WooCommerce Legacy REST API vs WooCommerce PayPal Payments
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| Feature | WooCommerce Legacy REST API v1.0.6 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 1.5/5 Visit Details | WooCommerce PayPal Payments v4.2.0 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 2.9/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 400,000+ | 800,000+ |
| Last updated | October 14, 2026 | October 21, 2026 |
| Editions | WooCommerce Legacy REST API | WooCommerce PayPal Payments |
| Pros | Keeps older REST integrations working after WooCommerce 9.0; Does nothing on WooCommerce 8.9 and older; Free and maintained by WooCommerce | Official PayPal gateway with smart buttons on product and checkout pages; Pay Later, card fields and Apple Pay or Google Pay wallets; Subscriptions, saved payment methods and ShipStation order tracking |
| Cons | Not compatible with High-Performance Order Storage; Shows a HPOS incompatibility warning in admin; Legacy endpoints are a migration stopgap, not a long-term API | Available payment methods depend on PayPal account and country eligibility; Many modules are switched on in settings, so the setup has several steps |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Legacy wc/v1, wc/v2 and wc/v3 REST namespaces, Legacy ?wc-api request endpoint, Legacy v1 API authentication, Legacy coupons controller, Admin notice when HPOS and the legacy API are both active | PayPal smart buttons on product, mini-cart and checkout, Pay Later messages on product, cart and checkout blocks, Apple Pay gateway, Google Pay gateway, Card fields module, Pay upon invoice alternative payment method, PayPal subscriptions and renewals, Saved payment methods, Fraud protection module, Order tracking through the ShipStation plugin |
| Integrations | ||
| Payment | — | PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay |
| Plugins | — | ShipStation |
| Requires WordPress | 6.2 | 6.5 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 9.5 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | — | api-m.paypal.com, www.paypal.com, api-m.sandbox.paypal.com, www.sandbox.paypal.com, api.woocommerce.com, www.paypal.ai, d.joinhoney.com, www.google.com |
| Blocks | — | 6 |