WooCommerce Checkout Not Loading? Learn Why and How to Fix It

If your WooCommerce checkout page is not loading or shows a loading spinner for too long, users will leave, and you’ll lose sales. 

This often happens due to caching issues, session errors, payment gateway failures, or plugin conflicts. 

These silent problems break your checkout flow without warning.

In this blog, we will share 10+ reasons why the WooCommerce checkout page not loading​ along with practical tips to help solve these issues. 

How to Check Logs When WooCommerce Checkout Page Is Not Loading?

Shoppers may get stuck in an infinite spinner loop on the WooCommerce checkout page due to various issues. 

To safely troubleshoot, we recommend using the WordPress Health Check & Troubleshooting plugin. It allows you to temporarily disable all plugins and switch to a default theme only for your session without affecting your live site.

If the checkout works fine in this troubleshooting mode, a plugin or theme conflict is likely the cause.

To further investigate, check the WooCommerce error logs by going to WooCommerce ⇒ Status ⇒ Logs. These logs may reveal payment or system-level errors related to the issue.

In the next section, we’ll cover the most common causes of WooCommerce checkout page not showing and how to fix them. 

Why WooCommerce Checkout Page Not Loading: Top 11 Reasons With Solution

Here are the most common reasons your WooCommerce checkout fails to load, starting with the most likely. Each issue includes a quick fix to speed up troubleshooting.

1. Your site has caching or session issues

Problem: 

Caching or session issues are the most common reasons for an infinite loading spinner on the WooCommerce checkout page.

Caching tools, whether from plugins, hosting services, or content delivery networks (CDNs), can serve outdated versions of dynamic pages, such as the cart and checkout.

This prevents real-time updates (like product totals, shipping rates, or payment options) from loading correctly, breaking session handling, and causing checkout to get stuck in an infinite loop.

Solution: Exclude checkout page from caching and clear cache

To solve this:

• Exclude the checkout page from all caching layers, including plugins, server-level cache, and CDNs like Cloudflare.
• Purge all caches (plugin, server, browser, and CDN) after making any changes

If the issue persists, check that your server supports WooCommerce sessions and that no optimization setting is blocking or deferring essential WooCommerce scripts.

2. Payment methods are failing to load

Problem: 

Payment gateway issues are a common cause of the checkout page not showing when placing an order. 

This issue typically arises due to misconfigurations in payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, etc.

Common payment issues include:

• Incorrect API Credentials: Test or invalid API keys used in live mode can block transactions.
• Missing or expired SSL certificate: Secure HTTPS is required for most gateways. Without it, the payment section may fail to load.
• Incomplete payment fields: If required payment fields (e.g., credit card information) are missing or not properly rendered, checkout cannot proceed.
• Plugin conflicts: Multiple or outdated payment plugins can interfere with each other.

Solution: Verify API credentials and checkout setup

• Verify API credentials: Make sure you’re using the correct credentials for the appropriate environment (test or live).
• Check SSL certificate: Confirm that a valid SSL certificate is installed and working. 
• Required fields are present: Review your checkout page to confirm all payment inputs are displayed and functional.
• Use compatible plugins: Temporarily deactivate other plugins to isolate any conflicts with your payment gateway. 

3. Conflicts with plugins or themes

Problem

WooCommerce stores often use multiple plugins and page builder themes. Since these come from different vendors, compatibility issues can arise, especially on the checkout page. 

Conflicts typically happen when:

• Multiple plugins try to modify the same checkout elements
• Themes miss essential WooCommerce requirements 

For instance, missing essential hooks like wp_head() and wp_footer() in a theme can prevent necessary scripts from loading, leading to checkout failures.

Solution: Update plugins, test for Conflicts, and check theme compatibility

• Update all the active plugins and themes: Update all the plugins and the theme you are using right now, and make sure all of them are compatible with your latest version of WooCommerce. 

• Test for plugin conflicts: 
  • Deactivate all plugins except WooCommerce
  • Test the checkout
  • Reactivate plugins one by one to find the one causing the issue
  • Contact the plugin developer for support if needed

• Switch to a default WordPress theme: Try using a default theme such as Twenty Twenty-Five. If the checkout works fine, then the issue is theme-related. Ensure your theme includes required WordPress hooks. 

4. Your checkout page is misconfigured

Problem 

Another common reason the WooCommerce checkout page keeps loading is a misconfigured checkout page due to a missing shortcode [woocommerce_checkout].

Without this shortcode, the checkout form won’t render.

Additionally, if the wrong page is assigned as the checkout page in WooCommerce settings, the system won't recognize it as the actual checkout page. 

Solution: Ensure the checkout page ss properly set up

• Make sure the [woocommerce_checkout] shortcode is present on your checkout page. 
• Go to WooCommerce ⇒Settings ⇒ Advanced and confirm the correct page is assigned under checkout.

5. AJAX requests are failing on your site

Problem

WooCommerce checkout relies on AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to handle dynamic interactions such as calculating totals and processing payments. If AJAX fails, the checkout may keep loading, show an empty cart, or fail to complete orders.

Some common Ajax issues:

• Incorrect AJAX endpoint: WooCommerce provides a specific AJAX endpoint (typically admin-ajax.php) to handle asynchronous requests. If your theme or plugin references an outdated or incorrect AJAX URL, requests may fail, leading to errors during checkout.
• Mismatched WordPress and site URLs: AJAX requests are subject to the Same-Origin Policy, meaning they must originate from the same domain. If your WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) differ (e.g., one uses http while the other uses https), AJAX calls can be blocked, disrupting the checkout process.

• Invalid AJAX responses due to index.html file: An index.html file in your site's root directory can return HTML instead of the expected JSON response, causing the checkout to malfunction.
• 403 Forbidden errors on AJAX requests: Security plugins, server rules, or file permission issues can block AJAX requests like ?wc-ajax=update_order_review.

Solution: Fix AJAX endpoint and address related issues

• Fix incorrect AJAX endpoint: Ensure your theme and plugins use WooCommerce's built-in functions, such as wc_ajax_url(), to dynamically retrieve the correct AJAX endpoint.
• Fix mismatched WordPress and site URLs: Navigate to Settings ⇒ General in your WordPress dashboard and confirm both the WordPress Address and Site Address URLs match exactly, including the protocol (http or https).

• Fix invalid AJAX responses due to the index.html file: If not needed, delete the index.html file from the root directory to prevent interference with AJAX responses. Otherwise, update your server config to prioritize the index.php file.
• Resolve 403 forbidden errors on AJAX requests: 
  • Check server error logs
  • Temporarily disable security plugins or firewall rules
  • Contact your host if the issue persists

6. JavaScript errors are preventing checkout

Problem

Sometimes, JavaScript errors can stop your checkout from working properly. For instance, fields may not load, buttons won’t respond, or the form behaves unexpectedly. 

These issues often happen when the required jQuery scripts don’t load correctly, or when plugins/themes create script conflicts. 

Solution: Identify and fix JavaScript errors

• Check the browser console from the right click and click the Console tab. Look for red error messages.

Ensure jQuery is loading and some plugins or themes haven’t disabled it by mistake. Select “Inspect,” then open the Console tab to check for red error messages. These can help identify the problem. Make sure jQuery is loading, and some themes or speed plugins didn’t disable it by mistake.

• Try turning off other plugins one by one to find any conflicts. 
• Switch to a default theme like Storefront or WordPress's default theme to rule out theme issues. 
• Disable custom JavaScript to see if it helps. 
• Ensure scripts load in the right order and avoid using multiple jQuery versions.

7. Your cart appears empty at checkout

Problem  

Users add products, but the cart shows empty on the checkout page. This usually happens due to aggressive caching or broken WooCommerce sessions.

Solution: Exclude cart, checkout, and account pages from caching

Exclude the cart, checkout, and account pages from any caching: plugin-level, server-side, and CDN. These pages are dynamic and must show user-specific data in real time. 

8. The permalinks or endpoints are misconfigured

Problem

Sometimes, when users visit the checkout page (usually at /checkout/), they get a 404 error or the page doesn’t load correctly. This usually happens due to broken or outdated permalink settings or conflicts with plugins that alter URL structures.

Solution: Refresh permalink rules and enable URL rewriting

Go to Settings ⇒ Permalinks in WordPress and click Save Changes without changing anything to refresh the permalink rules. 

Also, ensure URL rewriting is enabled in your server settings (like .htaccess for Apache or rewrite rules for NGINX).

9. Custom code snippets are causing conflicts conflicts

Problem

Adding custom code or snippets to your functions.php file or using third-party scripts can sometimes cause the WooCommerce checkout not to load. This might result in missing checkout fields, form errors, or the page failing to load.

Solution: Review and disable custom code snippets

Review and temporarily disable any recent custom code or edits, and try temporarily turning them off for now.

If disabling the snippet fixes the issue, you’ll need to revise it to ensure compatibility with the WooCommerce checkout. 

10. WordPress memory limit is too low

Problem

By default, WordPress sets a low memory limit (typically 40MB), which isn’t sufficient for WooCommerce and other resource-heavy plugins. This can lead to errors, failed processes, or issues like an infinite loading spinner on the checkout page. 

Solution: Increase WordPress memory limit

To fix this, increase the WordPress memory limit by adding this line to your wp-config.php file:

Most experts recommend setting it to at least 256MB for a smooth WooCommerce experience.

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');

If you don’t have access to this file or the change doesn’t work, contact your hosting provider and ask them to increase the PHP memory limit for your site.

11. Transactional emails are delayed or not sending

Problem

WooCommerce sends transactional emails (like order confirmations) immediately after checkout. In some server environments, this can delay or interrupt the checkout process, causing it to freeze or load endlessly.

Solution: Postpone sending transactional emails

To fix this, you can delay sending those emails until after the order is fully processed. To do so, you can add this custom code: 

add_filter( 'woocommerce_defer_transactional_emails', '__return_true' );

This will ensure WooCommerce waits before sending transactional emails, which can speed up checkout and prevent the checkout page from loading. 

And that’s it. These are the most common reasons why the WooCommerce checkout stops loading properly, along with ways to fix the issues so your checkout flow works smoothly and keeps your customers happy.

Bonus: 3 Tips to Streamline WooCommerce Checkout Process After Resolving Loading Issues

Now that your checkout page is working again, here are three quick ways to make it faster and easier for customers to complete their purchase.

• Replace the default checkout with a multi-step one 

Many customers may find a one-page checkout lengthy and complex, leading to cart abandonment. You can replace that with a multi-step checkout, which makes the process smoother and more user-friendly by dividing it into multiple steps. 

With FunnelKit Funnel Builder, you can easily create a multi-step checkout (as shown below). Additionally, you can enable multi-step preview, allowing users to easily review the information they entered in the previous step and make corrections or changes as needed.

• Offer an auto address completion option 

Google address autocomplete automatically completes users' addresses once they start typing. It automatically completes the street address, city, zip code, state, and country fields.

This helps users enter the right address without manually typing every detail, which speeds up and smooths the checkout process.

• Allow customers to adjust cart item quantity on checkout 

By default, users can’t update or remove quality on the checkout, which can be a handy feature. And if you force users to return to the cart page to update a quantity, it can ruin their shopping experience, causing them to abandon the cart. 

With FunnelKit’s checkout mini cart option, you can easily allow customers to update, remove, and undo deletions right on the checkout page, making the checkout process even smoother. 

Ready to Ensure a Smooth Checkout Experience on Your WooCommerce Store?

Getting a shopper to the checkout page takes effort, and the last thing you want is to lose them due to a page that won’t load. 

At the very least, ensure your checkout page loads properly. Therefore, ensure that you test your checkout page regularly to prevent the WooCommerce checkout page from not loading. 

If the issue arises, you can follow the guides we shared in this blog to determine the cause and resolve the "WooCommerce checkout page not loading​" issue.

Additionally, don’t limit yourself to a basic checkout page that loads correctly; ensure you provide users with the best shopping experience using Funnelkti Funnel Builder, so they become happy customers and return for repeat purchases. 

So, get yourself a FunnelKit Funnel Builder today and streamline your store's WooCommerce checkout process.

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