An inventory management app helps you track stock levels, forecast demand, and manage purchase orders to prevent stockouts and avoid overstocking. These apps extend Shopify's native inventory capabilities, offering more advanced tools for planning and replenishment across multiple locations and sales channels.
| Your situation | Pick | Starts at | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stores with small catalogs (under 100 SKUs) needing basic reorder planning. | Inventory Management by Mipler | Free | 2026-10-19 |
| Multi-location stores needing forecasting, stock transfers, and purchase order automation. | Inventory Management ‑ Assisty | Free plan available | 2026-10-19 |
| Stores of any size needing demand planning, raw materials tracking, and purchase order management. | Prediko Inventory Management | $49/month, as listed on 2026-10-19. | 2026-10-19 |
| Stores wanting clear reorder math, daily digests, and a way to import history from Stocky. | Stockcast: Inventory Forecast | Free plan available | 2026-10-19 |
What does Shopify's own inventory management include?
Shopify's admin allows you to track inventory for your products and their variants. (InventoryItem - GraphQL Admin) For each product, you can enable inventory tracking, set stock quantities, and assign inventory to different locations. Shopify automatically adjusts inventory levels when an order is placed or fulfilled. The system separates inventory into different states, such as available, committed (for unfulfilled orders), and on_hand (total units at a location).
You can view a product's inventory adjustment history, but this view is limited to the last 180 days. While these tools are sufficient for many stores, merchants with larger catalogs, multiple warehouse locations, or complex supply chains often need more specialized features. Limitations can include a cap of 100 variants per product and cumbersome processes for bulk product edits. According to Ablestar, this is where third-party inventory management apps provide additional capabilities.
Prediko Inventory Management offers a suite of tools for forecasting and replenishment. (Prediko Inventory Management - AI Inventory Forecasting, Inventory)
- Demand planning and forecasting based on sales, product, and SKU seasonality.
- Purchase order creation and management, with an option to import from Stocky.
- Inventory transfers to move stock between multiple locations.
- Bill of Materials (BOM) management for tracking raw materials.
- Automated alerts for replenishment and low stock levels.
- Inventory reporting and a stock take feature.
The pricing for Prediko Inventory Management is based on store revenue. All paid plans are listed as including unlimited users, SKUs, and inventory alerts.
Inventory Management ‑ Assisty
Inventory Management ‑ Assisty focuses on using sales data to automate inventory decisions.
- Demand forecasting to predict sales and seasonality.
- Calculates reorder points to suggest what and how much to restock.
- Automates creating, tracking, and receiving purchase orders.
- Features for stock counts, inventory adjustments, and stock transfers.
- Automatic migration of supplier and purchase order data from Stocky.
- Reporting for sell-through rate, ABC analysis, and dead stock.
Inventory Management ‑ Assisty provides a free Basic plan that includes multi-location inventory tracking and low stock reports for up to six months of sales history.
Inventory Management by Mipler uses sales velocity and supplier lead times to generate reorder suggestions. (Inventory Management by Mipler - Prevent stockouts and know exactly)
- Reorder recommendations based on sales history and lead times.
- Ability to create reorder lists organized by supplier.
- Tracking for incoming inventory.
- ABC analysis to identify high-impact products.
- Reporting to identify excess and dead inventory.
Inventory Management by Mipler offers a free plan for up to 100 SKUs. All paid plans are listed as being for stores on the Basic Shopify plan and include exporting capabilities and chat support.
Stockcast: Inventory Forecast
Stockcast: Inventory Forecast provides daily checks to forecast stockout dates for each variant.
- Stockout forecasts with an order-by date for every SKU.
- Reorder suggestions that show the underlying math (velocity, lead time, safety stock).
- Purchase order creation with the ability to email PDFs to suppliers.
- Stocky CSV import to rebuild supplier and PO history.
- Daily low stock email digests and dead stock detection.
- Landed cost tracking on purchase orders (on the Growth plan and up). (Stockcast: Inventory Forecast - Stockout forecasts, reorder alerts)
Stockcast: Inventory Forecast offers a free plan for up to 25 SKUs and one location, which includes purchase order creation.
How we compared
To compare these inventory management apps, we reviewed their Shopify App Store listings to evaluate them on a consistent set of criteria relevant to Shopify merchants. The factors we considered include:
- Core Functionality: Forecasting, purchase order management, and multi-location support.
- Pricing Model: Availability of a free plan and how paid plans are structured (by SKU count, revenue, or features).
- Special Features: Support for bundles, raw materials, stock transfers, and data imports from other systems like Stocky.
- Target User: The type of store the app seems best suited for, from small businesses to large enterprises.
Sources read on 2026-10-19.
Frequently asked questions
What are inventory states in Shopify?
Inventory states represent the status of your stock at a location. Key states include available (sellable stock), committed (reserved for open orders), on_hand (total physical units at a location), and incoming (stock on its way to you). (Apps in inventory management) Other states like reserved, damaged, and quality_control represent on-hand inventory that is not available for sale.
What is the difference between on-hand and available inventory?
On-hand inventory is the total number of units physically present at a location. Available inventory is the portion of your on-hand stock that is ready to be sold. (Apps in inventory management) The on-hand quantity is the sum of available, committed, reserved, damaged, safety_stock, and quality_control quantities.
Does Shopify have a limit on product variants?
Shopify limits products to 100 variants each. According to Ablestar, for a product with many options like size, color, and material, this limit can be reached quickly.
Can I create purchase orders in Shopify without an app?
Shopify's native platform is focused on managing sales and inventory levels related to those sales. While you can track suppliers, creating and managing purchase orders is a function typically handled by third-party apps, many of which are designed as replacements for Shopify's previous Stocky app. (Prediko Inventory Management - AI Inventory Forecasting, Inventory)
What does it mean for an inventory item to be "tracked"?
When an inventory item is "tracked" in Shopify, it means that Shopify will automatically adjust its quantity when you sell it or receive new stock. (InventoryItem) This setting is required to use Shopify's inventory management features and for third-party apps to access and adjust inventory levels. An inventory item is directly related to a product variant.
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