// APP GRAVEYARD

The App Graveyard

A forensic catalog of common Shopify apps and their performance tax. Each entry documents the latency cost you pay for "convenience." These are the apps I surgically remove and replace with native architecture.

// Performance measured on default configs. Your numbers will vary based on implementation.
PERFORMANCE TAX

Shogun

Page Builder

TBT Impact 380-520ms
HTTP Requests 8-12
JS Payload 245 KB
Monthly Cost $299/mo
Native Alternative

Refactor to OS 2.0 JSON Templates populated by Metaobjects. Zero external requests. Zero TBT. Retains full schema editability in the Theme Editor.

PERFORMANCE TAX

PageFly

Page Builder

TBT Impact 280-450ms
HTTP Requests 6-10
JS Payload 180 KB
Monthly Cost $99/mo
Native Alternative

Refactor to OS 2.0 JSON Templates. Use Metaobjects for structured content fields. Retains drag-and-drop schema in the Theme Editor without the 400KB payload.

PERFORMANCE TAX

Yotpo

Reviews Widget

TBT Impact 200-350ms
HTTP Requests 4-8
JS Payload 180-250 KB
Monthly Cost $300/mo
Native Alternative

Migrate review data to Metaobjects. Render via standard Liquid schema or utilize Judge.me Core (script-less mode) for lightweight delivery. Eliminate the 1.2s main thread blocking.

MAIN THREAD BLOCKER

Klaviyo

Email/SMS Marketing

TBT Impact 150-300ms
HTTP Requests 3-5
JS Payload 313 KB
Monthly Cost $150-500/mo
Native Alternative

Async load via IntersectionObserver. Offload tracking events to server-side Shopify Pixels (Web Pixels API) to eliminate main thread blocking.

PERFORMANCE TAX

Rebuy

Upsells/Cross-sells

TBT Impact 180-320ms
HTTP Requests 5-8
JS Payload 120 KB
Monthly Cost $99-499/mo
Native Alternative

Leverage Shopify Product Recommendations API directly via Liquid. Build native cart drawer upsells using the standard AJAX API. Zero external script dependencies.

PLUS REQUIRED

Bold Bundles

Product Bundling

TBT Impact 120-250ms
HTTP Requests 3-6
JS Payload 85 KB
Monthly Cost $49/mo
Native Alternative

Deploy a Cart Transform Function (WASM). Logic executes on Shopify's backend infrastructure. Zero client-side JavaScript. Unified checkout. (Plus Exclusive).

Ready to own your architecture?