Free gift with purchase on Shopify: how to auto-add the gift (2026)

Shopify can make a gift free without an app. Shopify can't add the gift to the cart, though. A Buy X get Y discount prices the gift at $0 only after the shopper adds it. To add a free gift with purchase on Shopify automatically, and remove it when the cart shrinks, you need an app or custom code.

Section Store is a Shopify app with theme sections, bundles, a cart drawer and AI Pages. Section Store Plus is its $15 monthly plan, with gifts in the cart drawer and on bundles. We make Section Store. We compared it with 7 other gift apps and say where they beat it.

What is a free gift with purchase?

A free gift with purchase is a product a store gives away when an order meets a rule. The rule is usually a product or a spend. On Shopify the offer comes in two shapes.

• A gift with a product. Buy the serum, get a travel cleanser. The offer sits on the product page, often as a bundle or a buy X get Y deal.
• A gift at a cart total. Spend $75, get a tote. The offer sits in the cart, usually with a progress bar that shows how far the shopper has to go.

Both shapes need the gift to land in the cart. A gift the shopper never finds does nothing for the order.

Can you give a free gift on Shopify without an app?

Shopify gives a free gift without an app through a Buy X get Y discount with the reward set to Free. The shopper must still add the gift to the cart. Here is the setup, from Shopify's Buy X get Y guide:

1. Open Discounts. In Shopify admin, go to Discounts, click Create discount and pick Buy X get Y.
2. Pick Automatic discount. Shoppers then need no code.
3. Set Customer buys. Pick Minimum purchase amount for a spend threshold, or Minimum quantity of items for a product gift. Choose the products or collections that count.
4. Set Customer gets. Add the gift product and set At a discounted value to Free.
5. Cap it. Tick Set the maximum number of uses per order and enter 1, so each order gets one gift.
6. Finish. Set eligibility (all customers, segments or markets), combinations and dates. Save.

Shopify's minimum purchase amount counts only the products under Customer buys, at full price, without shipping or tax. For a store-wide "spend $75" offer, pick a collection that holds all your products. Keep the gift out of that collection, so the gift can't count toward its own threshold.

Why doesn't Shopify add the free gift to the cart?

Shopify doesn't add the free gift because its discounts change prices, not cart contents. Shopify's help center says the "get" item "is never automatically added to the cart" (checked October 13, 2026). A Buy X get Y discount waits for the gift to be in the cart, then prices it at $0.

Shopify has no native auto-add for gifts as of October 13, 2026. We found none in the help center or in Shopify's changelog. You have three ways around it.

• Tell shoppers. A banner says "Add the tote to your cart. It's free over $75." It costs nothing, but the shopper does the work.
• Write code. A developer can use Shopify's Ajax Cart API to add the gift and remove it again. You maintain that code each time your theme changes.
• Use an app. A gift app watches the cart. It adds the gift when the rule is met and removes it when the rule breaks.

How do you auto-add a free gift at a spend threshold?

A gift app or a cart drawer with a reward bar auto-adds a free gift at a spend threshold. The app adds the gift when the cart passes the threshold and takes it out when the cart drops below. In Section Store Plus, the gift is a tier on the cart drawer's reward bar.

1. Add a reward bar. Open Cart Drawer in the Section Store app and add a Reward bar block.
2. Pick what unlocks it. Tiers unlock by cart total or by item count.
3. Add a gift tier. Set the reward to Free gift. Pick the gift product and the variants a shopper may switch between.
4. Set the threshold. Use one amount, or a fixed amount for each market. The app can also convert one amount into each currency.
5. Stack tiers if you want. For example, free shipping at $50 and a gift at $75.
6. Preview, then switch it on. Setup and preview are free. Turning the cart drawer on needs Plus.

After that, the drawer keeps the gift in step with the cart. The gift line shows its original price next to the word Free. The shopper can change the gift's variant, such as size or color, but not its quantity.

Gift with a product or gift at a cart total: which works better?

A gift at a cart total fits when you want bigger orders across the store, because every product counts toward it. A gift with a product fits when you want to sell one product, because the gift sits on that product's page. A store can run both at once.

The two shapes differ in where shoppers see them and what they push.

Section Store bundles attach a free gift to any offer on the product page. That covers quantity breaks, buy X get Y deals and mix and match sets. The gift goes into the cart with the bundle, and only in-stock variants are offered.

For a two-for-one setup, see our Shopify BOGO guide. For bundle setup, see how to create bundles on Shopify.

What do Shopify free gift apps cost?

Shopify free gift apps cost $9.99 to $49.99 a month for a spend-threshold gift. That range is for a store on the Basic plan with 300 orders a month. Most charge more as you grow, by orders, Shopify plan or revenue.

Dr Free Gift and Fokkio are the cheapest at $9.99. Section Store Plus costs $15 flat and is the only app here with a cart drawer and bundles in one plan.

• BOGOS prices by your Shopify plan: $29.99 on Basic, $49.99 on the Grow, Shopify or Professional plans, $69.99 on Advanced and $109.99 on Shopify Plus. Each plan includes 300 to 2,000 orders a month attributed to BOGOS, then $0.05 an order. The free plan stops after 30 orders in total.
• EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift, listed as EasyGift, is free for 1 rule that triggers on up to 10 variants. A gift at a cart subtotal needs Standard at $14.99, with no order or revenue cap. Standard also alerts you when a reward goes out of stock.
• Gift Box by Digismoothie bills by monthly store orders. Its pricing page lists $29.99 up to 100 orders, $49.99 up to 500 and $199.99 at 5,000 or more. It offers a 60-day money-back guarantee.
• Dr Free Gift costs $9.99 a month, or $24.99 on Shopify Plus. It's free only on trial and development stores. It sets tiered goals by subtotal, item count or tag.
• Fokkio costs $4.99 up to 50 orders with the app, $9.99 up to 500 and $19.99 with no limit. It can also hide an offer behind a secret link for influencers.
• Kaching CartDrawer is a cart drawer with a free shipping and free gifts bar on every plan. Its pricing page lists $9.99 up to 99 orders and $199.99 at 10,000 or more. Its pages don't say whether it adds the gift by itself, so ask before you install.
• Kaching Bundles adds gifts to bundle offers. Its pricing page runs from $14.99 to $299 a month by the "additional revenue" it counts. See our Kaching alternatives and bundle apps compared.

On October 13, 2026, UpCart's App Store listing said it is not currently available. We left it out of the table. Our UpCart alternatives and cart drawer apps comparison cover other drawers with gift bars.

Other apps beat Section Store Plus in two places. BOGOS, EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift, Dr Free Gift and Fokkio can let a shopper choose the gift from several. Section Store adds the gift you pick. Dr Free Gift and Fokkio also cost less if a gift is all you need.

How do you stop free gift abuse?

Free gift abuse stops when the gift follows the cart. The gift should leave when the cart drops below the threshold, and checkout should check the rule again. A shopper who adds items to unlock a gift and then removes them shouldn't keep it.

Shopify's native discount checks the rule at checkout and can cap uses per order. When the cart drops below the threshold, though, the gift stays in the cart at full price until the shopper removes it. Here is what Section Store Plus does instead, traced in its code.

• The gift leaves with the threshold. When the cart drops below a gift tier, the Section Store cart drawer removes the gift. When the cart climbs back, the drawer adds it again.
• Checkout checks again. The gift's $0 price comes from a Shopify discount function that recounts the cart at checkout. A gift in a cart below the threshold isn't free.
• Only the set quantity is free. Gift lines have no quantity selector in the drawer. If a shopper adds more of the gift product elsewhere, only the quantity you set is free.
• The gift can't unlock itself. Gift lines never count toward the threshold.
• You choose what counts. Exclude up to 20 products from the count, such as gift cards or cheap add-ons.
• Sold-out gifts don't break the cart. The gift is a real product variant, so Shopify's stock rules apply. If Shopify reports the gift sold out, the drawer skips it and tries again five minutes later.

Four things stay with you.

• Discount codes. Section Store counts the cart subtotal before discounts. Example: the gift unlocks at $75, and a shopper has $80 of products plus a 20% code. Shopify charges $64 for the products, and the gift still applies. Set the threshold with your codes in mind.
• Combinations. Section Store's gift discount combines with order, product and shipping discounts. A code that doesn't combine with product discounts can cost the gift its $0 price. The drawer then lets the shopper remove the charged gift. Test your codes before a sale.
• Stock. Leave Continue selling when out of stock unchecked on the gift product. Keep enough on hand for the sale.
• Discount slots. Shopify allows 25 active automatic discounts, app discounts included. Section Store's cart uses one for all its tiers. Each live bundle uses one more.

For more ways to lift order value, see our guides to increasing average order value on Shopify and Shopify discount apps.

How we compared

We compared 8 free gift apps on October 13, 2026. We read each app's Shopify App Store listing and, where it pointed to one, the vendor's pricing page. Prices are monthly billing in USD. Ratings and review counts are the App Store's numbers that day.

We didn't install the competitors. Their features come from their listings and pricing pages, and we say "not stated" where a page is silent. Section Store facts come from our own product and code. Shopify's rules come from help.shopify.com.

We make Section Store, so we list it first. The order isn't a ranking. Sources: Shopify Buy X get Y, Shopify discount combinations, Section Store, BOGOS, BOGOS pricing, EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift, Gift Box, Dr Free Gift, Fokkio, Kaching CartDrawer, Kaching Bundles.