Introduction
Choosing the right wishlist app for a Shopify store seems simple until the list of options grows into dozens of single-purpose tools. Merchants must weigh functionality, integration risk, support responsiveness, and total cost of ownership—all while trying to protect conversion rates and customer lifetime value.
Short answer: SWishlist: Simple Wishlist is an excellent choice for merchants who want a lightweight, highly rated wishlist with generous free and low-cost tiers and strong customization. Wishl Favorites Wishlist suits stores that want built-in email reminders, price-drop notifications, and variant-level intelligence. For merchants looking to reduce the number of apps and consolidate retention features—loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlists—an integrated platform like Growave often offers better value for money and a more sustainable growth path.
The purpose of this post is to deliver an in-depth, feature-by-feature comparison of SWishlist: Simple Wishlist (SoluCommerce) and Wishl Favorites Wishlist (Golden Rule Ventures) so merchants can match product capabilities to business needs. After the comparison, this article explains why consolidating retention tools into a single platform can reduce app fatigue and improve long-term merchant outcomes.
SWishlist: Simple Wishlist vs. Wishl Favorites Wishlist: At a Glance
| Aspect | SWishlist: Simple Wishlist | Wishl Favorites Wishlist |
|---|---|---|
| Core Function | Lightweight, customizable wishlist | Wishlist with email reminders, price-drop tracking |
| Best For | Stores that need a high-quality, simple wishlist with low-cost scaling | Stores that want engagement via automated wishlist emails and price alerts |
| Developer | SoluCommerce | Golden Rule Ventures |
| Shopify Reviews | 106 reviews | 32 reviews |
| Rating | 4.9 / 5 | 4.8 / 5 |
| Key Features | Add-to-wishlist, sharing, multi-language support, theme setup | One-click wishlist, shareable lists, price-drop tracking, email reminders |
| Pricing Range | Free to $12 / month — tiered by additions and support SLAs | $9.99–$29.99 / month — tiered by wishlists & email reminders |
| Typical Merchant Size | Small to mid-size stores, multilingual stores on a budget | Small to mid-size stores prioritizing re-engagement via emails |
| Integrations | API | Limited public integrations listed |
| Support Promise | 24–48h (Free) up to priority support (Premium) | Email reminders, analytics; support model unspecified |
Deep Dive Comparison
Feature Set: What Each App Actually Does
SWishlist: Simple Wishlist — Core Capabilities
SWishlist focuses on delivering a clean wishlist experience. The core capabilities merchants should expect:
- Seamless adding of favorites to a wishlist from product lists and product pages.
- Wishlist sharing with friends, enabling social or gift-driven discovery.
- Storefront customization, including color, placement, and copy to match brand themes.
- Multi-language support across plans: Free has 2 languages; Basic supports 7; Premium supports 20.
- Reporting: Premium includes unlimited access to statistics.
Strengths here are clarity and focus: the feature set is tight, which keeps UI friction low and reduces configuration time. The app has 106 reviews and a 4.9 rating, signaling consistent merchant satisfaction.
Limitations: SWishlist is built for wishlist tasks only. It does not advertise automated wishlist email reminders, price-drop alerts, or deep analytics on variant popularity on the lower tiers. Integrations appear to be available via API rather than plug-and-play connectors.
Wishl Favorites Wishlist — Core Capabilities
Wishl takes a slightly broader approach centered on customer reactivation:
- One-click wishlisting and the ability to save lists permanently upon signup.
- Wishlist email reminders that notify shoppers about dormant wishlists and potential conversions.
- Price-drop tracking to alert customers when a saved item has a lower price.
- Notes for wishlist items and social sharing.
- Mobile-responsive design and basic shop analytics (number of wishlists, most coveted variants).
Wishl’s distinguishing features are the CRM-like re-engagement mechanisms—email reminders and price-drop alerts—that help close sales without adding a separate email workflow. The app has 32 reviews and a 4.8 rating, showing solid satisfaction but a smaller installed base than SWishlist.
Limitations include fewer multi-language options detailed in the public listing and higher entry price (no free tier). The analytics described are useful for product teams but may not be as advanced as merchants expect without additional integrations.
Head-to-Head Feature Comparison
- Wishlist Add/Remove UX: Both apps provide simple add/remove flows. SWishlist emphasizes theme-matching customization; Wishl emphasizes one-click capture and sign-up persistence.
- Sharing: Both support sharing; SWishlist positions customization and seamless sharing, Wishl highlights social sharing plus item notes.
- Re-engagement (email/price alerts): Wishl has native email reminders and price-drop tracking. SWishlist does not advertise native email reminders on public tiers.
- Analytics and Reporting: SWishlist’s Premium includes unlimited statistics access. Wishl provides counts and variant-level insights, but visibility into advanced metrics requires confirmation.
- Localization: SWishlist explicitly scales to 20 languages on Premium. Wishl’s language support is not prominent in its public listing.
Pricing & Value
Pricing is critical for small merchants because a wallet-full of single-purpose apps quickly erodes margins.
SWishlist Pricing Breakdown
- Free: 300 wishlist additions per month; 2 storefront languages; free setup on up to 2 themes; support within 24–48 hours.
- Basic — $5 / month: 7,000 wishlist additions; 7 store languages; faster support (12–24h); all Free features.
- Premium — $12 / month: unlimited wishlist additions; 20 storefront languages; unlimited statistics; top-priority support.
Assessment: The free tier is genuinely usable for small shops and testing. The $5 tier offers strong scaling for stores with moderate traffic, and $12/month for unlimited additions and analytics is better value for merchants expecting steady wishlist activity. Given the 4.9 rating across 106 reviews, the pricing aligns with perceived product quality.
Wishl Pricing Breakdown
- Basic — $9.99 / month: Up to 2,000 new wishlists per month + email reminders.
- Premium — $17.99 / month: Up to 4,000 new wishlists + 2,000 email reminders.
- Premium Plus — $29.99 / month: Up to 22,000 new wishlists + 6,000 email reminders.
Assessment: Wishl starts at a higher price point with an emphasis on email reminders included. For stores whose primary KPI from wishlist features is reactivation via email, the cost may be justified. However, for merchants who want unlimited adds and multi-language support at a lower price, SWishlist’s pricing represents better value for money.
Total Cost of Ownership Considerations
- Transactional Email Limits: Wishl bundles email reminders into tiers. Merchants already on an ESP (Klaviyo, Omnisend) may duplicate costs or run into delivery and segmentation limitations if they rely solely on Wishl’s reminder emails.
- Stacked Apps: Adding either wishlist app on top of loyalty, review, and referral solutions increases monthly fees and complexity. That’s where the integrated model of platforms like Growave changes the math—consolidation can drop the number of individual subscriptions and reduce maintenance overhead.
Integrations & Ecosystem Fit
SWishlist Integrations
SWishlist works with API. That implies:
- Custom integrations are possible, but require developer time.
- Server-to-server data exchange with CRMs, ESPs, or analytics platforms is available if merchants build connectors.
- No explicit list of pre-built integrations—this is a trade-off between flexibility and plug-and-play convenience.
Wishl Integrations
Wishl’s public listing does not list detailed third-party integrations. It focuses on built-in features like email reminders and analytics. Merchants reliant on native integrations with ESPs, loyalty systems, or help desks must test compatibility or contact support for specifics.
Practical Integration Advice
For merchants running a modern stack (Klaviyo, Recharge, Gorgias), it’s important to confirm how a wishlist app synchronizes customer IDs and events. If the wishlist signals do not flow into the analytics pipeline or the ESP, merchants miss opportunities for advanced segmentation and lifecycle campaigns. An API or dedicated integration makes those events usable across loyalty, referral, and retention workflows.
User Experience, Theme Compatibility, and Customization
SWishlist UX & Customization
SWishlist markets “Customize everything to perfectly match your store” and includes setup for up to two themes on the Free plan. That is a strong operational advantage:
- Theme compatibility work often causes visual misalignments; inclusion of theme setup reduces friction.
- Multi-language storefronts are explicitly supported across tiers—important for brands selling to multiple regions.
Wishl UX & Customization
Wishl emphasizes mobile-responsive design and one-click wishlist creation that can improve adoption on mobile-heavy stores. It provides notes per item and shareability, which are useful for gifting use cases. Merchants should check:
- How the wishlist UI behaves across custom themes.
- Whether front-end widget positions are configurable without developer help.
Accessibility & Performance
Neither app advertises specific accessibility certifications or performance impact metrics in the public listing. Merchants should:
- Inspect how the widget affects page load times (client-side script size).
- Conduct Lighthouse tests before and after installation and during peak traffic if possible.
Analytics & Reporting
SWishlist Analytics
Premium includes “unlimited access to all statistics.” That suggests a merchant who needs variant-level popularity, wishlist-to-purchase conversion rates, and historical trends will find the more advanced analytics behind the Premium tier.
Wishl Analytics
Wishl provides counts for wishlists and items added, plus insights on coveted variants. The integrated email reminders and price-drop data add a behavioral dimension—knowing the most saved variants and who needs reminder nudges is useful for time-bound campaigns.
Practical difference: SWishlist seems built to supply scalable analytics at higher tiers. Wishl adds engagement-driven signals in product analytics by combining wishlist counts with email action metrics.
Support, SLAs, and Reliability
- SWishlist promises tiered support: 24–48 hours on Free, 12–24 hours on Basic, and top priority for Premium. That transparency is valuable during incident handling.
- Wishl does not list a public support SLA on the provided data. Merchants should verify expected response times and escalation channels before committing.
For mission-critical flows—especially where wishlist email reminders influence revenue—response time and escalation options are a material part of vendor selection.
Security, Privacy, and Data Ownership
Both apps collect wishlist activity and potentially customer emails where wishlists persist across sessions. Merchants should confirm:
- Where customer data is stored and retention policy.
- Whether consent flows and cookie compliance are supported (especially for price-drop emails).
- Ability to export wishlist data (required for reporting or migration).
Because SWishlist lists API support, it may make data portability easier. Wishl’s email features mean it likely stores email addresses; merchants should clarify GDPR/CCPA compliance and data export processes.
Scalability & Performance
- SWishlist’s Premium plan offers unlimited wishlist additions—this is a positive signal for stores expecting viral-driven wishlists or gift registries.
- Wishl’s highest tier covers up to 22,000 new wishlists per month, which will suit many mid-size merchants but may require an upgrade path for rapidly growing stores.
Merchants with high SKU counts and traffic spikes should validate how each app handles bulk wishlist exports and synchronous front-end behavior under load.
Real-World Use Cases: Which App Fits the Merchant?
- Merchants on a very tight budget or those who want to try wishlist functionality without recurring cost: SWishlist Free is a practical starting point.
- Stores that prioritize localization and multi-language storefronts: SWishlist, thanks to explicit language tiers.
- Gift-focused stores and social-driven boutiques where sharing and item notes matter: Wishl offers features (notes, durable lists) that support occasion-based buying.
- Stores that want wishlist-triggered price-drop campaigns and automated reminders without building that flow in the ESP: Wishl out-of-the-box reactivation features are compelling.
- Merchants aiming to reduce the total number of apps and centralize retention: A multi-tool platform will likely be a better long-term choice.
Migration, Coexistence, and Exit Strategy
It is uncommon for merchants to switch wishlist providers frequently, but business needs evolve:
- Export Capability: Prefer apps that provide exports in CSV or via API to avoid data lock-in.
- Coexistence: If a merchant wants to trial one app while keeping the other live, confirm that both can coexist without duplicate wishlist widgets.
- Data Portability: SWishlist’s API orientation implies easier custom migration; Wishl’s email persistence requires attention to email lists and customer consent migration.
The Alternative: Solving App Fatigue with an All-in-One Platform
Many merchants experience app fatigue: a growing inventory of single-purpose tools that drive up monthly subscriptions, create multiple points of failure, and complicate customer data flows. App fatigue increases operational overhead: reconciling data across dashboards, maintaining multiple integrations, and coordinating support across providers.
A pragmatic alternative is to consolidate retention and engagement tools into a single platform that centralizes signals, reduces integration friction, and improves the cost-to-benefit ratio. Growave’s philosophy—"More Growth, Less Stack"—articulates this approach: deliver multiple retention modules in one integrated product to increase LTV and lower maintenance burden.
Growave combines wishlist functionality with loyalty and rewards, referrals, reviews & UGC, and VIP tiers. For merchants evaluating the wishlist trade-offs above, the real question becomes whether the wishlist feature should live in a silo or inside a broader retention stack.
- For merchants who want to consolidate retention features, Growave’s entry-level plans consolidate wishlist with other high-value features—reducing the number of separate subscriptions and the ongoing work of syncing events across vendors. See detailed pricing and plan comparisons on the Growave pricing page.
- For brands trying to turn wishlist behavior into customer value, Growave enables the wishlist to trigger loyalty points, VIP tier changes, and referral prompts—creating integrated lifecycle flows that single-purpose wishlist apps cannot offer alone. Merchants can explore how Growave connects loyalty to wishlist activity via the loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases page.
- For merchants who need social proof to move wishlist-curious visitors into buyers, Growave’s reviews module helps collect and display authentic user content; that content can be used in product pages, wishlists, and campaign messaging. Learn about ways to collect and showcase authentic reviews.
Because Growave is also available in the Shopify App Store, merchants can review marketplace feedback and install with familiar Shopify processes: see the Growave listing on the Shopify App Store. For merchants managing multiple storefronts or operating at scale, Growave offers solutions built for enterprise needs and certification options—details are available on the solutions for high-growth Plus brands page.
Growave’s integrated approach creates practical advantages over a stack of single-purpose tools:
- Single source of truth for customer events such as wishlist adds, referrals, and review submissions.
- Native cross-feature automation: reward points for wishlist actions, loyalty tiers that affect referral incentives, or review requests triggered by wishlist-to-purchase conversions.
- Fewer billing relationships and one place to manage support and uptime SLAs.
- Pre-built integrations with ESPs and service tools to move wishlist and loyalty events into marketing campaigns without custom development.
For merchants who need personalized evaluation, scheduling a walkthrough of how an integrated stack maps to store goals helps quantify the value of consolidation. Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack improves conversion and retention. Book a personalized demo
How Growave Maps to the Wishlist Use Cases Discussed
- If budget and simplicity are the priority: Growave’s Free plan and Entry Plan provide wishlist functionality combined with other retention tools, delivering better value for money than subscribing to multiple single-purpose apps. Merchants can review pricing tiers and trial options on the Growave pricing page.
- If re-engagement is the priority: Instead of using a wishlist app’s built-in reminders alone, Growave integrates wishlist events into broader campaigns—combining wishlist triggers with loyalty emails or review requests to encourage conversion. The combined workflow turns a single wishlist add into multiple conversion opportunities via loyalty and referral prompts. See how to implement loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
- If social proof is a lever: Growave’s reviews and UGC tools allow wishlist pages to surface verified ratings and images, increasing trust when friends or gift-givers view shared lists. Learn how Growave helps to collect and showcase authentic reviews.
- If scaling or internationalization is a concern: Growave supports Shopify Plus and offers advanced customization and headless options for stores that need enterprise-grade features—details for high-growth merchants are on the solutions for high-growth Plus brands page.
Growave is listed on the Shopify App Store for merchants who want to install and test quickly. Reviewing the app listing helps validate merchant experiences and feature claims. See Growave on the Shopify App Store
Practical Migration Advice to an Integrated Platform
- Inventory wishlist data: Export current wishlists via each app’s export or API to preserve customer behavior history.
- Map triggers: Identify which wishlist events were used by the ESP or analytics stack and map them to the integrated platform’s equivalents.
- Run parallel tests: For 1–2 weeks, run both the legacy wishlist and the integrated wishlist in parallel (if possible) to verify behavior and identify gaps.
- Communicate changes: Notify customers if wishlist email senders change to preserve deliverability and reduce churn in email engagement.
For merchants considering a platform-level transition, review pricing tiers and trial options on the Growave pricing page to model ROI before executing a migration.
Which App Is Best For Which Merchant?
- Best for Lightweight, Cost-Conscious Stores: SWishlist. The Free tier and low-cost Basic/Premium structure, along with extensive language support, make it a solid first wishlist tool for small to medium stores that need a native look-and-feel and low operational overhead.
- Best for Re-engagement-First Stores: Wishl. Stores that rely on timely wishlist reminders and price-drop alerts to close conversions will find Wishl’s built-in tools align with those goals—particularly when an ESP-based flow is not yet in place.
- Best for Long-Term Retention and Reduced App Noise: Growave. For brands looking to unify loyalty, referrals, reviews, and wishlist into a single platform that can scale with the business, Growave offers an integrated approach that reduces subscriptions and unlocks cross-feature automation.
Practical Recommendations and Implementation Tips
- Track the KPI you care about: add-to-wishlist rate, wishlist-to-cart conversion, and wishlist-driven revenue. Use whichever app makes it easiest to extract those metrics into your analytics stack.
- If localization matters: prioritize SWishlist for its documented multi-language support.
- If the goal is to re-engage with minimal marketing overhead: Wishl’s email reminders and price-drop notifications reduce the need to build those workflows in an ESP.
- If the goal is to increase repeat purchases and LTV: consider consolidating into a broader retention platform to enable programmatic, cross-feature automation that converts wishlist behavior into sustained revenue.
- Test before committing: use free trials and parallel runs to measure real impact on conversion and retention before disabling an incumbent integration.
Implementation Checklist
- Confirm export options and data ownership before installing.
- Validate support SLAs and escalation channels for business-critical flows.
- Test on a staging or unpublished theme to ensure widget compatibility.
- Monitor site performance metrics after install (Lighthouse, GTmetrix).
- Plan email sender reputation when transferring reminder or notification responsibilities.
- Create a rollback plan in case of visual or functional regressions.
Conclusion
For merchants choosing between SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and Wishl Favorites Wishlist, the decision comes down to priorities: choose SWishlist for a low-cost, highly rated, and highly customizable wishlist that scales across languages; choose Wishl when automated re-engagement via email reminders and price-drop alerts is the primary objective. Both apps are solid single-purpose tools with high user satisfaction—SWishlist has 106 reviews with a 4.9 rating, while Wishl has 32 reviews at 4.8.
However, many merchants discover that wishlist functionality is only one piece of retention. Consolidating wishlists, loyalty, referrals, and reviews into one platform streamlines customer data, reduces monthly app subscriptions, and unlocks cross-feature campaigns that drive repeat purchases and higher lifetime value. Growave’s integrated stack follows a "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy and is designed to replace multiple single-purpose apps with a unified solution. Explore Growave’s pricing tiers and trial options to see how consolidation may improve retention economics and simplify operations: review Growave pricing. Growave is also available on the Shopify App Store for merchants who prefer marketplace discovery: view Growave on the Shopify App Store.
Start a 14-day free trial to test how combining wishlist features with loyalty, referrals, and reviews reduces tool sprawl and accelerates growth. Start a 14-day free trial
FAQ
How does SWishlist compare to Wishl in terms of support and response times?
SWishlist publishes tiered response-time targets: 24–48 hours on the Free plan, 12–24 hours on Basic, and top-priority support for Premium subscribers. Wishl’s public listing does not specify an SLA, so merchants should confirm expected response times directly with the developer prior to purchase.
Which app offers better value for multi-language stores?
SWishlist explicitly provides multi-language support across pricing tiers and scales up to 20 storefront languages on Premium, making it the stronger option for internationalized stores.
If the store already uses an ESP (like Klaviyo), does Wishl’s email reminder feature still make sense?
Wishl’s email reminders are convenient for merchants without an ESP or those who want out-of-the-box reactivation. However, merchants with mature ESP setups may prefer wishlist event exports or API integrations so they can manage reminders, segmentation, and deliverability within the dedicated ESP. In that case, confirm integration capabilities before committing.
How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps?
An integrated platform reduces the number of subscriptions, centralizes customer events, and enables cross-feature automation—turning wishlist signals into loyalty points, VIP tier movements, or referral prompts. For merchants focused on long-term retention and lower operational overhead, the consolidated approach often delivers better value for money and faster ROI than maintaining multiple single-purpose apps.








