10 min read
When merchants get a Shopify subscription, they quickly realize that the monthly platform fee isn’t the only expense. The real costs often come from third-party apps in the Shopify App Store, which can quickly increase your monthly bill.
If you install a different app for every task, your expenses can rise to $100 per month and even more. But giving up essential features isn’t an option. So, the only way to save money is to opt for comprehensive apps instead of single-purpose tools.
In this guide, I’ll explain how to reduce costs on expensive Shopify apps and why overloading your store with apps isn’t good for your website.
SEO & AI search visibility featuresImage optimizationWhy Shopify stores use multiple apps
Some Shopify stores may not use any apps, but most merchants need to extend Shopify’s functionality in one area or another. Here’s why stores use multiple apps:
- Shopify lacks advanced features. Shopify has all the core features a modern eCommerce platform needs, like checkout, payment integrations, themes, and more. Apps extend Shopify’s functionality with advanced features, like SEO, bundle creation, automation, marketing, and other features.
- Apps simplify technical tasks. Many apps automate tasks that can be difficult for beginners. For example, tools like TinyIMG offer a simple JSON-LD setup, which would otherwise require messing with code.
- Shopify apps allow bulk edits. Depending on the app, you can also get bulk optimization features. This can be automatic image compression or bulk metadata editing.
- Different apps specialize in different areas. Some apps focus on SEO, others on speed optimization, backups, product bundles, email marketing, and so on. With time, the apps start to stack up, and so do the expenses.
Average monthly costs for popular Shopify app categories
I’ve reviewed 100+ apps on the Shopify App Store to see price ranges for apps from each category. For my test, I analyzed different pricing tiers, including the entry-level plans, to see what stores would actually pay for each category separately. Here’s what I found:
| App category | Monthly price range |
| SEO | $10 – $99.99 |
| Image compression and optimization | $5 – $120 |
| Speed | $3.99 – $299.97 |
| Backup and restore | $4.99 – $200 |
| JSON-LD/Structured data | $7.99 – $49 |
| Broken link monitoring | $2.90 – $49.90 |
| Migration | $14 – $550 |
| Bundles | $9.99 – $149 |
Prices last checked: February, 2026
When looking at one app category, the starting price may not seem like much. But if you need more features, it can quickly add up.
Plus, with many apps, prices can vary depending on your store’s size. If you’re running a large business, you may end up paying more than a small business for almost the same features.
With single-category apps features can also overlap, so it’s important to analyze which apps offer the most features for the best price.
The downsides of using too many apps
When you’re using too many apps, various issues can arise, including higher expenses, app conflicts, overlapping features, and more. Here’s why you shouldn’t overload your store with apps:
- Feature overlap. Some apps may offer multiple similar or identical features. For example, lazy loading may be included in both a speed booster or image optimization app. That’s why it’s important to review the exact features each app offers before investing.
- Overpaying. If features overlap, you’ll end up paying for the same one twice. You may end up gradually stacking up apps, which can increase the overall monthly cost.
- App conflicts. When you install a Shopify app, they add scripts to your store. If features overlap, they may end up loading multiple scripts for the same feature, causing conflicts. Multiple scripts also create extra weight on your store, which can negatively affect page loading times.
- Difficult store management. If you install loads of apps on your store, you may end up getting lost between them. There are more dashboards to understand and more support teams to contact if something goes wrong.
- Troubleshooting issues. When your store encounters a technical issue, it may become harder to identify which app is causing the issue. Especially if some apps have overlapping features.
Solution: comprehensive Shopify apps
If your app expenses are getting too high, you shouldn’t be sacrificing essential features. Instead, look for comprehensive apps that can automate various tasks instead of a single one. They usually offer way better prices than single-feature apps.
For example, here are a few apps I found that offer a variety of features:
- TinyIMG – it offers SEO, GEO, and AEO visibility boosting features while also offering speed and image optimization tools. Plan prices start from $14/month.
- Upsell.com – upsell, cross-sell, bundle, and post-purchase upsell app starting from $4.99/month only.
- Qikify – instead of a single countdown timer, you can also add sold count, different popups, and recent purchases starting from just $6.99/month.
- syncX – why get a low stock alert app when you can also get an inventory automation app that allows setting up quantity rules, exporting stock data, and more from $7/month.
- Judge.me – some Shopify review apps only allow photo reviews. With this app, your customers can upload video reviews, add ratings, give testimonials, and more. There’s even a free plan that offers unlimited reviews.
The pricing of the recommended apps was last checked in February 2026. I aim to update the prices when possible, but always review the official app store listings for up-to-date pricing.
How TinyIMG combines SEO, GEO, and speed optimization
TinyIMG is a comprehensive app that covers SEO, speed, and image optimization. Here are the features you get with a single app:
- SEO optimization – whether you want to run SEO audits for different pages, bulk edit metadata, fix broken links, set up faster indexing with IndexNow, or add JSON-LD automatically, TinyIMG can do it all.
- AI visibility – TinyIMG lets you automatically generate LLMs.txt files to improve GEO and AEO. It helps AI models understand your store’s content better, so you’d have more chances of appearing in AI results.
- Speed booster – with this app, you can set up asset preloading with a single click and disable apps on specific pages to improve page load time and Core Web Vitals results.
- Image optimization – TinyIMG enables automatic image compression, lets you set up lazy loading in one click, and automates file name and alt text creation.
Frequently asked questions
Essential Shopify apps to have are SEO, speed, and image optimization apps like TinyIMG, product reviews apps like Loox, and upsell apps like Wiser. The most useful apps are the ones that offer the most features for the best price-to-value ratio.
Some Shopify apps are expensive because they usually have high maintenance and development costs and offer complex features that provide high return on investment (ROI).
If you want to spend less on apps, I’d recommend opting for comprehensive apps that offer loads of features while keeping the price affordable. For example, with TinyIMG, you can optimize SEO, GEO, speed, and images with a single app.
The most expensive Shopify plan is the Plus plan, which costs $2,300/month (3-year term). It’s a plan for enterprises that offers up to 87% shipping discount, 200 inventory locations, priority support, local storefronts, unlimited staff accounts, fully customizable checkout, and more.
