Shopify Frequently Bought Together: Setup Guide (Free) & Apps

Frequently bought together is one of the simplest ways to sell more on Shopify. You show shoppers 2 or 3 items that pair well with what they are viewing, and many add the extras in one click. This guide explains what the feature is, whether Shopify gives it to you for free, how to set it up two different ways, the best apps for the job, and how to make the offer convert. I’m Charlie Ngo – BOGOS’s Marketing Manager, and I help Shopify merchants build cross-sell offers like this every week.

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TL;DR

• Shopify has no true Amazon-style frequently bought together widget on its own.
• You can build a basic version free using the related products section in your Shopify theme, fine-tuned with the free Search & Discovery app.
• For the full experience, a one-click “add all to cart” button with a combined discount, you need a dedicated app.
• Done well, frequently bought together lifts average order value by putting the right add-on in front of the shopper at the right moment.

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1. What Is Frequently Bought Together on Shopify?

Frequently Bought Together is a product recommendation widget that displays 2 to 3 complementary products on a product page, along with a combined price and a one-click “Add All to Cart” button. It’s a format Amazon popularized, and most Shopify merchants use the term interchangeably with “Amazon-style recommendations.”

The goal is simple: surface items that customers typically buy alongside the main product, and make it frictionless to add them all to the cart in one action.

A standard FBT widget contains:

• The trigger product (the product the customer is viewing)
• 2 to 3 recommended products shown with images and checkboxes
• A combined price totaling all selected items
• An optional bundle discount applied when all items are added together
• A one-click “Add All to Cart” button

In the next section, we will take a deep dive into the benefits of using frequently bought together (FBT) bundles for Shopify stores and how to set them up.

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2. Benefits of Using FBT on Shopify

Frequently bought together earns its place for a few clear reasons:

• It raises average order value. Barilliance found product recommendations can account for up to 31 percent of ecommerce revenue, with an average of 12 percent of sales attributed to them. Treat 31 percent as a ceiling for well-run stores, and a single-digit to low-double-digit lift as a realistic target. Either way, this is one of the clearest ways to increase your AOV.
• It grows profit, not just revenue. In one McKinsey engagement, cross-selling and category-penetration techniques increased sales by 20 percent and profits by 30 percent. You sell more per order without paying again to acquire the customer.
• It follows a proven pattern. McKinsey reported that 35 percent of what consumers buy on Amazon comes from recommendations. The tactic is famous because it works.
• It costs nothing extra per sale. The shopper is already on your product page. Turning one order into two or three items is far cheaper than buying more traffic, which makes it a core lever to boost your Shopify sales.
• It helps the shopper. A relevant add-on saves them a second search. A camera buyer who also needs a memory card is glad to see it offered, not annoyed.

One number to read with care: Barilliance also reported that sessions where shoppers engaged with a recommendation showed a 369 percent higher average order value. Shoppers who click recommendations already tend to have larger carts, so this is a behavioral pattern, not a promise that a widget nearly quadruples your order value.

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3. How to add frequently bought together free with your Shopify theme

Shopify does not offer a true one-click, discounted frequently bought together widget on its own. It does give you a free starting point. Your Shopify theme includes a related products section that shows recommendations on each product page.

Shopify generates these recommendations automatically using purchase history, product description similarity on English storefronts, and related collections. You do not pick the products by hand. The store learns from what customers buy and view.

You get more say through Shopify’s free Search & Discovery app. It lets you choose complementary products for each item by hand and adjust the related products that appear, so you can steer the recommendations instead of leaving them fully automatic. Both the theme section and this app cost nothing.

Most free Shopify themes built on Online Store 2.0 include this section. Dawn, Refresh, Sense, and Craft all support a related products area on the product page. If you use one of these, you already have the building block.

Premium themes like Prestige and Impulse go further, adding curated cross-sell blocks, shop-the-look layouts, and cart-drawer recommendations, though a true one-click discounted offer still usually comes from an app.

Here is how to turn it on:

Step 1: Add the “Frequently bought together” Widget Using Shopify’s Theme Editor

• Log in to Shopify and go to the Sales Channels widget in the left sidebar.
• Click “Customize” next to your theme to open the Shopify Theme Editor.

• Use the dropdown menu at the top to select the default product page template.

•  Check the left sidebar for the Related Products – Automatically suggested similar items, and then adjust settings if needed.

At this stage, the recommended products will be automatically generated by Shopify based on related items. However, you won’t have much control over which products are shown. If you want to manually choose specific products to be displayed in this section, proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Configure Product Recommendations with Search & Discovery app

To have more control over the recommended products, Shopify provides the Search & Discovery app, which allows you to manually select items that appear in the “Frequently Bought Together” widget.

By default, every Shopify store will have this app installed since this is an app developed by Shopify.

To customize your recommendations, follow these steps:

• Go to Search & Discovery > Recommendations, click Add Recommendations, and select a product. similar items, and then adjust settings if needed. 

• Click Browse under Add complementary products and add up to 10 items.

• Click Browse under Related products, add up to 10 items, and check Hide auto-generated recommendations if needed.

• Click Save and View if needed. The widget will display on the product page as a row of related products.

A few rules decide whether a product can appear as a recommendation. It must be active, published to your online store, priced above zero, not a gift card, and not already in the shopper’s cart. If a product is missing from the section, check these first.

This free method has a clear limit. The theme section shows products individually, side by side, for the shopper to click into one at a time. There is no single “add all to cart” button, and there is no combined discount for buying the group. That combined, discounted, one-click experience is what most merchants mean by frequently bought together, and it is the reason many install an app.

To better know what the app can do, see our “Shopify Search & Discovery App” review.

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4. Free theme method vs Shopify FBT app: which should you use?

Both methods have a place. The free theme section is a fine starting point. A dedicated app is the tool for real order-value growth. This table shows the difference at a glance.

Feature	Free Shopify theme	Dedicated Shopify FBT app
Cost	Free	Free plans to paid monthly fees
One-click “add all to cart”	No	Yes
Combined discount	No	Yes
Choose products manually	Limited	Yes
AI recommendations	Automatic related products	Yes, often trained on your orders
Placement control	Basic	Product page, cart, and more
Best for	New stores testing the idea	Stores serious about average order value

Start with the free theme section if you are new or on a tight budget. Move to an app once you want the combined discount and the one-click purchase, because that is where the order-value gains come from.

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5. Best frequently bought together apps for Shopify

A dedicated app gives you what your theme cannot: a group of products, one button to add them all, and a small discount for buying together. Setup is quick on any of these apps. You install it, enable its app embed in Online Store > Themes > Customize > App embeds, choose 2 or 3 complementary products for each best seller, set a combined discount, and test the offer on mobile.

Pick an app by four things: how relevant its recommendations are, whether it lets you control the discount, where it can place the widget, and how well it fits your theme and budget. Below are three established options and our own app. Ratings and prices change, so confirm the current numbers on each app’s Shopify App Store listing before you install.

Here is a quick comparison of the three dedicated apps alongside our own app:

	Frequently Bought Together (Code Black Belt)	Selleasy	Wiser	BOGOS
Rating & Reviews	4.9 ⭐ – 1,100 reviews	4.9 ⭐ – 2,400 reviews	4.9 ⭐ – 530 reviews	5.0 ⭐ – 4,000 reviews
Starting price	– Free plan; – Paid from $9.99/mo	– Free plan; – Paid from $9/mo	– Paid from $10/mo	– Free plan; – Paid from $29.99/mo
Recommendation style	AI trained on a large order volume	AI plus manual pairing	AI using browsing and order data	Manual pairing plus gift and bundle logic
One-click “add all” bundle	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Combined discount	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Placement	Product page	Product page, cart, post-purchase	Product page, cart, thank-you page	Product page, cart, checkout on Plus
Best for	A focused, mature FBT widget	Several offer formats in one app	Recommendations across the journey	FBT plus gifts, bundles, and upsells in one app

#1 Frequently Bought Together by Code Black Belt

️️🏆 Best for: Stores that want a mature, Amazon-style widget with strong recommendation accuracy.

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start around $9.99 per month with a free trial.
• Rating and reviews: 4.9 ⭐ – 1,100 reviews

This is the most established frequently bought together app on Shopify. Its recommendation engine has been trained on a very large volume of orders, which helps it suggest sensible pairings even on newer stores. It focuses on doing one job well.

Key features:

• AI-driven “add all to cart” widget on product pages
• Combined bundle discounts that stack with Shopify discounts
• Control over widget placement and the number of products shown
• Works on any theme with no-code installation

#2 Selleasy

🏆 Best for: Stores that want cross-sell and upsell in several formats, not just one widget.

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at a low flat monthly fee.
• Rating and reviews: 4.9 ⭐ – 2,400 reviews.

Selleasy covers frequently bought together plus pre-purchase and post-purchase upsells. It suits merchants who want to test different offer styles and placements from one app.

Key features:

• Frequently bought together and “you may also like” widgets
• Pre-purchase, in-cart, and post-purchase offers
• Manual and automatic product pairing
• Multi-language and multi-currency support

#3 Wiser Product Recommendations

🏆 Best for: Stores that want AI recommendations across the whole shopping journey.

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans scale with orders and features.
• Rating and reviews: 4.9 ⭐ – 530 reviews.

Wiser reads browsing behavior and order data to place recommendations on the product page, the cart, and beyond. It fits merchants who want one recommendation engine working across many touchpoints.

Key features:

• AI frequently bought together and related product widgets
• Placement on product pages, cart drawer, and thank-you page
• Analytics on click-through, conversions, and revenue
• Manual overrides for full control

#4 BOGOS: Free Gift Bundle Upsell

🏆 Best for: Stores that want frequently bought together as part of a wider promotions toolkit.

• Pricing: Free plan for a limited number of orders; paid plans start at $29.99 per month.
• Rating and reviews: 5.0 ⭐ – 4,000 reviews.

Our BOGOS app takes a slightly different angle. Instead of doing one widget only, it combines frequently bought together with free gifts, bundles, volume discounts, and upsells in a single app. That helps if you run several promotion types and want them managed together without conflicts. As an example of the order-value angle, premium luggage brand LEVEL8 used BOGOS promotions to grow sales by 200 percent, with more than $395,000 in sales in a single month.

Key features:

• Frequently bought together and cross-sell widgets
• Free gifts, BOGO, and gift-with-purchase offers
• Classic and mix-and-match bundles
• Volume discounts and checkout upsell on Shopify Plus

If your main goal is a single, focused frequently bought together widget, a dedicated tool like Code Black Belt is a strong pick. If you want cross-sell to sit next to your free gifts and bundle discount offers, an all-in-one app fits better.

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6. Where to show frequently bought together offers

Placement changes how well the offer converts. The same widget performs differently on the product page, in the cart, at checkout, and after purchase. Reported conversion benchmarks vary by store and by how each source defines a conversion, so use the numbers below as a guide, not a rule.

Placement	Reported conversion	Notes
Product page	About 1–4%	The classic FBT spot. Early interest makes a matching add-on feel natural.
Cart or cart drawer	About 1–4%	Strong buy intent, good for a cheap last-minute add-on.
Thank-you page (post-purchase)	Often higher, commonly 4–10% or more	Lowest friction, since the purchase is already made.
Checkout	High intent, Shopify Plus only	Checkout customization is limited to Plus stores.

The product-page and cart figures come from Flowium, which found about 20 percent of retailers see 1 to 4 percent conversion in each spot. The thank-you page tends to convert best because the buying decision is already made, and Shopify has shared merchant examples where post-purchase offers lifted results sharply.

The product page is where most frequently bought together widgets live, so it is a core part of strong product page optimization. Wherever you place the offer, test more than one spot. Placement is one of the levers in wider CRO strategy, and small changes here often move order value more than you expect.

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7. FBT Pairing Strategies

The quality of your FBT pairings is the single biggest factor in whether the widget drives AOV or gets ignored. Most FBT apps generate pairings automatically using order history, product descriptions, and collection structure. But if your store is new, lacks purchase data, or doesn’t use an app with AI recommendations, you need to pair products manually.

Manual pairing isn’t a disadvantage. Automated recommendations run on a small set of logical patterns, and you can apply those same patterns yourself using your product knowledge. A few core approaches:

• Pair by product completion: Match a primary product with something the customer needs to use it properly (camera + SD card, cleanser + toner).
• Pair by routine or occasion: Group products that belong to the same activity or moment, even if they aren’t functionally dependent (serum + SPF, tent + sleeping bag).
• Pair by problem and solution: Connect products that solve related problems for the same customer (acne cleanser + scar treatment, posture corrector + lumbar cushion).
• Pair by price anchoring: Add a low-cost complement to a higher-ticket item so the add-on feels like an easy yes ($120 jacket + $15 garment bag).

Once your pairings are live, review performance at least once a month. Remove combinations with low engagement and promote ones that convert. As order data accumulates, you can validate your manual pairings against Shopify’s “Frequently bought together” report or let AI take over.

👉 For the full playbook, including all six pairing strategies and how to validate results, see our “FBT Pairing Strategies“ guide.

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8 How to Measure FBT Bundle Performance

Track these five metrics to know whether your FBT widget is actually working:

• Widget CTR: the percentage of product-page visitors who interact with the FBT widget
• Add-to-cart rate: the percentage of customers who add any FBT-recommended product to cart
• Bundle take-rate: the percentage of orders that include at least one FBT-added product
• AOV lift: the difference in average order value between orders with FBT items vs orders without
• Attributed revenue: total revenue generated from FBT additions

You’ll find CTR and AOV lift in Shopify Analytics combined with your app’s dashboard. Most dedicated FBT apps (BOGOS, CBB, Wiser) show bundle take-rate and attributed revenue directly in their own reporting.

Directional benchmarks: a healthy FBT setup drives a 5% to 15% AOV lift on orders that include the widget. If you’re seeing less than 3%, your pairings are likely misaligned.

👉 For the full measurement framework and benchmark data by category, see our “How to Measure Bundle Performance” guide.

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Conclusion

Shopify cannot run a true frequently bought together offer on its own. The related products section in your theme is a free starting point, and it costs nothing to switch on. But the combined discount and the one-click “add all to cart” button, the parts that actually lift order value, come from a dedicated app.

Start where you are. Turn on the free theme section, then move to an app once you want the full offer. Keep the groups short, keep the products relevant, and add a small discount to seal the decision.

The goal is not to push extra products. It is to help shoppers buy what genuinely complements their purchase. Do that well, and frequently bought together becomes one of the steadiest ways to raise average order value on your Shopify store. If you want cross-sell to live alongside your gifts and bundles, our app is one way to run it all from a single place.

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FAQ