WooCommerce 10.6 was released on March 10, 2026. It makes Product Collections easier to set up, polishes the Cart and Checkout blocks, cuts database queries on admin and product pages and adds a filter that helps EU stores keep shipping prices fixed regardless of VAT rate.
The release lists 299 commits from 80 contributors and includes a database update. Minimum requirements stay at WordPress 6.8 and PHP 7.4. WooCommerce 10.6.1 followed on March 12, 2026 and is summarized below.
Product Collection pickers, including Products by Brand
Adding a Product Collection now starts with the right picker for the job. Handpicked Products opens with a product picker, Products by Tag or Category opens with a taxonomy picker, and a new Products by Brand collection starts with a brand picker.
Merchandising without a developer. Store teams can build brand and category landing pages themselves with these pickers. When we hand a store over after the update, we show the client's team how to build a collection on a draft page and check that the results match the filters they expect, including hidden and out of stock products.
A trash icon and a new sale badge in the 10.6 Cart block
In the Cart and Checkout blocks, the remove link becomes a trash icon placed to the right of the quantity picker, the sale badge moves next to individual prices with a new design, and product meta information uses smaller fonts and tighter spacing.
Branded cart pages. Design changes in the cart can clash with custom brand styling. We compare the cart and checkout pages on staging against the live store at phone and desktop widths and adjust theme CSS so the new trash icon and badge use the client's colors and stay easy to tap.
Fewer SQL queries on 10.6 admin and product pages
- The Recent Reviews widget now loads asynchronously to avoid admin lockouts
- Related and upsell products render with fewer SQL queries
- The month filter on the orders screen fetches dates with an optimized query
- Checkout and admin pages run fewer queries through better caching and deferred cleanup
Large catalogs and order histories. Query reductions matter most on stores with years of orders. We record page load and query counts on the orders screen and a busy product page before updating, then repeat the same measurements afterward so clients can see what the release changed on their own data.
Tax inclusive shipping prices for EU stores
A new woocommerce_shipping_prices_include_tax filter allows tax inclusive shipping pricing, so a fixed shipping cost can stay the same regardless of the VAT rate. WooCommerce points to consumer protection rules in Germany, Switzerland and other European countries. Product Filters also gained an option to order taxonomy terms by menu_order, so categories and brands appear in the order set in the admin.
Shipping and VAT for European sellers. For clients selling into Germany or Switzerland, we enable the filter on staging, then place orders from several countries with different VAT rates to confirm the shipping total shown at checkout stays the same and the tax lines on invoices remain correct.
Lazy loaded product images and other 10.6 developer advisories
- Images from the Product Image block are lazy loaded by default, adjustable with the new
woocommerce_product_image_loading_attrfilter - WooCommerce integrates with the WordPress Core Breadcrumbs block, and the second parameter of
woocommerce_get_breadcrumbmay now be null - Store API product and product review requests require a
per_pagevalue of at least 1, soper_page=0calls need pagination instead - Experimental REST API caching extends to the taxes, currencies, countries and continents endpoints
Above the fold product images. Lazy loading helps most pages, but a hero product image that loads late can hurt Largest Contentful Paint. We check the main product and shop templates after the update and set the first visible images to load eagerly with the new filter where the measurements show it helps.
Payment gateway order and Add to Cart fixes in 10.6.1
WooCommerce 10.6.1, released on March 12, 2026, fixes variation options being disabled in the Add to Cart with Options block when attribute slugs contain hyphens, places newly installed payment gateways above offline payment methods so they can be expanded by default at checkout, and labels a single shipping package "Shipment" instead of "Shipment 1" in the shortcode checkout.
Payment method order at checkout. The order of payment methods affects which one shoppers pick. After installing 10.6.1 we review the payment settings screen with the client and confirm the gateway they want first is at the top of checkout.
Questions about WooCommerce 10.6
Will lazy loading change how my product pages look?
No visual change is intended. Images from the Product Image block load as they come into view, which can be changed with the woocommerce_product_image_loading_attr filter.
Does the tax inclusive shipping filter turn on by itself?
No. A developer has to add the woocommerce_shipping_prices_include_tax filter for it to take effect.
What are the requirements for 10.6?
WordPress 6.8 or newer and PHP 7.4 or newer.
Curious how WooCommerce 10.6 performs on your catalog? Our support and maintenance plans include before and after performance checks with every WooCommerce update, plus theme fixes when blocks change. Contact us and we will review your store.
