Comparison · 149 merchant reviews read · Updated October 2026
Shoplift vs Essential
Short answer
Pick Shoplift if you need price tests and theme tests and you're replacing Google Optimize (8 reviewers made that move).
Pick Essential if you want to start on a free plan and you care about a developer that answers reviews.
 Shoplift |  Essential | |
|---|---|---|
| App Store rating | 4.9★ (133) | 5★ (28) |
| Cost at your traffic | $99+/moStarting price. The listing says price rises with visitors but gives no tiers. | FreeCheapest plan: Free. |
| How price scales | Starts at $99/month ($74/month billed annually) and goes up with your site's monthly unique visitors, with higher tiers adding features and support. | The listing says this app is free and gives no paid plans or usage-based pricing. |
| Launched | September 15, 2022 | June 11, 2025 |
| App Store listing | App Store listing |
Essential starts at $0 a month, Shoplift at $99
Shoplift
- Core$99/mo
- Advanced$399/mo
- Pro$999/mo
“Based on site-wide monthly unique visitors.”
Essential
- FreeFree
Only Shoplift can run price tests
Read from each app's listing. A dot means the listing says it can do it.
Shoplift reviews mention price problems 3.9% 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 Shoplift complaint: price
The product itself works as advertised. We like the fact variants load without the original-page flash you get with some client-side testing apps. Two reasons I uninstalled. First, pricing. If you run a high-traffic store, the session-based cost gets very expensive very quickly. In our case several times what comparable tools charge. Check the maths carefully against your own traffic profile…
Essential replies to 20% of reviews. Shoplift replies to none
Serious problems reviewers reported
Billing disputes, broken stores, misused data and missing features. Each one is a single merchant's account.
The product itself works as advertised. We like the fact variants load without the original-page flash you get with some client-side testing apps. Two reasons I uninstalled. First, pricing. If you run a high-traffic store, the session-based cost gets very expensive very quickly. In our case several times what comparable tools charge. Check the maths carefully against your own traffic profile…
Didn't had the change to run split-tests because bugs. $99,- gone for not even live with the app. First of all, the app is buggy and not worth the cost. It is connected to an outdated theme, and I didn’t even have a chance to try it properly. I tried to run a split-test but for some reason it grab the outdated theme. There is no live chat. I will try Intelegems.
Results merchants put a number on
- 45% conversion rate with Shoplift. “increase our conversion rate by 45%”
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