Cartylabs vs ReConvert: How the Two Compare Across Shopify Checkout Surfaces

Cartylabs and ReConvert are two Shopify apps that frequently come up together, but they emphasize different parts of the buying journey. ReConvert built its name on post-purchase / thank-you page upsells; Cartylabs focuses on the pre-checkout cart drawer + AI upsells + rewards surface plus a separate checkout customizer.

This post compares the two head-to-head: what each is good at, where they overlap, pricing math, setup time, and the store profiles each one fits.

The short version#

• ReConvert is the deeper post-purchase and thank-you page tool. Its funnel editor, A/B testing, and post-purchase upsell logic are mature.
• Cartylabs is the deeper pre-checkout cart drawer and in-checkout customizer. Cart drawer with AI recommendations, rewards bar, plus a separate Checkout Customizer for trust badges, gift offers, custom fonts and order notes.
• They don’t conflict. Plenty of stores run both apps, each focused on its stronger surface.

The right choice depends on which surface has the bigger gap on your current store.

What each app actually covers#

Cartylabs#

An all-in-one pre-checkout suite plus a separate checkout customizer:

• Slide-out cart drawer (replaces /cart)
• Sticky cart icon
• AI in-cart product recommendations
• Free-gift / free-shipping progress bar with stacked tiers
• In-cart bundles and frequently-bought-together
• Shipping protection upsell
• Subscribe & save
• Countdown timer
• Multi-currency / multi-language (16 languages)
• Separate Checkout Customizer: trust badges, custom fonts, payment icons, gift offers, order notes, terms checkboxes inside Shopify checkout

ReConvert#

Primarily a post-purchase / thank-you page customization and upsell tool:

• One-click post-purchase upsells on the thank-you page
• Thank-you page builder (drag-and-drop sections)
• Birthday and SMS capture
• Post-purchase surveys
• Order tracking page customization
• Cart drawer and discount popup (added more recently; not the flagship strength)

The clearest framing: Cartylabs lives before “Place Order.” ReConvert lives after. Both contribute AOV; they contribute it at different stages.

Where they overlap#

ReConvert has added a cart drawer and some pre-checkout features. Cartylabs has post-purchase upsell capability (a separate, simpler surface). So both apps technically touch both stages — but the practical depth is different:

• Pre-checkout (cart drawer, AI upsells, rewards): Cartylabs is the deeper product.
• Post-purchase (thank-you upsell funnels): ReConvert is the deeper product.

Many stores end up running both, with each app focused on its strength.

AOV lift: what to expect#

Industry benchmarks for each surface:

• Cart drawer + AI upsells + rewards bar: 5-15% AOV lift, driven by stacked rewards tiers and recommendation quality
• Post-purchase one-click upsells: 8-12% revenue lift on converted orders, with 10-20% accept rates

If your store does $100K/month at 2% site conversion, a 10% cart-drawer lift adds ~$10K/month. A 10% post-purchase lift on converted orders adds roughly the same. Both can move the needle.

The variance comes from catalog dependence. Cart drawer lift is more predictable across catalogs because it’s driven by store-wide settings. Post-purchase lift depends heavily on having one or two strong upsell offers that match buyer intent.

See Shopify AOV upsell strategies for the underlying playbook.

Pricing comparison#

App	Entry price	Free plan	Pricing model
Cartylabs	Free → $9.99/$29.99/$99.99 flat tiers	Yes	Flat per tier, predictable
ReConvert	Free tier → tiered scaling with order volume	Yes (limited)	Tiered + order-volume-based

Both have free entry tiers. ReConvert’s higher tiers scale with order volume — a successful BFCM week costs more. Cartylabs’ flat per-tier pricing stays constant within a tier.

Different bets: predictability (Cartylabs) vs pay-as-you-grow (ReConvert).

Setup time#

Cartylabs: Install from App Store, toggle the App Embed on, pick a theme preset, set thresholds. Live in 2-5 minutes. Single dashboard.

ReConvert: Install, then build a thank-you page funnel (trigger → offer → fallback), connect post-purchase rules, configure analytics. Initial setup is 20-45 minutes for a full configuration. The funnel editor is genuinely well-built; the work is configuration breadth.

If time-to-first-value matters more, Cartylabs ships faster. If you want fine-grained post-purchase funnel logic and you’ll spend the configuration time, ReConvert rewards it.

Feature-by-feature#

Feature	Cartylabs	ReConvert
Cart drawer	Yes (flagship)	Yes (basic)
AI in-cart recommendations	Yes (per-store ML)	Limited
Free shipping / gift progress bar	Yes (stacked)	Limited
In-cart bundles	Yes	No
Shipping protection upsell	Yes	No
Subscribe & save	Yes	No
Post-purchase one-click upsell	Yes (basic)	Yes (flagship)
Thank-you page builder	No	Yes
Post-purchase surveys	No	Yes
Order tracking page	No	Yes
Checkout customizer (separate app)	Yes	No
Multi-currency / multi-language	Yes (16 langs)	Limited

Different strengths, different surfaces. Few feature gaps you can’t fill by running both.

When each app fits#

ReConvert tends to fit when:

• Your pre-checkout flow is already clean (you have a cart drawer you like)
• You have steady order volume to feed post-purchase funnels
• You want a best-in-class thank-you page builder and post-purchase analytics
• You’re running post-purchase surveys, birthday capture, and tracking-page customization as part of retention strategy

Cartylabs tends to fit when:

• Your cart drawer is the default Shopify /cart page and that’s a known gap
• You want one vendor covering cart and in-checkout customization
• Your store has 50-1000 SKUs and would benefit from per-store AI recommendation training
• You’re scaling internationally and need native multi-language support

Running both tends to fit when:

• You’re past $100K+/month and the marginal investment is small relative to the lift
• You want pre-checkout AOV (cart drawer) and post-purchase AOV (one-click upsells) covered with each app’s strongest surface
• You’re a Shopify Plus store with engineering bandwidth to wire both into your stack

What about Shopify’s native cart and thank-you page?#

Honest case for skipping both apps:

• Your store is under $5K/month and the engineering cost of either tool isn’t yet justified
• Your AOV is already at a comfortable margin and the upside is small
• You have specific brand requirements that aren’t met by either app

Shopify’s native cart drawer (with theme customization) and the standard thank-you page are competent but unoptimized. Most stores past $10K/month see clear ROI from at least one of the two apps.

The post-purchase landscape more broadly#

ReConvert isn’t the only post-purchase player worth knowing:

• AfterSell (Rokt-owned) — strong post-purchase funnel editor, bundled with Upcart for cart drawer coverage. Head-to-head in AfterSell vs Cartylabs.
• Zipify OneClickUpsell — robust but more expensive, popular with Shopify Plus stores running larger funnels
• Honeycomb Upsell Funnels — popular alternative with similar feature breadth
• CartHook — older player, post-purchase and checkout customization

If you decide ReConvert isn’t the right fit but you do want post-purchase coverage, any of these are worth comparing.

A short summary#

Cartylabs and ReConvert solve different problems. ReConvert is the deeper post-purchase (thank-you page upsells, funnels, surveys, tracking) tool. Cartylabs is the deeper pre-checkout (cart drawer, AI upsells, rewards) and in-checkout customizer. They overlap in name but not in core strength.

Stores under $50K/month with a default /cart page tend to see larger absolute revenue lift from pre-checkout work because that surface reaches every visitor, not just buyers. Stores past that scale with clean pre-checkout tend to see compounding from post-purchase. Many stores eventually run both, with each focused on its strength.

Cartylabs is free to try if cart drawer is the current gap. ReConvert has a free entry tier if post-purchase is the current gap.

---

Related reading: AfterSell vs Cartylabs — Rokt Upcart alternatives — Best Shopify checkout upsell apps — Top Shopify AOV apps