Essential apps
Essential Apps is a Vilnius-based bootstrapped software company that develops and distributes a suite of 11 native Shopify apps covering countdown timers, upsells, free shipping bars, loyalty, A/B testing, and AI blog writing, targeted primarily at SMB Shopify merchants and distributed mainly through the Shopify App Store.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersVilnius, Lithuania
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Essential apps does
Essential Apps is a privately-held Lithuanian software company (UAB Essential apps, headquartered in Vilnius) that develops and distributes a suite of 11 native Shopify applications focused on conversion rate optimization, average order value (AOV) growth, customer loyalty, and SEO for small and medium-sized Shopify merchants. The portfolio spans urgency and promotion tools (Countdown Timer Bar, Announcement Bar, Free Shipping Bar), AOV and merchandising tools (Upsell & Cross Sell, Free Shipping Bar with integrated upsell), trust and conversion tools (Trust Badge Banners, Estimated Delivery Date, Sticky Add to Cart, Preorder & Presale), retention (Loyalty & Rewards), experimentation (A/B Testing), and one content/SEO tool (AI Blog Writer). All apps are distributed primarily through the Shopify App Store and deeply integrated with Shopify Online Store 2.0 app blocks and Shopify's billing infrastructure. The company is bootstrapped with no disclosed external funding and is led by co-founders Justas Galaburda (formerly co-founder of Oberlo and UX Manager at Shopify) and Katre Zienkaitė.
The commercial model is a freemium-plus-tiered subscription structure per app, with free tiers for merchants under a $100/month added-revenue threshold and paid tiers ranging from Starter at $9.99/month to Plus at $29.99/month, plus free trials (7 days free, 14 days for Starter). Billing and subscription management are handled through Shopify's payment rails. Distribution relies on the Shopify App Store marketplace as the primary channel, supplemented by an Agency Partner Program, an Affiliate Program, an SEO/content marketing engine (including a downloadable eBook funnel), and the company's own website. The company claims installations across 200,000+ Shopify stores and explicitly references the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany among its served markets.
The technology stack is Shopify-native rather than cross-platform: apps are purpose-built to plug into Shopify themes, blocks, and merchant dashboards, with no general API or SDK exposed for third-party developers. The AI Blog Writer introduces a generative-AI text-generation layer (modality: text) into an otherwise conventional CRO/UX app suite. The operating model is product-led growth, with self-serve installation through the Shopify App Store as the dominant acquisition path and case-study evidence (En Gold: 40% order lift with a single countdown timer; Wave Connect: 31% AOV lift via tiered pricing) used in marketing collateral.
Essential apps firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Essential apps
- Legal name
- UAB Essential apps
- Website
- https://essential-apps.com
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Essential Apps is a Vilnius-based bootstrapped software company that develops and distributes a suite of 11 native Shopify apps covering countdown timers, upsells, free shipping bars, loyalty, A/B testing, and AI blog writing, targeted primarily at SMB Shopify merchants and distributed mainly through the Shopify App Store.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Essential apps industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Shopify ecommerce conversion and AOV optimization apps
- SIC
- Retail-Computer & Computer Software Stores (5734)
- akta.pro primary industry
- App Monetization & Subscription Management Platforms (BPAMADAI)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Mobile App Stores & Marketplaces (BPAMADAA)
Keywords
Where Essential apps is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Vilnius
- HQ country
- Lithuania
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Essential apps business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- App Subscriptions (Tiered): Freemium model with tiered subscription plans based on revenue generated by the merchant. Free tier limited to $100 monthly revenue added. Paid tiers (Starter at $9.99, Essential at $19.99, Plus at $29.99) scale with merchant revenue impact. Free trial periods (7 days for Free, 14 days for Starter) reduce friction to upgrade.
- Shopify App Store Distribution: Apps distributed through the Shopify App Store, where billing is handled via Shopify, with the company receiving a revenue share from Shopify for paid installations and upgrades.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for small merchants testing upsell/cross-sell capabilities |
| Subscription | Monthly | Starter plan for growing Shopify stores |
| Subscription | Monthly | Popular mid-tier plan for established stores |
| Subscription | Monthly | Unlimited revenue plan for high-volume merchants |
| Freemium | Monthly | Essential Free Shipping Bar free plan |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Essential apps product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Essential Apps develops and sells a suite of 11+ native Shopify applications designed to help merchants increase conversions, boost average order value, build customer loyalty, and drive organic SEO traffic. The portfolio includes countdown timers, announcement bars, free shipping bars with integrated upsells, trust badges, upsell/cross-sell bundles, preorder tools, loyalty/rewards programs, sticky add-to-cart, delivery date estimators, A/B testing, and an AI blog writer. All apps are distributed through the Shopify App Store on a freemium tiered subscription model (Free, Starter $9.99, Essential $19.99, Plus $29.99/month), with billing handled by Shopify.
Product overview
Essential Apps is a suite of 11 Shopify applications designed to help merchants increase organic traffic, accelerate conversions, maximize average order value (AOV), and foster long-term customer loyalty. The product portfolio consists of: Essential Countdown Timer Bar (urgency/scarcity), Essential Announcement Bar (promotions), Essential Free Shipping Bar (AOV optimization with integrated upsell), Essential Trust Badge Banners (trust building), Essential Upsell & Cross Sell (product recommendations and bundles), Essential Preorder & Presale (revenue acceleration), Essential Loyalty & Rewards (customer retention), Essential Sticky Add to Cart (conversion optimization), Essential Estimated Delivery Date (trust building), Essential A/B Testing (data-driven optimization), and Essential SEO - AI Blog Writer (organic traffic via AI-generated content). These apps work as standalone tools that merchants can install individually from the Shopify App Store, with some apps offering integration with each other (e.g., Free Shipping Bar integrates upsell products).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Essential Countdown Timer Bar A Shopify countdown timer app that creates urgency and drives purchasing decisions by displaying time-limited offers, sales, or product launches with scheduled, fixed-minute, and recurring timers, plus 20+ pre-made templates and theme-aware customization.
- Essential Announcement Bar A Shopify announcement bar app that promotes sales and site-wide messages via multiple banner types with customizable styling, multi-bar scheduling, and optimization for all devices including Shopify 2.0.
- Essential Free Shipping Bar A Shopify free shipping bar app that displays progress toward cart value goals and includes integrated upsell functionality, with unlimited free shipping bars, full customization, geolocation targeting, and duplicate-bar support.
- Essential Trust Badge Banners A Shopify trust badges and icons app that showcases product features and store guarantees through customizable icons and Shopify trust badges to lift conversion.
- Essential Upsell & Cross Sell A Shopify upsell and cross-sell app that adds recommended products, creates bundles, and offers one-click upsell and cross-sell on product and cart pages with automatic discount promotions and analytics.
- Essential Preorder & Presale A Shopify preorder and presale app that captures sales before items are in stock through seamless preorder options, supporting revenue acceleration on out-of-stock or upcoming products.
- Essential Loyalty & Rewards A Shopify loyalty and rewards app that boosts customer retention with points, referrals, exclusive perks, tiered rewards, and accurate referral tracking across devices.
- Essential Sticky Add to Cart A Shopify sticky add-to-cart app with an always-visible quick buy button designed to boost conversion by keeping the purchase action accessible during browsing.
- Essential Estimated Delivery Date A Shopify app that displays accurate delivery estimates on product pages to build buyer trust and reduce cart abandonment caused by shipping uncertainty.
- Essential A/B Testing A Shopify A/B testing app that enables running experiments on store designs to discover which variant performs best, supporting data-driven conversion decisions.
- Essential SEO - AI Blog Writer A Shopify AI-powered blog writing app that generates unique, SEO-optimized blog posts in minutes using generative AI content creation to lift organic search traffic.
Quantifiable outcome
- 40% increase in orders for En Gold using a single countdown timer during Black Friday
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Essential apps
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Essential apps technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature11 records
Essential apps partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- ShopifycoreEssential Apps builds all its applications natively for the Shopify platform. The apps are distributed through the Shopify App Store, billed via Shopify's payment system, and deeply integrated with Shopify themes and the Shopify Online Store 2.0 editor using app blocks.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Essential apps competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Essential apps social profiles
Digital presenceEssential apps financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Essential apps leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Essential apps funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Essential apps M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Essential apps
What does Essential apps do?
Essential Apps develops and sells a suite of 11+ native Shopify applications designed to help merchants increase conversions, boost average order value, build customer loyalty, and drive organic SEO traffic. The portfolio includes countdown timers, announcement bars, free shipping bars with integrated upsells, trust badges, upsell/cross-sell bundles, preorder tools, loyalty/rewards programs, sticky add-to-cart, delivery date estimators, A/B testing, and an AI blog writer. All apps are distributed through the Shopify App Store on a freemium tiered subscription model (Free, Starter $9.99, Essential $19.99, Plus $29.99/month), with billing handled by Shopify.
Is Essential apps a public or private company?
Essential apps is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Essential apps founded?
Essential apps was founded in -1. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Essential apps based?
Essential apps is headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the Europe region.
How does Essential apps make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. App Subscriptions (Tiered) is the primary driver. The others are shopify App Store Distribution.
Does Essential apps have an API?
No public API is recorded for Essential apps.
What industry is Essential apps in?
Essential apps's product category is Shopify ecommerce conversion and AOV optimization apps. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMADAI, App Monetization & Subscription Management Platforms, with a secondary code of BPAMADAA, Mobile App Stores & Marketplaces. Its SIC code is 5734.