The Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins Compared in 2024

WooCommerce

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WooCommerce is one of WordPress’s most popular and widely used eCommerce plugin, powering over 5 million online stores. Developed by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce is a flexible, feature-rich platform that allows you to turn your WordPress site into a fully functional online store. It’s known for its ease of use, extensive customization options, and a large ecosystem of add-ons and integrations, making it a powerful choice for businesses of all sizes.

WooCommerce offers robust features that make it a versatile solution for creating an online store. It supports comprehensive product management, allowing you to sell physical, digital, or variable products with ease, and organize them using categories, tags, and attributes. Integrated with major payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe, WooCommerce also offers support for additional gateways via extensions. For shipping, WooCommerce provides flexible options such as flat rates, free shipping, and real-time cost calculations. The platform includes inventory management tools to track stock levels, set up notifications for low stock, and manage backorders.

Customization is a crucial strength of WooCommerce, with a wide variety of themes, add-ons, and plugins to expand its functionality. You can integrate with extensions to offer subscriptions, memberships, or bookings, and even set up a multi-currency shop. WooCommerce is SEO-friendly and works seamlessly with popular SEO plugins to help boost your site’s visibility. The platform also supports advanced analytics, providing detailed insights into your sales, orders, and customer behavior. Built for ease of use, WooCommerce offers a drag-and-drop interface for customizing page layouts, and its responsive design ensures that your store looks great on any device.

Pros of WooCommerce

• Free Core Plugin: The core WooCommerce plugin is free to install, providing access to a simple online store without upfront costs.
• Highly Customizable: With thousands of themes, plugins, and add-ons, WooCommerce can be tailored to fit the specific needs of any store, from simple shops to complex, multi-product businesses.
• Large Ecosystem: WooCommerce has a massive community of developers, support forums, and third-party services, making it easy to find help and resources.
• Scalability: WooCommerce is a highly scalable solution that supports both small stores and large enterprises. As your business grows, It can handle increased traffic, sales, and inventory.
• Integration with WordPress: Seamless integration with WordPress allows you to manage your content and store it under one roof, combining eCommerce functionality with blogging or other content features.

Cons of WooCommerce

• Extension Costs: While the core plugin is free, many advanced features (such as subscription services, advanced payment gateways, or shipping integrations) require premium extensions, which can add cost.
• Learning Curve: Beginners might initially find it a bit overwhelming, especially when dealing with advanced customizations or extensions.
• Performance Impact: WooCommerce can affect site performance on large sites with many products and extensions. To ensure smooth operation, performance optimization and a robust hosting solution may be required.
• Limited Out-of-the-Box Features: The core WooCommerce plugin offers basic functionality, but for more advanced features, you’ll need to invest in paid extensions or third-party plugins.

Cost Consideration

• Core Plugin: Free
• Extensions:
  • Payment gateways (e.g., Authorize.net): $79/year
  • Shipping integrations (e.g., USPS, UPS, FedEx): $79/year each
  • Subscriptions or memberships: Starting at $199/year
• Themes:
  • Free themes are available
  • Premium themes range from $30 to $100
• Hosting:
  • WooCommerce-optimized hosting plans start at $10/month for small stores
  • Larger stores may require hosting that costs $100+/month

Selection Criteria

When selecting WooCommerce, we focused on several critical criteria to ensure it meets the needs of various businesses. First, ease of use is a significant factor; while WooCommerce provides a user-friendly interface, beginners may find more advanced features and customizations slightly challenging. In terms of features, WooCommerce excels with its comprehensive product management tools, payment processing options, shipping capabilities, and inventory tracking, all of which can be expanded through a wide range of extensions.

We also looked at performance and speed, and while WooCommerce performs well for small to medium-sized stores, larger sites may require optimization and high-quality hosting for optimal performance. Support and documentation are well-covered, with a vast knowledge base, forums, and paid support options for premium features. Finally, the cost is an important consideration—while the core plugin is free, additional fees for extensions, themes, and hosting can add up, particularly for growing businesses.

Easy Digital Downloads

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Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is a powerful WordPress plugin that sells digital products online. Whether you’re selling software, eBooks, music, or digital art, EDD provides a streamlined solution for managing and selling digital goods with ease. It is known for its simplicity, user-friendly interface, and ability to handle everything from digital product delivery to payment gateways. With a large ecosystem of extensions and integrations, EDD is one of the top choices for digital creators.

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is focused on digital product sales and provides a clean interface for selling downloadable items. The core plugin includes features like product management for creating digital products, payment gateways such as PayPal and Stripe, and a robust reporting system to track sales, revenue, and customer data. EDD also comes with discount codes, enabling you to create promotional offers, and customer management, helping you track buyer history and interactions.

The plugin is highly customizable, with extensions for email marketing, recurring payments, and file access control. It supports various payment gateways beyond PayPal and Stripe, including Authorize.net, Amazon Payments, and more. File protection ensures that your digital products are securely delivered to paying customers. EDD also integrates smoothly with most WordPress themes and plugins, providing seamless functionality across your site.

Pros of Easy Digital Downloads

• Designed for Digital Goods: EDD is tailored specifically for selling digital products, unlike more general eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce.
• Simple and User-Friendly: The plugin is easy to set up and use, even for beginners, with clear options for managing digital products and orders.
• Secure File Delivery: It includes secure file protection and download links, ensuring only paying customers get access to your products.
• Extensions and Add-Ons: There are many extensions available for everything from email marketing to recurring subscriptions, allowing you to expand its functionality.
• Payment Flexibility: EDD supports a wide range of payment gateways, with PayPal and Stripe included for free and additional gateways available through extensions.
• Strong Reporting Tools: Detailed reporting allows you to track revenue, sales, and customer activity, giving you better insight into your store’s performance.

Cons of Easy Digital Downloads

• Limited to Digital Products: EDD is designed only for digital goods, so it’s not a good fit if you also want to sell physical products.
• Costs Can Add Up: While the core plugin is free, many essential features like subscriptions, payment gateways, and licensing management require paid extensions.
• Customization for Advanced Users: Customizing EDD for more complex needs may require some development knowledge or additional plugins.
• Support Costs: Premium support and many advanced features require purchasing extensions or a pro plan.

Cost Consideration

• Core Plugin: Free
• Extensions:
  • Recurring Payments: $199/year
  • Software Licensing: $199/year
  • Email Marketing Integrations: Starting at $49/year
  • Additional Payment Gateways (e.g., Authorize.net): $89/year
• Themes: EDD works with most WordPress themes, but EDD-optimized premium themes range from $49 to $100.
• Support Plans:
  • Personal Pass (1 site support and updates): $99/year
  • Extended Pass (for use on five sites): $179/year
  • Professional Pass (for use on unlimited sites, includes popular extensions): $299/year
  • All Access Pass (includes all extensions and support): $499/year

Selection Criteria

In evaluating Easy Digital Downloads, we focused on ease of use, particularly for those selling digital products. EDD is designed for this purpose, making it highly intuitive for digital creators. Features such as file protection, discount management, and built-in reporting make it a complete solution for selling digital goods. Performance and speed were tested, and EDD runs efficiently, especially for smaller stores.

We also considered support and documentation, and EDD offers extensive knowledge bases and community support. However, premium support requires purchasing extensions or plans. Finally, in terms of cost, while the base plugin is free, adding essential features can result in additional expenses. This makes EDD ideal for those focusing solely on digital products, but it’s essential to factor in the cost of necessary extensions.

WP Simple Pay

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WP Simple Pay is a lightweight, user-friendly WordPress plugin for simple payment collections. It’s ideal for businesses and individuals who accept one-time or recurring payments without needing a full-fledged eCommerce solution. WP Simple Pay focuses on integrating seamlessly with Stripe, allowing you to create payment forms and accept credit card payments, ACH payments, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.

This plugin is perfect for small businesses, freelancers, non-profits, and anyone who needs a straightforward way to collect payments through their WordPress site.

WP Simple Pay offers a variety of features designed to simplify the payment collection process. It integrates directly with Stripe, allowing you to accept credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and ACH payments without a complicated setup. The plugin includes a powerful drag-and-drop payment form builder, enabling users to create fully customizable forms without knowing any code. You can make payment buttons, set up one-time or recurring payments, and even offer discount codes.

The plugin supports multiple currencies, allowing you to accept payments from all over the world. Customizable email receipts and notifications are available to keep you and your customers informed. Additionally, WP Simple Pay doesn’t require setting up a shopping cart or product catalog, making it an ideal solution for those needing a minimalistic payment approach.

Pros of WP Simple Pay

• Simple Setup: The plugin is easy to install and configure, requiring minimal setup for accepting payments through Stripe.
• Customizable Payment Forms: The drag-and-drop payment form builder fully customizes payment forms without needing coding skills.
• Recurring Payments Support: You can set up subscription plans and collect recurring payments easily.
• Stripe Integration: WP Simple Pay offers seamless Stripe integration, making it easy to accept various payment methods, including Google Pay, Apple Pay, and ACH payments.
• No Full eCommerce Solution Needed: WP Simple Pay provides a simple, streamlined way to collect payments for those not needing a full eCommerce setup.

Cons of WP Simple Pay

• Limited Payment Gateways: The plugin is built specifically for Stripe, so if you want to use other payment gateways like PayPal, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
• No Shopping Cart: WP Simple Pay is focused on single-payment forms and lacks shopping cart functionality, which may limit its usefulness for businesses selling multiple products.
• Costs for Advanced Features: The free version of WP Simple Pay has limited features and advanced functionalities like recurring payments and additional customization options are available only in the paid versions.

Cost Consideration

• Free Version:
  • Basic payment forms
  • Stripe integration
• Personal Plan: $99/year
  • 1 site license
  • Recurring payments
  • Customizable payment forms
• Plus Plan: $149/year
  • Up to 3 sites
  • All features from Personal Plan
  • Additional form options
• Pro Plan: $249/year
  • Up to 25 sites
  • Priority support
  • All advanced features
• Elite Plan: $499/year
  • Unlimited sites
  • Top-tier support
  • All advanced features

Selection Criteria

In reviewing WP Simple Pay, we looked at ease of use and found that the plugin is incredibly straightforward, particularly for those who need to collect payments without a complex setup. Its feature set focuses on streamlined payment collection with Stripe integration, and it excels in areas like customizable payment forms and recurring payments.

When it comes to performance and speed, WP Simple Pay performs well, as it doesn’t carry the overhead of a full eCommerce solution. Support and documentation are solid, particularly with the paid plans that offer priority support. Regarding cost, WP Simple Pay is affordable for small businesses and individuals, though the free version lacks some of the advanced features needed for more complex payment setups.

Ecwid

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Ecwid is a powerful, cloud-based eCommerce solution that integrates with any website, including WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Unlike other WordPress-specific eCommerce plugins, Ecwid is a fully hosted solution that handles the heavy lifting of hosting, security, and maintenance on its servers. This makes it an appealing option for businesses looking for a low-maintenance way to sell products online without worrying about the technical side of eCommerce.

Ecwid is highly versatile and supports physical and digital products, offering various features to handle inventory, payments, and shipping. Its ease of integration makes it suitable for new and established businesses wanting to sell online without a full site overhaul.

Ecwid provides comprehensive features for building and managing an online store. Product management is a key feature, allowing you to sell unlimited physical, digital, or service-based products, depending on your plan. It offers integration with multiple sales channels, enabling you to sell on your website, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and even marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.

Ecwid’s built-in shopping cart and secure checkout work seamlessly across devices, offering mobile-friendly design and integration with over 50 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square. The shipping management tools include real-time shipping rates, automated tax calculations, and the ability to offer custom shipping methods.

Ecwid also offers multilingual and multi-currency support, making it ideal for businesses with an international customer base. Advanced features include automated abandoned cart recovery, product filters, and discount codes. Ecwid is scalable and can be embedded in any website, meaning that you don’t have to rebuild your site from scratch to start selling online.

Pros of Ecwid

• Ease of Integration: Ecwid can be integrated into any existing website without overhauling your platform.
• Fully Hosted Solution: Ecwid handles hosting, security, and software updates, reducing the technical burden on business owners.
• Multiple Sales Channels: You can sell on websites, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, mobile apps, and marketplaces like Amazon and eBay from one central dashboard.
• Multilingual and Multi-currency Support: Ideal for businesses that cater to international customers.
• Mobile-Friendly: Ecwid’s responsive design ensures a seamless shopping experience across devices.
• Product and Inventory Management: Comprehensive tools to manage products, including digital and physical goods, and track inventory.

Cons of Ecwid

• Free Plan Limitations: The free plan is limited, allowing only up to 10 products, making it unsuitable for larger stores without upgrading.
• Limited Customization: As a hosted solution, customization options are more restricted compared to open-source platforms like WooCommerce.
• Advanced Features Are Paywalled: Essential features like abandoned cart recovery, product filters, and priority support are only available in higher-tier plans.
• Dependent on Ecwid Servers: As Ecwid is fully hosted, you’re reliant on their infrastructure for performance and uptime, unlike self-hosted solutions like WooCommerce.

Cost Consideration

• Free Plan:
  • Supports up to 10 products
  • Basic eCommerce features
  • Limited customization options
• Venture Plan: $19/month
  • Supports up to 100 products
  • Discount coupons
  • SEO tools
  • Inventory tracking
• Business Plan: $39/month
  • Supports up to 2,500 products
  • Multi-currency support
  • Automated tax calculations
  • Abandoned cart recovery
• Unlimited Plan: $99/month
  • Unlimited products
  • Priority support
  • Custom app development
  • Wholesale pricing options

Selection Criteria

In evaluating Ecwid, we focused on its ease of use and versatility in integrating with various platforms and the ability to handle multiple sales channels. Ecwid excels in supporting international businesses with multi-currency and multilingual capabilities. We also looked at its hosting and maintenance, which is handled entirely by Ecwid, making it a good option for users who don’t want to manage technical infrastructure.

The platform’s features, such as secure checkout, shipping management, and abandoned cart recovery, provide a well-rounded eCommerce solution, though advanced features are limited to higher-tier plans. Cost is a significant factor, as Ecwid’s free plan is quite limited, and businesses will likely need to upgrade to paid plans for more comprehensive functionality.

BigCommerce

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BigCommerce is a robust, fully hosted eCommerce platform that integrates seamlessly with WordPress, providing users with a scalable solution to build online stores. Unlike traditional eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce, BigCommerce offloads most eCommerce functionalities onto its platform, offering users a more secure, stable, and optimized way to sell products online. This allows WordPress users to manage content while BigCommerce manages the eCommerce side of things, including hosting, security, payments, and product management.

This platform is ideal for businesses that want to focus on growing their store without managing the technical aspects of eCommerce operations. BigCommerce supports a wide range of industries, from retail to B2B businesses, and it excels at providing enterprise-level tools with user-friendly controls.

BigCommerce offers impressive features to make eCommerce operations as seamless as possible. It supports multi-channel selling, allowing you to sell alongside your WordPress store on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and eBay. Unlimited products, file storage, and bandwidth are included, making BigCommerce a solid choice for growing businesses that don’t want to worry about data limits.

The platform integrates with over 65 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Apple Pay, offering businesses flexibility in collecting payments. It also comes with built-in abandoned cart recovery, SEO tools, discount and coupon management, and robust shipping options with real-time shipping quotes.

BigCommerce includes multi-currency support, automated tax calculations, and advanced security features like PCI compliance and SSL certification. Additionally, the integration with WordPress allows you to use BigCommerce as the backend for managing your store while utilizing the content management power of WordPress.

Pros of BigCommerce

• Fully Hosted Solution: BigCommerce handles hosting, security, and maintenance, allowing you to focus on growing your store without worrying about technical issues.
• Scalability: With unlimited products, bandwidth, and file storage, BigCommerce is ideal for stores that plan to grow quickly.
• Multi-Channel Selling: Seamlessly sell on social media platforms and marketplaces like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and eBay.
• Strong Payment Gateway Support: BigCommerce integrates with over 65 payment gateways, providing flexibility for global transactions.
• Built-in eCommerce Features: It has essential features like abandoned cart recovery, real-time shipping rates, and automated tax calculations.
• Seamless WordPress Integration: The BigCommerce for WordPress plugin allows you to combine the content management power of WordPress with the eCommerce capabilities of BigCommerce.

Cons of BigCommerce

• Monthly Subscription Fees: BigCommerce is a premium service, and its pricing plans can be more expensive than self-hosted eCommerce solutions like WooCommerce.
• Customization Limitations: While you can use WordPress for content management, customization options on the BigCommerce side are limited compared to fully open-source solutions.
• Learning Curve: Due to its extensive features, it may take some time to understand and fully utilize all that BigCommerce offers.
• Advanced Features in Higher Plans: Features like abandoned cart recovery and advanced reporting are only available in higher-tier plans, increasing the overall cost.

Cost Consideration

• Standard Plan: $29.95/month
  • No transaction fees
  • Unlimited products, storage, and bandwidth
  • Single-page checkout
  • 24/7 support
  • Real-time shipping quotes
• Plus Plan: $79.95/month
  • Everything in Standard Plan
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Advanced customer segmentation
• Pro Plan: $299.95/month
  • Everything in Plus Plan
  • Google customer reviews integration
  • Custom SSL
  • Advanced product filtering
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
  • Everything in Pro Plan
  • Priority support
  • API support for larger businesses

Selection Criteria

In reviewing BigCommerce, we evaluated its ease of use, scalability, and integration with WordPress. BigCommerce excels in performance, handling eCommerce functionality on its infrastructure, reducing strain on your WordPress website. It also meets high standards for security, offering PCI compliance and SSL certificates.

We considered the platform’s multi-channel capabilities, allowing businesses to sell across various platforms from a single dashboard. Customization and flexibility were essential factors, and while BigCommerce offers excellent integration with WordPress, it may not offer the same level of customization as self-hosted solutions like WooCommerce. Finally, pricing was a key factor, as BigCommerce is a premium platform, but its scalability and ease of use make it a worthwhile investment for many growing businesses.