5 Shopify-apps waar je te veel voor betaalt (en wat te doen)
7 min read
You Are Probably Running 10-20 Apps. At Least 5 Are Ripping You Off.
The average Shopify store installs between 10 and 20 apps. Some are worth every cent — your payment processor, your theme, maybe a well-built page builder. But if you audit your monthly Shopify bill line by line, you will almost certainly find at least five apps where you are paying significantly more than the value you are getting. Not because the apps are bad. Most of them work fine. The problem is the pricing model. Many Shopify apps have moved to usage-based billing — per order, per shipment, per invoice, per email — which means your costs grow in lockstep with your revenue, but the app itself is not doing any more work. The code runs the same whether you process 500 orders or 5,000. You are paying more simply because your store is more successful.
Here are the five categories where we see merchants overpaying most consistently, along with what each one actually costs at scale.
Here are the five categories where we see merchants overpaying most consistently, along with what each one actually costs at scale.
App #1: Order Tracking and Shipment Notifications
This is probably the single biggest offender. Every store needs shipment tracking — customers expect it, and it cuts down on "where is my order" support tickets dramatically. The problem is how tracking apps charge for it.
Most tracking apps have a base subscription of $14.99 to $29.99 per month. Reasonable enough. But then they charge $0.05 to $0.08 per shipment on top of that. For a store doing 2,000 shipments per month, that is an extra $100 to $160 in usage fees — bringing the real monthly cost to $115 to $190. At 5,000 shipments, you are looking at $250 to $430 per month for what is essentially an automated notification system.
Think about what that app actually does: it pulls tracking data from carrier APIs (which are free) and sends an email or SMS when the status changes. There is no complex logic. No machine learning. No proprietary data. It is a straightforward integration that, once built, costs almost nothing to run. Yet you are paying $3,000 to $5,000 per year for it — and that cost keeps climbing. If your tracking app is one of your top three most expensive apps, you are not alone. It is one of the most common pain points we hear from store owners.
Most tracking apps have a base subscription of $14.99 to $29.99 per month. Reasonable enough. But then they charge $0.05 to $0.08 per shipment on top of that. For a store doing 2,000 shipments per month, that is an extra $100 to $160 in usage fees — bringing the real monthly cost to $115 to $190. At 5,000 shipments, you are looking at $250 to $430 per month for what is essentially an automated notification system.
Think about what that app actually does: it pulls tracking data from carrier APIs (which are free) and sends an email or SMS when the status changes. There is no complex logic. No machine learning. No proprietary data. It is a straightforward integration that, once built, costs almost nothing to run. Yet you are paying $3,000 to $5,000 per year for it — and that cost keeps climbing. If your tracking app is one of your top three most expensive apps, you are not alone. It is one of the most common pain points we hear from store owners.
App #2: Invoicing and Tax-Compliant Billing
If you sell in the European Union, you are legally required to generate compliant invoices with proper VAT breakdowns, sequential invoice numbers, and correct formatting. This is not optional — it is a regulatory requirement. And the Shopify app ecosystem knows it, which is why invoicing apps can charge what they do.
The typical invoicing app costs $9.99 to $19.99 per month as a base, then adds $0.03 to $0.05 per invoice generated. At 2,500 orders per month, the per-invoice fees alone add $75 to $125, pushing your real monthly cost to $85 to $145. Some apps also charge extra for credit notes, multi-currency support, or custom templates — features that most EU sellers need by default.
The frustrating part is that invoice generation is one of the most straightforward tasks in e-commerce. You are taking order data that already exists in Shopify, formatting it according to a template, applying the correct tax rates (which Shopify already calculates), and generating a PDF. It is a solved problem. The reason it costs so much is not complexity — it is that EU compliance is mandatory, which gives app developers pricing power. You cannot choose not to have invoices, so you pay whatever the market charges.
The typical invoicing app costs $9.99 to $19.99 per month as a base, then adds $0.03 to $0.05 per invoice generated. At 2,500 orders per month, the per-invoice fees alone add $75 to $125, pushing your real monthly cost to $85 to $145. Some apps also charge extra for credit notes, multi-currency support, or custom templates — features that most EU sellers need by default.
The frustrating part is that invoice generation is one of the most straightforward tasks in e-commerce. You are taking order data that already exists in Shopify, formatting it according to a template, applying the correct tax rates (which Shopify already calculates), and generating a PDF. It is a solved problem. The reason it costs so much is not complexity — it is that EU compliance is mandatory, which gives app developers pricing power. You cannot choose not to have invoices, so you pay whatever the market charges.
App #3: Returns and Exchanges Management
Returns are a fact of life in e-commerce, especially in fashion and apparel where return rates of 15-25% are standard. A good returns process is not a luxury — it directly affects customer satisfaction and repeat purchase rates. So you install a returns app. And it gets expensive fast.
Returns apps typically charge $24.99 to $49.99 per month as a base subscription, then add $0.50 to $1.50 per return processed. For a fashion store doing 3,000 orders per month with a 15% return rate, that is 450 returns — adding $225 to $675 in per-return fees, for a total of $250 to $725 per month. Even at the lower end of that range, you are paying $3,000 per year for returns processing.
What makes this especially painful is that returns management is heavily workflow-dependent. Every store handles returns differently — different policies, different restocking rules, different communication preferences. Yet most returns apps force you into their workflow rather than adapting to yours. So you are paying a premium for a process that does not quite fit, and then spending additional time on manual workarounds for the edge cases the app does not handle. You are overpaying and underserved at the same time.
Returns apps typically charge $24.99 to $49.99 per month as a base subscription, then add $0.50 to $1.50 per return processed. For a fashion store doing 3,000 orders per month with a 15% return rate, that is 450 returns — adding $225 to $675 in per-return fees, for a total of $250 to $725 per month. Even at the lower end of that range, you are paying $3,000 per year for returns processing.
What makes this especially painful is that returns management is heavily workflow-dependent. Every store handles returns differently — different policies, different restocking rules, different communication preferences. Yet most returns apps force you into their workflow rather than adapting to yours. So you are paying a premium for a process that does not quite fit, and then spending additional time on manual workarounds for the edge cases the app does not handle. You are overpaying and underserved at the same time.
App #4: Email Marketing with Shopify Data Integration
Email marketing is critical for e-commerce. Abandoned cart flows, post-purchase sequences, win-back campaigns — these are revenue drivers, not nice-to-haves. The challenge is that most general-purpose email platforms charge based on list size or sends, and they were not designed specifically for Shopify data.
Dedicated Shopify email apps typically start at $29 to $49 per month and scale based on subscriber count and email volume. A store with 25,000 subscribers sending 8-10 campaigns per month easily pays $99 to $199 per month. Add SMS and the bill jumps to $200 to $400. The Shopify-specific apps often justify their pricing with "deep integration" — product recommendations, browse abandonment, customer segmentation based on purchase history. But here is the thing: all of that data is available through the Shopify API. Any competent developer can pull order history, browsing behavior, and customer segments from your store. You are paying a premium for a data connection that is, technically, free to build.
The bigger issue is vendor lock-in. Once your email flows, templates, and segments live inside a proprietary app, switching costs are enormous. You are not just paying for email sending — you are paying because migrating away would take weeks and risk breaking revenue-generating automations. That lock-in is a feature of the business model, not a bug.
Dedicated Shopify email apps typically start at $29 to $49 per month and scale based on subscriber count and email volume. A store with 25,000 subscribers sending 8-10 campaigns per month easily pays $99 to $199 per month. Add SMS and the bill jumps to $200 to $400. The Shopify-specific apps often justify their pricing with "deep integration" — product recommendations, browse abandonment, customer segmentation based on purchase history. But here is the thing: all of that data is available through the Shopify API. Any competent developer can pull order history, browsing behavior, and customer segments from your store. You are paying a premium for a data connection that is, technically, free to build.
The bigger issue is vendor lock-in. Once your email flows, templates, and segments live inside a proprietary app, switching costs are enormous. You are not just paying for email sending — you are paying because migrating away would take weeks and risk breaking revenue-generating automations. That lock-in is a feature of the business model, not a bug.
What Can You Actually Do About It?
There are three realistic options, and they are not mutually exclusive.
Option 1: Negotiate. Many app vendors will offer discounts if you ask — especially annual billing discounts (typically 15-20% off) or volume-based pricing for high-order stores. The downside is that the savings are modest, and you are still locked into the same pricing structure. You are getting a discount on a model that is fundamentally designed to scale with your revenue. It helps, but it does not solve the underlying problem.
Option 2: Find cheaper alternatives. For every popular Shopify app, there are usually 3-5 competitors. Some offer better pricing, especially newer apps trying to gain market share. The risk here is quality and reliability — cheaper apps sometimes lack features, have worse support, or shut down when they cannot compete. Migration also takes time: you need to set up the new app, test it, and run both in parallel before switching. Budget a week or two per app swap, minimum.
Option 3: Build custom. For apps where you are paying $150 or more per month — which usually means tracking, invoicing, or returns — a custom-built solution can pay for itself within 6 to 12 months. You pay a one-time development cost, and then you own it. No monthly fees. No per-order charges. No surprise price hikes. The app does exactly what your store needs, nothing more and nothing less. The upside is obvious: permanent cost elimination and a tool that fits your workflow perfectly. The downside is the upfront investment and the need for occasional maintenance. It is not the right move for a $15/month app, but for the two or three biggest line items on your app bill, it is worth getting a quote. You might find that the breakeven point is a lot closer than you expected.
Option 1: Negotiate. Many app vendors will offer discounts if you ask — especially annual billing discounts (typically 15-20% off) or volume-based pricing for high-order stores. The downside is that the savings are modest, and you are still locked into the same pricing structure. You are getting a discount on a model that is fundamentally designed to scale with your revenue. It helps, but it does not solve the underlying problem.
Option 2: Find cheaper alternatives. For every popular Shopify app, there are usually 3-5 competitors. Some offer better pricing, especially newer apps trying to gain market share. The risk here is quality and reliability — cheaper apps sometimes lack features, have worse support, or shut down when they cannot compete. Migration also takes time: you need to set up the new app, test it, and run both in parallel before switching. Budget a week or two per app swap, minimum.
Option 3: Build custom. For apps where you are paying $150 or more per month — which usually means tracking, invoicing, or returns — a custom-built solution can pay for itself within 6 to 12 months. You pay a one-time development cost, and then you own it. No monthly fees. No per-order charges. No surprise price hikes. The app does exactly what your store needs, nothing more and nothing less. The upside is obvious: permanent cost elimination and a tool that fits your workflow perfectly. The downside is the upfront investment and the need for occasional maintenance. It is not the right move for a $15/month app, but for the two or three biggest line items on your app bill, it is worth getting a quote. You might find that the breakeven point is a lot closer than you expected.