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9 BEST WordPress eCommerce Plugins – Free and Paid (2024)

Best eCommerce plugins

Are you looking for the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress?

WordPress is quite popular for building a stunning website. But with the right eCommerce plugins, you can extend your site capabilities into a fully functional online store.

In this article, we’ll compare the best WordPress eCommerce plugins on the market to set up, manage, and grow your online store with ease.

WordPress eCommerce – How to Choose the Right Plugin

Since the eCommerce industry is booming, you’ll find dozens of different WordPress eCommerce plugins that let you easily add an online store.

Choosing the correct eCommerce plugin for your needs is vital for your business because it’s hard to back out from your original decision if it turns out to be a poor match.

Let’s take a look at a few factors you need to consider for choosing the right WordPress eCommerce plugin.

1. Ease of use: Whether you want to add a product, create a coupon or do any other task, a user-friendly interface makes it easy and simple. That way, you don’t have to waste time in your WordPress dashboard figuring out how to do it.

2. Support: Before choosing an eCommerce platform, you’ll need to double-check whether the plugin’s been constantly updated and maintained. Having good customer support is also important in case you run into any issues.

3. Addon choices: It’s in your best interest to choose an eCommerce plugin that has a wide selection of addons / supported plugins. When your customization options are endless, you can create any type of eCommerce website you want.

4. Overhead costs: WordPress is so flexible that it allows you to integrate a hosted eCommerce platform into your WordPress site.

A hosted platform might be a good choice for you if you don’t want to spend resources on optimizing your WordPress eCommerce store.

Now that you know what to look for, let’s dive into the list of the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress sites.

9 Best eCommerce Plugins for WordPress

  1. WooCommerce – Most powerful and flexible eCommerce plugin for WordPress
  2. Easy Digital Downloads – #1 eCommerce platform for digital products
  3. BigCommerce – Best hosted eCommerce platform
  4. Shopify – Easiest hosted eCommerce platform
  5. MemberPress – Best subscription-based eCommerce plugin
  6. WP Simple Pay – Easiest plugin for accepting online payments
  7. WP eCommerce – The original eCommerce Plugin for WordPress
  8. WPForms – Simplest online selling plugin for small scale businesses
  9. Ecwid – Beginner-friendly forever-free eCommerce plugin

1. WooCommerce

woocommerce

WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin. It is the most comprehensive solution that enables you to sell both digital and physical goods on your WordPress website.

WooCommerce is an open source plugin designed for small to large-sized business owners and online merchants.

It’s super easy to build and enhance your store, so you can start selling products in mere minutes. If you want a custom-built online store, then you can hire WooCommerce developers thanks to the large community.

You’ll also find hundreds of free and paid extensions. This lets you easily optimize SEO, so your products get good visibility on search engines and drive organic traffic.

The WooCommerce plugin comes bundled with PayPal (for accepting credit card and PayPal account payments), BACS, and cash on delivery for accepting payments. For more payment options, you can install addons to your WooCommerce store.

Also check: Best WordPress PayPal Plugins

WooCommerce also provides easy-to-follow tutorials and documentation that walks you through different aspects to build products pages and create an online store. The support requests are handled on the official forums, so if you need assistance, they’ve got you covered.

Highlights

  • Set up a store in minutes
  • Customize your store the way you want
  • Get secure payment options
  • Full-fledged inventory management
  • Easily configure taxes and shipping
  • Expand with tons of addons and extensions
  • Get complete control over user experience

Get started with WooCommerce today.

2. Easy Digital Downloads

easy digital downloads

Easy Digital Downloads is the best way to sell digital products with WordPress. It was built as a lightweight plugin that comes with all the essential features you’ll need to sell digital products without hassle. You can also find dozens of extensions that enhance the functionalities of your storefront and customize it to your heart’s content.

Although WooCommerce also allows you to sell digital products from your store, the downside is that it comes bundled with many features you’ll never need for running an exclusively digital goods storefront (such as shipping options).

It’s easy to get bogged down by the bloated user interface of WooCommerce if you don’t intend to sell physical goods from your store. On the other hand, EDD is built for selling digital goods specifically. This makes it super easy to list your products and start selling on your store quickly and easily.

Highlights

  • Flexible payment options and gateways
  • Discount codes
  • Unlimited file downloads
  • Customer acount page
  • Download activity tracking
  • Full data reporting

Get started with Easy Digital Downloads today.

3. BigCommerce

bigcommerce

BigCommerce is another cloud-hosted eCommerce platform to get your online store up and running quickly. BigCommerce is best suited for small to medium-sized online stores.

Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce is a feature-rich online store builder without costly addons or transaction fees. BigCommerce is also shipped with a lot of responsive eCommerce templates to choose from. Having a ton of options to choose from is nice, of course, but it may be overwhelming if you’re looking for something more streamlined.

Additionally, BigCommerce has bundled discounting and segmentation tools that let you seamlessly offer promotions for driving more sales.

You can even integrate BigCommerce into your WordPress website. That way you can manage your content with WordPress and eCommerce storefront with your Bigcommerce account.

The benefit is that you can offload eCommerce requests onto BigCommerce and free up your WordPress site’s server resources.

Highlights

  • Fully customizable online store
  • Easy to use and secure
  • Lightning-fast speed
  • Tons of third-party integrations
  • Powerful analytics

You’d also like to check out this comparison between BigCommerce vs WooCommerce.

Get started with BigCommerce today.

4. Shopify

shopify

Shopify is one of the best cloud-hosted platforms that lets you easily get started with selling online. You can sell your Shopify digital or physical products on any website, including your WordPress website, but a native integration isn’t available.

You may want to see our guide: How to Set Up Shopify with WordPress (Step by Step)

Since WordPress already has many eCommerce plugins, you might be wondering why you should consider Shopify instead. There are several reasons why powering your online store with Shopify will be beneficial for your online business:

Getting started with Shopify is easier compared to using native WordPress eCommerce plugins. All you have to do is sign up for an account with Shopify and get your eCommerce store up and running. Since it’s a cloud-hosted solution, you don’t have to worry about upgrading your server due to traffic outages as your eCommerce business grows.

Also, you don’t have to worry about site speed, security, or other technical things because Shopify takes care of it all for you.

Not convinced yet? Check out our complete list of Shopify alternatives and competitors.

Shopify also comes with many different attractive themes to choose from, so you can change the look and feel of your storefront to give it that personal touch you crave.

Highlights

  • Premade online store themes
  • Sell on website, social media, and online marketplaces
  • Create digital marketing campaigns
  • Simple dashboard to manage store
  • Connect to third party apps

Read our complete Shopify review.

Get started with Shopify today.

5. MemberPress

memberpress

MemberPress allows you to sell subscription-based digital products and services on your eCommerce website. It is not only the best eCommerce plugin for WordPress but also leads the list of best membership plugins for WordPress.

The subscription-based economy is rapidly becoming a norm in the eCommerce industry. It’s one of the best ways to generate recurring income from your online digital store.

This is where MemberPress can help you. It is a full-featured WordPress membership site plugin that also allows you to start charging your users to access your digital goods.

MemberPress also allows you to integrate your website with WooCommerce, so you can easily enhance the functions of your online store. With MemberPress, you can manage your members by granting and revoking access to digital goods. That way, you get more control over your inventory.

MemberPress supports a lot of payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net. It also integrates with many popular email marketing services like Constant Contact, Drip, Mailchimp, and more.

Besides selling goods in a subscription model economy, it lets you create forums and social communities on your online store with the necessary extensions. Plus, with the built-in MemberPress Courses add-on, you can easily create, manage, and sell online courses.

Highlights

  • Sell online courses, digital downloads, and services with ease
  • Create tiered membership programs
  • Manage and track subscriptions
  • Control membership access
  • Integrate with popular marketing platforms

Get started with MemberPress today.

6. WP Simple Pay

wp simple pay

WP Simple Pay is a popular payments plugin for WordPress. With WP Simple Pay, you can easily accept one-time and recurring payments on your WordPress site without setting up a complex shopping cart system.

It’s perfect for selling single products, collecting payments for services, or accepting donations.

WP Simple Pay comes with built-in support for credit card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH debit payments, and more.

Creating payment forms is effortless with the drag and drop builder. You can choose from fields like custom amount entry, coupon code, subscription plan selection, total amount label, and various other custom field types.

To display payment forms on your site, you can pick from different display types including embedded form display, overlay form display, and Stripe checkout page.

Highlights

  • Easily create payment forms using the drag and drop builder
  • Allow custom amount payments
  • Add and customize subscription options
  • Offer discounts with coupon codes
  • Add Apple Pay and Google Pay options
  • Multi-language and currency support

Get started with WP Simple Pay today.

7. WP eCommerce

WP eCommerce

WP eCommerce is the oldest WordPress eCommerce plugin, but it’s not as popular as WooCommerce.

WP eCommerce comes with a lot of features out of the box that let you create a beautiful online store from the ground up. It offers integration with tons of different payment gateways.

The main drawback is that it is often reported as buggy, which makes people switch their platform to WooCommerce or other eCommerce solutions down the line. Another disadvantage is that you can’t find as many extensions as compared to WooCommerce or Shopify.

Highlights

  • Easily add products to your catalog
  • Configure taxes and shipping
  • Monitor sales and reporting
  • Integrate with top payment gateways

Get started with WP eCommerce today.

8. WPForms

wpforms-site

WPForms is the best WordPress form builder rather than an eCommerce plugin. It features on this list because it has a simple solution to sell online without setting up a full-fledged eCommerce store.

You can choose from premade order form templates, create a product catalog, and add payment options.

Customers can then select their desired item, make the payment online, and buy the product instantly!

WPForms is compatible with all popular WordPress themes. It is the perfect solution for individuals and small businesses that want to sell one or a few products directly from their existing WordPress website.

WPForms also lets you create bookings and appointment forms so you can easily sell your services online. You’ll get a centralized dashboard for subscriber and customer management.

WPForms is a budget-friendly and beginner-friendly option for any WordPress user who wants to start selling.

See our guide: How to Sell a Product on Your WordPress Site (Without an Online Store)

  • List single or multiple items with pricing and images
  • Add payment options including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.Net
  • Integrate with email marketing providers and CRM tools
  • Easily embed your purchase form anywhere on your site
  • Supports shortcodes to embed forms in campaigns like popups
  • Set up automated notifications and product delivery emails

Get started with WPForms today.

9. Ecwid

Ecwid

Ecwid Ecommerce Shopping Cart is a managed eCommerce platform where you can list and sell products online.

Ecwid is quite similar to WooCommerce in that you can get started for free plus, its setup process follows the same pattern. However, Ecwid can be used on any platform, including social media channels, Joomla, and Weebly, to name a few.

Ecwid’s forever-free plan lets you list up to 10 products, and you won’t incur any transaction or monthly subscription fee from them.

Still not convinced? Check our guide on the best Ecwid alternatives.

Highlights

  • Free instant online website
  • Mobile-friendly and responsive designs
  • Sell on multiple sites simultaneously
  • Supports selling on all platforms
  • Integrates with Amazon
  • Supports Facebook, Google, Pinterest, and Snapchat advertising

Get started with Ecwid today.

Which is the Best WordPress eCommerce Plugin?

Choosing the best WordPress eCommerce plugin is tricky, and it all depends on your personal needs.

Strictly from a WordPress point of view, WooCommerce is the best eCommerce plugin for WordPress if you want to sell physical goods on your website. Integrating a WooCommerce storefront with your existing WordPress site is easier than any cloud-hosting solution.

Shopify is easier to get started with and is completely hassle-free from scalability and security points of view. They also offer 24/7 support which makes them more reliable than a native WordPress eCommerce plugin like WooCommerce.

You can always read our in-depth comparison of WooCommerce vs Shopify to be sure you make the right choice.

However, if you’re looking to sell digital goods, then Easy Digital Downloads is the best platform. It has everything you need to create, sell, and automate the delivery of digital products online.

We hope this guide helped you choose the best WordPress eCommerce plugins for your needs.

When you’re running an eCommerce site, you’ll need to make sure you use a trusted web host that can handle your traffic and data requirements. See the best eCommerce hosting companies to find the right plan for you.

You may also want to check out SeedProd – the best website and landing page builder for WordPress. It integrates with WooCommerce seamlessly so you can add and sell products directly from any page you create.

And if you’re interested in making your online store a smashing success, check out these posts:

These tools and tutorials will help you drive high conversions and exponential growth!

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