How to customize Shopify checkout: what you can change, and how to do it without code

Customizing Shopify checkout used to mean editing a template file called checkout.liquid. That file no longer works on the checkout steps, and most of the advice you will find about it is out of date. Today there are three ways to change your checkout: the checkout editor that every store has, apps built on checkout UI extensions, and Shopify Functions for logic such as payment and delivery rules. Which of those you can use depends on your plan.

This is the practical guide: what you can change natively, what needs an app, what is Shopify Plus only, and five worked examples using Checkout Ninja that you can copy without a developer. If you want the technical explainer on how extensibility works under the hood, Checkout Guy's Shopify checkout extensibility guide covers the developer side in depth.

The short answer

• On every plan you can brand the checkout (logo, colours, fonts), choose a one-page or three-page layout, decide which customer fields are shown or required, and add apps to the Thank you and Order status pages.
• On Shopify Plus you can also add app blocks to the information, shipping and payment steps, which is where trust badges, custom fields, upsells and notices go, and use the Checkout Branding API for deeper styling.
• On no plan can you move the pay button, reorder Shopify's core steps or inject your own scripts into checkout. Those limits are what keep checkout fast, secure and upgrade-safe.

What you can change in the checkout editor (every plan)

In Shopify admin go to Settings, then Checkout, and click Customize (Shopify labels it Edit on some configurations) next to your checkout. The editor has three sidebars: Sections for the page layout, Settings for appearance, and Apps for app blocks. The Settings sidebar is where branding lives:

• Logo: upload it, align it left, centre or right, and set its width in pixels.
• Colours: header, main content area, order summary, buttons and accents, and the error colour for form fields. You can save a reusable palette.
• Typography: choose separate heading and body fonts from Shopify's font list.
• Backgrounds: a colour or image behind the order summary. Since 5 February 2026 Shopify no longer allows a background image on the header or main content area.
• Form fields: make input fields transparent.
• Layout: one-page or three-page checkout.

The rest of the native options sit on the Checkout settings page itself, under the checkout form options:

• Customer contact method: email only, or phone number or email.
• Full name: require first and last name, or only the last name.
• Company name and Address line 2: don't include, optional or required.
• Shipping address phone number: don't include, optional or required.
• Marketing opt-in, tipping, address collection preferences and cart quantity limits.

Stores on the Advanced or Plus plan can also customize checkout per market, for example a different configuration for EU shoppers. Everything above is free and needs no app.

A non-Plus trick: put trust content in the checkout logo

Because the checkout logo is just an image you upload, stores on any plan can use it to carry a small guarantee line or payment row under the brand mark. Our free Checkout Logo Maker builds one in the browser and exports a transparent PNG you upload in the editor. Keep it short: the header is small on mobile, and one line of promises reads better than a wall of badges.

What needs an app: checkout UI extensions

Anything that adds new content or new inputs to checkout, rather than restyling what is already there, comes from a checkout UI extension shipped inside an app. On the information, shipping and payment steps these extensions are available only to stores on Shopify Plus. On the Thank you and Order status pages they are available on the Basic plan and higher. Shopify also controls placement: an app block can only go into the highlighted areas the editor offers, with a maximum of three apps per area.

In practice, merchants reach for app blocks for four jobs, and each maps to a group of Checkout Ninja blocks:

• Reassurance: trust badges, payment icons, live reviews and testimonials. See Shopify checkout trust badges and social proof.
• Information capture: gift messages, delivery dates, PO numbers, consent checkboxes, properly formatted phone numbers. See Shopify checkout custom fields.
• Revenue: one-tap upsells, a free-shipping progress bar, available coupons and shipping protection. See Conversion Boosters.
• Messaging: shipping cut-offs, customs notices, policy summaries. See Information & Messaging blocks.

What needs Shopify Functions: logic, not layout

Shopify Functions change how checkout behaves rather than what it shows. The main jobs are custom discounts, hiding, renaming or reordering payment and delivery options, and cart and checkout validation that stops the buyer from continuing until a condition is met. Stores on any plan can use public App Store apps that contain Functions; custom apps that contain Functions need Shopify Plus. Shopify Scripts, the older Plus-only way of doing this, stopped running on 30 June 2026, and Functions are the replacement.

In Checkout Ninja this layer is configured from a visual editor rather than code: Shopify checkout rules fire actions from cart and customer conditions, Hide Payment Methods filters the payment menu, and Address Validator checks the shipping address before the customer pays.

Shopify Plus vs other plans, at a glance

• Checkout editor branding (logo, colours, fonts, layout): every plan.
• Checkout form options (which fields are shown or required): every plan.
• Market-specific checkout configurations: Advanced and Plus.
• App blocks on the Thank you and Order status pages: Basic and higher.
• App blocks on the information, shipping and payment steps: Plus only.
• Public apps that use Shopify Functions: every plan. Custom apps with Functions: Plus only.
• Checkout Branding API for advanced styling: Plus only.
• Shopify's own free Checkout Blocks app: content blocks on the Thank you and Order status pages from Basic up; all its other features are Plus only.

That split is why Checkout Ninja is a Shopify Plus app: its blocks live on the three checkout steps where the buying decision is made. If you are not on Plus, the checkout editor, form options and the logo trick above are the tools you have, and our comparison with native Shopify checkout shows exactly where the line sits.

How to customize Shopify checkout with Checkout Ninja: five examples

Every example below happens inside Shopify's own checkout editor. Install Checkout Ninja, open Settings, then Checkout, then Customize, and add blocks from the Apps sidebar or with Add block in the section where you want them. Nothing here needs code, and every block is on the 3-day free trial. If you would rather try the blocks before installing anything, the Playground lets you drag them into a sample checkout.

Example 1: trust badges above the pay button

1. Add the Trust Badge block, or Trust Badges (Horizontal) if you want a single compact row on mobile.
2. Drag it directly above the payment section or the Complete order button, where hesitation happens.
3. Pick three promises you can keep: one for returns, one for delivery, one for security.
4. Add a Payment Icon row underneath. It reads your enabled methods from Shopify Payments, so there are no icons to upload. The Accepted Payment Methods template sets it up in one click.
5. Save, place a test order, and check the layout on a phone.

The full walkthrough, including which badges are worth the space, is in how to add trust badges to Shopify checkout.

Example 2: a gift message or delivery date field

1. Add a Conditional Checkbox labelled "Sending this as a gift?".
2. Nest a Gift Message field under it. It only appears when the box is ticked, shows a character counter, and hides prices on the packing slip for that order.
3. For made-to-order or perishable products, add a Date Picker and set a minimum lead time and blackout dates.
4. Save. Each value is stored on the order as a custom attribute, visible in Shopify admin and to your fulfilment tools.

Two templates set this up for you: Gift Option Toggle and Add a Note to This Gift. For B2B stores the same pattern works with a Text Input for a PO number and a Dropdown for payment terms.

Example 3: a free-shipping progress bar

1. Start from the Free Shipping Progress Bar template.
2. Set the threshold to your real free-shipping minimum.
3. Leave the message on Auto so it updates from "Add $X more" to "You unlocked free shipping" as the cart changes. The bar hides itself once the cart qualifies.
4. Optionally add an Upsell block below it with a low-priced item that closes the gap.

Our guide to in-checkout vs post-purchase upsells covers which products belong in that slot.

Example 4: hide a payment method for certain carts

1. Open Hide Payment Methods in the Checkout Ninja admin. It lists the methods enabled in your store.
2. Pick the method to filter, for example cash on delivery or a buy-now-pay-later option.
3. Set the condition: cart subtotal, shipping country, customer tag or segment.
4. Build a test cart that meets the condition and confirm the method disappears from checkout.

This is the most common job old Shopify Scripts used to do. For wider logic, such as hiding a shipping method or showing a block when a condition is met, use Shopify checkout rules.

Example 5: a notice only international shoppers see

1. Add the Customs Duties & Tax Notice template, a country-aware banner that shows before payment.
2. Set your policy per destination country: duties and taxes included (DDP) or duties may apply on delivery (DDU), and edit the copy to match your tone.
3. Leave Show only on international orders switched on, so domestic shoppers never see it. For any other block, the same targeting is available through Conditional Visibility on shipping country.
4. Test with a domestic and an international address.

Start from a template instead of a blank checkout

If you do not want to design from scratch, the block templates library has pre-configured setups for free shipping, coupons, upsells, reviews, payment icons, gifting and shipping notices. Each one explains when to use it and when not to, and you can change every setting after it is added. The features overview lists every block and platform feature in one place.

Moving over from checkout.liquid or Shopify Scripts

Shopify moved everyone off checkout.liquid because heavily edited templates broke on updates and could not receive new features such as one-page checkout and Shop Pay improvements. The trade is less freedom in exchange for a checkout that keeps working and gets new Shopify features on day one. If your old checkout had customizations, rebuilding them is usually an afternoon:

1. List every customization you used to have, including the ones on the thank-you page and in the order confirmation email.
2. Map each one to a layer: branding goes in the checkout editor, content and fields become app blocks, and logic becomes a rule or a Function.
3. Rebuild the old Script jobs: hiding a payment method maps to Hide Payment Methods, hiding or renaming a shipping rate under a cart condition maps to checkout rules, and automatic discounts map to Shopify's native discounts.
4. Add the fastest wins first, usually trust badges and payment icons, then the fields and offers.
5. Preview with a test cart that matches each rule, then publish.

What you still cannot customize

Be wary of anyone promising a fully custom Shopify checkout. On every plan, Shopify owns the core flow: you cannot move the pay button, reorder the core steps, restyle the native form beyond the branding settings, run your own scripts in checkout, or read card details. Those limits are what keep checkout fast, PCI-compliant and compatible with every new Shopify release. The upside is that customizations made through the editor, app blocks and Functions do not break when you change or update your theme.

Native editor, app or developer: how to choose

• You only need your brand's look: use the native checkout editor. It is free on every plan.
• You are on Plus and want trust signals, extra fields, offers or rules: use an app. It is faster than a custom build and nothing to maintain.
• You need a bespoke interface or logic no app offers: that is a custom checkout UI extension or Function built by a developer. The Checkout Agency builds custom checkout UI extensions for Plus brands, and Checkout Guy's extensibility guide explains what a build involves.

Most Plus stores end up with a mix: branding in the editor, three or four app blocks where the buying decision happens, and a couple of rules. That is a checkout that is recognisably yours, without a line of code to maintain.