If you set up a WooCommerce store recently, your cart and checkout probably already use blocks. If your store is a few years old, they likely still run on the classic shortcodes. Both work, both are supported, and the question many owners are now asking is whether it’s worth moving from one to the other.

The honest answer depends on what plugins you rely on, how much you’ve customized your checkout, and your theme. This post walks through the differences and gives you a way to test the switch without risking live orders.

What changed, briefly

For years, WooCommerce’s cart and checkout pages were built with two shortcodes: [woocommerce_cart] and [woocommerce_checkout]. The page content was a single shortcode, and everything you saw was generated by PHP templates in WooCommerce and your theme.

The Cart and Checkout blocks rebuild those pages as blocks in the WordPress editor. Each part of the checkout, such as contact information, shipping address, shipping options, payment and order summary, is its own inner block that you can see and arrange in the editor.

Since WooCommerce 8.3, released in late 2023, new installations get the block versions of these pages by default. Existing stores were not switched automatically. If you’ve been running WooCommerce since before then and never changed anything, you’re almost certainly still on the shortcodes.

You can check quickly: go to Pages, open your Checkout page in the editor, and see whether it contains a shortcode or a Checkout block. You can also confirm which pages WooCommerce uses under WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced, in the page setup section.

For background on how blocks arrived in WooCommerce in the first place, see our earlier post on the chronicles of WooCommerce blocks.

Classic shortcodes vs blocks at a glance

Reasons to switch

A cleaner default checkout

The block checkout is tidy without any work. Fields are grouped logically, validation messages appear inline, and the layout adapts well to phones. For a store running a basic or older theme, that can be a visible improvement on its own.

Editing without code

You can change text, toggle options such as company name or address line 2, and rearrange sections in the editor. With the shortcode checkout, many of those changes need a snippet or a plugin.

Where development is heading

New checkout features from WooCommerce are increasingly built for blocks first. If you plan to keep your store for years, moving at some point is likely. Doing it on your own schedule is better than doing it in a rush later.

Reasons to wait

Your extensions don’t support it yet

This is the big one. Plugins that add or change things at checkout need specific support for the block version. Common categories to check:

• Checkout field editors and custom fields
• Gift wrapping, delivery date pickers and other checkout add-ons
• Some payment gateways, especially smaller or regional ones
• Subscription, membership or deposit plugins
• Anything that adds content through classic checkout hooks, such as notices, upsell boxes or custom HTML

If a plugin relies on classic PHP hooks like woocommerce_checkout_fields or actions that print content into the checkout template, those hooks don’t affect the block checkout. The plugin might appear to work but silently do nothing. When you open the Checkout page in the editor, WooCommerce shows a notice if it detects active extensions that haven’t declared compatibility, which is a useful starting point, but don’t treat it as a complete test.

You’ve heavily customized the classic checkout

If a developer has written custom code for your checkout (extra fields, conditional logic, custom validation), that work will need rebuilding for blocks. Budget for it before switching.

Peak season is coming

Don’t change your checkout weeks before your busiest period. If you rely on Black Friday or the holiday season, either switch in the next few weeks with time to test, or wait until January.

A practical compatibility check

Before switching, make a list of everything that touches your cart or checkout. Here’s a simple way to do it.

1. List active plugins. Go to Plugins and note every one that relates to payments, shipping, checkout fields, coupons, upsells, subscriptions, taxes or order notes.
2. Check each plugin’s documentation or changelog for “Cart and Checkout blocks” support. Search the plugin’s support forum if the docs are unclear.
3. Note anything you added with code snippets, for example in a child theme’s functions.php or a snippets plugin.
4. Check your payment gateways. Make sure each one you use lists block checkout support, including any express payment buttons you rely on.
5. Mark each item as “supports blocks”, “doesn’t support blocks”, or “unknown”.

If anything important is in the second or third column, you have your answer for now: stay on the shortcodes and check again in a few months.

How to test the switch safely

Use a staging site

Most managed WordPress hosts offer one-click staging. If yours doesn’t, a staging plugin can copy your site to a private URL. Do all the testing there first.

Replace the shortcodes with blocks

On the staging site, edit the Cart page and the Checkout page. Remove the shortcode and add the Cart block or Checkout block respectively. Update the pages. Going back is just as simple: put the shortcode back in place of the block. The block settings in the editor also offer a way to revert to the classic version.

If you use a block theme, your cart and checkout may also be controlled by templates in the Site Editor, so check there as well.

Run a full set of test orders

Don’t stop at one order. Try:

• A guest order and a logged-in customer order
• Each payment method you offer, in test mode
• Each shipping zone and method, including local pickup if you offer it
• A coupon code, including one that should fail
• A product with variations and one with add-ons or custom fields
• A phone and a desktop browser

After each order, check the order in WooCommerce → Orders. Confirm that all expected data arrived: custom fields, delivery dates, gift messages, order notes. Missing data is the most common sign of an incompatible plugin.

Check your emails

Confirm that order confirmation emails still include everything they did before, especially any custom fields.

Where your theme fits in

The block checkout brings its own layout and styles, but it inherits typography, colours and button styles from your theme. A theme that’s well built for WooCommerce will make the block checkout look like part of the store rather than a bolted-on form.

When you test, look at:

• Button styles. Does the Place order button match the rest of your store?
• Form fields. Are borders, focus states and error states consistent with your other forms?
• Spacing on mobile. Is there enough room between fields and around the order summary?
• Header and footer. Many stores simplify the header on checkout pages to reduce distractions. Check whether your theme lets you do that.

If your current theme makes the block checkout look awkward, that may be a sign the theme itself is getting old. iConvert Themes are built with WooCommerce stores in mind, but whichever theme you use, test the checkout on real devices before going live.

A simple decision guide

• New store, few checkout plugins: use the blocks. There’s little reason not to.
• Existing store, standard setup, all key plugins support blocks: test on staging and switch during a quiet period.
• Existing store with a custom-coded checkout or unsupported plugins: stay on the shortcodes for now and review again later.
• Any store within a few weeks of its peak season: wait until after it.

If you do stay on the classic checkout, you can still improve it. Our guides on customizing the WooCommerce checkout page and WooCommerce checkout add-ons cover plenty of changes that work with the shortcode version.

Making the call for your store

The block-based cart and checkout are a real improvement for most straightforward stores, and they’re clearly where WooCommerce is going. But a checkout that loses custom data or drops a payment method costs far more than one that looks slightly dated. Check your plugins, test on staging, avoid peak season, and switch when your setup is ready rather than when the headlines say so.

If you’re reviewing your theme as part of this, take a look at iConvert Themes and their free WooCommerce-ready templates.

Flavius Noja

Flavius is an online marketing specialist with experience in the digital field. He is passionate about everything that means the online world, sports, but also crypto.