What is the best alternative to Gadget for Shopify apps?
There's no single best one. It depends on what your app uses and who will run it after Gadget.
Shopify's app template
- What you get
- Shopify's own framework that already handles install, sessions and token exchange
- What you build and run yourself
- Database, job queue, hosting, logs
- Fits when
- Your team writes code and your app opens inside Shopify admin
A general backend (Supabase, Firebase, with hosting on Railway or Fly)
- What you get
- A database and hosting you control
- What you build and run yourself
- The Shopify parts: install, sessions, webhooks, privacy webhooks, rate limits
- Fits when
- You already use that backend for other apps
Wait for Gadget's own tools
- What you get
- Whatever Gadget publishes "in the coming weeks"
- What you build and run yourself
- Unknown until it's out. No date, no platform yet
- Fits when
- Your app is a custom app, which Shopify's January 1, 2027 rule doesn't affect, and small enough to move fast once the tools are out
A team that moves it for you
- What you get
- The move done, with a price before work starts
- What you build and run yourself
- Your own accounts, and someone to run the app afterwards: you or them
- Fits when
- You don't have the time or a developer who runs native Shopify apps
What Gadget did, and what replaces it
Database and models
- What runs it after the move
- Postgres with a schema and migrations you own
The API Gadget generated for your models
- What runs it after the move
- Server routes written for your app
Install and sessions for merchants
- What runs it after the move
- Shopify's app framework with managed install
Webhooks
- What runs it after the move
- Webhooks declared in your app config, each call checked
Shopify data copied into Gadget
- What runs it after the move
- Only the data your app needs, pulled fresh from Shopify
Background actions
- What runs it after the move
- A job queue or scheduled jobs, with Shopify rate limits handled
Hosting and logs
- What runs it after the move
- Staging and production hosting with logs and alerts
File storage
- What runs it after the move
- Your own file storage
Privacy (GDPR) webhooks
- What runs it after the move
- Three privacy routes, answering from the first minute
Should I move my Gadget app to Shopify's React Router app template?
If your app opens inside Shopify admin, it's the most direct route, because it already handles install, sessions and token exchange. You still bring a database, a job queue and hosting.
Shopify's current app template is built on React Router. Our own Shopify app, Carded, runs on Shopify's app template (the Remix version that came before React Router) with Postgres, so this is the stack we know from running it.
Can I move a Gadget app to Supabase, Firebase, Railway or Fly?
Yes, but each one covers only part of what Gadget did. You still build the Shopify parts yourself: install and sessions, webhooks, the privacy webhooks and Shopify's rate limits.
- Supabase is Postgres, the same kind of database behind Gadget's models.
- Firebase's main database, Firestore, stores documents rather than tables, so your models need reshaping.
- Railway and Fly host your code and a database. You bring the app framework, often Shopify's own template.
Should I migrate my Gadget app myself or hire someone?
Do it yourself, or with the developer who built it, if you already run native Shopify apps and can finish before Gadget support ends at the end of 2026. Hire someone if nobody on your side has run the install, webhooks, jobs and hosting outside Gadget.
Teams pick Gadget so they don't have to run that layer themselves. Moving off it means someone now builds and runs it. It's a different job from building features.
Whoever you choose, ask one question: "Show me a native Shopify app you run today."
If you'd rather hand it over, we move Gadget apps: Gadget app migration.
When this guide isn't for you
It covers Shopify apps only. For a Gadget app built for another platform, the routes differ.
