The 10 Best Presale Apps for Shopify

The top 10 apps merchants see when they search the Shopify App Store for presale, in the exact order the store ranks them. Only Shopify's organic ranking is shown, never sponsored ads.

Updated September 8, 2026 · Organic ranking

Maintained by Rankbase, built by a Shopify app developer

Shopify's own answer to selling something you do not have is a single switch on the variant, and it is worth seeing plainly: customers can buy it after it is out of stock, or they cannot. Turn it on and nothing else changes. The button still says add to cart, the customer is charged in full at checkout, no ship date is promised, and the order joins the same queue as everything you can post today.

Everything merchants actually mean by a preorder lives above that line. Taking a deposit and the rest later, showing a date, capping how many you will accept, letting a preordered item share a cart with something in stock: none of these is a setting. They are built as selling plans, and Shopify says so directly, that there is no single API for a preorder and that one is assembled from pricing, delivery, inventory and billing policies. That is why every listing here leads with partial payments, and it is also why the category is worth reading carefully rather than by price.

One more thing the search results will not tell you: half of them are two products in one box. A preorder takes money now for a later delivery. A back-in-stock alert takes an email address and sells nothing. Both are useful, they are not substitutes, and a listing that does one well may do the other as an afterthought.

1

Preorder Now Presale Timesact

★ 4.9 (2,060 reviews) · Free plan available

Use pre order now with back in stock waitlist & restock alerts
Built for Shopify
2

Essent Preorder Back in Stock

★ 5.0 (1,255 reviews) · Free plan available

Pre-order manager & presale with back in stock alert waitlist
Built for Shopify
3

Preorder, Back In Stock REZ

★ 5.0 (1,517 reviews) · Free plan available

Do Pre order, notify me, back in stock alert backorder presale
Built for Shopify
4

Preorder, Back In Stock ‑ STOQ

★ 5.0 (3,666 reviews) · Free plan available

Grow sales with preorders, 'notify me' & back in stock alerts
Built for Shopify
5

Preorder, Back in stock Duck

★ 5.0 (512 reviews) · Free plan available

Create presales, backorders & 'notify me' restock waitlists
Built for Shopify
6

Vicify Preorder, Back in Stock

★ 5.0 (47 reviews) · Free

Presale with essential pre-order manager, notify me button
Built for Shopify
7

Bat Preorders | Preorder Now

★ 4.9 (268 reviews) · Free

Create pre-orders with deposits & send back-in-stock alerts.
Built for Shopify
8

Notify Me! Back in Stock Alert

★ 4.9 (3,739 reviews) · Free plan available

Waitlist, preorder, wishlist and low stock - all in one app.
Built for Shopify
9

Rapid Preorder | Presale

★ 5.0 (5 reviews) · Free

Sell preorders & back-in-stock alerts without overselling
10

PreOrder Globo | Back in Stock

★ 4.9 (1,918 reviews) · Free plan available

Drive sales with Pre-order and Restock Alert
Built for Shopify

Compare the top 3 head-to-head

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What to look for in a Presale app

When the money is taken: Full amount now is the simplest thing to run and the hardest thing to ask for on a long wait. If you want a deposit, look for the balance to be collected without chasing anybody: Shopify can store the payment method so the remainder is charged later, and the useful question is what triggers it. A fixed date, a set period after checkout and the moment you fulfill are all different promises to the buyer.
What the stock number does: A preorder line can commit inventory when the order is placed or when it ships, and the choice quietly decides whether your available quantity is a real number for the rest of the week. Get this wrong and you either oversell the stock that arrives or hide stock you actually have.
The date you show, and what happens when it moves: Every listing can display an expected date. Fewer handle it changing, which is the normal case: who gets told, whether the order confirmation and the order status page are updated, and whether a customer can cancel out cleanly when the wait doubles.
Mixed carts: Somebody will add a preorder and a t-shirt in the same visit. Decide what should happen, ship both together or split the order, and then check the app actually does that rather than blocking the combination or shipping the shirt silently.
Preorder or waitlist: If the stock is coming and you know when, taking the order now is worth real money. If you are not sure it is coming back at all, an alert costs nothing and promises nothing. Deciding this before you install saves buying an app whose good half is the half you do not need.
Limits: Order caps per variant are what stop a good day from becoming a refund queue, and they are also the only honest way to sell a limited drop. Check that the cap is per variant rather than per product, and what a shopper sees when it is reached.

Frequently asked questions

Which is the best Presale app for Shopify?

Based on the Shopify App Store's own organic ranking for "presale", Preorder Now Presale Timesact currently holds the #1 spot, with a 4.9 star rating across 2,060 reviews. The best choice for your store still depends on your requirements, so compare the top results above.

How is this ranking determined?

We record the organic results merchants actually see when searching the Shopify App Store for "presale", refreshed daily. Shopify's own sponsored ("Ad") results are excluded, so positions reflect its real search ranking rather than paid promotion. Source: the Shopify App Store search results for "presale", you can verify the current ranking there yourself.

Which Presale apps are Built for Shopify?

9 of the top 10 presale apps hold the Built for Shopify badge: Preorder Now Presale Timesact, Essent Preorder Back in Stock, Preorder, Back In Stock REZ, Preorder, Back In Stock ‑ STOQ, Preorder, Back in stock Duck and more.

What does the Built for Shopify badge mean?

Built for Shopify
Built for Shopify is the highest level of recognition Shopify awards an app. To earn the badge, an app must meet Shopify's standards for safety, performance, ease of use, and proven usefulness: it cannot slow down the admin, storefront, or checkout, must integrate seamlessly into the Shopify admin, and must demonstrate quality through installs, reviews, and ratings over time. When comparing similar apps, preferring ones with the badge is a safe default. Learn more about the Built for Shopify badge →

As of September 8, 2026, the top-ranked presale app on the Shopify App Store is Preorder Now Presale Timesact, with a 4.9 star rating across 2,060 reviews. 9 of the top 10 carry the Built for Shopify badge, and the average rating is 5.0 stars across 14,987 reviews.

Related keyword rankings

All Presale rankings → · Browse all keywords →

Rank higher on the Shopify App Store

Rankbase helps Shopify app developers track keyword positions, analyze install click data, and optimize app listings to rank higher in the Shopify App Store.

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Built by Craftshift

Rankbase is made by Craftshift, a Shopify Partner building apps for product images, variants, and bulk catalog work. We built Rankbase to track the App Store rankings of our own apps first, then opened it to other developers, and this directory grew out of that work. The rankings on these pages are Shopify's own organic search results; we never edit them, including for our own apps.

Craftshift apps on the Shopify App Store