Home › Guides › Do you need an app?
Do you actually need a low stock alert app?
We sell one of these apps, so the most useful thing we can give you is a clear account of when you do not need one at all. Plenty of stores get sold an app to fix something Shopify already handles for free.
By Fazeel Tanveer, Founder · Last reviewed 25 August 2026
Start here
You probably do not need an app if you have under about a hundred SKUs, one location, one person watching stock plus short lead times. Shopify's own inventory filter covers that for nothing. An app starts earning its price when SKUs run into the hundreds, when stock sits in more than one place, or when more than one person needs to know.
On this page
When you do not need an app at all
If all five of these are true, stay where you are:
- Fewer than about 30 SKUs you really care about.
- Stock in one place only.
- One person who does the ordering.
- Fast restocks, days rather than weeks.
- You really do check stock every week. Actually do it, not mean to.
In that case the admin inventory view sorted by quantity, with a standing weekly slot in the calendar and one person's name on it, really is enough. Spend the money somewhere else.
When free Shopify Flow is enough
Flow is the middle option and it is free on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans. It covers you when:
- One number across the whole catalog is close enough.
- You have one location, or only one that really matters.
- One or two people need the email.
- You are happy building a workflow and looking after it.
Build this before you buy anything. Even if you outgrow it, you will know exactly which limit you ran into and that makes choosing an app far easier. Setup steps are in the Shopify Flow guide.
When a low stock alert app is worth paying for
Any single one of these is reason enough:
| Situation | Why native falls short |
|---|---|
| Your products need very different numbers | Flow keeps the number inside the workflow, so every new number means another workflow to look after |
| You hold stock in several places | Building per location checks in Flow gets complicated fast and worse with every site you add |
| Several people need the alert | Flow can do it, but every change to who gets what means editing workflows |
| You want a daily summary | Flow reacts to single events, so one morning list of everything running low is not what it is built for |
| You have already had a stockout you could have caught | The clearest sign there is. The app almost always costs less than that one stockout did |
When you need a full inventory system instead
If you also raise purchase orders, keep supplier records, run demand forecasts, count stock with a scanner or sync stock across several sales channels, you need a full inventory system rather than an alerts app.
Do not buy both and hope they fit together. The full systems include alerts, so if you genuinely need one of those, its alerts are probably good enough.
The one sum that answers this for you
Take your best selling product. Work out your margin on one unit and how many you sell a day. Multiply the two. That is roughly what a single day out of stock costs you in margin alone, before wasted ad spend and lost customers.
Now compare that to what an app costs per month. For most stores selling any real volume, stopping one day of stockout pays for several months. That is the whole calculation. It also tells you honestly when the answer is that you do not need one yet.
If you landed on yes
Stockwell gives every SKU its own threshold, checks every location on its own and emails your whole team. Start free with 50 SKUs and no card, then move up only if you outgrow it.
Get it on the Shopify App Store
Free plan covers 50 SKUs with a daily summary. Paid plans add instant
alerts and more recipients. No card needed to start.
Common questions
Do I need an app for low stock alerts on Shopify?
Not necessarily. With a small catalog, one location, one person ordering and a weekly check you actually do, the built in inventory view is enough. Shopify Flow covers the next step up free on paid plans. An app earns its cost once your products need different numbers, your stock sits in several places or several people need to know.
Is it worth paying for low stock alerts?
Compare the monthly price against the margin your best seller makes in one day. For most stores selling any real volume, stopping a single day of stockout pays for several months of the app.
Should I get an alerts app or a full inventory system?
If you raise purchase orders, keep supplier records or run forecasts, get the full system. Its alerts are probably good enough too. If all you need is to know when stock is running down, an alerts app does that job for a fraction of the price.