Looking for a Vajro alternative?
Vajro is a Shopify app builder, aimed at reducing the barrier of entry for apps and allowing Shopify merchants to build mobile apps without writing any code.
The company boasts the ability to build a mobile app for your store in just 60 minutes, which seamlessly syncs with your Shopify store.
By most accounts, Vajro is an affordable and user-friendly way to build an app. Yet if you want to consider the other options available, read on. We'll share the top five Vajro alternatives you need to be aware of, including our solution, MobiLoud.
How Does Vajro Work?
Vajro is a Shopify-focused app builder, which allows store owners to create and publish an app through their drag-and-drop builder.
Their system relies on a series of templates and widgets, creating a "branded" app that is then hooked up to your Shopify store via API.
They provide 70+ integrations with popular Shopify apps and marketing/analytics tools, to add extra functionality to your mobile apps.
Now let's take a look at Vajro's pricing.
Vajro Pricing
Vajro has 4 pricing tiers
- Starter: $99/month
- Core: $249/month
- Premium: $499/month
- Plus: $999/month
(Above pricing based on monthly plans. Cheaper on an annual subscription.)
The Starter tier is a basic plan giving you 10 push campaigns per month with deep linking, and live video selling, along with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger Integration.
Moving up, Core has everything in starter plus Meta Ads integration, Customer Success Program, Apple Pay Integration, and other features.
The Premium plan gives you everything in Core with some of Vajro's more advanced integrations.
For premium integrations and custom development, Vajro's Plus plan offers features beyond Premium, including Klaviyo, WebEngage, and CleverTap.
Pricing plans come with a 30-day free trial.
While some app builders charge a percentage of app sales as part of the price, Vajro doesn't do this. However, each tier is limited to a certain amount of sales generated within the app.
- Starter: $1,000 monthly app sales
- Core: $5,000 monthly app sales
- Premium: $25,000 app sales
- Plus: $100,000 monthly app sales
If you make more sales from the app than your plan's limit, you'll need to move up to the next tier. Once you reach the Plus plan, you'll pay an additional $1,000 per month for every $100,000 per month in sales through the app.
Vajro Pros & Cons
Vajro has a decent selection of integrations with platforms like Firebase, Tidio, Klarna and others. The pricing is also relatively cheap on the lowest tier (if your requirements are also low). The platform is appropriate for a non-technical user (who doesn't mind fiddling).
The problem with Vajro is the same as most of the other (almost identical) Shopify app builders. Their reliance on templates, APIs and pre-built widgets limits you. It forces your business and brand into their mold.
To be completely clear, it is not your site converted into an app. It is a prebuilt native shell with your branding that pulls data from Shopify.
You will never be able to faithfully recreate your web store, only to build an approximate copy - if you're lucky. Even on Vajro's top plans (~$900/m), you'll still only be able to recreate whatever site features they have a pre-built integration for.
Here's a quick summary of the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Easy for non-technical users to figure out
- Decent selection of integrations
- Affordable option for smaller stores
- Good customer support
Cons:
- Relies on templates and pre-built blocks, making it hard to build a truly unique app
- Cannot fully recreate your web experience
- Requires you to do all the work setting up and maintaining your app
- Some key integrations (e.g. Klaviyo, CleverTap for push notifications) are limited to the Plus tier
- Reviews state some users having issues with integrations working properly
Vajro Alternatives
If you're looking for another option, or you're considering Vajro but want to do your due diligence before moving forward, we've got you covered. Here are the top five Vajro alternatives to consider for your Shopify mobile app.
#1: MobiLoud
MobiLoud is our own solution, which allows Shopify website owners (along with those on any other web platform, CMS or tech stack) to convert their site into mobile apps in days, for a mere fraction of what it would cost to build a custom app from scratch.
Our eCommerce app platform lets you reuse every plugin, feature and functionality from your website.
Unlike Vajro, MobiLoud converts your web store - in its entirety - into iOS and Android eCommerce apps. Nothing is lost in the process, and there's no need to compromise with boilerplate templates.
MobiLoud is the number one solution to convert your Shopify store into native eCommerce apps for iOS and Android, as well as the best alternative to Vajro.
Here's why:
- No templates, no blocks, no APIs - your MobiLoud app is fully unique. You're not limited to pre-built templates or blocks, or to the capability of the Shopify API. To the extent which you can customize your Shopify store, you can do the same for your app.
- Keep what works - your site works great and pulls in revenue, so why change everything for the app? Ideally, you'll want to maintain the same experience that already works for you. MobiLoud, unlike Vajro, lets you do that.
- Easy Management - app builders like Vajro give you an extra CMS to manage, putting extra work on your (and your team's) plate. MobiLoud fully syncs with your website, so managing the app is as easy as managing your website like you normally do. Plus, we do all the technical maintenance for you.
- Done for you - with MobiLoud, you don't need to spend hours, days or weeks trying to set up your apps. We provide full service doing all the legwork for you. Just tell us any special requirements, provide some key information, and we'll handle everything, from building and launching to submissions to Google Play and the Apple App Store (guaranteeing approval as well!)
Further Reading: go in-depth with our full comparison between MobiLoud and Vajro.
MobiLoud Pricing
We have two standard pricing tiers:
- Startup - For fast launching and validation: $350/month, plus a one-time $1,500 setup fee
- Growth - Perfect for more established businesses: $650/month, plus a one-time $2,500 setup fee
(As with above, plans are discounted on annual subscriptions).
We also have custom, corporate plan for more demanding projects. Read more about our pricing here.
MobiLoud vs Vajro
The difference between MobiLoud and Vajro is clear.
Unlike Vajro, we don't restrict you to clunky templates and whatever they can pull from Shopify's API. We let you integrate any of the thousands of plugins and tools available on the web, unlike the handful that Vajro can support.
We also provide a completely different level of service. Vajro's support is good, but it's just that - support.
If you have any issues or questions, you can contact them, and they'll try to give you an answer.
With MobiLoud, we're actively working with you, and doing all the heavy lifting. We do the technical work to build and configure your apps, we tweak your UX to ensure optimal CRO in-app, we handle the notoriously difficult process of submitting to the app stores, and we also handle maintenance, updates and tweaks post-launch.
We're essentially your app development partner, for a fraction of what it would cost to hire an agency.
MobiLoud has been used to build thousands of successful apps, including many successful eCommerce brands like Rainbow Shops, Bestseller, John Varvatos, and many others.
Want to skip the rest and get your questions answered by one of our team? Book a free demo now!
#2: ConstApps
ConstApps is a budget-friendly app-builder from Armenia, designed specifically for WooCommerce businesses. If you're looking for something that can integrate WooCommerce you might have seen it mentioned as a Vajro alternative.
ConstApps has a range of themes and plugins for various sectors like restaurants and jewelry stores. There's also ConstApps.js for those who can code their own plugins.
On the downside, it only works with WooCommerce, not other platforms like Shopify or Magento.
It also can't integrate other WordPress plugins, so your site again cannot be fully recreated in an app. If you want unique, sophisticated eCommerce apps that recreate everything from WooCommerce and WordPress you'll need to look elsewhere.
ConstApps Pricing
ConstApps has four plans:
- WooCommerce - basic features - $29.99/month
- Standard - more advanced features and standard integrations - $79.99/month
- Enterprise - premium features and functionality - custom
#3: Shopney
Shopney is another drag-and-drop app builder for Shopify eCommerce stores, known for its strong integrations, themes, and features. It's a good fit if you want a basic app that mirrors your site's product catalogue.
Being a template-based builder, it can't fully turn your site into iOS and Android apps or make use of all your plugins, themes, and features. For complex and unique businesses, it will be limiting and less ideal, as it also restricts you with predefined templates.
Shopney Pricing
Shopney has four plans:
- Silver - basic features with flexible design - $99/month
- Gold - more basic features & more flexible design elements - $199/month
- Platinum - more advanced features and unlimited design elements - $499/month
- Enterprise - premium features and functionalities and a dedicated success manager - $999/month+
#4: Mowico
Mowico is another no-code app builder for eCommerce brands. It works with Shopify and WooCommerce, and plans to connect with PrestaShop, BigCommerce & Wix in the near future. Mowico has useful integrations like Smile, Langify, and Judge.me, along with built-in features like push notifications and AR shopping.
While Mowico will work well for smaller stores, it also has the usual limits.
As a template-based app builder, it makes a basic eCommerce app with your products and logo, and covers some basic needs with integrations. But like the others it can't copy all the complex features, design, and plugins of your web store. Again, the apps will not replicate what you've built for the web because you're relying completely on their templates, pre-built integrations, and whatever data is available via API.
For complex stores, this will limit you severely compared to the web (and MobiLoud).
Mowico Pricing
Mowico offers three plans for each eCommerce platform. In the case of Shopify, there is:
- Startup: Priced at $79/month, it includes basic features.
- Growth: Priced at $399/month, it includes all the Startup features plus enhanced features.
- Enterprise: This plan includes premium features, custom feature integrations, and tailor-made development. The pricing is available upon request.
Note: Pricing may vary for each eCommerce platform.
#5: Appmaker.xyz
Appmaker.xyz is an eCommerce app creator aimed at Shopify and WooCommerce brands, providing a good selection of plugins and integrations. Recently they've been moving more and more into the eCommerce market.
Appmaker.xyz can be a decent way for non-technical people to hack together simple eCommerce apps. For the cost though (min $1k/mo) it's too limiting and rigid though.
As with similar platforms - its dependency on blocks, templates, and widgets is its downfall. It is essentially a no-code, drag-and-drop app builder, so you again can't expect it to build more than simple, basic apps. As usual, the customization offered can't fully copy your web store.
Appmaker.xyz Pricing
- Pro - includes custom integrations, launch assistance, and enterprise support - $1k/month
- Plus - premium blocks, success manager, priority support - $2k/month +1% success fee
Most Vajro Alternatives Share the Same Flaws
We've looked at a few Vajro alternatives, and given you some key information about each.
As we've seen, many of these tools share the same fatal flaws. On the one hand - their reliance on blocks, themes, templates, and pre-built widgets does allow you to build and launch (some kind of) eCommerce app fast, affordably and easily compared to custom development. On the other, this same reliance puts you and your brand in a straightjacket.
It means that you will only ever approximate your web store, and you'll be forever at the mercy of whatever pre-built features they have as well as whatever data they can fetch via API (which can change). The apps will be a branded shell with some of your data pulled in and not much more.
While this is OK for simple stores is basic and small product ranges and features, this will almost always be a deal breaker for serious eCommerce brands.
You probably have a finely-tuned tech stack, along with all the plugins, third-party integrations, and custom features you need to drive sales and revenue optimally. To discard all this hard work for cookie-cutter apps with your logo on will rarely make strategic sense.
“The hybrid solutions on top of Shopify are just too limited. The Shopify API only enables certain things and all the major providers of hybrid apps for Shopify had limitations that the Shopify API would not let them get around.”
- David Cost, Rainbow Shops
Read more: Why Building an App With MobiLoud Was a “No-Brainer” For Rainbow Shops
Why MobiLoud is the Best Vajro Alternative
Although we're biased of course, we believe MobiLoud is not only the best Vajro alternative, but the overall best eCommerce mobile app builder on the market today.
Here are three reasons why.
1: You can reuse everything from your website
By reusing what already works on your site, you not only make your life easier (as you don't need to rebuild anything), it also allows you to maintain a cohesive user experience across all platforms.
If your site already works great on the mobile web, it'll work great as an app as well. The ideal solution is just to convert your website into a mobile app.
With app builders, you're forced to rebuild and tinker with their platform, and you'll never be able to get it the same as your website. Inevitably, you'll have to make some sacrifices.
David from Rainbow Shops said it perfectly:
“The app needs to be at least as functional as the website. It doesn’t need to be better than the website, but the user experience can’t be worse.”
MobiLoud is the only way to carry everything over from your website to your app, without spending hundreds of thousands on developers.
2: MobiLoud is just so simple
Even though app builders are quicker and easier than custom development, they still add hours per week to your workflow, by giving you essentially a new CMS to manage.
Then there's the setup. While you can build an app in 60 minutes, as Vajro's website claims, you can't make the ideal app for your brand. This takes a lot of time, tinkering and fiddling with the platform, testing and reiterating.
With MobiLoud, this is unnecessary. You already know what works - you're just converting it into an app.
Better yet, our team does all the heavy lifting for you. We compile and build your apps, we handle app store submission, and we keep your apps up-to-date and bug-free after launch.
You add minimal work to your day-to-day, but get all same benefits to your bottom line as a custom-built mobile app.
3: It's flexible
App builders limit you to what's possible from their platform. If it can't be done with blocks or integrations, it can't be done.
MobiLoud lets you do almost anything you want. If you can do it on your website, you'll be able to do it in-app as well.
Switch out plugins, build custom features (such as custom checkout flows or personalization features), add or remove product lines, change how collections are displayed - whatever you want to do, it's possible with MobiLoud.
With API-based solutions, you'll run into a dead end before long, and wonder if there's a better option out there.
MobiLoud gives you a winning formula for success, by taking your web experience, which you know works, and replicating it in the app. The following brands have found success with MobiLoud, as you can read about below:
Rainbow Shops | SYN•DI•CATE | Bestseller | John Varvatos
Launch Your eCommerce App Today
More than 2,000 other businesses have used MobiLoud to build winning apps - and you can too.
Unlike with Vajro, there's no risk. We don't do long-term contracts and we'll refund you if you're unhappy with the apps. If you're like most of our eCommerce customers - the apps will pay for themselves almost immediately.
It all starts with a call with one of our app experts, where we go over your exact requirements for the apps and answer your questions.
