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Squarespace September 2026

Is Shopify's Buy Button Going Away? What Squarespace and WordPress Sellers Should Know

Shopify's free Buy Button still works, but its code lost support on Jan 1, 2026. Here's how to check your setup before the holidays.

For people who already have a website, Shopify’s Buy Button page makes a simple offer: “Add your products to any site or blog with the Buy Button” (Shopify). You keep your Squarespace or WordPress site, and Shopify handles products, inventory and checkout behind it. “All the power of Shopify in a single button,” the page says.

The public code for it goes back more than ten years. Shopify opened the JS Buy SDK repository in January 2016 and the Buy Button JS repository that June (JS Buy SDK, Buy Button JS). It suits sellers whose website comes first: a ceramics studio on Squarespace, a writer selling prints from a WordPress blog, a band selling merch from a Webflow page. The same idea now runs Shopify’s checkout inside AI assistants, which we covered in how Shopify sells without a Shopify theme.

Shopify’s Buy Button page still says “The JavaScript Buy SDK makes it easy for anyone to build a completely custom, branded online store on any website or platform.” That SDK is the part Shopify stopped maintaining. Merchants have noticed, and one Shopify Community thread asks the question outright: “What is the future of Buy Button?”

Is Shopify’s Buy Button going away?

No. Buttons made in Shopify’s Buy Button channel still work on Squarespace, WordPress, Wix and Webflow, and Shopify hasn’t announced an end date. But the code they run on, the JS Buy SDK, was deprecated in January 2025, and support for its final version ended on January 1, 2026 (Shopify’s README). Nothing has broken, and nothing is being improved.

For a store selling two simple products, that’s fine. If your holiday sales run through that button, spend ten minutes checking what you’re running.

What did Shopify change about the Buy Button?

Shopify’s free Buy Button is a small library, Buy Button JS, built on top of a larger one, the JS Buy SDK. The SDK is the part that talks to Shopify. Here’s what happened to it:

DateWhat happened
Dec 3, 2024Shopify announces that the JS Buy SDK is deprecated as of January 2025 and “will no longer be updated or maintained”
July 1, 2025Deadline to move to SDK v3.0. Shopify warned that without the change, “customers will not be able to complete purchases”
Aug 25, 2025Last Buy Button JS release, v3.0.6 (changelog)
Jan 1, 2026Support for JS Buy SDK v3.0 ends (Shopify’s README)

Buy Button JS 3.0.6 runs on version 3.0.7 of that SDK (package.json). Buttons made in the Buy Button channel load Shopify’s latest script (Shopify Help), so they picked up the final version automatically. Code pinned to an older version had to be updated by hand (Buy Button JS docs).

Shopify’s recommended replacements are the Storefront API Client, Hydrogen and Storefront Web Components (README). All three are developer tools. None of them is a copy-and-paste button for a Squarespace page.

What does “deprecated but still working” mean for your store?

The button still runs, but Shopify has stopped working on it.

It won’t get new features. Shopify’s free Buy Button can’t sell subscription products. A request to add subscriptions has been open on GitHub since April 2022 (#805), with another since November 2024 (#877). A request for local-currency pricing through Shopify Markets has been open since October 2022 (#826).

Bugs stay put. Buy Button JS had 118 open issues on GitHub as of September 28, 2026 (issues).

It talks to Shopify in an outdated way. The script asks for Storefront API version 2025-01. Shopify supports each API version for at least 12 months, then answers requests for a retired version with the oldest one still available (Shopify’s versioning docs). We sent a 2025-01 request to Shopify’s public demo store on September 25, 2026, and Shopify answered with version 2025-10 plus a version warning. Your button works because Shopify quietly fills the gap. Nobody has updated the button to match.

None of this means your button will stop working tomorrow. It does mean you don’t want to find a problem in December. The July 2025 deadline showed how these changes arrive: a changelog post, a date, and a warning that checkouts would fail on code that wasn’t updated.

How do I check which Buy Button I’m running?

It takes about ten minutes.

  1. Find the script. Open a page with a Buy Button, view the page source (Ctrl+U on Windows, Cmd+Option+U on a Mac) and search for sdks.shopifycdn.com/buy-button. If it’s there, you’re running Shopify’s free Buy Button.
  2. Check the URL. /buy-button/latest/ means you’re on the final release. A version number in that spot means your code is pinned to an old one. Shopify’s docs say to swap in latest or make a new button from the Buy Button channel (Buy Button JS docs).
  3. Ask about custom code. If a developer built your cart with the shopify-buy package, ask which version. Anything below 3.0 was due to stop checking out after July 1, 2025.
  4. Place a test order. Do it once on your phone and once on a laptop, start to finish, from your best-selling page. Then cancel and refund it in your Shopify admin.
  5. List what you need that the button can’t do. Subscriptions and local-currency prices are the two most common gaps. Add anything your holiday plans depend on.

Should I keep Shopify’s free Buy Button or switch?

It depends on what you sell and who maintains your site.

OptionGood fit ifWatch out for
Keep Shopify’s free Buy ButtonYou sell a few simple products, no subscriptions, and your test order went throughNo new features or fixes, and no promised repair if a future Shopify change breaks it
Build your own with Shopify’s developer toolsYou have a developer and want full controlYou own the upkeep, including every Shopify API change
Use an app that’s still being updatedYou want subscriptions, discounts or a site-wide cart without hiring a developerAny app is a bet on its maker. Check when it last shipped an update, whether support answers, and what reviewers say

How is Buy Button Plus different from Shopify’s free Buy Button?

Buy Button Plus is a Shopify app for the third option. You keep your Squarespace, WordPress, Wix or Webflow site, Shopify handles products, inventory and checkout, and orders land in your normal Shopify admin.

It doesn’t use the JS Buy SDK. It calls Shopify’s current Storefront API and cart directly, and it adds the store features the free button never had:

Shopify’s free Buy ButtonBuy Button Plus
Code underneathJS Buy SDK, deprecated, support ended Jan 1, 2026Shopify’s current Storefront API and cart
SubscriptionsNot supportedDigital and physical subscriptions
CartEmbedded cart with text and color optionsCart widget on every page, and a Saved Cart that follows shoppers across your site and between visits
Sales trackingBuy Button orders show in your Shopify adminButton-level analytics that show which Buy Button on which page drove each sale
StylingPreset shape, color, font and size optionsColors, fonts and shape to match your site, plus full custom CSS for the button and cart on Pro
Setup on WordPressPaste the embed codePaste the embed code, or use the free WordPress plugin

Both keep prices, photos and inventory in sync with Shopify automatically. Sources for the free-button column: Shopify’s guides to creating and running a Buy Button, and the open GitHub requests above.

Plans (Buy Button Plus):

  • Basic, free: one Buy Button, multi-variant products, purchase attribution, and the cart widget on one page.
  • Core, $14.99 a month or $145 a year: unlimited product and collection buttons, subscriptions, discounts, and the cart widget on every page.
  • Pro, $28.99 a month or $277 a year: everything in Core, plus custom button and cart CSS, one cart shared across all your buttons, and phone support.

Paid plans come with a 30-day free trial. If your test order turned up a gap, start your free 30-day trial and rebuild your best-selling button first.

What should I do this week?

Run the ten-minute check before your holiday code freeze. If your script loads latest, your test orders went through and you don’t sell subscriptions, leave the button alone and look again in January. While you’re in your Shopify admin, the product data checklist in our post on how AI shopping agents read Shopify catalogs takes another ten minutes and helps whichever button you use.

Shopify’s Buy Button isn’t going away. Shopify has just stopped working on it, and the idea behind it, your site in front and Shopify’s checkout behind it, is still the right one. If any check failed, Buy Button Plus keeps that same setup on code that’s still being updated, and adds the subscriptions and site-wide cart the free button never got. Switch now, while there’s still time to test before December.

Still running Shopify's free Buy Button?

Try free on Shopify

Sell from your own site with a Buy Button that's still being updated. Free Basic plan.

Frequently asked questions

Is Shopify discontinuing the Buy Button?
Shopify hasn’t announced an end date for the Buy Button channel, and buttons made there still work. The code they run on, the JS Buy SDK, was deprecated in January 2025, and support for its final version ended on January 1, 2026.
Do I need to update my Shopify Buy Button code?
If your embed code loads sdks.shopifycdn.com/buy-button/latest/, you’re already on the final version. If the URL has a version number instead of latest, replace it with latest or make a new button in the Buy Button channel, as Shopify’s docs recommend.
What happened on July 1, 2025?
It was Shopify’s deadline for moving JS Buy SDK code to version 3.0. Shopify warned that without the change, “customers will not be able to complete purchases.”
Can Shopify's Buy Button sell subscriptions?
No. Shopify’s free Buy Button doesn’t support subscription products, and requests to add them have been open on GitHub since 2022. Buy Button Plus supports digital and physical subscriptions on non-Shopify sites.
What does Shopify recommend instead of the JS Buy SDK?
The Storefront API Client, which Shopify calls “the preferred and more future-proof solution,” or Hydrogen and Storefront Web Components. All three need a developer.

Sources