Shopify apps
Choosing, combining and building Shopify apps without slowing your store down or paying for the same feature twice.
The Shopify App Store is a large part of why the platform is so flexible: reviews, subscriptions, search, loyalty, shipping, almost every feature has an app. It is also how many stores end up slow, expensive and hard to change.
Choosing an app
Check what it adds to the storefront: scripts that load on every page cost speed
Check for overlap with apps you already pay for
Check how it handles your data and whether it is easy to remove later
Prefer apps built on theme app extensions, which plug into the theme without editing its code
When to build a custom app
When no app does what you need, or the one that comes closest needs three others to get there, a custom app built for your store is often simpler and cheaper over time. It does exactly what your business needs and nothing that slows the store down.
Keeping the stack lean
Review your apps once or twice a year. Remove what nobody uses, and check that removed apps did not leave code behind in the theme. It is one of the quickest speed wins on most stores. We build custom apps as part of our Build work.
Questions
What people ask about this topic.
Some do. Apps that load scripts on every page add weight to the storefront. Apps built on theme app extensions, or that only run in the admin, have little or no effect on speed.
There is no fixed number. The question is whether each app earns its cost and its weight. Overlapping features and leftover code from removed apps are the usual problems.
When no existing app fits your process, when you would need several apps to approximate one feature, or when an integration is specific to your business.