unified platform and is built for Shopify merchants who want to reduce tool sprawl while expanding customer lifetime value. Key elements include:

• Loyalty and Rewards programs to incentivize repeat purchases and referrals.
• Wishlist functionality that integrates directly with loyalty and referral mechanics.
• Review collection and user-generated content tools to boost social proof.
• VIP tiers and custom reward actions for personalized experiences.
• Built-in integrations with common marketing and support tools to keep workflows smooth.

Merchants can evaluate this integrated approach and see how wishlist events feed into broader retention programs by visiting the Growave App listing and pricing pages. For hands-on evaluation, Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack improves retention.

consolidate retention features and compare pricing tiers to understand how combining tools can reduce total monthly costs versus multiple single-purpose apps.

install from the Shopify App Store to try the integrated setup and explore how wishlist data flows into loyalty campaigns.

Linking Wishlist to Loyalty and Reviews

• Wishlist saves can automatically assign reward points when a customer later purchases, strengthening the path to repeat purchases. For details on loyalty mechanics and customization, merchants can review how to build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• When a wishlist item converts, review requests can be automated to collect verified buyer feedback; see how to collect and showcase authentic reviews.

These connections reduce manual handoffs and improve campaign relevance.

Integration Depth & Platform Support

Growave lists a wide integration footprint, including popular tools like Klaviyo, Omnisend, Recharge, and customer service tools. This removes the need to build bespoke connectors between wishlist apps and marketing stacks—saving developer time and lowering operational risk.

Merchants targeting enterprise or high-growth use cases may also evaluate Growave’s offerings for Shopify Plus brands and larger stores by exploring solutions designed for high-growth Plus brands.

Cost Comparison: Consolidation vs. Point Solutions

When comparing total monthly costs, merchants should calculate the combined cost of standalone wishlist plus loyalty plus reviews apps versus a single integrated plan. Consolidation often yields better value for money because multiple features are bundled at a lower combined cost and with better integration.

To run project-level cost scenarios, merchants can consolidate retention features and test whether switching to a single plan decreases total spend while increasing capability.

Support & Onboarding

An important benefit of consolidation is unified onboarding and a single vendor relationship. Growave provides structured onboarding depending on the plan—this simplifies theme configuration, localization, and support escalation. For merchants who prefer to see the platform in action, it is possible to Book a personalized demo and discuss migration strategies.

Book a personalized demo to answer technical questions and map how wishlist events will interoperate with loyalty automation.

Customer Stories & Inspiration

Seeing how other merchants used integrated retention stacks can be persuasive. Merchants can review case studies and inspiration to understand concrete ROI examples and best practices by browsing customer stories and inspiration galleries.

For merchant-facing examples and inspiration, see customer stories and shopfront examples to learn how wishlist-triggered campaigns increased engagement and repeat purchase rates in live stores.

Migration, Setup & Risk Management

Transitioning from a Single Wishlist App to an Integrated Platform

Key steps for a low-risk migration:

• Export wishlist data and customer identifiers from the existing solution (ask the app vendor for data export if needed).
• Map wishlist events to new triggers in the integrated platform (e.g., point awards, email flows, and tag assignments).
• Deploy in a testing environment or a subset of traffic to validate UI placement and performance.
• Monitor conversion metrics and page speed impacts after deployment.

Growave and other integrated platforms often provide migration guidance and onboarding resources to streamline the process. Merchants should also validate whether any installed themes or page builders require custom adjustments.

Testing & Validation Checklist

• Ensure wishlist persistence across devices and logged-in sessions.
• Confirm integration with email automation tools—are wishlist events accessible in Klaviyo or Omnisend?
• Check impact on site speed and Google PageSpeed scores.
• Validate analytics and reporting accuracy post-migration.

Pros & Cons Summary

SWishlist: Simple Wishlist

Pros:

• Strong public rating (4.9) across 106 reviews, indicating reliable merchant experiences.
• Generous free tier and clear pricing tiers that scale affordably.
• Explicit multi-language and theme setup support.
• Clear support response time tiers that reduce deployment risk.

Cons:

• Focused on wishlist only, so additional retention features require separate apps.
• Advanced integrations may need API work depending on the merchant’s marketing stack.

Folio: Wishlist

Pros:

• Feature set includes shareable wishlists, guest wishlist, and collection page icons.
• Public wishlist counts and UI options that may fit certain merchandising strategies.

Cons:

• No public reviews (0 reviews, 0 rating) which makes reliability and support quality harder to judge.
• Integration surface and support SLA are not publicly transparent.
• Feature claims like “real-time analytics” require vetting.

Decision Guide: How to Choose

• Choose SWishlist if the priority is low-cost experimentation, multilingual storefront support, predictable scaling, and the reassurance of strong public reviews.
• Choose Folio if the merchant needs specific UI features like collection page icons or public wishlist counts and is comfortable performing due diligence with the vendor because public usage signals are limited.
• Choose an integrated platform like Growave when the goal is to build an efficient retention stack that ties wishlist interactions to loyalty, referrals, and review collection—thereby increasing customer lifetime value and reducing the number of installed apps.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and Folio: Wishlist, the decision comes down to priorities. SWishlist is an excellent match for stores that want a highly rated, low-cost wishlist solution with clear support and multilingual options. Folio may suit stores that specifically value UI elements like collection-page wishlist icons and public wishlist counts—but the lack of public reviews requires careful vetting.

For brands focused on long-term retention, reducing tool sprawl, and driving higher lifetime value, consolidating wishlist, loyalty, reviews, and referrals into a single platform is often better value for money. A unified retention platform turns wishlist interactions into actionable triggers for rewards, referrals, and review requests, simplifying operations and improving campaign performance.

Start a 14-day free trial to explore how a consolidated retention stack reduces app fatigue and accelerates repeat purchases. For merchants who want to evaluate options before committing, install from the Shopify App Store to test integration flows and see wishlist behavior alongside other retention features.

FAQ

Q: How do SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and Folio: Wishlist differ in pricing and capacity? A: SWishlist provides a Free tier (300 wishlist additions/month), a Basic plan ($5/month, 7,000 additions/month), and a Premium ($12/month, unlimited additions). Folio’s Basic tier ($6.99/month) includes 1,000 wishlist items, while Premium ($12.99/month) offers unlimited items and features like collection-page icons. SWishlist’s tiering is oriented to scale with clear language and support distinctions; Folio’s pricing is slightly higher for comparable features but needs validation due to a lack of public reviews.

Q: Which app has better public credibility and why does that matter? A: SWishlist has strong public credibility with 106 reviews and a 4.9 rating, which provides social proof about reliability and support. Folio has no public reviews, which makes it harder to assess real-world performance and responsiveness. Public reviews are useful risk signals for merchants evaluating third-party vendors.

Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps for wishlists? A: An integrated platform consolidates wishlist functionality with loyalty, reviews, referrals, and VIP tiers, allowing wishlist events to trigger automated rewards and review requests without custom integrations. This reduces administrative overhead, improves data consistency, and often provides better value for money by bundling capabilities and streamlining onboarding.

Q: What should merchants test before switching wishlist apps or moving to an integrated platform? A: Merchants should test wishlist persistence across devices, integration with email/marketing stacks, the impact on site performance, accuracy of analytics, and support responsiveness. For migrations, request data export and plan staged rollouts to validate conversion and technical behavior.