In this article
Key Takeaways
- For Shopify apps, Charle builds private apps for a single store, Invental built a client's quiz app from the storefront block to the admin and took it through App Store review, and Coalition Technologies runs two apps of its own on the App Store.
- For Shopify Plus checkout and B2B work, Swanky lists a custom Plus checkout build and Praella sells B2B launches from $10K.
- For a theme redesign, Electric Eye starts at $5,000 and Fuel Made's Foundry goes live in 2 to 4 weeks.
Two Shopify rules shape most of these projects. Checkout UI extensions for the information, shipping and payment steps work only on stores on a Shopify Plus plan, and every app distributed through the Shopify App Store has to answer three mandatory compliance webhooks before review.
How do the 7 Shopify development agencies compare?
The seven agencies differ mainly in which part of a Shopify store they build: an app with its own admin, a checkout or B2B setup on Shopify Plus, or the storefront theme. Each one is a Shopify specialist or has a dedicated Shopify practice with published case studies.
| Agency | Main Shopify work | Plus and checkout | Published pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charle | Private custom apps, bespoke and templated themes | Shopify Plus Partner; checkout optimisation on retainer | On request |
| Coalition Technologies | Store builds plus two of its own public App Store apps | Checkout Extensibility upgrades (client review) | Store build $5,000 to $100,000 |
| Invental | Custom and public apps, theme app extensions, theme development | Checkout UI extensions; notes from six Shopify Plus builds | On request |
| Swanky | Bespoke apps, development retainers | Custom Shopify Plus checkout case | On request |
| Praella | Shopify Plus and B2B launches, its own B2B Plus App | B2B storefronts on Shopify Plus | B2B Accelerator $10K to $25K; app from $200/mo |
| Electric Eye | Customized Theme Store themes | Not a focus | From $5,000 |
| Fuel Made | Foundry fast-launch store builds, Klaviyo email | Cart and checkout flows in Foundry | $2K refundable deposit to start Foundry |
We went through each agency's Shopify service pages on October 27, 2026, and five of the seven also have a profile in Shopify's Partner Directory. Figures agencies publish about their own results, such as conversion lifts or project counts, stay out of this comparison.
What does a Shopify app development agency build?
A Shopify app development agency writes the code that adds features Shopify and its themes do not include out of the box, and it usually works on four surfaces. Storefront features ship as theme app extensions, checkout additions as checkout UI extensions, the merchant settings screen as an embedded admin, and a backend holds the app's own logic and data.
Theme app extensions do not edit theme code, which lowers the risk of breaking the theme, and merchants place the app blocks themselves in the theme editor. A theme development agency works one layer down: it designs and codes the theme itself, its templates, sections and product pages.
Moving orders and customers into a CRM, an accounting tool or an email platform is a separate job from app development. Those flows usually run on ready-made connectors, and our list of tools to integrate with Shopify covers that side.
⚠️ Important
Decide early whether you need a custom app for one store or a public app for the App Store. Shopify says the distribution method cannot be changed after you select it, and a custom-distribution app installs only on one store, on stores in the same Plus organization or on development stores.
Which Shopify app development agencies build custom and public apps?
Charle, Coalition Technologies and Invental each show finished Shopify apps on their own sites. Charle builds private apps for one brand's store, Coalition publishes its own apps on the Shopify App Store, and Invental shows a client app that passed App Store review.
1. Charle: private apps and bespoke themes from one London team
Charle is a London Shopify agency listed as a Premier Partner in Shopify's Partner Directory, and it builds custom apps for features a theme or an App Store app cannot cover. For the home appliance brand Vytronix it built a private product registration app: the app looks up the Shopify customer, creates an account or asks the shopper to log in, then saves the registration inside that customer's profile in the Shopify admin.
The same team designs and builds themes, either bespoke from scratch or as a customized template from Shopify's theme library, in four phases from discovery to launch. After launch, Charle HelpDesk gives brands direct access to theme developers for updates, app development and checkout optimisation, while Charle SiteLab runs A/B tests on product pages and checkout. Charle quotes each project after a call, with no public price list.
Charle fits brands that want one agency for the theme, the occasional private app and ongoing development after launch.
2. Coalition Technologies: store builds from an agency that ships its own apps
Coalition Technologies, based in Los Angeles and Seattle, has been a Shopify partner since September 2011 and holds Premier status in the Partner Directory. It also publishes its own apps on the Shopify App Store under the name Coalition SEO, which shows the team has taken apps through Shopify's public listing process.
Its two apps are small merchant tools. Scrub bulk-edits store fields with search and replace rules, including RegEx, for $1.99 a month, and SummarizerGPT adds buttons to products, collections and blog posts that open an AI summary in ChatGPT or Perplexity, for $8 a month.
The agency's directory profile lists store builds and redesigns at $5,000 to $100,000, and one client review there describes a fixed-price upgrade from checkout.liquid to Checkout Extensibility. SEO is the other half of Coalition's business, starting at $1,800, so it suits stores that want the build and search work from one vendor.
3. Invental: one team for the storefront block, the admin and App Store review
Invental is a full-stack development studio that lists Shopify extensions among its services: custom apps, checkout UI extensions and theme development. Its 2026 case for a direct-to-consumer brand shows a complete public app. The studio built a product-recommendation quiz as a theme app extension, an embedded admin on Remix and Polaris for editing questions and recommendations, and a Node/Express backend with Prisma, connected through App Proxy and metafields.
Before submitting, the team wired HMAC-verified webhooks and the mandatory GDPR data webhooks, and the app passed Shopify App Store review. For checkout work, Invental has published notes from six Shopify Plus builds, with a simple rule of thumb: features that live before the "Buy" button go into a theme app extension, and features after it go into a checkout UI extension.
Invental projects start with a focused discovery week, run in two-week sprints with a staging store from day one, and the studio stays on retainer for the first quarter after launch. Shopify is one of several services next to websites, web and mobile apps, and there is no public price list.
Invental suits brands and app founders who need the storefront piece, the admin and App Store compliance built by one team.
💡 Tip
Before work starts, ask the agency whose Shopify Partner account the app will be created in and how it will be handed over when the contract ends. For a public app, agree as well on who answers Shopify's review feedback and future update requests.
Which developers build Shopify checkout extensions and Shopify Plus stores?
Swanky and Praella focus on Shopify Plus merchants. Swanky shows a custom Shopify Plus checkout among its app cases, while Praella sells fixed-price B2B launches on Shopify Plus and its own B2B app.
4. Swanky: bespoke Plus apps and a development retainer
Swanky describes itself as a Shopify Platinum Partner, with offices in the UK, Australia and France and more than 12 years on the platform. Its app development service runs from an initial consultation through design, prototypes, launch and ongoing maintenance, for both mobile and browser-based apps.
The app cases on its site include a custom Shopify Plus checkout solution for Glebe Healthcare, a custom multi-currency app for StylTom, a bespoke product builder for Veneta Blinds and a product customisation tool for Your Mood. Swanky says that if its skillset is wrong for your app, it will connect you with someone who can help.
For stores that keep shipping features after launch, Swanky sells development retainers that cover both maintenance and new features, with QA on every release. It publishes no prices, so expect a scoping call before any quote.
5. Praella: fixed-price B2B launches on Shopify Plus
Praella is a Chicago Shopify Plus agency, a Platinum Partner in Shopify's directory and a Plus partner since 2018. Its clearest offer is the B2B Accelerator, a fixed-scope launch of a Shopify Plus B2B storefront for manufacturers, wholesalers and brands that sell to both consumers and trade buyers.
Core costs $10K and launches in 4 weeks with companies, price lists and net terms on a shared storefront, and Growth costs $25K over 6 weeks and adds sales rep workflows, custom pricing and a dedicated B2B storefront option. Enterprise, also over 6 weeks, is for more complex B2B builds and includes 90 days of support after launch instead of 30. Praella runs demos every Friday.
Praella also sells its own Praella B2B Plus App from $200 a month on any tier, with quoting, multi-step approvals and multi-warehouse inventory. This is the one agency here that publishes package prices for Shopify Plus work.
Which Shopify theme development agencies fit a store redesign?
Electric Eye and Fuel Made are the theme and store-build picks: they redesign the storefront rather than build apps. Electric Eye customizes themes from Shopify's Theme Store over 1 to 4 months, and Fuel Made's Foundry launches a store on Fuel Made's own framework in 2 to 4 weeks.
6. Electric Eye: Theme Store themes, customized instead of rebuilt
Electric Eye is a Shopify-only agency in Columbus, Ohio, a Premier Partner since February 2017, and it has designed and developed Shopify themes since 2016. Every project starts from an off-the-shelf theme from Shopify's Theme Store, because the team does not recommend fully custom themes, third-party marketplace themes or headless builds for most merchants.
You pick one of two paths. A templated project designs within the chosen theme and usually takes 1 to 2 months, while a customized project redesigns pages such as the homepage and product page and typically takes 3 to 4 months. Projects include a single revision round, shown page by page starting with the homepage, and a 30-day warranty for bugs after launch.
Electric Eye's directory profile lists projects from $5,000, which makes it a lower entry point than a bespoke theme build. Stores that need an app built for them will want a second agency.
7. Fuel Made: Foundry stores live in 2 to 4 weeks
Fuel Made is a Shopify Plus Partner, a Shopify partner since June 2011 and a Klaviyo Master Elite partner, and it handles strategy, UX and UI design and custom Shopify development. Its Foundry offer sits between a DIY theme and a full custom build, on the same tech and CRO framework Fuel Made uses for its custom sites.
Foundry targets brands doing $100K to $9M in annual revenue that are not ready to spend $50K or more on a custom store, and it includes optimized cart and checkout flows. A $2K deposit reserves a spot and is refunded if you do not like the first design direction.
Fuel Made also runs email and SMS programs in Klaviyo and continuous A/B testing, which covers the months after go-live as well as the build.
💡 Tip
Before a theme redesign, list every app the current store uses and which pages it appears on. Electric Eye notes that even a templated redesign usually has a few apps to integrate, and the list tells the agency what to scope and which apps the new theme can replace.
How much does a Shopify development agency cost?
Shopify development agencies on this list publish prices in three forms: a project range, a fixed package or a deposit, and three of the seven quote only after a call. Coalition Technologies lists store builds at $5,000 to $100,000, Electric Eye starts at $5,000, and Fuel Made starts Foundry with a $2K refundable deposit for brands not ready to spend $50K on a custom build.
Praella prices Shopify Plus B2B launches as packages, $10K for Core in 4 weeks and $25K for Growth in 6 weeks, with its B2B Plus App from $200 a month on top. Charle, Swanky and Invental scope each project after a discovery conversation.
Budget for what happens after launch as well. Invental stays on retainer for the first quarter, Electric Eye covers bugs for 30 days, and Charle and Swanky sell development retainers. A public app also needs someone to answer Shopify's review feedback and keep its compliance webhooks working.
Which Shopify launch alerts can you set up without the agency?
The agency ships the storefront, checkout and admin code, and the reporting around launch can run in Albato without another development ticket. Albato is a no-code integration platform with 1,000+ connectors, and its Shopify connector can start a flow on store events such as "Order created", "A new abandoned checkout" or "New Refund".
Launch-week alerts for orders and checkouts
In the first week after a new checkout extension or theme goes live, the team wants to see problems before customers report them. A flow on the Shopify trigger "A new abandoned checkout" can post each case to the launch channel with Slack "Send message to a private channel", and "Order cancelled" or "New Refund" can go to the same channel.
To compare the weeks before and after launch, the "Order created" trigger can write every order to a sheet with Google Sheets "Create/update a row". Our walkthrough on sending Shopify orders to Slack shows the order alert step by step, and our roundup of Shopify analytics tools covers deeper conversion reporting.
Customer reports straight to the agency's board
When shoppers write in about a quiz that will not load or a field missing at checkout, the report should reach the developers without a copy-paste. The Gorgias trigger "New Ticket" can create a card in Trello with "Create card" or an issue in Jira Software Cloud with "Create issue", on the board you share with the agency.
When the agency moves the issue forward, the Jira trigger "Issue updated" can post the new status back to Slack, so support knows when to reply to the customer.
Settle the board, labels and status names with the agency before the first sprint, because the Slack update only helps support when everyone reads the statuses the same way.
FAQ
Which Shopify development agencies are the best?
It depends on which part of the store you are changing and on your Shopify plan. Checkout UI extensions for the information, shipping and payment steps need Shopify Plus, which is where Swanky and Praella work. A public app has to pass App Store review, as apps from Invental and Coalition Technologies have. Charle fits a private app for one store, and Electric Eye or Fuel Made fit a redesign.
What teams can build a public Shopify app for the App Store?
Invental built a public app with a theme app extension, an embedded admin and a backend, and took it through Shopify App Store review. Coalition Technologies publishes its own App Store apps, Scrub and SummarizerGPT. Any team you hire has to implement Shopify's three mandatory compliance webhooks before submitting the app.
Do checkout extensions require Shopify Plus?
Checkout UI extensions for the information, shipping and payment steps work only on Shopify Plus stores. Theme app extensions work on the storefront with Online Store 2.0 themes, so a store on another plan can still add features to product and cart pages.
Should I hire an agency for a custom app or install an existing App Store app?
Install an existing app if one covers the feature: Coalition Technologies' own App Store apps cost $1.99 and $8 a month, far less than any custom build. Hire an agency when the feature needs your own logic, data or design, as with the Vytronix registration app or Swanky's product builder for Veneta Blinds.
A two-step flow fits Albato's free plan, so the abandoned-checkout alert to Slack can be running before the agency hands over the store.
Once the store is live, the same account can grow with it as you add new flows for each launch.
