The 7 best special order software tools for retailers (2026)

Special order software keeps track of an item a customer asked for that isn't on your shelf, from the moment they ask to the moment they pick it up. Most tools sold under that name are full point-of-sale systems with a special order screen inside. One is built for nothing else.

This list compares seven of them, read from each vendor's own documentation and pricing pages in September and October 2026. We make one of the seven, Autofy, and we ranked it first. Weigh that accordingly: the criteria are below, and every claim about another vendor links to that vendor's own page so you can check it.

Key Takeaways

• Best overall for independent retailers: the Autofy Order Tracker. It's the only tool here built only to follow orders, it works alongside the POS you already run, and it files supplier emails onto each order and gives the customer a tracking page.
• Best if you're replacing your POS anyway: Lightspeed Retail. Its own special orders feature is the strongest of the mainstream systems, though its documentation leaves telling the customer to staff.
• Best for furniture and big-ticket stores: STORIS. Special order sales generate their own purchase orders, with templates for fabrics and finishes.
• Six of the seven are full POS or business systems. Getting their special order features means moving your whole store onto them.
• Five of the seven publish a price. STORIS and Windward quote on request.

How do these seven compare at a glance?

Listed in ranked order. The columns follow the order most shops decide in: whether it works with the till you already have, whether it tells the customer, and what it costs.

Prices were re-read on each vendor's site on 22 October 2026, in the currency each one shows. Vendors change prices and features, so check the linked page before you buy.

1. Autofy Order Tracker: best overall for independent retailers

Autofy is the only tool on this list built to follow orders and nothing else, and it works without asking you to change your POS. Every other entry is a system you'd move your whole store onto.

Special orders are the sharpest case, and they stay this post's lead use case. The Order Tracker also follows any other order that can't leave the store with the customer today: custom orders, backorders, pre-orders, repairs and service jobs, and layaway or deposit orders with a balance owing.

A special order passes through six stages: take it at the counter, hold it with no stock, link the vendor order, catch the arrival, tell the customer, and chase it to pickup. The first three are paperwork. The last three are memory, and that's where most systems hand the job back to a person. Autofy's stage-by-stage POS comparison shows where Shopify, Lightspeed and WooCommerce each stop.

What it does:

• Takes the order once, at the counter. After that, supplier emails do the work: staff forward confirmations, shipping notices and backorder notices to the store's own Autofy address, or set a rule that forwards them automatically, and each one is filed on the right order.
• Keeps the order current. A ship date, a new backorder date or a tracking number updates the order, and if a date slips the customer hears about it.
• Gives the customer a tracking page, with emails branded to your store, so they check a link instead of phoning you.
• Works with any POS and any email, including Gmail, Google Workspace and Outlook. Autofy sets up the forwarding with you. Microsoft 365 blocks outside forwarding by default, so your IT has to allow it or staff forward by hand (Autofy homepage, read 22 October 2026).

Proof: City Park Runners, an independent running store in Winnipeg, tracked 127 special orders in its first six weeks on the tracker. It collected 84% of resolved orders, with 12 staff using it day to day. About $23,000 of special-order revenue went through the system. That's revenue tracked, not revenue saved.

Pricing (as published on the pricing page, read 22 October 2026): $149 CAD a month, or $1,490 a year. Setup is a one-time $750 that includes your logo, your own tracking domain and your open orders migrated in. Paying for the year drops setup to $499. Each extra location is $99 a month. Billing is month to month.

The guarantee: "You will stop losing orders." The full terms spell out what happens if the system ever misses one.

Best for: any independent retailer that orders things in for customers and doesn't want to replace its till to track them. The demo video shows the board and the customer page.

2. Lightspeed Retail: best if you're replacing your POS anyway

Lightspeed has the strongest built-in special orders of the mainstream POS systems. In our breakdown of where each POS stops, it carries an order through the first three stages on its own: taking it, holding it with no stock, and linking the vendor order (a feature Lightspeed marks as beta).

Where it stops is telling the customer. Lightspeed's special orders documentation instructs staff to contact the customer to let them know the order is ready for collection (Lightspeed Retail X-Series, "Fulfilling items and completing unfulfilled sales", read 22 October 2026). That step is a person's job, not the system's.

Pricing: $89, $149 or $289 USD a month for the Basic, Core and Plus plans, billed monthly, with savings for annual billing (Lightspeed Retail pricing, read 22 October 2026). Lightspeed notes that prices and fees can vary by business type.

Best for: a shop choosing a new POS for everything, where special orders are one need among many.

3. STORIS: best for furniture and big-ticket home stores

STORIS is built for home furnishings, and its special orders reflect it. Staff sell custom products from templates, with dropdowns for attributes like fabric and finish. STORIS states that "Special Order sales automatically generate related purchase orders" (STORIS, Point of Sale Software).

The same page lists bedding, appliances, casual furniture and spas among the industries it serves. It's a full retail system, so taking it on means running the store on STORIS.

Pricing: not published. STORIS asks you to request a demo.

Best for: furniture, mattress and appliance retailers selling custom, made-to-order goods at high ticket prices.

4. Windward System Five: best for hardware and home goods

Windward queues each special order for the buyer to order. Its own help article says salespeople "enter the customer special orders on Work Orders" and that these "are automatically added to the special order queue for ordering". The buyer then pulls them onto a purchase order from its Orders tab (Windward Customer Care, "How to create a Purchase Order", read 14 October 2026).

System Five is a complete business system covering point of sale, inventory, purchasing and accounting, aimed at home goods, building materials, rental and similar businesses.

Pricing: custom quote. Windward says no two systems are priced the same (Windward pricing).

Best for: hardware, building supply and home goods stores that want special orders inside one system that also runs their accounting.

5. MicroBiz: best budget POS for specialty stores

MicroBiz flags a special order the moment its stock arrives, then hands the call to staff. Items are marked as special orders when sold, which puts them on a list in purchasing. On receiving, MicroBiz "alerts the user that the item is attached to a customer order, so that the customer can be contacted" (MicroBiz, furniture and home decor POS). It also takes deposits.

Its list of stores served is unusually wide: appliance stores, swimming pool and spa, furniture, and feed and farm supply among them.

Pricing: $65 a month for Standard or $95 for Enterprise, plus $32.50 a month per extra register. The page uses the "$" sign without naming a currency (MicroBiz pricing, read 22 October 2026).

Best for: small specialty stores that need a whole POS at a low monthly price and are happy to make the arrival call themselves.

6. Celerant: best for multi-store chains that also sell online

Celerant is a full retail system with special orders inside it. Its furniture page says stores can "create and process special orders for custom items" within the POS (Celerant, Home Goods and Furniture). The same page lists verticals from bicycle and footwear to pet supply and sporting goods.

The page didn't describe customer notifications for special orders specifically, so we haven't claimed any.

Pricing: Cumulus Retail starts at $125 a month (the page doesn't name a currency), with e-commerce from $250 and POS with e-commerce from $350, as listed on the same page (read 22 October 2026).

Best for: growing multi-store retailers that want POS and e-commerce from one vendor.

7. Shopify POS: best if you already sell online on Shopify

Shopify POS is the natural choice if your online store already runs on Shopify, but it can't hold a special order it has no stock for. Shopify's documentation states that by default, pickup in store is available only when the entire order is in stock at the pickup location (Shopify Help Center, "Setting up pickup in store", read 17 September 2026). A vendor isn't one of your locations.

Once an item is in stock, Shopify handles telling the customer and chasing the pickup well. It's the middle of the special order, before the stock exists, that falls back on staff.

Pricing: POS Pro is CA$119 a month per location, on top of a Shopify plan (Shopify POS pricing, read 22 October 2026).

Best for: shops that sell mainly online through Shopify and take special orders rarely.

How we selected and ranked these

We looked for tools that describe a special order workflow in their own documentation, not just "order tracking", which in most roundups means tracking parcels shipped from an online store. That ruled out shipping trackers and order management systems built for warehouses.

Each tool was ranked on five things, weighted toward an independent shop rather than a chain:

• Covers the whole order, from the counter to pickup, not just the first stages.
• Tells the customer without a person remembering to.
• Works with the POS the shop already has, or requires replacing it.
• Publishes its price.
• Fits an independent retailer's size and budget.

This is a research review, not a hands-on test. We read each vendor's own pages in September 2026 and re-read the prices on 22 October 2026. The Shopify and Lightspeed special order documentation was read on 17 September 2026 and Windward's help article on 14 October 2026. No vendor paid for placement. We make Autofy, which is ranked first, and we published this list.

Product names and logos are trademarks of their respective owners. Autofy is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any other company on this list.

Frequently asked questions

What is special order software?

Special order software tracks items a customer has asked you to get in, from the request to the pickup. It records who wants what, links it to the order you place with the vendor, notices when it arrives, and makes sure the customer hears about it. Order management tools such as Autofy extend the same board to backorders, pre-orders, repairs and layaway.

Do I need to replace my POS to track special orders?

No. Six of the seven tools here are full POS or business systems, so using their special orders means switching your store over. Autofy runs alongside Shopify, Lightspeed or WooCommerce, or with no POS at all, because it reads the supplier emails the store already gets.

Can't I just use a spreadsheet?

For a handful of orders a month, often yes. The trouble starts at arrival. A spreadsheet doesn't notice when the carton lands, and it doesn't tell the customer. That's the gap covered in what most special-order spreadsheets forget to track.

How much does special order software cost?

Five of the seven publish prices. MicroBiz starts at $65 a month (currency not stated), Lightspeed at $89 USD and Celerant at $125 (currency not stated). Shopify POS Pro is CA$119 per location on top of a Shopify plan, and Autofy is $149 CAD a month plus a one-time $750 setup ($499 with annual prepay), as of 22 October 2026. STORIS and Windward quote on request.

Should I take a deposit on a special order?

Usually, yes. Autofy tracks layaway and deposit orders with a balance owing, and MicroBiz says it takes deposits; check the others before relying on it. How much depends on how returnable the item is. We cover that in when to take a deposit on a special order.

Which one should you choose?

If you want special orders handled without changing the till you already trust, the Autofy Order Tracker is the best fit, and it's the one we built for exactly that, though you should weigh that we make it. If you're replacing your POS anyway, Lightspeed Retail has the strongest special orders of the mainstream systems. Furniture and big-ticket stores should look hard at STORIS.

Whichever you pick, check it against the six stages rather than the phrase "special orders" on a feature list. The stages where a person has to remember are the ones that cost you customers. If you'd like to see how Autofy would carry yours, tell us how special orders move through your shop today.