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A Shopify store often grows in layers. A reviews module, then a promotion banner, a translation tool, a feed generator, a stock counter, a second reviews tool installed for a test and never removed. Each of these apps was added for a good reason. Together, they end up costing a lot, in subscriptions as well as in speed, without anyone having decided on that total.
This guide is for teams that have been running a Shopify store for a while and wonder whether all their apps earn what they cost. It complements Shopify or Medusa: which to choose, where paid apps are part of the three-year calculation.
What an app really costs
The price shown in the app store is only the first line. An app is paid for in four ways:
The four costs of an app
- The subscription
Monthly, sometimes tied to the number of orders.
- Speed
The code it loads on the store’s pages.
- Time
Settings, updates, support, conflicts with the theme.
- Dependency
Data and features that live with a third party.
The second cost is the least visible. Yet Shopify makes it a criterion for its own label: among the requirements of the “Built for Shopify” programme, an app must not reduce the store’s Lighthouse performance score by more than ten points. Ten points for a single app is the ceiling accepted for the best ones; a store that stacks a dozen, labelled or not, gets the real picture by measuring it.
The code that stays after uninstalling
This is the trap you discover when you clean up. Shopify’s help says it plainly:
Some apps add code to your online store theme that isn’t automatically removed when you uninstall the app.
The same page explains that uninstalling a paid app cancels future recurring charges, but that you might still be billed for the current billing cycle, and that charges billed outside Shopify are not cancelled by uninstalling. Apps that use theme app extensions are the exception: according to Shopify’s documentation, their blocks are removed from the theme on uninstall. So before removing one, check how it was integrated.
Watch out
A removed app can keep slowing the store down
A script left in the theme after an uninstall still loads on every visit, for a feature that no longer exists. After each removal, have the theme reviewed, or compare speed before and after.
Signs that an app is one too many
- Two apps for the same feature. Two reviews tools, two banners, two translators: one was tested, the other kept, neither was removed.
- An app for a one-off need. Installed for a Christmas campaign, still billed in March.
- A feature already built in. Before paying for an app, check that Shopify’s admin does not already do the same thing. Abandoned checkout emails, for instance, are built in, as our guide to abandoned cart reminders points out.
- An app nobody can explain. If the team cannot say in one sentence what it brings, it probably brings nothing measurable.
- An unverifiable conversion promise. Countdown timers, fake notifications of recent purchases: beyond their weight, a fake deadline is, according to the European Union’s page on unfair commercial practices, an unfair practice.
Taking inventory, once a year
- List.
Every installed app, with its real monthly price and installation date.
- Name the service it provides.
One sentence per app, and the person who uses it.
- Measure.
What it brings in, when measurable (attributed sales, time saved), and what it weighs on speed.
- Decide.
Keep, replace with a built-in feature, or remove, then have the theme cleaned up.
Step three is the most honest. An app that brings in nothing measurable is not necessarily useless (a shipping tool saves time without showing up in sales), but it must be able to say so. Then track the effect of the cleanup on the five numbers to track every week, conversion first.
When an app fully earns its place
Sorting does not mean removing everything. An app is worth its price when it does what the store cannot do on its own, for a lasting need, with a measurable effect. Customer reviews are often a good example, provided they are verified, as explained in our article on the product page that converts. A reliable feed generator too, if the data it sends is clean: that is the whole point of our guide to preparing your store for Google Shopping, and of what makes a Google Shopping campaign rise or sink.
And when apps become the core of how the store works, when they compensate for a platform that no longer fits the way you sell, it may be the platform itself that needs re-examining.
What we do on a store we take over
On an online plush toy store that we are putting back on its feet on Shopify, the first job was neither an app nor a campaign, but the catalogue: 653 products reviewed, 26 fields defined, 481 product pages enriched then reviewed. Clean data in the store avoids several apps whose only purpose is to compensate for badly organised data. We do not publish a savings figure here: it depends on each store, and only your own inventory gives it.
If you want to do this sorting with an outside view, our ecommerce service starts with a review of your store, apps included.
Frequently asked questions
How many apps should a Shopify store have?
There is no ideal number. The right question is, for each one, what service it provides, to whom, and what it costs in subscription and speed. A store with fifteen useful apps is in better shape than a store with five apps, three of which are duplicates. A yearly inventory is enough to keep the list clean.
Do Shopify apps slow down the store?
Those that load code on the store’s pages can slow it down, and Shopify makes it a criterion: its Built for Shopify programme requires that an app does not reduce the Lighthouse performance score by more than ten points. Measure the speed of your main pages before and after each installation or removal.
What should you do after uninstalling an app?
Check the theme. According to Shopify’s help, some apps leave code that is not removed automatically when uninstalled. Check billing too: the current cycle may still be charged, and billing done outside Shopify must be cancelled separately, with the app developer, or it will keep running.
Is an app better than custom development?
For a common need, shared by many stores, an app maintained by its developer generally costs less than a development you maintain yourself. Custom work is justified for a need specific to the way you sell, or when several apps pile up to compensate for a gap. Run the calculation over three years, maintenance included.
Sources
- Shopify, Built for Shopify requirements (new tab)shopify.dev
- Your Europe, unfair commercial practices (new tab)europa.eu
Jim · founder of Brain Plus AI
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