Is Your Shopify App Stack Secretly Draining Profits?
The average Shopify merchant spends $120/month on apps—on top of their plan subscription. That’s $1,440/year in app costs alone.
But here’s the question most merchants never ask: which of those apps are actually paying for themselves?
January is when most of us review our Shopify bills and realize app subscriptions have quietly crept up. An email app here. A reviews app there. That upsell tool someone recommended. The wishlist app that seemed helpful. Before you know it, you’re paying hundreds, or for larger stores, thousands per month across multiple apps.
Some are delivering value. Others… you’re not quite sure.
If you haven’t audited your app stack in the past year—or ever—this is the month to do it. Not because apps are bad investments. Because you should know exactly what you’re getting for what you’re paying.
The Problem: We Install Apps, But We Don’t Calculate ROI
Most app decisions happen like this: You notice a problem in your store. You search the Shopify App Store. You find something that promises to solve it. The price seems reasonable—$15, $29, $49/month. You install it.
Maybe you check if it’s working. Maybe you don’t. Either way, you probably never calculate whether the value it delivers actually justifies the monthly cost.
A year later, you’re still paying for it. Is it worth it? You’re not sure. But canceling feels risky—what if it’s doing something important?
This is how app costs creep up. Not because individual apps are expensive, but because we never evaluate whether they’re delivering value worth their cost.
A Simple Framework: Three Questions Every App Should Answer
Here’s a simple way to evaluate any app on your store—whether it’s for email, reviews, upsells, engagement, or anything else.
First, what measurable behavior does this app change? Apps don’t create value in a vacuum. They change customer behavior in specific, measurable ways. An email app increases the percentage of visitors who become subscribers and the percentage of subscribers who make purchases. A reviews app increases trust signals, which typically improves conversion rates for new visitors. An upsell app increases average order value by presenting additional purchase options at checkout. An engagement app increases time on site, products viewed, and return visits.
If you can’t identify the specific behavior an app changes, you can’t measure its value.
Second, what’s that behavior change worth in revenue? Once you know what behavior changes, you need to calculate what that’s worth. This requires looking at your analytics to understand how many visitors the behavior affects, what the revenue impact is per visitor, and what the total monthly revenue impact adds up to.
For example, if an email app converts 2% of visitors into subscribers, and subscribers convert at 8% versus 2% for non-subscribers, what’s that worth across your monthly traffic? If a reviews app increases conversion by 0.5%, what’s that worth across your monthly revenue? If an upsell app increases average order value by $8, and you get 200 orders per month, that’s $1,600 in additional monthly revenue.
The math doesn’t have to be perfect. You’re looking for rough estimates that show whether the app’s impact is $50/month, $500/month, or $5,000/month.
Third, does the revenue justify the cost? Now you can make an informed decision. If an app costs $49/month and generates an extra $800/month in revenue, it’s a clear winner. Keep it. If an app costs $79/month and you can’t identify any measurable revenue impact, it’s probably not worth it. Cancel it. If an app costs $29/month and generates maybe $100/month in additional revenue, you decide whether that 3-4X ROI is worth keeping or whether you’d rather put that $29 elsewhere.
The goal isn’t to cut every app. It’s to know which ones are actually delivering value.
Walking Through a Real Example
Let me show you how this works with a real example: evaluating an engagement app.
The behavior change is that shoppers who use visual browsing features view more products—let’s say 10 versus 5—spend more time on site—maybe 5 minutes versus 2 minutes—and return more often, with perhaps 26% return rate versus 15%. But not every visitor uses these engagement features. Let’s say 15% of your visitors actively engage with visual browsing.
If you get 10,000 visitors per month, that’s 1,500 engaged shoppers. Those engaged shoppers convert at higher rates. Let’s say non-engaged visitors convert at 2%, while engaged visitors convert at 4%—a 2X lift.
Now we can calculate the revenue impact. With 1,500 engaged visitors converting at 4%, that’s 60 orders. Without engagement, those same 1,500 visitors converting at 2% would have generated 30 orders. So you’re getting 30 additional orders per month.
If your average order value is $75, that’s 30 orders times $75, which equals $2,250 in additional monthly revenue.
Now compare that to cost. Let’s look at a performance-based pricing model like Stylaquin’s Flex 15, which charges $15/month plus 1.5% commission on sales where customers used Stylaquin. The $15 base covers the first $1,000 in Stylaquin-driven sales each month.
For our example with $2,250 in additional monthly revenue, the first $1,000 is covered by the $15 base. The remaining $1,250 would be charged at 1.5%, which comes to $18.75. So your total monthly cost would be $15 plus $18.75, or $33.75.
That means you’re generating $2,250 in additional revenue for $33.75 in cost—roughly 67X ROI. For every dollar you spend, you’re generating $67 in additional revenue. That’s a clear winner.
But here’s what matters: You ran the numbers. You know what you’re getting for what you’re paying. That’s the exercise.
Apply This to Your Entire App Stack
Now do this for every app you’re paying for.
Take your email marketing app, which probably costs somewhere between $50 and $150 per month. The behavior it changes is converting visitors to subscribers and sending automated campaigns. To calculate revenue impact, compare your subscriber conversion rate versus non-subscribers. If it’s generating 5 to 10 times the monthly cost in additional revenue, it’s worth keeping.
Your reviews app, typically costing $15 to $50 per month, increases trust and improves conversion for new visitors. Compare conversion rates before and after adding reviews, or look at conversion rates when reviews are visible versus when they’re not. If it’s increasing conversion by even 0.3 to 0.5% on decent traffic, it’s probably worth the cost.
An upsell or cross-sell app, usually running $20 to $80 per month, increases average order value. Calculate the additional revenue per order, multiply by your monthly order count, and see if it justifies the subscription cost. If it’s consistently increasing AOV by $5 to $10, it’s likely paying for itself.
Loyalty and rewards apps tend to be pricier—$50 to $200 per month—because they increase repeat purchase rates. Compare the lifetime value of loyalty members versus non-members. If it’s increasing repeat purchases enough to cover the monthly cost plus deliver meaningful additional profit, keep it.
Go through your app list. For each one, ask those three questions. If you can’t answer them, that’s a red flag. You’re paying for something you can’t measure.
What to Do With This Information
After you run through this exercise, you’ll have apps in three categories.
Clear winners are apps delivering 5X, 10X, or more ROI. Keep these. They’re paying for themselves many times over.
Marginal apps are delivering 2 to 3X ROI. You decide. Are they worth keeping, or would you rather invest that budget elsewhere? There’s no wrong answer here—it depends on your priorities and what other opportunities you have for that money.
Then there are apps where you can’t identify meaningful revenue impact, or where the cost exceeds the value. These are candidates for cancellation.
Don’t feel bad about canceling apps. The Shopify App Store has thousands of options. If something isn’t working, try something else. Or go without—sometimes the simplest solution is the best one. The worst thing you can do is keep paying for something month after month without knowing whether it’s actually helping.
Start 2026 Lean and Profitable
Most merchants install apps but never audit them. Subscriptions pile up. Costs increase. But no one’s tracking whether the value is there.
This January, do things differently. Spend an hour going through your app stack. For each app, ask what behavior it changes, what that’s worth, and whether the revenue justifies the cost.
Keep the winners. Cut the rest.
Your Shopify bill will thank you. And more importantly, you’ll actually know what you’re paying for and why.
If you want to see how Stylaquin’s Flex 15 performance-based pricing works, learn more at stylaquin.com. The first $1,000 in Stylaquin-driven sales each month is covered by the $15 base—after that, you only pay 1.5% commission on additional sales. No hidden fees. No surprises.
Start 2026 knowing exactly what your apps deliver.
