Best Shopify Preorder Apps (October 2026)

A Shopify preorder app replaces a sold-out "Add to cart" button with a "Pre-order" button, takes the full price or a deposit at checkout, and tells the buyer when the item will ship. Shopify has the payment plumbing built in, but an app has to switch it on. This guide compares 10 preorder apps on what their live Shopify App Store listings said on 13 October 2026: rating, reviews, Built for Shopify badge, free-plan limits, cheapest paid plan, deposits, charging later, and back-in-stock alerts.

Shopify preorder apps compared

Two names from older lists were not installable on 13 October 2026: the PreOrder Now WOD and Purple Dot listings both read "This app is not currently available on the Shopify App Store".

How preorders work in Shopify

Every app here sits on the same Shopify system. In Shopify's developer docs (About pre-order and Try Before You Buy, read 13 October 2026), a preorder is a "selling plan", the same object Shopify uses for subscriptions. An app creates it with the sellingPlanGroupCreate mutation and sets four policies:

• Pricing: an optional price change, such as an early-buyer discount (one fixed adjustment per preorder).
• Delivery: ship as soon as possible, on an exact date, or "unknown".
• Inventory: commit stock when the order is placed or when it is fulfilled.
• Billing: a partial amount (the deposit) at checkout, and the balance on a set date or a set number of days after checkout. Shopify's own example charges 10% at checkout and the rest on the ship date.

Who charges the balance: the app, not Shopify

Shopify stores the preorder data, collects the first payment, stores the customer's payment method and manages inventory. The app decides when a preorder runs, charges the balance on its due date, schedules fulfillment and gives customers a way to manage the order, according to Shopify's division of responsibilities (read 13 October 2026). The docs say it is the app's job to "automate any process around payment failures", so ask each developer how it retries a declined balance charge.

Charging nothing until the item ships is still rolling out: for preorder selling plans, the docs say "due on fulfillment" is in the unstable API version, with a stable release planned for 2026-01. Shopify also requires preorder apps to let customers cancel, to tell them about shipping delays, and to get consent for delays beyond 30 days when no ship time was stated.

Rules every preorder app inherits

From the same docs and Shopify's Help Center page on pre-orders, both read 13 October 2026:

• Payment provider: the Help Center says pre-orders are only available with Shopify Payments or PayPal Express; the developer docs add Adyen on Shopify and, for some merchants, Stripe. Local payment methods can't be used.
• Not on POS, draft orders or B2B. Several listings mention POS or B2B preorders, so ask how the app handles them.
• Not supported: "Buy X get Y" discounts, checkouts customized with checkout.liquid, and cart permalinks. The Order Edits API can only remove a preorder product.
• Several preorders in one cart: an order gets one deferred due date. The earliest date wins, "due on fulfillment" beats a fixed date, and deposits are added together.
• Uninstalling: pre-order data you created in the app is deleted after 48 hours (customer payment information excluded) unless the app has a backup.
• Not a payment plan: Shopify lists installments, layaways and crowdfunding campaigns as unsupported uses of these APIs.

Does Shopify have preorder built in?

Not on its own. The Help Center says that to use pre-orders "you need to install a pre-order app from the Shopify App Store". The only app-free route is "Continue selling when out of stock", which is a backorder: no badge, no deposit, no ship date. Our guide to whether Shopify has a built-in preorder feature covers that setting and manual payment capture in detail.

The 10 preorder apps, one by one

Ordered by review count on 13 October 2026, with the listing facts first.

1. Notify Me! Back in Stock Alert: most reviewed, with a wishlist

Notify Me! adds "Notify Me", "PreOrder" and "Wishlist" buttons to product, home and collection pages, and preorders can carry discounts, notes and partial payments.

• Listing: 4.9 from 3,900 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 19 May 2020, 13 languages.
• Plans: free Lite plan with 10 restock notifications, 5 preorders and 50 wishlist actions. Kickstart is $9.90 a month ($79.21 a year) for 500 preorders and 500 alerts, then $0.20 per extra preorder. 7-day trial.
• Payments: percentage or fixed partial payments from Kickstart; a "preorder delivery fulfillment trigger" on the $19.90 Starter plan. No zero-down wording.
• Alerts: email, SMS and web push. Lists Shopify POS and Flow under "Works with".

Pick it if you want preorders, restock alerts and a wishlist in one long-reviewed app. Skip it if 5 free preorders won't cover a test.

2. STOQ: the all-rounder for preorders plus restock alerts

STOQ (by Artos Software) handles preorders, backorders and presales with deposits or partial payments, plus waitlist alerts, Klaviyo sync, Shopify Markets and multiple locations.

• Listing: 5.0 from 3,811 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 1 November 2021, 24 languages.
• Plans: free for 10 preorders and 30 emails a month. Lite is $10 a month for 100 preorders and 1,000 emails or SMS, all features unlocked, then $0.25 per extra preorder and $0.025 per SMS. 14-day trial.
• Payments: deposits, partial, split and deferred payments, payment reminders and manual payment.
• Alerts: email and SMS. Lists Shopify POS and Flow under "Works with".

Pick it if you want more payment options than Notify Me! lists, plus SMS alerts in 24 languages. Skip it if you need more than 10 free preorders a month.

3. Timesact: clearest charge-later options

Timesact (by Kairock Partners SRL) is built for launches: badges, countdowns, presale order limits, order tagging, and preorders switched on by product tag or stock level.

• Listing: 5.0 from 2,107 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 1 June 2020, 22 languages. No free trial shown.
• Plans: free for new users up to 20 orders a month. CORE Flex from $5 adds 10 orders a month plus deposits, split payments and zero-down preorders, then $0.20 per extra order. PRO Flex from $7 adds charge on fulfillment. CORE Fixed is $23 a month on Basic Shopify for unlimited orders ($117 on Plus).
• Payments: the most explicit charge-later wording in this guide.
• Alerts: email, plus SMS from $0.02 for US numbers if you use it.

Pick it if you want to take the order now and charge when it ships. Skip it if your volume swings a lot on a Flex plan; model a launch month first.

4. PreOrder Globo: longest-running listing here

PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock (by Globo.io) runs preorders by stock level or on a schedule, tags orders with "preorder" or a ship date, and shows a delivery note under the button.

• Listing: 4.9 from 1,949 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 29 June 2017, 6 languages.
• Plans: free for your first 20 presale orders and first 100 restock emails. Lite is $9.90 a month ($99 a year) for 100 presales and 1,000 restock emails a month; PRO is $19.90 for unlimited presales. 7-day trial.
• Payments: partial and split payments and preorder discounts; deferred payment is not listed.
• Alerts: email, batched on paid plans.

Pick it if you want scheduled presales from a developer listed since 2017. Skip it if you need a free plan that lasts past 20 presales.

5. REZ Preorder, Back In Stock: cheap paid plan, fast-growing reviews

REZ (by REZ Commerce) takes preorders and backorders with deposits or partial payments, sends back-in-stock and coming-soon emails, and tracks demand and revenue in its own analytics.

• Listing: 5.0 from 1,601 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 26 May 2025, 24 languages.
• Plans: free for 20 preorders and 30 emails a month. Basic is $4.99 a month for 100 preorders and 500 emails, all features unlocked, then $0.25 per extra preorder. 7-day trial.
• Payments: deposits, partial, split and deferred payments, schedules and reminders.
• Alerts: email.

Pick it if you want a full payment feature list for under $5. Skip it if you want a long track record: it launched in May 2025.

6. Essent Preorder Back in Stock: best free plan

Essent (by Essential Apps) runs preorder, presale and back-in-stock campaigns with pay in full, partial, split or deposit payments on a schedule, and can block mixed carts or run preorders per Shopify Market.

• Listing: 5.0 from 1,310 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 22 November 2024, 24 languages.
• Plans: free for 25 preorders and 300 notifications a month, with full and partial payment. Lite is $4.95 a month for 100 preorders and 1,000 notifications, then $0.25 per extra preorder; mixed cart validation starts on the $8.95 Starter plan. 14-day trial.
• Payments: deposits, deferred payment, due dates and split payment schedules.
• Alerts: email.

Pick it if you want deposits for free up to 25 preorders a month. Skip it if you need SMS restock alerts or a POS link.

7. Preorder, Back in stock Duck: unlimited free preorders

Duck (by Peppyduck Ventures LLP) keeps it simple: a preorder button, a "Notify me" waitlist and automatic alerts at variant level, with 24/7 live chat.

• Listing: 5.0 from 530 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 10 March 2023, English.
• Plans: free for unlimited preorders and 50 back-in-stock emails a month. Essentials is $9 a month (shown with a 2026 offer of $3 for the first 2 months) for 500 emails, partial payments and discounts; PRO at $29 adds WhatsApp. 7-day trial.
• Payments: partial payments from Essentials; deferred payment is not listed.
• Alerts: email and SMS, WhatsApp from PRO.

Pick it if you take many full-price preorders. Skip it if you need free deposits or a non-English storefront.

8. PreProduct: charge-later specialist for larger launches

PreProduct does only preorders. It charges upfront, by deposit, or later on a stored card, holds preorder lines until stock lands so your 3PL ships only what is ready, and handles mixed or preorder-only carts.

• Listing: 4.9 from 108 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 9 March 2020, English.
• Plans: Starter is free to install with unlimited preorders and takes 5.0% of paid preorder revenue. Scale is $59.99 a month with no commission on the first 5k of monthly paid preorder revenue, then 0.5%. 7-day trial.
• Payments: upfront, deposit or later on every plan; pay-early discounts and instalment plans are marked Shopify Plus.
• Alerts: none listed. Lists Shopify POS and Flow under "Works with".

Pick it if preorders are a big share of revenue and you want fulfillment holds. Skip it if you are small: 5% of a $50 preorder is $2.50, so two a month cost as much as Timesact's $5 plan.

9. AOV.ai PreOrder Back in Stock: free, with the Built for Shopify badge

AOV.ai PreOrder swaps "Sold Out" for a preorder or "Notify Me" button, takes full payment or a percentage or fixed deposit, auto-collects the balance before you ship, and caps preorder stock per product.

• Listing: 4.8 from 26 reviews, Built for Shopify, launched 25 March 2026, English.
• Plans: free; no paid plan listed.
• Alerts: email.

Pick it if you want a free preorder app with deposits and some review history. Skip it if you need a non-English storefront or SMS alerts.

10. Oxify Preorder & Back in Stock (our app): newest free option

Oxify Preorder & Back in Stock is our app, so weigh this entry accordingly. It adds a preorder button and badge to out-of-stock, low-stock, coming-soon or made-to-order products, takes deposits, partial or split payments at checkout, can discount preorders for early buyers, and emails waitlisted shoppers when stock returns.

• Listing: no reviews, no Built for Shopify badge, launched 8 July 2026. 8 languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified).
• Plans: free; no paid plan listed.
• Payments: deposits, partial, split and manual payments; no zero-down wording.
• Alerts: email. Lists Shopify POS and Flow under "Works with".

Why you might pick it: it is free, it puts deposits, split payments and back-in-stock emails in one app, and of the two fully free apps here that also send restock alerts it is the only one listed in more than one language. Why you might not: there are no reviews or badge yet to check it against, alerts are email only, and the listing names no order limits or mixed-cart controls. For a free app with reviews, AOV.ai PreOrder has 26 and the badge; for a long record, start with STOQ or Notify Me!. More is on our Shopify preorder app page.

Also checked

These came up in the same search and are installable, but each misses a cut: no Built for Shopify badge, fewer reviews than the seven above, or preorders that are not the main job.

• Preorder Wolf (4.8 from 497, Built for Shopify, launched 6 May 2022): just behind Duck on reviews. Deposits and deferred payments; free only on development and test stores, then $4.99 a month for up to $500 of preorder revenue. No restock alerts listed.
• Amai PreOrder Manager + Notify (4.2 from 542, no badge, launched 23 July 2015): unlimited preorders and restock alerts with split payments, from $12.95 a month on Basic Shopify. No free plan.
• PreOrder Now & Pre order | PQ (4.8 from 525, no badge, launched 19 May 2023): partial payments from $7.99 a month for up to 60 preorders. No free plan.
• Amp Back in Stock & Preorder+ (4.9 from 962, Built for Shopify): alert-first, with preorders from the $19 Starter plan. Covered in our back-in-stock apps comparison.
• Dibs – Preorders & Backorders (5.0 from 143, Built for Shopify, by Logbase): free, with deposits and "book now pay later", but no restock alerts listed.
• Downpay: Partial Pay & Deposit (5.0 from 98, Built for Shopify): deposits with auto-charge, invoice or manual balance collection, from $29 a month for up to $5,000 of order value.

Best preorder app for startups and new Shopify stores

A new store needs a price near zero while orders are few, deposits if the item is expensive, and a bill that does not jump in a launch month. Volume decides the pick more than features. Prices from listings read on 13 October 2026.

What we would do on a new store: start on a free plan, set a ship date you can keep, cap preorders at what your supplier can deliver, and place one test preorder with a card through Shopify Payments before you announce it. Pay for a plan when the free cap starts to bind.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related reading: best back in stock and preorder apps for Shopify and does Shopify have a built-in preorder feature?