Does Shopify have built-in low-stock alerts?
Sort of, but limited. Shopify's native low-stock email is passive - it's sent once a day rather than the moment stock drops, and it goes to a single address. The fuller version was tied to Stocky, which Shopify is shutting down. StockAlert gives you real-time, per-variant alerts to multiple recipients and channels instead.
How do I get notified when a product is low or out of stock on Shopify?
Install a dedicated alert app and set a threshold. With StockAlert you set the stock level you want to be warned at - per variant - and you get an email or Slack message the moment any variant drops to or below it. No dashboard to check; the alert comes to you.
Can I set a different low-stock threshold for each product or variant?
Yes. Per-variant thresholds are available from the Starter plan up (the free plan uses one global threshold). If you're on a higher plan and sell across multiple locations, you can also set a different threshold per location, and choose whether alerts arrive as one combined email or separately per location.
Can I get low-stock alerts in Slack, not just email?
Yes. You paste in a Slack webhook URL, send a test message to confirm it works, and low-stock and out-of-stock alerts arrive in your chosen channel formatted for quick scanning. Email and Slack can both be on at once.
Can I get stock alerts per location or for multiple warehouses?
Yes, on the Growth plan and up. StockAlert tracks stock per location, so you're alerted when a variant runs low at a specific location even if other locations still have stock - something Shopify's built-in tools and Flow handle poorly, since they tend to look at total inventory across all locations. Growth covers up to 3 locations and the top plan up to 20; the free and Starter plans monitor a single location.
Is there a free low-stock alert app for Shopify?
Yes. StockAlert's free plan covers up to 50 variants with a daily digest of everything running low, and no credit card is required. Paid plans start at $7.99/month and add instant alerts, Slack, more variants, and multi-location coverage.
Stocky is shutting down - what do I use for low-stock alerts now?
Stocky stops working on August 31, 2026, and was removed from the App Store in February 2026. If you relied on Stocky mainly for its low-stock email, you don't need a full forecasting suite to replace it - StockAlert covers the low-stock and out-of-stock alerting piece specifically. Note that StockAlert is an alerting tool, not a purchase-order or demand-forecasting replacement, so if you also used those parts of Stocky you'll want a separate inventory-planning tool for them.
Does StockAlert send alerts instantly or once a day?
It watches inventory in real time and sends an instant alert the moment a variant drops to or below its threshold, or hits zero. Instant email and Slack alerts are available on the Starter plan and up; the free plan gets a once-daily digest of everything that went low. A background check also runs every few hours so nothing slips through if a real-time update is ever missed.
Will StockAlert change anything in my store?
The only thing StockAlert can change is an inventory quantity, and only when you click Restock inside the app yourself. Everything else it does is read-only: it reads your products, stock levels, locations, and order history to work out what's low and how fast things sell, but it never edits your product details, prices, descriptions, or storefront.
How do I migrate my thresholds from Stocky or another app?
Export your low-stock report as a CSV, drop it into StockAlert's bulk-thresholds screen, confirm the column mapping, and save - alerts start firing on those SKUs immediately. One caveat that's true of every Stocky alternative, not just StockAlert: Stocky can't export suppliers or historical purchase orders at all, so that data won't carry over to anything. StockAlert imports your SKUs and thresholds, which is what it needs to start alerting.