Switching from Bird: what changes and what it costs
Free plan available · Plus from $9.99 a month for the first 25 shops to subscribe (usually $14.99), with a free trial of up to 14 days
The short answer
Bird's Free plan takes 10 orders a month and Essential 250 for $19.99. Its per-day order limits start on Growth at $49.99. Blackout Dates has no order cap on any plan, and order limits per time slot come with Plus at $14.99.
If you're a bakery, florist or food shop that wants customers to pick a day you can make, with closed days, notice and limits, Blackout Dates does that for less, with notice, days and seasons per product from Plus.
What you'd pay each month
Bird charges by orders a month. Blackout Dates has no order cap on any plan, Free included, so a busy December never moves you up a plan. The prices below are for one location; more than one is Pro, at $29.99.
| Orders a month | Bird, cheapest plan | Bird, with order limits | Blackout Dates, with order limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 orders | Essential, $19.99 | Growth, $49.99 | Plus, $14.99 |
| 300 orders | Growth, $49.99 | Growth, $49.99 | Plus, $14.99 |
| 1,200 orders | Scale, $99.99 | Scale, $99.99 | Plus, $14.99 |
Source: Bird Pickup & Delivery Date on the Shopify App Store (opens in a new tab) Read 30 October 2026. Prices are monthly in US dollars; check the listing for today's.
Where Bird's features are in Blackout Dates
The features Bird's listing names, the Bird plan each starts on, and the Blackout Dates plan that has it.
| In Bird | Bird plan | In Blackout Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Date and time slots | Free | Pickup time slots and local delivery times (Free) |
| Blockout slots | Free | Closed dates and weekly closed days, whole days, on every plan (Free: 10 closed dates) |
| Cut off and prep time | Free | Days' notice on every plan; a last order time on Plus |
| Rates | Free | Not the same: a surcharge on the dates you choose (Plus); your delivery fees stay in Shopify's own shipping settings |
| Calendar styling and multi-language | Free | Your own colour and wording, in 13 languages (Free) |
| Zipcode validation | Essential | A postcode check before local delivery (Free) |
| Shopify POS integration | Essential | Set a date on phone, draft and in-person orders (Plus) |
| Product-level preparation times | Growth | Notice, days and seasons per product or variant (Plus) |
| Per day order limits | Growth | Cap orders per time slot; a day's total only for orders without a time (Plus) |
| Integration with Google Calendar | Growth | Your dated orders in Google, Outlook or any calendar (Pro) |
| Customize checkout | Growth | No checkout fields of our own; checkout shows only the delivery method the customer chose (Plus) |
| Post order editing by customer | Scale | Customers change their own date from a link (Pro) |
| Automated reports | Scale | Booking trends and order reports when you open them, not emailed (Pro) |
Source: Bird Pickup & Delivery Date on the Shopify App Store (opens in a new tab) Read 30 October 2026. Prices are monthly in US dollars; check the listing for today's.
What Blackout Dates doesn't do
Check these before you switch, so nothing you rely on goes missing:
- No discounts by date. Peak dates can carry a surcharge on Plus and Pro, but there's no automatic discount for quiet days.
- No 3PL connections. Bird lists 3PL integrations on Scale. Blackout Dates is for shops that pack and deliver themselves.
- No calendar at the till. On Plus and Pro you set the date on a Shopify POS order after the sale, from the order's page, rather than picking it at the till.
- No date picker inside checkout. Customers pick their date in the cart, before checkout. Shopify only lets apps add to checkout's steps before payment on Shopify Plus stores.
How to switch without missing an order
- Add Blackout Dates, free, and fill in Quick Setup: your closed days, notice and how customers get their orders.
- In the theme editor, turn off Bird's calendar (its app embed, or its block in your cart section) and switch on the Date Picker Embed, then save. One calendar at a time, so customers aren't asked for a date twice.
- Put a product in your cart and check the calendar offers the days you expect, and that the cart still shows its checkout button. Some themes hide it until a date app shows it, and a block left by a removed app can keep it hidden.
- Uninstall Bird once the new calendar is working. Shopify stops an app's charges when it's uninstalled.
- Paste our snippet into your order confirmation email so customers see their date: email & checkout setup.
Orders placed before the switch keep the date Bird saved on them, in the order's details. Blackout Dates usually can't read another app's dates, so those orders may not count towards your limits. On Plus and Pro, an order with no date we recognise shows Set a date in the Blackout Dates. Order Date block. Your notice and limits apply there, so bring orders in early, or keep your limits a little lower until they've gone out.
We'll set it up for you, free
Email help@blackoutdates.app with your shop's address and how you use Bird, and we'll set up your closed days, notice, hours and limits to match, on any plan. We reply within one business day, Monday to Friday.
Switch from Bird, free to start
Free to install, with unlimited orders on every plan and no per-order fees.