App replacement · service

Replace expensive Shopify apps with native code.

Most Shopify stores carry $300-500/mo in app subscriptions that could be native theme code. A focused engagement: free audit, 4-6 highest-ROI swaps, faster store, smaller bill, no functionality loss.

Book a 20-min scope call → See selected work

◆ Free audit · $200-500/mo recurring saved · faster LCP · same features

Why app spend grows

How Shopify stores end up with $500/mo of apps.

No store sets out to spend $6K/year on apps. It accumulates one $19/mo subscription at a time, and by year three the bill has crept past the cost of a custom build.

01 ◆

Wishlist app — $19-49/mo. Lives entirely on the front-end + customer metafields. Native rebuild: 1 day.

02 ◆

Sticky cart drawer / cart upsell — $29-79/mo. Pure theme-code feature with cart Ajax. Native rebuild: 1-2 days.

03 ◆

Sales-pop / recently-bought notifications — $19-29/mo. Trivial with the orders Admin API + a cookie. Often shipped misleadingly with fake data.

04 ◆

Size chart app — $9-19/mo. Should be a snippet + product metafield. Native rebuild: half a day.

05 ◆

Announcement bar — $9-19/mo. Should be a section. Native rebuild: 30 minutes. Why this is paid SaaS will baffle you in 2026.

06 ◆

Reviews app — $19-99/mo. Reviews data lives in their database, but Judge.me, Loox, Yotpo all have export endpoints. Render server-side from a metafield instead of injecting their script.

07 ◆

Recently-viewed products — $9-19/mo. localStorage + a simple section. Native rebuild: 1 day.

08 ◆

Currency switcher — $9-29/mo. Shopify Markets handles this natively. Often subscribed to by mistake.

What I do

What's in scope.

Free audit of your current app stack with monthly savings, replacement difficulty per app, and what should stay (Klaviyo, serious SMS, real CDPs always stay). Then a focused 2-3 week engagement to swap the highest-ROI candidates.

◆ Free audit — list of every installed app, monthly cost, replacement difficulty (easy/medium/hard), projected speed impact of removal, and recommended action (keep/cut/replace).
◆ Native theme replacement of 4-6 highest-ROI apps. Typical swap list: announcement bar, size chart, sticky cart, sales-pop, wishlist, recently-viewed, currency switcher, store locator.
◆ Reviews migration if applicable — export from Judge.me/Loox/Yotpo, store as metafields, render server-side. Stars + count + body intact.
◆ Performance verification — before/after LCP, INP, CLS measurements on real devices. The replacement should always be faster.
◆ Klaviyo / GA4 / Meta / TikTok integration verified after each swap so no conversion event breaks.
◆ Admin training so your team knows how to edit the new native sections without a developer.
◆ 14 days of post-launch monitoring + iteration. If anything regresses, I fix it free.
◆ Written list of "do not install these without checking with me" so the app sprawl doesn't come back.

Packages

Two engagement shapes.

Audit only

Free

Delivery 3 working days

Full app stack audit
Monthly savings projection
Replacement difficulty per app
Loom walkthrough of the report
No commitment to the rebuild

Get a quote →

Audit + rebuild Most chosen

From $2,400

Delivery 2-3 weeks

Full app stack audit
4-6 highest-ROI native replacements
Performance verification (before/after)
Conversion-event integrity verified
Admin training + handoff doc
14 days post-launch monitoring
Typical recurring savings: $300-600/mo

Get a quote →

Process

How a typical project ships.

Free audit

Send me your store URL. Within 3 working days you get a written audit + Loom walkthrough. Zero commitment to the rebuild.

Approve scope

You decide which swaps to do. I quote the engagement based on the count and complexity. Fixed price, no scope creep.

Rebuild

Work happens on a duplicate theme. Daily updates, weekly demo. We swap apps one at a time so you can compare before/after.

Verify + monitor

Performance + conversion-event verification before publishing. 14-day RUM monitoring window after. Written before/after report.

FAQ

App-replacement FAQs.

No fluff — the specifics buyers want before booking a call. If yours isn't here, ask on the call.

Will I lose features when you replace apps?

No — that's the whole point of native replacement. Reviews stay (re-rendered server-side from exported data), wishlist stays (theme code with localStorage + customer-account API), sticky cart stays. The customer sees the same store, faster, branded to your theme. The app sidebar UI is gone.

Which apps DON'T you recommend replacing?

Real CDPs and serious SMS/email platforms (Klaviyo, Attentive, Postscript, Iterable). Conversion-critical analytics (TripleWhale if you have it). Subscription apps (ReCharge, Bold). Inventory / ERP integration apps. Search apps with real ML behind them (Searchanise, Algolia). The audit names every one explicitly.

How much will I actually save per month?

Typical jewelry / mid-AOV store with 8-14 apps installed: $300-600/mo recurring. Annual savings $3,600-7,200. Payback on a $2,400 rebuild is 4-8 months. After that it's pure savings, plus a faster store.

Will the swap make my store faster?

Yes — every replaced app removes one or more script + CSS + sometimes a font from the page. Typical engagement drops LCP by 0.5-1.5s and INP by 50-150ms. Real-device measured before/after, written report.

Will my Klaviyo / Meta / GA4 still fire?

Yes — tracking integrity is non-negotiable. We verify every conversion event still fires correctly after each swap. Klaviyo, GA4, Meta Pixel + CAPI, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest all stay; only the decorative apps go.

Will my reviews disappear if I uninstall the reviews app?

Not if we migrate them. Judge.me, Loox, Yotpo all have export endpoints. We export the full review corpus, store it as product metafields, and render it server-side in Liquid. Customer sees the same reviews. We can also keep the app installed in collection mode (writes only, no rendering) so new reviews keep coming in.

How long does this take?

3 working days for the audit, 2-3 weeks for the rebuild of 4-6 apps. Larger swap lists (8-12 apps) push to 4-5 weeks. We sequence by ROI — highest savings or biggest speed wins first — so you see results in week 1.

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