SWishlist vs. ESC Wishlist + Save for Later: In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing between wishlist apps might seem trivial, but the wrong pick can fragment a tech stack, complicate analytics, and slow retention efforts. Shopify merchants face thousands of app choices; a wishlist feature that sounds simple may have outsized effects on conversion, cart recovery, and long-term customer value.

Short answer: SWishlist: Simple Wishlist is a strong option for merchants who want a focused, lightweight wishlist with a generous free tier and polished UX; ESC Wishlist + Save for Later is a lower-cost, minimal option that struggles with reliability and user satisfaction (given its 2 reviews and 1.0 rating). For merchants who want to minimize tool sprawl and combine wishlist capability with loyalty, referrals, and reviews, an integrated retention platform delivers better value for money than stacking single-purpose apps.

This post provides a detailed, feature-by-feature comparison of SWishlist: Simple Wishlist (SoluCommerce) and ESC Wishlist + Save for Later (Eastside Co®) to help merchants pick the right tool. After an objective evaluation, there’s a practical look at a consolidated alternative that replaces multiple point apps with a single retention suite.

SWishlist: Simple Wishlist vs. ESC Wishlist + Save for Later: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Product Focus and Philosophy

SWishlist: What it prioritizes

SWishlist focuses on adding a smooth wishlist experience to product pages and accounts. It positions itself as a full-featured wishlist app that supports social sharing, multi-language storefronts, and tiered usage limits. The developer emphasizes customization and helping merchants reduce cart abandonment by letting customers save favorites.

Strengths in focus:

• Clean, wishlist-first UX aimed at discovery and later purchase.
• Tiered plans accommodate stores that scale wishlist volume without immediate cost.
• Built-in sharing increases the chance of referral traffic from friends.

ESC Wishlist + Save for Later: What it prioritizes

ESC’s description centers on cart-level “save for later” behavior alongside wishlists. The value proposition is about keeping saved items visible at checkout to shorten the path back to purchase. It highlights unlimited wishlists and a range of appearance options.

Strengths in focus:

• Integrates save-for-later directly under the cart to promote quick buyback.
• Emphasis on visual customization for brand fit.
• Claimed unlimited wishlists for customer organization.

Features: Core Wishlist Functionality

Adding and Managing Items

SWishlist offers straightforward product-level “add to wishlist” actions, account-based list management, and sharing. The Free plan limits wishlist additions to 300 per month, with Basic and Premium lifting that cap significantly—up to unlimited on Premium.

ESC advertises unlimited wishlists but lacks clarity on backend limits for wishlist additions or API usage. The save-for-later cart placement is a differentiator: items saved here are visible at checkout, making repurchase friction lower for anonymous or returning shoppers.

Practical implications:

• For stores expecting high wishlist activity, SWishlist’s Premium plan makes unlimited adds explicit; the Free and Basic tiers provide controlled scaling.
• ESC’s promise of unlimited wishlists is attractive on paper but is undermined by scant developer transparency and low ratings.

Social Sharing and Virality

Both apps support sharing lists with friends. SWishlist’s sharing is presented as part of its wishlist experience. ESC highlights free social sharing to increase brand reach.

Testing note merchants should consider:

• How customizable are the share templates? Are UTM parameters or referral codes supported? SWishlist’s API orientation suggests more room to integrate tracking, while ESC’s documentation is minimal.

Save-for-Later and Cart Integration

ESC’s direct placement of “saved for later” items under the cart is the primary UX advantage. This keeps products visible at point-of-purchase and can be effective at recovering near-checkout consideration.

SWishlist primarily functions as a separate wishlist page or account feature; it may not default to the cart-level save-for-later pattern unless custom integration is built via API.

Recommendation:

• If most abandoned or undecided behavior happens at cart/checkout, ESC’s cart visibility could yield short-term wins—if the app performs reliably.
• If the goal is discovery and collection across browsing sessions and accounts, SWishlist is more complete.

Customization & Brand Fit

Front-end Customization

SWishlist advertises full customization to match store themes and offers free setup on up to two themes for the Free plan. Paid tiers add more language support and presumably more styling flexibility.

ESC highlights a broad range of appearance options, likely allowing merchants to position the widget within the cart and control styling.

Evaluation criteria:

• How deep is customization? Theme-matching, CSS hooks, placement flexibility, and responsive behavior matter.
• SWishlist appears built with more implementation support (free setup), which can reduce time-to-launch and improve aesthetics.

Multi-language Support

SWishlist explicitly offers multi-language support by plan: 2 languages on the Free plan, 7 on Basic, 20 on Premium. This is a clear advantage for international stores.

ESC provides no explicit language support claims, which is a consideration for stores serving multilingual audiences.

Decision point:

• Merchants selling in multiple languages will find SWishlist’s tiered language support an operational advantage and better value for money as the store grows.

Pricing and Value

SWishlist Pricing Summary

• Free: 300 wishlist additions/month, 2 languages, setup for up to 2 themes, 24–48h support.
• Basic ($5/month): 7,000 additions/month, 7 languages, faster support (12–24h).
• Premium ($12/month): Unlimited additions, 20 languages, access to full stats, top-priority support.

Assessment:

• Well-structured tiering that maps usage to price.
• Strong free tier that allows trial without financial commitment.
• Premium at $12/month is still low-cost relative to larger suites, offering unlimited additions and analytics—good value for growing merchants.

ESC Pricing Summary

• Monthly plan ($5/month): single plan noted.

Assessment:

• Simple-single plan pricing can be attractive, but without tiered support, scaling, or documented limits, there’s uncertainty about long-term value.
• Given ESC’s 1.0 rating and only 2 reviews, the $5 price point may be a false economy if the app fails to perform or provide reliable support.

Value-for-money comparison:

• SWishlist offers clearer return paths as volume grows and includes analytics and language support, making it a better value for money for most growing merchants.
• ESC could be acceptable for a tiny store that wants a single cheap widget and is willing to accept limited support and unknown reliability.

Integrations and Technical Ecosystem

API and Technical Access

SWishlist notes that it “Works With: API,” implying that developers can extend the app, integrate it with email or analytics platforms, and implement custom flows. This is important for operations that need to capture wishlist events for remarketing.

ESC provides no explicit list of integrations or API support. That absence increases integration risk and may lock merchants into a less flexible tool.

Why APIs matter:

• Capture wishlist events to trigger emails or automated campaigns.
• Connect wishlist data to abandoned cart flows or customer segmentation in email platforms.
• Extract data for reporting or custom dashboards.

Shopify Checkout / POS / Platform Compatibility

SWishlist’s API orientation suggests it can be adapted to various storefront setups, but there is no explicit mention of Checkout or POS compatibility. ESC does not list platform compatibility.

Merchants on advanced setups (Shopify Plus, headless, multi-channel) should prioritize apps with documented integration points. The lack of detail from ESC is a disadvantage.

Data, Reporting, and Analytics

SWishlist Analytics

Premium includes “unlimited access to all statistics,” suggesting merchants can track wishlist additions, shares, conversions from wishlisted items, and language/region performance. The availability of those analytics matters when measuring the wishlist’s impact on revenue.

ESC Reporting

No explicit reporting features are described. Limited visibility into user behavior will make it harder to prove ROI and optimize flows.

Recommendation:

• If measuring the influence of wishlists on conversions and LTV is important, SWishlist’s analytics access on higher tiers is a clear advantage.

Performance, Reliability, and Reviews

App Store Ratings and Reviews

• SWishlist: 106 reviews, rating 4.9 — strong social proof indicating widespread satisfaction.
• ESC Wishlist + Save for Later: 2 reviews, rating 1.0 — significant red flag about product quality or support.

Interpretation:

• A large sample size and high score for SWishlist provide confidence in stability, UX, and developer responsiveness.
• ESC’s tiny review base and low score suggest one of the following: poor performance, bad support experience, or a mismatch between promises and execution. Merchants should be cautious.

Uptime and Speed Considerations

Both wishlist apps add frontend assets and scripts. The impact on page speed depends on how scripts are loaded, caching behavior, and on-site customization.

Practical testing recommended:

• Run Lighthouse or Core Web Vitals before and after installation.
• Test on mobile networks and product-heavy pages.
• Monitor any increase in Time to Interactive (TTI).

SWishlist’s stronger review profile implies better real-world behavior, but merchants should still test.

Support and Onboarding

SWishlist Support

Tiered support windows are explicit: 24–48h for Free, 12–24h for Basic, top-priority for Premium. Free setup for up to two themes reduces friction for initial launch.

Benefit:

• Faster response times and setup help lower technical barriers and reduce time-to-value.

ESC Support

Support details are sparse; the app description does not quantify response times or setup help. Combined with its poor rating, this suggests merchants may face delayed or inadequate support.

Decision point:

• Merchants without in-house dev resources should prefer an app with explicit setup help and faster support windows.

Security and Privacy Considerations

Both apps handle customer data. Merchants should verify:

• How customer wishlists are stored and whether wishlists are tied to customer accounts or stored anonymously.
• Compliance with data protection standards, especially for EU or CA customers.
• Whether sharing features expose product or customer data publicly and how URLs are protected.

SWishlist’s larger user base suggests the developer has addressed common security questions; ESC’s lack of documentation raises caution.

Use Cases and Merchant Recommendations

Below are practical recommendations for different merchant needs.

• Merchants on a tight budget who need a reliable, lightweight wishlist:
  • SWishlist Free or Basic offers manageable limits and better support. The Free plan provides a safe trial path.
• Small stores that mostly need a cart-level save-for-later and are comfortable with risk:
  • ESC’s cart integration is conceptually a fit, but the low rating and minimal documentation means merchants should test on a development theme first and keep a rollback plan.
• International merchants with multi-language storefronts:
  • SWishlist stands out with explicit language support up to 20 languages on Premium.
• Merchants who want to measure wishlist ROI and feed events into marketing automations:
  • SWishlist’s API and analytics are strong choices.
• Brands that aim to consolidate retention, loyalty, and social proof:
  • Neither SWishlist nor ESC provides a full retention suite. Merchants should consider an integrated solution to reduce app sprawl and unify customer data.

Migration and Implementation Considerations

Before installing either app:

• Test on a duplicate theme to confirm widget placement and CSS compatibility.
• Audit any existing wishlist or cart scripts; plan to remove or reconcile duplicates.
• Define the measurement plan: events to send to Google Analytics, Klaviyo, or other tools.
• Ensure theme backups and rollback steps are available in case of conflicts.

For migration:

• Export wishlist data if moving between solutions (some apps may not support exports).
• Communicate to customers if wishlists require an account migration to avoid data loss.

SWishlist’s setup assistance (free setup for up to two themes) lowers implementation friction. ESC’s lack of documented onboarding suggests a heavier internal lift.

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

Single-purpose apps are useful, but they compound problems as a store scales. Every new widget adds another admin interface, another billing line, another set of scripts affecting speed, and another place to debug when something goes wrong. This is the essence of app fatigue: the growing operational cost and cognitive load from many narrowly focused tools.

Growave proposes a different approach: "More Growth, Less Stack." Instead of one vendor per feature, Growave bundles loyalty, referrals, reviews, wishlists, and VIP tiers into a single retention platform. That consolidation reduces integrations, centralizes customer data, and aligns retention tactics across channels.

Why consolidation matters

• Unified customer profiles let merchants trigger rewards based on wishlist behavior, review submissions, or referral actions without stitching data across apps.
• Centralized analytics tie loyalty and wishlist performance to repeat purchase rates and LTV.
• Single billing and one support channel lowers ops overhead and simplifies troubleshooting.

Core Growave capabilities that address app fatigue

• Loyalty and Rewards: Merchants can design points, tiers, and reward rules that directly respond to customer actions. This eliminates the need for a separate loyalty app and allows merchants to build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• Reviews & UGC: Instead of a different review provider, Growave enables stores to collect and showcase authentic reviews alongside wishlists and rewards, improving trust and conversion.
• Wishlist: Native wishlist functionality is included, meaning merchants don’t need to add a standalone wishlist widget.
• Referrals & VIP Tiers: Referral campaigns and VIP segmentation sit next to loyalty and wishlist data, enabling cross-functional campaigns.

Integrations and platform fit

• Growave supports a broad ecosystem, connecting with email platforms, customer service tools, subscriptions, and headless setups. This reduces the need for custom integrations with each point app.
• For merchants on Shopify Plus or complex implementations, Growave offers solutions for high-growth Plus brands and enterprise-level features that make consolidation feasible without sacrificing customization.

Practical examples of consolidated flows

• Reward points for adding an item to a wishlist, then trigger a personalized email when that item goes on sale—all within the same platform.
• Automatically request a review after a repeat purchase, apply loyalty points for submitting a review, and surface the review near wishlisted items to encourage social proof-driven purchases.

Pricing and value proposition

• Growave’s pricing tiers map to merchant scale and include a free plan and higher tiers for growth and enterprise needs. Merchants can review options and compare plans to expected ROI by visiting Growave’s pricing site and evaluating how multiple single-purpose app costs stack up against a single integrated platform: merchants can explore consolidate retention features.
• For stores that currently pay for a wishlist plus separate loyalty and reviews apps, moving to a combined platform can be a better value for money while simplifying operations.

Proof points and merchant stories

• Growave hosts examples of merchants who reduced tool sprawl and increased repeat rates. Reviewing customer stories can clarify how consolidation impacts retention: see customer stories from brands scaling retention.

Try-before-commit and buying path

• Merchants can evaluate the platform via the Shopify App Store to review install options and compatibility, or directly consult product information and pricing. For a hands-on evaluation, installation details are available through the Shopify listing and Growave’s pricing and product pages. Merchants interested in a guided walkthrough can book a personalized demo to see how a unified retention stack accelerates growth.

Note: That sentence is a focused invitation to assess the platform and counts as a direct CTA for merchants looking to evaluate fit.

Revisiting the wishlist comparison in the context of consolidation

• SWishlist offers a reliable wishlist experience; however, for teams that need to scale loyalty, reviews, and referral programs without managing multiple vendors, a unified platform like Growave reduces integration overhead and produces compounding retention effects.
• ESC’s cart-centric save-for-later UX is useful, but in isolation it still sits parallel to other retention systems; consolidation avoids the coordination cost between multiple apps.

Additional ways consolidation reduces risk

• Centralized support and onboarding: one team understands how features interplay, reducing finger-pointing when a cross-feature campaign doesn’t fire.
• Fewer scripts running on the storefront: performance and security risks diminish when fewer third-party widgets are required.
• Consistent data model: single source of truth for customers and their actions improves segmentation accuracy.

If evaluation steps are needed:

• Compare the combined monthly spend on wishlist + loyalty + reviews to a single Growave plan by visiting Growave’s pricing page to estimate potential savings and operational simplification: review consolidate retention features.
• For merchants on enterprise plans or Shopify Plus, check Growave’s Plus-focused capabilities to ensure the platform supports required checkout and headless functionality: see solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

Implementation Checklist: Choosing and Launching a Wishlist Solution

Before committing to SWishlist, ESC, or a consolidated platform, use this checklist to reduce risk and speed deployment.

• Confirm goals: Are wishlists for discovery, gifting, social sharing, or cart recovery?
• Volume planning: Estimate monthly wishlist additions to choose the right plan (SWishlist provides explicit caps).
• Test on development theme: Verify placement, CSS, and mobile behavior.
• Data capture: Ensure wishlist events are available for marketing automations and analytics.
• Support level: Evaluate expected response times and onboarding help.
• Performance testing: Measure page speed impact pre- and post-install.
• Exit plan: Can wishlists and customer data be exported if switching solutions?
• Consolidation ROI: Compare the cost and operational overhead of multiple apps vs. an integrated platform like Growave by reviewing consolidate retention features.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between SWishlist: Simple Wishlist and ESC Wishlist + Save for Later, the decision comes down to reliability, scope, and growth plans. SWishlist offers a polished wishlist experience, clear tiered pricing, multi-language support, API access, and strong social proof (106 reviews, 4.9 rating)—making it a solid choice for most stores that need a focused wishlist. ESC presents a cart-level save-for-later UX and a low-price option ($5/mo), but its tiny review base (2 reviews) and 1.0 rating suggest caution; it may suit very small stores willing to accept risk.

Beyond picking a single-purpose wishlist, merchants should weigh the operational cost of multiple point solutions. An integrated retention platform can reduce app fatigue, centralize data, and deliver compound benefits across loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists. Growave consolidates these features into a single suite—merchants can evaluate how that consolidation compares to a multi-app approach by reviewing Growave’s pricing and plan options and exploring the Shopify listing to confirm compatibility: check consolidate retention features and browse install options via the Shopify App Store.

Start a 14-day free trial to see whether a unified retention stack reduces tool sprawl and increases repeat purchases: explore consolidate retention features.

FAQ

Q: Which app is more reliable for a standard Shopify store?

• A: SWishlist demonstrates higher reliability based on 106 reviews and a 4.9 rating. ESC’s 2 reviews and 1.0 rating raise concerns about stability and support.

Q: Which app is better for multi-language stores?

• A: SWishlist explicitly offers multi-language support by plan (2 languages on Free, up to 20 on Premium), making it the clear choice for international audiences.

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

• A: An integrated platform reduces operational overhead, consolidates customer data, and enables cross-feature automation (e.g., reward points for wishlist actions, review-driven incentives). For many merchants, the combined value and lower maintenance effort make an all-in-one solution better value for money over time.

Q: If a merchant only wants a save-for-later cart widget, which option fits best?

• A: ESC’s cart-level save-for-later UX aligns with that narrow goal, but merchants should test carefully due to limited reviews and support transparency. SWishlist can be adapted to support cart recovery workflows via API integrations and analytics but is primarily wishlist-focused.

Additional resources:

• To review integrated loyalty and reward capabilities, see how merchants build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• To understand combined review and UGC workflows that reduce the need for separate review apps, learn how to collect and showcase authentic reviews.