The Shopify App store is equal parts amazing and overwhelming. There are simply so many. A Google search just informed me there are 11,000 to 15,000 apps available at present.
With that many options, how on earth do you decide what actually makes sense for your Shopify store?
In this post, I’ll walk you through some key considerations, common misconceptions, and my personal approach to building an effective app stack.
First, I want to clarify some common misconceptions about Shopify and the app store.
You do not need a single Shopify app to run your Shopify store. Especially paid apps.
Shopify itself provides everything you need for a fully functioning store: the ability to take payments, upload videos, manage products, and more. All of this comes with the Basic Shopify plan. Apps are truly optional—they’re just tools to add extra functionality when it makes sense for your business.
I think of Shopify apps as adding extra function to your Shopify store. The features you choose to add should align with your priorities, products, and overall business strategy.
How Shopify Categorizes Apps
- Sales channels: Sell your products on platforms like Pinterest, Google, YouTube, or in-person with POS
- Selling products: includes product customization apps, subscriptions and digital downloads
- Store design: includes page builder apps (stay away from those), form builder apps, search and filter apps and SEO apps
- Store management: financial and reporting apps (financial reporting and analytics are included in Shopify, these are additional), chat apps, and operations
- Finding products: Dropshipping, print-on-demand and wholesale apps
- Orders and shipping: order printers, shipping and fulfilmment, return and exchange management
- Marketing and conversion: email marketing apps, affiliate programs, upsells, customer rewards programs, wishlists, donations, gift wrap, reviews, and bundles
These all sounds great and useful, and lots of them are. The key is choosing what aligns with your needs.
My App Strategy
For both my store and my clients’ stores, I start with the essentials.
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Review app: For social proof and credibility.
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Email marketing app: To communicate with customers.
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Product options app: If needed, based on product variety or customization.
Once the store is launched, additional apps can be added gradually. Adding an app at a time is helpful for seeing if that app is making an impact.
My Shopify Store App Stack
Currently, I have 14 apps installed. Here’s a screenshot of the apps and more details on each are below.
Tevello Courses & Communities
What I use it for: Hosting my course products and my Shop School community. When customers purchase a course, they get instant access right through my own website.
How much it costs: $19.99 a month
What I use it for: This is Shopify's free Email app. I primarily use Klaviyo for my email marketing, but I've occasionally used Shopify Email to send messages to segments.
How much it costs: free
Shop
What I use it for: Selling my products on Shopify's Shop channel
How much it costs: free
Inbox
What I use it for: my on-site chat support and to answer preloaded FAQs instantly
How much it costs: free
UpPromote Affiliate
What I use it for: Affiliate marketing, so partners can promote my products and earn a commission
How much it costs: free plan
Apntly
What I use it for: Booking and scheduling Shopify Power Hour calls
How much it costs: $9 a month
Flow
What I use it for: automations like adding tags to customers after purchases and notifying Shop School members when they've been tagged in the community
How much it costs: free
Judge.me Reviews
What I use it for: automatically sends review requests to customers
How much it costs: free plan
FlowMail
What I use it for: I actually ran out of credits on this, so no longer use it. But I was using it to notify Shop School members when they'd been tagged in the community because I preferred the design of this email
How much it costs: free plan
Lucky Orange Heatmaps & Replay
What I use it for: additional analytics with my store
How much it costs: free plan
Lucky Orange in the app store →
Cally
What I use it for: I don't use this app currently, but have wanted to switch to it for my Shopify Power Hour scheduling because it's less expensive than Apntly.
How much it costs: $.98 per appointment
Search & Discovery
What I use it for: I haven't really used this app on my store. I usually use it for setting up filters, but I don't have enough products to warrant that. I could also use it to set up product recommendations, and I should.
How much it costs: free
Search & Discovery in the app store →
Shopify Counter
What I use it for: I have a Shopify Counter on my desk to count my sales. I love the idea of this, but it hasn't reliably worked and is currently turned off.
How much it costs: free
Shopify Counter in the app store →
Bundles
What I use it for: I use it for my one bundle product, which combines my three mini courses. It's not always available, so not linking it here.
How much it costs: free
Fraud Control
What I use it for: This is proactive, I haven't been hit with fraud on my store, thankfully. This app includes templates for Flow and rules you can create to mitigate fraud.
How much it costs: free
Fraud Control in the app store →
Klaviyo: Email Marketing & SMS
What I use it for: my email marketing, including my flows (automations) and regular campaigns
How much it costs: the app is free, but I have my monthly Klaviyo plan (currently around $130/month)
Apps I've Deleted:
Locksmith
What I used it for: When I first switched to Shopify from Wordpress & Kartra, I was stumped on how to offer my lower price for Shop School renewals without that being visible all the time. The simple solution I realized later (duh) was a discount code, but I didn't think of that because I was also using discount codes for other things. It's a long story. So what I used was Locksmith to have a hidden product variant. Locksmith is a great app, with great support. But once I streamlined my discount code situation, I deleted it.
How much it costs: $12/month
Aftersell Post Purchase Upsell
What I used it for: Offering a limited-time discounted product after someone purchases. I really liked this app, and I still install it sometimes. But I don't keep it year-round because it's a bit expensive for me.
How much it costs: $34.99/month
Helium AI: Analytics & CRO
What I used it for: not that much, I never really figured out this app, but I think you need a paid plan to actually do anything. And the paid plan starts at $300/month, so it's out of my league. But I was curious and it's nicely designed.
How much it costs: free plan
The Takeaway
The Shopify App Store is a powerful resource. Start with the essentials: apps that directly support your sales, customer experience, and marketing. Launch your store first, then add additional apps gradually, based on real needs and results.
Remember, every app adds complexity to your store, so choose wisely. The right app stack can improve your store, save you time, and help your business grow.
