Comparing OneSignal vs PushOwl?

Evaluating PushOwl as an alternative to OneSignal? First thing first, PushOwl is only available for Shopify stores (extending to BigCommerce) as well. PushOwl might be available on other website builders in future given the recent acquisition by Sendinblue. 

Because PushOwl is only built for online retailers, you can skip this review and look at other OneSignal alternatives if you're a publisher. Heads up, we have considered that you have a Shopify store and in this review we have compared OneSignal vs PushOwl on things that matter to an e-commerce marketer- 

• Ease of Use
• Capabilities and Features 
• Customer Support and Onboarding
• Affordability and ROI
• What stands out

1. OneSignal vs PushOwl: Getting Started and Ease of Use

Adding any app on Shopify is piece of cake. You can set up both OneSignal and PushOwl within minutes and get going.

Unlike its usual interface, OneSignal offers a customized dashboard for Shopify stores. It gives a clear view of all the important metrics that can help you track the performance of your campaigns.

The dashboard for PushOwl is also quite similar and it has been ensured that only relevant information is presented.

After you have set up push notifications and have started gaining subscribers, the next step is to send notifications. It's quite easy to create and send notifications on either of the tools. Given how both the tools have ready campaigns for important use cases such as recovering abandoned carts, you wouldn't require to send notifications manually, to be honest. We will be discussing the features in detail later.

Here's how the free plan of both OneSignal and PushOwl compare (a detailed overview can be found towards the end). 

Looking at the Free plan it totally makes sense to go for OneSignal over PushOwl. But here's the thing - If you look at the number of stores using PushOwl and their positive response for the app, you would want to for them.

Here's the latest review for PushOwl - Now compare this with OneSignal's review - 

If you also compare the total 5-star reviews, it is just 17 for OneSignal as compared to 1,800+ positive reviews for PushOwl. Apart from this, OneSignal does offer way more than PushOwl in its free plan and can be considered as well. 

If you're not running a Shopify store you can try out iZooto as well that offers 2X faster ROI than OneSignal. (Source G2 Report)

2. OneSignal vs PushOwl: Features

Both OneSignal and PushOwl offer automated campaigns that can help you increase sales. These include retargeting users abandoning carts, abandoning products, back-in-stock alerts, and more.

Automated campaigns that are available in OneSignal. The best thing - all these are available for free.

PushOwl offers automation only in Business and Enterprise Plan which can be a bummer. 

Once again, when it comes to features and affordability, OneSignal beats PushWol hands down. One of the most automation - Recover Abandoned Cart is offered for free while in PushOwl it starts at $19. 

PushOwl does try to make up for this by offering integration with other free apps that can help you boost conversions.

3. OneSignal vs PushOwl: Customer Support

Customer support is one thing that makes PushOwl stand out. The team is quick to reply on chat, email and helps you with all sorts of queries. OneSignal on the other hand offers industry-standard support. Also, given the fact that OneSignal operates in the US timezone is a drawback.

Here are some of the customer reviews that PushOwl has received - 

4. OneSignal vs PushOwl: Affordability and ROI

This is where it gets a bit tricky. While OneSignal charges you for the number of subscribers, PushOwl considers impressions in its pricing.

Here's what it means - While you can send unlimited notifications to 10K subscribers with OneSignal, you will only be able to send 1 notification in a month if you have 500 active subscribers with PushOwl. The paid plan starts at $19 and covers up to 10K impressions/month. 

The features offered by OneSignal in the free plan are also tempting. Basically, if you have a small store with let's say 10K users visiting you every month, you can use OneSignal for free up to a year.

Our Verdict on OneSignal vs PushOwl

Here's what we would recommend you to go ahead with - 

1. If you have a Shopify store, you can go ahead with PushOwl because their deep understanding of the ecosystem is surely going to make you a winner. 

2. Only if you don't intend to shell out the extra dollars, go ahead with OneSignal.