In this article, we'll give you a brief overview of MageNative, how it works, and the pros and cons. We'll compare it to 5 different MageNative alternatives including our own platform, MobiLoud, which we believe is the ideal choice for serious businesses to convert web stores to professional eCommerce apps.
What is MageNative?
MageNative is one of the more well-known Shopify mobile app builders. They're known for largely targeting fashion, food and marketplace apps with a range of pre-built themes, and being a relatively low-cost, bare-bones option for building eCommerce apps for iOS and Android.
Now let's take a look at MageNative's pricing.
MageNative Pricing
MageNative has 3 tiers of pricing:
- Basic Plan: $49/mo
- Growth Plan: $69/mo
- Enterprise plan: $99/mo
The Basic plan includes just the essential features and integrations like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Firebase mobile analytics.
If you need more features, the Growth Plan gives you RTL, multi-currency, and multi-language support along with integrations like Zendesk, Langify, and LangShop.
Basic and Growth plans only offer a limited number of themes and only up to 5 push notifications monthly. If you want premium features, premium integrations, and unlimited push notifications, you'll need to be on the Enterprise plan!
MageNative Pros & Cons
MageNative is pretty cheap, and their themes appear to be OK for building a simple, standard eCommerce app. They're generally well reviewed - but not exclusively so. Some users have commented on the inflexibility of the platform - and the difficulty (impossibility) of truly converting their web store.
This is a very common problem with all drag-and-drop, template-based app builders. When you use a template, you are necessarily restricted. An app builder will never completely recreate your web store, and you'll have to make serious compromises in terms of features and functionality.
Now we've had an overview of the tool, its pricing, and its pros and cons. It's time to move on and start looking at some MageNative alternatives, starting with our own site-to-app platform, MobiLoud.
MageNative Alternative #1: MobiLoud
MobiLoud powers thousands of top apps, and allows you to convert your site into native eCommerce apps in just days, for a fraction of the cost of custom development.
Our eCommerce app platform integrates with any CMS - whether it's Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop or any other - and lets you reuse every plugin, feature and functionality from your main web store.
MobiLoud is the best way to convert your web store into native eCommerce apps for iOS and Android, as well as the best alternative to MageNative.
There are several key reasons why:
- No templates, no blocks, no APIs - we don't restrict you to our pre-built front-ends, we allow you to convert your web store completely, and to reuse all your existing plugins, themes, and tech stack.
- Keep what works - you already built your ideal site for the web, tweaking it endlessly for conversions and sales. With MobiLoud you can translate that directly into m-commerce native apps, without needing to reinvent the wheel. You already did the hard part, we handle the rest!
- Easy Management - many app builder platforms like MageNative gives you an extra CMS to manage, adding work for you and your team. Since MobiLoud apps sync with your web store in real time, this work is eliminated, you just need to keep managing and updating your store as usual, and if you want to change something specifically for the apps, use our easy no-code UI.
- Done for you - there's no need for you to fiddle, drag-and-drop, or waste time trying to set the apps up. You just need to tell us any special requirements, add some key information, and our team handle all technical aspects of the app build including submissions to Google Play and the AppStore.
MobiLoud Pricing
We have two standard pricing tiers:
- Startup - For fast launching and validation: $170/month
- Growth - Perfect for more established businesses: $382/month
We also have custom, corporate plan for more demanding projects. Read more about our pricing here.
The difference between MobiLoud and MageNative is clear.
MageNative may be OK for building a side-project and drag-and-dropping your way to simple apps. They will never allow you to recreate the power and complexity of your web store though. For that, you need MobiLoud, a platform with the infrastructure and experience to support professional, growing eCommerce brands.
Want to skip the rest and get your questions answered by one of our team?
Book a demo!
Now we've blown our own trumpet, here are a few other MageNative alternatives that you're likely to see around the web.
MageNative Alternative #2: Mowico
Mowico is another no code app builder focused tightly on eCommerce businesses.
Mowico integrates with Shopify and WooCommerce and is set to add PrestaShop, BigCommerce & Wix soon.
The platform is known for good integrations like Smile, Langify, and Judge.me, along with handy features like push notifications and AR shopping.
However, Mowico has its drawbacks.
Being a template-based app builder, it can make a simple eCommerce app with your products and logo but falls short in duplicating your web store's complex features, design, and plugins.
You'll always be limited to their pre-made integrations, which will be quite restrictive compared to the web and MobiLoud.
Mowico Pricing
Mowico has three plans for each eCommerce platform. For Shopify, they have:
- Startup - basic features - $79/mo
- Growth - everything from Startup plus enhanced features - $399/mo
- Enterprise - premium features, custom feature integrations, and tailor-made development - custom
MageNative Alternative #3: Vajro
Vajro is a Shopify-focused drag-and-drop app builder with affordable pricing, catering to smaller eCommerce stores.
Vajro's system relies on templates and drag-and-drop widgets to create branded apps linked to Shopify via API.
They offer integrations with platforms like Firebase, Tidio, and Klarna - and a decent set of features (especially on the highest plans).
Vajro Pricing
Vajro has four plans:
- Starter - basic features and integrations - $99/mo
- Core - advanced features and integrations - $249/mo
- Premium - premium features and integrations - $499/mo
- Plus - premium features, integrations, and priority support - $999/mo
Despite being user-friendly for non-technical individuals, Vajro's dependence on templates and pre-built widgets limits you in the same way as most other app builders.
A complete recreation of your web store is out of the question, even on higher plans. So as a MageNative alternative Vajro is probably the superior platform, but it also costs far more and is still fundamentally limiting in the same way.
MageNative Alternative #4: Shopney
Shopney is a user-friendly app builder recognized for decent integrations, themes, and features, making it suitable for some Shopify eCommerce stores.
If a very simple app reflecting your site's product catalogue is what you need, Shopney could be the right choice.
On the other hand - its template-based approach means it can't convert your site entirely into iOS and Android apps or utilize all your existing plugins, themes, and features. This will present limitations for businesses with unique or complex needs, forcing your store to fit their pre-built templates.
Shopney Pricing
Shopney has four plans:
- Silver - basic features with flexible design - $99/mo
- Gold - basic features with flexible design with 20 elements - $199/mo
- Platinum - advanced features and unlimited design elements - $499/mo
- Enterprise - premium features and functionalities and a dedicated success manager - starting from $999/mo
Compared to MageNative, Shopney is a little higher-end and more expensive, with more developed templates and integrations. Compared to MobiLoud though, it's still very limiting.
MageNative Alternative #5: Tapcart
Tapcart is a platform designed to help businesses build mobile apps for Shopify without requiring coding knowledge.
Tapcart caters to small and medium-sized eCommerce ventures, offering a range of features such as push notifications, in-app messaging, and integration with major Shopify plugins.
Tapcart Pricing
Tapcart has three plans:
- Core - 15 blocks, basic features, and basic integrations - $200/mo
- Ultimate - unlimited blocks, advanced features, and integrations - $400/mo
- Enterprise - unlimited custom blocks, dedicated customer success manager, and premium integrations - $1000/mo
Out of all the template-based Shopify app builders, Tapcart is the most established and proven. It can certainly give you good apps, likely better than MageNative's - but its also significantly more expensive.
Tapcart is also limited in the same way as the rest, which is why MobiLoud is a better alternative to both for serious eCommerce businesses.
Let's Build Your eCommerce Apps
We've looked at a few MageNative 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.
That's why, although we're biased of course, we believe MobiLoud is not only the best MageNative alternative but a superior alternative to every eCommerce mobile app builder on the market.
The first key reason: we allow you to reuse everything from your site in the apps.
If it already works well on the mobile web, it'll be even better as iOS and Android apps. It makes no sense to ditch that winning formula and those painstakingly chosen tools just to compromise with restrictive templates. That's too much of downgrade from what you've already built, and with MobiLoud - unnecessary. Keep what already works.
The second core reason: it's so simple to manage MobiLoud apps.
Platforms like MageNative will often add hours per week to your workflow with effectively a new CMS to manage. In contrast - MobiLoud apps sync in real time with your site. There's no need to manually add new product lines, update pricing, or worry about keeping the apps up to date. The apps will reflect changes and updates to your site instantly.
This goes for any core changes you make to your site too. You can switch out plugins, pull off a major rebrand, or build whatever custom functionality you choose. It doesn't matter what it is - it'll work straight out of the box in the apps, which can grow with your brand into the future.
On top of this, our team handle any ongoing updates and maintenance needed as part of our service, along with all fiddly aspects of the app build and bringing them live to Google Play and the AppStore. We work with you to ensure your apps are a success, and we're only ever an email or phone call away.
MobiLoud allows you to combine the best of the web with the best of native apps. It's a winning formula, check out the success these eCommerce brands have had:
Over 1000 other businesses have used MobiLoud to build winning apps - and you can too.
Unlike with MageNative, 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.
