Congratulations on choosing Shopify as your platform for your online store! You made a wise decision. Shopify is a top choice for many e-commerce entrepreneurs, and for good reason.
In addition to being an overall solid platform, it has a vibrant app store with third-party solutions to solve just about any problem you have.
And questions we often get from our clients are:
“Which apps should I get on Shopify?” or “Which app will increase my store’s revenue?”
That’s why we’ve compiled this list of must-have Shopify apps for any new business. Even if you’re already a seasoned Shopify app user, we’re sure you’ll find some valuable insights here.
1. Growave
What it does:
A swiss-army-knife of Shopify apps, Growave empowers your Shopify store with product reviews, wishlists, loyalty programs, referrals, social login, and Instagram UGC.
Why you need it:
Are you a small or medium-sized Shopify store? You’ll gonna like managing loyalty & rewards, reviews, wishlist, UGC, and more from one place instead of paying for several separate apps.
How much it costs:
At $19 you can get a Starter plan (100 orders support) with all main features included. If you want to go bigger, a $99 Growth plan supports up to 1000 orders.
2. Lifetimely
What it does:
Lifetimely tracks the value of customers for your Shopify store over time – project customer LTV, understand KPIs and daily metrics to help with overall growth. Then, it helps you predict future customer behavior based on that data.
Why you need it:
There’s a lot you don’t know about your customers, and when you make business decisions without information, you get it wrong a lot of the time.
Lifetimely uses AI to help you know how much you can expect to earn from your customers with scary accuracy. When you understand why and when your customers will spend, you can make smart decisions about how to invest in nurturing those customers.
How much it costs:
For simple profit and loss reporting, it costs $19 per month. Luckily, there is a 14-day free trial before truly diving in.
Once you have some order history under your belt, you’ll want to move up to the super-advanced, Skynet-level predictive modeling, which is up to $99 a month. But the basics will get you started and we believe you will be truly impressed.
3. Omnisend
What it does:
Omisend is a one-stop shop for crafting and automating personalized campaigns with ease. Create your own or use our pre-built templates. Want to trigger workflows? No problem! Plus, it integrates with eCommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce.
Why you need it:
So you can have a comprehensive email and SMS marketing strategy By using Omnisend, you can reach your customers where they are, whether it’s by email, SMS or push notifications.
How much it costs:
There’s a forever free plan that includes all of the platform’s features, including free SMS credits, but with a limit of 250 email contacts. After that, it starts at $16 per month and scales up depending on your specific needs and the number of contacts you have.
4.UpPromote
What it does:
UpPromote helps you create and manage affiliate campaigns with ease. With an intuitive setup and automated functions, you’ll be up and running in no time. Plus, you can build unlimited programs, and track every click and sale with precision
Why you need it:
It can help you can build an army of affiliates in no time with customizable commission offers. Plus, keep tabs on every click and sale, and easily discover new affiliates with our marketplace feature.
How much it costs:
Depends, the tool has a different offer for different business sizes, but there’s a free plan Besides, UpPromote also implements customization upon request for Enterprise customers.
5. Lucky Orange
What it does:
This app is one of our favorites. It tracks your site visitors’ actions and behavior on your site.
Allows you to playback recordings of a visitor’s session and create dynamic “heatmaps” showing you what parts of your site draw the most attention.
Why you need it:
It provides data to help answer one of the most important questions you have:
Why do some people convert and others don’t?
Where do people drop off?
Where do I need to bring back their attention?
The better you get at answering these, the better you’ll be at attracting the right people to your online store and convert them.
How much it costs:
There’s a free trial that you should take advantage of for 7 days.
Once you’re convinced that you need Lucky Orange, paid plans start at $10 per month. It’s worth getting it for a few months to get that data and then act on it.
6. Gorgias
What it does:
It creates a customer support hub for your Shopify store. Reduces response time to requests and automates a bunch of common support questions so you have more time to focus on making more money.
Why you need it:
Good customer service is a critical differentiating factor for any business these days.
People can get the same needs fulfilled by a similar product, but they’ll return for yours if you treat them right. They help turn your helpdesk into a problem-free profit center.
How much it costs:
It starts at $60 per month, but it’s worth it if it gives you time back. No free plan 👎
7. Yotpo
What it does:
What doesn’t it do is a better question.
Use it to display user-generated content (UGC) and reviews, create loyalty programs, collect user ratings, and direct Google organic traffic to your store.
And much more.
Why you need it:
Brand-building is a serious undertaking, and a big part of getting it right is finding what people say about your brand and using it to your advantage.
Yotpo helps you manage and curate user-generated content to your advantage. It also helps make your store look really credible and legitimate. Like we always say, let the customers do the selling through the testimonials.
How much it costs:
Bupkis! It’s got a free plan for up to 50 monthly orders.
But… the free plan will only make you want to sign up for the premium plan, which will be around $30+ per month.
8. Klaviyo
What it does:
Email and SMS marketing. And the best CRM to connect to social advertising.
Set-and-forget email and SMS marketing campaigns with pre-built templates, dynamic forms, and easy automation.
Why you need it:
Because you have to use email marketing to make a D2C Shopify store succeed. We always say there is a 30-30-30 rule (30% paid, 30% organic, 30% email).
That’s right; we’re taking a solid position on this. If you’re not leveraging email marketing (and SMS marketing to a lesser extent), you’ll lose to businesses that do.
How much it costs:
Klaviyo has a killer free plan that will let you work with up to 250 email contacts.
Once you have more than 250 contacts on your list, you’ll be more than happy to pay the $20 for a basic paid plan.
9. ReConvert
What it does:
It gives you tools to optimize your order confirmation page. And ultimately, to help reconvert (who woulda thought) repeat customers.
Pretty simple, right?
Why you need it:
Have you heard of a little thing called average order value?
Of course, you have. We like it when the average order value goes up ☝️.
This app lets you turn a boring old thank-you page into an upselling and cross-selling machine. That makes the AOV go up, and everyone’s happy.
How much it costs:
Gratis for up to 50 orders a month; $7.99 and up beyond that.
10. Plug In SEO
What it does:
Search engine optimization. It has many tools that let you set up your Shopify store in a way that helps customers find you on search engines.
Why you need it:
Hopefully, you don’t need us to convince you that SEO is crucial for any online business. If we do, you’ve got bigger issues to worry about than these Shopify apps.
This app will help you fix what’s broken and set up what you’re missing. There are countless Shopify apps for SEO optimization out there, but this one gives you the most tools under one roof.
Easily boost ranking, traffic & sales with one simple plugin.
How much it costs:
Good news: Plug-in SEO has a free plan.
Bad news: That free plan is not very good. It allows you to do some advanced functions, but the bulk of what you’ll need is on the paid plan, which is $20 per month.
11. Wishlist Plus
What it does:
It allows your Shopify store customers to wishlist items and pick up where they left off when they return..
You can then use your customers’ wishlists to create personalized marketing campaigns through various channels.
Why you need it:
First and foremost, it improves your customer experience. Many people use wishlists to keep track of items they want and compare them with other items in your store.
You can also rely on wishlists to give you an idea of what you need to keep in stock and your production schedule.
And, you can get a lot of data out of wishlists. For example, what does it mean when many people wishlist an item but few buy it?
Figuring out the answer will let you know what to change to increase conversions. (Hint: it’s usually the price or shipping)
How much it costs:
Wishlist Plus has a free plan that allows up to 100 wishlist items and 5000 sessions per month.
That’s pretty meager but enough to get you wanting more. Works great for companies just starting. Paid plans start at $14.99 per month.
12. Wigzo
What it does:
It gives you the tools to automate a boatload of e-commerce functions using analytics to optimize across all channels.
You can use Wigzo to create entire customer journeys based on data. Sync up touchpoints when they’re most likely to convert, deploy behavioral actions, and nudge customers at every turn.
Plus, measure everything along the way, so you know what exactly you’re doing wrong and what you need to do more of.
Why you need it:
Running an e-commerce business is hard work. And the thing that makes it hardest is all the time it takes to keep track of all your marketing efforts.
With Wigzo, you can do the work of nine apps on a single dashboard.
Work smarter ➡️ save time ➡️ live happier.
How much it costs:
Nada. Wigzo boasts a 30-day free trial and a full-fledged free plan with unlimited web push subscribers and email capture.
But you’ll have to pay $5 per 1000 subscribers. A paltry sum for the value you’ll gain.
13. Optinmonster
What it does:
It provides you with a ton of clever ways to get people to opt-in; hence the name: Optinmonster.
Why you need it:
If you’ve ever watched Glengarry Glenn Ross, you know just how valuable leads are to a business. And you’ll soon find that getting quality leads solves about 80% of your problems as an e-commerce business owner. (You can’t really have a business without leads).
Optinmonster gets you those leads by serving up various lead magnets and opt-in implementations when people are most likely to pay attention.
How much it costs:
$14 per month for the basic plan, which is frankly enough for most businesses trying to get off the ground.
Once you have an established presence, the advanced plan will give you a whole suite of tools to capitalize on your progress.
14. Joy Loyalty
What it does:
Joy Loyalty is here to turn your casual shoppers into loyal customers with the magic of automatic points earning!
Say goodbye to complicated loyalty programs and hello to an app that does all the work for you. This app lets you create simple and effective popups that deliver big results.
And, as store owners ourselves, we know that popups are a double-edged sword. Joy Loyalty’s popups are far from intrusive and it’s easy to slice it naturally into your customer’s journey.
Why you need it:
Loyal customers are the bread and butter of any successful business, but who has time to manually manage a loyalty program? Joy Loyalty takes care of everything, from setting up earning and spending points to managing your customers’ rewards. And best of all, there’s no coding required!
How much it costs:
The free plan is a great way to start, with a limit of 250 orders per month, earning points for sign-ups and orders, and a simple redemption program.
Upgrade to the Pro plan for just $29 per month and enjoy unlimited orders, custom email styles, rewards in-store, and a few other nifty bits and bobs that we trust you will love.
15. Shipstation
What it does:
Organizes all your shipping channels and keeps track of your incoming orders, shipping status, etc.
It even gives you access to discounted shipping rates you didn’t even know were available.
Why you need it:
Two little words are becoming unavoidable in e-commerce these days: marketing automation.
Unfortunately, unless you’re looking for ways to leverage automation, you’re falling behind.
And that includes shipping and order processing automation. Shipstation will help you make great strides in that direction.
How much it costs:
Sadly, this baby doesn’t come with a free plan. But at $9 per month to start, it will pay for itself many times over within days.
16. SMS Bump
What it does:
It’s an app dedicated to making your SMS marketing automation easier for your Shopify store.
That includes things such as quickly creating custom flows, SMS segmentation, testing, automation, and many more features.
Why you need it:
SMS marketing is slowly but surely becoming the most effective marketing channel for many brands and product categories.
If you want to get serious about reaching your customers with SMS, this is one of the best Shopify apps to achieve that.
Other apps on this list, such as Yotpo, also enable some SMS marketing, but this is a dedicated SMS solution that provides a broader range of tools.
How much it costs:
SMS Bump has a free plan that will please most starting Shopify store owners and is enough to see if SMS is a marketing channel that will work for you.
You’ll still have to pay for SMSs sent on all plans, but the most affordable paid plan starts at $19 per month.
17. Product Recommendation Quiz
What it does:
Pretty much exactly what it says on the box.
It’s an app that lets you make quizzes for store visitors and then serves them customized product recommendations based on their answers.
This helps customers make choices when there are a lot of choices (colors, flavors, styles).
Why you need it:
As a new Shopify store owner, you’ll find that building a brand name is a pretty steep hill to climb. And quizzes are a terrific way to boost sales from first-time visitors until you’ve climbed that hill.
But that’s not all; you can leverage quizzes to reduce abandoned cart instances, capture leads, and much more.
We love to curate lead gen emails based on quiz results and it becomes highly effective.
How much it costs:
$39 per month for up to 500 quiz completions is a bit pricey. But, it has a generous free plan that allows up to 100 quiz completions per month.
Get Product Recommendation Quiz
18. Recharge
What it does:
Creates subscription plans for your products.
Why you need it:
Q: What’s better than getting someone to buy your fantastic product?
A: The recurring revenue from the same fantastic product to someone every month.
We put a lot of emphasis on lifetime customer value, and nothing boosts LTV like recurring payments.
Plus, subscriptions make it easier for you to do inventory management effectively and know what you need to have products back in stock.
How much it costs:
1% + 10 cents per transaction.
Other than the per-transaction price, you can pretty much get by on the free plan. The Pro plan gives you some advanced tools, but you don’t need it to get started.
19. Recart
What it does:
It lets you create personalized Facebook Messenger advertising campaigns for your Shopify store.
Why you need it:
Facebook’s Messenger is still a criminally underutilized space by most brands, making this one of the best Shopify apps to increase sales for specific product categories.
You can use Facebook Messenger marketing to do everything from boosting your conversion to capturing leads in a nigh-frictionless environment.
How much it costs:
Take it for a spin on the ample 28-day free trial.
If you like it, just keep using it because it has a free plan. But, as you generate more sales with Recart, the fee will go up when you sign up for a paid plan.
You’ll find Recart’s fee to be absolutely worth the investment.
20. Automizely Page Builder
What it does:
Automizely Page Builder is your one-stop shop for all things page building in your Shopify store.
Headache of designing pages from scratch = GOODBYE.
Beautifully optimized pages that convert shoppers into customers = HELLO and welcome.
With a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and pre-built templates, you’ll be able to build pages quickly and easily, so you can focus on what you do best: selling. And trust us on this:
Sooner or later, you will want more customization than your Shopify theme offers on its own.
Why you need it:
In the world of eCommerce, first impressions are everything. And with Automizely Page Builder, you can make sure your store’s pages are making the right impression.
This app gives you all the tools you need to design professional-looking pages that are optimized for conversions, so you can increase sales and grow your business.
How much it costs:
You can start with the 1-page plan for free, or upgrade to the Essentials plan for $25/month, which includes 25 pages and extra features like a sticky add-to-cart widget and saved sections.
No matter what plan you choose, you’ll get full access to the library of elements and basic page templates.
Get Automizely Page Builder on Shopify
21. Judge.me
What it does:
It helps you collect and aggregate reviews for your products and show them to people when those reviews are most likely to lead to conversions. This one is a more simple version of YotPo.
Why you need it:
Because social proof is a major factor in sales.
And you probably don’t need some fancy research to prove that to you because we all rely on product reviews and the experience of other buyers when we purchase online.
This app makes it easy for people to get access to that second-hand experience. You’ll be amazed at what a huge difference a few honest reviews can make.
How much it costs:
This app’s free plan gives you access to most of the features you’ll need or want. The $15 per month paid plan has some very useful features, but it’s far from mandatory.
22. Instafeed by Mintt
What it does:
Instafeed allows you to display custom shoppable Instagram feeds on your Shopify store.
The app makes it easy to convert your store visitors into customers by showcasing your Instagram content, such as photos and Reels, in a minimal and elegant way.
With Instafeed, you can quickly add shoppable Instagram feeds to your store and build social proof, increase conversions, and even grow your Instagram following.
Why you need it:
Social proof is a crucial aspect of online sales, and displaying your Instagram content on your store can help establish credibility and increase trust with potential customers.
Not to mention, you’re constantly driving new and fresh content to your store without needing to manage a bunch of different uploads.
How much it costs:
Instafeed offers a free plan that provides access to most of the features you’ll need or want, including video support, grid or slider layout options, and optimized layout for all devices and themes.
For additional features such as the ability to tag products, Reels, and advanced layout configurations, the app offers a Pro plan for $5.99 per month and a Plus plan for $17.99 per month.
Well worth it.
23. Rewind Backups
What it does:
Creates regular backups of all your store data so you can restore it if (when) things go wrong.
Why you need it:
Everyone, from the most experienced Shopify expert to the complete beginner, is going to make mistakes.
And even if you don’t make any mistakes, things can go wrong that are out of your control. That’s when backups save the day.
How much it costs:
Paid plans start at $3 per month and go up from there. Most starting stores can make do with the $9 per month plan.
24. Okendo
What it does:
Similar to Yotpo, Okendo is there to validate your product.
How? By adding trusted reviews & user-generated content in a streamlined manner.
Why you need it:
Because your product means nothing if other people don’t create a buzz. You would never pick a 0 review product over a 4.5/5 one with a hundred reviews.
But it’s not only that. Okendo provides additional features like push reviews for Facebook and Instagram and integrates seamlessly with your other marketing tools.
What’s their rating, you ask? 5/5!
How much it costs:
Basic plan starts from $29/month.
25. PushOwl
Source: PushOwl
What it does:
Helps turn tire-kickers into loyal customers with push notifications.
Often, even a tiny nudge is enough to get your visitors to convert and PushOwl is great at nudging.
Why you need it:
Push notifications are still a highly effective way to drive re-engagement and they can help set you apart from competitors who don’t use them.
PushOwl can handle everything from loyalty program reminders to back-in-stock alerts and anything in between.
How much it costs:
This is one of the best free Shopify apps you’ll find and offers unlimited subscribers without a paid plan.
26. Privy
What it does:
A lot.
Privy is one of the best Shopify apps to increase sales with site pop ups and emails. It does that by serving up popups at the right time, collecting leads, and managing text and email marketing campaigns.
You’ll make your money from two important places: gaining quality leads and increasing sales with exit-intent popups and upsells.
Why do you need it:
Unless you have a bunch of customers waiting for you to launch your store, the first problem you’ll need to solve is finding people to sell to.
Privy will help you get those leads that will ultimately convert.
How much it costs:
Some of the most valuable features (popups and flyouts) won’t cost you a cent. Plus, you’ll only pay for email and text marketing based on the number of contacts you have.
27. Flexify: Facebook Product Feed
What it does:
It gets your Shopify store to speak with your Facebook Product Catalog and use that information to create dynamic ads to show potential customers all you offer.
Why you need it:
If you want to use social media channels for marketing your products (hint: you do), you’ll want to get Facebook to play nice with your Shopify store.
It’s one of the top Shopify apps for this purpose for many marketing experts.
This app syncs everything up with minimal effort on your part and creates Dynamic Product Ads. Plus, Flexify connects to your Facebook shops, which will be the next big move with advertising. Pretty much, you just set & forget.
How much it costs:
Zilch for up to 1000 products.
$29 will raise that limit to 2000 products and give you additional image optimization features, $49 will raise it to 5000, and $79 will raise it to 9000, and you’ll get a few nifty options along the way.
What You Need From Shopify Apps
In the section above, you have a list of the best Shopify apps from our years of experience with the platform. And it’s a helluva starting point.
But we never encourage our clients to trust what we say blindly.
Instead, we want you to have a solid foundation so you can make your own decisions about apps.
And, since apps just make it easier to perform Shopify store functions, let’s go over some of the most critical functions.
Lead Capture
Lead generation is a vital component of any marketing strategy. It is the only way to establish a conversation with potential customers – and convert them into actual customers.
Without solid leads, your business will never take off.
Fortunately for us, we work in a digital environment, and there’s no shortage of apps designed to generate leads and automate funnels. And in turn, apps that generate leads are apps that increase sales.
Above, we mentioned Optinmonster as one of the premier options for lead generation. Privy is also on the list and has a lot of outstanding features that help generate leads.
That said, we focused on apps that will give you the best bang for your buck on a new store.
If you already have an established presence, giveaway tools such as Giveaway Ninja are an excellent way to generate leads for promotional campaigns.
Marketing and Promotion
Say you’ve got the lead generation aspect covered.
The natural problem you’ll immediately need to solve is what to do with those leads.
And that’s where marketing apps come into play. And they come in many forms.
Email marketing apps to increase sales are abundant. However, we really like Klaviyo and frequently recommend it because it’s relatively simple to use and has all the tools you need, whether you’re running a corner store or a multinational company.
We also love it because it integrates seamlessly with all social advertising platforms.
Leveraging SMS and Facebook Messenger is also becoming an essential aspect of marketing. Which is why we included some purpose-built apps for that as well.
Shopify Apps For Site Optimization
Shopify was built with SEO in mind.
You’ll find dozens of apps that give you specialized tools to improve, repair, implement, and otherwise optimize your store’s search engine ranking.
We recommend starting with a big-picture app that does everything relatively well—such as SEO Booster.
Once you become more familiar with SEO and site optimization in general, you can move on to more specialized apps.
Inventory Management
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can scale successfully without robust inventory management tools.
Shipstation is a pretty good solution for fulfillment management.
Oberlo is a top-rated app for finding products to sell.
There are hundreds of apps out there that cater to specific needs in different industries. You should also consider an app that will manage back-in-stock alerts for your customers. Those can be a remarketing goldmine.
Product Reviews
Start collecting reviews as soon as possible from as many sales channels as possible.
Social proof is a massive sales driver, and you want to leverage it as much as possible. Collect reviews, and use Shopify apps to display those reviews on your store.
Judge.me is one of the apps we love for product reviews. It’s simple to use and easily integrates with just about every channel where you can reliably collect reviews.
Customer Service
Having a contact address is the bare minimum you can do to keep up with customer questions and complaints.
And you’d better make sure that you’re prompt in responding to emails because good customer service is becoming a necessity in today’s e-commerce environment.
But, we highly recommend using at least one of the many fantastic customer support and service apps on Shopify.
Gorgias is one of our favorites and has many options that are both easy to use and super effective.
Shopify Apps To Increase Sales
To some extent, the goal of every app on your Shopify store is to move more products either directly or indirectly.
That said, there are some apps to increase sales with very clever tools. Depending on what you’re missing, one of those apps can serve to increase your revenue massively.
Product review apps are an obvious example, but you can find a shedload of practical ways to make your business more successful if you think outside the box.
As an example, Promo.com is an app we recommend above that lets you make videos about your products.
Some products have a lot of moving parts. Video can serve to explain them much better than a wall of text.
Think about what you’re selling and whom you’re selling it to, and we’re sure you can find apps to help you sell better.
Choosing The Best Shopify Apps For Your Store
Finally, we’ll give you a few tips and tricks for what features you should consider in a Shopify app.
Even if an app appears to be precisely what you need at first glance, often you’ll find that it’s missing some crucial features your store requires.
Here are five crucial things we look out for when we’re choosing an app for a store:
1. Integrations
You’ll never find yourself saying, “man, I wish this app had fewer integrations.”
As a general rule, more integrations are better, but it’s not just about the number of integrations.
Integrations with other Shopify apps that you use are important, as are integrations with all the sales channels you use.
But you’ll also want to look ahead and try to predict tools you may use in the future and pick apps that integrate with those tools.
Moreover, an apps’ integrations can sometimes give you clues and ideas about what you might use it for. Take a look at everything that works with the app and see if anything clicks.
2. Simple Dashboard
We’re not looking to earn college credits in learning how to use an app.
Shopify apps are there to make your life easier. So apps with too steep of a learning curve need to make up for it with AMAZING features.
That’s not to say no app is worth your time, but consider whether or not it’s worth the investment.
3. Customer Support
We like it when there’s a reliable team behind any app we use.
For one, it lets us know that we can trust that app to perform as advertised now and in the future.
And, most importantly, we don’t have to waste time trying to figure out why something is breaking. Having access to a customer support team is invaluable when sales are on the line.
4. Price
The app’s performance has to justify the price; it’s as simple as that. So unless the app can pay for itself and then some, it’s a safe bet that you should chuck it.
Bonus points if the app has a long and generous free trial. If it does, you’ll almost always want to take advantage of it.
Even more bonus points for free Shopify apps with relatively usable unpaid plans. Some apps have free plans that don’t offer much value at all, so it’s more a promotional device than the actual value.
4. Does it save you time?
Ah yes, time. The most precious thing we have as business owners. Apps serve a purpose but at the end of the day, we want to make sure these apps create more systems and processes vs headaches and heartaches.
We would hate for you to hover over every issue, on every single platform, over every since order. Make your life easy.
Get apps that save you time, even if it requires a little bit of money.
Over To You
Now you have:
- A list of top-notch tried and tested apps,
- a list of functions you’ll want to fulfill on your Shopify store with said apps; and
- a list of factors to consider when choosing apps.
What else do you need?!
Seriously, what else do you need? Because we’d be happy to help.
Schedule a website audit or a free consultation with the team and we’ll help you pick just the right apps to streamline and scale your business.
You can also leave us a comment right now, and if there’s an app out there that can help you, we’ll tell you what it is.
Very informative and impressive. I have learnt something new from your article. Good job keep it up.
Glad the post was helpful! We will keep them coming!
I was so confused as to which app to to use for my new Shopify store. I have some understanding now and I am so much grateful to TOPGROWTH. W hat a revelation and an insight from you guys. I still have a little problem which is, I am on budget and some of the apps are a little expensive for a beginner like me. Pls help me with relatively apps with a low price but will help me launch my store. I need help to launch my store. I don’t know if the store has everything to take off. Can you help pls? Thank you