Guide
How to audit your Shopify app spend
To audit your Shopify app spend, pull every recurring app charge into one list, add up the monthly total, group the apps by what job they do, and flag anything you no longer use or that costs more than the value it returns. The whole audit is a reconciliation exercise — the hard part is just getting every charge in one place, because Shopify doesn't show you a running per-app total.
1. Get every recurring charge in one place
Your app charges are spread across your Shopify bills, and each invoice only shows one billing cycle. Start by listing every app that bills you, with its current monthly (or annual-equivalent) amount. Include usage-based charges — email sends, extra orders, shipping-label volume — because those move month to month and are the easiest to miss.
2. Add up the real monthly total
Normalise everything to a monthly figure so annual plans and monthly plans sit side by side. This one number — your true app spend — is often larger than operators expect, because it accreted one $9 and one $29 app at a time. You can't manage a number you've never seen written down.
3. Group apps by the job they do
Bucket each app: fulfilment, marketing, support, analytics, page building, and so on. Grouping surfaces two things fast — categories where your spend is concentrated, and cases where two apps overlap and one could go. It also makes the total feel accountable rather than mysterious.
4. Flag cost creep and dead weight
For each app, ask: is this more expensive than it was six months ago, and is it still earning its place? Price increases often arrive quietly on the next invoice. Apps installed for a one-off campaign frequently keep billing long after the campaign ended. Both are recoverable money.
5. Keep it honest going forward
An audit is a snapshot; app spend is a moving target. The value is in repeating it — or in having something watch the charges for you. StackWatch does exactly this step: it reads every recurring app charge from your Shopify billing (read-only), reconciles them into one view, and flags a price change the moment a charge moves, so the next audit is already done.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see all my Shopify app charges at once?
Shopify itemises app charges on your regular bills, but it doesn't give you a single running total per app or across all apps. To see everything at once you either compile it yourself from your billing history, or use a tool like StackWatch that reads every recurring app charge from your Shopify billing and reconciles it into one view.
How often should I audit my app spend?
A manual audit once a quarter catches most drift. If you'd rather not do it by hand, watching the charges continuously means you're alerted the moment something changes instead of finding out at the next quarterly review.