In this content series where I list the best monitoring tools available on the market especially those that are freemium or completely free for different purposes, today’s topic is Inventory Tracking & Back-in-Stock Notifications tools.
I’ve personally tested some of these tools myself. For the ones I haven’t used, I’ve carefully reviewed user feedback and analyzed the features listed on their official websites before including them here.
There are no sponsored tools in this list, so all positive or negative opinions I share are entirely my own subjective views.
Let’s dive in.
One of the most common issues on e-commerce platforms is failing to notify customers when out-of-stock products become available again. This leads to both lost sales and a decrease in customer satisfaction.
The good news is that many advanced tools today automatically track sold-out products and send email, SMS, or push notifications to customers when the item is back in stock. These tools can integrate not only with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce but also with general solutions that provide inventory tracking and notification management for any website.
Here are the most useful inventory tracking and automatic notification tools that stand out in 2026:
RobotAlp
Robotalp has been providing Uptime & Infrastructure Monitoring services for more than four years. However, with its major V3 update, the platform made a significant leap into the Web Signal Intelligence Landscape, now offering monitoring services across six distinct categories.
This transformation turned Robotalp into a highly attractive all-in-one monitoring solution for users who previously relied on multiple tools for different needs.
One of Robotalp’s biggest strengths is that it brings together 30+ different monitoring tools under a single subscription—offering remarkable flexibility and affordability.
And one of those monitors is the Inventory Tracking & Back-in-Stock Notifications tool.
Compatible Platforms: Website, API, Port (Flexible, platform-independent)
Key Features: Monitors uptime, keywords, and other digital properties. Its flexibility allows it to be configured for a variety of tasks, including the potential to monitor stock status changes. It operates on a pay-as-you-go credit system.
Advantage: Ideal for low-budget businesses, offering flexibility to monitor various digital assets.
Price: Pay-as-you-go, with a minimum payment of $16.
Swym – Back in Stock Alerts
Swym is one of the most popular solutions for e-commerce stores that want to re-engage customers and recover lost sales from out-of-stock products. Once installed, it automatically adds a customizable “Notify Me When Available” button to your product pages and collects visitor requests without requiring any coding. When the item is restocked, Swym instantly alerts interested customers via email or SMS, helping store owners convert intent into actual purchases. Beyond notifications, it also tracks customer behavior, providing insights into demand patterns and helping merchants optimize inventory planning.
Compatible Platforms: Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento
Key Features: Sends email or SMS notifications when a sold-out product is back in stock. It also provides user behavior analytics.
Advantage: Easy setup and in-platform integration.
Appikon – Back In Stock: Restock Alerts
Back In Stock: Restock Alerts is one of the most trusted and widely used stock alert solutions among Shopify merchants. The app allows stores to instantly notify customers the moment a sold-out product becomes available again through push notifications, SMS, or email ensuring no potential sale is lost. Its setup is quick and seamless, integrating smoothly with Shopify themes without requiring any coding. In addition to its reliable automation, Appikon provides detailed analytics on notification performance, helping store owners understand which products drive the most demand and improve their restocking strategies.
Compatible Platforms: Shopify
Key Features: Provides multi-channel notifications to users with instant push notifications, SMS, and email options.
Advantage: One of the highest-rated stock notification apps for Shopify.
HotStock
HotStock differs significantly from most tools on this list. It is designed primarily for end consumers, not store owners. Typical users are individuals tracking hard-to-find products (such as gaming consoles or limited-edition items), rather than merchants managing inventory.
For this reason, HotStock is best positioned as a Customer’s Perspective Tool, offering insight into demand and consumer behavior rather than merchant-side inventory operations.
Compatible Platforms: Web and mobile application (independent)
Key Features: Tracks the global stock status of popular and limited-stock products (e.g., consoles, graphics cards).
Advantage: Alerts can be customized by geographic location.
SpurIT – Back in Stock Alerts
SpurIT – Back in Stock Alerts is a sleek and reliable Shopify app that helps store owners recover lost sales by keeping customers informed when sold-out items return to stock. It automatically adds a “Sold Out Notify Me” button to product pages, allowing shoppers to subscribe for updates with just one click. Store owners can fully customize both the design and timing of the notifications to match their brand identity and communication style. Thanks to its seamless integration with Shopify themes and intuitive setup, SpurIT delivers a professional, on-brand experience without requiring any technical effort.
Compatible Platforms: Shopify
Key Features: Adds a "Sold Out - Notify Me" button to product pages, with customizable notification timing and content.
Advantage: Offers visually customizable integration to match the theme.
Notify Me – Back in Stock Notifications
Compatible Platforms: Shopify, WooCommerce
Key Features: Creates waiting lists and provides email and SMS notifications.
Advantage: Works both through its own site and via store integration.
Visualping
Compatible Platforms: All websites (platform-independent)
Key Features: Detects changes on a specific page (e.g., "Sold Out" → "In Stock").
Advantage: Can be used outside of e-commerce. It is also functional for scenarios like competitor product monitoring and price tracking.
While Visualping is widely used for back-in-stock monitoring, it is technically a visual change detection tool, not a pure inventory tracker. It compares page screenshots and triggers alerts when any visual change occurs.
Because of this, Visualping may occasionally generate false alerts for example, when a banner or advertisement changes but the product stock status remains the same. It is best categorized as a Visual Change Specialist, especially useful when API or structured data access is not available.
New Additions for 2026
To reflect emerging trends and modern monitoring techniques, the following two tools have been added to the list for 2026:
Distill Web Monitor
Distill Web Monitor can run as a local browser extension, allowing inventory and stock monitoring without relying solely on cloud-based infrastructure. This provides a significant advantage when dealing with websites that aggressively block cloud IPs or automated bots.
For businesses tracking competitor stock levels, Distill offers a strong Local Monitoring advantage, reducing the risk of IP bans and detection.
Hexowatch
Hexowatch goes beyond visual checks by monitoring HTML and structured data changes, such as inventory-related variables within the page source (e.g., JSON-based stock counts).
It falls under the AI-driven monitoring category and remains effective even when page layouts change, making it a more robust option for modern, dynamic e-commerce sites.
Editor’s Notes
Back-in-stock tools do more than send notifications. They can also help analyze inventory velocity how quickly products sell out once restocked. This data provides valuable insight into product demand and purchasing behavior.
API- and keyword-based tools (such as RobotAlp) offer faster, more reliable inventory tracking when structured data is available. Visual-based tools like Visualping serve as a valuable fallback solution for complex or poorly structured websites where APIs are not accessible.
This list already covers a strong range of global inventory tracking tools. By clearly categorizing tools like HotStock and Shopify-focused apps, and by adding Distill Web Monitor and Hexowatch, the article evolves into a comprehensive, up-to-date authority guide for 2026.