Comparison · 48 merchant reviews read · Updated October 2026
Shogun vs Essential
Short answer
Pick Shogun if you need price tests and theme tests and you care about a developer that answers reviews.
Pick Essential if you want to start on a free plan and you want the fewest bug complaints.
 Shogun |  Essential | |
|---|---|---|
| App Store rating | 4.2★ (45) | 5★ (28) |
| Cost at your traffic | $39+/moCheapest plan: Pro. | FreeCheapest plan: Free. |
| How price scales | Starts at $39/month and goes up by plan, which mainly differs in the number of active tests and features; a free trial is available but its length isn't stated. | The listing says this app is free and gives no paid plans or usage-based pricing. |
| Launched | March 21, 2025 | June 11, 2025 |
| App Store listing | App Store listing |
Essential starts at $0 a month, Shogun at $39
Shogun
- Pro$39/mo
- Advanced$119/mo
- Unlimited$499/mo
Essential
- FreeFree
Only Shogun can run price tests
Read from each app's listing. A dot means the listing says it can do it.
Shogun reviews mention bugs problems 21.4% of the time, Essential 0%
Share of each app's reviews that complain about the topic. Apps under 20 reviews are left out because a single review swings the number.
The most common Shogun complaint: bugs
WORST APP EVER - MY PRODUCT PHOTOS LAGGED AND DID NOT WORK / THE PRICE EVEN AFTER UN INSTALLING KEPT CHANGING . Subject: Re: Toothy - pricing test issue Hi Sweetan, Thanks for looking into this. Before reinstalling or sharing collaborator access, I want to share what I've found on my end, because I think it points to the actual cause. After uninstalling Shogun, I found that Shogun had written…
Shogun replies to 100% of reviews, Essential to 20%
Serious problems reviewers reported
Billing disputes, broken stores, misused data and missing features. Each one is a single merchant's account.
WORST APP EVER - MY PRODUCT PHOTOS LAGGED AND DID NOT WORK / THE PRICE EVEN AFTER UN INSTALLING KEPT CHANGING . Subject: Re: Toothy - pricing test issue Hi Sweetan, Thanks for looking into this. Before reinstalling or sharing collaborator access, I want to share what I've found on my end, because I think it points to the actual cause. After uninstalling Shogun, I found that Shogun had written…
it f*cked up a live theme. Now I have to figure out what to do in the middle of the day while traffic enter the broken theme.
Shogun A/B testing is really poor and full of bugs. My store theme got unpublished without notice. It publish duplicated theme that created month ago. Now my entire store is messed up. This kind of sneaky conduct has caused me order losses. I paid $119 for the service, but the product detail testing function fails to work. I cannot even edit and adjust product descriptions normally.
I started an AB test. It deleted all of my product images and made some of my apps broken.
Shogun A/B testing is really poor and full of bugs. My store theme got unpublished without notice. It publish duplicated theme that created month ago. Now my entire store is messed up. This kind of sneaky conduct has caused me order losses. I paid $119 for the service, but the product detail testing function fails to work. I cannot even edit and adjust product descriptions normally.
Results merchants put a number on
- 3/4 other with Shogun. “3/4 bos to A”
- 12% other with Shogun. “pull another 12%”
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