Shopify’s Built for Shopify (BFS) badge is the platform’s gold standard for app quality. It certifies apps across performance, design, and integration—and it’s continuously reviewed, not a one-and-done sticker. For merchants, that means faster stores, cleaner admin workflows, and fewer nasty surprises. For app developers, it’s a clear north star that’s rapidly becoming the baseline, not the exception.
The Problem: Too Many Apps, Not Enough Assurance
If you’ve ever installed an app that slowed your site to a crawl or, worse, disappeared overnight, you’ll know how fragile a tech stack can feel. As Nick recalls, a redirects app once vanished—taking 150,000 redirects with it. Cue spreadsheets, chaos, and a very bad day.
Shopify’s answer? A quality filter you can see and trust.
“Built for Shopify is the gold standard for app quality.” — Jonathan Zazove, Shopify
What “Built for Shopify” Really Means
BFS apps are assessed on three pillars:
Performance
Apps must not slow down your storefront or your admin. Shopify sets a high bar because speed underpins everything—conversion, UX, and day-to-day operations.
Design
BFS apps use Shopify’s Polaris design system, so they look and behave like Shopify—familiar navigation, consistent components, lower learning curve.
Integration
Data lives where it should—inside Shopify—so your customers, discounts, reviews, and analytics remain usable across other apps and features (e.g. segments and discounts). That also means easier switching later without painful migrations.
“It’s not just a badge—there’s a lot behind it, and Shopify ensures that badge means something.” — Chris G, Seguno
Continuous Review (Not a Lifetime Pass)
Applying to BFS is voluntary and open to any developer, but approval is ongoing. Shopify reviewers continuously check that BFS apps still meet standards. If an app falters, the badge can be removed. Separately, to remain in the App Store at all, apps must meet baseline functionality and support requirements.
Why Merchants Should Care
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Confidence in selection: Filter the App Store by Built for Shopify and start from a trusted shortlist.
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Speed as standard: BFS apps are held to strict performance expectations—your store shouldn’t pay a speed tax for features.
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Cleaner operations: Proper data integration means fewer sync issues, fewer fragile webhooks, and better visibility in Shopify’s own tools.
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Easier to scale or swap: If data is stored correctly in Shopify, swapping apps later is less of a drama.
“We designed the programme around what merchants care about: quality, integration, performance.” — Jonathan Zazove
Seguno: A Case Study in “Built for Shopify First”
Seguno has been Shopify-first from day one—embedded UI with Polaris, data living in Shopify, and a relentless focus on performance. That philosophy helped them win Shopify’s Best App (2024).
Why merchants (and agencies) rate it:
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Native feel: You manage email, reviews, pop-ups and forms inside your Shopify admin.
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Fewer breakages: Because your data lives in Shopify (e.g. customers), automations don’t quietly break in a siloed system.
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Faster storefronts: On-site experiences like pop-ups don’t bomb page speed with clunky external scripts.
“The #1 thing people mention in our reviews is the integration with Shopify.” — Chris G, Seguno
How Shopify Is Evolving BFS (and What’s Next)
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BFS as baseline: More developers now build BFS from the start, rather than retrofitting later. Quality is becoming the default.
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Better reviews, better choices: Shopify overhauled App Store reviews so they reflect real merchant experience. Read them.
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Sidekick app recommendations: Shopify’s AI assistant, Sidekick, will surface app recommendations with BFS in mind—so you’ll get smarter suggestions where you work.
Choosing Apps: A Practical Playbook
Whether you’re just starting out or scaling, use this quick flow:
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Filter for Built for Shopify.
Let Shopify’s quality bar do the first pass. -
Read the reviews (properly).
Look for repeated themes: performance, support responsiveness, migration ease, data portability. -
Match to your stage.
Don’t buy complexity “for later”. Choose tools that fit how you work today and won’t slow you down. -
Check support and roadmap.
Support is a baseline requirement, but some teams go above and beyond—look for real humans, documentation, and a visible cadence of improvements. -
Favour proper integration.
Apps that store data in Shopify reduce lock-in and make switching cheaper and safer if you ever need to.
“There’s no way to future-proof an app choice forever—pick the right fit for your current stage.” — Chris
Page Speed, App Bloat, and Real-World Impact
Shopify’s own speed insights are a helpful pulse check, but the bigger lever is not overloading your theme with heavy or duplicate apps. BFS helps here: apps are explicitly vetted so they won’t tank performance—front end or admin.
“Apps can’t slow down your store. Period.” — Jonathan Zazove
Final Thoughts
The BFS badge isn’t marketing fluff; it’s a merchant-first quality framework that turns a noisy marketplace into a curated toolkit. Start with BFS, read the reviews, and choose apps that match your current stage. You’ll move faster now—and swapping later will be simpler if your data lives where it should: in Shopify.