How Shopify App Charts Work: Methodology

What counts as a store change

Shoplist crawls Shopify storefronts and detects the apps running on each one. A store adds an app when Shoplist had already crawled it without the app and now sees it, and removes it when the app is gone and stays gone. A store coming back to an app is a reinstall. Net stores are adds plus reinstalls minus removals.

Every install is labeled with why it was first seen. A store crawled for the first time, a new detector recognizing an app that was already there, and a store returning after more than 30 days are kept out of every chart. Shoplist counts these as discovery, not adoption.

The ten charts

Gainersall of Shopify, each App Store category, 5 countries: Net stores over 28 days: stores that added the app or came back to it, minus stores that removed it. Apps need 100 stores at the start of the window and a net gain of 25.
Shoplist 100all of Shopify, each App Store category, 5 countries: Every listed app by the stores running it today.
Breakoutsall of Shopify, each App Store category: Apps with 150 to 5,000 stores, ranked by 28-day growth pulled toward their category’s typical rate, so a handful of adds can’t top the chart. Apps need 8% growth and 20 adds.
Climbersall of Shopify, each App Store category: Apps whose median Shopify App Store category rank over 14 days improved by at least 6 places onto page one, without falling below #24.
Review surgeall of Shopify, each App Store category: New App Store reviews over 28 days: at least 25 and at least the category’s top 10%, or at least 10 that grew the count by 5%.
Big-brand picksall of Shopify, each App Store category: Apps whose stores are at least twice as likely to be big brands ($5M+ revenue or 50k+ Instagram followers) as the average Shopify store, from 150 stores of known size.
Big brands addingall of Shopify, each App Store category: Big-brand stores that added the app over 28 days, at least 10, with big brands making up at least as large a share of its adds as of its installed base.
Rookiesall of Shopify, each App Store category, launch classes: Apps launched in the last 18 months with 25 stores or 20 reviews, by stores.
Featured by Shopifyall of Shopify, each App Store category: Apps in a Shopify App Store story or guide now, by stores that added them over 28 days.
Pricing movesall of Shopify, each App Store category: Apps that changed a price, added or removed a plan, or changed their free plan in the 28 days before the week, and kept the change, most-installed first.

Global and country charts keep 100 apps, category charts 25. Unlisted apps and Shopify’s own apps are left out of every chart; Shopify’s apps appear beside Top and Gainers as a First-party watch, unranked.

Weeks, movement and archives

Charts publish every Monday from the complete days before it; store movement covers the trailing 28 days. Each week is kept with its ranks, so ▲▼ compares with the same chart last week, NEW marks a first week on the chart, RE-ENTRY a return after a gap, and weeks on chart and peak count every published week.

When Shoplist’s detection of an app widened during the window, its row reads “Coverage” instead of an arrow: the change came from measurement, not from stores.

Held-out and estimated days

A day with a spike waiting for review, or a day the crawler saw at least 20% fewer stores than its recent median, is left out of every window until it is checked. An app with an unreviewed spike day in its window sits out the store-movement charts.

Days before October 31, 2026 predate the per-install labels and are estimated from crawl history; charts whose window reaches those days say “Estimated”. Shopify App Store category ranks and review counts come from Shoplist’s daily App Store crawl.

Data and citation

Each global chart is available as JSON, refreshed with the Monday publish:

Cite as “Shoplist, Shopify App Charts, week of <date>” with a link to the chart.