Choosing apps

The Shopify App Store has thousands of apps to help you build your business. When choosing an app for your store, begin by asking yourself a few questions:

  • What does my store need outside of Shopify’s core features?
  • What would increase my sales (for example, better SEO, marketing, scheduled store sales)?
  • What would make managing my store easier (for example, bulk print shipping labels)?
  • How much do I want to spend on apps?

App reviews

Reviews from other merchants are one of the best ways to evaluate if an app is right for your business. Star ratings offer insight into how merchants feel about the overall experience of the app. Ratings are weighted averages that prioritize recent reviews, which helps to make sure that ratings reflect the most recent version of the app. Review summaries powered by Shopify Magic are available on select apps in the Shopify App Store. These summaries feature content from pages of reviews in an easy-to-read format.

Shopify slightly delays the publishing of each review so our automatic detection systems can detect and block reviews that don't meet our policies. Only Shopify merchants who are active on Shopify (not on a trial plan) and have the app installed (or who just recently uninstalled it) can leave a review. Merchants can only leave one review for each app. If they want to make changes to an existing review, then they can edit it.

If you come across a fake, incentivized, or non-compliant review, then you can report a violation.

App charges

Paid apps have a monthly fee, a one-time fee, or a fee every time you use it. Most paid apps also offer a free basic plan or a free trial period so you can try the app before purchasing it. You can review the pricing details for an app by clicking the app and scrolling down to the Pricing section.

Most apps created by Shopify are free.

App compatibility

Not every app is built to work on every store. Some apps are designed to work with specific store settings. To prevent you from installing apps that don't work on your store, app developers can set installation requirements for their apps.

If your store’s settings don’t meet an app’s installation requirements, then the app is marked as Not compatible in the Shopify App Store. On the app listing page for an incompatible app, you can review which installation requirements don't meet your store's settings. You can't install the app unless those settings change.

If an app that you've already installed becomes incompatible with your store, then you'll get an app notification in the Shopify admin that explains what store settings are incompatible with the app.

Installation requirements are associated with store settings that are difficult to change, like your business location or the countries you ship to. In most cases, we recommend you find alternative apps that work for your store, unless you're planning to change your business setup.

Installation requirements

There are 5 types of installation requirements that an app can have:

  • Point of sale: The app works with stores that have the Shopify Point of Sale channel.
  • Shipping countries: The app works with stores that ship to at least one of the specified countries. The countries you ship to are set by your shipping zones.
  • Currency: The app works with stores that sell in at least one of the currencies that the app supports.
  • Business address: The app works with stores with a primary business address in a country that the app supports.
  • Online Store: The app works with stores that have the Online Store channel.
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