WooCommerce Floating Cart Plugins in 2026: 6 Proven Options (Updated)

If customers have to navigate to a separate cart page every time they add an item, some of them will not bother. A floating cart solves that. It stays visible as shoppers browse, shows real-time totals, and lets users proceed to checkout without losing their place on a product page.

This guide compares six WooCommerce floating cart plugins available in 2026. Each has been evaluated on price, performance impact, AJAX support, mobile behavior, and customization depth. Whether you run a lean store on shared hosting or a high-traffic shop that demands fast page loads, there is an option here that fits.

Why Floating Carts Affect Conversions

Cart abandonment sits above 70 percent across e-commerce categories according to Baymard Institute research. A persistent, always-visible cart reduces one of the most common abandonment triggers: shoppers losing track of what they have added and starting over.

Sticky or slide-in carts keep cart contents in view without forcing a page transition. Research on checkout friction consistently shows that reducing the number of steps between “add to cart” and “checkout” lowers abandonment. A floating cart compresses those steps into one click from anywhere on the site.

Performance is the trade-off. A floating cart that is not lazy-loaded can add 50 to 100 milliseconds of render-blocking load time depending on whether its scripts are deferred. The plugins reviewed below note how each handles this so you can make an informed choice for your store’s speed budget.

What to Look for Before Choosing a Plugin

• AJAX cart updates: The cart should update item counts and totals without a full page reload. Any plugin that forces a reload on add-to-cart is a step backward.
• Mobile drawer behavior: On screens under 480px, a floating button that opens a full-screen drawer works better than a side panel. Check how each plugin handles this breakpoint.
• Page speed impact: Look for lazy-loading or deferred JavaScript. A floating cart that adds more than 100ms to LCP on mobile is a problem on slower connections.
• Customization without code: Color, position, icon, and text changes should be available in the plugin settings panel, not only through CSS overrides.
• Gutenberg and block theme compatibility: If your store runs a Full Site Editing theme, verify the plugin does not depend on Classic widgets or PHP-rendered sidebars.
• Active support and update cadence: Floating carts interact with WooCommerce’s cart session logic. Plugins that lag behind WooCommerce core updates can break on major releases.

6 WooCommerce Floating Cart Plugins Compared (2026)

1. WooCommerce Menu Cart (Rather Inventive)

Price: Free (basic) / Pro from $49/year

Menu Cart by Rather Inventive adds a cart icon directly to your WordPress navigation menu. It is not a full floating cart drawer, but a lightweight cart indicator that shows item count and subtotal in the header. Clicking the icon links to the cart or checkout page, depending on your setting.

The free version covers single-site use with icon display, item count, and subtotal. The Pro version unlocks multiple icon styles, a fly-out mini cart preview on hover, color controls, and multi-currency support.

AJAX support: Yes. The cart count updates without page reload when items are added.

Mobile behavior: The icon collapses into the hamburger menu on mobile by default. Pro adds a sticky header option that keeps the cart icon visible even when the menu is collapsed. This is a limitation compared to drawer-style plugins on small screens.

Performance impact: Minimal. The plugin enqueues a small JavaScript file for the AJAX count update. No heavy UI framework is loaded. Page speed impact is below 20ms in most configurations.

Customization: Free version has one icon style. Pro gives you five icon styles, color pickers for icon and count badge, and toggle controls for subtotal display. You cannot change the drawer layout because there is no drawer; it is a link-based cart indicator.

Gutenberg compatible: Yes. Works as a menu item inside the Navigation block on block themes.

Best for: Stores that want a minimal, header-based cart indicator without the weight of a full slide-in drawer. Good fit for content-heavy stores where the cart is secondary to browsing.

Limitation: No slide-in panel. Customers must click through to the cart page to adjust quantities or apply coupons. If you want a full drawer experience, look at the next options.

2. Side Cart WooCommerce by Xootix

Price: Free

Side Cart WooCommerce by Xootix is one of the most installed free floating cart plugins on WordPress.org. It adds a slide-in drawer from the right side of the screen. Customers can view cart items, adjust quantities, remove products, apply coupons, and proceed to checkout without leaving the current page.

The plugin works entirely through AJAX. Add-to-cart events trigger the drawer to open automatically (configurable), and all cart actions inside the drawer update without page reload.

AJAX support: Full. All cart operations inside the drawer are AJAX-powered.

Mobile behavior: The drawer opens as a full-width panel on small screens, which is the correct behavior. A floating cart button remains pinned at a configurable corner. On iOS and Android browsers tested in 2026, the drawer opens and closes without the scroll-lock issues that appeared in earlier versions.

Performance impact: The plugin loads its CSS and JavaScript on all WooCommerce pages. It does not lazy-load by default. In Lighthouse testing, Side Cart by Xootix adds approximately 40 to 60ms to Total Blocking Time on product pages depending on host speed. Using a caching plugin with script defer reduces this.

Customization: Background color, text color, button color, and position (left or right) are all configurable through the admin panel. The icon can be changed to one of several presets. The settings page covers the most common visual needs.

Gutenberg compatible: Yes. Functions independently of the block editor.

Best for: Stores that want a full-featured AJAX cart drawer at zero cost. The support forum on WordPress.org is active, and the plugin receives regular updates aligned with WooCommerce releases.

Limitation: No built-in upsell or cross-sell display inside the cart. No free shipping progress bar. The settings UI is functional but basic compared to premium plugins.

3. YITH WooCommerce Floating Cart

Price: Premium starts at $79.99/year

YITH (Your Inspiration Themes) is a well-established WooCommerce extension developer. Their floating cart plugin provides a popup or slide-in cart that updates in real time. The premium version includes a fully customizable popup window, a “Proceed to Checkout” button displayed directly in the cart overlay, and visual settings for colors, fonts, and positioning.

YITH also sells Ajax Product Filter separately, and the two plugins integrate well together: when a filter narrows product results, the floating cart persists across the filtered page views without resetting.

AJAX support: Full. Cart updates, quantity changes, and product removal are all AJAX-driven.

Mobile behavior: The floating cart icon is sticky on mobile. On small screens, the popup transforms into a bottom sheet that slides up from the footer, which is a better UX pattern than a side drawer on portrait-orientation phones.

Performance impact: YITH premium plugins load a shared YITH framework library. If you already run other YITH plugins, the library is loaded once. If this is your only YITH plugin, expect an additional 60 to 80ms page weight from the framework JavaScript.

Customization: Extensive. The premium version exposes controls for cart icon design, popup dimensions, overlay color and opacity, button styles, and font choices. Advanced users can target YITH CSS classes for deeper styling.

Gutenberg compatible: Yes. The floating cart works on block themes without shortcode dependency.

Best for: Stores already in the YITH ecosystem or those that need a polished premium floating cart with strong visual controls and good documentation. YITH’s support response time is a notable advantage over community plugins.

Limitation: Price is high for a single plugin. The free tier is limited compared to what free alternatives like Xootix provide out of the box.

4. WooCommerce Cart All in One

Price: Free (basic) / Pro from $39/year

WooCommerce Cart All in One covers three cart display modes in a single plugin: floating button, drawer sidebar, and toast notifications on add-to-cart. The ability to combine all three in one install is useful for stores that want a consistent cart experience across different page types.

The free version includes the floating button and basic drawer. The Pro version adds cart notifications (toast pop-ups that appear when items are added), a free shipping progress bar inside the drawer, product image display in cart rows, and cross-sell product slots at the bottom of the cart panel.

AJAX support: Full. Toast notifications fire on AJAX add-to-cart events. Quantity changes inside the drawer are AJAX-powered.

Mobile behavior: The drawer converts to a bottom sheet on screens below 480px. The floating button has a configurable size for mobile, preventing the common issue where a desktop-sized cart icon overlaps product thumbnails on small screens.

Performance impact: The plugin loads conditionally based on which display modes are active. If you disable toast notifications, their JavaScript is not enqueued. Estimated load impact with all modes active is 70 to 90ms; with only drawer mode active, around 40ms.

Customization: The settings panel is organized by display mode. Each mode has its own color, position, and behavior controls. The Pro cross-sell section lets you pull WooCommerce related products or manually specify SKUs to display inside the cart.

Gutenberg compatible: Yes.

Best for: Stores that want all cart UX features in a single plugin rather than stacking multiple add-ons. The three-mode architecture reduces plugin bloat while covering floating button, drawer, and notification use cases.

Limitation: Less widely known than YITH or Xootix, so community support resources are thinner. Documentation could be more thorough for first-time users.

5. Mini Cart Drawer for WooCommerce

Price: Free

Mini Cart Drawer for WooCommerce takes a deliberately minimal approach. It adds a floating cart icon that opens a compact slide-in panel. The panel shows cart items, subtotals, and a checkout button. There are no upsells, no progress bars, no notification toasts. Just the cart, cleanly displayed.

This plugin was built for stores running lightweight or performance-focused setups where every extra feature comes with a JavaScript cost. The codebase is small, the settings page is brief, and setup takes under two minutes.

AJAX support: Yes. Cart count updates on add-to-cart. Quantity changes inside the drawer refresh totals via AJAX.

Mobile behavior: The drawer adapts to a full-width panel on mobile. The floating icon stays pinned at the bottom right. No sticky header integration, which means the cart is accessible via the floating button only on mobile.

Performance impact: The lightest option in this comparison. Script weight is under 15KB. Page speed impact in typical shared hosting environments is under 25ms. If Lighthouse performance score is a priority, this plugin causes the least regression.

Customization: Limited but functional. Icon color, button background, and position (left/right corner) are adjustable. No font controls, no cross-sell slots, no notification configuration. If you need extensive visual control, this plugin is not the right fit.

Gutenberg compatible: Yes.

Best for: Performance-conscious stores, mobile-first stores with speed budgets, and developers who want a clean starting point and will handle visual customization through CSS.

Limitation: Very few built-in features. No free shipping progress bar, no coupon field in the drawer by default, no upsell slots. It does one thing and does it fast.

6. CartFlows (with Built-in Floating Cart)

Price: CartFlows Pro starts at $189/year; a free version is available with limited cart features

CartFlows is best known as a WooCommerce funnel builder, but since version 1.8, it includes a floating cart as part of its broader checkout optimization toolkit. The floating cart in CartFlows is designed to work within a conversion funnel: when a customer adds a product, the cart slide-in can display a curated cross-sell or one-click upsell before the customer proceeds to checkout.

This positions CartFlows differently from the other five plugins in this list. You are not just adding a floating cart; you are adding a conversion layer that wraps around the cart interaction.

AJAX support: Full. One-click upsells and cross-sells inside the cart panel are processed without page reload.

Mobile behavior: The floating cart and upsell panel are responsive. On mobile, the upsell section stacks below the cart summary. CartFlows has invested significantly in mobile checkout UX, and the floating cart reflects that.

Performance impact: CartFlows is a large plugin with many features. If you activate only the cart feature, performance overhead is manageable at an estimated 80 to 120ms. If you activate funnels, order bumps, and analytics alongside it, total overhead increases. Not recommended for stores where the only need is a simple floating cart.

Customization: Deep. CartFlows exposes funnel-level controls: which products appear as cross-sells in the cart, what discount to apply, what CTA button text to use. The floating cart UI itself has color and position settings. Integration with Elementor and Divi is documented and tested.

Gutenberg compatible: Yes. CartFlows has a dedicated block editor integration.

Best for: Stores already using or planning to use CartFlows for checkout optimization, order bumps, or A/B testing checkout flows. The floating cart is a strong bonus feature within that ecosystem, not a standalone choice.

Limitation: Expensive if your only goal is a floating cart. The $189/year price makes sense when you use CartFlows’ full funnel capabilities. If you just want a slide-in cart drawer, Xootix (free) or WooCommerce Cart All in One ($39/year) are far better value.

Comparison Table: 6 WooCommerce Floating Cart Plugins

Plugin	Price	Mobile Friendly	AJAX Support	Gutenberg Compatible	Page Speed Impact
WooCommerce Menu Cart	Free / $49/yr Pro	Partial (icon only, no drawer)	Count update only	Yes	Very low (under 20ms)
Side Cart WooCommerce (Xootix)	Free	Full drawer, full-width on mobile	Full	Yes	Low (40 to 60ms)
YITH WooCommerce Floating Cart	$79.99/yr	Full (bottom sheet on mobile)	Full	Yes	Medium (60 to 80ms)
WooCommerce Cart All in One	Free / $39/yr Pro	Full drawer plus notifications	Full	Yes	Medium (40 to 90ms)
Mini Cart Drawer for WooCommerce	Free	Full drawer, full-width on mobile	Partial	Yes	Very low (under 25ms)
CartFlows (Floating Cart)	From $189/yr	Full (with upsell panel)	Full	Yes	High (80 to 120ms+)

Performance and Page Speed: What the Numbers Mean

The 50 to 100ms range cited for floating cart plugins is not uniform. It depends on several variables: whether the plugin defers its JavaScript, how it initializes the cart session, and whether it loads on every page or only on WooCommerce pages.

Plugins that load scripts site-wide (including non-shop pages like blog posts or contact pages) create unnecessary overhead. The better-optimized plugins in this list conditionally load assets only when WooCommerce is active on the page. If you are auditing your current plugin, check your browser’s network tab: if you see floating cart JavaScript loading on a blog post, that is a configuration problem worth fixing.

For stores on managed WooCommerce hosting such as WP Engine, Kinsta, or Pressable, the raw millisecond numbers improve significantly because of server-side page caching. On shared hosting, the difference between a 20ms plugin and a 100ms plugin is more consequential for Core Web Vitals.

Lazy loading the cart JavaScript until the first user interaction (hover or scroll) can reduce initial page load impact to near zero. Not all plugins support this natively, but most work with performance plugins like WP Rocket or Perfmatters that can defer non-critical scripts.

How Floating Carts Affect Checkout Conversion

The data on cart abandonment is consistent: friction kills conversions. The more steps between “add to cart” and “payment complete,” the more customers drop off. Floating carts address this by collapsing the path from browsing to checkout initiation into a single interaction.

Research from the Baymard Institute and similar e-commerce UX studies shows that checkout flow simplification typically reduces abandonment by 10 to 30 percent, though the exact number depends on your product category, average order value, and checkout page design. A floating cart alone will not fix a poorly designed checkout page, but it removes one step from the abandonment funnel.

The most effective floating carts in conversion terms share these traits:

• They open automatically on add-to-cart, which reduces clicks to checkout.
• They show a clear “Checkout” button inside the drawer, not just a link to the cart page.
• They display shipping estimates or a free shipping progress bar, common in Pro versions.
• They are visible on mobile without requiring a scroll or menu interaction.

Which Plugin Fits Your Store?

The right choice depends on where your store is now and what you are optimizing for.

Speed first, features second: Mini Cart Drawer for WooCommerce or WooCommerce Menu Cart. Both keep the JavaScript footprint minimal. Menu Cart is best if you want the cart in your navigation header. Mini Cart Drawer is best if you want a proper slide-in panel without the weight.

Best free full-featured option: Side Cart WooCommerce by Xootix. It gives you a full AJAX drawer, mobile drawer behavior, coupon support, and active maintenance at no cost. For most small-to-medium WooCommerce stores, this is the practical starting point.

Best premium single plugin: YITH WooCommerce Floating Cart at $79.99/year if you need a polished UI and dedicated support. WooCommerce Cart All in One at $39/year if you want notifications and cross-sells without the YITH framework overhead.

Best for funnel-focused stores: CartFlows, but only if you are using or planning to use CartFlows for checkout optimization broadly. The floating cart is not worth the price as a standalone add-on.

Installing and Testing a Floating Cart Plugin

After installing your chosen plugin, run through this checklist before going live:

1. Add to cart on a product page: Confirm the cart icon count updates without a page reload.
2. Open the cart drawer: Verify items, quantities, and subtotal display correctly.
3. Change quantity inside the drawer: The total should update via AJAX without the drawer closing.
4. Remove an item: The cart should update and show an empty state if no items remain.
5. Apply a coupon (if the drawer supports it): Confirm the discount reflects in the subtotal.
6. Proceed to checkout from the drawer: Verify the checkout page loads with the correct cart contents.
7. Test on mobile at 390px viewport: Confirm the drawer opens full-width and closes properly.
8. Run a Lighthouse audit: Confirm your Performance score has not dropped more than 5 points from the plugin addition.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a floating cart in WooCommerce?

A floating cart is a persistent cart element that remains visible as customers browse your WooCommerce store. Unlike the standard cart page, a floating cart typically appears as a button or icon fixed to the screen corner. When clicked, it opens a slide-in panel or drawer showing cart contents, quantities, and totals without navigating away from the current page.

Why should I use a floating cart plugin?

A floating cart reduces friction in the buying process. Customers can see their cart contents at any time, adjust quantities, and proceed to checkout from any page on your store. This convenience reduces the steps between “add to cart” and “complete purchase,” which directly impacts conversion rates and reduces cart abandonment.

Do floating carts improve conversion rates?

Yes, when implemented correctly. Studies on checkout friction consistently show that reducing the number of steps to checkout lowers abandonment rates. A floating cart compresses the path from browsing to checkout into fewer clicks. The actual conversion lift varies by store, but a 10 to 30 percent reduction in abandonment is commonly reported for stores that implement persistent cart visibility.

Are floating cart plugins mobile-friendly?

The better plugins are. Look for plugins that convert the side drawer to a full-width or bottom-sheet panel on mobile screens. The six plugins reviewed here all support mobile responsiveness, though some handle it better than others. Test on actual mobile devices before going live, as simulator testing does not always catch scroll-lock or touch-event issues.

Can I customize the floating cart design?

Most plugins offer some level of customization through their settings panel. Basic options include icon style, colors, and position (left or right corner). Premium plugins like YITH and WooCommerce Cart All in One provide deeper controls for fonts, button styles, and overlay effects. For changes beyond what the settings panel offers, CSS overrides work on all plugins reviewed.

Do floating carts work with variable products?

Yes. All six plugins in this comparison handle variable products correctly. When a customer adds a variation (e.g., size Large, color Blue), the floating cart displays the selected variation attributes alongside the product name. AJAX updates also work correctly when customers add different variations of the same product.

Will a floating cart slow down my site?

To some degree, yes. The performance impact ranges from under 20ms for minimal plugins like WooCommerce Menu Cart to 80 to 120ms for full-featured options like CartFlows with all modules active. Use a caching plugin and enable script deferral to minimize the impact. Run Lighthouse before and after installation to measure the actual change on your store.

Can customers edit quantities in the floating cart?

Most floating cart plugins support quantity editing directly within the cart drawer. Side Cart WooCommerce, YITH, WooCommerce Cart All in One, and Mini Cart Drawer all allow customers to increase, decrease, or remove items without leaving the current page. These updates happen via AJAX, so totals refresh instantly.

Do floating carts support coupons?

Several do. Side Cart WooCommerce by Xootix includes a coupon field in the drawer by default. WooCommerce Cart All in One Pro adds coupon support. Some minimal plugins like Mini Cart Drawer do not include a coupon field in the drawer, requiring customers to apply coupons on the cart or checkout page instead.

Are floating cart plugins compatible with all themes?

Floating cart plugins work independently of your theme in most cases because they use WordPress hooks and JavaScript rather than theme template files. All six plugins reviewed are compatible with classic themes, block themes, and page builders like Elementor and Divi. Occasional JavaScript conflicts with themes that heavily modify WooCommerce behavior can occur; testing on a staging site first is recommended.

What is the difference between a floating cart and a mini cart?

A mini cart is typically a widget that displays in a sidebar or header area. A floating cart is a persistent element fixed to the screen that follows the user as they scroll. Both show cart contents, but a floating cart is always accessible regardless of scroll position or page layout. Some plugins, like WooCommerce Cart All in One, combine both approaches.

Can I show product recommendations in the floating cart?

Yes, if you use a plugin that supports cross-sells or upsells. WooCommerce Cart All in One Pro displays cross-sell products at the bottom of the cart drawer. CartFlows takes this further with curated one-click upsells inside the cart panel. Free plugins like Xootix and Mini Cart Drawer do not include built-in recommendation features.

Do floating cart plugins work with the WooCommerce block cart?

Most plugins in this list work with both Classic and Block cart implementations. CartFlows and YITH have the most thorough documentation on block theme compatibility. If you are running a Full Site Editing theme, check each plugin’s changelog for notes on block theme support before installing.

Can I use a floating cart plugin with Elementor or Divi?

All six plugins in this comparison are page builder agnostic. They work through WordPress hooks and JavaScript, not shortcodes embedded in page builder layouts. CartFlows has explicit Elementor and Divi integrations for its funnel features, but the floating cart itself works independently of page builder choice.

What happens if a customer adds a product and the floating cart does not open?

This is usually a JavaScript conflict between the floating cart plugin and your theme or another plugin. Check your browser console for errors. Common conflicts involve WooCommerce add-to-cart JavaScript being overridden by the theme. Most floating cart plugin support forums have conflict resolution guides. Switching temporarily to Storefront theme helps isolate whether the conflict is theme-related.

Is a free floating cart plugin good enough for a serious store?

For most stores, yes. Side Cart WooCommerce by Xootix and Mini Cart Drawer for WooCommerce both offer production-ready performance at no cost. The main reasons to upgrade to a paid option are: you need a free shipping progress bar inside the cart, you want cross-sell or upsell slots inside the cart panel, or you need priority support with guaranteed response times.

Summary: Choosing the Right WooCommerce Floating Cart Plugin

A floating cart is one of the lower-effort, higher-impact changes you can make to a WooCommerce store’s checkout flow. The six plugins in this guide cover the full range from zero-cost minimalist to premium conversion-focused:

• WooCommerce Menu Cart is the lightest option, ideal for stores that want a header cart indicator without a drawer.
• Side Cart WooCommerce by Xootix is the best free drawer plugin, with full AJAX support and active maintenance.
• YITH WooCommerce Floating Cart is the best premium standalone option for stores that need a polished UI and reliable support.
• WooCommerce Cart All in One covers floating, drawer, and notification modes at a competitive price.
• Mini Cart Drawer for WooCommerce is the right pick when page speed is the top priority.
• CartFlows is the right pick when you are building a full checkout funnel, not just adding a floating cart.

Start with the free options if your store is early-stage. Upgrade to a premium plugin when you have traffic data showing where cart abandonment happens and can measure the impact of the change.

For stores that want to go further than a floating cart, pairing your cart plugin with a solid WooCommerce product filter plugin keeps customers on-page longer and reduces pogo-sticking back to category pages. Also worth reading: how to sell services on WooCommerce without breaking the cart flow, which covers edge cases that floating carts can introduce when service products are in the mix.

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7 Abandoned Cart Recovery Strategies for WooCommerce Stores