Looking for a Notify Me alternative? Notify Me! Back in Stock Alert bundles restock alerts, preorder, and a wishlist into one app, with a 4.9 rating across 3,583 reviews. Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini does one job, back-in-stock email waitlists, and does it on a free plan for stores with a single product. If preorder and wishlist tooling aren’t things you’ll actually use, it’s the lighter, purpose-built option at $8.99/month for unlimited restock emails and CSV import/export.
In this post:
- Why merchants look for a Notify Me alternative
- Comparison table: Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini vs. Notify Me!
- Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini: a focused waitlist app
- Notify Me!: the pick if you need preorder and wishlist too
- Pricing side by side
- How to choose
- FAQ
Disclosure: I’m the founder of Minimate Apps, and Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini is one of the two apps in this comparison. Both apps carry the Built for Shopify badge. Every rating, review count, and price below comes from each app’s public Shopify App Store listing, pulled the week this post was written, so verify them directly before you decide.
Why Merchants Look for a Notify Me Alternative
Notify Me! covers a lot of ground: restock alerts by email, SMS, and push, a preorder button with partial payments, a wishlist, and low-stock messaging, all in one app with 3,583 reviews behind it. That range is exactly why some merchants search for an alternative: they wanted restock notifications specifically, and found themselves comparing plans priced around wishlist actions and preorder volume they’ll never use.
Say you run a small apparel store and only need to email customers when a sold-out size comes back. You don’t run a wishlist program, you don’t take partial-payment preorders, and you don’t need SMS credits. A narrower app built specifically for that one job is a reasonable thing to want instead.
Comparison Table: Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini vs. Notify Me!
| App | Rating | Reviews | Pricing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini (us) | 4.7 | 36 | Free (1 product, 250 restock emails/mo), Premium $8.99/mo | A focused back-in-stock waitlist: your choice of sending address or custom domain, three optional notification types, CSV import/export, no preorder setup to configure |
| Notify Me! Back in Stock Alert | 4.9 | 3,583 | Free Lite plan (10 restock notifications, 5 preorders, 50 wishlist actions/mo), paid tiers from $9.90/mo | Stores that also want preorder deposits, SMS/push alerts, and a wishlist alongside restock |
Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini: A Focused Waitlist App
Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini does one job: collect emails on sold-out product pages and send restock notifications automatically. You choose how those emails go out, the standard minimateapps.com sending address, or your own fully verified custom domain, and you can turn on three notification types independently: a restock alert to the customer, a waitlist confirmation to the customer, and a new-signup alert to you as the merchant. It includes a block-based email editor, CSV import and export so you keep full control of your waitlist data, and it’s genuinely quick to set up, built with beginners in mind rather than requiring a developer. There’s no preorder setup to configure and no wishlist to maintain, because we don’t build that.
One thing worth a side note: we don’t lead with Shopify Flow as a feature anymore, because the app now handles restock, confirmation, and merchant-alert emails natively without needing a Flow workflow behind them. That said, Flow is still available case by case if you want it, the app creates and tags customers directly in Shopify Admin and is fully integrated with Shopify, so anyone already building Flow automations around customer tags can still hook into it.
“This app is an absolute game-changer for my online store! It’s incredibly user-friendly and seamlessly integrates with my website. The notifications feature works like a charm, ensuring my customers are instantly alerted when their desired products are back in stock.”
Source: LEFEET, Hong Kong SAR (Shopify App Store review)
Notify Me!: The Pick If You Need Preorder and Wishlist Too
Notify Me! is rated 4.9 across 3,583 reviews, a far larger review base than ours, and it covers considerably more ground: preorder with partial and split payments, a guest-accessible wishlist, SMS and push notifications, and low-stock messaging, in addition to restock alerts. We don’t build preorder, SMS, or wishlist tooling, so this comparison states that plainly instead of stretching our positioning to cover a use case we don’t support.
Why does one app cover so much more ground than a typical restock app? Because “restock,” “preorder,” and “wishlist” solve adjacent but different problems, missed a sale, not-yet-available, and save-for-later, and Notify Me! decided to build all three into one app rather than staying narrow. That’s a legitimate product decision. It also means you’re paying for preorder and wishlist infrastructure even in months you only use the restock-alert half.
Pricing Side by Side
Notify Me!’s free Lite plan caps at 10 restock notifications, 5 preorders, and 50 wishlist actions a month, tight limits for a store doing any real volume. Its paid Kickstart tier starts at $9.90/month for 500 preorders and 500 alerts, climbing to $39.90/month on the Standard tier for 1,500 of each plus collection-page widgets and priority support.
Our free plan caps at 1 product and 250 restock emails per month, a narrower scope by design since we only handle restock alerts, not preorder or wishlist volume. Premium removes the email cap entirely for $8.99/month, adds a custom email domain and CSV import/export, and stays a flat price regardless of preorder or wishlist activity because we don’t meter either. If you’re weighing a Notify Me alternative purely on price, this is the section to compare closely.
How to Choose
- Only need back-in-stock email alerts with full control over your list: Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini.
- Need preorder with partial payments, SMS/push alerts, or a wishlist alongside restock alerts: Notify Me!.
- Low volume and want to stay free: check Notify Me!’s 10-notification Lite cap against your actual restock frequency before assuming “free” fits your store.
One limit worth stating plainly: we don’t offer preorder, SMS alerts, or a wishlist, and we’re not planning to bolt any of them on as an afterthought. If those are core to your sales strategy, Notify Me! is built for that and we aren’t. Shopify’s own help docs on out-of-stock and back-in-stock notifications are a useful baseline before adding either app.
See our full Shopify back in stock apps comparison for a wider set of options, our Appikon alternative comparison and Rez alternative comparison for other named branded switches, or our guide to creating a waitlist on Shopify for the setup steps.
Frequently Asked Questions
- 1. Is there a free Notify Me alternative?
- Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini has a free plan (1 product, 250 restock emails/month). Notify Me! also has a free Lite plan, but it’s capped at 10 restock notifications, 5 preorders, and 50 wishlist actions a month.
- 2. Does Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini support preorder like Notify Me! does?
- No. We only handle back-in-stock restock alerts. Notify Me! supports preorder with partial and split payments, SMS and push notifications, and a wishlist in addition to restock alerts.
- 3. What’s included in Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini’s free plan?
- One product and up to 250 restock emails per month, with the choice of restock, waitlist-confirmation, and merchant-alert emails built in. The Premium plan ($8.99/month) removes the email cap and adds a custom email domain plus CSV import/export.
- 4. Can I import my existing waitlist or export it later?
- Yes. Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini supports CSV import and export, so you keep full ownership of your waitlist data whether you’re migrating in or pulling a list out.
- 5. Which is better for a waitlist-only store, Notify Me! or Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini?
- If preorder, SMS alerts, or a wishlist aren’t part of your plans, Restock Alert & Waitlist ‐ Mini is the narrower, purpose-built pick. If you might need preorder or wishlist features later, Notify Me! covers all three from one app.
