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

Introduction

Choosing the right wishlist app is one of the small decisions that can have a measurable impact on conversion, retention, and average order value. Shopify merchants face hundreds of single-purpose tools that promise similar results, but differences in features, scalability, and support determine whether a tool becomes a growth lever or a maintenance headache.

Short answer: Wishlist Wizard is a straightforward, no-frills wishlist tool that suits merchants who want reliable list functionality and device sync at a fixed monthly price. First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards offers more tiered usage limits and board/curation features that appeal to stores with higher wishlist activity, but some merchants may find its user experience and support less consistent given its current rating. For stores that need more than a single-purpose wishlist — a unified retention stack including loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists — an integrated platform can deliver better long-term value than stitching multiple apps together.

This post provides a feature-by-feature comparison of Wishlist Wizard (Devsinc) and First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards (Vellir), using product data and pricing to highlight strengths, weaknesses, and ideal use cases. After a fair comparison, the article explains why an integrated retention platform can reduce tool sprawl and improve customer lifetime value.

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

Deep Dive Comparison

Product Positioning and Target Merchant

Wishlist Wizard: Focused wishlist, predictable pricing

Wishlist Wizard positions itself as a focused wishlist solution. The core proposition is simple: let shoppers bookmark products, sync across devices, and share lists. The pricing is straightforward: unlimited products and customers on both plans, with an incremental Pro plan that unlocks back-in-stock notifications. This makes Wishlist Wizard a predictable cost for merchants who want a single-function tool without surprise usage limits.

Strengths in positioning:

• Predictable per-month cost.
• Unlimited products and customers on both plans.
• Cross-device sync that supports logged-in accounts and guest behavior.

Potential downsides:

• Limited analytics and no loyalty/referral features.
• Smaller team and fewer reviews to validate long-term reliability.

First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards: Feature-rich lists and curation

First Wish presents a slightly broader feature set: anonymous and logged-in wishlist support, curated "boards" that customers can create and share, and an admin dashboard with wishlist metrics. Its pricing tiers scale based on monthly wishlist adds, which can align with stores that expect high wishlist volume.

Strengths in positioning:

• Boards for curated lists add social and gifting use cases.
• Tiered pricing can be cost-effective for early-stage stores (Free plan) and scale with demand.
• Admin dashboard provides activity reports and product performance signals.

Potential downsides:

• Usage caps can create billing complexity or upgrade pressure for high-traffic stores.
• The current single review with a low rating suggests potential quality or support issues that require caution.

Features and Functionality

Compare the functional building blocks merchants use to influence conversion and retention.

Wishlist creation, persistence, and sharing

Wishlist Wizard:

• Lets customers save items for later and view lists across devices.
• Sharing via email and social platforms is supported.
• Emphasizes simple bookmark-and-return workflows.

First Wish:

• Supports anonymous and registered users, with synchronization for logged-in customers.
• Customers can create multiple curated boards and choose privacy levels for sharing.
• Sharing works across social, email, and messaging apps.

Assessment: Both apps cover the basic behaviors customers expect from wishlists. First Wish’s boards expand the wishlist into a curation tool for gifting and social sharing, which can increase referral traffic and conversions for category-driven or gift-oriented stores. Wishlist Wizard keeps the experience simple and reliable, which minimizes UI friction.

Advanced behaviors: back-in-stock, notifications, and device sync

Wishlist Wizard:

• Back-in-stock alerts are available on the Pro plan ($20/mo).
• Device sync is highlighted for both Android and iPhone.

First Wish:

• Does not list built-in back-in-stock notifications in the provided plan descriptions.
• Synchronization across devices is available for logged-in customers.

Assessment: If back-in-stock alerts are important to recovering lost sales, Wishlist Wizard’s Pro plan is a clear differentiator. For non-logged-in customers, Wishlist Wizard’s device sync claim may be an advantage, but merchants should validate implementation specifics before committing.

Admin tools and analytics

Wishlist Wizard:

• Minimal detail provided on analytics or admin dashboards.
• Appears to focus on customer-facing wishlist functionality rather than store analytics.

First Wish:

• Offers an admin dashboard with usage metrics, best-performing products, and activity reports.
• Customizable labels and translations provide localization options.

Assessment: First Wish has the edge on admin insights, which helps merchants spot wishlist trends and product interest. However, the depth of analytics is not fully detailed; merchants needing robust reporting should test dashboards in the app trial.

Customization and theming

Wishlist Wizard:

• Core features are emphasized; customization details are sparse.
• Merchants should expect standard brand alignment and some layout options but confirm CSS or template compatibility.

First Wish:

• Mentions customizable and translatable labels.
• Boards and list UI likely have more elements to configure.

Assessment: First Wish may offer more visible front-end options given boards and sharing controls. Wishlist Wizard’s simplicity can be beneficial for stores that want maintenance-free behavior that conforms to existing themes.

Pricing and Value for Money

Pricing decisions depend on usage patterns, expected wishlist volume, and desire for complementary features like back-in-stock alerts or analytics.

Wishlist Wizard pricing snapshot

• Standard Plan: $15 / month — Unlimited products and customers, no back-in-stock.
• Pro Plan: $20 / month — Unlimited products and customers, includes back-in-stock.

Value considerations:

• Predictable monthly fee with unlimited scale for products and customers is attractive for merchants expecting growth in catalog size or customer count.
• Back-in-stock inclusion on Pro for an extra $5/mo is a reasonable upsell for stores that rely on stock notifications to drive purchases.

First Wish pricing snapshot

• Free: Free — Wishlist for anonymous and logged-in customers, 1,000 wishlist adds/month.
• Beginner: $9.90 / month — 5,000 wishlist adds/month, unlimited boards, board sharing.
• Advanced: $19.90 / month — 20,000 wishlist adds/month.
• Pro: $29.90 / month — 50,000 wishlist adds/month.

Value considerations:

• Usage-based pricing via “wishlist adds/month” matches activity and may be more cost-efficient for low-traffic stores.
• The Free plan is a low-risk way to test feature fit, but the 1,000-add cap can be quickly exceeded for stores with high browsing volumes.
• As wishlist activity grows, merchants may face incremental upgrades; planning for peaks (seasonal gifting, promotions) is necessary.

Which pricing model fits which merchant?

• Low-activity or test-phase stores: First Wish’s Free or Beginner plans present low startup costs and board features that can help with social sharing.
• Growing stores or those with large catalogs: Wishlist Wizard’s unlimited model simplifies forecasting and avoids surprise upgrades.
• Stores that need a mix of wishlist functionality plus loyalty, review collection, and referral programs: Single-purpose wishlist apps provide limited cross-feature synergies; a multi-feature platform can offer better value for money over time.

Integrations and Platform Compatibility

Interoperability matters when wishlist events are used to trigger emails, loyalty actions, or inventory workflows.

Wishlist Wizard:

• Works with standard Shopify storefronts and claims device sync. No extensive integration matrix is listed in the provided data.
• Merchants should verify compatibility with marketing automation platforms and checkout processes before signing up.

First Wish:

• Focuses on wishlist activity reporting, with customization and translation options.
• Integration specifics (Klaviyo, Recharge, or other platforms) are not explicitly listed in the supplied description.

Integrator assessment:

• Neither app lists deep third-party integrations in the provided data. Merchants who rely on email automations, segmentation, or loyalty triggers should confirm event-level webhooks, data exports, or direct integrations.
• For brands that require built-in ties between wishlist events and retention workflows, an integrated platform reduces integration overhead.

Implementation, Performance, and Reliability

Installation and setup

Wishlist Wizard:

• Marketed as straightforward to install. Simplicity aligns with fewer configuration options.

First Wish:

• Advertised as easy to install; boards and admin setup may require extra steps to configure language, labels, or share settings.

Assessment: Both apps are positioned for fast setup. The real test is theme compatibility, mobile responsiveness, and conflict-free operation with other apps. Confirming a sandbox or demo environment helps catch potential issues.

Load, responsiveness, and mobile UX

Merchants should assess:

• How fast wishlist buttons render on product and collection pages.
• Whether wishlists are accessible via mobile without excessive clicks.
• The experience of saving items for guest users vs. logged-in customers.

Both apps claim device sync and mobile-friendly behavior, but the only way to validate performance is through live testing, particularly on stores with custom themes or heavy third-party scripts.

Support, Documentation, and Community Feedback

Support quality and documentation can be decisive when an app requires customization or experiences issues.

Wishlist Wizard:

• Small number of public reviews (1) but high rating (5.0) — the sample is too small to generalize reliable support quality.
• Merchants should evaluate response time SLAs and availability of onboarding help.

First Wish:

• Also has only 1 public review, but the rating is 1.0 — a signal that at least one merchant had a poor experience.
• The existence of an admin dashboard and customization options implies the need for accessible documentation and responsive support; the rating suggests investigating support before committing.

Guidance:

• For both apps, request support response time examples, access to setup guides, and a test period to confirm vendor responsiveness.
• Look for changelogs, release notes, or a community forum to evaluate ongoing development and bug fixes.

Security, Privacy, and Data Ownership

Wishlist data often ties to customer accounts and should respect privacy regulations and merchant data ownership.

Points for merchants to verify:

• Whether wishlist data is stored only in Shopify or also on vendor servers.
• Export options and data portability.
• Compliance with GDPR and other regional privacy rules.

Neither app’s supplied descriptions included explicit privacy or data residency details. Merchants should request documentation from developers before installation.

Customization, Theming, and Developer Access

Customization matters for brand cohesion and conversion optimization.

Wishlist Wizard:

• Appears streamlined; merchants can usually expect basic theme settings and minimal CSS hooks.

First Wish:

• Offers customizable labels and translations, which is useful for multi-language stores and branding.

Developer-friendliness:

• Merchants with in-house developers or agencies should ask for APIs, JavaScript events, CSS selectors, and sample code to integrate wishlist events into marketing flows.

Use Cases and Merchant Recommendations

Below are practical recommendations based on common store priorities.

• For stores prioritizing simplicity and predictable cost: Wishlist Wizard is well-suited for merchants who want a minimal, reliable wishlist with unlimited products/customers and an inexpensive back-in-stock option. The flat monthly fee simplifies budgeting.
• For stores focused on social sharing, gifting, and curation: First Wish’s boards and sharing functionality are tailored to merchants whose audiences create curated lists (e.g., gift registries, bridal/baby lists, mood boards). Tiered plans allow scaling usage costs with activity.
• For merchants who want to combine wishlist signals with loyalty, reviews, or referrals: Single-function wishlist apps can be limiting. If the goal is to use wishlist behavior to power loyalty points, trigger review requests, or feed personalized email automations, a unified platform may be a better choice.
• For stores anticipating heavy wishlist volume: First Wish’s usage tiers accommodate high volumes but require monitoring of wishlist adds to avoid unexpected upgrades. Wishlist Wizard’s unlimited model avoids usage anxieties but verify that performance holds under load.

Strengths and Weaknesses Summary

Wishlist Wizard (Devsinc)

• Strengths: Simple setup, unlimited products/customers, device sync, affordable back-in-stock feature.
• Weaknesses: Minimal analytics, smaller user base and public feedback, limited cross-feature integrations.

First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards (Vellir)

• Strengths: Curated boards, richer admin metrics, tiered pricing that can be cost-effective for low-activity stores, free plan to trial.
• Weaknesses: Usage caps may require upgrades, low public rating suggests support or UX concerns, limited info on integrations.

Real-World Decision Framework

When deciding between Wishlist Wizard and First Wish, merchants should run through the following checklist before committing:

• Identify primary objective: Is the wishlist primarily for personal use (save-for-later) or social curation (boards, gifting)?
• Estimate monthly wishlist activity: Do projected wishlist adds align with a fixed-fee or usage-based model?
• Confirm integration needs: Will wishlist events be used to trigger emails, loyalty actions, or back-in-stock workflows?
• Test mobile UX across common devices and theme variants.
• Validate support responsiveness with specific technical questions prior to purchase.
• Review privacy and data export capabilities.

This pragmatic decision framework helps merchants match features to outcomes: retain customers, increase lifetime value, and reduce churn.

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

Single-purpose wishlist apps solve a narrow problem well, but build-up of multiple single-point solutions creates "app fatigue." App fatigue occurs when a merchant uses many different apps that each solve one problem, leading to duplication of features, higher cumulative costs, more maintenance, and fragmented customer data. The result is higher operational overhead and weaker retention strategies because signals (wishlist saves, referrals, review submissions, loyalty behavior) live in silos.

A different approach is a unified retention platform that combines wishlist functionality with loyalty programs, referrals, reviews, and VIP tiers. This reduces the number of integrations, preserves event-level data in one place, and enables cross-feature workflows (for example, awarding loyalty points when a wishlist item is purchased or using wishlist interest to drive personalized review requests).

Growave’s philosophy — "More Growth, Less Stack" — centers on that consolidation. Rather than adding another single-purpose tool to an already crowded stack, merchants can consolidate retention features and reduce long-term complexity while unlocking deeper, more actionable customer insights.

How consolidation changes outcomes

• Retain customers: When wishlist signals feed directly into a loyalty program, merchants can target re-engagement with points or discounts for items customers have saved.
• Increase lifetime value: Combining referrals, loyalty rewards, and reviews provides multiple touchpoints that encourage repeat purchases and social acquisition.
• Reduce churn: A single integrated dataset avoids loss of signals when switching tools or performing data exports.

Growave features that address wishlist and retention needs

Growave bundles wishlist capabilities into a larger retention suite. Key components to evaluate:

• Loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases: Merchants can design points, rewards, and custom actions that react to wishlist events and purchases.
• Collect and showcase authentic reviews: Review collection and display help convert traffic that originated from saved lists or social shares.
• Solutions for high-growth Plus brands: Enterprise features and integrations, including checkout extensions, API access, and dedicated launch plans, support scaling merchants.

Each of these components works together. For example, a customer adds items to a wishlist, receives a targeted email via an integrated reviews or marketing platform, redeems loyalty points when they purchase, and shares a curated board — all tracked within the same retention ecosystem.

Integrations and operational benefits

An integrated platform removes the need to map wishlist events to external tools manually. For merchants relying on email automation or subscription billing, a unified system reduces data loss and increases actionable automation opportunities. Merchants can also:

• Consolidate billing and reduce per-app overhead.
• Maintain a single source of truth for customer loyalty status, review history, and wishlist behavior.
• Reduce friction when launching campaigns tied to product interest.

For merchants evaluating consolidation, it’s useful to compare total cost of ownership across fragmented stacks versus a single platform that includes multiple retention tools. To explore pricing tiers and map expected order volumes to feature access, merchants can use Growave’s pricing page to see how consolidation aligns with budget and growth expectations. Merchants can also add the platform via the official app channel to test in a live store environment.

Use cases where an all-in-one platform is superior

• Medium and large merchants who want to translate wishlist interest into repeat purchases through points and rewards.
• Stores that run referral and loyalty campaigns and want to use wishlist behavior for segmentation.
• Merchants on Shopify Plus or stores requiring headless or custom integrations — enterprise-level integrations simplify deployment.
• Stores that want to reduce app count and centralize customer engagement data.

How to evaluate a unified platform

When assessing an all-in-one alternative, prioritize:

• Depth of each module (loyalty, reviews, wishlist, referrals), not just the existence of modules.
• Integration compatibility with existing systems (email, subscriptions, CRM).
• Support, onboarding, and migration assistance.
• Pricing tiers that align with order volume and expected growth.

Merchants can review customer stories and examples of brands that consolidated retention features to see practical results. These customer insights help measure impact beyond feature lists and quantify outcomes like increased repeat purchase rate and improved LTV.

Explore consolidation and test drive

Merchants interested in reducing tool sprawl should:

• Compare total monthly spend of existing apps to an integrated plan.
• Map common workflows (e.g., wishlist save → email → purchase) to confirm reduced complexity.
• Request data migration or onboarding assistance to keep historic wishlist and loyalty data centralized.

For immediate next steps, merchants can review plan details to estimate costs and compare features across tiers. Merchants can also add the app from the Shopify App Store to run live tests on staging themes and confirm compatibility.

(Links and further details about plan comparisons and features are available on the pricing page and the Shopify App Store.)

Migration and Implementation Considerations

Switching from single-purpose wishlist apps to a unified platform involves some planning.

Migration checklist:

• Export existing wishlist data: Ensure customers’ saved items and boards can be exported for import.
• Preserve customer identifiers: Match wishlist entries to customer accounts to maintain continuity.
• Update front-end templates: Replace wishlist buttons/markup with the new platform’s components or SDK.
• Reconnect downstream automations: Map wishlist triggers to automations in the marketing stack.
• Test edge cases: Guest checkouts, multiple devices, and seasonal peaks should be validated.

An integrated provider typically offers onboarding assistance and a migration path. Verify the level of onboarding support, especially for merchants with large customer bases or complex theme customizations.

Support and Resources When You Need Help

Merchants should validate support scope before committing:

• Response times and support channels (email, live chat, phone).
• Dedicated onboarding or customer success for higher-tier plans.
• Documentation, developer guides, and community resources.
• Case studies or inspiration pages that show tactical deployments.

An integrated platform’s support model is often more extensive because it covers multiple retention functions. Merchants planning to consolidate should weigh the difference in vendor support quality against the cumulative complexity of maintaining multiple single-purpose vendors.

Cost-Benefit Perspective: Feature Richness vs. Maintenance Overhead

A single wishlist app can be inexpensive initially, but adding separate apps for loyalty, referrals, and reviews increases monthly costs and integration demands. Evaluate the following:

• Monthly app costs versus incremental revenue driven by retention features.
• Time cost for maintaining multiple apps, resolving conflicts, and updating theme code.
• Opportunity cost of fragmented customer data that limits personalization.

An integrated platform that consolidates features may present a higher single monthly cost but offers better value for money when factoring in reduced maintenance, consolidated billing, and deeper cross-feature automations.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Wishlist Wizard and First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards, the decision comes down to priorities and expected wishlist volume. Wishlist Wizard is a solid option for stores that want a simple, unlimited-product wishlist experience with an affordable back-in-stock option. First Wish appeals to merchants that want curated boards, tiered usage levels, and an admin dashboard for usage metrics, but merchants should assess actual app performance, support, and how usage caps align with peak demand.

However, merchants that aim to convert wishlist engagement into measurable increases in retention and lifetime value should consider a unified retention solution. Consolidating wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews reduces tool sprawl, centralizes customer signals, and enables cross-feature automation that single-purpose apps cannot deliver in isolation. Merchants can compare plans and features and see how consolidation affects their stack and costs by reviewing Growave’s pricing and installing the app from the Shopify App Store.

Start a 14-day free trial to see how an integrated retention stack accelerates growth.

(For merchants who want to deep-dive into loyalty program design or review automation, additional resources and feature details are available on Growave’s product pages.)

FAQ

Q: Which app is better for a store that only needs a basic save-for-later feature? A: For a single, reliable save-for-later wishlist without analytics or cross-feature needs, Wishlist Wizard is a straightforward choice because of its unlimited products/customers and simple pricing. If a free trial or boards are desired, First Wish’s Free plan offers an easy way to test curated list functionality.

Q: Which app handles high wishlist volume more cost-effectively? A: If wishlist adds are predictable and high, Wishlist Wizard’s unlimited product/customer model avoids incremental upgrade costs, making it simpler to forecast spend. First Wish’s tiered wishlist-add limits can be cost-effective for lower volumes but require monitoring during peak periods to avoid surprise upgrades.

Q: How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps? A: An integrated platform consolidates wishlist, loyalty, reviews, and referrals, enabling cross-feature automations and centralized data. This reduces maintenance and improves long-term value by using wishlist signals to trigger loyalty rewards, personalized emails, or review requests. For merchants looking to increase repeat purchases and LTV, consolidation often offers better value for money than multiple single-purpose apps.

Q: Can wishlist behavior be used to trigger loyalty rewards or email automations? A: Yes — but only if the wishlist solution supports event-level integrations or is part of a platform that includes loyalty and email triggers. An integrated retention platform eliminates extra work by providing built-in workflows that react to wishlist events and customer actions.