4 Best Shopify Apps to Automatically Add Free Gift To Cart On Shopify [2025]

According to Google’s purchasing behavioral studies, promotions featuring free gifts typically look more attractive to shoppers. That is why a free gift with purchase or Gift with purchase is a proven strategy for e-commerce business owners to maximize their revenues. 

Shopify Native Discount is a very popular tool for Shopify merchants to create “free gift with purchase” promotions. However, its biggest issue is that the free gift is not automatically added to the cart even when the conditions have been met.

In this blog article, we’ll show you how to automatically add free gifts to your Shopify cart. The easiest way to achieve this is by using a Shopify free gift app – we’ll provide you with an overview of some top free gift apps on the market so you can make an informed decision for your store.

However, if you prefer not to use a third-party app, we’ll also walk you through two methods to implement this feature without an app:

• Using the free Shopify Flow app
• Customizing with Liquid code

Keep in mind that while the Shopify Free Gift apps offer the most user-friendly experience with advanced features, they do come with monthly subscription costs. The two app-free methods are completely free to implement, but they will require technical skills and offer more limited functionality.

Let’s dive in!

1. Best Shopify Apps to Automatically Add a Free Gift To the Cart On Shopify

Before diving into the technical methods, let’s explore the top Shopify free gift apps that can automatically add gifts to your cart. These apps are designed specifically for this purpose and offer the most seamless experience for both store owners and customers.

Here’s a comparison table of the leading free gift apps on the market:

BOGOS: Free Gift, Bundle & Upsell

Among the Shopify free gift with purchase apps, BOGOS stands out as the most comprehensive promotion solution. This powerful Shopify Free Gift app allows you to create compelling offers including BOGO, Buy X Get Y, Free Gift With Purchase, Product Bundles, and Quantity breaks. The auto add free gift to cart feature seamlessly adds qualifying gifts when customers meet your criteria, or lets them choose via an elegant gift slider.

Beyond free gifts, BOGOS excels in advanced Bundles & Upsell features, allowing you to create sophisticated product combinations and cross-selling opportunities that significantly boost your average order value.

BOGOS offers multiple reward methods: auto add to cart, gift slider, or product page widgets. You can design campaigns based on specific URLs, locations, order histories, customer tags, and advanced segmentation. The app provides real-time analytics to track performance and features fully customizable UI with translation support.

The support team offers dedicated live chat and technical support with quick response times.

Pros:

• Auto-add add free gift to the cart with multiple display options
• Advanced Bundles & Upsell features for increased AOV
• Comprehensive promotion types: BOGO, bundles, upsells, quantity breaks
• Advanced targeting and customer segmentation
• Real-time analytics and performance tracking
• Works with POS and headless commerce
• Exceptional customer support

Cons:

• Higher price point compared to basic alternatives
• May have more features than needed for simple stores

EG Auto Add To Cart Free Gift

EasyGift focuses on simplicity and effectiveness for automatic free gift addition. This Shopify Free Gift app helps you automatically add free gifts or product add-ons based on custom rules, turning your store into a powerful upselling machine with BOGO and Buy X Get Y offers.

The app features a super simple UI that makes creating free gift rules as straightforward as possible. You can set up auto add to cart functionality based on total cart value or specific products, and even schedule offers to run during specific time periods for maximum impact.

EasyGift allows you to create targeted rules for free gifts, add-ons, and upsells triggered by specific products or collections. The automatic gift addition works seamlessly across different cart scenarios.

Pros:

• Auto add to cart for free gifts and upsells
• Super simple and intuitive interface
• Scheduled promotions with start/end times
• Cart value and product-based triggers
• Collection-based targeting
• Easy setup process

Cons:

• Limited advanced customization options
• Basic analytics compared to premium apps
• Fewer promotion types than comprehensive solutions

Vex Auto Add To Cart Free Gift

Vex: Auto Add to Cart focuses on simple yet effective automatic free gift addition with custom rules. This Shopify Free Gift app lets you create unlimited rules to automatically add free gifts or discounted products to customer carts, covering BOGO deals, Buy X Get Y offers, and incentive-based free gifts.

The app automatically triggers offers when specific products are added to cart or based on cart value thresholds. You can choose to silently add gifts or notify customers with small notifications or popups. Vex emphasizes ease of use while delivering reliable auto add to cart functionality.

With unlimited rule creation and flexible discount options, Vex provides solid free gift functionality at an affordable price point, making it perfect for stores wanting straightforward promotion automation.

Pros:

• Auto add to cart with unlimited custom rules
• Cart value and product-based triggers
• Silent addition or popup notifications
• BOGO and Buy X Get Y support
• Easy setup and user-friendly interface
• Affordable pricing

Cons:

• Limited advanced targeting options
• Basic customization compared to premium apps
• No bundle or advanced upsell features

CartBot: Gift with purchase

Cartbot offers a unique free plan for stores wanting to test automatic free gift functionality. This Shopify Free Gift app automatically adds specific products or gifts to customers’ carts when they purchase other products, with easily configurable cart bots that can be edited or removed as needed.

The app excels at product-based free gift triggers – for example, automatically adding a FREE coffee sample when customers buy regular coffee grounds. Cartbot also supports cart value-based triggers and includes advanced minimum/maximum quantity conditions for precise control.

A standout feature is the innovative “reverse” bot setup that automatically removes gifts when conditions are no longer met, ensuring accurate cart management throughout the shopping process.

Pros:

• Auto add free gifts to cart functionality
• Free plan available for testing
• Product and cart value-based triggers
• Advanced quantity conditions
• Innovative reverse bot for gift removal
• Easy bot configuration and management

Cons:

• Limited advanced features on free plan
• No tracking or analytics
• Basic customization options
• Limited customer segmentation
• Fewer promotion types than premium apps

2. How to automatically add a free gift to the cart without using a third-party app?

Method 1: Using the free Shopify Flow apps

If you’re looking for a no-cost option to automatically add free gifts to the cart on Shopify, the Shopify Flow app might be your answer. This built-in automation tool can help you set up free gift offers without paying for extra apps.

Shopify Flow is a free automation tool that comes with Shopify Plus (and is now available on most Shopify plans). It lets you create “if this, then that” workflows for your store. Think of it as a way to make your store do things automatically when certain conditions are met.

For example, you can create a workflow that says: “If a customer adds items worth more than $100 to their cart, then automatically add a free gift product.”

Setting up free gift automation in Shopify Flow works in three steps:

• Trigger: Choose what starts the workflow (example: cart value reaches $75)
• Condition: Add any extra rules (example: customer is from the USA)
• Action: Set what happens (example: add a specific free gift product to the cart)

You can create different triggers based on:

• Cart value
• Products in cart
• Customer tags or groups
• Time of day or special dates
• Previous purchase history

Shopify Flow is completely free for all merchants and integrates seamlessly with both Shopify and third-party apps, but it also comes with some drawbacks, like:

• The need for coding skills for complex setups.
• Lack of multilingual support.
• Restrictions on editing third-party app orders and possible workflow failures with unsupported features.

To better understand how the Shopify Flow app works, you can watch this tutorial video:

Method 2: Customize Shopify themes

The third way to automatically add free gifts to the cart on Shopify is by customizing your store’s theme with code. This method gives you complete control over how free gift offers work and look, but requires coding knowledge.

When you customize your Shopify theme, you’re basically creating a pop-up that shows free gift options when customers meet certain requirements, like reaching a specific cart value. The code adds products to the cart automatically when these conditions are met.

The process involves:

1. Accessing your theme files
2. Adding JavaScript code to detect cart conditions
3. Creating pop-up displays for eligible free gifts
4. Writing functions to add the selected gift to the cart

Custom code gives you complete control over how your free gift offers work and look, with no monthly fees and the ability to create exactly what you want without limits. The main drawbacks are that coding skills are required, you’ll need to maintain and update the code yourself, and troubleshooting can be difficult if something breaks after Shopify updates.

To make this process easier, you can follow this helpful video guide from Shopioso that walks through the steps of adding free gift functionality to your Shopify theme:

The method is best for store owners who have coding experience or access to a developer. While it takes more technical work upfront, the long-term benefits include no recurring costs and complete flexibility in how your free gift offers work.

3. Best Practices for Managing Free Gift Promotions

Many factors affect the impact of a free gift promotion campaign. To have the most effective one, follow our best practices below.

Choose suitable gifts

The right gift is one of the elements that influence your promotion’s success. You can choose items that complement your main products, which add value to customers’ purchases. Considering products that customers frequently buy together or new items you want to promote is a method of selecting gifts to offer.

The free gifts should also be relevant to your target audience. They should match their interests and needs. If customers don’t prefer the gifts, your promotions’ effectiveness may not be high.

As a merchant running a business, of course, you should choose cost-effective gifts so as not to affect your profit margins. Also, it’s great if you can incorporate your branding factors, like logo design, into the gifts. Take them as a chance for branding!

Clearly communicate the conditions.

You will need to clearly decide the criteria for gifts and communicate such criteria to your customers. Transparent communication is necessary to help avoid customer confusion and ensure a smooth shopping experience. 

Make sure you have worked in detail on the requirements for receiving the free gift. They can be minimum purchase amounts, specific products, or cart totals. Such conditions should be easily accessible and straightforward. 

You may use banners, popups, or product page messages to emphasize the promotion details. Use simple language and display clear product images to make your offer instantly noticeable. That helps your customers find and understand it easily.

Transparency will facilitate your campaign’s effectiveness. It also helps you to build trust and prevents misunderstandings that could lead to dissatisfaction.

Set promotion time wisely.

Timing is also a factor that contributes to a promotion campaign’s success. When setting up a free gift campaign, you can consider your target audience’s purchasing behaviors and seasonal trends or holidays. You may match the promotion with peak shopping periods or relevant events to maximize its effectiveness. 

Besides, carefully calculate the length of promotions. If you run it too long, it may dilute the impact. Instead, you can create a sense of urgency by setting clear start and end dates. Don’t forget to monitor and analyze its effectiveness to identify the suitable timing for future campaigns.

Market your promotion across channels.

Marketing is necessary for conveying your promotion to a broad audience. You can utilize your website, social media, or email newsletters to promote it. Depending on the strategy, you can use paid advertising to widen its reach as well.

For marketing effectiveness, you need to create compelling content and materials. They should highlight the value of the free gift and encourage customers to engage. You may also track the metrics of different channels to assess which ones drive the most traffic, then adjust your strategy accordingly.

Track and analyze performance.

Similar to any other campaign, free gift promotions require tracking and analysis. If you use an app like BOGOS to manage your campaign, its built-in features will provide you with real-time analytics. Thanks to that, you can adjust your strategy for better performance.

You can monitor the metrics like conversion rates, average order value, and total sales to assess the offer’s effectiveness. Besides, collecting feedback from customers is another way to understand their experience with the promotion.

4. Conclusion

Shopify adding free gifts to the cart is a type of promotion that can contribute to your store’s development. You can set it up in several ways; however, utilizing Shopify apps is the optimal one. It’s simple, time-saving, and delivers a smooth customer experience. If you haven’t tried it yet, consider using BOGOS to launch your first free gift campaign!

5. FAQs