Search and merchandising tools

Search and merchandising tools, from free to full

For a store deciding whether Shopify's free Search & Discovery is enough, or whether Tagalys, Algolia or Athos Commerce (formerly Searchspring) earns its fee. Ten needs scored, from relevance and filtering to who arranges the collections and how much of it happens inside the theme.

At a glance

Overall search fit

A higher score means a closer fit. These are our assessments, not measured benchmarks or averages. Reviewed September 2026.

Algolia
Search relevance, filters, analytics and recommendations, with Sydney hosting and published unit prices.
4.25 / 5
Tagalys
Collection merchandising inside Shopify, with daily ranking and pricing by monthly visitors.
3.75 / 5
Athos Commerce (formerly Searchspring)
Merchandising campaigns and detailed reports. Confirm capabilities and migration in the quoted plan.
3.75 / 5
Shopify Search & Discovery
A free first step for filters, synonyms, boosts and basic recommendations inside your theme.
3 / 5

Ten needs, four tools

Scores by search need

Swipe to compare. The first column stays visible.

Search and merchandising tool comparison: buyer needs by tool, shown as a score out of five with short notes. Shopify Search & Discovery is included with Shopify.
Buyer need	Algolia	Tagalys	Athos Commerce (formerly Searchspring)	Shopify Search & Discovery
Relevance	4.5 / 5 Published ranking, typo tolerance, rules and synonyms AI Ranking needs Grow Plus; NeuralSearch needs Elevate	3.5 / 5 Stemming, pinned and popular searches and a daily trending score you can boost Test the vocabulary used in your catalogue	4 / 5 Relevance diagnostics, synonyms, typo handling and AI search options Confirm the AI add ons included in your quote	3 / 5 Typo tolerance, synonyms and product boosts, plus semantic search for eligible stores Shopify controls the underlying ranking algorithm
Filtering	4.5 / 5 Facets from schema, variant options, tags and metafields with slider, menu and hierarchical types, up to 1,000 values a facet	3 / 5 Filters stay in Shopify's app on the server side route Prefixed tags and large collections need the API integration	4 / 5 Product filters and configurable category merchandising Demonstrate your metafields and catalogue size in the selected product	3.5 / 5 Filters from options, tags, metafields and metaobjects 25 filters a store, none on collections over 5,000 products
Collections	3.5 / 5 Per collection facets and sort orders, pinning through rules Virtual replicas capped at 20 an index	4.5 / 5 Sorts by views, carts, sales and stock over 7 to 30 days, pins with conditions and scheduled boosts, written back to Shopify	4 / 5 Category campaigns with product pins, boosting rules and sorting controls	2.5 / 5 Shopify's own sort orders and manual drag ordering Boosts do not apply to collections
Visual merchandising	4 / 5 Visual rule editor for pins, hides, banners, redirects and dated promotions, 300 promoted items a rule	4.5 / 5 Visual sequences, smart pinning, looks, banners, size merchandising and A/B tests	4.5 / 5 No code campaigns with pins, boosts, banners, landing pages, scheduling and targeting by page, location and segment	1.5 / 5 No merchandising surface beyond manual sorting, synonyms, boosts and filters
Analytics	4.5 / 5 Popular and no result searches, click and conversion rates, CSV export and A/B testing 7 to 90 days of retention by plan	3 / 5 Search, product and collection reports and A/B tests on the Collections plan Confirm reporting and export needs in the demo	4 / 5 Search and merchandising analytics with A/B testing Confirm reporting and experimentation features in the current quote	2.5 / 5 Search and recommendation reports, with longer date ranges and export through Shopify Analytics
Speed	4 / 5 Hosted API with three Sydney data centres and app blocks on the storefront Record size 10 KB to 100 KB by plan	4 / 5 Server side route writes positions into Shopify so collections render on first load Product changes take 5 to 10 minutes to sync	3.5 / 5 Hosted search, category and recommendation APIs with a public status page Test response times from your customers' regions	4 / 5 Served by Shopify inside the theme with no separate external index
International stores	4 / 5 Indices per locale, 10 to 1,000 by plan, label translations and a Sydney region Confirm the Shopify Markets implementation	3 / 5 Sorting and pinning per Shopify Market on the API route only Replication across stores needs matching handles	3 / 5 Search in 31 languages and campaigns targeted by location Demonstrate currency, translations and Markets behaviour for your store	3 / 5 Multilingual search, with some language and currency limits Description based recommendations need English; other recommendations use sales and collections
Theme control	4 / 5 Autocomplete and InstantSearch theme extensions for supported setups APIs for custom interfaces	3.5 / 5 No front end changes on the server side route The API and JavaScript SDK route needs your developers	3 / 5 Front end through search, category and autocomplete APIs plus recommendation snippets Confirm the theme work included in the implementation	4 / 5 Filters, predictive search and recommendation blocks in any compatible theme, or the Storefront and Ajax APIs
Ongoing tuning	3.5 / 5 Rules plus AI synonyms, ranking and personalisation on higher plans Merchant led below Elevate	4.5 / 5 Daily engagement based ranking and self unpinning pins, weekly calls in month one then four support hours a month	4 / 5 Merchandising rules, AI options and vendor support Confirm the automation and services included in your plan	2.5 / 5 You tune synonyms, boosts and filters Ranking changes are Shopify's; no managed service
Recommendations	4.5 / 5 Frequently bought together, related, trending and looking similar models retrained daily 5,000 requests free, then metered	3.5 / 5 Similar, viewed also viewed, bought also bought, trending and new arrival widgets	4 / 5 Product recommendations and personalisation across the store Confirm AI recommendations and any email or SMS feeds in your quote	3 / 5 Complementary and related products on product pages, automatic or curated up to 10 each
Overall search fit	4.25 / 5	3.75 / 5	3.75 / 5	3 / 5

Sources and pricing

Assessed from current vendor documentation, with legacy Searchspring details distinguished from the current Athos offering.

Product pages in practice

Finding products is a theme problem too

The relevant 2XU case studies show the storefront and system connections those tools need to work with.

2XU · Theme architecture and performance

Same design, 40% less JavaScript

A lighter engineering base under the same storefront. Controlled preview audits cut LCP by up to 91%, and public field data now rates every mobile Core Web Vital good.

Client project4 min read

Read case study

2XU · Apparel21 integration

Five stores on one Apparel21 connection

The original connector between 2XU's five regional Shopify stores and Apparel21: products, stock, orders, fulfilments and returns, supported in production for two years and nine months.

Client project3 min read

Read case study

Work directly with Chris

Search tool, or a better theme first?

Tell us the store, the catalogue and the pages that need work, and Chris will come back to you with where to start, whether that is a tool or the theme.

Discuss your project