Every out-of-stock product page is a dead end. A customer arrives ready to buy, sees "Sold Out," and leaves for a competitor. You don't just lose that sale — you lose the signal that demand exists. The best Shopify pre-order apps turn that dead end into a revenue channel by letting customers commit before inventory arrives.
If you're launching new products, managing restocks, or selling items with long lead times, a pre-order app pays for itself fast. The challenge is picking the right one — there are dozens in the Shopify App Store, and they vary wildly in payment flexibility, automation, and pricing. This roundup covers the seven best pre-order apps for 2026, with honest takes on what each one does well and where it falls short.
What Makes a Good Shopify Pre-Order App?
Before comparing apps, know what actually matters for pre-orders:
- Payment flexibility — Can you charge now, later, or take a deposit? Different products need different approaches. A $30 t-shirt launch works fine with pay-now. A $500 custom item needs deposits.
- Automatic triggers — Does the app switch products to pre-order when inventory hits zero? Manual management breaks at scale.
- Back-in-stock alerts — Most pre-order apps now bundle restock notifications. If yours doesn't, you'll need a second app.
- Order tagging — Pre-orders need to be tagged and separated from regular orders in your fulfillment flow. Without tagging, your warehouse ships products you don't have yet.
- Theme compatibility — The pre-order button needs to replace your Add to Cart button cleanly. Test this before committing to any app.
STOQ — Best Overall Pre-Order App
STOQ holds a 5.0-star rating across 2,942 reviews, which is rare for any Shopify app at that review volume. It's one of Shopify's Top 25 Built for Shopify apps, and the install-to-first-preorder setup takes minutes.
The free plan includes 10 pre-orders and 30 notification emails per month — enough to test whether pre-orders work for your store before paying anything. Paid plans run $10 to $69/month with no transaction fees, scaling based on usage volume.
Where STOQ stands out is flexibility. You can run pay-now pre-orders, partial payments with deposits, or notify-me waitlists — all from the same app. It integrates natively with Shopify POS, Flow, Klaviyo, Omnisend, and Mailchimp, so pre-order data flows into your existing marketing stack without manual exports.
The analytics dashboard shows how many customers signed up for each product and conversion rates after restock, which helps you forecast demand instead of guessing.
Best for: Stores that want one app handling pre-orders, back-in-stock alerts, and waitlists together.
PreProduct — Best for Flexible Payment Flows
PreProduct takes a different approach than most pre-order apps. Instead of charging customers immediately, it specializes in "pay later" pre-orders where customers commit with their card on file but aren't charged until you're ready to ship.
The app holds a 4.9-star rating with 99 reviews and is free to install. It supports three payment models: pay-now, pay-later with a vaulted card, and deposit-based with the balance collected before shipping. For Shopify Plus stores, it also offers multi-step payment plans.
One feature merchants consistently praise is cart separation — PreProduct prevents customers from mixing pre-order and in-stock items in the same cart, which eliminates the fulfillment nightmare of orders that are half-ready to ship.
Best for: Product launches and crowdfunding-style pre-sales where you don't want to charge customers until the product is confirmed.
Timesact — Best for Automated Pre-Order Management
Timesact focuses on automation. It automatically tracks all out-of-stock variant SKUs and switches them to pre-order mode without any manual intervention. When inventory comes back, it switches them back.
This matters if you sell products with frequent stock fluctuations. Instead of manually toggling pre-order status across dozens of SKUs, Timesact handles the entire lifecycle. It also supports scheduled pre-order windows with start and end dates, automatic discounts for pre-order customers, and customizable badges.
The pricing is aggressive — free tier for limited use, with paid plans starting around $1/month and scaling to fixed plans from $19/month. For stores testing pre-orders for the first time, the cost barrier is almost zero.
Best for: Stores with large catalogs and frequent stockouts that need hands-off pre-order management.
PreOrder Globo — Best Free Option
Globo's pre-order app offers a genuinely usable free plan, which is unusual in this category. You can set up pre-orders based on inventory levels or schedule them with specific start and end dates, tag orders automatically, and send confirmation emails — all without paying.
Paid plans start at $9.90/month and add features like partial payments, automatic discounts on pre-orders, and delivery date estimates. The app carries Shopify's Built for Shopify badge, which means it meets their highest standards for performance and integration.
The "Notify Me" button for out-of-stock products works as a built-in back-in-stock alert system, so you don't need a separate app for restock notifications.
Best for: New stores or budget-conscious merchants who want to test pre-orders without a monthly cost.
Early Bird — Best for Campaign-Based Pre-Orders
Early Bird is built around the concept of pre-order campaigns rather than always-on pre-order buttons. You create a campaign with specific dates, deposit amounts, and messaging — then launch it. This works well for product drops, limited editions, and seasonal launches.
The app has a 4.9-star rating across 66 reviews and carries the Built for Shopify badge. It supports $0 deposits (commit now, pay later), partial payments, and automatic deferred payment collection. One useful feature: it lets you email customers about shipment delays or early arrivals, which reduces support tickets during the pre-order waiting period.
Best for: Brands running limited drops, seasonal launches, or crowdfunding-style campaigns with defined start and end dates.
Amai PreOrder Manager — Best for Complex Catalogs
Amai is one of the most established pre-order apps on Shopify, installed on over 5,400 stores. It holds a 4.4-star rating across 1,063 reviews — the lower rating compared to newer competitors reflects its age and legacy pricing more than its functionality.
Pricing ranges from $24.95 to $89.95/month depending on your Shopify plan, which makes it the most expensive option on this list. That price buys you deep customization: scheduled pre-orders, estimated shipping dates, pre-order badges, partial payments, and advanced campaign rules that let you set different pre-order terms for different product collections.
The app supports complex catalog setups — subscription boxes, limited edition releases, and products with multiple variants that go in and out of stock independently.
Best for: Established stores with large, complex product catalogs that need granular control over pre-order rules per collection or product type.
Notify! Back in Stock — Best for Demand Capture
Notify! blends pre-orders with demand capture tools. Beyond the standard pre-order button, it adds "Notify Me" and "Wishlist" buttons to out-of-stock products on your product pages, home page, and collection pages. Restock alerts go out automatically via email, SMS, and push notifications.
This multi-channel notification approach captures demand even from customers who aren't ready to pre-order. Someone who clicks "Notify Me" might not commit to a pre-order today, but they'll come back when they get the restock SMS. It supports D2C and B2B pre-orders with discounts, order notes, and partial payments.
Best for: Stores that want to capture demand data from out-of-stock traffic, not just convert it into immediate pre-orders.
Which Shopify Pre-Order App Should You Choose?
The best Shopify pre-order app for your store depends on three things: your payment needs, your catalog size, and your budget. STOQ is the strongest all-around option with its 5.0-star rating and free plan. PreProduct is the best choice for pay-later launches. Timesact wins on automation for large catalogs.
If you're just starting with pre-orders, PreOrder Globo or STOQ's free plan lets you test the model without spending anything. If you need pay-later flexibility for product launches, PreProduct is purpose-built for that. If your catalog has hundreds of SKUs going in and out of stock, Timesact or Amai handle the automation at scale.
For COD merchants, pre-orders create a specific advantage: collecting a deposit at the time of pre-order reduces the chance of a cancelled or refused delivery later. Apps like STOQ and Globo support partial payments natively. If you're already using EasySell for your order form, its built-in partial payment feature handles deposit collection for COD pre-orders without needing a separate app.
Install one app, run a single pre-order campaign on your best-selling product, and measure the results. Most of these apps offer free plans or trials — the only cost of testing is the 10 minutes it takes to set up.