Hey community! Every time I talk to a merchant, everyone has a completely different stack of apps. Some swear by specific page builders or review apps, while others regret installing heavy apps that slow down their site speed.
Curiously, what is the absolute MVP app on your store right now, and which one did you end up deleting?
Hi @Oyelux 
I’ve found that my MVP apps tend to be the ones customers actually interact with, not necessarily the ones that have the most features.
For us, anything that improves the buying experience or reduces back-and-forth with customers tends to earn its place pretty quickly. Product customization has been a big one, since it lets customers provide exactly what they want upfront instead of creating support tickets later.
That’s one reason we’ve kept Easify Custom Product Options around. Being able to add things like image swatches, file uploads, conditional logic, and personalization fields without touching code has solved a lot of small operational headaches.
As for apps we’ve removed, it’s usually been the opposite story—apps that looked great on paper but duplicated functionality, added too many scripts, or created extra maintenance work. Over time we’ve found that a smaller stack of apps that directly impacts conversion or customer experience tends to outperform a larger stack of “nice-to-have” tools.
Curious to see what everyone else’s MVP app is—there are always a few hidden gems that don’t get talked about enough.
I’ve noticed merchants often underestimate analytics tools. A good profit tracking app like GoProfit has become one that many store owners rely on because it answers the simple question: “Did we actually make money today?” 
It’s easy to focus on orders and revenue, but understanding your actual profit is what really helps you make better decisions.
That said, analytics apps can also be the first to go if they’re too complex or take too long to learn. Most merchants don’t want another dashboard to figure out, they want insights they can act on in a few minutes.
For me, the MVP app is definitely Judge.me. Social proof has one of the biggest impacts on conversion rates, especially for newer stores where customers are still building trust.
One app I try to avoid unless it’s absolutely necessary is a heavy page builder. They can be great for flexibility, but I’ve seen stores end up with slower load times and a lot of maintenance overhead. Whenever possible, I prefer keeping things lightweight and using Shopify’s native features before adding more apps.
My rule is simple: if an app doesn’t directly improve conversions, retention, or save significant time, it probably doesn’t stay installed for long.
So hear are some list off app you should always install in ur store bcz it is build by shopify and completely free
1 - Shopify search and discovery
2 - Shopify Flow
3 - Shopify Email
4 - Shopify forms
5 - Shopify bundles
6 - Judge.me review (free)
7 - Page speed optimizer app(SEO and Speed)
8 - Shopify POS (If being used in shop)
And avoid using paid apps for now bcz those app have similar functionality and have a little more information but those are not worth bcz many apps provide so much free service most off merchant don’t need to use paid apps
Spot on, Sophia! Judge.me is hard to beat for social proof, clean widgets and reliable reviews make a massive difference for building trust. And you hit the nail on the head regarding heavy page builders; keeping things lightweight usually saves a lot of headaches with site speed down the road. Appreciate you sharing your stack!
Over the past 10 years I’ve worked on six DTC brands, and the same thing killed conversion every time. If a shopper had a question about sizing or returns or narrowing their search, their impulse would die before support replied the next morning. If you cross-reference your support helpdesk with your buyers list, I’m sure you’ll see the same silent drop-off.
I got tired of trying to patch around that, so I built Carti. It’s an AI shopping assistant for Shopify, and the plain version of what it does is act like your best salesperson on every page.
It answers product and policy questions the moment someone asks. It understands what people actually mean when they search, so “something warm for camping” returns the right jacket instead of nothing. It surfaces that specific review that addresses what someone is hesitating over, rather than expecting to read through hundreds.
It also recommends based on what that specific shopper has been asking about instead of showing everyone the same best-sellers. Early stores are seeing around 20% higher revenue per visitor. (Plus it’s free for smaller stores, and only takes about five minutes to install.)
The regret half is useful too, because it’s a category rather than a name: Any app that edited my theme files instead of using an app block.
The issue is when you uninstall those, Shopify removes the app, but the snippet and script tag it dropped into your theme often stay exactly where they are. So you cull from 18 apps to 9 and your speed score barely moves, because you’re still loading half of what you deleted.
If you’ve ever uninstalled apps and wondered why nothing got faster, check theme.liquid and your snippets folder against what’s actually installed.
This is such a good question because the “must-have” app really depends on the store’s stage and workflow. For me, the MVPs are usually the apps that directly improve operations or customer experience.
And it really depends on the store, but some apps that many merchants find valuable are:
On the other hand, I’ve seen merchants remove apps that overlap with existing Shopify features or add too much storefront code, especially when the benefit isn’t clear. The best app stack is usually the one that solves specific problems without making the store harder to manage.
Hi @Oyelux,
You’re right. App bloat is one of the quickest ways to ruin a great store’s site speed, and it’s so easy to fall into the trap of installing a new heavy app for every minor feature.
Over the years, I’ve gotten super ruthless about cutting out heavy page builders or redundant plugins. Whenever I set up a store now, instead of naming just one single MVP, I rely on a “lean core stack” of four apps that cover the entire funnel without slowing down the storefront:
My golden rule nowadays is: if an app directly injects code into the storefront, it has to prove immediate revenue ROI or clear efficiency to justify staying.
What kind of niche is your store in? That usually dictates whether a complex app stack is actually worth the speed tradeoff!
Hi there @Oyelux
What an app layout should look like depends on the store’s goals, products and workflow. A good rule of thumb is to restrict yourself to apps that meet a well defined business need, and to reevaluate from time to time whether each app really deserves a spot in your stack. Evaluate the impact of change on store performance and customer experience before implementing. Removing unused apps and having a minimal set up could really help you speed things up, not to mention that managing it will be much easier as well.