B2B Onboard vs Helium Customer Fields
Purpose-built wholesale onboarding, or a flexible field collector.
Helium Customer Fields is a general-purpose custom-fields app for any Shopify storefront use case. B2B Onboard is purpose-built for wholesale: an approval queue, Shopify B2B Company creation, and VAT verification on every submission. Here is where the two apps differ and where Helium is a good fit.
Last updated 2026-05-14
How B2B Onboard and Helium differ
Four workflow areas where the two apps are aimed at different jobs.
Scope: wholesale vs general-purpose
Helium is a general-purpose custom-fields app. It captures data on any Shopify storefront use case, from loyalty sign-ups to profile capture. B2B Onboard does one job: wholesale registration with an approval step. The narrower scope is the point. A public Helium review describes wholesale validation as "can't validate accounts like before," which is the seam where a purpose-built tool helps.
Shopify B2B Company creation
On approval, B2B Onboard creates a proper Shopify B2B Company record on Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Plus stores. The customer gets wholesale catalog access, location-based pricing, and tax exemption inside Shopify's native B2B model. Helium captures field data on a customer record but does not create a B2B Company, so wholesale pricing and tax need to be wired up separately.
Dedicated approval workflow
B2B Onboard ships a built-in approval queue with one-click approve, reject, or request more info. Auto-approval rules trigger on VAT-verified submissions or trusted email domains. Helium captures data into custom fields on a customer record; the approval step is built by the merchant on top, often as a manual review in Shopify admin with no audit trail.
Built-in VAT verification
B2B Onboard checks EU VAT numbers against VIES and UK VAT numbers against HMRC in real time during form submission. The verification result is stored on the application, so you see it before you approve, and you can auto-approve on a verified VAT. Helium does not include VAT verification.
Where Helium is a good fit
Helium Customer Fields is a good fit for stores that need flexible custom-fields collection across non-B2B use cases: loyalty program sign-ups, customer profile capture, contest entries, gated content registrations. If the goal is "extend the Shopify customer record with a few extra fields anywhere in the buyer journey," Helium has a wide and well-built feature set for that.
B2B Onboard is the better choice when the goal is specifically wholesale registration with an approval workflow, VAT verification, and a Shopify B2B Company created on approval.
Data stored in the EU (Frankfurt, AWS eu-central-1). GDPR compliant with a full Data Processing Agreement. Free tier available so you can run a side-by-side test before you choose.
See the wholesale flow end to end.
Install free, build a registration form with a B2B template, submit a test application, and watch the approval flow create a Shopify B2B Company. Keep Helium installed if you want to compare side by side.