Shopify offers two collection types. Smart collections (also called automated collections) add products automatically based on rules you define, such as tag, vendor, or price. Custom collections (manual collections) only contain products you add by hand. Smart collections scale better for large catalogs, while custom collections give you exact control over membership. Both types support Shopify’s built-in sort orders.
How Do the Two Types Differ?
Smart collections are rule driven. You set conditions, for example tag equals sale, price below a threshold, or vendor equals a brand, and Shopify adds or removes matching products on its own as the catalog changes. Custom collections are static lists: a product is in the collection because someone put it there, and it stays until someone takes it out.
- Smart collections update membership automatically, which suits large or fast-moving catalogs.
- Custom collections give exact membership control, which suits curated edits, gift guides, and campaign pages.
- A product can belong to many collections of both types at the same time.
What Does Each Type Mean for Sorting?
Membership and order are separate decisions. Both types let you choose from Shopify’s built-in sort orders, including manual drag and drop. The trap is pairing automatic membership with a manual order: new products that match your rules land at the bottom where nobody scrolls, and sold-out items keep holding prime positions. A collection whose contents change daily needs an order that changes daily too.
Custom collections have the opposite problem. Their membership never drifts, but their order still goes stale as demand, stock, and seasonality move. Either way, the fix is the same: automate the ordering so it reflects current data instead of the day someone last dragged tiles around. Dynasort applies sorting recipes to both Smart and Custom collections, and its managed collections can take over membership as well. You can compare automated sorting against the built-in options to see where each falls short.
Dynasort sorts both collection types automatically. Install it from the Shopify App Store or see how it works.