As an ecommerce store owner, especially if you use Shopify, you’ve likely run into the platform’s variant limits. Shopify allows up to 100 variants per product, which can be quite limiting if your product comes in a wide range of sizes, colors, or styles. This is where Shopify product variant apps come in. These apps let you break free from Shopify’s default limits, giving you the flexibility to add multiple customizations, improve product presentation, and even increase sales through upselling and cross-selling.
But with so many options out there, which apps should you use? That’s where this guide comes in. We’ve handpicked the 9 best Shopify product variant apps for 2024, covering both free and paid options to suit any store size—from small, scrappy startups to large, established brands.
Shopify stores are most common in the U.S., followed by the UK and Australia, with over 1.1 million stores live in the U.S. alone.( Source )
Why You Need a Product Variant App on Shopify
Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms globally, but it has some limitations when it comes to managing product variants. Shopify’s default system allows up to 100 variants per product and only 3 option types (like size, color, and material). For many stores—especially those offering products with extensive customization options—this quickly becomes restrictive. This is where Shopify product variant apps come into play.
1. Overcoming Shopify’s Variant Limits
If you run a store that sells products like custom apparel, home decor, or tech accessories, chances are you offer a wide range of variations. For instance, a T-shirt might come in 10 different colors, 6 sizes, and 2 fabric options, which already totals 120 variants—more than Shopify’s limit. A product variant app lets you bypass this restriction by allowing unlimited variants and custom option fields, so you can offer exactly what your customers are looking for without creating duplicate product listings.
2. Boosting Sales with Enhanced Product Customization
Offering more product options directly on your product page can significantly boost sales. Customers love personalization! For example, if you offer engraving on jewelry or custom text on clothing, a product variant app allows shoppers to input their preferences directly into fields like text boxes or dropdown menus. Apps like Bold Product Options or Infinite Options even allow stores to add price add-ons for premium customizations, helping you increase your average order value (AOV).
3. Streamlining Operations with Conditional Logic
Have you ever tried offering different options that only appear if a customer selects certain preferences? For instance, if a customer picks “Gift Wrapping” for an extra charge, you may want to show additional options like “Select Wrapping Paper.” Many product variant apps use conditional logic to hide or show options based on customer selections. This not only makes your store easier to navigate but also ensures your customers only see relevant options—leading to better user experience and faster checkouts.
4. Reducing Inventory Complexity
Without a product variant app, store owners often resort to creating separate product listings for each variation (e.g., one listing for the red shirt and another for the blue one). While this works, it clutters your inventory and makes stock management more complex. Apps like Globo Product Options allow you to keep all product variations under one umbrella while still offering customers a range of choices. This simplifies your backend processes and gives you better control over your stock.
5. Improving Customer Experience
Finally, giving your customers a smoother, more customizable shopping experience helps reduce abandoned carts. Product variant apps often come with real-time previews, which let customers see their choices reflected visually as they make them. Whether it’s switching the color of a sofa or adding initials to a shirt, this interactive element makes shopping more fun and engaging, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates.
Read More:8 Best Shopify Purchase Options Apps for Customization and Subscriptions
The Top 9 Shopify Product Variant Apps for 2024
1. Globo Product Options, Variants
- Key Features: Globo allows you to create custom product options like color swatches, file uploads, and conditional logic. One standout feature is its live preview, which lets customers see their choices immediately.
- Pricing: Free version available, with premium plans starting at $9.90/month.
- Pros: Easy to use with extensive customization features and a free plan suitable for small businesses. The live preview is a significant bonus, especially for visual products like apparel or home decor.
- Cons: Some features, like advanced conditional logic, are only available on paid plans.
- Best For: Small to medium-sized businesses needing versatile customization options.
- Rating: 4.9/5
2. Infinite Options
- Key Features: Offers unlimited customizations, including dropdowns, text boxes, swatches, and checkboxes. While simple, it’s effective for stores needing extra product fields without complex logic.
- Pricing: $12.99/month with a 14-day free trial.
- Pros: Easy to set up and integrates well with Shopify. No limit on options, making it perfect for stores with multiple product configurations.
- Cons: No live preview for users, meaning customers don’t see changes visually while they select options.
- Best For: Small to medium businesses with straightforward product needs.
- Rating: 4.8/5
Read More:9 Top Custom Storefront Apps for Shopify
3. King Product Options & Variants
- Key Features: Allows for infinite options including text boxes, dropdowns, and image uploads. Supports multiple option types like swatches and buttons.
- Pricing: Free.
- Pros: Completely free, which is rare for an app that allows this level of customization.
- Cons: Lacks some advanced features like conditional logic or live preview that higher-tier apps offer.
- Best For: Small businesses or stores just starting out that need basic variant management.
- Rating: 4.8/5
4. Swatch King
- Key Features: Best known for its color swatches and ability to display variants on collection pages. This app lets you group products by variants, making it ideal for apparel stores with color or style variations.
- Pricing: Free plan available, with paid plans starting at $9.90/month.
- Pros: Ideal for fashion or home decor stores with many color or style options. Allows variant grouping, which improves customer navigation.
- Cons: Can be tricky to set up for beginners.
- Best For: Apparel, fashion, and accessory stores needing a great swatch tool.
- Rating: 4.9/5
Read More:Top 6 Best Shopify Mobile App Builders for Your Store
5. Avis Product Options & Variants
- Key Features: Includes conditional logic, price add-ons, and a live preview feature. Custom text and translations are also supported.
- Pricing: Free.
- Pros: It offers a lot for a free app, including live previews and multiple option types.
- Cons: Not all option types support price add-ons, limiting flexibility for certain products.
- Best For: Small to medium stores needing advanced customization features for free.
- Rating: 4.9/5
6. Ymq Product Options & Variants
- Key Features: Offers infinite product options, file uploads, conditional logic, and live previews. You can also set price add-ons for certain variants.
- Pricing: Free.
- Pros: Very flexible with a lot of customization options. Great for stores needing real-time variant previews.
- Cons: Support for free users can be slow.
- Best For: Growing stores that need to provide a highly customizable shopping experience.
- Rating: 4.9/5
Read More:12 Best Shopify Retail Apps: Top Products Apps on the Shopify App Store
7. Live Product Options
- Key Features: Focuses on real-time previews of customizations like text inputs and image uploads. Also supports price add-ons and conditional logic.
- Pricing: Starts at $9/month, based on the number of orders.
- Pros: The real-time preview feature is great for stores offering personalizations like engraving or custom designs.
- Cons: The pricing increases as the number of orders grows, which might not be ideal for high-volume stores.
- Best For: Stores with a strong focus on customization, especially personalized products.
- Rating: 4.7/5
8. Product Options & Customizer
- Key Features: Allows for unlimited custom fields (dropdowns, checkboxes, file uploads), conditional logic, and price add-ons. It’s widely used for personalized products like jewelry or apparel.
- Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $19.99/month.
- Pros: Very flexible with customizable fields and price add-ons. Great for businesses offering made-to-order products.
- Cons: Premium plan is pricey compared to similar apps.
- Best For: Stores offering custom products or personalizations.
- Rating: 4.8/5
Read More:7 Best Shopify Sales Channels Apps – Shopify App Store
9. EZ Product Options & Variants
- Key Features: Supports live preview, infinite options, conditional logic, and price add-ons. It’s designed to be simple but powerful for stores needing complex configurations.
- Pricing: Free trial, with paid plans starting at $15/month.
- Pros: Offers both live preview and advanced conditional logic for a reasonable price.
- Cons: Some users report that the free features are limited.
- Best For: Medium to large stores needing flexibility in product variants.
- Rating: 5.0/5
How to Choose the Best App for Your Store
With so many Shopify product variant apps available, it can be overwhelming to decide which one is right for your store. Whether you’re a small business just starting out, a growing Shopify agency, or a large D2C brand, choosing the right app depends on several factors. Here’s a guide to help you navigate this decision-making process.
1. Assess Your Store’s Needs
Start by evaluating your product catalog. Do you sell items with complex variations like size, color, and material? Or are you offering customizable options like engraving or personalized messages?
- Basic Product Variants: If your store offers standard variations (like size or color) and you need to exceed Shopify’s default limit, an app like King Product Options & Variants or Infinite Options would be a great choice. Both are easy to set up and offer unlimited product options, perfect for stores just looking to expand their variant capacity.
- Advanced Customizations: For stores offering customization beyond just colors and sizes—like engraving, personalized text, or product bundling—apps with features like price add-ons and conditional logic (e.g., Bold Product Options or Avis Product Options & Variants) are essential. They allow you to set up custom fields for customer input and automatically adjust the price based on their selections.
2. Consider Your Budget
Your budget will also play a significant role in choosing the right app. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect in terms of pricing:
- Free Apps: Apps like King Product Options & Variants and Ymq Product Options are free and offer infinite options for product customization. While these apps are a great starting point, they often lack more advanced features like conditional logic or live previews.
- Paid Apps: Paid apps such as Bold Product Options ($19.99/month) and Product Options & Customizer ($19.99/month) offer a wide range of advanced features like live previews, conditional logic, and file uploads. These are ideal for stores that want to provide a premium shopping experience. Some apps also base pricing on the number of orders, like Live Product Options, which starts at $9/month but increases with higher sales volumes.
3. Feature Set & Ease of Use
When considering an app, it’s important to think about what specific features you need and how easy the app is to set up and manage.
- Ease of Use: If you’re looking for a simple setup, apps like Infinite Options or Globo Product Options are intuitive and easy for beginners. They allow you to quickly add dropdowns, swatches, and text boxes without too much technical know-how.
- Advanced Features: If you need conditional logic (e.g., showing certain options only when customers select a particular variant), apps like Bold Product Options or BSS Commerce are perfect. They’re more complex but provide advanced control over the customer experience.
4. Scalability & Store Size
- Small Stores: If you’re a small store just starting out and need a free or low-cost solution to manage product variants, go for King Product Options & Variants or Ymq Product Options. These apps are cost-effective and offer enough flexibility for basic product variations.
- Growing Stores: For medium-sized businesses with increasing inventory and the need for more advanced customization (like bundling products or adding extra fees for customizations), Bold Product Options and Product Options & Customizer are great options. They support conditional logic and price add-ons, both of which are ideal for upselling.
- Large Enterprises: For large brands handling significant order volumes, apps like Live Product Options are perfect. They offer real-time previews, advanced customization options, and can handle high-volume sales while ensuring a smooth shopping experience.
5. Customer Support & Compatibility
Check for strong customer support, especially if you plan to integrate advanced features into your store. Some apps, like BSS Commerce, offer VIP customer support for paid plans, ensuring personalized help when setting up complex customizations.
Make sure the app you choose integrates seamlessly with other Shopify features like discounts, subscriptions, and upselling tools. If you’re running other third-party apps, it’s important that your product variant app doesn’t cause conflicts.
FAQs
What’s the easiest product variant app to start with?
If you’re just starting and need something simple and free, King Product Options & Variants is one of the easiest apps to use. It allows you to add infinite product options with minimal setup, making it ideal for small stores or those new to Shopify customizations.
Are free apps enough for handling large inventories?
Free apps like King Product Options or Ymq Product Options can handle large inventories if you only need basic variant management. However, if you require more advanced features like conditional logic or live previews, upgrading to a paid app (e.g., Bold Product Options) may be necessary.
Can I add price add-ons for customizations?
Yes, several apps support price add-ons. Bold Product Options and Globo Product Options allow you to charge extra for specific customizations, like engraving or gift wrapping, helping you increase your average order value.
Is there an app that allows customers to see live previews of their choices?
Yes, Live Product Options and Globo Product Options both offer live preview features. This means customers can see their customizations (e.g., color changes, text additions) in real-time before adding the product to their cart.
Do these apps work with other Shopify features like discounts?
Most of these apps, especially the premium ones, integrate smoothly with other Shopify features like discounts and subscriptions. However, it’s always best to check the app’s documentation or customer reviews to ensure compatibility with the features you need.
Conclusion
Choosing the right product variant app for your Shopify store can make all the difference when it comes to offering a seamless shopping experience. Whether you’re managing complex product customizations or simply need to break free from Shopify’s default variant limits, there’s a perfect app for your store’s needs.
For small businesses or stores with basic customization needs, free apps like King Product Options & Variants and Infinite Options are great starting points. They allow you to expand your product variants without breaking the bank. On the other hand, larger stores or businesses requiring more advanced customization—like conditional logic and price add-ons—will benefit from premium apps like Bold Product Options or Globo Product Options.
The key is to assess what your store needs, how much you’re willing to spend, and how scalable the app is as your business grows. With the right variant app, you can improve product offerings, boost customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive more sales.
