Cheapest Shopify Out-of-Stock Sorting Apps Compared (2026)
“Which one is cheapest?” turns out to have no single answer, because these apps don’t price the same way. Some charge by collection count, some by product count, one charges a flat fee for everything, and one puts the feature you actually want behind an add-on. The sticker price on the App Store listing frequently isn’t what you’ll pay.
Here’s what each app costs, what the free tiers really include, and which one wins at each catalog size.
All prices verified on the Shopify App Store in July 2026. App pricing changes often, so check the listing before you commit.
What the free plans actually give you
Four of the five apps advertise a free plan. They are not equivalent.
| App | Free plan | Usable on a live store? |
|---|---|---|
| Pushy | Up to 5 collections, no time limit | ✅ Yes |
| Push Down Hide Out of Stock MB (merchbees) | 50 products / 100 collections | ✅ Yes |
| StockIQ (EGNITION) | 49 products / 99 collections | ⚠️ Yes, but not real-time |
| Outranked (kizzle) | Daily & 6-hour sorting | ⚠️ Yes, but not real-time |
| PushLast (Awesome Apps) | None — 14-day trial | ❌ No |
Two things worth flagging. StockIQ’s free tier works, but real-time sorting is a paid add-on on its lower plans, so the free version reorders on a delay. Outranked’s free tier is explicitly scheduled (daily and 6-hour sorting), so a product that sells out in the morning can sit at the top of your collection until the next run.
If “free” needs to mean “reorders as soon as something sells out, on my real store,” that narrows to Pushy and merchbees.
Paid pricing side by side
| App | Entry | Mid | Top | Priced by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pushy | $3.99 (25 coll) | $7.99 (100 coll) | $14.99 (5,000 coll) | Collections |
| merchbees | $4.99 (500 prod) | $8.99 (5,000 prod) | $13.99 (10,000 prod) | Products |
| StockIQ | $5.99 (499 prod) | $11.99 (4,999 prod) | $16.99 (9,999 prod) | Products |
| PushLast | $3.99 (1,000 prod) | $9.99 (10,000 prod) | $19.99 (100,000 prod) | Products |
| Outranked | $4.99 | — | $19.99 | Tiered |
Pushy is the only one of the five priced by collection count rather than product count. That matters more than it sounds. A store with 30,000 products organized into 20 collections pays $3.99 on Pushy and $19.99 on PushLast for the same job. A store with 200 sparse collections and 800 products flips the result: that store pays $14.99 on Pushy and $4.99 on merchbees.
Cheapest by store size
Assuming you want push-down that reacts in real time on a live store:
| Your store | Cheapest option | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5 collections | Pushy | Free |
| Under 50 products, any collections | merchbees | Free |
| Up to 25 collections | Pushy | $3.99/mo |
| Up to 100 collections | Pushy | $7.99/mo |
| Large product counts, few collections | Pushy | $3.99–$14.99/mo |
The pattern: Pushy is cheapest up to 100 collections once you’re past 50 products, which is where merchbees’ free plan stops. Below that, merchbees is free and Pushy isn’t. Past 100 collections, Pushy’s $14.99 Ultimate tier carries you to 5,000, and which app is cheapest depends on the shape of your catalog rather than a single number — a store with many sparse collections and few products can come out ahead on product-count pricing.
Count your collections, not your products. It’s the number that decides your bill, and it’s the number almost nobody checks before installing.
Watch for the add-on
StockIQ deserves a specific note. Its listed prices start at $5.99, which looks competitive against Pushy’s $7.99 mid tier. But real-time sorting is an add-on that’s a paid option on the Bronze and Silver tiers and only included from Gold ($11.99) upward. So if you want your collections reordering the moment stock hits zero, the meaningful comparison is $11.99 against $7.99, or $5.99 plus the add-on.
Always check what the base price actually includes. It’s the most common way these comparisons mislead.
Annual billing
Most of these apps discount annual plans by roughly 17–20%:
- Pushy: $39 / $79 / $149 per year, a 17–19% saving
- merchbees: $47.88 / $89.88 / $139.92 per year
- StockIQ: 20% off annual
If you’ve already decided on an app and you’re past the trial, annual is close to a free month and a half.
So which should you install?
If you’re on the smallest budget, running a live store, and you want real-time sorting, Pushy’s free Starter plan covers up to 5 collections. Under 50 products, merchbees’ free plan is more generous. Up to 100 collections, Pushy at $3.99–$7.99 is the cheapest, and that covers most stores.
Past 100 collections you’re on Pushy’s $14.99 Ultimate tier, which covers up to 5,000 collections. At that size the gap between any two of these apps is a few dollars a month, small enough that it shouldn’t be the deciding factor — weigh exclude-by-tag and restore-to-original-position against whatever else you need.
Two special cases. If you want hiding rather than push-down, that’s merchbees or StockIQ, since Pushy doesn’t hide by design. If you want back-in-stock alerts from the same app, StockIQ is the only one here that does them.
Price is the easiest thing to compare and rarely the thing that should decide it. If two apps are within a few dollars, pick on whether you want products hidden or pushed down. That choice affects your SEO far more than $4/month affects your P&L.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest Shopify app to push out-of-stock products down?
Pushy is the cheapest for stores up to 100 collections, which covers most Shopify stores: free for up to 5 collections on a live store with real-time sorting included, then $3.99/month up to 25 collections and $7.99/month up to 100. Because Pushy prices by collection count rather than product count, a large catalog organized into a few collections stays on the cheapest tiers. Above 100 collections, Pushy's $14.99 Ultimate tier covers up to 5,000 collections. Prices verified July 2026.
Is there a genuinely free Shopify app for this?
Yes. Pushy has a free Starter plan for up to 5 collections with no time limit and real-time sorting included, and Push Down Hide Out of Stock MB (merchbees) has a free tier for up to 50 products. StockIQ and Outranked have free tiers too, but neither is real-time without paying.
Why is Pushy priced by collections instead of products?
Because the work scales with collections, not products. The app maintains sort order per collection, so for stores with large catalogs organized into a modest number of collections, this is substantially cheaper than product-count pricing. For stores with many sparse collections, it can be more expensive.
Does the free plan have a time limit?
Pushy's Starter plan is free permanently, not a trial. Paid plans add a separate 7-day free trial on top.
Are these prices current?
They were verified on the Shopify App Store in July 2026. App pricing changes regularly, so check each listing before deciding.
Get started
If your store fits inside 5 collections, this costs you nothing: install Pushy free and see it working before you spend anything.