Shopify’s 2026–27 deadlines: what to check in your store now

The calendar at a glance

These are the platform dates most likely to affect a merchant’s store, from Shopify’s changelogs, developer documentation and help centre, as published on September 21, 2026.

If you used Shopify Scripts, check your discounts now

Editing and publishing Shopify Scripts ended on April 15, 2026, and all Scripts stopped running on June 30, 2026. Any tiered pricing, buy-one-get-one offer, shipping rule or payment rule that lived in a Script has been gone since then, whether or not anyone noticed.

The replacement is Shopify Functions, usually through an app. Shopify’s documentation says stores on any plan can use public App Store apps that contain functions, while custom apps containing Shopify Function APIs are limited to the Plus plan. That difference decides whether a bespoke rule needs Plus or can be rebuilt with an existing app.

Check the evidence rather than the settings. Compare discount usage, average order value and shipping revenue for June against July, look for customer messages about missing offers and test each rule your team believes is still live.

Did your tracking survive the checkout upgrade?

August 26, 2026 was the deadline for non-Plus stores to upgrade their Thank you and Order status pages, and stores that had not upgraded were upgraded automatically. Shopify also notes that script tags had already stopped working on the Order status page. Code pasted into the old additional scripts box, or injected there by apps, may no longer run. Plus stores went through the equivalent change after August 28, 2025.

The supported replacement is customer events: pixels that Shopify runs in a controlled environment, installed through official channel apps such as Google & YouTube or Facebook & Instagram, or as custom pixels. Check each destination that counts a purchase: Google Analytics, Google Ads conversions, Meta, affiliate networks and post-purchase surveys.

Compare purchases reported by each platform against Shopify’s own order count for the weeks either side of the upgrade. A sudden gap is the fastest way to find a tracker that no longer fires.

Shopify changed how its analytics measures sessions on September 21, 2026. Sessions, conversion rate and related rates may shift from that date; orders, sales and customer counts are unchanged. Record it so a reporting change isn’t mistaken for a trading change.

Replace script-tag apps before March 2027

Script tags were the old way for apps to add code to a storefront. From October 1, 2026, apps can no longer create or update them, and from March 1, 2027 Shopify stops injecting them into storefronts altogether. Shopify tells developers to move to app embed blocks, shipped in theme app extensions, or to web pixels for analytics.

Merchants rarely know which method an app uses, so ask. List the apps that change what shoppers see — reviews, chat, pop-ups, upsells, trackers — and ask each vendor whether it still relies on script tags and when it will move. In the theme editor, apps that already use app embeds appear under App embeds, where you can switch them on or off.

Treat this as a chance to remove apps you no longer use. Every unnecessary script is also a performance cost.

Prepare for shipping to move into Markets

Shopify is moving shipping configuration out of delivery profiles and into Markets, so that shipping options attach directly to each market. The rollout starts on October 1, 2026, and all merchants will be on it by July 1, 2027.

Before your store moves, document the current setup: profiles, zones, rates, conditions, carrier-calculated rates, local delivery and pickup. Note any app that reads or writes shipping profiles. When the new model reaches your store, compare real checkouts against that record for each market you sell to, including separate English and French experiences if you run them.

Plan the move to new customer accounts

Shopify deprecated legacy customer accounts on February 26, 2026. They are no longer available to new stores or to existing stores not already using them, and Shopify has said a final sunset date will be announced later in 2026.

The deadline is not the only reason to move. Dawn 16.0.0, released in August 2026, removed the legacy account templates, so stores on legacy accounts must upgrade before publishing that theme version. New customer accounts sign customers in with email and a one-time code and include store credit, self-serve returns and B2B support.

Test the flows your customers actually use: order history, reordering, address changes, subscriptions and any wholesale login. Customer account links in emails, navigation and apps need to point to the new pages.

Check integrations against API versions

Custom apps and integrations, such as ERP, inventory, 3PL or reporting connections, call Shopify’s APIs at a specific version. Each stable version is supported for at least 12 months: version 2025-10 until October 16, 2026 and 2026-01 until January 16, 2027.

When an app requests a version that is no longer accessible, Shopify falls forward and responds with the oldest accessible stable version. The integration keeps answering, but the data it receives can change shape. List every integration, the version it calls and its owner, and schedule updates before those dates rather than after something breaks.

Canadian stores: revisit the Shopify Tax decision

Shopify Tax helps stores collect GST, HST, PST, QST and RST in Canada. Since August 15, 2026 it carries a transaction fee on Canadian orders once a store’s global sales pass $100,000 CAD: 0.25% on the Starter, Basic, Grow and Advanced plans and 0.15% on Plus, capped at $0.99 CAD per order.

For many stores the fee is small next to the cost of getting tax wrong. Make it a deliberate decision with your accountant rather than a line that appeared on an invoice.

A one-hour audit

• List every discount, shipping and payment rule you believe is live, and test each one at checkout.
• Compare purchases in each advertising and analytics platform with Shopify orders since August 26, 2026.
• Ask each storefront app vendor whether the app still uses script tags.
• Export or document your shipping profiles before the move into Markets.
• Confirm which customer accounts version the store uses, and plan the upgrade if it is legacy.
• List custom apps and integrations with the API version each one calls.
• Record who owns each item and when it will be checked again.