Best Shopify Out-of-Stock Apps: Pushy vs Alternatives (2026)
Managing out-of-stock products is one of those Shopify problems that every merchant hits eventually. Products go out of stock, they sit at the top of collection pages, and customers see items they can’t buy.
There are several ways to solve this, from free manual methods to dedicated apps. This guide compares each one honestly, trade-offs included, so you can pick what fits your store.
The approaches at a glance
| Approach | Cost | SEO Safe | Automatic | Difficulty | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual draft/hide | Free | No | No | Easy | Tiny stores (under 20 products) |
| Collection conditions | Free | No | Partial | Easy | Simple filtering needs |
| Liquid code | Free | Partial | Yes | Hard | Developers with custom themes |
| Pushy | Free–$14.99/mo | Yes | Yes | Easy | Most Shopify stores |
| Other sort apps | $5–$20/mo | Varies | Yes | Easy | Stores needing multi-criteria sorting |
Approach 1: Manually set products to draft
The simplest method: go into Shopify admin and switch out-of-stock products from “Active” to “Draft.” The product then disappears from your storefront and its URL returns a 404.
The catch is SEO. You lose whatever equity that product page built, any backlinks pointing to it hit a dead end, and you have to remember to re-publish once the product is back. It doesn’t scale past a handful of products, so it’s really only viable for tiny stores with rare stock changes. For a full walkthrough of this and the other methods, see our guide on how to hide out-of-stock products on Shopify.
Approach 2: Automated collection conditions
Shopify lets you build automated collections with conditions like “Inventory stock is greater than 0,” which excludes out-of-stock products on its own. Products vanish from the collection when they sell out and reappear when restocked.
It’s better than drafting, but it still hurts SEO. Pulling products off the page weakens your internal linking and thins the page content, both of which matter for ranking. Customers also can’t tell you normally carry the item. Our article on how out-of-stock products impact SEO goes into why that matters.
Approach 3: Custom Liquid code
Some merchants edit their theme’s Liquid templates to sort products by availability at render time. In-stock products render first and sold-out ones render last, but only in what the storefront shows.
That’s the problem: it’s display-only. The actual collection order in Shopify’s admin and API never changes. The fix breaks with theme updates, causes pagination issues, and needs a developer to maintain. It works if you have one on hand and a custom theme you don’t plan to touch, but it’s fragile. The full breakdown is in our Shopify collection sorting guide.
Approach 4: Pushy
Pushy was built for this one problem. It pushes out-of-stock products to the bottom of your collection pages and puts them back when they’re restocked.
Setup is three steps: install it from the Shopify App Store, pick which collections to manage, and toggle auto-push on. After that Pushy watches your inventory and re-sorts collections on its own.
A few things set it apart:
- It sorts at the API level, so it changes the real collection order in Shopify rather than just the display. The order stays consistent everywhere.
- It’s SEO-safe. Products stay in the collection, URLs stay live, and internal links are preserved.
- Restocking is automatic. Products go back to their original spot once they’re available again.
- No theme changes. It works with every Shopify theme.
- There’s a free plan for up to 5 collections, with paid plans starting at $3.99/month.
For most Shopify stores it’s the most complete option, since it handles the problem automatically without the SEO trade-offs.
Approach 5: Other Shopify sorting apps
Other apps on the Shopify App Store offer collection sorting. Some focus on multi-criteria sorting by tags, vendor, or type; others fold inventory-based sorting in as one feature among many.
The trade-offs with these multi-purpose apps are pretty consistent. More features means more to configure, and they tend to cost more, usually $10-20/month. Inventory sorting often isn’t the priority, since it’s one option among many, and not every app is careful about preserving product URLs and collection structure.
If you genuinely need to sort by several criteria at once, say vendor then price then stock status, one of these apps might be worth a look. But if all you want is to push out-of-stock products down, a focused tool like Pushy is simpler and cheaper.
How to choose
A few questions sort out most of it.
Start with catalog size. If you have under 20 products and stock rarely changes, managing it by hand is fine. Past that, or if inventory turns over often, you need automation.
Do you have a developer? If so, Liquid code is on the table, though it stays fragile. If not, use an app.
Then there’s what you’re actually after. To just push out-of-stock products down, Pushy is the focused tool. For complex sorting across several criteria, look at a multi-purpose app. To remove out-of-stock products from the page entirely, collection conditions do it, as long as you accept the SEO cost.
And if you care about SEO at all, don’t draft products or strip them out of collections. Use Pushy or a similar app that keeps products on the page. If you don’t, manual methods or collection conditions work fine.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free way to handle out-of-stock products on Shopify?
Shopify's automated collection conditions are free but remove products entirely, which costs you SEO. For free automation that's SEO-safe, Pushy's free plan manages up to 5 collections, pushing sold-out items down while keeping them on the page.
Should I hide or push down out-of-stock products?
Push them down for temporary stockouts. That keeps the product page, internal links, and "notify me" sign-ups while showing buyable items first. Only hide or remove products that are permanently discontinued. See our guide to hiding vs pushing down.
Do I need an app to push sold-out products to the bottom?
Effectively, yes. Shopify has no native in-stock-first sort, Liquid code is display-only and breaks across pagination, and manual re-sorting doesn't scale. A dedicated app changes the real collection order automatically.
How much do out-of-stock sorting apps cost?
Most are inexpensive, typically a free tier up to roughly $15–$20/month depending on catalog size and features. Pushy ranges from a free plan (5 collections) to $14.99/month.
Will an out-of-stock app slow down my store?
It depends how it works. Apps that sort at the Shopify API level (like Pushy) don't add theme or page-load overhead, because they change the stored collection order rather than reordering at render time. Liquid-based workarounds can slow pages down.
Get started
Ready to automate your out-of-stock product sorting? Install Pushy for free from the Shopify App Store. Setup takes less than 2 minutes.