As Shopify merchants continue to face inventory shortages, product launch challenges, and changing customer demand, preorder and back-in-stock functionality have become essential for maintaining sales and improving the shopping experience. From accepting orders for upcoming products to notifying customers when items are available again, choosing the right Shopify preorder app can help merchants increase conversions and reduce lost sales.
Preorder Guru and Essent Preorder & Back in Stock offer different approaches to managing preorders and inventory demand. Preorder Guru provides a complete preorder management solution with advanced features like partial payments, preorder scheduling, back-in-stock alerts, variant-based controls, and customizable preorder workflows. It is designed for growing Shopify stores that need flexibility, automation, and scalability.
In this article, we’ll compare both Shopify apps based on features, pricing, customization options, limitations, and overall store management capabilities to help you choose the best preorder app for Shopify.
Preorder Guru – Smart Shopify Preorder & Inventory Management App
Preorder Guru – Back in Stock is a feature-rich Shopify preorder app built to help merchants continue generating sales even when products are sold out or yet to be released. Rather than missing potential revenue because of unavailable stock, the app enables stores to easily run preorders, backorders, and “coming soon” campaigns, helping maintain a steady flow of orders and customer interest. It offers merchants better control over product availability and sales timing, making inventory management and demand planning more efficient while enhancing the overall customer shopping experience.
With features such as full and partial payment options, customizable preorder buttons, countdown timers, and automatic back-in-stock notifications, Preorder Guru helps create urgency and improve conversion rates. Merchants can also control preorder limits, schedule campaigns in advance, and customize the storefront experience to align with their brand identity. Overall, it delivers a scalable and flexible preorder solution for both growing businesses and high-volume Shopify stores aiming to maximize sales and customer engagement.
Key Features of Preorder Guru
- Unlimited preorders available with zero transaction fees
- Back-in-stock notifications with support for up to 5000 email alerts
- Support for both full payment and partial payment preorders
- Create and schedule preorder campaigns in advance
- Add customizable preorder buttons on product, collection, and homepage sections
- Countdown timers and product badges to create urgency for customers
- Automatic preorder confirmation emails and mixed cart warning notifications
- Set inventory limits and manage preorder fulfillment triggers easily
- Offer fixed amount or percentage-based discounts on preorder products
- Advanced store customization using custom CSS and JavaScript
- Unlimited “coming soon” product setup for upcoming launches
- Multi-language compatibility, including unlimited translations on higher plans
- Send emails using your own business domain through SMTP integration
- Add shipping notes and access detailed preorder reports
- Completely free for Shopify development and partner stores
Preorder Guru – Back in Stock Pricing
Free Plan
Basic: $5.99/month
Premium: $12.99/month
To Better know please check our Pricing Page
Reviews & Rating
⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars
Essent Preorder Back in Stock – Preorder Shopify App
Essent Preorder & Back in Stock is a Shopify app designed to help merchants recover lost sales by enabling preorders and back-in-stock notifications for out-of-stock products. The app allows store owners to continue accepting orders even when inventory is unavailable, helping improve conversions and customer engagement. With easy setup and flexible preorder management, merchants can create a smoother shopping experience while keeping customers informed about product availability.
The app also includes customizable preorder buttons, automated restock alerts, preorder confirmation emails, and translation support to help stores manage global customers more effectively. From small businesses to growing Shopify stores, Essent Preorder & Back in Stock provides a simple and scalable solution for managing preorders and inventory demand.
Key Features of Essent Preorder
- Customizable preorder buttons, signup forms, and email templates
- Automated preorder and back-in-stock notifications
- Unlimited “Notify Me” customer signups
- Variant-specific preorder and restock alert setup
- Support for full and partial payment preorders
- Multi-language and translation support
- Automatic preorder confirmation emails
- Custom email domain integration
- Advanced preorder and back-in-stock management features
- Unlimited preorder support on higher plans
- Unlimited back-in-stock email notifications
- Access to all premium app features
- 24/7 priority customer support
- No additional transaction fees
Essent Preorder Back in Stock Pricing
- Free Plan
- Lite: $5/month
- Essentials: $25/month
- Professional: $59/month
Reviews & Rating
⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars
Preorder Guru vs Essent Preorder : Features, Pricing & Shopify Preorder Comparison
When it comes to managing preorders, back-in-stock alerts, and customer demand on Shopify, both Essent Preorder & Back in Stock and Preorder Guru provide useful solutions for online stores. Each app offers different features for handling preorder sales, restock notifications, customer engagement, and inventory management, helping merchants reduce missed sales opportunities and improve conversions.
In this comparison, we’ll evaluate both apps based on pricing, features, preorder functionality, customization options, ease of use, automation tools, and overall value for Shopify merchants. This comparison will help you decide which Shopify preorder app is the right fit for your business needs and growth strategy.
Preorder Guru Vs Essent Preorder – Free Plan
Preorder Guru ‑ Back in Stock – Free Plan
- Fully customizable preorder settings
- Back-in-stock alert functionality
- Support for unlimited products
- 10 preorders allowed per month
- Customizable preorder buttons
- Detailed reports and analytics tracking
- 200 email notifications per month
- Full payment support for preorder orders
- Shipping notes support
- 1 active preorder campaign
- Preorder delivery fulfillment trigger
- Free access for Shopify development stores
Essent Preorder – Free Plan
- 10 free preorders per month
- 300 free back-in-stock notifications per month
- 24/7 customer support
- Customizable preorder buttons, signup forms, and email templates
- Automated preorder and back-in-stock alerts
- Unlimited “Notify Me” customer signups
- Variant-specific preorder and back-in-stock functionality
- Support for full and partial payment options
Preorder Guru Vs Essent Preorder Back in Stock – Summary
Both Preorder Guru and Essent Preorder Back in Stock offer similar core features in their free plans, including 10 free preorders per month, 24/7 support, customizable buttons and signup forms, automated preorder and back-in-stock alerts, unlimited Notify Me signups, and variant-specific preorder functionality.
However, Essent Preorder Back in Stock provides 300 free back-in-stock notifications per month and support for full & partial payments in its free plan.
On the other hand, Preorder Guru offers additional advantages such as unlimited product support and free access for Shopify development stores, making it a more flexible solution for growing Shopify merchants and partner stores.
Preorder Guru ($5.99/month) Vs Essent Preorder($5/month) – Basic Plan
Preorder Guru ‑ Basic Plan
- 150 preorders allowed per month
- Support for 1500 email alerts
- Scheduled preorder campaign functionality
- Partial payment support for preorder orders
- Countdown timer for preorder urgency
- Unlimited “Coming Soon” products
- Preorder buttons on collection and homepage sections
- Product badges support
- Automatic preorder confirmation emails
- Mixed cart warning notifications
- Inventory limits management
- Fixed and percentage discount support
- Custom CSS and JavaScript support
- Multi-language support for up to 2 languages
Essent Preorder – Basic Plan
- $3.5 for the first month
- 50 preorders per month
- 500 back-in-stock notifications per month
- 24/7 premium customer support
- Translation and multi-language support
- Preorder confirmation email functionality
- Custom email domain support
- Advanced preorder and back-in-stock management features
Preorder Guru vs Essent Preorder – Basic Plan Summary
Essent Preorder’s Basic Plan starts at $5/month (with the first month available for $3.5) and includes features like 50 preorders/month, 500 back-in-stock notifications, 24/7 premium support, translations, preorder confirmation emails, and advanced preorder functionality.
However, Preorder Guru offers significantly more value in its $8.99/month plan by including additional advanced features such as 1500 email alerts, scheduled preorders, fixed and percentage discounts, custom CSS/JS support, countdown timers, and unlimited coming soon products. While Essent provides custom email domain support in its lower plan, Preorder Guru includes a wider range of advanced preorder management and customization tools, making it a more scalable solution for growing Shopify stores.
Preorder Guru ‑ Back in Stock Premium Plan ($12.99/Month) Vs Essent Preorder Back in Stock – Essential Plan ($25/month)
Preorder Guru – Premium Plan
- Unlimited Preorders
- No Transaction Fees
- 5000 Email Alerts
- Unlimited Multi-Language Support
- Custom SMTP – Send Emails from Your Own Domain
Essent Preorder Back in Stock – Essential Plan
- $17.5 for the first month
- 500 preorders per month
- 3000 back-in-stock notifications per month
- 24/7 premium customer support
- Translation and multi-language support
- Preorder confirmation email functionality
- Custom email domain support
- Advanced preorder and back-in-stock management features
Preorder Guru Premium Plan vs Essent Preorder back in stock Pro Plan – Summary
Essent Preorder Back in Stock’s Essential Plan is priced at $25/month (with the first month at $17.5) and includes features like 500 preorders/month, 3000 back-in-stock notifications, 24/7 premium support, translations, preorder confirmation emails, custom email domains, and advanced preorder functionality.
However, the biggest difference between both apps is the pricing, scalability, and feature value. Preorder Guru offers very similar core features in its $12.99/month plan, which is almost half the cost of Essent’s plan. In addition, Preorder Guru provides several extra features such as unlimited preorders, scheduled preorders, countdown timers, fixed & percentage discounts, custom CSS/JS support, and unlimited coming soon products, making it a more complete preorder management solution for Shopify merchants.
Preorder Guru is especially a better choice for growing Shopify stores that need more customization, marketing tools, and preorder flexibility without paying higher monthly costs. For merchants looking for a balance between advanced functionality and affordable pricing, Preorder Guru delivers stronger overall value.
Essent Preorder Back in Stock – Professional Plan ($59/month)
- $27.5 for the first month
- Unlimited preorders
- Unlimited back-in-stock notifications
- Access to all premium features
- 24/7 priority customer support
- No additional transaction fees
- Custom email domain support
- Advanced preorder and back-in-stock management features
Essent Preorder Back in Stock – Professional Plan – Summary
Essent Preorder Back in Stock’s Professional Plan includes powerful features such as unlimited preorders, unlimited back-in-stock notifications, priority support, custom email domains, and advanced preorder functionality. The app offers a strong feature set for Shopify merchants handling high preorder volume and customer demand.
However, the major difference is the pricing and overall value. Essent charges $27.5 for the first month with a higher regular monthly pricing, while Preorder Guru offers many similar features — including unlimited preorders, advanced preorder tools, customization options, and premium support — for only $12.99/month. In comparison, some other Shopify preorder apps even charge around $59/month for similar advanced preorder and back-in-stock functionality.
For merchants who specifically require unlimited back-in-stock notifications, Essent’s higher plan can still be a good option. But for most Shopify merchants, Preorder Guru is clearly the more cost-effective, value-for-money, and scalable preorder solution, offering advanced features at a much more affordable price. Developed by Webframez, the company behind several successful Shopify apps, Preorder Guru stands out as one of the best solutions for merchants looking to manage preorders and back-in-stock workflows efficiently.