Ultimate Wishlist vs. First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is a common, practical decision for Shopify merchants who want to increase conversion, recover wishlisted items, and gather purchase intent data. A wishlist can reduce friction for shoppers, provide insights into product demand, and boost retention when combined with reminders, sharing, and targeted promotions. However, picking between single-purpose tools requires clear trade-offs around features, cost, and long-term growth strategy.

Short answer: Ultimate Wishlist is a strong, focused wishlist tool that offers deep customization, email reminders, and a compact pricing ladder — good for merchants seeking a reliable, budget-friendly wishlist feature. First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards centers on curated lists and boards with cross-device sync but currently shows limited validation in marketplace feedback. For merchants ready to move beyond a single-purpose wishlist and minimize tool sprawl, an integrated retention platform like Growave can deliver wishlist capability plus loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers under one roof with better long-term value.

This article compares Ultimate Wishlist (Config Studio) and First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards (Vellir) across features, pricing, integrations, analytics, UX, and support. The goal is to give a practical evaluation that helps merchants choose the right fit for current needs and longer-term retention strategy. After the fair comparison, the piece explains how an integrated approach can reduce complexity and improve customer lifetime value.

Ultimate Wishlist vs. First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Feature Set

Core Wishlist Functionality

Ultimate Wishlist provides a classic wishlist experience with a focus on customization and analytics. Key behaviors include guest wishlists, account-linked wishlists that sync across devices, and the ability to add items from collection pages. The app emphasizes control over text and appearance, with non-English support and a live dashboard showing wishlist adds, page views, and “added to cart” events.

First Wish supports both anonymous and logged-in customers, with synced wishlists for registered users. It extends the basic wishlist concept by allowing curated boards — multiple lists a shopper can create and share with friends and family. This is useful for gift registries or events.

How they compare:

• Ultimate Wishlist: Strong on customization and reminders; ideal when store-brand match and precise control over messaging are priorities.
• First Wish: Strong on social sharing and curated collections; ideal for stores that want shoppers to create multiple thematic lists (e.g., wedding registry, holiday shopping).

Sharing & Social Behavior

Both apps enable sharing by email and social channels. Ultimate Wishlist lists Facebook, Twitter, and Email options explicitly. First Wish emphasizes sharing boards via social media, email, or messaging apps, with the curated-list approach central to its social-first use case.

Practical implications:

• If the goal is simple, shareable wishlists tied to a product page, Ultimate Wishlist covers the need with flexible templates.
• For campaigns centered on collaborative shopping or gifting (boards shared with friends), First Wish’s curated lists provide a clearer feature fit.

Email Reminders & Re-engagement

Ultimate Wishlist includes customizable email templates and tiered capacities for email reminders across plans. The Basic plan adds custom email templates and up to 500 email reminders/month; higher plans increase reminders and allow reminders to individual users. Email reminders are useful for re-engagement and moving wishlists to checkout.

First Wish does not present email reminder capabilities in the supplied description. Its emphasis is on board creation and sharing, with admin reports for activity but no explicit reminder automation listed.

Merchant takeaway:

• For automated re-engagement tied to wishlists, Ultimate Wishlist has an advantage due to built-in reminder features.
• If reminders are critical to conversion strategy, First Wish would require an external email automation tool integration or manual follow-up.

Curated Boards & Multiple Lists

This is a distinct area where First Wish differentiates itself. Paid plans allow unlimited boards and board sharing, which suits merchants who want shoppers to organize items into multiple categories or public boards (e.g., registries).

Ultimate Wishlist focuses on single wishlists per user (with guest and account options) rather than a boards workflow. For multi-list curation, Ultimate Wishlist may be limiting unless customizations are used to simulate boards.

Customization & Localization

Ultimate Wishlist highlights customizable text and color, non-English support, and the ability to match app appearance to store design. This benefits international or multi-language stores and merchants who want brand coherence.

First Wish mentions label customization and translation. However, documentation of the depth of visual customization is less explicit.

Practical tip:

• Merchants running multi-language stores or who require pixel-perfect theme integration will want to test how each app handles translations, right-to-left languages, and CSS overrides.

Analytics & Reporting

Ultimate Wishlist advertises a powerful dashboard tracking wishlist adds, page views, and added-to-cart events. The Premium plan includes Facebook pixel integration — useful for ad targeting and funnel tracking.

First Wish provides an admin dashboard with usage metrics and activity reports showing best-performing products and wishlist activity.

Evaluation:

• Both apps provide basic analytics to identify product interest, but Ultimate Wishlist appears to offer more explicit event tracking and marketing pixel integration, which helps tie wishlist data to paid media and conversions.
• Merchants who depend on product demand signals for merchandising decisions may prefer the slightly richer analytics described by Ultimate Wishlist.

Pricing & Value

Pricing often determines choice in early stages. Both apps have free tiers but scale differently for heavier use.

Free Plans Compared

• Ultimate Wishlist (Free): Up to 500 wishlist adds/month, guest wishlist, collection-page wishlist, sharing, customizable text/color, non-English support, full reports.
• First Wish (Free): Wishlist for anonymous and logged-in customers, 1,000 wishlist adds/month.

Practical notes:

• First Wish’s free tier allows more adds (1,000 vs 500), which may benefit small stores with higher wishlist activity but limited budgets.
• Ultimate Wishlist’s free tier includes reporting and customization features that may be more valuable than raw add capacity for merchants who need brand match and basic analytics.

Paid Tiers Compared

Ultimate Wishlist pricing:

• Basic — $4.99/month: Up to 1,000 wishlist items/month, custom email template, up to 500 email reminders/month.
• Pro — $9.99/month: Up to 5,000 wishlist items/month, send email reminders to individual users, up to 2,000 email reminders/month.
• Premium — $14.99/month: Up to 10,000 wishlist items/month, up to 5,000 email reminders/month, Facebook pixel integration.

First Wish pricing:

• Beginner — $9.90/month: 5,000 wishlist adds/month, unlimited boards, share boards.
• Advanced — $19.90/month: 20,000 wishlist adds/month.
• Pro — $29.90/month: 50,000 wishlist adds/month.

Value analysis:

• Ultimate Wishlist offers a lower entry price with reminder and reporting features that scale reasonably. The Premium tier adds marketing pixel integration that ties wishlist events into ad campaigns.
• First Wish’s paid tiers are focused on raw add capacity and boards. For merchants who need high-volume wishlist capacity and board features, First Wish’s top tiers make sense but cost more than Ultimate Wishlist.
• In terms of pure cost-per-add, First Wish’s upper tiers may look expensive relative to features. Ultimate Wishlist provides more features oriented to conversion (reminders, pixel) for a lower price bracket.

Which is better value?

• For merchants who need reminders and analytics with modest volume, Ultimate Wishlist generally offers better value for money.
• For merchants whose core requirement is unlimited boards and high add counts for social sharing, First Wish can be a fit but at a higher monthly cost.

Integrations & Ecosystem

Known Integrations

Neither app lists a broad ecosystem of native integrations in the supplied details, aside from Ultimate Wishlist’s Facebook pixel integration on the Premium plan. Lack of explicit native integrations with common tools (e.g., Klaviyo, Omnisend, Gorgias, Recharge) means merchants may need to rely on theme scripts, webhooks, or manual exports.

Potential merchant impacts:

• Stores using advanced email flows, loyalty programs, or subscription billing may prefer tools that either integrate natively or provide robust APIs for event export.
• When integrations are limited, additional work is required to connect wishlist activity to marketing automation or CRM.

This limitation is where integrated platforms can offer better operational simplicity: merchants can consolidate wishlist signals with loyalty and review data without stitching multiple apps together. For merchants considering consolidation, it makes sense to evaluate options that enable merchants to consolidate retention features under one subscription.

Technical Footprint & Page Speed

Any app that injects scripts into storefronts carries a potential page speed cost. Neither app’s description details script loading strategies or performance best practices.

Implementation guidance:

• Test apps in a staging environment to measure render-blocking scripts and Lighthouse scores before and after installation.
• Prefer asynchronous script loading where available, and ensure apps only run on pages that require wishlist functionality if possible.

User Experience: Setup, Admin, and Frontend

Installation & Setup

Ultimate Wishlist and First Wish both advertise easy installation. The real difference is in the amount of configuration required for branding, email templates, and multi-language support.

Expect to configure:

• Button placement (product page, collection page).
• Theme styles and responsive behavior.
• Email templates and reminder rules (Ultimate Wishlist).
• Board creation labeling and sharing options (First Wish).

Merchants should allocate testing time to see how each app integrates with the storefront and whether manual CSS or Liquid edits are necessary.

Customer-Facing UX

Key UX considerations for wishlists:

• How intuitive is the “add to wishlist” flow?
• Does the app require login, and how well does it support guest users?
• Can items be added from collection pages and search results?
• How easy is it to move a wishlist item to cart?

Observations from feature descriptions:

• Ultimate Wishlist supports wishlist adds without login and syncs for logged-in users — a good hybrid for conversion.
• First Wish supports anonymous adds and logged-in sync; its boards feature adds a second layer of UX complexity but also more organizing power.

Recommendation:

• Test customer flows on mobile first, as a sizable share of wishlist activity often comes from mobile shoppers.

Analytics, Data & Privacy

Event Tracking

Ultimate Wishlist includes reporting on wishlist adds, page views, and added-to-cart events, plus Facebook pixel integration at the Premium tier. These events are actionable for merchandising and paid media optimization.

First Wish reports best-performing products and wishlist activity with an admin dashboard. Explicit marketing pixel support is not listed.

Data Ownership & Export

Neither app’s description elaborates on data export capabilities or formats. Merchants should confirm:

• Can wishlist data be exported as CSV?
• Are user identifiers (email, customer ID) included for joined analytics?
• How long is data retained?

Privacy considerations:

• Ensure that guest wishlist behavior and email reminders comply with local regulations (e.g., consent rules for marketing emails).
• Review data retention policies before installing any third-party app.

Support, Reviews & Reliability

Marketplace Feedback

• Ultimate Wishlist: 34 reviews, 4.9 rating — indicates broad marketplace validation and positive user experiences.
• First Wish: 1 review, 1.0 rating — limited marketplace validation and a very small sample size, which raises caution.

What the numbers suggest:

• A larger number of reviews with consistently high ratings (Ultimate Wishlist) is a strong signal of stability, active maintenance, and responsive support.
• A single low review for First Wish suggests the merchant should proceed carefully: request a demo, check recent update history, and confirm support SLAs.

Support Channels & Responsiveness

Neither app’s supplied data lists support channels. Merchants should verify:

• Availability of email/live chat support.
• Documentation and setup guides.
• Service-level expectations for bug fixes and compatibility with theme updates.

Security, Compliance & Maintenance

Key questions to ask before installing any wishlist app:

• Does the app follow Shopify best practices for script inclusion?
• Are login and account syncs implemented using secure, token-based methods?
• Does the app maintain transparent changelogs and compatibility notes for Shopify updates?

Ultimate Wishlist’s Facebook pixel integration and reporting suggest a marketing-oriented feature set; confirm that pixel events are accurate and aligned with store analytics to avoid misattributed conversions.

Performance and Scalability

Comparing add limits and plan thresholds gives a sense of how each app scales:

• Ultimate Wishlist caps range from 500 adds/month (free) to 10,000 adds/month (Premium).
• First Wish scales to 50,000 wishlist adds/month at its Pro tier.

Decision factors:

• Small to medium stores with moderate wishlist activity will likely be served by Ultimate Wishlist’s upper tiers at lower cost.
• High-volume stores that expect tens of thousands of adds may need First Wish’s high-limit plans — but must weigh the trade-off against feature breadth and marketplace trust.

Migration & Switching Considerations

For merchants moving between wishlist providers, consider the following checklist:

• Export existing wishlist data in a usable format (CSV) with customer identifiers.
• Map wishlist item IDs and product variants to ensure accuracy.
• Plan a transition period where both apps coexist while verifying data integrity.
• Update marketing automations tied to wishlist events to point to the new provider’s events or webhooks.
• Communicate with customers if wishlist experience changes (e.g., board structure vs single list).

Both Ultimate Wishlist and First Wish should be tested in a staging environment to ensure data continuity and customer experience before decommissioning previous apps.

Use Cases: Which App Fits Which Merchant?

• Merchants on a tight budget who need a reputable, customizable wishlist with email reminders and analytics: Ultimate Wishlist is a solid choice thanks to a low-cost entry and feature set aligned to conversion.
• Merchants focused on social or collaborative shopping, gift registries, and multiple curated lists for events: First Wish’s boards feature and sharing focus provide direct value.
• Merchants needing enterprise-level retention features (loyalty, referrals, reviews) in addition to wishlists: consider an integrated platform that reduces the number of separate apps required to run retention programs.

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

App Fatigue and the Cost of Tool Sprawl

As stores scale, adding one narrowly focused app after another often leads to complexity that undermines the original efficiency gains. Common costs of tool sprawl include:

• Multiple monthly subscriptions that add up faster than expected.
• Fragmented customer data across apps, making it hard to build a single customer profile.
• Integration and maintenance overhead when apps conflict with theme updates or each other.
• Harder attribution for marketing and loyalty because events are scattered.

This practical friction is often called "app fatigue." Consolidating essential retention features into fewer tools reduces operational risk and accelerates growth.

Growave’s "More Growth, Less Stack" Value Proposition

Growave positions itself as a flexible retention platform that brings wishlist functionality together with loyalty, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers. The core idea is to reduce tool sprawl so merchants can spend less time managing integrations and more time optimizing retention strategies.

Why consolidation matters:

• When wishlist events feed directly into loyalty or referral programs, merchants can reward expressed purchase intent (e.g., reward points for wishlisting, targeted referral offers).
• Integrated reviews and UGC make social proof available at the moment of wishlist-to-cart conversion.
• Consolidated reporting gives a single source of truth for customer engagement and LTV calculations.

Merchants who want to consolidate retention features under one subscription can reduce both cost and complexity while unlocking cross-program tactics.

Core Capabilities That Complement Wishlists

Growave bundles multiple retention tools that interact with wishlist data:

• Loyalty programs to reward repeat purchases and engagement, helping to increase lifetime value and retention. Merchants can design custom point actions and VIP tiers to encourage repeat behavior, building up a more predictable revenue stream with loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• Reviews & UGC tools to collect and display product feedback, improving conversion and SEO. When wishlist-adds correlate with review campaigns, merchandisers can prioritize outreach for highly wishlisted products and collect and showcase authentic reviews.
• Referrals that turn satisfied customers into new-customer acquisition channels by rewarding advocacy.
• Wishlist capability built into the same platform, removing the need for a separate script and ensuring wishlist events are available to loyalty, referral, and review rules instantly.

This combined approach reduces integration effort and creates more ways to convert wishlists into revenue through targeted rewards and social proof.

Integration & Ecosystem Advantages

Growave lists a wide set of integrations and platform compatibilities that matter for scaling merchants, including integration with popular marketing and support tools. For merchants considering a consolidated approach, choices become simpler and more strategic:

• Native integrations with email and support tools reduce the manual mapping of wishlist events into marketing automations.
• Support for Shopify Plus and advanced enterprise workflows allows seamless scaling for larger merchants looking for solutions for high-growth Plus brands.

By keeping wishlist data inside a broader retention platform, merchants unlock richer customer segments (e.g., “highly wishlisted but low converted”) and can apply targeted campaigns without additional middleware.

How Consolidation Improves KPIs

A unified retention stack helps improve measurable outcomes:

• Higher conversion from wishlist to cart because wishlist adds trigger personalized reminders, points, or limited-time offers.
• Increased repeat purchase rate as loyalty and wishlist signals inform VIP segmentation and rewards.
• Better CAC efficiency when referral and review programs leverage engaged wishlisters as advocates.

If consolidation sounds appealing, evaluating platform pricing is a practical next step. Merchants can compare standalone wishlist subscription costs with the broader value unlocked by integrating loyalty, referrals, and reviews. See how pricing scales when multiple retention channels are bundled versus paying for separate single-purpose apps: review options to consolidate retention features.

Real-World Considerations When Choosing Consolidation

• Control vs. Convenience: Single-purpose apps sometimes offer slightly more focused interfaces or lightweight footprints. Consolidated platforms may add more features than immediately necessary but provide strategic upside as the store grows.
• Migration Complexity: Moving wishlist data into a unified platform requires careful mapping. Platforms that provide onboarding support or a migration path reduce friction.
• Cost Efficiency: Bundling multiple retention tools under one plan can deliver better value for money than subscribing to several point solutions.

For merchants evaluating consolidation, a natural next step is to see the product in action and ask specific questions about migration and support. Merchants can try the integrated app on Shopify or review plan options to compare costs against existing subscriptions on other apps.

Using Growave to Replace or Complement Existing Wishlist Apps

Growave’s approach offers an alternative to maintaining separate wishlists and retention tools:

• Wishlist features are embedded alongside loyalty rules so points or rewards can be issued based on wishlist behavior.
• Review collection and display can be tied to wishlisted items to prioritize social proof for high-intent products.
• Referral campaigns can be targeted to customers who appear in wishlists as “high intent” segments.

Merchants considering switching from single-purpose wishlist apps should evaluate Growave’s plans relative to current monthly spend and long-term retention goals by reviewing pricing and plan features on Growave’s plans page: compare options to consolidate retention features.

How to Evaluate Growave for an Existing Store

• Check compatibility with existing marketing stack and review integrations.
• Request onboarding or migration support if moving data from an existing wishlist app.
• Test wishlist UX in a staging environment and confirm how loyalty rules and review prompts trigger based on wishlist events.

For a closer look or personalized walkthrough, merchants can try the integrated app on Shopify and explore how wishlist, loyalty, and reviews can work together to lift retention.

Final Comparison Summary: Which App Is Best For Whom?

For merchants choosing between Ultimate Wishlist and First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards, the decision comes down to the specific wishlist behavior and scale needs:

• Best for simple, conversion-focused wishlists with reminders and analytics: Ultimate Wishlist (Config Studio). It provides robust customization, reminder automation, and strong marketplace validation (34 reviews, 4.9 rating) at an accessible price point.
• Best for curated, shareable boards and social list creation: First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards (Vellir). The boards feature and higher add limits can suit stores with collaborative shopping scenarios, though limited marketplace feedback suggests careful due diligence.

Beyond these two single-purpose options, merchants who care about long-term retention and want to avoid adding multiple apps should consider an integrated retention platform that combines wishlist features with loyalty, referrals, and reviews. Consolidation simplifies operations and unlocks cross-program tactics that single apps cannot deliver alone. For merchants interested in exploring a unified solution and pricing that bundles these capabilities, review options to consolidate retention features and see how wishlist behavior feeds loyalty and review programs.

Start a 14-day free trial to explore how combining wishlist, loyalty, and reviews in one platform can reduce tool sprawl and drive higher lifetime value: Start a free trial

Practical Checklist: What To Test Before Installing Any Wishlist App

• Confirm add limits and expected wishlist volume match business needs.
• Verify support channels and response times.
• Test customization: theme match, buttons, translations, and mobile UX.
• Validate analytics: export capability, pixel integration, and event naming consistency.
• Assess email reminder capability and its alignment with marketing flows.
• Measure storefront performance impact in staging: page load and Lighthouse score.
• Plan data migration/export to avoid losing wishlist history.

FAQ

Q: Which wishlist app is more reliable based on marketplace feedback? A: Based on available marketplace data, Ultimate Wishlist has broader validation with 34 reviews and a 4.9 rating, suggesting more consistent reliability and positive user experiences. First Wish has a single review and a 1.0 rating, which is insufficient to demonstrate consistent performance; merchants should request more information and support details before committing.

Q: If a merchant needs email reminders and marketing pixel integration, which app fits those needs? A: Ultimate Wishlist explicitly includes customizable email reminders (in paid plans) and Facebook pixel integration on the Premium plan. First Wish’s description does not list reminder automation or pixel support; merchants requiring these features will find Ultimate Wishlist better aligned with marketing automation and re-engagement strategies.

Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized wishlist apps? A: An all-in-one platform consolidates wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews under one subscription, reducing integration overhead and centralizing customer data. This enables richer cross-program tactics (e.g., rewarding wishlisting behavior, targeting wishlisters with review requests) and typically delivers better long-term value for merchants focused on retention. Merchants can review consolidated options and pricing to weigh short-term app cost against long-term retention benefits by comparing plans to consolidate retention features.

Q: What should merchants consider about free plans for each app? A: Free plans are a good way to test UX and basic functionality. Ultimate Wishlist’s free plan caps adds at 500/month but includes reporting and customization. First Wish’s free plan allows 1,000 wishlist adds/month and supports anonymous and logged-in customers. Evaluate whether reporting, reminders, or add capacity matter more for the intended use case.

For merchants evaluating their retention stack, choosing the right wishlist app is an important step, but it is also vital to consider how wishlist data will be used across loyalty, referrals, and reviews as the business scales. Consolidating retention tools limits complexity and can accelerate growth by turning wishlists into repeat purchase drivers and richer customer segments. For more concrete comparisons and hands-on guidance, explore options to consolidate retention features or try the integrated app on Shopify.