While Shopify is a comprehensive platform for creating online stores, it can lack certain functionality or features for different business niches.
If you want to create a great user experience, gain loyal customers, or get some help increasing sales, you may benefit from a Shopify app. With the right ones, you can do anything from setting up affiliate marketing to automating SEO tasks, and more.
The Shopify App Store is filled with options, which can make it overwhelming to pick the right one for you. That’s why I reviewed and listed the 15 best Shopify apps based on their functionalities and purpose.
Must-have apps for Shopify in 2024
I researched and tested 38 apps for Shopify in terms of functionality, features, customer support, pricing, and more. Here are the best Shopify apps to elevate your store covered in detail:
1. PageFly – excellent Shopify landing page builder app
PageFly is the best Shopify page builder app for those looking to increase conversion rates by optimizing their pages.
Why I picked it:
Since Shopify themes are limited in terms of design, I found that PageFly simplifies the process of creating custom pages. The app comes with over 100 page templates and premade sections.
Plus, it’s a drag-and-drop page builder and very easy for beginners to figure out, so you can create a unique site without knowing how to code.
I particularly enjoyed how feature-rich it is. You don’t have to get separate apps for countdown timers, sales banners, and other conversion-oriented elements.
You can try out PageFly yourself – the first landing page is completely free with all features and add-ons included.
Who is it for:
I would suggest PageFly for eCommerce merchants who want to create custom pages without having to code. You should opt for PageFly if you want to enhance your store’s functionality with a user-friendly builder.
You can learn more about it in our PageFly review.
2. TinyIMG – best Shopify app for SEO and store speed
TinyIMG is an all-in-one SEO, image optimizer, and page speed booster app. It’s a tool that’s built for Shopify, so you can conveniently access it straight from your admin dashboard.
Why I picked it:
TinyIMG is rated as the best Shopify app for SEO and has all the convenient features needed for search engine optimization. First off, it automatically compresses images and has already helped companies save gigabytes of storage and improve website performance.
Then, there’s also the lazy loading feature which you can enable in one click. Once turned on, it only loads content when it’s needed, making your pages lighter and, thus, faster.
Additionally, you can run SEO audits to immediately locate issues with your pages, such as URL, metadata, unminified CSS files, missing keywords, or slow loading time.
What I find very helpful in terms of TinyIMG’s features is the bulk metadata editing. You don’t need to edit metadata by opening each page and you can simply change it all in one place.
Who is it for:
I would suggest TinyIMG for merchants who want an all-in-one SEO app. It’s best for businesses who want to automate tasks and increase position in SERP.
3. UpPromote – top Shopify app for affiliate and influencer marketing
UpPromote stands out as an easy-to-use referral and affiliate program app for Shopify merchants.
Why I picked it:
When looking for affiliate program tools, UpPromote stood out to me due to the variety of features it offers. Unlike the well-known alternative Goaffpro, this app is focused specifically on Shopify, ensuring features are tailor-made for the platform’s websites.
UpPromote offers wide customization options so that the affiliate portal or the signup page can match your brand image. I was also glad to see the smart commission structure, which lets you pick commission rules for different programs.
Additionally, you can enhance customer loyalty by setting up a referral program. The affiliate app lets you choose to display it as a landing page, widget, or post-purchase signup.
Who is it for:
UpPromote is made for businesses that want to easily set up an affiliate program on their website that matches their brand. It’s great for merchants who want to track their referral orders or motivate affiliates with rewards.
4. TinyCookie – feature-rich cookie consent app for compliance
TinyCookie is a cookie consent banner app that makes compliance with GDPR, CCPA, PIPEDA, LGPD, or other privacy regulations easy.
Why I picked it:
You can add a cookie banner to your website in just a few clicks by simply following setup instructions. And for legal compliance, TinyCookie collects all user consent in one place.
I always enjoy the customizability options available on this app. You can change any part of the banner’s content, design, or placement. And including links to your cookie policy or terms and conditions is a breeze.
If you’re using Google services for your site, TinyCookie helps you implement Google Consent Mode V2. This way, you can get more accurate data on such platforms as Google Analytics and even track aggregated data when users don’t grant consent.
Who is it for:
I suggest TinyCookie for all Shopify store owners who want a comprehensive cookie consent banner solution. It’s best for merchants who want to have all the tools needed to comply with privacy regulations in one app.
5. BON Loyalty – highly-rated Shopify app for fostering loyalty
BON Loyalty is one of the best-rated loyalty and reward apps available on the Shopify App Store.
Why I picked it:
BON Loyalty comes with all the essentials on the free plan but also offers some useful advanced options. This includes automated emails with reward reminders, loyalty widgets, or point displays on the product page, which help increase sales on top of fostering loyalty.
If you’re running an international brand, this app will help set up a loyalty program for all of your audience members, since it supports over 250 languages.
I also found that BON Loyalty stands out from its competitors. For example, compared to Stamped, the app has a much faster customer support team and doesn’t have dashboard issues.
Who is it for:
BON Loyalty is made for merchants who want to create an intuitive and highly customizable loyalty program. It’s suitable for website owners who want to gain repeat customers and maximize their profits using rewards.
6. Essential – beginner-friendly trust badge app for Shopify
Essential offers a variety of trust badges and icons to help improve customer confidence in your products, and it’s made with complete beginners in mind.
Why I picked it:
With this app, you don’t need to be tech-savvy and can equip your website with anything from product, shipping, and trust badges to stickers, payment icons, and guarantees.
I found that Essential offers flexible customization options. You can create your own design, change element size, color, and spacing, and even place banners in a custom location. Even though there are hundreds of icons available, you’re still left with the option to upload your own.
If the price of Essential seems too steep, you can also give the Trust Badges Bear app a shot, which is completely free. However, keep in mind that you won’t get nearly the same number of icons or customization options as you would with Essential.
Who is it for:
I recommend this trust badge app for all Shopify merchants who want to establish credibility, be transparent, and improve conversion rates with badges and icons.
7. Appstle – best app for product subscriptions
Appstle makes subscriptions easy – the Shopify app lets you conveniently manage and track active or inactive subscriptions or scale with performance metrics.
Why I picked it:
With Appstle, you can use their merchant portal and the Shopify admin dashboard to manage subscriptions. I really liked how simple it is to monitor data on their portal, from subscription activity to performance metrics.
Plus, the app helps you send personalized emails so you can reach your customers at critical points of their shopping journey. For example, you can inform them about upcoming orders or failed transactions.
Customers can access a user-friendly portal to manage their subscriptions with a magic click, eliminating the need to follow a tedious login process.
It’s also great that you can encourage the most loyal customers with features such as tiered discounts or gifts.
Who is it for:
Appstle is an excellent subscription app made for those who want to conveniently manage subscriptions with different model types. It’s an optimal solution for swapping subscription products and ultimately boosting customer loyalty.
8. Kaching – exceptional app for Shopify product bundles
Kaching is a product bundle app that focuses on increasing performance metrics and works with all themes and popular page builders.
Why I picked it:
It took me barely a few minutes to set Kaching up, and its interface didn’t disappoint. It’s highly intuitive and provides you with useful bundle order insights.
You can customize the bundles to match your brand, but perhaps the best part is that you can also run A/B tests. This helps understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can increase your sales.
Kaching offers variant, wholesale, and upsell bundle types, but if you need more, there’s the Bundler app that offers 15+ bundle types, such as build a box, frequently bought together, and more.
I found that Kaching works seamlessly, but even if you end up getting some issues, the customer reviews praise the app’s support for its proactivity.
Who is it for:
I recommend Kaching to all Shopify merchants looking to sell product bundles. It’s excellent for increasing conversion rates and average order value.
9. Trustoo.io – useful Shopify app for gathering reviews
Trustoo.io is a social-proof app to efficiently implement product reviews into your website and leverage them to increase traffic.
Why I picked it:
I liked how well-developed Trustoo.io is. During my tests, I didn’t experience any issues with setup or implementation.
The app lets you set up automatic product review gathering using email invitations, reminders, AliExpress star ratings, and more. You can even set up discounts for customers who share photos with their reviews.
Trustoo.io is excellent for international businesses – it can translate all of your reviews to 20 languages so that any of your site visitors can read them.
The app also supports Google search integration, meaning your product ratings can end up under your search results.
Who is it for:
Trustoo.io is made for eCommerce store owners who want to remove customer doubts and encourage purchases by displaying customer feedback.
10. Parcel Panel – comprehensive order tracking app
Parcel Panel is made for creating custom tracking pages and setting up shipping notifications so that you don’t have to waste time answering customers about their order status.
Why I picked it:
This order tracking app gets you an extensive list of features you can integrate, from map coordinates and custom shipment status to a progress bar, branding, and more.
Since you’re creating a tracking page on your website, all the traffic that comes from lookup can stay on your site instead of third parties. You can leverage this to encourage further purchases with product recommendations or discount offerings.
During my review, I liked that Parcel Panel helps you make data-driven optimizations with its detailed analytics. You can get insights into shipping notifications, tracking pages, transit time, and more.
Who is it for:
Parcel Panel is best for Shopify store owners who want to avoid manual order tracking and shipping fusses. It helps merchants avoid unnecessary order-related questions by helping create custom pages and notifications.
11. FAQKing – best Shopify app for store FAQs
FAQ King is a powerful Shopify app that helps create custom FAQ pages to get some of the load off your customer support agents.
Why I picked it:
FAQ King lets you create the main FAQ page completely free with a fully customizable design and unlimited questions. I liked that it supports visuals in FAQ answers, so you can improve clarity for your customers.
The premium plans also let you add unlimited FAQs to your product pages, which is especially useful to reduce friction and doubt for shoppers.
FAQ King stands out from the competition because it’s built for Shopify, meaning you can manage everything from the same admin dashboard.
Who is it for:
FAQ King is best for those who are looking for a feature-rich and free FAQ page app. It’s made for people who want to ensure a fast and easy-to-use FAQ setup.
12. qikify – best app for sales pop-ups
qikify helps raise conversion rates with sales-enhancing pop-ups and social proof.
Why I picked it:
qikify is very comprehensive in terms of pop-up choices. With a single app, you get email and newsletter, announcement, and discount pop-ups.
Additionally, you can make use of recent purchase notifications, product sold and visitor count, promotion bars, and even a cart countdown timer. All of these tools encourage customers to purchase so they don’t feel like they missed out.
I liked qikify’s app layout – you can easily manage all pop-ups in one dashboard, enabling or disabling them with a toggle button.
Who is it for:
I suggest qikify for Shopify stores that need a large variety of pop-up options to motivate more sales. It’s great for growing your store’s reliability by examining your pop-up and social proof campaign analytics.
13. Judge.me – great app for gathering social proof
Judge.me is a Shopify app that’s great for gathering customer reviews through multiple channels.
Why I picked it:
The main Judge.me benefit is that it gives you unlimited reviews and requests with its forever free plan. This also includes photo and video reviews. The app also lets you import reviews from Etsy, Amazon, and such apps as Loox, Yotpo, Klaviyo, and more.
I liked that Judge.me is suitable for international businesses since it supports 38 languages, which is almost double that of its Trustoo.io competitor.
Perhaps the app’s interface was a bit too complicated for me to navigate at times, so I’d suggest trying out Trustoo.io for beginner-friendliness and comparing which app works for you.
Who is it for:
I recommend Judge.me for Shopify users that want a reliable app for collecting product reviews. It’s made for building customer trust and standing out on Google Search results.
14. KB Back in Stock – extensive app for restock alerts
KB Back in Stock is a comprehensive tool for informing customers about restocks and sales to prevent losing sale opportunities.
Why I picked it:
The free version of KB Back in Stock is feature-rich. You get unlimited subscribers, back-in-stock and pride drop notifications, 30 monthly emails, and more. So, you can ensure that your customers are always informed and can complete their purchase when items are back in stop or on sale.
The app lets you completely customize the “Notify me” button and notification templates so that they correspond to the design of your brand.
Plus, I tested that the customer support team is very proactive and helpful, and the continuous positive customer reviews can back me up.
Who is it for:
I recommend the KB Back in Stock app for marketing managers who want to get back lost sales due to out-of-stock products. Being easy to set up and use, it’s made for both beginners and experienced merchants.
15. Klaviyo – full-fledged email marketing app
Klaviyo is a notable Shopify app that you can often hear Reddit users recommend when it comes to email marketing tools.
Why I picked it:
Klaviyo provides you with advanced tools for email and SMS marketing that allows the creation of segments and triggers for more sophisticated marketing strategies.
You also get pre-built marketing practice templates so that you don’t have to start from scratch and can encourage repeat buying or send reminders. Not to mention you can check revenue data per automation, segment, campaign, or channel at any time.
However, Klaviyo can quickly become expensive for email and SMS marketing, so you can take a look at cheaper and more basic alternatives like Omnisend if you want to save. For example, up to 500 contacts cost $35/month with Klaviyo and just $16/month with Omnised.
Who is it for:
Klaviyo is best for merchants who need a full-fledged email marketing tool. It’s best for driving sales and fostering better relationships with your customers.
How did I pick these must-have Shopify apps?
So, how exactly did I determine if an app is indeed worthy to be called one of the best Shopify apps?
These are the expectations for every app on this list:
- Adds a truly useful functionality. Some apps are a must-have and some are situational. But every single one of them must add tangible value to your store, otherwise, it’s a waste of money and dead weight for your store speed.
- Shopify rating 4.6 or more, no recent negative reviews (or at least unresolved ones).
- Reliable and well-regarded customer support. We’re not just looking for support that does the bare minimum and calls it a day. The expectation here is the support that troubleshoots everything and makes recommendations you didn’t even know you needed.
- Constantly updated to keep up with the latest themes.
- Sufficient free trial. It can be anywhere between 7 to 30 days, depending on the app’s functionality. But it must be sufficient for you to see the actual impact of the app.
- Does not slow down your store upon installation.
- User-centered interface for intuitive usage.
- Pricing. What’s affordable or expensive is relative to every business. My goal was to find apps that meet (or exceed) all the criteria above and still offer the most optimal pricing plan among the competitors in the same niche. A free plan was a huge plus, but always viable.
These were the baseline criteria for this list, and they should be for any other app you consider adding to your store. Remember, the Shopify app store is overflowing with solutions, so keep your expectations sky-high.
Conclusion
Whether you’re just beginning your Shopify journey or are already advanced, apps can be a game-changer if you pick the right ones. Various types, such as loyalty, email marketing, product review, shipping, or landing page builder apps, can assist you with getting more repeat customers and driving sales.
While the best Shopify apps will depend on your business goals and niche, some apps can be beneficial to any store. If you’re focused on upping your conversion rates, take a look at the PageFly page builder. And if SEO and website speed optimizations are your top priorities, TinyIMG is the perfect companion for any company.
Frequently asked questions
Shopify apps are not necessary but they can be very useful depending on your business. For example, the Klaviyo email marketing app can help you grow your email list and create engaging emails faster. However, you can also try out Shopify partner apps which are all free of charge.
Some of the most often recommended apps by Shopify merchants are landing page builder, SEO and image optimization, shipping, trust badge, loyalty, email marketing, and product review apps. However, it depends on your business type and what you’re missing.
According to our previous research on 100 best Shopify stores, we found that 33% of stores use more than 10 Shopify apps, while 67% use 10 or fewer. It depends on your business needs, but too many apps can cause theme conflicts or make it harder to troubleshoot issues. So make sure you choose comprehensive ones.
You can definitely use free Shopify apps but keep in mind that they can be limited in terms of features. So, check for more comprehensive options to not overfill your website with apps. Additionally, keep in mind that as the business grows, so do its needs, so it’s not realistic to expect that you can fit into the free plans forever.
