8 Best Back in Stock Alert & Preorder Alternatives for Shopify in 2026
Looking for a Back in Stock Alert & Preorder Alternative?
Back in Stock Alert & Preorder is a popular Shopify app for building waitlists on sold-out products and messaging shoppers when stock returns. It launched in July 2025, though, so it has 38 reviews and no public changelog yet, and every SMS or WhatsApp alert costs extra on top of the plan.
So, we compared seven alternatives on how they reach waiting shoppers, how much control they give over each restock and what else they bring to the store. Vitals is our app, and we've listed where it falls short as well.
What Is Back in Stock Alert & Preorder Shopify App?
Back in Stock Alert & Preorder is a Shopify app from Crawlapps, sold under the Alert Me! brand, for turning sold-out products into waitlists, pre-orders and low-stock prompts. Shoppers can tap a "Notify me when available" button and choose to hear back by email, text or WhatsApp, or pre-order the item with a deposit.
Here's what you can do with Back in Stock Alert & Preorder:
- Restock alerts: Send automatic alerts by email, SMS or WhatsApp when stock returns, with a minimum stock trigger, batched delivery and a reminder for shoppers who didn't open the first message.
- Pre-orders: Take full payment or a deposit, collect the balance automatically and show a ship date, with caps, scheduling and mixed-cart rules on paid plans.
- Low-stock counter: Show a live count, text or progress bar that reads real Shopify stock.
- Stores with several locations: Track stock combined or by location, and translate every shopper-facing text.
- Reports and Klaviyo: See the most requested products and recovered revenue, and sync subscribers to Klaviyo from the Starter plan.
Where Back in Stock Alert & Preorder stands out is WhatsApp. Its alerts can arrive in a chat app shoppers already check, and on Standard and above the messages can come from the store's own WhatsApp Business number, which suits stores in markets where customers rarely open email.
Its reviews are all five stars so far, and they most often praise quick support and help moving an existing waitlist over from another app.
How Much Does Back in Stock Alert & Preorder App Cost?
Prices from the Shopify App Store listing on October 27, 2026, with a 5-day free trial. Starter includes 500 emails a month, and SMS and WhatsApp messages are charged by country on top of every plan.
Why Shopify Merchants Look for Back in Stock Alert & Preorder Alternatives
Back in Stock Alert & Preorder has a 5.0 rating from 38 reviews and is Built for Shopify. Even so, stores comparing it with other apps point to these reasons:
- Each SMS and WhatsApp alert is charged by country on top of the monthly plan
- The Starter plan caps email alerts at 500 a month
- Subscriber CSV import and export start on the Standard plan
- It launched in July 2025, and we found setup guides but no changelog
- Its reviews, wishlist and bundles all mean other developers' apps
Switching makes sense for stores that would rather manage restock alerts, a wishlist and their other store apps in one place and pay for them together.
Read: The 9 Best Back in Stock Apps for Shopify in 2026
How We Compared the Back in Stock Alert & Preorder Alternatives
On October 27, 2026, we read each app's Shopify App Store listing, plus its help docs and changelog where available. Ratings and review counts are the ones each listing showed that day.
We compared the apps on:
- Standalone or all-in-one app type
- Core restock features: channels, reminders, send limits, pre-orders and reports
- Where the notify button can appear, from product pages to point of sale
- How many single-purpose apps each one replaces
- Storefront scripts and theme integration
- AI features and MCP support
Short Answer
Vitals - All in One App is the best Back in Stock Alert & Preorder alternative for most stores.
- It sends up to 10,000 email alerts each billing cycle, plus 20 texts with no SMS account to set up, while Back in Stock Alert & Preorder's Starter plan stops at 500 emails and charges for every text
- It includes 40+ apps, such as reviews, bundles and discounts, in one subscription of $29.99/month
- It replaces multiple single-purpose apps that you would otherwise install and pay for every month
Back in Stock Alert & Preorder starts lower, at $9.99/month, so Vitals is the bigger monthly bill at $29.99. For that price, it also brings the wishlist, reviews and bundles that a Back in Stock Alert & Preorder store would install from other developers.
What Are the Top Back in Stock Alert & Preorder Alternatives for Shopify in 2026
Here's how the eight options line up, with the full reasons in each entry.
1. Vitals - All in One App
Best for: Stores that want Back in Stock, Wishlist, Product Reviews and Bundles plus 40+ apps in one subscription
Rating: 4.9 (2,977 reviews) | App type: All-in-one | Free trial: 7 days | Built for Shopify: Yes
Vitals is our app, and restock alerts are one of the 40+ apps it brings together, next to reviews, bundles and a wishlist, in a single subscription of $29.99/month.
The Vitals Back in Stock app places a notify button under sold-out variants, where shoppers can sign up by email or, with text alerts switched on, by phone. Alerts go out on their own once the variant is restocked, and the email allowance reaches 10,000 each billing cycle.
Shoppers who aren't ready to wait for a size can save the product instead with the Vitals Wishlist app, which Back in Stock Alert & Preorder doesn't include. Both apps sit in the same Vitals dashboard.
Key features:
- Room for 10,000 email alerts in each billing cycle
- Text alerts with 20 free each billing cycle and no SMS provider to connect
- A follow-up email 1 to 5 days after the alert, held back from anyone who bought, unsubscribed or saw the item sell out again
- A marketing consent checkbox that adds shoppers who tick it to Shopify's email subscribers
- A stock threshold for sending, and a limit on how many shoppers each restocked unit alerts
- Products or collections left out of the waitlist entirely
- Orders and revenue for each email, plus a list of the most requested products
Pros:
- 20 texts each billing cycle come with the plan
- A wishlist sits in the same dashboard as the waitlist (e.g., FreeShippingAllOrders now handles Back in Stock, Wishlist and its other former single-purpose apps through one Vitals subscription)
- A single support team handles the alerts, the wishlist and the rest of the plan
- Claude or ChatGPT can answer questions about your store's Vitals data through Vitals MCP
Cons:
- No WhatsApp or web push alerts
- Works on Shopify only
Pricing:
Prices from the Vitals website on October 27, 2026, with a 7-day free trial. Each text past the 20 free in a billing cycle carries a usage charge.
Read: The 7 Best Wishlist Apps for Shopify Stores in 2026
2. Preorder, Back In Stock ‑ STOQ
Best for: Stores that sell pre-orders at a shop counter through Shopify POS as well as online
Rating: 5.0 (3,861 reviews) | App type: Standalone | Free trial: 14 days | Built for Shopify: Yes
Preorder, Back In Stock ‑ STOQ is Artos Software's pre-order and restock app, known as Restock Rocket until 2024. Staff can take pre-orders and waitlist sign-ups in a physical shop through Shopify POS, using the same offers as the website.
Key features:
- Preorder and Notify me buttons on product, collection, home and search pages and in quick buy
- Email alerts on every plan and SMS on paid plans, with reminder alerts
- Deposits, partial payments and automatic balance collection on paid plans
- Shopify POS support for pre-orders and waitlist sign-ups
- B2B pre-orders for Shopify Plus stores
- Alerts sent in batches, with one to three hours between them
- Waitlist imports from other apps and CSV exports
- Klaviyo, Shopify Flow, location filters and Markets
- An MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT, plus Quinn, an in-app AI assistant in beta
Pros:
- In-store pre-orders and sign-ups through POS
- An Unlimited plan with no cap on email or SMS alerts
- Chat support open 24/7 on all plans
Cons:
- Covers pre-orders and restock alerts; a wishlist, reviews and bundles each need their own app
- Texts cost $0.025 each, and pre-orders past a plan's limit carry a fee per order
- January 2026 low-star reviews describe balances that weren't collected correctly after a deposit
- Its listing gives Pro 2,000 alerts a month, while its help center says 3,000
Pricing:
Prices from the Shopify App Store listing on October 27, 2026, with a 14-day free trial.
3. PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock
Best for: Stores that open pre-orders on set dates and send alerts through their own email provider
Rating: 4.9 (1,970 reviews) | App type: Standalone | Free trial: 7 days | Built for Shopify: Yes
PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock is Globo.io's pre-order app, on the App Store since 2017, with restock emails built in. Pre-orders can be timed to open and close on fixed dates, and restock emails can leave through the store's own sending service.
Key features:
- Pre-orders scheduled by start and end date or switched on by stock level
- Deposits and pre-order discounts (Lite plan)
- A delivery note under the button and order tags for pre-orders
- A notify button with automatic or manual restock emails
- Restock emails sent through Brevo, Amazon SES, SendGrid or another SMTP service
- Batched alerts, Shopify Markets and CSV import and export (Lite plan)
Pros:
- Restock emails can come from the store's own email service
- Works with HubSpot, ActiveCampaign and Campaign Monitor as well as Klaviyo and Mailchimp
Cons:
- Email is its only alert channel
- PRO, its top plan, sends up to 5,000 restock emails a month
- A December 2025 low-star review says an update hid the notify button and lost the store's waitlist
Pricing:
Prices from the Shopify App Store listing on October 27, 2026, with a 7-day free trial.
4. Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist
Best for: Stores whose team wants low-stock warnings and forecasts beside the waitlist
Rating: 4.9 (3,948 reviews) | App type: Standalone | Free trial: 7 days | Built for Shopify: Yes
Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist, from the developer Notify Me!, was listed until recently as Notify! Back in Stock|PreOrder. It combines a waitlist, pre-orders and a guest wishlist, and it can email the team when stock gets short and forecast what needs reordering.
Key features:
- Notify Me, PreOrder and Wishlist buttons for product, home and collection pages, with collection pages on Standard
- Alerts by email, SMS and web push
- Batches sized to the quantity restocked, newest or longest-waiting shoppers first
- Pre-orders for D2C and B2B buyers, with partial payment from Kickstart
- Low-stock emails and inventory forecasts for the store (Starter plan)
- A guest wishlist that also appears in customer accounts
- Shopify POS, Flow, CSV import and export
- MCP and Sidekick connections (Plus plan, inside the app)
Pros:
- Inventory forecasts and low-stock emails for the team
- Push alerts alongside email and SMS on every plan
- A wishlist in the same app as the waitlist
Cons:
- Waitlists, pre-orders and a wishlist are what it covers, so reviews and bundles mean more apps
- Kickstart and Starter both stop at 500 alerts a month
- Collection page buttons need Standard, and MCP needs the in-app Plus plan
- June and October 2026 low-star reviews say stores selling adult products or alcohol were turned away
Pricing:
Prices from the Shopify App Store listing on October 27, 2026, with a 7-day free trial. Plus, Unlimited and Enterprise plans are listed only inside the app.
5. Back In Stock,Notify Me: Kbite
Best for: Stores whose shoppers wait for a lower price as often as for a restock
Rating: 5.0 (4,350 reviews) | App type: Standalone | Free trial: 14 days | Built for Shopify: Yes
Back In Stock,Notify Me: Kbite is DEVSQUAT SOLUTIONS' only app, and it carries the most reviews of any app here. A second waitlist covers price drops, so shoppers can ask to hear when an item goes on sale as well as when it's back.
Key features:
- A customizable "Notify me when available" button and form
- Automatic restock alerts by email and SMS
- Price-drop alerts on every plan
- Notifications for abandoned carts
- Waitlists that rank the most wanted products
- A minimum stock count before any alert is sent
- Mailing list sync and support for several languages and locations (Basic plan)
Pros:
- Price-drop alerts, which none of the other apps here list
- 4,350 reviews and a 5.0 rating
- Reviews describe fast, hands-on help placing the button
- Batch delivery for larger waitlists on Starter
Cons:
- No pre-orders
- It handles restock and price alerts only; a wishlist and reviews come from elsewhere
- SMS costs extra per message by country, starting at $0.02 in the US, and we found no help center, changelog or subscriber export
Pricing:
Prices from the Shopify App Store listing on October 27, 2026, with a 14-day free trial.
6. Swym Back in Stock Alerts
Best for: Stores that turn waitlists into Facebook and Instagram ad audiences
Rating: 4.5 (445 reviews) | App type: Standalone | Free trial: 30 days | Built for Shopify: No
Swym Back in Stock Alerts has been on the App Store since 2016. It hands sign-ups to the store's email or SMS platform and, from the Pro plan, to Facebook and Instagram retargeting through the pixel.
Key features:
- Automatic restock alerts and reminder emails
- Klaviyo and Omnisend on Starter, Mailchimp on Pro
- SMS through platforms such as Postscript and Twilio
- Retargeting audiences through the Facebook pixel (Pro plan)
- Alerts for pre-orders and coming-soon products
- Alerts sent in batches (Pro plan)
- AI-based recommendations of in-stock products
- Multi-location stock and a REST API (Premium plan)
Pros:
- Waitlist shoppers can be reached through ads as well as email
- A 30-day free trial
- Sign-ups flow into a long list of email and SMS platforms
Cons:
- Pre-order alerts only, with no way to take payment
- Once the monthly quota is used up, the app is switched off on the storefront, according to its help docs
- Reminders, batches and the Facebook pixel start on Pro
- Low-star reviews from October 2026 describe an admin that wouldn't load for about a week
Pricing:
Prices from the Shopify App Store listing on October 27, 2026, with a 30-day free trial.
7. Yanet: Back in stock alerts
Best for: Stores that want browser push to count toward the same alert allowance as email and text
Rating: 4.5 (40 reviews) | App type: Standalone | Free trial: 14 days | Built for Shopify: Yes
Yanet: Back in stock alerts comes from Yanet, a developer of returns and barcode label apps. Email, SMS and browser push all draw on one monthly allowance, so a store can shift between channels without changing plans.
Key features:
- Restock alerts by email, SMS or browser push
- Low-stock notifications
- A live preview while styling the button and form
- Shopper-facing text in several languages
- Widget performance reports
- Subscriber CSV export (Basic plan) and import (Pro plan)
Pros:
- Texts count toward the plan's allowance instead of a separate per-message charge
- Browser push on every plan
Cons:
- Restock alerts only, so a wishlist, reviews and bundles each need another install
- 6,000 alerts a month is the most any plan includes
- An April 2026 low-star review says support has slowed
Pricing:
Prices from the Shopify App Store listing on October 27, 2026, with a 14-day free trial.
8. CWILL Back in Stock Notify Me!
Best for: Stores that restock a few units at a time and want top customers alerted before others
Rating: 4.8 (623 reviews) | App type: Standalone | Free trial: 14 days | Built for Shopify: Yes
CWILL Back in Stock Notify Me!, once listed as SW Back in Stock Notify Me, belongs to CWILL's family of separate store apps. Its notification rules can cap the shoppers alerted per restock and give high-value customers the first message.
Key features:
- Inline and floating buttons on product and collection pages
- Email alerts, with SMS on Pro
- Caps on alerts per restock and priority for high-value customers (Pro plan)
- Reminders that stop once the shopper buys or the parcel arrives
- A minimum stock threshold (Essential plan)
- Stock alerts by warehouse or location
- A block email editor with automatic translation on Pro
- Klaviyo and Mailchimp connections
Pros:
- Top customers can be first in line for a small restock
- Reminders end after a purchase or a delivery
- Support by live chat at any hour
Cons:
- Covers restock alerts only; CWILL sells its reviews, loyalty and tracking apps one by one
- Essential includes 50 notifications a month, and Pro charges $0.12 for every 10 past its 3,000
- Updates sent emails merchants hadn't switched on, say May and August 2026 low-star reviews
- We found no help center or changelog for this app
Pricing:
Prices from the Shopify App Store listing on October 27, 2026, with a 14-day free trial.
How Many Apps Each Option Replaces
Single-purpose apps can each add their own code to every page, which can make pages heavier. Here's how much of a store's stack each option covers.
How we counted it:
- Vitals - All in One App replaces up to 40+ single-purpose apps, beginning with a restock alert app, a wishlist app, a reviews app and a bundle app
- Preorder, Back In Stock ‑ STOQ does the work of a pre-order app and a restock alert app
- PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock does the same pair of jobs, pre-orders and restock emails
- Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist stands in for four apps: restock alerts, pre-orders, a wishlist and a stock counter
- Back In Stock,Notify Me: Kbite replaces a restock alert app and a price-watch app
- Swym Back in Stock Alerts is one restock alert app that also feeds ad audiences
- Yanet: Back in stock alerts is a single restock alert app
- CWILL Back in Stock Notify Me! is a single restock alert app with send rules
- Back in Stock Alert & Preorder takes the place of a restock app, a pre-order app and a stock counter app
Once a Back in Stock Alert & Preorder store adds a wishlist, reviews and bundles, it pays four developers. Vitals puts the waitlist and those three apps on one bill.
When Should You Stay on Back in Stock Alert & Preorder
Two situations still favour Back in Stock Alert & Preorder.
- Your customers reply on WhatsApp, as it's the only app here that sends restock alerts there, including from your own WhatsApp Business number
- You want to invite your waitlist to pre-order a product before it arrives, which its Pro plan does
Switch when restock alerts by email and text, a follow-up email and a wishlist in one subscription cover what your shoppers need.
How to Migrate From Back in Stock Alert & Preorder
Back in Stock Alert & Preorder stores a waitlist, pre-order offers, any deposits still awaiting a balance and, on Starter and up, a Klaviyo subscriber link. Close those out before moving the waitlist to Vitals.
- On the Standard plan or higher, export your subscribers to CSV and keep the file. Vitals can't import it, so use it to email those shoppers yourself when the products come back
- Let open pre-orders ship or collect their balances before removing the app, so no deposit is left unpaid
- Check Klaviyo for lists or flows fed by the app, and pause any flow that would stop receiving sign-ups
- Install Vitals - All in One App, switch on the Vitals Back in Stock app and the Vitals Wishlist app, and set the stock threshold, text alerts and follow-up email on a duplicate theme
- Turn off Back in Stock Alert & Preorder's app embeds, uninstall it, then sign up for a sold-out variant yourself and add one unit to confirm the alert arrives before you publish the theme
Shopify stores such as Metal Art Cafe have moved their single-purpose apps to one Vitals subscription.
Read: Best All in One Apps for Shopify in 2026
Find the Best Back in Stock Alert & Preorder Alternative for Your Store
For most stores, Vitals - All in One App is the pick, though the best choice depends on what's sending you away from Back in Stock Alert & Preorder.
- Vitals, if you want restock emails and texts, a wishlist, bundles, discounts and 40+ apps in one single subscription of $29.99/month
- Preorder, Back In Stock ‑ STOQ, if part of your pre-order trade happens face to face in a shop
- PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock, if launch dates are fixed in advance and your email provider should send the alerts
- Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist, if the team needs a heads-up before stock sells out
- Back In Stock,Notify Me: Kbite, if a markdown brings shoppers back as reliably as a restock
- Swym Back in Stock Alerts, if your waitlists should become paid social audiences
- Yanet: Back in stock alerts, if push, text and email should share one allowance
- CWILL Back in Stock Notify Me!, if scarce stock should reach your best buyers first
Start a 7-day free trial: Install Vitals - All in One App
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the best Back in Stock Alert & Preorder alternative for Shopify?
Vitals - All in One App is the best Back in Stock Alert & Preorder alternative for most stores. It's the only all-in-one app that includes 40+ apps, such as restock alerts, a wishlist, reviews and bundles, in one subscription. It's our app, and its entry lists the channels it doesn't use.
2. Why do merchants switch from Back in Stock Alert & Preorder?
Every text and WhatsApp message costs extra by country, and Starter caps email alerts at 500 a month. The app is also new, with 38 reviews since its July 2025 launch and no public changelog.
3. How do Vitals and Back in Stock Alert & Preorder compare on restock features?
Both show a notify button on sold-out products, alert shoppers automatically and follow up with a reminder. Back in Stock Alert & Preorder adds WhatsApp alerts, pre-orders and a low-stock counter. Vitals adds 10,000 email alerts each billing cycle, 20 included texts, a marketing consent checkbox and revenue for each email.
4. Can Vitals replace Back in Stock Alert & Preorder and other apps at the same time?
Yes, for restock alerts. The Vitals Back in Stock app takes over the waitlist and its emails and texts, and the Vitals Wishlist app, reviews and bundles can replace the other apps on the store, all in one subscription.
5. How do these Back in Stock Alert & Preorder alternatives affect store speed?
Every app can load its own scripts, so the length of the app list matters as much as the apps on it. Vitals - All in One App loads its waitlist, wishlist and reviews from one script, while Back in Stock Alert & Preorder plus a wishlist app and a reviews app is three. We didn't speed-test these apps, so compare your own pages before and after a change.
6. Which Back in Stock Alert & Preorder alternatives have AI features or MCP support?
Not all of them. Vitals has Vitals MCP, which lets Claude or ChatGPT answer questions about your store's Vitals data. Preorder, Back In Stock ‑ STOQ has an MCP server and Quinn, an AI assistant in beta, and Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist has MCP and Sidekick connections on its Plus plan. Swym Back in Stock Alerts recommends in-stock products with AI. PreOrder Globo, Kbite, Yanet and CWILL list no AI features or MCP support.
7. Which Back in Stock Alert & Preorder alternatives confirm a sign-up by email?
Not all of them. Vitals can send a confirmation that suggests products to buy while the shopper waits. Preorder, Back In Stock ‑ STOQ sends a thank-you email or text, Swym Back in Stock Alerts sends a subscription confirmation, and Notify! Back in Stock+Wishlist can ask shoppers to confirm through double opt-in. We found no sign-up confirmation for PreOrder Globo, Kbite, Yanet or CWILL.
