WooCommerce waitlist plugins are invaluable for online stores dealing with out-of-stock products. They let customers join a “notify me” list so they get an email when an item is back in stock, turning lost sales into future purchases.
These tools not only send WooCommerce restock notifications to interested shoppers but also help you with WooCommerce stock monitoring – showing which products have the most waiting customers.
In this blog, we have listed the 5 best WooCommerce waiting list plugins available, comparing their features, pricing, and pros and cons to help you choose the best one.
How to Choose the Best Waitlist Plugins for WooCommerce?
When choosing the best WooCommerce waitlist plugin for your store, it’s essential to consider several factors that will directly impact both the customer experience and your store’s operations.
Here are the key features to look for:
- Automatic Email Notifications: A crucial feature for any WooCommerce waiting list plugin is the ability to automatically notify customers when a product they’re interested in is back in stock.
- Waitlist Management for Admins: A good plugin should provide a clear and organized interface where you can easily view the number of subscribers per product, sort products by demand, and even export waitlist data to a CSV file for deeper analysis.
- Support for Variable Products: The waitlist should be tied to specific product variations, so if a particular size or color of an item is out of stock, customers should be able to join a waitlist for that exact variation instead of the entire product.
- Customizable Forms and Email Templates: Your waitlist plugin should allow for some degree of customization. Look for a plugin that lets you edit the wording of the email notifications, the appearance of the waitlist sign-up form, and the success messages.
- Integration with Marketing Tools: The best WooCommerce waitlist plugins integrate seamlessly with marketing automation tools like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and ActiveCampaign.
- Free vs. Paid Features: Finally, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons of free versus paid versions. Many freemium plugins offer basic waitlist functionality for free, while more advanced features like email customization, SMS notifications, or reporting capabilities may only be available in the paid version.
5 Best WooCommerce Waitlist Plugins
The best Waitlist Plugins for WooCommerce are:
- Waitlist for WooCommerce by The Team at PIE
- Waitlist WooCommerce (Back in Stock Notifier) by Xootix
- YITH WooCommerce Waitlist
- Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce by CodeWooGeek
- WPspring for WooCommerce Waitlist Plugin
Now, let us look at the best plugins for WooCommerce waitlists in detail.
1. Waitlist for WooCommerce by The Team at PIE
Waitlist for WooCommerce is the official WooCommerce Waitlist extension (developed by The Team at PIE, available on the WooCommerce marketplace).
When a product is out of stock, it adds a “Join Waitlist” button so customers can subscribe for an in-stock notification. Once you restock that product, the plugin automatically emails everyone on the list, inviting them to come back and purchase.
This plugin covers all the essentials without much configuration hassle. It’s very much a plug-and-play solution – install, activate, and it works out of the box.
Key Features
- Supports simple products, variable products, and grouped products, so customers can even waitlist specific variations.
- In your WooCommerce admin, you get a new column that shows how many people are waiting for each product.
- Manage the waitlists from the product edit page, where you can manually add or remove users and even export the list to CSV.
- The plugin provides a shortcode as well, so you can place the waitlist sign-up form anywhere if needed.
Unique Functionality:
It has options for store admins like sending an alert email to the admin whenever someone joins a waitlist, setting a stock threshold before notifications go out.
Pricing: This is a premium plugin – it costs $49 per year for a single-site license
Pros:
- Seamless integration with WooCommerce.
- Provides admin tools to view and manage waitlists easily.
- Allows customers to manage their own waitlists via the My Account page.
- Automatically notifies customers when stock is refilled.
Cons:
- No free version – requires a paid license from the start.
Budget Tip: If you love what the official Waitlist plugin offers but balk at the price, you should know about the WPspring option (covered below) – it provides the same plugin at a lower one-time cost, albeit without official support.
2. Waitlist WooCommerce (Back in Stock Notifier) by Xootix
The Xootix Waitlist plugin is the best free Waitlist plugin for WooCommerce. With this plugin, an out-of-stock product will show a subscription form where customers can enter their email to be notified later.
One notable feature is the ability to choose how the waitlist form is displayed: you have two design templates – a pop-up form or an inline form on the product page.
It’s a straightforward “back in stock notifier.” Additionally, Xootix provides a shortcode in case you want to manually place a waitlist button or form.
Key Features:
- It will email customers automatically when their desired product is back in stock, and it tracks the list of users for each product.
- It has a built-in email log, so you can see a record of all the back-in-stock notification emails.
- Supports both registered users and guest users.
- There’s even a “Notify on Phone” add-on for SMS text alerts if you want to send customers a text message when the item is available.
Unique Functionality:
Where Xootix really stands out is in its extensible add-ons. The core plugin is free (which already handles the main functionality), but if you need more, you can pick and choose inexpensive add-ons to enhance it.
For example, there’s a Custom Form Fields add-on to collect extra info from subscribers (perhaps their name, phone, or preferences), an Email Booster add-on to notify admins when someone joins a waitlist and to ensure “back in stock” emails go out immediately when inventory is updated, and an Export/Import add-on to manage your waitlist data via CSV.
Pricing: The base plugin for a single site is completely free on the WordPress plugin repository.
A 5-site license is around $39 and an unlimited sites license is about $69.
Pros:
- Robust free version – covers basics like automated emails, multiple product types, and basic customization without any cost.
- Email log and guest signup support, which not all free plugins provide.
Cons:
- To unlock certain advanced features, you’ll need to purchase multiple add-ons.
Overall, Xootix’s solution is excellent for most WooCommerce stores, especially if you want to start for free and possibly grow into more features later.
3. YITH WooCommerce Waitlist
YITH WooCommerce waitlist plugin lets you add waitlist signup on all out-of-stock products automatically.
You can manually choose which products have a waitlist instead of automatically all out-of-stock ones. You can display a counter of how many people are also waiting for a product.
It fully supports variable products, meaning if only certain variations are out of stock, customers join the waitlist for that specific variation.
The plugin comes with a built-in Privacy Policy checkbox option for GDPR compliance on the form, which is nice as many free plugins don’t include that by default.
Key Features
- YITH waitlist plugin adds email campaign tools: it integrates with Mandrill for advanced email management.
- It provides detailed styling options so you can match the waitlist box.
- To combat spam signups, it supports Google reCAPTCHA on the form, and you can even require users to confirm their email before they’re added to the list.
- You have the option to send the email to everyone on the list at once or throttle it based on stock quantity.
- You can customize the messages shown around the signup form.
Unique Functionality:
If a product is discontinued or won’t be restocked, you can send a “product alternative” email to everyone on the waitlist recommending a different item (maybe a newer model or similar product).
Pricing: The YITH Waitlist plugin is free on WordPress.org for the basic version.
The Premium version is priced at around $89.99 per year for a single site license.
Pros:
- Free version is sufficient for basic needs.
- User experience is well-thought: from confirmation emails to showing a subscriber count.
Cons:
- Premium price is relatively high for a single-purpose plugin.
YITH WooCommerce Waitlist if you plan to really use those emails and the data for more than just “back in stock” notices.
4. Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce by CodeWooGeek
Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce is a popular free WooCommerce waitinglist plugin known for its robust email handling – specifically the way it sends notifications using a background process to ensure deliverability even if you have thousands of subscribers waiting.
It comes with everything you need to get started: an email subscription form on out-of-stock product pages, automatic email notifications to subscribers when the product is back.
Also, it supports all common product types (simple, variable, and grouped) as well as WooCommerce subscription products and bundles.
This plugin uses a background queue process – it essentially processes the notification emails in batches in the background.
Key features
- It supports both guests and registered users, with logged-in users’ email pre-filled to make it one-click for them.
- There’s an option to include Google reCAPTCHA on the waitlist form, which is a must if you want to avoid spam bots.
- Provides admin screens to view the list of subscribers for each product, and you can manually remove or edit entries (with an add-on).
- The notification email content and subject can be customized in the settings.
Unique Functionality:
An interesting add-on is Track Sales, which can track if users who got a back-in-stock email actually went on to purchase, giving you insight into conversion from waitlist to sales.
Pricing: The core Back In Stock Notifier plugin is free to download and use.
Pros:
- Highly scalable and reliable – the background email sending mechanism is excellent.
- The free version is functional and can be sufficient if you just need basic waitlist emails.
Cons:
- While inexpensive, costs can add up if you need many add-ons.
Overall, the Back In Stock Notifier by CodeWooGeek will be perfect for growing stores, especially if you want to integrate waitlist data with your marketing and analyze the demand.
5. WPspring for WooCommerce Waitlist Plugin
WPspring is not exactly a plugin developer, but rather a website that resells WooCommerce plugins under the GPL license at a significant discount.
The WPspring for WooCommerce Waitlist is essentially the very same plugin as #1 on our list (the official Waitlist by Team at PIE) but offered at a one-time low price.
It’s a great option for budget-conscious store owners who want the benefits of the official plugin without the ongoing cost.
Since it’s the exact same product as the official WooCommerce Waitlist extension, all features we described in section #1 apply here.
Key Features:
- You get automatic email notifications, the integration with My Account for customers, the admin waitlist management interface, sorting by waitlist counts, CSV export, etc.
- You’ll have a stable, well-tested plugin that’s compatible with WooCommerce (and maintained by WooCommerce developers).
- The shortcode and multi-language support and everything are included, since it’s the same plugin file.
Pricing & Licensing: Here’s the big difference – price. Instead of $49 per year, WPspring offers this plugin for about $10 as a one-time purchase.
However, note that this $10 purchase from WPspring does not come with the official support or automatic updates beyond a certain period.
Pros:
- Huge cost savings – full featured plugin for a fraction of the official price.
- Full feature set of the official WooCommerce Waitlist
Cons:
- Updates are not automatic; you must manually update when a new version is released
In short, WPspring’s Waitlist plugin is basically a cheap hack to get the best plugin for WooCommerce waitlist.
Conclusion
All five of these WooCommerce waiting list plugins will help you capture customer interest and send restock notifications – which is a must-have “notify me” feature for any store that runs out of stock occasionally.
The best choice for you depends on your budget, technical needs, and feature preferences. Most of these plugins are either free or have free versions, so you can try one out and see how it fits your workflow.
In the long run, this leads to more sales and happier customers who appreciate the “notify me when available” convenience.
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- 5 Best WooCommerce Subscription Plugins in 2025
- 5 Best WooCommerce Discount Plugins (Free & Paid)
- 7 Best Bulk Discount Plugins For WooCommerce Stores
- 5 Best WooCommerce Coupon Code Generator
- How to Set Up WooCommerce Dynamic Pricing and Discounts?
