What built-in inventory tool did — and why merchants depended on it
Shopify built-in inventory tool was a free inventory management tool built into the Shopify admin. It let merchants track supplier information, create and send purchase orders to restock inventory, and see basic low-stock alerts. For small to mid-size merchants who couldn't justify $100+/month for enterprise inventory software, built-in inventory tool was the default.
The shutdown on August 31, 2026 leaves a gap: no native Shopify tool replaces it. Merchants need a third-party app, and the quality varies significantly across the options available.
Feature-by-feature comparison: built-in inventory tool vs. EZStock
| Feature | Built-In Tool | EZStock |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier management (name, email, lead time) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Purchase orders (create, send, receive) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Low-stock dashboard | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reorder points per variant | ✓ | ✓ |
| Demand forecasting from sales velocity | Limited | ✓ (30-day velocity) |
| PDF purchase orders | ✗ | ✓ (Growth plan) |
| Email PO directly to supplier | ✗ | ✓ (all tiers) |
| Bulk product-supplier linking | ✗ | ✓ (link all products) |
| Inventory auto-update on PO receipt | Manual | ✓ (Growth plan) |
| Price | Free (discontinued) | Free / $19 / $49 / $99 |
How to migrate from built-in inventory tools to EZStock in under an hour
Step 1 — Install EZStock. Find it on the Shopify App Store. The free plan requires no credit card.
Step 2 — Add your suppliers. In EZStock admin → Suppliers → Add Supplier. Enter: name, email, phone (optional), lead time in days, currency, and notes. You'll need to re-enter these manually — built-in inventory tool doesn't export supplier data in a format that can be imported directly.
Step 3 — Link products to suppliers. Use the "Link all products" bulk action to assign a default supplier, reorder point, and cost price to your entire catalog in one click. For stores with 6,000+ SKUs, this is the feature that makes migration feasible — linking one by one would take hours.
Step 4 — Set coverage days. In EZStock Settings, set your preferred coverage period (typically 30–60 days). This tells the demand forecasting engine how much stock to suggest reordering based on your 30-day sales velocity.
Step 5 — Create your first PO. Dashboard → Low Stock shows which variants are below their reorder point. Click "Create PO" to draft a purchase order for any supplier, review quantities, and send it directly to the supplier via email. The PO PDF is generated automatically on Growth and Pro plans.
What EZStock adds that built-in inventory tool never had
Beyond the built-in inventory tool feature set, EZStock includes several capabilities that free built-in inventory tool users never had access to:
- Editable cost price in PO form — adjust unit cost at order time without changing the stored default
- PDF PO generation — professional purchase order PDFs with your branding
- Email delivery — PO sent directly from [email protected] to your supplier
- Demand forecasting from real sales velocity — quantity suggestions based on actual 30-day sell-through
- Bulk product link — assign supplier + reorder point to entire catalog in one action
EZStock pricing
The free plan covers unlimited suppliers and products, up to 5 purchase orders per month, and the full low-stock dashboard. For most merchants migrating from built-in inventory tools with moderate PO volume, the Starter plan at $19/month (unlimited POs) is the right tier. The Growth plan at $49/month adds PDF POs, inventory auto-update on receipt, and multi-vendor reporting.