SWishlist vs. Cupid ‑ Social Wishlist: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app for a Shopify store can be surprisingly consequential. Wishlists are more than a convenience feature — they influence conversion paths, abandoned-cart recovery, gift purchasing, and ongoing customer engagement. With hundreds of apps available, merchants must weigh product fit, technical impact, pricing, integrations, and long-term maintenance before adding yet another single-purpose tool to their stack.

Short answer: SWishlist: Simple Wishlist is a strong option for merchants who want a lightweight, well-rated wishlist that’s affordable and easy to install, while Cupid ‑ Social Wishlist targets merchants looking for headless-friendly behavior and richer social sharing and Klaviyo integrations. Both apps solve the core wishlist problem, but they also represent the trade-offs of single-purpose tools: narrower scope and the need to manage multiple apps for retention. For merchants focused on reducing tool sprawl and increasing lifetime value across multiple retention channels, an integrated platform like Growave is often better value for money.

This post provides an in-depth, feature-by-feature comparison of SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and Cupid ‑ Social Wishlist. The goal is to give merchants a practical understanding of each app’s strengths and limitations, the kinds of stores each app suits best, and how an integrated alternative can reduce complexity while improving retention outcomes.

SWishlist: Simple Wishlist vs. Cupid ‑ Social Wishlist: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

This section compares both apps across the criteria merchants care about most: features, pricing and value, integrations, technical impact and performance, customization and design, analytics and reporting, privacy/compliance, support and onboarding, and ideal use cases.

Features: Core Functionality and Differentiators

SWishlist: What it offers

SWishlist focuses on the core wishlist experience: letting shoppers save favorites, manage lists, and share them with friends. The app emphasizes ease of use and straightforward customization so merchants can make the wishlist match store styling.

Key feature highlights:

• Seamless "add to wishlist" functionality on product and collection pages
• Shareable wishlists for gifting and social sharing
• Theme-driven customization to match storefront design
• Multi-language storefront support (tiered by plan)
• Works with store API for deeper customization

Strengths:

• Clean, purpose-built feature set reduces cognitive overhead for merchants who only need a wishlist.
• Strong user ratings indicate reliability and merchant satisfaction.
• Multi-language support even on lower tiers helps international stores.

Potential limits:

• Feature set remains focused on wishlists; merchants seeking reviews, loyalty, referrals, or referral-triggered rewards will need additional apps.
• Advanced marketing automation integrations are not emphasized beyond API access.

Cupid: What it offers

Cupid positions itself as a more flexible wishlist product with social and technical considerations baked in. It emphasizes headless compatibility and a Pagespeed-friendly approach (no external JS), which appeals to stores prioritizing performance and modern architectures.

Key feature highlights:

• Save to one or many wishlists (users can create multiple lists)
• Share wishlists and enable recipients to purchase on behalf of the wishlist owner
• Pagespeed friendly and no external JS (reduces front-end performance hits)
• Klaviyo integration for wishlist-driven flows and segmentation
• Dashboard metrics and GDPR compliance

Strengths:

• Multiple-wishlist functionality is useful for users who manage wishlists for events, registry-style shopping, or distinct collections.
• Integration with Klaviyo makes it straightforward to trigger personalized email flows based on wishlist activity.
• Design choices intended to minimize page speed impact make it attractive for performance-conscious sites and headless setups.

Potential limits:

• No public reviews or rating on the app listing (0 reviews, 0 rating) increases adoption risk; merchants lack social proof to evaluate stability.
• Higher starting price compared to simple wishlist alternatives, which may be prohibitive for small merchants.
• As a single-purpose app, it will still require pairing with reviews, loyalty, or referral apps if those functions are needed.

Comparative takeaways on features

Both apps provide the essentials of wishlist functionality, but they diverge on depth and secondary benefits. SWishlist leans into a dependable, low-cost experience with strong social proof. Cupid leans into technical performance and multi-list flexibility with native marketing integrations but lacks public user feedback. Merchants should prioritize features based on whether wishlist behavior is a core retention driver for the business, or simply a convenience feature.

Pricing & Value

Pricing decisions depend on how critical wishlist features are and whether merchants want to minimize monthly overhead or consolidate capabilities.

SWishlist Pricing Tiers

• Free: 300 wishlist additions per month, 2 languages storefront, free setup for up to 2 themes, support within 24–48 hours.
• Basic ($5/month): 7000 wishlist additions per month, 7 languages, faster support (12–24 hours), includes Free features.
• Premium ($12/month): Unlimited wishlist additions, 20 languages, full statistics access, top-priority support.

Value considerations:

• At $0–$12 per month, SWishlist offers entry-level and small-business-friendly pricing with generous language and support options on paid tiers.
• The free tier allows small stores or early-stage merchants to test wishlist adoption without financial commitment.
• Premium provides unlimited capacity and analytics that may serve growing stores well.

Cupid Pricing Tiers

• Base ($25/month): 14-day free trial, unlimited wishlists, Klaviyo integration, dashboard metrics, GDPR compliance.
• Pro ($50/month): Includes Base features plus share via Email, free setup and installation, GDPR compliance.

Value considerations:

• Cupid starts at a higher monthly price than many wishlist-focused competitors. For merchants who rely heavily on Klaviyo flows tied to wishlist events, the cost might be offset by revenue from more personalized remarketing.
• Pro’s inclusion of free setup and email-sharing features is attractive for merchants who want a fully-implemented solution without development time.
• The lack of reviews makes assessing ROI more speculative.

Who Gets Better Value for Money?

• For early-stage and budget-conscious merchants who want a reliable wishlist with little friction, SWishlist clearly offers better value for money.
• For merchants that place a premium on headless compatibility, pagespeed, and Klaviyo-driven lifecycle campaigns, Cupid’s higher pricing can be justified — provided the app performs as promised.
• For merchants seeking more than wishlists (loyalty, referrals, reviews), an integrated platform may provide superior total value by consolidating capabilities and reducing app management overhead.

Integrations & Ecosystem Fit

Integrations determine how well wishlist events plug into marketing automation and support flows.

SWishlist Integrations

• Works with API, which allows custom integrations with email platforms, analytics, or bespoke systems.
• No explicit out-of-the-box Klaviyo mention in the listing, so merchants should expect to use API/webhooks or middleware for tie-ins.

Implications:

• API support is flexible and developer-friendly, but requires implementation work to connect to marketing stacks.
• Merchants without developer resources may face an integration overhead.

Cupid Integrations

• Native Klaviyo integration, which simplifies event-driven flows like wishlist abandonment emails or segmentation based on saved items.
• Mercury integration (for payments or other uses depending on what “Mercury” refers to in the listing).
• Explicit mention of pagespeed-friendly design (no external JS), easing concerns about front-end impact in complex storefronts.

Implications:

• Native Klaviyo support reduces technical overhead and speeds up marketing use-cases tied to wishlist interactions.
• Mercury and GDPR compliance add appeal for stores concerned about payment or data handling connections.

Comparative takeaways on integrations

If Klaviyo flows and immediate marketing activation are mission-critical, Cupid offers a smoother path. If a merchant has developer resources and prefers an API-first tool that can be integrated into a broader stack, SWishlist is flexible and cost-effective. For merchants using multiple retention channels (loyalty, reviews, referrals), consolidating integrations into a single retention platform can reduce integration complexity.

Technical Impact and Performance

Any external app can affect site speed and front-end rendering. Merchants should evaluate the technical footprint before installing.

SWishlist Technical Profile

• Works through API; implementation details vary.
• No specific claims about being lightweight or no external JS.

Implications:

• Stability and performance are influenced by the merchant’s implementation approach and theme.
• Offers reasonable support SLAs dependent on plan.

Cupid Technical Profile

• Promoted as pagespeed friendly and “No External JS.”
• Headless-friendly, which suggests compatibility with modern storefront architectures and flexibility for custom rendering.

Implications:

• Cupid’s approach reduces runtime scripts loaded on the storefront, mitigating one common source of performance penalties.
• Headless compatibility is useful for merchants using storefront frameworks like Hydrogen or custom front-ends.

Comparative takeaways on technical aspects

Cupid explicitly addresses performance concerns and headless architectures, making it attractive to technical teams focused on speed and modern storefronts. SWishlist remains an easy-to-adopt option but may require testing to evaluate performance impact in any given theme or setup.

Customization, Theming, and UX Design

How well an app blends into a store’s visual identity and UX flows affects adoption and conversion.

SWishlist Customization

• Merchants can “Customize everything to perfectly match your store.”
• Multi-theme setup and free setup for up to two themes on free plan make initial styling easier.

Implications:

• SWishlist is positioned for merchants who want a wishlist that looks native and integrated with minimal friction.

Cupid Customization

• UX focuses more on behavior (multiple wishlists, share-to-buy) and technical performance.
• No explicit theme-editing claims in the description; likely provides sufficient styling controls but with more emphasis on functional flexibility.

Implications:

• Cupid’s functional strengths (multi-lists, share for purchase) may require the merchant to adapt or accept a different UX flow that prioritizes capability.

Comparative takeaways on customization

For stores where visual polish and native integration are primary, SWishlist’s emphasis on customization is appealing. For stores where advanced wishlist behaviors and performance are priorities, Cupid’s UX trade-offs could be acceptable.

Analytics, Reporting & Data Access

Data access determines how well merchants measure the wishlist’s contribution to conversions and retention.

SWishlist Analytics

• Premium plan offers “Unlimited access to all statistics,” indicating tiered analytics availability.
• API access can push events to analytics tools.

Implications:

• Basic reporting may be limited on free and basic plans; advanced data requires premium subscription.

Cupid Analytics

• Dashboard metrics included in Base plan, which suggests baseline visibility into wishlist activity for all paying customers.
• Native integrations (Klaviyo) help move event data into marketing systems automatically.

Implications:

• Immediate dashboard metrics plus Klaviyo events support marketing attribution and segmented automation.

Comparative takeaways on analytics

Cupid’s built-in dashboard and Klaviyo tie make it straightforward to act on wishlist data. SWishlist’s analytics capability becomes more robust at the premium tier, and API access enables custom reporting for merchants with the technical capacity.

Privacy, Compliance & Security

Consumer privacy and compliance are non-negotiable, especially for merchants operating in GDPR regions.

SWishlist

• No explicit GDPR statement in the provided data; developers should confirm data handling practices before installation.
• API approach can be designed to be compliant, but requires merchant diligence.

Cupid

• Explicitly lists GDPR compliance on Base and Pro plans.
• That built-in compliance is valuable for merchants with EU customers or strict data handling policies.

Comparative takeaways:

• Cupid’s stated GDPR compliance reduces risk and saves time for merchants who must meet those obligations. SWishlist may be compliant but requires verification.

Support & Onboarding

Quick and knowledgeable support reduces friction in setup and troubleshooting.

SWishlist Support

• Support windows vary by plan: 24–48 hours on Free, 12–24 hours on Basic, “Fastest support: top priority” on Premium.
• Free setup up to 2 themes per store.

Implications:

• Reasonable support SLAs for a small-team app. Premium plan prioritizes response times.

Cupid Support

• Base includes 14-day trial and dashboard metrics; Pro includes free setup and installation.
• No explicit response time SLA provided, but paid setup suggests hands-on onboarding for Pro users.

Implications:

• Cupid’s Pro onboarding is useful for merchants who want installation handled by the app team. Response time and ongoing support quality should be validated via trial or contact.

Comparative takeaways on support:

• Cupid offers proactive setup on higher tiers. SWishlist balances low-cost access with faster response at higher plans. Merchants that need hands-off setup should consider Cupid Pro or paid setup options.

Ideal Use Cases — Which App Fits Which Merchant?

This section describes where each product shines in practice and the merchant profiles most likely to benefit.

SWishlist Ideal Use Cases

• Small to medium merchants seeking a low-friction wishlist that looks and feels native.
• Stores that want a free entry point to test wishlist-driven lift before committing budget.
• Merchants who prioritize visual customization and simple, reliable wishlist behavior.
• International stores that need multi-language support at affordable tiers.

Why choose SWishlist:

• Excellent value for money for the core wishlist use-case.
• Strong rating and review count signal reliable execution and merchant satisfaction.
• Low monthly cost and tiered upgrades let stores scale without immediate heavy investment.

Cupid Ideal Use Cases

• Brands with headless architectures or strict performance targets where no external JS matters.
• Merchants using Klaviyo and relying on wishlist events to trigger lifecycle campaigns.
• Retailers that need multiple wishlist capabilities (e.g., separate lists for occasions, gift registries).
• Stores that want share-to-buy functionality for social gifting or group purchasing.

Why choose Cupid:

• Native Klaviyo integration and headless orientation make it fit for technical teams or marketing-focused stores.
• Features catering to social sharing and recipient purchases are useful for gift-oriented categories.

Which to pick by merchant profile

• For lean stores that want strong social proof in their app choice and minimal monthly cost, SWishlist is the pragmatic pick.
• For stores with a performance-first stack or deep Klaviyo-driven marketing, Cupid is positioned to deliver the required behavior, at a higher price point and with less public feedback to evaluate.

Migration, Exit, and Switching Considerations

Switching wishlist providers should be evaluated from the standpoint of data portability, user experience continuity, and marketing flows.

• Ensure wishlist user IDs, saved items, and timestamps can be exported or migrated via API or CSV before uninstalling an app.
• Check how each app stores wishlist associations (cookies, customer accounts) to ensure minimal friction during migration.
• If automation relies on app-specific webhooks (e.g., Cupid → Klaviyo), map those events ahead of time to avoid broken flows.
• Plan a short user communication campaign if wishlist behavior or share links change to minimize confusion.

Risk Assessment: Reviews, Stability & Vendor Trust

• SWishlist: 106 reviews and a 4.9 rating indicate widespread use and positive merchant experiences. That social proof reduces perceived operational risk.
• Cupid: 0 reviews and a 0 rating represent adoption risk; merchants should test thoroughly in a staging environment and leverage trial installs to validate reliability and support.

Merchants must weigh the cost-benefit of choosing newer or less-reviewed apps versus established apps with demonstrable customer satisfaction.

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

Single-purpose apps like SWishlist and Cupid solve specific problems well, but adding multiple single-function apps can lead to "app fatigue." App fatigue describes the growing cost, complexity, and overhead that come from running many point solutions: higher monthly fees, overlapping or missing integrations, duplicated event tracking, and the maintenance burden of multiple support vendors.

An alternative approach is to consolidate retention features — wishlists, loyalty programs, reviews, referrals, and VIP tiers — into an integrated platform. This reduces integration points and centralizes customer data and reward logic, which simplifies experimentation and increases the impact of retention campaigns.

Growave’s product philosophy emphasizes “More Growth, Less Stack.” Instead of adding separate tools for wishlists, reviews, and loyalty, a merchant can manage these capabilities from one platform. The benefits of consolidation include fewer monthly fees relative to an equivalent multi-app stack, a single source of truth for customer engagement data, and smoother, cross-channel campaigns.

Key benefits of an integrated retention platform:

• Consolidated insights: unified customer profiles that combine wishlist activity with purchases, reviews, referral behavior, and loyalty status.
• Reduced integration work: many marketing and helpdesk integrations can be managed centrally.
• Cross-product incentives: reward customers for leaving reviews, referring friends, or adding items to wishlists without glue code.
• Single vendor accountability: one team handles reliability, privacy compliance, and feature parity.

Growave supports a suite of retention tools that align with these principles. For merchants evaluating alternatives, the following capabilities are relevant:

• Growave enables merchants to build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases, combining points, VIP tiers, and custom actions with wishlist-triggered incentives. This allows merchants to reward wishlist activity as part of a broader loyalty strategy.
• Growave also helps merchants collect and showcase authentic reviews, tying UGC to product pages and using review triggers to fuel loyalty and referral mechanics.
• For merchants looking at real-world examples of how consolidation helps scale retention, Growave offers customer stories from brands scaling retention that illustrate how putting these capabilities together drives higher LTV.

The integrated model reduces the need to separately maintain an email automation triggered by wishlist events, a loyalty provider to reward actions, and a reviews app to solicit UGC. When these functions live under the same roof, a single wishlist event can simultaneously:

• Trigger an abandoned-wishlist email in the merchant’s marketing platform,
• Award a small loyalty point bonus to encourage the next purchase,
• Add the customer to a targeted review solicitation flow post-purchase.

This kind of multi-touch orchestration is possible when events, rewards, and content systems share a common data model.

Technical and Commerce Platform Compatibility

Growave is built with platform integrations that match what merchants typically need alongside wishlists. It integrates with checkout flows, Shopify POS, customer accounts, and popular page builders and marketing platforms. For merchants on Shopify Plus or building headless storefronts, Growave provides features suited to enterprise needs and scalable customization.

• The platform provides solutions for stores operating at scale and those that need advanced checkout customizations, supporting solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

How consolidation improves marketing velocity

When wishlists, loyalty, and reviews are connected, experiments and campaigns can be executed faster and with less technical overhead. Consider these operational advantages:

• A single integration with Klaviyo or Omnisend can surface signals across wishlist saves, points earned, and referral completion in one customer profile, enabling richer segmentation.
• Introducing a campaign that rewards wishlist saves with points can be configured in the platform without requiring developers to wire separate webhooks into a loyalty system.
• A/B testing across retention tactics (e.g., wishlist pop-ups vs. loyalty incentives) is simpler to implement and measure when all signals are centralized.

Merchants evaluating wishlists should therefore not only compare wishlist-specific features but also consider the broader retention stack required to convert wishlist interest into repeat revenue.

Practical ways to evaluate consolidated platforms

When assessing an all-in-one retention provider versus single-purpose apps, merchants should inspect the following:

• Which retention features are native, and which require add-ons or external apps.
• How event data flows to marketing and analytics tools (native integrations, webhooks, or API).
• The ability to customize reward logic and combine signals (e.g., points for actions).
• Pricing transparency and thresholds for growth stages (orders/month or active customers).
• Case studies or examples for similar verticals.

Growave’s pricing and plan structure, available on the platform’s pricing page, outlines tiers that map to growth stages and feature needs. Merchants can compare monthly costs of assembling separate apps versus an integrated stack and evaluate the total cost of ownership, including dev time and ongoing support.

Book a personalized demo to see how a unified retention stack improves customer lifetime value: Book a personalized demo.

How Growave compares in practice to adding a wishlist app

• Single-purpose wishlist apps can be installed quickly and are often cheaper for the wishlist-only use-case. However, each additional retention need (reviews, loyalty, referrals) often requires another monthly subscription and another integration.
• Growave consolidates these functions, meaning the incremental cost of adding reviews or loyalty is typically lower than adding a new app, and setup cohesion is better because the features are designed to work together.
• For merchants who plan to grow retention programs beyond a wishlist, starting with an integrated platform reduces technical debt and improves long-term ROI.

For merchants who want to evaluate Growave’s cost vs. app-by-app approach, the platform’s pricing page provides plan comparisons and helps estimate the break-even point relative to multiple single-purpose apps: compare plans and pricing.

Growave is also available on the Shopify App Store for direct installation and reviews: install from the Shopify App Store.

Choosing Between the Two — Final Feature Comparison (Practical Checklist)

Use this practical checklist to align app choice with business priorities. For each bullet, consider whether the capability is critical today, nice-to-have, or irrelevant.

• If keeping monthly costs low while getting a reliable wishlist is critical: SWishlist is an attractive option.
• If minimizing front-end performance impact and supporting headless architectures is a priority: Cupid’s no-external-JS approach is valuable.
• If immediate Klaviyo integration and wishlist-triggered automations are required: Cupid’s native tie-ins reduce implementation time.
• If the merchant plans to run loyalty, referral, and review programs in addition to wishlists: a unified solution reduces complexity and total cost.
• If vendor track record and public reviews matter to reduce operational risk: SWishlist’s 106 reviews and 4.9 rating provide stronger social proof.
• If hands-off setup and email-sharing wishlist features are required out of the box: Cupid Pro includes free setup and direct sharing-by-email features.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and Cupid ‑ Social Wishlist, the decision comes down to priorities and resources. SWishlist is a high-rated, budget-friendly option that covers core wishlist needs and offers strong customization and multi-language support at low monthly cost. Cupid focuses on headless compatibility, pagespeed preservation, multiple wishlists, and native Klaviyo integration — features that justify a higher price for performance-driven or marketing-savvy teams, but without visible public reviews to validate long-term reliability.

Beyond picking between two wishlist apps, merchants should evaluate whether adding yet another single-purpose tool is the best long-term strategy. Consolidating retention capabilities into one platform reduces technical complexity, lowers integration overhead, and enables richer, cross-product campaigns that increase lifetime value more efficiently.

For merchants ready to escape tool sprawl and earn more from the same customer base, explore Growave’s integrated approach and pricing to see whether consolidating wishlist, loyalty, reviews, and referrals makes more sense for growth. Start a 14-day free trial to explore a unified retention platform: Start a 14-day free trial.

Growave’s product pages offer more detail on specific capabilities, including loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases and how the platform helps merchants collect and showcase authentic reviews. For merchants on larger commerce stacks, Growave presents solutions for high-growth Plus brands and provides real-world examples via customer stories from brands scaling retention. Growave is also listed on the Shopify App Store for a direct install path: install from the Shopify App Store.

FAQ

How do SWishlist and Cupid differ in terms of marketing integrations?

SWishlist is API-first and flexible, requiring merchants to wire wishlist events into their marketing stack (e.g., Klaviyo) via custom integration or middleware. Cupid includes native Klaviyo integration, making it faster to trigger wishlist-driven automations without additional development.

Which app is better for store performance and headless setups?

Cupid emphasizes pagespeed-friendly architecture and states "No External JS," which reduces front-end load and works well with headless architectures. SWishlist does not highlight a no-external-JS approach; performance impact will depend on implementation and the merchant’s theme.

How important are the number of reviews when choosing an app?

Review counts and ratings provide social proof about stability, support, and fit. SWishlist’s 106 reviews and 4.9 rating suggest consistent merchant satisfaction. Cupid’s 0 reviews increase adoption risk; merchants should trial the app and validate its claims in a staging environment before deploying to production.

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

An integrated platform centralizes wishlist, loyalty, reviews, and referrals, reducing integration work, monthly overhead, and maintenance complexity. It enables cross-product campaigns (e.g., reward points for wishlist actions) that are harder to coordinate across multiple single-purpose apps. For merchants planning growth across retention channels, consolidation often drives better long-term ROI and fewer operational headaches.