The 6 best WooCommerce waitlist plugins

If you have popular products that are out of stock, you could be losing valuable customers if they decide to go elsewhere. This is where a WooCommerce waitlist plugin comes in handy. This useful tool allows customers to register their interest in a product and get an email notification when it comes back in stock.

With several waitlist plugins on the market, which is the best one for your store?

I've compared the six best WooCommerce waitlist plugins below, with the pros and cons of each one, so you can pick the right back-in-stock tool for your store.

As a bonus, I'll also show you how to pair any of these with a lead time plugin, so customers know how long they'll be waiting before they sign up. That one detail does a lot to keep people from buying elsewhere while they wait.

Quick verdict: the best WooCommerce waitlist plugin for you

Short on time? Here's the 10-second answer before the full comparison below.

• Best overallWooCommerce Waitlist and Back in Stock Notifier covers products and variations, global and per-product rules, and reCAPTCHA spam protection in one well-rounded plugin.
• Best free optionWaitlist Woocommerce has the strongest free tier, with both popup and inline sign-up forms you can style.
• Best for marketingMoreConvert bundles the waitlist with wishlists, low-stock alerts, price-change alerts and email campaigns.
• Best for the official WooCommerce storeWooCommerce Waitlist is the safe pick if you prefer plugins bought through WooCommerce.com.

My criteria for comparing WooCommerce waitlist plugins

I compared these plugins on the factors that matter most when you choose a waitlist tool:

• Sign-up experience - how the form looks on the page and whether it can appear as a popup.
• Product coverage - whether it handles product variations as well as simple products.
• Email automation - how reliably and how flexibly it sends the back-in-stock notification.
• Control and rules - whether you can set rules globally or per product, block spam sign-ups and offer marketing opt-ins.
• Price and support - whether there's a free version, the cost to upgrade, and how active development and support are.

I also weighed each plugin against its reviews and recent update history, so the picks reflect how these tools hold up in practice, not just their feature lists.

A waitlist plugin is only part of the solution

By installing a waitlist plugin on your WooCommerce store, you're implementing a way to communicate with interested buyers in the future - great!

But if a product goes out of stock, there's a huge risk that customers will buy from your competitors. Especially if your product can be bought elsewhere.

A waitlist plugin solves half of the problem by allowing them to enter their email address so that they can be notified if it comes back in stock.

However, from the customer's perspective, there isn't much incentive for them to do this. They have no idea how long they'll be waiting for the product to come back in stock. By the time it does, they may have moved on. After all, they want the product as soon as possible.

Because of this, a WooCommerce waitlist plugin works best alongside a tool that tells the customer how long they'll be waiting. This way they can decide if the wait is worth it and enter their email address to get a reminder. I'll come back to how to add that at the end, after the comparison.

The 6 best WooCommerce waitlist plugins

Below are six of my favorite WooCommerce waitlist plugins. While all share the basic setup of a waitlist plugin, their differences are worth noting. Take a look through each to find the best WooCommerce waitlist plugin for your store.

WooCommerce Waitlist and Back in Stock Notifier

The WooCommerce Waitlist and Back in Stock Notifier plugin notifies customers as soon as an out-of-stock product becomes available again. That helps you recover sales you'd otherwise lose, and it shows you which products are most in demand.

When a product runs out of stock, the plugin displays a sign-up form where customers can leave their email address and an optional comment. As soon as the product is restocked, an automated email goes out to everyone on the list. You can also display a back-in-stock date so customers know what to expect.

The standout feature is its flexibility. You can set waitlist rules globally or per product, it supports both products and their variations, and it integrates with reCAPTCHA to block spam sign-ups. It's straightforward enough for non-coders while still giving developers room to customize.

• ProsHandles simple products and variations, global or per-product rules, reCAPTCHA spam protection and an optional back-in-stock date.
• ConsIt's premium only, so there's no free version to test before you buy.

MoreConvert WooCommerce Waitlist Plugin

The MoreConvert WooCommerce Waitlist goes beyond a basic waitlist with a suite of features designed to keep customers engaged.

It notifies customers about product availability changes by email, and adds a customizable out-of-stock product box. On top of the standard waitlist, it offers Pre-launch Waitlist, Exclusive Access Waitlist, Flash Sale Waitlist, Low Stock Alerts and Price Change Alerts.

You also get wishlist features, multi-lists, save-cart-for-later, email automation, email campaigns and reports for understanding customer behavior and sales trends. These marketing tools are what make MoreConvert stand out from the rest.

• ProsA full marketing suite around the waitlist, including wishlists, low-stock and price-change alerts, and email campaigns.
• ConsThe wider feature set can be more than you need if you only want a simple back-in-stock notification.

YITH WooCommerce Waiting List

YITH WooCommerce Waiting List automatically adds an 'add to waiting list' button to products that go out of stock. Once a customer clicks it, they receive an email as soon as the product is back in stock. It's all automated.

Because you're collecting customer emails through your online store, you can keep this list for future product notifications. Customers can also opt in or out of the waiting lists they've subscribed to from the My Account page.

YITH offers a free version on WordPress.org with a premium upgrade for more advanced features.

• ProsA free version to start with, automatic waiting-list buttons and customer-managed subscriptions from the My Account page.
• ConsIts WordPress.org rating runs lower than rivals like Waitlist Woocommerce, so try the free version on your store before you upgrade.

WooCommerce Waitlist

WooCommerce Waitlist is much like the YITH waitlist plugin but has slightly fewer customization options for the emails themselves.

Where WooCommerce Waitlist does differ is its ability to display opt-in elements when users sign up to a waitlist. This means you can let customers opt in to further marketing material from you without any issues.

It's built by the team at PIE and sold through the official WooCommerce.com marketplace, so it sits naturally alongside other WooCommerce extensions and updates through the same channel.

• ProsSold and supported through the official WooCommerce.com marketplace, with marketing opt-in built into the sign-up form.
• ConsPremium only, with fewer email customization options than some of the other plugins here.

Waitlist Woocommerce (Back in stock notifier)

Waitlist Woocommerce covers the basic functions of a typical waitlist plugin and then takes it up a notch. Customers can sign up and get notified when a product is available. On top of that, you get a lot of control over how the sign-up form, the buttons and the email look and read.

You also have the option of showing customers a popup-style sign-up form or one that sits on the page. You can customize both to suit your store.

• ProsA strong free version, a choice of popup or inline forms, and plenty of styling control. It's actively maintained with consistently good reviews.
• ConsThe most advanced features sit behind the premium upgrade.

Back In Stock Notifier - WooCommerce Waitlist Pro

Back In Stock Notifier is perhaps the simplest in design of all the WooCommerce waitlists in this guide. Like the other plugins listed, it covers all the basics of a good waitlist plugin, but it does have some features that make it stand out.

With Back In Stock Notifier, you can hide the form for selected products or categories, and you have full control over the error messages, subscription messages and more.

• ProsSimple to set up, with per-product and per-category form control and editable customer-facing messages.
• ConsSold through CodeCanyon rather than WordPress.org, so support depends on the individual author.

WooCommerce waitlist plugins compared

Here's how the six plugins stack up on the factors most stores care about.

Plugin	Free version	Variable products	Sign-up form	Email automation	Pricing
Waitlist and Back in Stock Notifier	No	Yes	Product page	Yes	Premium
MoreConvert	Yes	Yes	Out-of-stock box	Yes	Freemium
YITH Waiting List	Yes	Yes	Product page button	Yes	Freemium
WooCommerce Waitlist	No	Yes	Product page	Yes	Premium
Waitlist Woocommerce	Yes	Yes	Popup or inline	Yes	Freemium
Back In Stock Notifier	Yes	Yes	Product page	Yes	Freemium

Do you need a waitlist plugin at all?

One thing to think about before investing in a WooCommerce waitlist plugin is that there may be another option.

Offering backorder products is often a better technique to use to avoid losing a sale. With backorder products, customers can place an order even if a product is not currently in stock. By doing this, customers will still be able to purchase and know they'll receive their order in time.

Instead of allowing customers to sign up and potentially buy (or not buy) in the future, you're ensuring they do so. This is a much better way to secure the sale than a waiting list plugin because they are committed to the order and won't order from a competitor instead.

WooCommerce on its own lets you set products as 'On backorder'. However, if a customer wants to purchase one of these products, they might be put off by the lack of transparency around how long they'll be waiting.

To use this technique the right way, I recommend telling the customer how long they'll wait with WooCommerce Lead Time. This way, customers will know exactly how long they'll need to wait before they receive their order.

Bonus: show customers how long they'll wait with WooCommerce Lead Time

Whichever waitlist plugin you choose, it only solves half the problem. The customer still doesn't know how long they'll be waiting. That missing detail is the main reason people don't bother signing up, or sign up and then buy elsewhere before the product returns.

We built WooCommerce Lead Time to fill that gap. It lets you (the store owner) display clear lead time information so customers can decide whether to place an order or wait for the back-in-stock email. Pair it with any of the waitlist plugins above and you give customers both the reminder and a reason to wait for it.

Here are some of its most useful features:

• You can choose which stock statuses to display the lead time for. For example, you might only want to show a lead time message for out-of-stock products, rather than all products.
• You can either add static text that appears on the page (e.g. "Lead time: 2 weeks") or select a date when the product will be back in stock. The date option is usually best for out-of-stock products, since the item is presumably on order from your supplier and you know when it will arrive.
• With dynamic lead times, the plugin automatically displays the number of days or weeks until the product comes back in stock.
• Optionally, you can display lead time text on the shop and category pages as well as the single product page. This way, customers know whether a product is in stock before they even click on it, which can save them a lot of time.
• You can also set a lead time for individual product variations, so a size or color that's out of stock shows its own expected return date.

Which WooCommerce waitlist plugin should you choose?

The right plugin depends on your store. If you want one well-rounded tool that handles products, variations and spam protection out of the box, go with WooCommerce Waitlist and Back in Stock Notifier. If you'd rather start without spending anything, Waitlist Woocommerce has the best free version.

For marketing features like wishlists and price-drop alerts, pick MoreConvert. And if you prefer buying through the official store, choose WooCommerce Waitlist.

YITH WooCommerce Waiting List is a reasonable free alternative if you already run other YITH plugins, and Back In Stock Notifier suits a simple, no-frills setup.

Whichever you choose, the real win comes from combining it with WooCommerce Lead Time. With the two working in tandem, customers know exactly how long they'll wait and have a reason to come back and buy your back-in-stock products instead of going to a competitor.