- Pre-order apps side by side
- Ten pre-order apps for Shopify stores
- Which app for which job
- Three Shopify rules that decide your pre-order app
- Buttons, back in stock alerts or deposits
- Questions to ask before you install a pre-order app
- Mistakes that sink a presale
- How the ten pre-order apps were chosen
- Plain advice for your first pre-order launch
- Frequently asked questions
A pre-order app lets shoppers buy a product before it's in stock, and Shopify needs one installed before pre-orders work at all. Ten apps follow, in no particular order. What decides the choice is the job you need, a plain pre-order button, pre-orders with back in stock alerts, or deposits, and whether your payment gateway is supported.
Selling something before it lands is one of the simplest ways to test demand for a new product, but Shopify won't do it on its own. The Shopify Help Center page on pre-orders says you need to install a pre-order app from the Shopify App Store to use them.
Most apps the store returns for this job do two things at once: they take pre-orders and send back in stock alerts. A smaller group lets you take a deposit or part payment now and the rest later. If you're mapping the wider sales journey, my guide to whether Shopify has built-in sales funnels sits well alongside this one.
Pre-order apps side by side
The free plan column comes from each app's own Shopify App Store listing, as of Oct 2026. Yes means the listing shows Free or Free plan available. Trial only means it shows a free trial and nothing more. Not stated means the listing didn't name a free plan, so check before you install.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bat Preorders & Back In Stock | Deposit pre-orders | Deposits on pre-orders plus restock alerts | Yes |
| Dibs: Preorders & Backorders | Deposit pre-orders | Deposit, partial and split payment pre-orders | Yes |
| Essent Preorder Back in Stock | Pre-order and waitlist | Presales with a restock waitlist | Yes |
| Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist | All-in-one stock app | Waitlist, pre-order, wishlist and low stock together | Yes |
| PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock | Pre-order and restock | Pre-orders with restock alerts | Yes |
| Preorder Now Presale Timesact | Pre-order button | Pre-order now button with a waitlist | Yes |
| Preorder, Back in stock Duck | Presale and backorder | Presales, backorders and notify me waitlists | Yes |
| Preorder, Back In Stock: STOQ | Pre-order and alerts | Preorders, notify me and back in stock alerts | Yes |
| REZ Preorder, Back In Stock | Pre-order and alerts | Turning sold out pages into pre-orders | Yes |
| SMART Preorder & Back in stock | Deposit pre-orders | Preorders and deposits when stock runs out | Yes |
Ten pre-order apps for Shopify stores
Bat Preorders & Back In Stock
Best for: Taking deposits on pre-orders and sending back in stock alerts from one app, listed as Free with a 4.9 rating from 293 reviews as of Oct 2026.
Dibs: Preorders & Backorders
Best for: Stores that want shoppers to pay a deposit, part or split payment up front, with a 5.0 rating from 149 reviews as of Oct 2026.
Essent Preorder Back in Stock
Best for: Running presales with a back in stock waitlist alongside, on a free plan, rated 5.0 from 1,343 reviews as of Oct 2026.
Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist
Best for: One app covering waitlists, pre-orders, wishlists and low stock together, with a free plan and 4.9 from 3,967 reviews as of Oct 2026.
PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock
Best for: Stores that want pre-orders and restock alerts in a single setup, with a free plan and a 4.9 rating from 1,974 reviews as of Oct 2026.
Preorder Now Presale Timesact
Best for: Adding a pre-order now option with a back in stock waitlist and restock alerts, free plan available, 5.0 from 2,122 reviews as of Oct 2026.
Preorder, Back in stock Duck
Best for: Selling on backorder as well as presale, with notify me restock waitlists, on a free plan rated 5.0 from 539 reviews as of Oct 2026.
Preorder, Back In Stock: STOQ
Best for: Pairing preorders with notify me buttons and back in stock alerts on a free plan, with 5.0 from 3,872 reviews as of Oct 2026.
REZ Preorder, Back In Stock
Best for: Recovering sales you'd lose to sold out pages, through pre-orders, notify me and back in stock alerts, free plan, 5.0 from 1,635 reviews as of Oct 2026.
SMART Preorder & Back in stock
Best for: Selling when sold out, with preorders, deposits and back in stock alerts, listed as Free with 5.0 from 644 reviews as of Oct 2026.
Which app for which job
- You want deposits and restock alerts in one app: Bat Preorders & Back In Stock.
- You'd like presales with a waitlist running alongside: Essent Preorder Back in Stock.
- You also want wishlists and low stock in the same place: Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist.
- You sell on backorder as well as presale: Preorder, Back in stock Duck.
- You'd rather have a simple pre-order now button: Preorder Now Presale Timesact.
Three Shopify rules that decide your pre-order app
The Shopify Help Center page on pre-orders sets out three rules that shape which app will work for you, and plenty of store owners only find them after installing one.
First, pre-orders are only available to merchants using Shopify Payments or PayPal Express. If your store takes payment through another gateway, check that before anything else, because no app on this list can change it.
Second, if you uninstall a pre-order app, the pre-order data you created in the app is deleted after 48 hours unless the app has a backup mechanism. So swapping apps halfway through a launch can wipe your setup. Ask the developer how backups work before you commit.
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Third, you can collect full, partial or no payment at order time. That's why deposit apps exist. They make sense for products with a long wait, where asking for everything up front might put buyers off.
Buttons, back in stock alerts or deposits
Read the store taglines and the ten split into three jobs. Plain pre-order buttons let shoppers order an item that's sold out. Pre-order plus back in stock apps, the biggest group here, also collect emails and tell people when stock returns. Deposit apps take part of the payment now and the rest later, and three of the ten mention deposits in their tagline.
The free label won't separate them, because all ten show Free or Free plan available on the listing as of Oct 2026. Review depth does differ: counts run from 149 to 3,967, so some apps have far more feedback behind them than others.
Questions to ask before you install a pre-order app
- Does it work with the payment gateway my store uses?
- What happens to my pre-order data if I uninstall it, and is there a backup?
- Can I take a deposit, the full amount or nothing at checkout?
- Can I show a clear expected shipping message on the product page?
- What does the free plan include, and will it cover a busy launch?
Mistakes that sink a presale
The common one is promising a date you can't keep. Tell shoppers when stock is expected and update them if it slips. The second is mixing pre-order and in-stock items in one order without explaining how it'll ship. The third is forgetting the 48 hour rule above and switching apps mid launch.
A pre-order page is still a product page, so the basics in the guide on what a good conversion rate looks like for a Shopify store still apply.
How the ten pre-order apps were chosen
These are the first relevant, non-ad results the Shopify App Store returned for 'pre order' as of Oct 2026, one app per vendor, each with a rating and at least 20 reviews shown. The store showed 7,153 apps for the term and labelled 4 of its results as ads, which were left out. They're listed alphabetically, in no particular order, and the order isn't a ranking. Ratings, review counts and plan labels are copied from the listing as of Oct 2026 and will have moved since.
Do you make a Shopify pre-order app? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Plain advice for your first pre-order launch
Start with your payment gateway and the backup question, because those are the two things that can stop a pre-order app working or wipe it later. Then pick the job: a simple button, presales with alerts, or deposits. Every app here shows a free label, so try one on a single product before you roll it out across the store.
Once pre-orders are flowing, the next step is keeping those buyers, and my piece on AI upselling and retention for online shops covers that.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify have pre-orders built in?
Not on its own. The Shopify Help Center says you need to install a pre-order app from the Shopify App Store to use pre-orders.
Which payment options work with Shopify pre-orders?
Shopify's help page says pre-orders are only available to merchants using Shopify Payments or PayPal Express, so check your gateway first.
What happens if I uninstall a pre-order app?
Shopify's help page says the pre-order data you created in the app is deleted after 48 hours unless the app has a backup mechanism.
Can I take a deposit on a pre-order?
Yes. Shopify's help page says you can collect full, partial or no payment at order time, and three apps here mention deposits in their store tagline.
Are there free Shopify pre-order apps?
All ten apps here show Free or Free plan available on their Shopify App Store listing as of Oct 2026. Check what the free plan includes before you rely on it for a big launch.
