You don't need a $300/month enterprise tool to manage 200 products. This guide compares 6 inventory apps that cost $30/month or less — including free options. Built for solo sellers and small teams who want AI predictions without enterprise complexity.
Not every Shopify store needs one. If you sell fewer than 20 products with steady, predictable demand and one supplier, Shopify's built-in inventory tools are probably enough. Don't pay for software you don't need.
If you want to comparison shop the wider landscape before deciding, our Shopify inventory software comparison covers everything from free built-in tools to enterprise platforms side by side.
But once you grow past 30-50 SKUs, or once your products have different sales velocities and lead times, the manual approach stops working. The cost of one stockout on a product selling 10 units per day at $30 average order value is $300/day in lost revenue. Over a 14-day supplier lead time, that's $4,200. An inventory app at $20-30/month pays for itself by preventing even one stockout per year.
If three or more of these apply to you, an app will save you time and money.
If a product went to zero and you didn't know until a customer told you (or worse, you saw the "Sold Out" badge), you need automated alerts.
If you open Shopify Admin, scroll through products, and mentally note what's low - that process should be automated. An app does it in seconds.
Revenue is not profit. If you can't tell which of your products actually make money after COGS, you're making inventory decisions blind.
Dead stock ties up cash. If you don't know exactly which products haven't moved in 60+ days, you're probably sitting on more dead stock than you think.
If your reorder process is "this looks low, I should probably order more," you're either ordering too late (stockout) or too early (overstocking).
Reorder emails follow a pattern. AI can draft them in seconds with the right product, quantity, and urgency. You just review and send.
Every app on this list costs $30/month or less. Sorted by price. We included 8 features that matter most for small stores.
| App | Price | AI Forecasting | Reorder Points | ABC Analysis | Purchase Orders | Dead Stock | Profit Tracking | Email Drafts | Weekly Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Admin | Free | Basic | |||||||
| Forthcast | $19.99/mo | ||||||||
| Our productDebnix | $21.99/mo | ||||||||
| Stockful | Free-$29/mo | Basic | |||||||
| Inventory Mate | $29/mo | ||||||||
| Stock Perfect | $29/mo |
Best for: Under 30 SKUs, just need basics
Start here if you have fewer than 30 products and steady, predictable sales. Upgrade when you start losing sales to stockouts.
Best for: Forecasting-focused, bundle sellers
Strong forecasting with anomaly detection and bundle tracking. No ABC analysis or profit margins. Good if pure forecasting is your main need.
Best for: 50-500 SKUs, want everything in one tool
Most features per dollar in this price range. AI predictions, reorder points, ABC analysis, purchase orders, profit tracking, dead stock alerts, and supplier email drafts. Built for solo sellers.
Best for: Analytics only, minimal budget
Closest to what Stocky was. Good analytics and reporting at a low price. But no purchase orders, no AI predictions, no automation.
Best for: PO-heavy workflows, supplier management
Strong purchase order workflows with partial receiving. Good for stores that create a lot of POs. No ABC analysis or profit tracking.
Best for: Google Sheets users, margin monitoring
Built by a merchant. AI forecasting with Google Sheets integration for ordering. Margin monitor is useful. No ABC analysis or dead stock detection.
Enterprise inventory apps charge $100-999/month for features most small stores will never use. Here's what to skip and how much you'll save.
If you only sell on Shopify, you don't need Amazon/eBay/Etsy sync tools. That's a feature for multi-platform sellers, not small single-channel stores.
Unless you make your own products from raw materials, you don't need bills of materials, production scheduling, or shop floor management.
Cin7, NetSuite, and similar enterprise tools are built for $1M+ revenue brands with warehouses and complex operations. You're paying for features you'll never use.
Some tools charge more as you add products. For a growing store, this means your bill increases as you scale. Look for flat pricing instead.
After talking to Shopify sellers and analyzing what drives real results, these are the features that separate useful inventory tools from expensive toys.
Knowing when you'll run out before it happens. Even imperfect forecasting (70% accurate) prevents the worst stockouts. Without this, you're reacting to problems instead of preventing them.
Calculated from your actual sales velocity and supplier lead time. Not a static "alert at 10 units" you set once and forget. Read more about how reorder points work.
Your top 20% of products drive 80% of revenue. ABC analysis tells you which products deserve higher safety stock and more attention vs. which ones are barely worth carrying.
Revenue without COGS data is meaningless. A product selling 50/day at 5% margin isn't worth the shelf space. You need margin per product to make real inventory decisions. Learn more about tracking profit margins.
Products with zero sales in 60+ days are silently draining your cash. Most small stores have 15-25% of their catalog as dead stock and don't realize it until they run the numbers.
Need more than what's on this page? If your store has 500+ SKUs, multiple warehouses, or sells on Amazon and eBay too, check our full comparison of all 8 inventory apps — including mid-market and enterprise options. For a deep dive into inventory management fundamentals, read our complete Shopify inventory management guide.
Stocky shuts down August 31, 2026. If you're migrating from Stocky, export your data first — purchase orders, supplier list, cost data, and any reports. Once it shuts down, that data is gone permanently.
For small stores, the closest Stocky replacement on a budget is either Stockful (analytics focus, free tier) or Debnix (full AI + PO + profit tracking, $21.99/mo). For a detailed Stocky migration walkthrough, read our Stocky migration guide or see the full Stocky alternative comparison.
Debnix gives you AI predictions, reorder points, ABC analysis, purchase orders, dead stock alerts, and profit tracking. 7-day free trial on Shopify.
Built solo from Nepal. Flat pricing, no per-SKU fees, no enterprise complexity.