Do you dream of running a successful eCommerce site?
The secret is getting the foundation just right, and that means choosing the perfect WordPress eCommerce plugin.
I’ve spent years testing all sorts of solutions – from simple payment forms right through to powerful, fully-fledged eCommerce platforms. The plugins I’m sharing with you today aren’t just popular; they’re the ones that consistently deliver real results.
Whether you want to sell physical products, digital downloads, or even services, these essential tools will help you accept payments, and turn visitors into paying customers.
Ready to dive in and transform your site into a money-making machine? Let’s look at the best eCommerce plugins for your WordPress website.
How I Test and Review WordPress eCommerce Plugins
At WP101, we don’t just look at a plugin’s website and write about its features.
I’ve personally tested every plugin in this guide. I’ve processed transactions, walked through customer journeys, and even intentionally tried to break things to see how these plugins hold up under pressure.
During my testing, I focused on several key areas that truly matter for your online store:
- Setup and Ease of Use: How quickly can you get your shop up and running? I looked for a user-friendly onboarding process, clear setup wizards, and straightforward interfaces that new users can navigate without feeling overwhelmed.
- Customer Experience: Is the purchasing process smooth, secure, and user-friendly? A clunky or confusing customer journey can lead to abandoned carts and lost sales.
- Performance Impact: Will the plugin slow down your website? If your store is sluggish, then you’ll struggle to convert visitors into paying customers. It will also hurt your search engine rankings, meaning less traffic for your online store. I tested how each plugin affects site load times, server response, and overall performance, making sure it won’t drag your site down.
- Integration Capabilities: How well does the plugin play with other essential WordPress tools? I checked for compatibility with popular eCommerce themes, page builders, email marketing services, SEO plugins, and other vital tools you may want to use on your site.
- Support and Documentation: Can you easily get help when you need it? Even the best eCommerce plugins may require a bit of troubleshooting or clarification from time to time. That said, I made sure to explore each plugin’s documentation, knowledge bases, community forums, and other support channels to ensure there’s help available when you need it.
My goal is to provide you with honest, practical insights so you can confidently choose the best eCommerce plugin for your WordPress website.
Why Trust WP101?
At WP101, we have 16+ years of experience teaching WordPress to thousands of people. But we don’t just write about WordPress: we’re actively using these tools ourselves, testing every plugin and feature on real websites to ensure our advice is always practical and proven.
We also regularly update all our content to keep pace with the latest changes, ensuring you always have the most current and relevant information at your fingertips.
Whether you’re just setting up your eCommerce site or looking to reach as many new customers as possible, we’re here to help you every step of the way.
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Why Use WordPress eCommerce Plugins
eCommerce plugins can transform your regular WordPress blog or website into a powerful online selling machine.
The best part? Instead of paying monthly fees for hosted solutions like Shopify, these plugins give you complete control over your store while keeping your hosting costs more manageable.
But the real strength of WordPress eCommerce plugins lies in their incredible flexibility. You can start simple (perhaps with just a straightforward donation form) and then effortlessly add more features as your business grows.
In this guide, I’ve made sure to cover a range of solutions so you can create exactly the eCommerce site you had in mind.
1. WooCommerce
Did you know that WooCommerce powers over 4.5 million online stores? That makes it the most popular eCommerce solution on the planet, and for good reason: it just works.
When I first started using WooCommerce, I was surprised by how quickly it transformed a basic WordPress site into a fully functional online shop.
This plugin handles everything from showcasing your products to securely processing payments, calculating shipping, and even managing your taxes automatically.
One of the best parts? It’s easy to get started thanks to the straightforward WooCommerce setup wizard. This walks you through all the essential configurations, step-by-step.
In fact, I’ve got a basic store up and running within an hour.
However, after the initial setup you’ll need to spend some time exploring all the options and settings. WooCommerce is a full-featured platform, so there is a learning curve compared to some of the more straightforward platforms.
What truly sets WooCommerce apart for me is its built-in analytics. These reports show you exactly what’s performing well in your store. You can instantly see your total sales, net sales, average items per order, and so much more.
This level of insight is absolutely essential. It’s the data you need to make smart decisions and grow your new eCommerce business.
WooCommerce also supports a wide range of payment gateways, including popular options like Stripe, PayPal, and Square. While you might need to install extensions for certain gateways, there are many excellent free and premium options available to connect with payment providers all over the world.
Key Features:
- Complete product management: Easily sell unlimited products, including variations (like different sizes or colors).
- Flexible shipping options: Offer free shipping, flat rates, and more.
- Automatic tax calculations: Simplify taxes with WooCommerce Tax or Avalara.
- Detailed analytics: Get deep insights into your sales and customers.
- Customize and extend your store’s functionality: Access an entire ecosystem of themes, extensions, and WooCommerce plugins (you may need to pay for some premium options).
Who should use WooCommerce: Serious store owners who want complete control over their eCommerce site. If you’re ready to dive into a robust platform and enjoy exploring powerful features (even if it means a bit more learning initially), then WooCommerce is an excellent choice.
Pricing: The core WooCommerce plugin is completely free. You’ll only pay if you choose to invest in premium themes or extensions for your online store.
Get started with WooCommerce »
2. Easy Digital Downloads
Want to sell products on your WordPress website? Instead of wrestling with a one-size-fits-all solution, I recommend using a specialist plugin such as Easy Digital Downloads (EDD).
What makes EDD so special? It’s built specifically for selling digital goods. Every part of this plugin is tailored to that goal, which means it handles the unique challenges of digital sales really well.
Whether you’re selling PDF guides, software licenses, music, photos, or online courses, EDD handles all the tricky parts of delivering digital products seamlessly. It automatically generates secure download links, manages licensing, and even helps prevent unauthorized sharing of your products.
This simplicity isn’t just convenient; it often means higher conversion rates for your digital products.
You can easily track how many times a file has been downloaded, monitor license usage, and even see detailed information about your customers, like their IP address and when they downloaded each file.
These insights are invaluable for understanding your audience and getting more sales.
Key Features:
- Secure file delivery: Protect your products with expiring download links. You can even limit how many times a customer can download the same file.
- Customizable coupon codes: Create flexible discounts, including one-time and percentage-based coupons.
- Flexible pricing: Set single prices or offer variable pricing for different product options, like higher-resolution images.
- Detailed analytics: Monitor your downloads, sales, and API request logs directly in the WordPress dashboard.
- Payment gateway integration: EDD works seamlessly with PayPal and Stripe right out of the box, plus you can unlock additional payment gateways by installing extensions.
Who should use Easy Digital Downloads: Anyone who wants to sell digital products such as eBooks, courses, software, music, stock photography, or digital art.
Pricing: You can download a free version of Easy Digital Downloads directly from WordPress.org and sell as many digital products as you want.
However, if you upgrade to the premium plugin then you can accept recurring payments, support additional payment gateways, launch cross-selling and up-selling campaigns, and unlock other advanced features.
Premium plans start at $99.50 per year.
Get started with Easy Digital Downloads »
3. MemberPress
While it’s not a traditional eCommerce plugin, MemberPress is the ultimate solution for creating a membership site in WordPress and selling exclusive, members-only content.
With MemberPress, you can create as many membership levels as you want, then restrict access to any part of your site’s content based on those levels. I’m talking about posts, pages, custom post types, categories, tags, files, and more!
Plus, it supports content dripping, so you can gradually release content over time. This is a fantastic way to keep your members engaged and coming back for more.
MemberPress can even help to expand your reach by letting companies and organizations purchase your memberships in bulk.
Do you want to sell online courses? Then the MemberPress Courses add-on is a game-changer. It lets you design engaging lessons, add quizzes, track learner progress, and even reward your students with certificates.
Basically, MemberPress can act as a learning management system (LMS) and provide everything you need to create and sell courses directly within your WordPress website.
Key Features:
- Unlimited membership levels: Create endless membership tiers with unique pricing for each.
- Flexible payment options: Offer lifetime access, charge a one-time fee, or easily set up recurring payments.
- Built-in analytics: Get crystal-clear insights into your site’s growth. See active, inactive, free, and paid members, and even track the average member’s lifetime value.
- Course creation: Design, sell, and manage your online courses directly from WordPress using the MemberPress Courses add-on.
- Seamless integrations: This plugin works wonderfully with tons of tools and plugins, including AffiliateWP and WooCommerce.
- Email marketing friendly: MemberPress integrates with popular email marketing services like Brevo, Constant Contact, and Drip. This makes it super simple to stay in touch with your members.
Who should use MemberPress: Anyone who wants to make money by selling memberships, subscriptions, or online courses through their WordPress website.
Pricing: MemberPress plans are designed to fit various needs, with options ranging from $179.50 to $399.50 per year.
Get started with MemberPress »
4. WP Simple Pay
Sometimes, you just want to sell a single product, collect a one-time payment, or accept donations.
In these cases, a full-blown eCommerce platform like WooCommerce can feel overwhelming. It’s powerful, but maybe you don’t need all that complexity.
That’s where WP Simple Pay comes in.
It’s a powerful Stripe payments plugin that lets you accept payments without having to set up an entire online store. Instead, you can create a straightforward payment form using the plugin’s drag-and-drop builder, and then add it to your site.
WP Simple Pay’s setup process is incredibly user-friendly – I had a professional payment form ready to go in minutes.
Behind-the-scenes, WP Simple Pay integrates with Stripe so you’ll have access to popular payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
WP Simple Pay also supports over 10 major credit cards (including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover). And for added flexibility, you can even set up ‘buy now, pay later’ plans using either Klarna or Afterpay.
Key Features:
- User-friendly onboarding: Get started quickly with WP Simple Pay’s helpful setup wizard.
- Ready-made templates: Choose from 70 pre-designed payment form templates.
- Drag-and-drop form builder: Easily create custom payment forms without writing a single line of code.
- Seamless stripe integration: All payment processing happens securely on Stripe’s PCI-compliant servers.
- Built-in notifications: Automatically send professional receipt and confirmation emails to your customers.
- Automatic tax calculation: WP Simple Pay calculates the correct tax based on your customer’s location, helping you stay compliant.
Who should use WP Simple Pay: Service providers, consultants, freelancers, or anyone who needs a quick and easy way to accept payments on their website.
Pricing: You can download the free Stripe Payment Forms by WP Simple Pay plugin from WordPress.org. This plugin lets you accept one-time and recurring payments using the Stripe Checkout.
Just note that this free plugin adds its own 3% transaction fee, on top of Stripe’s standard processing fees.
If you want to avoid those fees and unlock more features like on-site payment processing and additional payment methods, then you can upgrade to the premium version of WP Simple Pay (from $49.50 per year).
Get started with WP Simple Pay »
5. Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart
Are you just beginning your journey into online selling? Then Ecwid might be a good fit for you.
What makes Ecwid truly unique is its hybrid approach. It’s a hosted platform, so your online store data is safely hosted on Ecwid’s servers. They also handle all the tricky stuff like software updates, security patches, and creating backups for you.
But here’s the best part for WordPress users: Ecwid also offers a dedicated plugin called Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart. This connects your WordPress website directly to your Ecwid store.
Once installed, you can access your entire Ecwid dashboard right from the WordPress admin area. The plugin even creates a Store page on your WordPress website, where it displays all the products you create within Ecwid.
What truly impressed me about Ecwid’s WordPress integration is how seamlessly it works with the block editor.
Ecwid comes with dedicated blocks that you can simply drag and drop onto your site, like a Shopping Cart Icon, Product Search Box, and even a Buy Now Button block. This gives you complete control over where Ecwid content appears on your website.
Key Features:
- The best of both worlds: Ecwid is a hosted solution with a seamless WordPress integration.
- Worry-Free Maintenance: Enjoy unlimited storage, automatic backups, and seamless upgrades – Ecwid handles it all for you.
- Dashboard access: See all your Ecwid content and data directly in your WordPress dashboard.
- Block editor friendly: Integrates perfectly with the WordPress editor, and even provides its own dedicated blocks.
- Supports multiple stores: Display two or more Ecwid stores on a single WordPress website if you need to.
Who should use Ecwid: Beginners who want to start selling online with minimal setup, or anyone who prefers a hosted solution combined with the flexibility of WordPress integration.
Pricing: Ecwid offers flexible plans designed to grow with your business, ranging from just $5 per month for smaller shops, up to $105 per month for larger stores with more products.
6. WC Vendors
WC Vendors can transform your WooCommerce store into a multi-vendor marketplace like Amazon or Etsy.
WC Vendors is incredibly flexible, supporting all kinds of WooCommerce products, including simple, grouped, downloadable, and even variable products. This means your vendors can sell almost anything.
What’s even better is that WC Vendors handles everything related to vendor management. To start, it adds handy vendor registration and login forms to your site.
It then creates a dedicated dashboard where your approved vendors can add new products, edit existing ones, and even track their own orders – all without needing any input from you.
Every time a vendor makes a sale, WC Vendors automatically pays them their share of the sale through Stripe Connect, and you keep the remainder.
This means WC Vendors can help you make money online without the hassle of sourcing products, managing inventory, or dealing with shipping.
Key Features:
- Complete vendor management: A full system for handling all your vendors.
- Application and approval workflow: Control who sells on your marketplace with easy-to-manage applications.
- Vendor dashboard: A dedicated area where vendors can manage their products and orders.
- Flexible commission structures: Set up commissions just how you like them, whether that’s fixed rates, category-specific, or tiered payments.
- Automated payouts: Effortlessly send vendor earnings via Stripe Connect.
Who should use WC Vendors: Entrepreneurs who want to create online marketplaces where multiple vendors can sell their products, and you can collect a commission.
Pricing: You can download the lite version of WC Vendors from WordPress.org. If you’re ready for more advanced features, then you can use the premium plugin on a single website for $99.50 per year.
Note, you’ll need to have WooCommerce installed on your site, in order to use WC Vendors.
7. WPForms
Ever wished you could accept payments on your WordPress site without setting up a full-blown online store?
Good news! WPForms isn’t just a form builder plugin; it can also collect payments directly through your WordPress website. In fact, WPForms comes with over 70 ready-made payment form templates that you can use.
You can easily customize any of these templates using WPForms’ drag-and-drop builder. Alternatively, you can use the editor to create your own custom payment form from scratch, with no coding required.
Even better, WPForms supports all the most popular payment gateways including PayPal, Square, and Stripe. You can even offer visitors a choice of payment options, so they can pick their preferred gateway.
Key Features:
- Drag-and-drop form builder with payment fields: Effortlessly design custom forms with integrated payment options.
- Popular payment gateway integrations: Connect with PayPal Standard, PayPal Commerce, Stripe, Authorize.Net, and more.
- 70+ specialist payment form templates: Quickly set up forms for specific needs, like Bakery Order Forms, eBook Download Forms, or Monthly Recurring Membership Forms.
- Automated notifications: Keep everyone in the loop with automatic email notifications and confirmations.
- Advanced analytics and reporting: Get valuable insights into your form submissions and payment data.
Who should use WPForms: Service providers and businesses that need custom order forms rather than traditional product catalogs. If you offer services, digital downloads, or simply need to collect one-time payments or donations, WPForms is a fantastic solution.
Pricing: You can download the lite version of WPForms from WordPress.org and start accepting payments through Stripe right away.
If you want to unlock additional payment gateways and more advanced features, then you can upgrade to WPForms premium (plans range from $49.50 to $299.50 per year).
Bonus eCommerce Plugin
MonsterInsights
While MonsterInsights isn’t a tool for direct selling, it’s absolutely essential for understanding your eCommerce site’s performance. Think of it as your secret weapon for making smarter business decisions.
MonsterInsights makes complex Google Analytics data easy to understand, even for non-technical users. Instead of digging through complex reports, you get clear, actionable insights right in your WordPress dashboard.
Just log in to your WordPress dashboard, and MonsterInsights instantly shows your top traffic sources, best-performing pages, average session duration, and other important metrics.
You can then use these insights to do more of what’s already working, and ultimately make more sales. There’s even a dedicated MonsterInsights’ eCommerce addon that lets you set up eCommerce tracking in just a few clicks.
With this, you can see crucial eCommerce metrics directly in your WordPress dashboard, including your conversion rates, total revenue, and average order value.
This kind of data is absolutely vital for making informed decisions and truly setting your eCommerce site up for success.
Key Features:
- 1-click eCommerce tracking: Easily set up tracking for popular platforms like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, LifterLMS, Restrict Content Pro, and more.
- Effortless website tracking: Set up proper tracking across all your devices and campaigns with just a few clicks.
- Dashboard reports: See all your website analytics right inside the WordPress dashboard.
- Real-time stats: Know what’s happening on your store right now with live data.
- Customer journey insights: Easily see which pages each customer visited and how long they spent there before making a purchase.
Who should use MonsterInsights: Any online store owner who wants to understand their customers better and optimize their eCommerce site for maximum growth.
Pricing: You can download the MonsterInsights Lite plugin for free from WordPress.org, and get started with basic analytics.
However, if you want to unlock all those powerful eCommerce tracking features, then you’ll need to upgrade to either a Pro ($199.60 per year) or Agency ($399.60 per year) license.
Get started with MonsterInsights »
Which eCommerce Plugin Should You Choose?
With so many fantastic options available, picking the right eCommerce plugin for your WordPress site can feel a little daunting.
But here’s the secret: there’s no single “best” eCommerce plugin out there. Instead, it’s all about finding the best plugin for your unique situation.
To help you make the right choice, here’s my top picks for some common scenarios:
- If you want maximum flexibility and control. Then WooCommerce is the gold standard for serious online stores. Yes, it has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s also an incredibly powerful, advanced eCommerce solution that can truly grow with you. Plus, there’s a massive ecosystem of WooCommerce extensions, plugins, and themes, giving you endless possibilities to customize your shop.
- If you’re selling digital products. Then Easy Digital Downloads is your go-to. This plugin is purpose-built for digital goods, so it handles all those digital-specific challenges like licensing and secure downloads much better than general eCommerce plugins.
- If you’re just starting out (or testing an idea!) Then WP Simple Pay lets you start accepting money in minutes without the complexity of managing a full product catalog. Alternatively, Ecwid is a great choice because it handles a lot of the technical tasks for you, including installing updates and security patches.
- If you need custom order forms. Then WPForms lets you create exactly what you need via an intuitive, drag-and-drop form builder.
- If you’re building a membership site. Then MemberPress handles all the complexities of recurring billing, content access, and member management better than just about any other solution.
- If you want to create your own marketplace. Then WC Vendors is your answer! It can transform your existing WooCommerce store into a multi-vendor platform, effortlessly handling commission tracking and vendor management for you.
It’s also really important to consider your future plans.
While you’re not locked into your first choice forever, migrating a store can be complicated and time-consuming. That said, it’s always better to pick a plugin that can grow with your business rather than one that just meets your immediate needs.
I hope this guide has helped you find the perfect eCommerce plugin for your WordPress website. Next, I recommend checking out our ultimate WordPress toolkit: everything you need for your website.
Need help getting started with WordPress? Then check out our comprehensive video tutorials covering everything from essential setup, right through to advanced customization: