Shopify Year Make Model (YMM) search apps compared

A Year Make Model search, or YMM search, lets a shopper pick their vehicle and see only the parts that fit it. Shopify has no such feature, so it comes from an app, and there are many. This guide compares the apps that stores most often consider, plus ClearFitment, which is included because we make it. It compares how each one charges, not what it costs, because prices change. ClearFitment's plans come from the same plan table the app charges from; our App Store listing may still show an older card until the sized plans are published there.

How to read the table

• How it charges is what the app sizes its plans by. Most apps charge by the size of your data or your traffic, so the cheapest plan rarely fits a large catalogue.
• Prices and limits change. Open each listing for the current plans.

How each app sizes its plans

For ClearFitment, figures are from the app's plan table (Small, Medium and Large). For every other app, its own App Store listing is the source: open it for the current plans. Prices are per month in US dollars.

How these apps charge

By fitment rows

The plan allows a number of fitment rows, and a bigger catalogue means a bigger plan. Several apps work this way, and so does ClearFitment. It has three plans: Small up to 10,000, Medium up to 100,000 and Large up to 500,000 fitment rows. Small costs $10 a month, Medium $19 and Large $24. Whether a year range counts as one row or as one row a year decides how fast you climb, and listings rarely say. Ask before you import: a part that fits one model from 2010 to 2019 is one row in some apps and ten in others. A fitment row is one product that fits one vehicle. All the years of that vehicle count as one fitment row.

By products

The plan is sized by the number of products that carry fitment. It is easy to predict, and it suits a small catalogue of wide-fit parts better than a large one.

By visitors

Some apps count monthly visitors as well. That ties the price to traffic as well as to the catalogue, so a good month can move you up a plan.

What sits behind the higher plan

The other thing to read on a listing is which features need the dearer plan. A fitment table, a saved garage and universal-fit products are what most parts stores end up wanting, so price the plan that includes them, not the first one. In ClearFitment there is no dearer plan for features: Every feature on every plan. Plans differ only in how many fitment rows you store.

Where the fitment data comes from

Stores get their fitment data in three different ways, and they suit different stores.

• You bring a file. You import a CSV or a spreadsheet that you maintain. This suits a store whose fitment is curated by hand or merged from several suppliers.
• The fitment comes from a data source. A feed such as ACES and PIES files supplies it, and you need a source to feed it. This suits a store that sells a distributor's catalogue and wants it kept current.
• A vehicle database is supplied. That saves typing the vehicle list. You still have to say which products fit which vehicles.

If your fitment arrives from distributors, a feed app that keeps stock and prices current may matter more than the search app. ClearFitment is not a feed app: it works from the CSV you give it.

VIN and registration lookup

Some shoppers would sooner type a VIN or a registration plate than pick from dropdowns. ClearFitment has no VIN or registration-plate lookup. If your shoppers need one, choose an app that offers it.

Questions to ask any of them

1. What does my catalogue cost, not the smallest one? Count your fitment rows and your products, then find the plan that holds them.
2. Is a year range one row? It changes the row count several times over.
3. What happens when I import a new supplier file? Ask whether you see the changes before they are written, and whether the import can remove rows that are not in the file.
4. Can I undo an import? And how far back.
5. Where is the fitment stored? Fitment held in product tags is limited to 250 tags a product. See Shopify's product tag limit and fitment.
6. What does it change in my theme? And what is left behind if you uninstall.
7. Can I get my data out? In a file you can load somewhere else.

Where ClearFitment fits

We make ClearFitment, so this is our own account of it, with the same kind of facts as the table.

• Price: three plans. Small costs $10 a month, Medium $19 and Large $24. Each has a 30-day free trial. Every feature on every plan. Plans differ only in how many fitment rows you store.
• Limits: the fitment rows your store holds. Small up to 10,000, Medium up to 100,000 and Large up to 500,000. Products and visitors are not counted.
• Fitment rows: Year ranges stay ranges. 2010 to 2014 is one fitment row, not five. Universal-fit parts included. Items that fit everything, without a row per vehicle.
• Imports: CSV import previews every add, change and skip, and never overwrites what is already there. Every bulk change is saved first, so you can roll back in one click. We keep 25 restore points.
• Data source: a CSV you maintain. There is no distributor feed and no built-in vehicle database.
• Not included: VIN or registration-plate lookup, and a fit check in the cart or at checkout.

It suits a store that curates its own fitment data and wants a plan sized to its fitment rows. A store that needs a distributor feed or a VIN lookup should choose an app that offers one. The listing is at the Shopify App Store.