The best Shopify checkout rules apps for 2026 are Kedra Checkout Rules, HidePay, Payfy, PaymentHero and HideKit. All five use Shopify Functions to hide, rename and reorder payment methods at checkout. Kedra Checkout Rules is the most complete of the group because it also covers shipping methods, checkout validation and upsells, starting on a free plan.
Checkout is where ecommerce revenue leaks fastest. Baymard Institute’s meta-analysis of 50 separate studies puts the average documented cart abandonment rate at 70.22% (page updated September 22, 2025), and Baymard calculates that the average large ecommerce site “can gain a 35.26% increase in conversion rate” through better checkout design. Every irrelevant payment method, confusing shipping label, or fraud-prone order that slips through is part of that gap.
Table of Contents
- What is a Shopify checkout rules app?
- Why do you need a checkout rules app in 2026?
- Best Shopify checkout rules apps compared
- How to choose a Shopify checkout rules app
- How Kedra Checkout Rules handles payment, shipping and validation
- Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Shopify checkout rules app?
A Shopify checkout rules app is a conditional-logic tool that changes what shoppers see at checkout based on the cart, customer, and destination - hiding, renaming or reordering payment and shipping methods, and blocking orders that break your rules. It replaces the custom code merchants once needed for the same job.
Typical rules look like this: hide Cash on Delivery for orders above €300, rename “Standard Shipping” to “Free 3-5 Day Delivery,” push Shop Pay to the top of the payment list, hide credit cards for wholesale customers tagged b2b, or block PO Box addresses on oversized furniture orders. Each rule is a condition plus an action, configured in an app admin rather than written in Ruby or Liquid.
Modern checkout rules apps run on Shopify Functions, Shopify’s WebAssembly-based extension layer. That matters for two reasons: the logic executes inside Shopify’s own checkout instead of a theme script, and it keeps working on Shopify’s infrastructure rather than depending on a third-party server responding in time.
See how Kedra Checkout Rules works on your store →
Why do you need a checkout rules app in 2026?
You need a checkout rules app in 2026 because the old do-it-yourself routes are gone. Shopify Scripts - the Ruby payment, shipping and line-item scripts that Plus merchants relied on - reached their final sunset on June 30, 2026. Shopify’s own changelog is blunt about the replacement path:
“Shopify Scripts will be deprecated on June 30, 2026. As of April 15, you can no longer edit or publish Scripts. Migrate to Shopify Functions or a public app.”
For most merchants, “a public app” is the practical answer, because building a custom Function means hiring a developer to write, deploy and maintain WebAssembly code for a rule that an app configures in two minutes. If you are still untangling legacy Script logic, our guide to migrating from Shopify Scripts to checkout rules apps maps the old features to their modern equivalents.
There is a second reason: Shopify’s native checkout settings simply do not include conditional logic. In the Shopify admin you can manage payment providers under Settings → Payments and delivery options under Settings → Shipping and delivery, but both are all-or-nothing. There is no native “hide this method when the cart is under $50” toggle - the Payment customizations and Delivery customizations sections in those settings only list customizations that an app or custom Function has installed.
Best Shopify checkout rules apps compared
Here is how the leading Shopify checkout rules apps compare on the App Store as of August 2026. Ratings, review counts and prices change frequently, so confirm the current numbers on each listing before you install.
| App | Rating (reviews) | Price | Payment rules | Shipping rules | Checkout validation | Free plan (live stores) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kedra Checkout Rules | 4.8 (496) | Free-$14.99/mo | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| HidePay | 4.8 (352) | $3.99-$7.99/mo | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ (dev stores only) |
| Payfy | 4.9 (137) | $3.99-$9.99/mo | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ (dev stores only) |
| PaymentHero | 5.0 (200) | $9.99-$49.99/mo | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| HideKit | New (0 reviews) | Free-$4.99/mo | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
What the numbers hide:
- HidePay (by Nextools) is the volume leader among the payment-only apps, with 352 reviews at 4.8 stars and tiers at $3.99, $5.99 and $7.99/month. It hides, sorts and renames payment methods - including express checkout buttons and PayPal - but its free plan is limited to development stores.
- Payfy (by Cirkle Studio) rates 4.9 across 137 reviews and prices by rule count: 2 rules at $3.99, 5 rules at $5.99, unlimited at $9.99/month. It can use the selected shipping method as a condition for payment rules, but it does not modify shipping options themselves.
- PaymentHero (by HeroSoftware) holds a perfect 5.0 across 200 reviews and is the premium option at $9.99-$49.99/month, capping rules at 5 on Basic and 25 on Premium and Ultra. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
- HideKit (by Brium) is the newcomer - no reviews yet - but it is one of the few competitors that covers both payment methods and shipping rates, and it ships a rule tester that simulates a cart before you go live. Pro is $4.99/month.
- Kedra Checkout Rules is the broadest of the five: hide, rename and reorder both payment and shipping methods on 50+ conditions, plus checkout validation that blocks bad orders outright, conditional shipping discounts and post-purchase upsells. It rates 4.8 across 496 reviews with a genuine free plan and paid tiers at $8.99, $10.99 and $14.99/month.
The split is clear. If all you need is “hide COD under €50,” any of these apps will do it, and the $3.99 tiers are hard to beat. If your checkout problems span payment methods, shipping options and orders you want stopped before they enter fulfillment, a payment-only app leaves you installing a second and third app. You can see how checkout rules fit alongside store security and AI visibility in the full Kedra apps lineup.
How to choose a Shopify checkout rules app
Choose based on the full range of rules you will need in twelve months, not the single rule that sent you to the App Store today. Most merchants start with one payment problem and end up wanting shipping and validation rules within a quarter.
Weigh these criteria before installing:
- Payment and shipping coverage. Payment-only apps are cheaper but cover half the checkout. If you ever need to hide express shipping for oversized goods or rename a carrier rate, check for delivery customization support up front.
- Validation, not just visibility. Hiding a payment method stops the wrong tender; validation stops the wrong order - blocking PO Boxes, disposable emails, over-limit quantities or unserviceable addresses before checkout completes.
- Built on Shopify Functions. Function-based apps run inside Shopify’s checkout, so your rules do not depend on an external server responding during a traffic spike. Avoid anything that asks you to paste code into your theme.
- Rule limits per plan and per store. Cheaper tiers often cap you at 2-5 rules. Shopify itself caps things too: per the Payment Customization API docs, “You can activate a maximum of 25 payment customization functions on each store,” with the same 25-function ceiling on delivery customizations.
- The credit-card caveat on non-Plus plans. Shopify restricts credit card customization: in the United States and Canada, only Shopify Plus stores can customize credit card payment methods directly, so non-Plus merchants can only modify non-credit-card options. No app can override that platform rule - treat any listing that implies otherwise with suspicion.
- Condition depth. Look for country, cart total, product/collection, SKU, customer tag, weight, ZIP code, currency and B2B conditions, plus AND/OR combinations. Shallow condition sets are where cheap apps break down.
- Testing before launch. A rule tester or preview saves you from discovering a misconfigured condition in a live order. Our checkout rules QA checklist covers what to verify after each change.
How Kedra Checkout Rules handles payment, shipping and validation
Kedra Checkout Rules solves all three checkout problems in one app: it hides, renames and reorders payment methods, does the same for shipping options, and validates the cart to block orders you do not want. Rules are built from 50+ conditions in a visual builder, so no Ruby, Liquid or Function deployment is involved.
A typical setup takes a few minutes:
- Install the app from the Shopify App Store and open it from your admin sidebar. It registers its payment and delivery customizations automatically - you will see them listed under Settings → Payments → Payment customizations and Settings → Shipping and delivery → Delivery customizations.
- Create a payment rule. Choose the action - hide, rename or reorder - then pick a method (Cash on Delivery, PayPal, a manual bank transfer, an express wallet button) and the conditions that trigger it: country, cart total, product or collection, customer tag, or shipping method.
- Create a shipping rule. Hide express shipping for oversized items, rename carrier rates to match your brand voice, reorder rates so your target option appears first, or apply a conditional shipping discount above a threshold.
- Add validation rules. Block PO Box addresses, cap quantities on limited-stock products, restrict disposable email domains, or require a minimum order value for high-cost delivery zones - so problem orders never reach fulfillment.
- Test before you trust it. Place a test order that should trigger each rule and one that should not. Rules that depend on customer tags need a logged-in test customer to evaluate correctly.
- Watch what the rules do. Rule-trigger tracking shows which rules fire and how often, so you can tell a working rule from one that silently never matches.
The practical payoff is fewer moving parts: one app, one rule engine, one place to look when a checkout behaves unexpectedly. For a concrete starting point, see our walkthrough on hiding payment methods by location on Shopify.
Kedra Checkout Rules holds 4.8 stars across 496 Shopify App Store reviews, with a free plan and paid tiers from $8.99 to $14.99/month.
Install Kedra Checkout Rules free →
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I hide payment methods on Shopify without an app?
Not conditionally. Shopify’s Settings → Payments page lets you turn a payment provider on or off for the entire store, but it has no rules for cart value, country, product or customer. Conditional hiding requires a Shopify Function, which means either a custom-built app or an off-the-shelf checkout rules app.
Do checkout rules apps work on non-Plus Shopify plans?
Yes. Shopify Functions are available on all plans, which is the main upgrade over Shopify Scripts (Plus-only). One restriction remains: in the United States and Canada, only Shopify Plus stores can customize credit card payment methods, so non-Plus merchants can modify all other payment options but not credit cards.
Will a checkout rules app slow down my checkout?
No, when it is built on Shopify Functions. Functions run as WebAssembly inside Shopify’s checkout infrastructure rather than as scripts loaded into your theme, so there is no extra network request from the browser and no third-party server in the critical path. Avoid legacy apps that require theme code edits.
What replaced Shopify Scripts for payment and shipping rules?
Shopify Functions replaced Shopify Scripts. Payment Scripts became payment customizations, shipping Scripts became delivery customizations, and discount Scripts became discount functions. Scripts stopped running on June 30, 2026. Merchants who used Script Editor now configure the same logic through checkout rules apps or a custom Function built by a developer.
How much do Shopify checkout rules apps cost?
Most sit between $4 and $20 per month. HidePay runs $3.99-$7.99, Payfy $3.99-$9.99 by rule count, HideKit $4.99, and PaymentHero $9.99-$49.99. Kedra Checkout Rules offers a free plan with paid tiers from $8.99 to $14.99/month. Match the plan to your rule count - cheap tiers often cap you at two rules.
The bottom line: buy the rule engine, not the single rule
The best Shopify checkout rules app is the one that still fits after your third rule. Payment-only apps like HidePay, Payfy and PaymentHero are well-rated and inexpensive, and they are a sound choice if hiding or renaming payment methods is genuinely all you need.
If your checkout also needs shipping logic and order validation - the two places where wrong payment options turn into failed deliveries and chargebacks - Kedra Checkout Rules covers payment, shipping and validation in a single Functions-based app, on 50+ conditions, starting free. With Shopify Scripts now switched off for good, consolidating that logic in one app is the cleanest way to keep control of your checkout.
Install Kedra Checkout Rules free on the Shopify App Store and build your first payment, shipping or validation rule today.
