Best Shopify Apps in 2026: Free and Paid Options Compared

The best Shopify apps in 2026 for most stores are Judge.me or Loox for reviews, Klaviyo or Omnisend for email, ReConvert or Candy Rack for upsells, and Shopify's own free apps such as Shopify Flow and Shopify Inbox. Every app below was checked on its Shopify App Store listing on October 18, 2026, with its price, free plan and rating at that date.

This guide is for merchants building or trimming an app stack. You will be able to shortlist apps by category, check what they cost, test their speed impact and remove the ones you no longer use.

What Shopify apps are and how many there are

Shopify apps are third-party tools you install from the Shopify App Store to add features your store doesn't include by default. Rather than building custom functionality from scratch, you can find an app that handles the job in minutes.

Shopify doesn't publish a total on the App Store homepage. A June 2026 count by RevenueHunt found 22,546 live apps, with about 6,000 added in the previous 12 months. The same report says 6.7% of apps (1,502) carry the Built for Shopify badge.

Think of apps as building blocks. One app might collect customer reviews. Another recovers abandoned carts. A third displays shoppable videos on your product pages. Each one extends what your store can do without requiring developer work.

How to choose the best Shopify app for your store

Not every app fits every store. The wrong choice can slow your site, duplicate features you already have, or drain your budget on tools that don't deliver results.

Check app reviews and ratings

Start with reviews, and read recent ones. An app that performed well two years ago might have different reliability today. Look at the review count as well as the score: on October 18, 2026, OptinMonster showed 2.6 stars from 15 reviews, while Judge.me showed 5.0 from 48,693. Also notice how the developer responds to complaints. Active, helpful responses signal ongoing support.

Compare pricing and free plans

Compare what you get at each pricing tier. Some apps offer free plans with usage caps, others offer only a trial. Klaviyo's free plan, for example, covers up to 250 profiles and 500 email sends per month according to its pricing page. If you expect high traffic, check whether pricing scales with views, orders or contacts.

Look for the Built for Shopify badge

The Built for Shopify badge is the most useful filter Shopify gives you. According to Shopify's Help Center, a Built for Shopify app must not lower storefront speed by more than 10 performance points, must follow Shopify's design standards and must use current technology standards. Shopify reviews the badge every year, and apps that stop meeting the requirements lose it.

Test for site speed impact

Some apps add heavy scripts that slow your pages. Shopify's site speed guide (updated July 3, 2026) says that for every 100 ms of slower load, conversion tends to be about 3.5% lower, based on Shopify's 2026 analysis; it notes this is a correlation, not proof of cause. Check your speed before and after you install an app, using the reports in the audit section below.

Best Shopify apps for conversions and sales

Conversion apps focus on turning visitors into buyers through popups, lead capture and landing pages.

OptinMonster

A popup and lead capture tool that creates exit-intent popups, spin-to-win wheels and floating bars. On its App Store listing it costs $49/month with a free trial and no free plan, and it had a 2.6 rating from 15 reviews on October 18, 2026. It doesn't carry the Built for Shopify badge.

Shogun Page Builder

A drag-and-drop builder for custom landing pages, product pages and campaign pages without code. Useful when your theme's default layouts don't match your campaign goals. The listing shows a free plan, a free trial and Shopify Plus Certified status, with a 4.8 rating from 1,974 reviews.

Best Shopify apps for shoppable video and UGC

Shoppable video lets viewers click products directly within the video and add them to cart without extra navigation. User-generated content (UGC) is content your customers make, such as customer videos, TikToks and Reels, and it builds trust as social proof. For a wider comparison, see our list of the best shoppable video apps for Shopify.

Storista

A shoppable video app built for Shopify, listed on the App Store as Storista Shoppable Videos UGC and holding the Built for Shopify badge. You import TikToks, Instagram Reels or your own uploads, tag products, and embed the video with a widget you place through the theme editor, on product pages, collection pages or any other page. Styling uses one-click colour and type edits, and the analytics follow each video from views and clicks to add-to-carts and completed sales. The free plan allows one product per video; paid plans start at $15/month. Storista does not do live shopping. Our guide to UGC shoppable videos covers how to source the content.

Videowise

A video commerce platform for embedding shoppable videos across your store, with video galleries and carousels on product pages and product tagging. Its listing shows a free plan and a free trial, with a 4.8 rating from 252 reviews.

Best Shopify product review apps

Reviews, ratings and customer photos often make the difference between a bounce and a sale. Pick Judge.me for unlimited reviews on a free plan, Loox if you need reviews translated into 38 languages or synced to Google Shopping, Meta Shops and TikTok, and Stamped if you want reviews and a loyalty program in one app. Fera has no free plan, so try it only if its 60-day trial fits your timing. Judge.me and Loox carry the Built for Shopify badge.

Judge.me

A lightweight review app and a Built for Shopify 2025 Build Award winner. The free plan includes unlimited reviews, photo and video reviews, widgets and Google rich snippets (the star ratings shown in Google search results). The Awesome plan costs $15/month. It had a 5.0 rating from 48,693 reviews on October 18, 2026. For most new stores, this is the one to start with: the free plan covers what a small store needs.

Loox

A photo and video review app that requests reviews after purchase and shows them in galleries and carousels. The listing shows a free plan, a free trial and the Built for Shopify badge, plus AI features, translation into 38 languages and syncing reviews to Google Shopping, Meta Shops and TikTok. Rating: 4.9 from 9,908 reviews.

Stamped Reviews & Loyalty

Combines product reviews with a loyalty program. The app now sits at a new listing under the name Stamped Reviews & Loyalty, from $23/month, with a 4.7 rating from 3,754 reviews.

Fera Product Reviews

Collects photo and video reviews from customers and shows the UGC on product pages. The listing shows no free plan: tiers are $9, $29, $99 and $199/month, with a 60-day free trial. Rating: 4.8 from 2,022 reviews.

Best Shopify upsell and cross-sell apps

Upselling encourages customers to buy a higher-value version of a product. Cross-selling suggests related items. Both raise average order value (AOV), the average amount spent per order, without acquiring new customers. Pick ReConvert for post-purchase and thank-you page offers, Frequently Bought Together CBB for bundles on product pages, and Candy Rack for offers when shoppers add to cart. All three have a free plan; we did not verify their paid tiers, so check each listing for current prices.

ReConvert post purchase upsell

A post-purchase upsell app that turns your thank-you page into a sales page. The listing covers post-purchase and thank-you page upsells, plus checkout upsells on Shopify Plus. It shows a free plan and a free trial, with a 4.8 rating from 3,119 reviews.

Frequently Bought Together CBB

Creates Amazon-style product bundles with "customers also bought" recommendations on product pages. Now developed by Code Black Belt, the app has the Built for Shopify badge, a free plan and four discount types, with a 4.9 rating from 1,210 reviews.

Candy Rack

Shows upsell offers when customers add items to cart. The listing, now named Candy Rack • Upsell Cross-sell, lists offers in 7 placements, an AI mode and volume bundles. It has a free plan, a free trial and the Built for Shopify badge, with a 4.9 rating from 264 reviews.

Best Shopify email and SMS apps

Email and SMS are owned channels: you control the relationship, not an algorithm. Klaviyo is the only one here with documented free-plan limits; Omnisend adds push notifications to email and SMS; Postscript focuses on SMS. We did not verify paid tiers for Klaviyo or Omnisend, so check their linked pages for current prices.

Klaviyo

An email and SMS platform with segmentation, automated flows and a Shopify integration that syncs customer and order data. The app is free to install. Klaviyo's pricing page lists a free plan with up to 250 profiles and 500 email sends per month, plus $5 of mobile messages and $5 of Composer usage. Rating: 4.7 from 3,395 reviews.

Omnisend

Combines email, SMS and push notifications in one platform, with pre-built ecommerce workflows for welcome series, cart recovery and post-purchase follow-up. The listing shows a free plan and a 4.7 rating from 3,197 reviews.

Postscript

Focused on SMS marketing for Shopify. Handles text campaigns, abandoned cart recovery and subscriber growth. The listing says it is free to install with a free trial, and shows a 4.7 rating from 1,206 reviews.

Free Shopify apps from Shopify itself

Before paying for a third-party tool, check Shopify's own apps. All of these were listed as free on the App Store homepage on October 18, 2026:

• Shopify Flow: free, for automating store tasks; 4.7 from 14,848 reviews
• Shopify Inbox: free, described as an AI sales associate for customer chat; 4.6 from 5,812 reviews
• Shopify Messaging: free to install; 4.8 from 4,685 reviews
• Shopify Forms: free

The same page lists Matrixify, a Built for Shopify app for bulk import and export through spreadsheets, with a free plan and a 4.9 rating from 1,776 reviews. If you sell through dropshipping, see our guide to the best apps for dropshipping in Shopify.

Free vs paid Shopify apps

Most apps let you start without paying. RevenueHunt's June 2026 report found that only 4.5% of apps charge money up front. Of the apps in this guide, Judge.me, Loox, Shogun, Videowise, ReConvert, Frequently Bought Together CBB, Candy Rack, Klaviyo and Omnisend list a free plan. Postscript is free to install with a free trial, which is not the same as a free plan. OptinMonster ($49/month), Stamped (from $23/month) and Fera (from $9/month) have no free plan. We did not verify the paid tiers of the apps with free plans, so check each linked listing for its current paid prices.

When to upgrade to a paid plan

Upgrade when you hit a usage limit, such as Klaviyo's 250 profiles or 500 monthly sends, or when you need a feature the free plan lacks. If an app drives revenue you can measure in its own reports, compare that against the monthly price.

How to get the most from free plans

Start free to test whether an app fits your workflow. A trial with no free plan, such as Fera's 60 days, gives you a fixed window: set a reminder before it ends. Consolidate into a paid all-in-one tool later, if one app can replace two.

How to install and set up Shopify apps

Here's what to check before you click Install.

Step 1: Find the app in the Shopify App Store

Search by name or browse categories. Read the full listing, check reviews, pricing and the Built for Shopify badge, and compare similar options before clicking Install.

Step 2: Review permissions and install

Apps request access to specific store data such as products, customers and orders. Review what permissions the app requires before approving.

Setup differs for each app, so open it from Settings > Apps and follow the developer's own documentation for configuration.

How to audit your Shopify app stack

Unused apps slow your store and cost money. A quarterly review keeps your stack lean.

Identify redundant or unused apps

Go to Settings > Apps and open the Installed tab to list all installed apps. Remove any you no longer use or that duplicate functionality from another app.

Check site speed in your Shopify admin

Shopify's site speed guide (updated July 3, 2026) gives two routes inside the admin:

• Online Store > Themes: start here. The performance summary at the top of the page rates the previous 30 days as Good, Moderate or Poor on Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Watch for any rating that drops after you add an app.
• Analytics > Reports: type a colon in the Search reports field to list the web performance reports.

If you want the numbers behind the ratings, Google's targets, as given in the same guide, are LCP of 2.5 seconds or less, INP of 200 ms or less and CLS of 0.1 or less. The 10 performance points in the Built for Shopify rules is a requirement an app must meet to earn the badge, not a score in your Themes summary. Shopify bases the score on real visitor data from your home page, your most-visited product page and your most-visited collection page. Compare the 30 days before and after you add or remove an app, and use Google PageSpeed Insights as a second check.

Review analytics to measure ROI

Check whether each paid app delivers measurable value. Look at revenue attributed to the app in its own reports, conversion changes, or time saved in your workflow.

Uninstall apps safely

According to Shopify's Help Center (checked October 18, 2026):

1. Export any data you want to keep from the app.
2. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps (on mobile, Menu > Settings > Apps) and open the Installed tab.
3. Click the ⋯ menu next to the app and choose Uninstall.
4. Optionally give a reason, then confirm Uninstall.

Uninstalling cancels future recurring charges, but the current billing cycle may still be charged, and charges made outside Shopify are not cancelled. Apps with fulfillment inventory at an app location need that inventory moved or deleted first. Reinstalling later may not restore your old settings. Uninstalled apps stay listed under the Uninstalled tab.

FAQs about Shopify apps

What is the difference between a Shopify app and a plugin?

In the Shopify ecosystem, "app" and "plugin" refer to the same thing: third-party tools you install from the Shopify App Store to add features to your store.

How many Shopify apps should I install on my store?

There's no fixed number, but install only apps you actively use. Each app that loads on your storefront can affect the LCP, INP and CLS scores in your Themes performance summary, so check them after every install.

Do Shopify apps slow down website loading speed?

Some apps add scripts that slow your pages. Built for Shopify apps must not lower storefront speed by more than 10 performance points, according to Shopify's Help Center. Check the performance summary under Online Store > Themes after installing any new app.

Can I use the same Shopify app on multiple stores?

It depends on the app's pricing structure. Some apps charge per store, while others offer multi-store plans.

Does uninstalling an app remove its code from my theme?

Not always. Shopify's site speed guide notes that some apps leave code in the theme after you uninstall them. Check the app's listing or contact the developer for removal steps.

Will apps work with AI shopping assistants?

That depends on how each app renders its content. Our post on why shoppable videos are invisible to AI agents explains what to check.

Your next step: open Settings > Apps, list what is installed, and check the performance summary under Online Store > Themes before you add anything from this list.