Shopify's app store makes it easy to add functionality. It also makes it easy to silently wreck your store's performance. Here's how to think about apps properly - and what to cut.
Every Shopify store owner I've ever spoken to has too many apps installed. Not a few too many - in most cases, significantly too many. Some are being actively used. Some were installed to solve a problem that no longer exists. Some were installed, never properly set up, and have been quietly loading JavaScript on every page of the store ever since.
Apps are not neutral. Every one you install adds code. That code has to load every time a page loads. The more code that loads, the slower the page. The slower the page, the more customers you lose before they've seen a single product. This is not theoretical - it shows up directly in your conversion rate.
How App Bloat Happens
It starts small. You install a reviews app. Then a loyalty programme. An upsell widget. A currency converter. A size guide popup. A cookie consent tool. A live chat. A wishlist. An email capture. A countdown timer for promotions. Each one individually adds a small amount of overhead. Collectively, they can turn a fast, clean store into something that crawls on mobile.
The problem is that uninstalling an app doesn't always clean up after itself. Shopify's app uninstall process removes the app's access, but the code it injected into your theme often stays behind. I've audited stores with scripts from apps uninstalled two or three years ago still loading on every page.
What to Keep, What to Question, and What to Cut
Before I look at whether an app is worth keeping, I ask one question: is this app solving a real commercial problem, or is it solving a problem I imagined I had?
Apps worth keeping are the ones that directly support sales - reviews, upsells, subscriptions, bundles - where you can point to a measurable impact on revenue. Apps in the grey zone are the ones that feel useful but don't have a clear commercial justification: loyalty programmes with minimal uptake, social proof widgets that nobody clicks, wishlist functionality on a store where customers rarely return.
Apps to cut without hesitation: anything you installed more than 12 months ago and haven't actively looked at since, anything that duplicates functionality built into Shopify natively, and anything installed to test a feature you never actually launched.
The Monthly Cost You've Stopped Noticing
Beyond performance, there's a straightforward financial case for auditing your apps. Most Shopify apps charge monthly. Five apps at £15-25 each adds up to £75-125 a month - £900-1,500 a year - for functionality you may barely be using. I've seen stores spending over £400 a month on apps, with several duplicating each other's functionality.
Pull up your Shopify billing and look at what you're actually paying for. Then look at when you last logged into each of those apps. The answer is often uncomfortable.
What Shopify Does Natively That You Might Be Paying an App For
Shopify has added a significant amount of native functionality over the past few years that many store owners are still paying apps to replicate. Built-in abandoned checkout emails. Basic upsell and cross-sell features. Discount and bundle logic. Form builders. Metafields for custom product information. Email marketing through Shopify Email.
None of these native tools are as fully-featured as the best dedicated apps - but for many stores, they're more than adequate, and they don't add a single kilobyte to your page load time.
How to Audit Your Apps Without Breaking Things
Start with a speed test. Run your store through Google PageSpeed Insights and note the score. Then go through your installed apps one by one - for each one, ask whether it's actively used, whether it's generating measurable value, and whether it could be replaced by native Shopify functionality.
Before you uninstall anything, check whether the app injected code into your theme directly. If it did, that code needs to be manually removed from the theme files - otherwise you're paying nothing for an app that's still slowing your store down.
After each removal, retest. Some apps make a negligible difference to speed. Others - particularly those loading large external scripts - make a very noticeable one.
App auditing is part of every Shopify audit I carry out. If your store feels sluggish and you're not sure why, it's usually one of the first places I look. Get in touch if you'd like me to take a look at yours.