FOR THE KNOWLEDGE
SEEKERS
Goodbye Checkout.liquid 👋
Aug 9, 2024
ENGINEERING
What you need to know when upgrading to checkout extensibility.
If you’re not aware of it by now, Shopify announced back in 2023 that they would deprecate the checkout.liquid theme file in favour of checkout extensibility. Checkout.liquid is, as the name suggests, the theme file that Shopify Plus merchants would make changes on if they wanted to edit their checkout experience.
Since the introduction of checkout extensibility, which made editing checkouts much easier, the need for checkout.liquid has basically vanished.
So, if you haven’t upgraded to checkout extensibility yet, what does that mean for you and what are the key dates? Better yet, if your checkout is heavily customised with additional scripts, what does that mean for you?
Why is checkout.liquid being sunset?
Shopify is sunsetting checkout.liquid to improve security, maintainability, and enhance the overall checkout experience for merchants and users. This is a gradual change with the final August 28, 2025 deadline. (As of writing this)
Checkout Extensibility is a new, secure, and upgrade-safe way to customize your checkout process on Shopify Plus. It allows for faster app integrations and advanced branding options, replacing the outdated checkout.liquid system.
Checkout - August 13, 2024
Shopify Plus merchants are required to upgrade to checkout extensibility by August 13, 2024.
The affected pages include information, shipping, and payment and the impact of not upgrading on time can be severe.
Non-plus merchants are NOT impacted by this deadline.
Ok, so what’s the impact?
Lack of support
checkout.liquid customisations will be locked & uneditable. Shopify Support will not provide support for updating or fixing.Payment limitations
The ability to deactivate payment gateways or switch providers will be disabled.Unreliable fraud detection
Accurate fraud and risk assessment becomes unreliable and fraud indicators will no longer be available for new orders.Potential payout delays
Since orders will be deemed higher risk, payouts may be delayed by up to 5 days, impacting your cashflow.
Thank you & Order status pages - August 28, 2025
Shopify Plus merchants are required to upgrade their order and thank you pages by August 28, 2025, including, apps using script tags and additional scripts.
Tracking snippets that don’t have native apps will require custom web pixels to continue tracking effectively.
Not upgrading on time can have a severe impact on custom discounting scripts and other various customisations present on your website.
Non-plus merchants are NOT impacted by this deadline.
Ok, so what’s the impact?
Loss of customisation
Thank You and Order Status pages will revert to default settings, losing all customisations.Shopify Scripts will be disabled
Merchants will need to transition to using Shopify Functions for customisations previously handled by custom discounting scripts.Tracking snippets lose support
Any tracking snippets/additional scripts not handled by native apps will lose support, which can result in a loss of conversion tracking. Custom Web Pixels have to be created to mitigate this.
In summary, don’t leave your checkout extensibility upgrade to the last minute.
If you’re a brand that has checkout customisations, you will need to prepare ahead of time and create the relevant custom web pixels to ensure your operations aren’t affected.
You can easily start your process by checking your full list of customisations through Settings > Checkout.
You can read the full guide by Shopify here.
If you would like to have a no-obligation discovery chat to our team of Shopify Plus experts, you can reach out to us at hello@atlasstudios.agency.
If you’re not aware of it by now, Shopify announced back in 2023 that they would deprecate the checkout.liquid theme file in favour of checkout extensibility. Checkout.liquid is, as the name suggests, the theme file that Shopify Plus merchants would make changes on if they wanted to edit their checkout experience.
Since the introduction of checkout extensibility, which made editing checkouts much easier, the need for checkout.liquid has basically vanished.
So, if you haven’t upgraded to checkout extensibility yet, what does that mean for you and what are the key dates? Better yet, if your checkout is heavily customised with additional scripts, what does that mean for you?
Why is checkout.liquid being sunset?
Shopify is sunsetting checkout.liquid to improve security, maintainability, and enhance the overall checkout experience for merchants and users. This is a gradual change with the final August 28, 2025 deadline. (As of writing this)
Checkout Extensibility is a new, secure, and upgrade-safe way to customize your checkout process on Shopify Plus. It allows for faster app integrations and advanced branding options, replacing the outdated checkout.liquid system.
Checkout - August 13, 2024
Shopify Plus merchants are required to upgrade to checkout extensibility by August 13, 2024.
The affected pages include information, shipping, and payment and the impact of not upgrading on time can be severe.
Non-plus merchants are NOT impacted by this deadline.
Ok, so what’s the impact?
Lack of support
checkout.liquid customisations will be locked & uneditable. Shopify Support will not provide support for updating or fixing.Payment limitations
The ability to deactivate payment gateways or switch providers will be disabled.Unreliable fraud detection
Accurate fraud and risk assessment becomes unreliable and fraud indicators will no longer be available for new orders.Potential payout delays
Since orders will be deemed higher risk, payouts may be delayed by up to 5 days, impacting your cashflow.
Thank you & Order status pages - August 28, 2025
Shopify Plus merchants are required to upgrade their order and thank you pages by August 28, 2025, including, apps using script tags and additional scripts.
Tracking snippets that don’t have native apps will require custom web pixels to continue tracking effectively.
Not upgrading on time can have a severe impact on custom discounting scripts and other various customisations present on your website.
Non-plus merchants are NOT impacted by this deadline.
Ok, so what’s the impact?
Loss of customisation
Thank You and Order Status pages will revert to default settings, losing all customisations.Shopify Scripts will be disabled
Merchants will need to transition to using Shopify Functions for customisations previously handled by custom discounting scripts.Tracking snippets lose support
Any tracking snippets/additional scripts not handled by native apps will lose support, which can result in a loss of conversion tracking. Custom Web Pixels have to be created to mitigate this.
In summary, don’t leave your checkout extensibility upgrade to the last minute.
If you’re a brand that has checkout customisations, you will need to prepare ahead of time and create the relevant custom web pixels to ensure your operations aren’t affected.
You can easily start your process by checking your full list of customisations through Settings > Checkout.
You can read the full guide by Shopify here.
If you would like to have a no-obligation discovery chat to our team of Shopify Plus experts, you can reach out to us at hello@atlasstudios.agency.
