How to get low-stock and out-of-stock alerts on Shopify

Running out of stock costs you twice: you lose the sale, and you disappoint a customer who came ready to buy. But carrying too much inventory just to stay safe ties up cash you could be using elsewhere. The middle path is knowing the moment a product is running low, so you can reorder with enough lead time and without overstocking.

The fix is automatic alerts. This guide covers the options on Shopify, what separates good alerting from the bare minimum, and how to set it up.

Does Shopify have built-in low-stock alerts?

Yes, but with real limits worth understanding before you rely on it.

Shopify's native low-stock email is passive. It is sent once a day rather than the moment stock actually drops, it goes to a single email address, and the richer version of inventory alerting was tied to Stocky - which is being discontinued on August 31, 2026.

So if all you need is a once-daily heads-up to one inbox, the native feature may be enough. But for real-time alerts, multiple recipients, and per-variant thresholds, most merchants reach for a dedicated app.

What good low-stock alerting looks like

Not all alerting is equal. When you are comparing options, these are the criteria that actually matter day to day:

Per-variant thresholds, not just per-product. A size or color can sell out while the product as a whole still looks healthy. Alerting at the variant level catches that.
Instant alerts, not just a daily digest. The sooner you know, the more lead time you have to reorder before you hit zero.
Multiple channels. Email is the baseline; Slack means the alert lands where your team already works.
Multi-location support. If you sell across more than one warehouse or store, you need to know which location is low, not just that something is.
Different thresholds for fast vs slow movers. A product that sells ten a day needs a higher reorder point than one that sells one a week.

Setting it up

Whatever tool you use, the setup comes down to three decisions:

Decide your threshold per product or variant. Faster sellers need higher thresholds so you have time to reorder before running out. Slower movers can sit at a lower number.
Choose who gets alerted and how. Decide which people or channels should receive the alert - a personal inbox, a shared mailbox, a Slack channel - so it reaches whoever actually places the reorder.
Decide instant vs digest. A real-time alert the moment stock crosses the threshold gives you the most lead time; a daily digest is a lighter-touch summary if real time is more than you need.

Frame these around how you actually operate, and the tooling choice gets a lot clearer.

Doing this with StockAlert

StockAlert is built for exactly this job. It supports per-variant thresholds, sends alerts by email and Slack, and offers instant alerts on its paid plans with a daily digest on the free tier. Multi-location support is available on the higher plans, and the free tier covers up to 50 variants, so you can set it up and see whether it fits before paying anything.

Common questions

Does Shopify notify you when stock is low?

Shopify has a native low-stock email, but it is passive - sent once a day to a single address rather than the moment stock drops. For real-time, multi-recipient alerts, most merchants use a dedicated app.

Can I get alerts per location?

Yes, if your tool supports it. Multi-location alerting tells you which warehouse or store is running low, not just that a product is low somewhere. With StockAlert, multi-location support is available on the higher plans.

Is there a free option?

Yes. StockAlert has a free tier that covers up to 50 variants with a daily digest, which is enough for many smaller catalogs to get started without any cost.