Looking for an alternative to Hulk Mobile App Builder as a way to build mobile apps for your Shopify store? We’ve got just what you need.
This post will outline the key beats you need to know about the mobile app builder from HulkApps, before diving into the best alternatives on the market - including our own site to app platform, MobiLoud.
By the end of this post, you’ll be ready to make an informed decision as to which Shopify mobile app builder is the best fit for your business. Read on for more!
What is Hulk Mobile App Builder?
Hulk Mobile App Builder is a Shopify app, built by Shopify App development company HulkApps.
The platform allows Shopify stores to create iOS and Android mobile apps for their store, which are synced on the backend with the website.
How It Works
Like many of the alternatives on this list, Hulk Mobile App Builder uses various blocks, templates and integrations to allow you to create a mobile app without having to write code.
You’ll drag and drop elements onto a canvas to compile your app’s UI, and integrate with your Shopify store to import product details and other content into your app.
Finally, their pre-built integrations allow you to link your app with marketing and analytics tools, such as MailChimp, Klaviyo, Recharge, Yotpo and Google Analytics.
Hulk Mobile App Builder Pricing
Hulk has four pricing tiers.
- Basic: $79/month
- Pro: $149/month
- Pro+: $249/month
- Enterprise: $399/month
These prices are when paying month-to-month; the monthly cost is discounted on an annual subscription. It also comes with a 15-day free trial.
Basic gives you the core features of the app builder, with unlimited products, unlimited sections and 30 push notifications.
Pro gives you unlimited push notifications, the ability to schedule push notifications, product filters, advanced analytics and several other advanced features.
Pro+ adds extra features such as abandoned cart automation, advanced app integrations and product review automation.
Finally, the Enterprise plan allows for custom functionality and custom integrations.
Hulk Mobile App Builder Pros and Cons
Pros:
- HulkApps have a good understanding of the Shopify ecosystem.
- Affordable price point.
- High standard of service.
Cons:
- Limits you via blocks, templates and the capability of the Shopify API.
- Integrations are fairly limited, if you don’t use Hulk’s other Shopify Apps.
- Price point doesn’t suggest a full-service approach.
Hulk Mobile App Builder is well-reviewed on the Shopify App Store, and appears to provide quite a high level of service compared to other Shopify Mobile App Builders.
Their feature list is pretty extensive, and with the experience their company has in building Shopify Apps, you can be confident that they have a robust knowledge of how to work with the Shopify API and the wider Shopify ecosystem.
Yet it shares the same common downsides as most no-code mobile app builders. It limits you to a block and template-based approach, which makes it hard to recreate your web store in the app.
The integration options are pretty limited as well, and there’s a good chance you won’t be able to keep all the features that work well for you on the web.
Plus, while it’s affordable, the price point suggests that there are limits to the level of hands-on service they’ll be able to provide. This means it may take a lot of work on your part to build your apps, as well as to maintain them month-to-month.
Best Hulk Mobile App Builder Alternatives
Now let’s look at a few other alternatives to the Hulk Mobile App Builder you can take into consideration. Here's a quick list of the top five Hulk alternatives you should look at:
- MobiLoud
- Plobal Apps
- Tapcart
- GoodBarber
- MageNative
First up is our own platform, MobiLoud, which takes a different approach to building Shopify mobile apps.
#1: MobiLoud
MobiLoud is our platform, perfected over 10 years and over 2,000 apps built, which converts websites into native mobile apps.
Unlike a template-based, DIY app builder, MobiLoud actually converts your site into apps. The app is a direct reflection of the UI and UX of your mobile website, with a few small tweaks and optimizations to elevate the mobile shopping experience.
All your apps, plugins, integrations, themes, custom features and more will work the same in the app as you do on your website. It’s 100% synced with your store, and includes mobile-specific features such as push notifications, native navigation UI and more.
The MobiLoud package includes full service for every user. We work closely with you to tweak your mobile UX and configure your apps. Then we build the apps for you, test them, and submit them to the app stores.
After launching, we also handle technical updates and maintenance for your app. You can also update anything on the app via the no-code dashboard (though most of your updates will happen automatically, whenever you update your website).
MobiLoud Pricing
MobiLoud pricing plans are as follows:
- Startup - For fast launching and validation: $199/month
- Growth - Perfect for more established businesses: $549/month
- Coporate - For larger companies who need the VIP experience: $999/month
Our plans are also 15% cheaper when paying annually.
Learn more about our pricing options here.
Why MobiLoud Over Hulk?
MobiLoud offers significant advantages over Hulk Mobile App Builder, as well as the other alternatives below.
Here are five reasons why you should choose MobiLoud over Hulk:
- There’s no rebuilding necessary - fully converting your site means you can go live with your app for minimal effort, in days.
- You can fully recreate your site, instead of building a rough copy within the confines of a template.
- There are no limits on integrations - take all the features that work on your website, even custom-built features.
- You get full, hands-on service from our team in setting up and publishing your apps.
- We minimize the maintenance load for you after launch, working closely with you to ensure your apps stay up-to-date and bug-free.
All up, you can build a better app, for less effort (it’s less effort to ship, but significantly less effort to maintain your apps on an ongoing basis).
The main advantage of Hulk is that it’s cheaper; particularly up front, as they don’t charge any setup fees.
But MobiLoud saves you a lot of time, which you should consider in the price equation. Additionally, we give you more flexibility to produce a higher-quality app, which is likely to generate more revenue in the long run.
Want to learn more? Get a personalized demo of how MobiLoud will work for you.
Now let’s look at some other Hulk Alternatives on the market.
#2: Plobal Apps
Plobal Apps is a Shopify-specific mobile app builder, like Hulk.
It’s generally well-regarded in Shopify circles as a dependable app building platform with a broad feature set, and integrations with a lot of other Shopify apps and tools.
Compared to Hulk, it’s definitely on the pricier side. Their middle plan is more expensive than Hulk’s most expensive plan, and the top tier costs a lot more, plus a success fee on top.
Other than being a little costly, Plobal Apps has two particular downsides. One is the same issue shared with most app builders - the constraints put on you by a block and API-based app builder.
Second, Plobal Apps doesn’t offer a lot of integrations on their first two tiers. If you want to integrate with advanced tools, or with a lot of tools, you’ll need to pay a premium.
Plobal Apps Pricing
Plobal Apps has three pricing tiers.
- Growth: basic features with 4 standard integrations, $199 per month
- Essential: enhanced features with 7 standard integrations, $499 per month
- Enterprise: premium features and unlimited advanced integrations, starting at $1,199 per month, plus a 1% success fee on in-app sales
Check out a full breakdown of Plobal Apps and MobiLoud in this article.
#3: Tapcart
Tapcart is a DIY, block-based app builder for Shopify like Plobal Apps and Hulk.
It’s one of the most sophisticated block-based app builders in the Shopify market. It’s regarded as being quite easy to use, with a very solid feature set, and offers the ability to further customize your app using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Some of our users have mentioned that it can be somewhat tedious updating your app through Tapcart, as whenever you make changes to your site, you constantly need to go into their dashboard to do it, adding hours to your workflow.
It’s also, like Plobal Apps, a little tight with the number of integrations offered on lower plans, and it’s harder to know what the app is going to cost you as the price scales by your store’s revenue.
Tapcart Pricing
Tapcart has three pricing tiers, which rise in price based on your annual revenue.
- Core: 15 blocks, basic features, and three basic integrations, starts at $200 per month
- Ultimate: unlimited blocks, advanced features, and six standard integrations, starts at $400 per month
- Enterprise: unlimited custom blocks, dedicated customer success manager, and premium integrations, starts at $1,000 per month
#4: GoodBarber
GoodBarber is a little different to Tapcart and Plobal Apps, as it’s not exclusive to Shopify stores.
GoodBarber can be used to create apps from the ground up with a no-code, block and template-based app builder. You can import product information and sync the backend with your store, however.
It also allows you to build PWAs, alongside iOS and Android apps. Overall, it offers more flexibility than Hulk alternatives like Plobal Apps and Tapcart, but doesn’t synchronize as well with the Shopify platform.
GoodBarber Pricing
GoodBarber has different pricing based on whether you want to build content apps, shopping apps, or build apps for clients. Their eCommerce plans are as follows:
- Standard: PWA only, 10k monthly push notifications, $50 per month
- Premium: iOS & Android apps, 30k monthly push notifications, $90 per month
- Pro: Advanced features, 250k monthly push notifications, $180 per month
- Agency: full features, unlimited projects, 500k monthly push notifications, $380 per month
#5: MageNative
Finally we have MageNative, another Shopify mobile app builder. It works in much the same way as the others, with a block-based builder, pre-set themes, and integrations to link your app with other marketing and analytics tools.
On the whole, MageNative is not as powerful or reliable as other Shopify app builders, but it comes at a much lower cost, which could be an advantage if you’re a low-revenue store looking to test the waters of a mobile app.
MageNative Pricing
- Basic: basic features, no integrations, three themes, $49 per month
- Growth: advanced features, basic integrations, six themes, $69 per month
- Enterprise: full features & integrations, nine themes, $99 per month
The Common Flaws with Shopify App Builders
When comparing Hulk Mobile App Builder versus the competition, you need to understand that many Shopify mobile app builders share the same common flaws.
Any time you have a block and template-based app builders, you’re going to find yourself working within certain limitations.
These tools won’t let you fully recreate your website’s user experience in the app. You’ll have a rough approximation, which generally doesn’t measure up to what customers see on the website.
It’s just the nature of working within the limits of the platform. You’re also limited to what the Shopify API allows (which is how most of these tools get product info into your app).
David from Rainbow Shops found this particularly troublesome when building their app.
“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.”
What you end up with is a worse user experience on the app, which is exactly the opposite of what you want, as David explains:
“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.”
On top of this, it takes more effort than you’d think to create (and manage) an app using a no-code app builder.
You’ll likely spend weeks tinkering with your app trying to get it right; and then you’re also responsible for managing the app store submission process (notoriously difficult for first timers), as well as keeping your app up to date and fixing bugs, which is a full-time job in itself.
Support is limited, leaving you with another CMS to manage, adding hours to your daily workflow.
How MobiLoud is Different
MobiLoud allows you far more flexibility than a block-based app builder, with far less effort required.
Your app is a direct reflection of your website, meaning you can keep all the features that you rely on to drive conversions.
Your app user experience will be at least as good as the web - realistically it will be a little better with the addition of mobile UI elements and push notifications.
Rainbow Shops are a great example of how the Shopify API limits you. Rainbow had a custom sort order that boosted conversion rates by 15%. With the block-based app builder they were using, they weren't able to bring that same sort order into the app.
With the limited options possible with the Shopify API, they could only provide a very basic in-app experience, which resulted in lost revenue and customer trust.
MobiLoud allowed them to keep all the optimizations they’d made to improve UX and increase conversions.
MobiLoud is also much easier to manage, and offers a quicker and easier path to launch. There’s little to no effort required on your part, with the hands-on service we provide for every user.
This makes it extremely easy to see a positive ROI - all you need is around $1k monthly revenue from your app and it’ll pay for itself in just a couple of months.
Build Your Shopify Mobile App Today
MobiLoud has been trusted by a number of high-revenue eCommerce stores to build and manage their mobile apps, including Rainbow Shops, SYN•DI•CATE, Bestseller and John Varvatos.
Now’s a great time to do the same for your store. Mobile commerce is overtaking desktop as the #1 way for people to shop online, and giving your customers the option of an app will result in higher AOV and higher retention.
With MobiLoud there are few limitations and no risk to see what an app can do for you.
Just book a personalized consultation now and learn why MobiLoud is the best way to build an app for your Shopify store.
