Shopify Order Printer Alternative for Pick Lists
Shopify's free Order Printer app is a genuinely useful tool. It prints pick lists, packing slips, invoices, and receipts, and you can customize every template with HTML, CSS, and Liquid. But if you've landed here searching for a Shopify Order Printer alternative, chances are you've hit one of its edges: it prints one document per order, its customization assumes you're comfortable editing template code, and it won't merge duplicate items across orders into a single running total. This guide is an honest look at what Order Printer does well, where it stops, and what to reach for instead — including Picksort, the simple merged-sheet app we make.
What Shopify Order Printer actually does
Order Printer is Shopify's own free app for generating order documents. It's a solid default, and for many stores it's all they need. Its strengths:
- It's free. No subscription, no per-order fees.
- Fully customizable templates. Pick lists, packing slips, invoices, and receipts are all editable with HTML, CSS, and Liquid variables, so you can control exactly what shows and how it's laid out.
- Single or bulk printing. Print one order or a batch of orders at once from the Orders page.
- Customer-facing polish. Because you control the template, you can brand packing slips and invoices to match your store.
If your main need is a branded, customizable packing slip or invoice, Order Printer is hard to beat on price. The friction shows up when the job shifts from printing documents to picking efficiently.
Where Order Printer starts to strain
The gaps below aren't bugs — they're just outside what a template-based document printer is built for.
1. It prints per order, not per SKU
Order Printer's pick list is generated from orders. If ten customers each bought the same mug, a typical per-order printout has you visiting that mug's shelf ten separate times as you work through the stack. What batch fulfillment really wants is the opposite: one line for the mug with a quantity of ten. Merging quantities across every open order is exactly the step Order Printer doesn't do on its own.
2. Real customization means editing Liquid
The flexibility is real, but so is the cost of using it. To reshape a template you edit HTML, CSS, and Liquid. Shopify itself notes that meaningful customizations assume experience with HTML and Liquid. If you're comfortable with code, great. If you're an owner-operator who just wants a clean sheet, that's a barrier — and a reason many merchants look for a zero-setup option.
3. It's a printer, not a picking workflow
Order Printer hands you a document. It doesn't group items by where they live in your space, doesn't re-tally instantly when you switch how you want to sort, and doesn't collapse to a phone-friendly single column for picking on the move. Those are picking-workflow features, and they're where a purpose-built pick app pulls ahead.
What to use instead — three honest routes
The right alternative depends on why Order Printer isn't fitting.
If you want richer, branded documents at scale
Apps like Orderly Print center on custom templates for invoices, packing slips, and pick lists with bulk printing and layout control (roughly 4.8 stars across ~71 reviews at the time of writing, with higher tiers running toward ~$99/month). Pick this lane if customer-facing documents are the priority and you don't mind building templates. Our Orderly Print alternative comparison digs into that trade-off.
If you want a scan-verified warehouse system
If mis-picks are costly and you have a team, a full pick-pack-fulfill tool like iPacky adds barcode scanning, bin tracking, and verification (5.0 stars across ~126 reviews at the time of writing). That's more system than a document printer — and more than many small stores need — but it's the right answer when accuracy has to be enforced, not eyeballed.
If you just want one merged pick sheet, fast
This is the gap Picksort was built for. It reads your open, unfulfilled orders and merges them into one quantity-per-SKU pick and pack sheet — no imports, no templates, no Liquid. Group by vendor, bin location, or SKU and the quantities re-tally instantly. It's read-only by design (it can't edit, fulfill, delete, or create anything in your store), works on mobile as a single column for picking, and prints with checkoff boxes for packing. One flat plan at $9/month with a 30-day free trial. Where Order Printer gives you a customizable per-order document, Picksort gives you a merged, ready-to-walk pick list with zero configuration.
Order Printer vs. a merged pick sheet
| Shopify Order Printer | Picksort | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Flat $9/mo, 30-day trial |
| Pick output | Per-order document | One merged quantity-per-SKU sheet |
| Setup | Edit HTML/CSS/Liquid templates | Zero — install and open |
| Grouping | Whatever you code in | Vendor, bin, or SKU (instant re-tally) |
| Store access | Read/write to print & fulfill | Read-only, always |
| Best for | Branded, customizable documents | Fast in-house batch picking |
Ratings, review counts, and prices shift over time — check each app's Shopify App Store listing for current figures.
They can also work together
This isn't strictly either/or. A common setup: use Order Printer (or another template app) for the customer-facing packing slip, and a merged pick sheet for the internal pick itself. Order Printer polishes what goes in the box; the merged sheet gets the items into the box faster. If you're weighing the whole category, our roundup of the best Shopify pick list apps lays out who each option fits, and how to print a pick list on Shopify covers the native basics before you add any app.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shopify Order Printer free?
Yes. Shopify Order Printer is a free app from Shopify that prints pick lists, packing slips, invoices, and receipts for single orders or in bulk. Its templates are customizable with HTML, CSS, and Liquid, which is powerful but assumes some comfort editing code. The trade-off is that it prints per-order and won't merge duplicate items across orders into one running total.
Why would I need an alternative to Order Printer?
Order Printer is great for customizable, per-order documents. You may want an alternative if you batch-fulfill and want a single merged pick sheet that totals each SKU across all open orders, if you don't want to edit Liquid templates, or if you want something that works the moment you install it with zero configuration.
Does Picksort replace Order Printer entirely?
Not necessarily — they solve different jobs. Order Printer is best for customer-facing packing slips and invoices you want branded and customized. Picksort is best for the internal picking step, merging all open orders into one quantity-per-SKU sheet. Many stores use Order Printer for slips and a merged pick sheet for the pick itself.
Can I print a merged pick list without editing code?
Yes. Picksort produces a merged, quantity-per-SKU pick sheet with no template editing, no field mapping, and no Liquid. You install it, open it, and your open orders appear as one printable sheet grouped by vendor, bin, or SKU.
Try the zero-setup route free
If the reason you're looking past Order Printer is "I don't want to build templates, I just want one merged pick sheet," that's exactly what Picksort does. You can start a free 30-day trial, install it in seconds with no configuration, and see your merged, quantity-per-SKU pick list right away. Cancel anytime if it's not the right fit.