Most stores install forty apps and need about ten. Every one of them adds a monthly fee and, usually, a script to every page. These guides pick one app per job, installed on a real store and kept long enough to find out what breaks.
The app guides
How we judge an app
Four questions, in this order. Does it do the job without a workaround? What does it cost at the size you will actually be in a year, not at the free tier? What does it add to your page load — measured on the same store, with and without it? And what happens to your work if you uninstall it or change theme?
That last question rules out more apps than the first three combined. An app that owns your product pages, your reviews or your email list is a decision you make once and live with for years.
A word on the word “plugin”
If you have come from WordPress you will be searching for Shopify plugins. Shopify calls them apps, and they work differently: they are hosted by the developer and billed through your Shopify account rather than installed as code on your store. Same idea, different trade-offs — chiefly that you cannot read the source of what you are installing.
Start your free trialSponsored link
We earn a commission if you sign up through the links on this page. We pay for every tool we test and no brand sees a draft before it goes live. How this site makes money.