What does a sitemap app actually do on Shopify?
Less than the listings suggest, so let’s be precise. Shopify generates a sitemap.xml for every store automatically, with products, collections, pages and blog posts, and updates it as you add content (Shopify Help Center). You submit it once in Google Search Console and you’re done. No app replaces that file, and an app that promises a “better XML sitemap” is mostly re-listing the same URLs.
What apps do add, and what you’re paying for:
- An HTML sitemap page. A visible page that lists every collection, product, page and post. Visitors use it when the menu fails them; crawlers use it as one more path to deep pages. Shopify has no built-in version.
- Noindex and nofollow per page. Shopify has no switch to keep a page out of Google. Apps add the meta tag without theme code, which matters for duplicate collection URLs, thank-you pages, internal search results and filtered pages.
- Exclusions from the XML sitemap. Some apps let you drop URLs from the sitemap, which saves crawl budget on large catalogs.
- Search Console help. Verification without touching theme code, or one-click sitemap submission.
If you need none of the four, you don’t need an app. If you need the first two, read on.
XML Sitemap Generator by Nabu
Best for: stores that want noindex control and sitemap exclusions without paying.
Nabu’s app is free, carries the Built for Shopify badge, and covers the whole list above: HTML sitemap, XML sitemap with exclusions, image sitemap, noindex and nofollow on any product or page, and one-click submission to Google Search Console and Bing. It’s available in 20 languages. The listing was launched in December 2025, so the review count is low (7 reviews, 4.5 average, one 1-star) and the track record is short. AdNabu is best known for its Google Shopping feed app, and reviewers mention support that goes beyond the sitemap app itself.
Limits: young listing, few reviews. The HTML sitemap is functional rather than styled; if you want it to look like part of your theme, you’ll be editing CSS.
Sitemap NoIndex Pro SEO
Best for: stores that want one SEO app, with sitemaps and noindex as part of it.
This is the most-reviewed app in the group by a distance: 195 reviews, 5.0 average, Built for Shopify, launched May 2022. The sitemap and noindex features are solid, and reviewers from large catalogs (one bookshop with 5,000 products) praise the bulk noindex rules for duplicate URLs. Around that sits a full SEO suite: Search Console keywords and rankings inside the app, SEO scores per page, image ALT text in bulk, and an llms.txt generator. The free Starter plan covers the default XML sitemap, a standard HTML sitemap and 30 SEO scans a month. Growth is $4.99/month (or $49.99/year) and adds bulk noindex, three custom XML sitemaps and llms.txt; Scale is $11.99/month; Enterprise $19.99/month.
Limits: if all you want is a sitemap page, you’re paying for a suite. The free plan’s HTML sitemap is “standard”; categories and custom layouts start on Growth.
Magical XML/HTML Sitemap
Best for: stores that want a good-looking HTML sitemap and nothing else.
One plan at $1/month with a 14-day trial, 24 reviews at 5.0, launched April 2022. The HTML sitemap has layouts and styles, and rules that add new content automatically. The “XML” in the name means it links to Shopify’s own XML sitemap; it doesn’t change it.
Limits: no noindex, no exclusions, no Search Console features. Cheapest subscription here, but a subscription.
SitemapGenius
Best for: a free HTML sitemap with no other needs.
Free, launched July 2023, no reviews yet. One-click HTML sitemap that updates itself, with customizable content and a layout meant to fit the theme.
Limits: no noindex, no XML features, no track record to judge support by.
Easy Sitemap Builder for SEO (ours)
Best for: stores that want the HTML sitemap styled in the theme editor, noindex per page, and the option to pay once.
Easy Sitemap Builder for SEO creates an always up-to-date HTML sitemap that you add and style in the theme editor, on one page or split across several. It sets noindex and nofollow per page without code, adds your Google Search Console verification, and walks you through submitting Shopify’s XML sitemap to Google and Bing. $1.99/month, $19.90/year, or $39.90 once for lifetime access. 7-day free trial.
Limits, honestly: no reviews on the listing yet. The app launched in January 2023 and we haven’t asked merchants for reviews, which is on us. It also doesn’t carry the Built for Shopify badge, which Nabu and Sitemap NoIndex Pro do; that’s an application we haven’t made, not a test we failed, and the app uses theme app blocks like the badged ones do. No sitemap exclusions and no one-click submission; the XML part is a guide, not a button. If you want those two, Nabu does them free. If you want the sitemap to look like your store without touching CSS, or you’d rather pay $39.90 once than $1 a month forever, pick ours.
Which sitemap app should you pick?
| If you want | Pick |
|---|---|
| Noindex rules and XML exclusions, free | XML Sitemap Generator by Nabu |
| A full SEO suite with sitemaps inside | Sitemap NoIndex Pro SEO |
| The prettiest HTML sitemap for $1 | Magical XML/HTML Sitemap |
| A free HTML sitemap, nothing else | SitemapGenius |
| Theme-editor styling, noindex, pay once | Easy Sitemap Builder for SEO |
And if you want none of the four jobs from the first section, keep Shopify’s sitemap.xml, submit it in Search Console, and spend the money on rich snippets instead.
How we compared
Facts come from each app’s Shopify App Store listing on 1 Nov 2026: prices, plans, trials, ratings, review counts, launch dates and feature lists. We read the listings and the developers’ documentation. Our own app is listed last and judged by the same table. Rating counts move; the table shows the day we checked, and the links show today. More on how we test.