Are you looking for the best alternatives to Easy Digital Downloads to set up your online business?
Easy Digital Downloads is undoubtedly the best WordPress plugin to sell digital products and downloadables. It comes with powerful features and a user-friendly interface so anyone, even beginners, can set up their online business with ease.
While Easy Digital Downloads is #1, it isn’t the only digital downloads plugin on the market. There are a handful of alternatives, but do they match up to what Easy Digital Downloads has to offer?
In this post, we compare the alternative options to Easy Digital Downloads so you can make the right choice. We’ll explore features, pricing, cons, and more so that you get the full picture.
Before we start, to make this a fair comparison, let’s take a look at what Easy Digital Downloads has to offer.
Easy Digital Downloads Overview
Easy Digital Downloads allows you to sell any type of digital download such as software, eBook, guides, videos, and so much more. It comes with a super easy shopping cart functionality with Buy Now and Add to Cart buttons. So anyone can create professional product pages without having to touch a line of code.
With this plugin, you can easily accept online payments by integrating with popular gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.Net. Other than this, you’ll also get access to features like coupon code generation, file download tracking, and a customer management system.
EDD is compatible with all WordPress themes and plugins, so you’ll never have to worry about your website speed and performance.
The plugin is free to use, but you can pay for addons to extend functionality. Easy Digital Downloads offers affordable plans that are tailored to fit the needs of different businesses. The premium plans start at just $99.50 per month. See: Easy Digital Downloads: Free vs Paid Version Compared.
As your business grows, you can upgrade your premium plan for advanced features and access to plugin extensions. There’s also a free version of the plugin available on WordPress.org.
Highlights:
- Unlimited file downloads
- File delivery automation
- User-friendly My Account page
- Integration with email marketing services
- Easy refund processing
- File download tracking
- Built-in analytics and reporting dashboard
- Responsive and friendly customer support team
With these features and tools, Easy Digital Downloads makes selling downloadable products a breeze.
So, why look for an alternative to Easy Digital Downloads? Let’s take a look at some of the reasons.
Why Look For an Easy Digital Downloads Alternative?
There are plenty of ways to sell downloadable assets like e-books. You can sell your digital products on Amazon or Etsy. However, selling them through your website gives you more control.
Easy Digital Downloads is the perfect eCommerce solution for selling digital and downloadable products in WordPress.
Because this plugin was specially built for selling digital products, you won’t find built-in options for selling physical products. You’ll have to install an extension if you want to sell both types of products on your website.
Also, Easy Digital Downloads doesn’t provide hosting and website maintenance services like other hosted eCommerce platforms out there.
It is a simple and lightweight plugin that you can set up on your WordPress site and start selling in a matter of minutes. With this plugin, you get the freedom to manage and track your file downloads the way you want.
With that said, let’s take a look at the best Easy Digital Download alternatives and competitors on the market.
Best Easy Digital Digital Downloads Alternatives
Each of these eCommerce solutions on this list offers different eCommerce and website hosting options. Let’s check them out!
1. MemberPress
MemberPress is the #1 membership plugin for WordPress sites. It allows you to sell digital products such as images, PDFs, and online courses on a subscription basis. The plugin is easy to use, so even beginners can set up a membership site to sell their products.
MemberPress lets you create multiple membership levels and restrict the content on your website behind a paywall. You can set up one-time and recurring payments to generate a steady stream of revenue.
There are options to integrate with different payment processors such as Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.Net. What’s great is that the plugin doesn’t charge any additional fees for your online transactions.
With MemberPress, you also get the option to integrate with community-building plugins like bbPress. This way, you can connect with your customers and let them interact with each other about your products.
Highlights:
- Unlimited membership levels and access rules
- Content dripping and expiration date options
- Generate discount coupons
- Dedicated addon for course creation and design
- Dynamic pricing page templates
- Analytics and reporting dashboard
Easy Digital Downloads vs. MemberPress
Easy Digital Downloads is a lightweight plugin built for selling and managing downloadable goods on your own website.
Whereas, MemberPress is a membership plugin that lets you restrict access to your website content and online courses on your site. Only after the members register and make their payments they can view the content.
It is the best Easy Digital Downloads alternative for those businesses that want to create an eLearning website or online store to sell non-physical products.
Pricing:
Pro plans start from $179 per year for 1 site.
2. WPForms
WPForms is the best form builder plugin for WordPress. It is packed with features that let you create professional forms for your website.
It comes with a library of 1,200+ templates where you can choose a digital download form to get started. Then, you only need to make some tweaks to the form and add your download link to sell your digital products.
If you want, you can check our easy guide on how to sell eBooks in WordPress.
With its drag-and-drop form builder, you can add or remove fields and use features like conditional logic to make your forms more intuitive. It also lets you add a payment field on the form.
WPForms seamlessly integrates with popular payment processors like PayPal, Stripe, and Square so you can easily accept payments for your digital downloads.
What’s more, the plugin has built-in options to send automated email notifications. This allows you to send product links as soon as the customers complete their payments. You can use this to send order confirmation emails as well.
Highlights:
- Beginner-friendly drag and drop builder
- Build product catalogs with prices and images
- Integration with email marketing tools
- Customer order management system
- Spam protection to prevent hackers and bots
Easy Digital Downloads vs WPForms
WPForms is a WordPress form plugin more than it is an online commerce platform. But it’s on our list of the best Easy Digital Downloads alternatives because it provides a simple solution for selling digital downloads in WordPress.
You can also create any forms for your website, like lead generation forms to get more newsletter subscribers. It even lets you create registration, checkout, product orders, request a quote, callback, and other forms that come in handy for both retailers and wholesalers.
It doesn’t offer download management and storage features like Easy Digital Downloads. But you can send content links to your users after they successfully complete their payment through the payment forms.
Pricing:
Starts at $39.50 per year.
3. Woo (Formerly WooCommerce)
Woo (WooCommerce) is the best open-source eCommerce software for all types of businesses. It serves as a complete eCommerce solution as it lets you sell both physical and digital products on your WordPress website in just a few clicks.
With Woo, you get all the features that are essential for building a full-fledged online store. It comes with a beginner-friendly user interface so anyone can set up product pages and add payment options on their site.
One of the reasons to choose Woo is that it is available completely free. This includes all the features such as inventory management, shipping options, PayPal payments, checkout, and more.
Also check: Best WordPress PayPal Plugins
For more functionalities, you’ll find hundreds of free and paid extensions for Woo. These are helpful if you want to add new payment options, subscription plans, and more.
Woo has a large knowledge base with step-by-step tutorials and documentation. This will help learn how to use each feature and set up your online store.
Highlights:
- SEO optimization options for product pages
- Built-in shipping and tax calculation
- Supports PayPal, credit card, bank transfer, and more payment options
- Developer-friendly customization options
- Inventory management system for tracking stock availability
- Dashboard for viewing real-time reports on sales and customer activities
Easy Digital Downloads vs. Woo
When comparing Easy Digital Downloads and Woo in terms of selling digital products, EDD is the best option you have. You don’t need to set up a whole eCommerce site like WooCommerce.
With EDD, you can sell your digital products from anywhere on your website. It lets easily add your products and accept payments with a simple shopping cart system. So, it doesn’t slow down your website performance and page load time.
However, it doesn’t have in-built options to sell physical products like in WooCommerce. You’ll have to install an extension for that.
Pricing:
Free.
4. Shopify
Shopify is another great Easy Digital Downloads alternative that lets you set up a complete eCommerce store for your business. Once you sign up for an account, you can build a storefront for your business in a few minutes.
It offers a collection of website theme templates so you can get started quickly. And if you want to make any changes to the template, you can use its simple drag-and-drop builder. It allows you to add new elements and edit the theme designs to match your brand.
Shopify is a cloud-hosted eCommerce platform which means it takes care of all the technical aspects of the site, such as backup, maintenance, security, and speed. Even the frontend of your site is automatically adjusted for the best appeal.
If you want to sell digital products like e-books on Shopify, then you’ll have to connect with other apps such as SendOwl and Fetchapp. This can be confusing for beginners who want an easy and simple way to sell their digital products online.
Highlights:
- Easy to set up
- Pre-designed store templates
- Generate discount codes and gift cards
- Third-party extensions and integrations
- Options to connect with other marketplaces
Easy Digital Downloads vs. Shopify
Shopify and Easy Digital Downloads are both easy to use and set up. But with Shopify, you’ll need to connect with 3rd-party apps like SendOwl and FetchApp to sell digital goods.
Another drawback to Shopify is that you’ll need to pay $29 per month to use its services, while EDD is available completely free.
Pricing:
The basic plan starts at $29 per month.
5. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is one of the popular eCommerce platforms that is perfect for medium to large-sized businesses. You can use it to sell physical and digital downloads on your website.
If you have a WordPress site, you can connect your BigCommerce account with the help of a plugin. This allows you to showcase your products and sell them directly from any part of your site.
Apart from this, BigCommerce offers hosting services and security tools for your website. You also get access to SEO and conversion tools to increase online visibility for your business.
Highlights:
- Intuitive website builder
- Collection of theme templates
- Supports a wide range of payment options
- Multi-channel sales option
- Abandoned cart recovery features
Easy Digital Downloads vs BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a great eCommerce solution for all types of businesses, but when it comes to selling digital downloads, EDD has the upper hand.
EDD is more user-friendly and comes with tons of features to manage and track your downloads without having to leave your WordPress site.
Pricing:
The Standard plan starts at $29.95 per month (billed annually).
6. LearnDash
LearnDash is the best LMS plugin that lets you create and sell courses without any hassle. It is the perfect Easy Digital Downloads alternative for those who want to sell digital products like online courses, guides, tutorials, and quizzes.
The plugin provides a content dripping feature that lets you deliver your courses at scheduled intervals. You can also set prerequisites for students before they can start a new lesson.
For accepting payments from students, LearnDash lets you connect with payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, and 2Checkout. There are options to set up a subscription model with one-time and recurring payments.
Highlights:
- Course creation with multimedia support
- Pre-designed course templates
- Options to create quizzes and assignments
- Gamification elements like certification and badges
- Automated email notifications
Easy Digital Downloads vs LearnDash
LearnDash is more focused on selling online courses rather than software and file downloads as compared to EDD. But, it is a great alternative for educational institutions and individual creators who want to earn money by selling their courses.
Pricing:
Starts from $159 for a single site license.
7. Ecwid
Another great alternative to Easy Digital Downloads is Ecwid. It is an eCommerce platform that you can use to sell digital products on your website.
Not just WordPress, you can use Ecwid with other website builders like Wix and Weebly to set up your online store. The user dashboard is super easy to navigate and comes with tons of pre-built design templates to help you create your storefront in no time.
Highlights:
- User-friendly dashboard
- Responsive design templates
- Unlimited storage options
- Integration with different website builders
- Multiple payment options
Easy Digital Downloads vs Ecwid
Like Easy Digital Downloads, Ecwid offers a free plan, but it only comes with basic eCommerce features. It doesn’t let you sell and manage digital products like the free version of EDD does.
Also, EDD is more lightweight and bloat-free compared to Ecwid, which means your site will load fast and rank well on search results.
If you’re not convinced, you can check our guide for the best Ecwid alternatives.
Pricing:
A free plan is available. Pro plans start at $12.50 per month (billed annually).
8. Thrive Apprentice
Thrive Apprentice stands out as an excellent eCommerce plugin for digital courses, making it a top choice for course creators. With its drag-and-drop course builder, organizing your content has never been easier.
You can easily arrange lessons and modules to create the perfect learning path for your students. This level of flexibility is also found in the course’s structure, allowing you to create well-organized modules, chapters, and lessons, ensuring an effortless learning experience for your audience.
One of the standout features of Thrive Apprentice is its support for any media format. You can effortlessly create text, video, and audio lessons or even mix and match various content types to suit your needs. Thrive Apprentice also offers drip functionality, allowing you to schedule content releases according to your specific requirements.
Highlights:
- Drag and drop course builder
- Use any media format
- Drip functionality
- Customizable layouts
- Certificate generation
- Many languages supported
- Easy-to-use reporting tools
Easy Digital Downloads vs Thrive Apprentice
When considering alternatives to Easy Digital Downloads (EDD), Thrive Apprentice is a great option for digital course creators. It offers a user-friendly experience and the ability to customize course list layouts, allowing for a unique and visually appealing content presentation.
To add to this, Thrive Apprentice provides different options for scheduling content releases. These options include evergreen and scheduled repeating, day-of-the-week or month, and drip on specific dates. With this, you can tailor the learning experience to suit your audience’s needs.
To ensure you keep track of everything, Thrive Apprentice offers a reporting system that offers insights into course enrollment, completion, and student engagement.
Pricing:
Get the standalone WordPress plugin starting from $149 a year or as part of Thrive Suite at $299 a year.
Get started with Thrive Apprentice!
9. WishList Member
WishList Member has established itself as a standout eCommerce plugin for those looking to create and manage membership sites, courses, and online communities.
Since its creation in 2008, WishList Member has grown to be a trusted solution for anyone seeking to offer exclusive content and build a thriving online community. WishList Member’s simplicity and customization abilities make it a go-to solution, ensuring you create a unique eCommerce platform without any coding experience.
With this plugin, you can create unlimited membership levels. You can create as many membership tiers as you need, control content access for each level, and run targeted promotions.
To add to this, WishList Member easily integrates with various WordPress themes, page builders, and plugins, ensuring that your site’s design remains intact while your content is protected.
Highlights:
- Easy customization:
- Unlimited membership levels
- Seamless and extensive Integration
- Trigger level actions
- Content drip and control
- Many payment options
- Dedicated support
Easy Digital Downloads vs WishList Member
When comparing WishList Member to Easy Digital Downloads (EDD), it becomes evident that WishList Member is a strong alternative for those looking to create and manage membership sites.
Unlike EDD, WishList Member is specifically designed for membership site management. This makes it more suitable for users seeking to protect and monetize exclusive content, courses, and communities.
Pricing:
The basic plan starts from $299 a year.
Get started with WishList Member!
Bonus: MemberMouse
MemberMouse is one of the best eCommerce plugins to help grow your membership website. Whether you’re selling products, courses, or subscriptions, MemberMouse provides flexibility in payment and billing options.
With customizable checkout experiences, one-click purchases, and the ability to use coupon codes, you can craft an engaging and quick sales process.
MemberMouse also shines when it comes to content protection, allowing you to easily password-protect pages and posts. You can create a members-only area, secure courses, and even schedule content drips, making it ideal for educational platforms.
What sets MemberMouse apart is its member management system. You can automate the management of free and paid members. You can also integrate CRM tools and gain valuable insights into member behavior, enhancing the customer experience.
Highlights:
- Powerful automation features
- Extensive content protection tools
- Detailed reporting and analytics features
- Comprehensive member management features
- Easy to use course-building tools.
- Cross-selling features to boost sales
- Custom certificates of completion
- Good integration capabilities
Easy Digital Downloads vs MemberMouse
MemberMouse is an excellent alternative to Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) when choosing the right eCommerce plugin for your WordPress site. MemberMouse’s versatility allows you to sell various product types, such as digital products, memberships, and physical goods.
With one-click upsells and flexible checkout pages, MemberMouse streamlines the sales process, offering a great customer experience.
MemberMouse also excels in member management, offering various tools for both free and paid members, while EDD primarily focuses on digital products.
Pricing:
The basic plan starts from $199.50 a year.
Which is the best Easy Digital Downloads Alternative?
After comparing all the eCommerce platforms and plugins, we can confidently say that Easy Digital Downloads is the best tool for selling digital goods.
As the name suggests, EDD gives you an easy way to set up an online store for selling digital downloads in minutes. What sets the plugin apart from the other platforms is its advanced download tracking and reporting features.
So, you can keep track of your conversions and manage your download files on a single dashboard without leaving your WordPress site.
Plus, it lets you connect with email marketing tools like Aweber, ConvertKit, and more. So, you can make users subscribe and grow your email marketing list
But, if you still want an alternative to Easy Digital Downloads, you can go ahead with any of our recommendations:
- MemberPress: The most powerful membership plugin that lets you set up subscriptions and sell online courses, tutorials, and other digital content.
- WPForms: A simple and easy tool for selling digital products without having to set up a complex eCommerce store.
- Woo: The best WordPress eCommerce plugin that comes with tons of features to sell digital and physical products.
And there you go! We hope this article helped you find the best Easy Digital Downloads alternative that is suitable for your business.
Now that you have learned about Easy Digital Downloads alternatives check out some commonly asked questions below.
FAQs: Easy Digital Downloads Alternatives
Which WooCommerce extensions are good, Easy Digital Downloads alternatives?
WooCommerce Sell Digital Downloads and WooCommerce Memberships are WooCommerce extensions that would be good Easy Digital Downloads alternatives. They offer excellent features for selling digital products and managing memberships, making them reliable options.
Are there any free alternatives to Easy Digital Downloads?
Yes, there are free alternatives to Easy Digital Downloads. WooCommerce, Big Cartel, and Ecwid are all popular options with free versions that allow you to sell both physical and digital products. You can enhance their functionality further with paid extensions or paid plans.
Does Easy Digital Downloads work with WooCommerce?
Yes. Easy Digital Downloads and WooCommerce can be integrated on the same WordPress website, allowing you to sell both digital and physical products from a single platform, increasing your market share. While Easy Digital Downloads is designed for selling digital products, WooCommerce can handle both physical and digital product sales. But at the end of the day, you can use them both on your WordPress site.
Which Plugin is the best to Boost Software sales?
Consider switching to Easy Digital Downloads, the perfect free solution for selling downloadable assets. This plugin offers highly customizable options and plenty of payment gateways for your clients. It offers a secure and automated digital product delivery system. Furthermore, it can handle a wide range of digital assets, including software, e-books, music, themes, and more
Next, you may want to check out these useful resources:
- Best ‘Out of Stock’ Plugins for WooCommerce Stores
- Best WooCommerce Upsell & Cross-Sell Plugins
- How to Sell Music Online and Make Money with WordPress
These posts will help you manage your product inventory and boost the conversions on your online store. The last one will help you sell digital products like audio files and songs in WordPress.
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