Shopify apps: how many do you really need?
The app store is the most tempting corner of the platform, because every problem seems to have a button that solves it. The honest answer about Shopify apps is that the right number is the smallest one that runs your business.
Why is there no right number?
Because stores differ. A store that ships abroad, sells in two languages and collects reviews has real needs that a small local store does not. Counting apps tells you little. What tells you something is whether each one is doing a job that matters every week. A store with a few apps that all earn their place is healthier than a store with twice as many that nobody can explain.
What does each app really add?
Four things besides its feature. A cost, often a recurring one. Code that loads in the storefront, and sometimes stays in the theme after the app is removed. Another screen to learn and another company to depend on. And one more thing that can change or stop on a schedule that is not yours. None of this is a reason to avoid apps. It is a reason to weigh each one as a commitment and not as a free extra.
Which needs usually deserve an app?
Jobs that are part of how the business operates and that the platform does not cover by itself in your situation. Connecting a delivery company, offering a payment method your buyers expect, managing translations, collecting and showing reviews, producing invoices in the form your country asks for. These are hard to do well by hand, and a maintained app is usually the sensible route. Confirm what is built in first, since the platform keeps adding features.
Which needs usually do not?
Visual changes. A different announcement bar, a badge on a product photo, a section the theme lacks, a small change to how the cart looks. These can often be done in the theme settings, or by a designer once, in the theme itself, with nothing left running in the background. The same goes for effects added in the hope of pushing buyers: timers, pop-ups and wheels rarely answer a question anyone had.
How do you review the apps you already have?
Make a list with three columns: what the app does, who in the business uses it, and what would happen if it disappeared tomorrow. Anything with an empty second column is a candidate. Remove one at a time, then check the storefront and place a test order before removing the next. Look at your bill afterwards as well, and ask whoever maintains the theme to clear any code the removed apps left behind.
How I handle it
When I build on Shopify the store is designed in Figma first, and you approve that design before the build starts. You receive the admin, so adding products, changing prices and editing text and images is in your hands. Support covers 180 days from the day the store goes live. If you already have a store and are not sure what half of its apps do, tell me about it and I will reply within 24 hours.
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