Introduction
Choosing the right wishlist app for a Shopify store often feels simple until the details matter: customization limits, guest-use support, internationalization, reporting, and the long-term cost of stacking single-purpose tools. Merchants must weigh immediate needs against the operational and marketing consequences of adding another point solution to the store tech stack.
Short answer: SWishlist: Simple Wishlist is an excellent choice for merchants who need a lightweight, highly rated wishlist with clear free and low-cost tiers, while MF Wishlist is better suited for stores that prioritize a drawer-style UX and guest-user wishlists. For merchants who want to reduce tool sprawl and capture retention opportunities beyond a single feature, a platform that bundles wishlist with loyalty, referrals, and reviews provides better value for money than either single-purpose app.
This post provides a feature-by-feature, outcome-focused comparison of SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and MF Wishlist to help merchants choose the best fit based on business goals, technical constraints, and growth plans. It then explains how a single integrated retention platform can reduce friction, improve lifetime value, and replace multiple one-off tools.
SWishlist: Simple Wishlist vs. MF Wishlist: At a Glance
| Item | SWishlist: Simple Wishlist | MF Wishlist |
|---|---|---|
| Core Function | Product wishlist with sharing and multi-language support | Drawer-style wishlist with guest-user support and customization |
| Best For | Small to mid-size stores wanting a simple, high-value wishlist with clear free tier | Stores prioritizing in-session UX and guest wishlist functionality |
| Rating (Shopify reviews) | 4.9 (106 reviews) | 5.0 (1 review) |
| Pricing Position | Free to $12/month — low-cost entry with tiered features | $19.99/month Starter only (no visible lower tier) |
| Key Features | Add-to-wishlist, sharing, multi-language, analytics, theme support | Drawer wishlist UI, guest use, design customization, analytics |
| Notable Advantages | Strong rating, free plan, low-cost upgrade path | Smooth, drawer UX and guest use out of the box |
| Typical Limitations | Free plan limits additions/month; advanced stats on higher tier | Limited social proof of reviews; fewer public reviews available |
Deep Dive Comparison
The comparison below evaluates both apps across the most practical merchant concerns: features, customization, pricing and value, integrations, support, performance, and which merchants each app best serves.
Feature Set and On-Site Experience
Wishlist Core Experience
SWishlist: Simple Wishlist focuses on the fundamental wishlist workflow: customers add favorites, manage lists, and share items. The app emphasizes a seamless add-to-wishlist action and sharing options, which helps reduce friction when shoppers decide to save items for later.
MF Wishlist emphasizes the user interface for the wishlist itself. The drawer-style display avoids a page reload to view saved items, keeping shoppers on the same page and enabling a faster look at prices and availability. That in-session flow is helpful for stores where browsing vs. buying decisions are frequent and where speed of interaction matters.
Key user-experience differentiators:
- SWishlist: integrates classic wishlist behaviors, sharing functionality, and multi-language storefront support (up to 20 languages on the Premium plan).
- MF Wishlist: highlights a drawer UI and explicit support for guest users, making it easier for unregistered shoppers to save items.
Adding, Saving, and Sharing
Both apps allow adding items to a wishlist and offer some sharing capability.
SWishlist calls out the ability to share wishlists with friends and customize the share flow. That is useful for social-driven gift shopping or for stores that expect wishlists to be circulated outside the platform.
MF Wishlist supports express checkout from the wishlist and focuses on a streamlined viewing experience, but the public information emphasizes guest user behavior rather than social sharing features.
Multi-Language and Internationalization
SWishlist explicitly supports multiple languages across tiers:
- Free plan: 2 storefront languages
- Basic: 7 languages
- Premium: up to 20 languages
Those limits matter for merchants with multilingual storefronts who want a consistent UX across markets. MF Wishlist does not list a multi-language breakdown in the available information, which may mean translations either aren’t a headline feature or require custom work.
For stores selling outside a single market, SWishlist is the clearly better option out of the box.
Guest Users and Logged-In Experiences
MF Wishlist highlights guest-user support as a headline feature. That allows unregistered shoppers to save items without creating an account, which reduces friction and can capture more anonymous intent.
SWishlist supports standard account-based wishlists and sharing. The available information does not emphasize guest behavior in the same way, so if guest wishlist is a strict requirement, MF Wishlist has a clear edge.
Analytics and Reporting
SWishlist advertises “unlimited access to all statistics” on its Premium plan, indicating built-in analytics for wishlist usage and likely reporting for additions, conversions, and share metrics. Basic and free plans have limits or less access.
MF Wishlist lists “Analytics” as part of the Starter plan but without a visible tiered breakdown. Functionality is likely present but the depth of reporting and the available metrics are not well documented publicly.
Merchants who depend on wishlist data to drive remarketing or product decisions should verify the depth of analytics during trial or demo. SWishlist’s documented tier structure gives clearer expectations for access.
Customization and Theming
Front-End Design Flexibility
SWishlist positions itself as customizable: “Customize everything to perfectly match your store.” That suggests a range of button styles, icons, placement options, and possibly CSS-level overrides or theme integration.
MF Wishlist offers “Design customize” and white-label options at its Starter price. The drawer UI itself is a design choice that provides a modern, mobile-friendly UX. For stores where the wishlist needs to blend tightly with an existing design system, both apps provide customization, but MF Wishlist’s white-label phrasing suggests a more polished design handoff for branded experiences.
Placement and Button Options
MF Wishlist explicitly says the wishlist button and its placement can be changed from the app settings. That is useful when testing UX variations and A/B testing add-to-wishlist entry points.
SWishlist generally supports integration across themes as part of its setup offering (free setup up to two themes on the Free plan), which helps stores that run multiple themes or need theme-specific placement.
Performance and Page Weight
Wishlist apps that inject code into storefronts can affect load times. Public descriptions do not provide independent performance benchmarks for either app. Merchants should:
- Test both apps on a staging store
- Measure redirect or DOM injection behavior
- Confirm lazy-loading and async script usage
Given both are single-purpose wishlist apps, the code footprint is likely smaller than multi-feature platforms, but implementation details still determine real-world impact.
Pricing and Value for Money
When merchants evaluate apps, the conversation is less about price and more about value for money: what features are unlocked at each price point and whether those features support business goals like retention and conversion.
SWishlist Pricing Structure
SWishlist offers a clear, tiered pricing structure:
- Free: 300 wishlist additions/month, 2 storefront languages, setup for up to 2 themes, support within 24–48 hours.
- Basic ($5/month): 7,000 wishlist additions/month, 7 storefront languages, all Free features, support within 12–24 hours.
- Premium ($12/month): Unlimited wishlist additions, 20 storefront languages, unlimited statistics, top-priority support.
Value observations:
- The free tier is functional for stores testing wishlists or small shops with limited monthly adds.
- The Basic plan’s 7,000 additions may cover moderate stores at a very low price point.
- Premium unlocks unlimited usage and analytics at $12/month, offering strong value for stores that rely on wishlists for remarketing and long-term data.
MF Wishlist Pricing Structure
MF Wishlist lists one visible plan:
- STARTER ($19.99/month): Unlimited wishlist items, white-label, design customization, guest use, analytics, express checkout.
Value observations:
- The Starter plan packages many features under one price, including guest use and white-labeling.
- At $19.99/month, MF Wishlist is a mid-range option for stores that need guest wishlist support and design control without additional tiers.
- Lack of a free tier may deter stores wanting to test wishlist functionality before committing.
Comparative Pricing Conclusions
- SWishlist provides a clear free entry point and affordable upgrade paths; its Premium tier at $12/month is lower cost than MF Wishlist’s $19.99/month Starter and adds wide language support.
- MF Wishlist packs functionality into one Starter plan, which can be simpler for merchants who prefer one defined feature set but provides less flexibility on a tight budget.
- For merchants focused purely on lowest cost for robust usage, SWishlist often represents better value for money, especially if multilingual support matters.
- For merchants prioritizing guest users and a drawer UX without wanting to manage tiers, MF Wishlist’s single-starter plan may be simpler and still reasonably priced.
Integrations and Ecosystem Fit
API and App Ecosystem
SWishlist lists "Works With: API" which signals the availability of programmatic integration for custom flows, headless setups, or deeper analytics exports. That helps stores that want to send wishlist events to CDPs or email platforms.
MF Wishlist lists compatibility with other apps such as RuffRuff Order Limits, RuffRuff Selling Periods, Infinite Scroll Pro, and RuffRuff 予約販売. This suggests practical compatibility with some storefront enhancement tools and infinite scroll behaviors.
Reporting and Marketing Integrations
Merchants aiming to turn wishlist intent into revenue need solid integrations with email and marketing platforms to trigger reminders, abandoned wishlist emails, or personalized outreach. Public documentation for both apps does not list native integrations with common ESPs like Klaviyo or Omnisend.
SWishlist’s API may be used to push events to a merchant’s analytics or ESP through custom integration. MF Wishlist’s “Express checkout” suggests compatibility with certain checkout flows, but merchants should confirm integration availability for the platforms they use.
Headless and Shopify Plus Considerations
Neither app advertises explicit Shopify Plus or headless support in their short descriptions. For enterprise merchants or those running headless architectures, clarify API capabilities and headless compatibility during evaluation. SWishlist’s explicit API listing is an encouraging sign for custom architectures.
Support, Onboarding, and SLA
Support Response Times
SWishlist documents tiered support response expectations:
- Free plan: support within 24–48 hours
- Basic: 12–24 hours
- Premium: top priority (fastest support)
That gives merchants a clear expectation based on their subscription level.
MF Wishlist does not provide publicly documented support SLA on the provided information, making it necessary to ask the developer directly about response times and channels.
Setup and Theme Support
SWishlist includes free setup for up to two themes on the Free plan, which lowers the onboarding friction for stores that want to implement wishlists quickly. For stores using multiple themes, this is a practical advantage.
MF Wishlist offers design customization and white-labeling as part of the Starter plan, which implies a design-focused onboarding but may not include free theme setup in the same explicit way.
Documentation and Community
- SWishlist’s presence with 106 reviews and high rating implies a more established user base and likely more documentation and community feedback available for merchants to reference.
- MF Wishlist has 1 review (5.0), which is positive but provides limited social proof. Merchants should request documentation, changelogs, and references during the trial or demo.
Security, Data Ownership, and Privacy
Wishlist apps often collect behavioral data that merchants might use in marketing workflows. Both apps should be evaluated on:
- Where wishlist data is stored (on Shopify customer accounts vs. an external database)
- Export and API access to customer wishlist events
- Compliance with data protection rules applicable to merchant markets (GDPR, CCPA)
- Ability to delete or export data on request
SWishlist’s API implies the possibility of programmatic access and export. Merchants should verify data retention, export formats, and whether wishlists created by guest users can be tied to emails or later converted to accounts.
MF Wishlist’s guest-user support raises questions about how guest wishlist data is associated (cookies, session storage, or email) — merchants should confirm persistence across sessions and device syncing.
Performance and Scalability
For large catalogs and high traffic, wishlist performance matters:
- SWishlist’s tiered limits (free vs. unlimited) indicate design for scalability on the Premium plan.
- MF Wishlist’s Starter plan offers unlimited wishlist items, but Merchants should validate any hidden limits (per-request throttling, API rate limits) during evaluation.
Load testing on a staging environment helps determine real-world behavior. Either app can be appropriate if the implementation uses asynchronous scripts and respects Shopify’s best practices for storefront performance.
Real-World Merchant Outcomes
How a wishlist app impacts growth depends on the merchant’s use case:
- For gift-oriented stores, shareable wishlists (SWishlist) can increase referral-style traffic and purchase rate when wishlists are circulated among friends and family.
- For high-frequency browsing stores, a drawer UX (MF Wishlist) keeps conversion momentum and reduces friction by avoiding page transitions.
- For stores with international customers, SWishlist’s higher language support helps deliver a consistent experience across markets.
Merchants should map wishlist usage to KPIs:
- Wishlist-to-cart conversion rate
- Email capture and re-engagement rates
- Share-driven referral traffic
- Lift in repeat purchases from wishlist-based reminders
These metrics will reveal which app better supports merchant outcomes.
Implementation & Operational Considerations
Onboarding Checklist
To implement a wishlist app smoothly, merchants should:
- Define goals (capture intent, reduce cart abandonment, increase gift purchases)
- Audit storefront themes and placements where wishlist buttons will appear
- Prepare translations if multi-language support is required
- Plan for analytics integration (events, tags, and funnels)
- Test guest user flows and cross-device persistence
- Confirm support SLA and escalation path
Both SWishlist and MF Wishlist fit into a standard onboarding sequence, but SWishlist’s free setup for up to two themes is a tangible operational advantage for small teams.
Data Flow and Automation
Consider how wishlist events will trigger marketing automations:
- Are wishlist additions firing events to the merchant’s analytics or ESP?
- Can a wishlist add trigger an abandoned wishlist email or targeted push notification?
- Does the app expose an API or webhooks for event forwarding?
SWishlist’s API makes custom automation easier. MF Wishlist provides analytics and express checkout; the ability to plug analytics into flows should be confirmed.
Testing and Measuring Success
Run a short A/B or multivariate test when possible:
- Control: no wishlist or existing wishlist
- Variant A: SWishlist
- Variant B: MF Wishlist (if applicable)
Measure across consistent time windows:
- Conversion lift
- Time-to-purchase for items saved in wishlist
- Repeat purchase rate among users with wishlist activity
- Impact on average order value (AOV)
Collect both quantitative (conversion, revenue lift) and qualitative data (customer feedback on UX).
Which App Is Right for Which Merchant?
The decision should align with specific store needs:
- Merchants on tight budgets or who want a proven, highly rated solution with a clear free option, multi-language support, and low-cost upgrades: SWishlist: Simple Wishlist is often the best fit.
- Stores that prioritize immediate in-session UX improvements, want guest-user wishlist support, and value a drawer-style, design-integrated wishlist with white-labeling: MF Wishlist is a solid option—especially if the $19.99/month Starter plan fits the budget.
- Merchants who need wishlist as part of a broader retention and loyalty strategy should evaluate platforms that combine wishlist functionality with loyalty, referrals, and reviews to avoid tool sprawl and reduce integration overhead.
Pricing Scenarios and Break-Even Analysis
When comparing value for money, estimate the expected incremental revenue from wishlist-driven conversions and compare that to monthly subscription costs.
Consider sample scenarios:
- Small store testing wishlists: Free SWishlist tier provides a risk-free way to measure impact without increasing monthly costs.
- Growing store with multilingual storefronts: SWishlist Premium at $12/month unlocks unlimited additions and analytics, often paying for itself quickly as wishlist-driven purchases climb.
- Store focusing on guest conversions and express-checkout from wishlist: MF Wishlist at $19.99/month is reasonable if the drawer UX materially reduces friction and increases conversion rates among casual visitors.
Merchants should measure the increase in wishlist-driven purchases against the subscription cost. Because SWishlist offers lower entry pricing and clear tiers, it is often the easier option to validate ROI.
The Alternative: Solving App Fatigue with an All-in-One Platform
Specialized wishlist apps solve a narrow problem well. The trade-off is tool sprawl: each single-purpose app increases the number of integrations to maintain, fragments data, and creates multiple vendor support relationships. That creates a drag on operations and reduces the ability to orchestrate cross-channel retention strategies.
This section explains the concept of app fatigue and shows how an integrated retention platform can reduce friction and improve outcomes.
What Is App Fatigue?
App fatigue happens when merchants accumulate many single-purpose tools to cover discrete needs—wishlist, reviews, loyalty, referrals, VIP tiers—resulting in:
- Fragmented customer data spread across multiple systems
- Increased setup and maintenance time
- Multiple monthly subscriptions that add operational complexity
- Harder cross-feature campaigns (e.g., reward customers when they leave a review for wishlist items)
App fatigue slows growth because it increases the coordination cost of marketing and product teams; it also obscures a clear line of sight on customer lifetime value (LTV).
Why Consolidation Improves Outcomes
Consolidating related retention tools into a single platform provides several concrete benefits:
- Unified customer profiles and event streams that enable precise personalization
- Single billing and fewer vendor relationships to manage
- Easier cross-feature campaigns (e.g., reward referrals that result in wishlist conversions)
- Centralized support and faster troubleshooting when features interact
Consolidation lowers the cost of orchestrating campaigns and makes it simpler to scale repeat-purchase programs.
Growave’s “More Growth, Less Stack” Value Proposition
Growave positions itself around a “More Growth, Less Stack” philosophy: combine loyalty and rewards, referrals, reviews & UGC, wishlists, and VIP tiers into one retention platform that scales with merchant needs. The benefits include fewer apps to maintain and a unified retention strategy that drives measurable increases in repeat purchases and customer lifetime value.
- For loyalty programs, see how merchants can build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases. That page explains programmable reward actions, points systems, and tiered incentives that turn first-time buyers into repeat customers.
- For social proof and review collection, Growave enables merchants to collect and showcase authentic reviews, connecting user-generated content with loyalty flows and wishlist data.
Growave’s combined feature set helps merchants capture more intent and convert it into repeat revenue without the integration overhead typical of single-purpose tools.
How an Integrated Approach Solves Wishlist Limitations
An all-in-one retention platform addresses shortcomings that single-function wishlist apps can’t fix alone:
- Use wishlist adds to trigger loyalty actions (e.g., give points for first wishlist saves or reward referrals that lead to wishlist purchases).
- Connect wishlist data to review and UGC prompts, increasing the chance of post-purchase engagement.
- Orchestrate cross-channel workflows (email, push, SMS) from wishlist events without building custom webhooks or maintaining separate automation rules.
Growave’s approach enables these cross-feature workflows while centralizing management and analytics.
Integrations, Plus Support, and Growth Plans
For merchants on Shopify Plus or those with more complex needs, Growave supports enterprise-level features and integrations. Explore Growave’s solutions for high-growth Plus brands to see capabilities like checkout extensions, headless API & SDK, and a dedicated launch plan.
Growave’s public listing and install flow make it simple to add the platform via the Shopify marketplace. To view the app directly, merchants can install Growave from the Shopify App Store. The marketplace listing contains reviews, screenshots, and install instructions.
Pricing and When Consolidation Pays Off
Growave’s pricing structure maps to merchant scale. Compare plans and the value of consolidation on the pricing page. Merchants can assess cost against the alternative stack of multiple single-purpose tools:
- If a merchant needs wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and review features, adding a single platform often represents better value for money than paying separate subscriptions for each app.
- For merchants who want to test the platform, Growave offers a free plan and a trial window to evaluate features and integrations—see practical plan details to compare against the cumulative cost of multiple apps on the pricing page.
To evaluate pricing in context, review Growave’s feature-pricing breakdown and compare the total monthly cost of separate wishlist, loyalty, and review apps versus a single integrated plan: this computation often shows consolidation is more cost-effective.
Customer Stories and Inspiration
Merchants considering consolidation often benefit from seeing how peers executed the migration and realized gains. Growave publishes customer stories and examples that illustrate how brands used integrated retention to increase repeat purchases and lifetime value—review those case studies at the customer stories hub to see patterns and tactics employed by growing shops.
Try It or See It in Action
Merchants who want a guided walkthrough can schedule a live session. For a personalized look at how consolidated retention tools work together, Book a personalized demo. This is useful for teams that want specific answers about migrations, integrations, or customized loyalty programs.
(That sentence above is a direct call-to-action to request a demo and counts as a targeted invitation to evaluate the platform with Growave's team.)
How Growave Handles Common Wishlist Requirements
- Multi-language stores: Growave supports multi-language shops and offers enterprise-level configurations for global brands.
- Guest users: Wishlist behavior can be integrated into broader engagement flows so guest behaviors can be converted into accounts and linked to loyalty profiles.
- Analytics and automation: Wishlist events are visible alongside loyalty and referral data, simplifying campaign orchestration.
For a practical comparison of multi-feature benefits, examine how wishlists feed into loyalty and review workflows and consider the long-term advantage of a single platform that facilitates those connections.
Primary Platform Links (Pricing & App Store)
Merchants evaluating consolidation should review pricing and plan details to make a costed decision. See Growave’s plan options for an apples-to-apples comparison when moving from single-purpose apps to an integrated stack: review the available plans to determine the right entry point for the store’s order volume and desired features. Visit the pricing page to compare plans and decide which plan aligns with expected orders and feature needs: compare plans and features.
For merchants who prefer to install and test via the Shopify marketplace, it is straightforward to add the app from the official listing: install Growave from the Shopify App Store. That listing provides reviews, screenshots, and one-click install.
(Those two links appear above as contextual references to plan and install resources.)
Migration and Integration Advice
Moving from a single-purpose wishlist app to an integrated platform requires planning:
- Export existing wishlist data: Confirm whether the current wishlist app allows data export and how user accounts and guest wishlists map to merchant records.
- Map customer identifiers: Ensure guest wishlist items can be reconciled to customers after account creation. This prevents loss of intent data.
- Update automations: Move existing wishlist-triggered flows (email reminders, points reward actions) into the consolidated platform and test thoroughly before turning off prior automations.
- Measure baseline: Capture current wishlist KPIs before migration so improvements can be measured after go-live.
Growave’s onboarding and enterprise onboarding options (for higher-tier plans) include migration support and a dedicated launch plan for complex stores.
Conclusion
For merchants choosing between SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and MF Wishlist, the decision comes down to specific store needs. SWishlist: Simple Wishlist delivers excellent value for money with a clear free tier, strong user rating (4.9 from 106 reviews), and extensive language support—making it a solid pick for budget-conscious, multilingual stores that want detailed analytics on higher tiers. MF Wishlist earns its place for stores that prioritize a drawer-style UX and guest-user wishlist functionality, and it offers design customization and white-labeling in a single Starter plan at $19.99/month.
However, if the goal is to reduce app sprawl and build a retention engine that ties wishlist behavior to loyalty, referrals, and reviews, an integrated platform becomes the smarter long-term choice. Growave’s approach brings multiple retention tools together under a single roof—lessening operational overhead while enabling cross-feature campaigns and unified customer profiles. To evaluate how consolidation affects operating cost and growth velocity, review Growave’s plan options and feature set for side-by-side comparison: compare plans and features. Merchants who prefer to install via Shopify can also view the app listing and one-click install details here: install Growave from the Shopify App Store.
Start a 14-day free trial to see how a unified retention stack accelerates growth and simplifies operations: start a 14-day free trial.
FAQ
Q: Which app has better social proof and reviews? A: SWishlist: Simple Wishlist has a much larger public review base (106 reviews, 4.9 rating), which provides more social proof and community feedback for merchants to evaluate. MF Wishlist has a single public review (rated 5.0), which is positive but limited in sample size. Reliability and real-world usage patterns are clearer with the larger review set.
Q: Which app is best for multilingual stores? A: SWishlist explicitly offers tiered multi-language support (2 languages on the free plan, 7 on Basic, and 20 on Premium), making it the better choice for stores with international storefronts. MF Wishlist does not advertise multi-language tiers prominently, so merchants should confirm language support during evaluation.
Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps? A: An all-in-one retention platform consolidates wishlist, loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers into a single system. This consolidation reduces integration overhead, centralizes customer data, and enables cross-feature campaigns (for example, rewarding wishlist actions or combining loyalty rewards with review requests). For merchants scaling retention efforts, consolidation often provides better value for money and simpler operations than maintaining multiple single-purpose apps. For examples of loyalty implementations that tie together different retention channels, review Growave’s resources on how merchants build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases and how to collect and showcase authentic reviews.
Q: If a store currently uses one of these wishlist apps, what is the recommended migration path? A: Export wishlist data and document how guest users are identified and persisted. Confirm export formats and mapping of item IDs and customer identifiers. Import data into the new platform and validate cross-device persistence. Recreate any wishlist-triggered automations in the consolidated platform, then run parallel monitoring for a short period before decommissioning the original app. For help migrating and mapping wishlist behavior into a unified retention program, merchants can install Growave from the Shopify App Store or schedule a walkthrough via a demo to discuss migration specifics.








