Last updated - January 5, 2024
WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It is the go-to extension for most eCommerce store creators because it is feature-rich and easy to set up an online store with it.
Yet, WooCommerce might not be everyone’s choice. It is only powering 40% of the eCommerce stores, after all. So let us take a look at the eCommerce plugins for WordPress that are powering the rest of the eCommerce websites on the internet in this article.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is completely free and open source, making it an ideal choice for small eCommerce store owners who can’t afford enterprise-level solutions for creating their online store. And since WooCommerce is the most popular plugin to add eCommerce functionality to WordPress websites, there are a plethora of extensions and themes, and plugins that also support and are compatible with WooCommerce.
Another advantage of WooCommerce is the flexibility it offers in creating a completely customized and unique eCommerce website with a comparatively small learning curve. Not only does WooCommerce allow you to customize every part of your eCommerce store’s functions, but it also plays nice with other extensions due to its popularity.
Just pick a theme and the most likely case is that it supports WooCommerce and you can edit the header, footer, social media icons, and even add custom CSS codes to suit your needs. You can create a store for all kinds of products no matter their niche and mode of delivery.
As it is open source, you also get the support of an active and helpful community of WooCommerce users and developers to get help during any parts of creating and running your store.
Cons of WooCommerce
A major disadvantage of WooCommerce is that it is a plugin for WordPress, meaning you can only use it if your website is powered by WordPress. This inhibits the prospective user base that doesn’t want to use WordPress to create their website.
While WooCommerce offers endless customization and flexibility with WooCommerce-specific extensions, they also add up and burden the plugin, slowing down website performance. Another drawback of the plugins is that you may have to pay for them to use or for the advanced features. This is also true for some themes in WordPress.
The advantages of WooCommerce also are their disadvantages for some, as you can see. The lack of official support is another such thing. While there is a large community of WooCommerce enthusiasts who can help you with your issues, it isn’t the same as having official 24/7 customer support. Having to rely on the community’s help is not everyone’s cup of tea as a lot runs on the proper working of stores.
Easy Digital Downloads
Easy Digital Downloads is an eCommerce plugin especially suited for websites selling digital products and subscriptions. While the basic plugin features like adding products and discount coupons are available for free, adding further functionalities requires you to upgrade to the paid version. That said, this tool is no slouch with comprehensive features to create a digital eCommerce store.
Features
- Since Easy Digital Downloads focuses on digital products, it offers special features to control the specifics of it like control over file downloads. You can limit download limits or offer unlimited downloads per user or payment.
- It has a centralized dashboard that offers an overview of all KPIs like customer purchase and download history.
- As the name suggests, it offers a hassle-free checkout experience with a flexible payment system. It supports major payment gateways and services like PayPal and customers make a purchase of multiple products in a single transaction and you get all the reports in the dashboard.
Pricing
Easy Digital Downloads has a personal pass for its paid plans starting at a discounted price of $99.50 per year, normally available at $199 per year.
Ecwid
Ecwid is also a free eCommerce plugin that adds functionalities necessary to make your website eCommerce ready. The plugin supports integration with social media so you can sell your products across channels such as on your website, Facebook, and Instagram by equipping your website with Ecwid. It is also a pretty beginner-friendly plugin and setting up your online store is just a matter of a few minutes.
Features
- Ecwid integrates with major carriers like USPS, UPS, Canada Post, Australia Post, and FedEx to calculate shipping rates automatically.
- You can also use Ecwid’s automated tax calculations for the US, Canada, and the European Union. An added bonus is the support for Taxjar which creates automated tax reports and filing for the US.
- Ecwid has apps for iOS and Android for store management from anywhere. Track your shipments, and monitor your orders, sales, and payments right from your mobile phone.
- The data of the Ecwid shopping cart is stored outside WordPress in a dedicated and secure server with unlimited storage with regular updates to keep your data secure. Besides, Ecwid also offers 24/7 support for all your queries so you can run your eCommerce business hassle-free.
Pricing
Ecwid’s paid plans start from $15 per month in its venture plan and you can get it for $12.5 per month if you opt for an annual subscription.
Dokan
Dokan is a multivendor eCommerce plugin for WordPress working in tandem with WooCommerce to create your online store in under 30 minutes with it. It is an intuitive tool that makes running your eCommerce business smooth with the support to have multiple vendors and products that are physical, digital, subscription-based, and even auctionable products through Dokan.
Features
- Because of the multiple vendor compatibility, you can host vendors and earn commissions from the sales they make through your store. You can also charge vendors based on product quantity and time.
- Dokan is compatible with 70+ popular plugins for shipping, payment, and wallets and makes it easy to cater to international vendors and customers and scalability is easy with this plugin.
- Integration with Elementor Pro for comprehensive customization of your store’s appearance with Elementor’s drag-and-drop website builder.
- Allow vendors to handle shipping individually based on location and the product’s attributes like the class, quantity, and price. Customers can also decide the time and date they can receive their shipment.
Pricing
Paid plans for Dokan with advanced features start at $149 per year.
BigCommerce for WordPress
A fan of BigCommerce but you don’t want to switch your website from WordPress? You can have the cake and eat it too with this plugin as it brings the features of BigCommerce to WordPress. Since BigCommerce is already a popular name among eCommerce website builders, you can trust the plugin has all your needs covered.
Features
- Get the best of both worlds with WordPress as your front end and BigCommerce as your back end, store and manage data like product catalog, and payment data in BigCommerce and handle website appearance and other front-end traits with WordPress.
- Create custom product catalogs, use the BigCommerce generated eCommerce-specific pages like cart, checkout, account creation and signing in, shipping, returns, order history, and more for a professional and fully functional eCommerce store with unlimited scope for scalability.
- BigCommerce also has payment gateways, shipping, tax calculation, and support for multiple currencies for a comprehensive solution in one plugin so you don’t have to worry about adding extensions for more functionalities.
- With the plugin handling your back-end data, your website is faster and lighter for better customer experience and SEO.
- Multichannel selling is easy as you can access and sell your products in all major online marketplaces like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Instagram, and eBay.
Pricing
The plugin is available for free.
WP EasyCart
WP EasyCart is another eCommerce plugin you can use as a WordPress user. It is a useful tool that has intuitive solutions for creating your eCommerce website quickly. While the plugin is free, it offers advanced features in its paid plans.
Features
- Create and store unlimited products, and set up taxes and shipping rates. The plugin also creates eCommerce pages for your website automatically upon installation.
- EasyCart supports multiple languages and currencies to build an international eCommerce store and handle payments with Stripe, Square, or PayPal.
- With the premium version, you can edit orders, handle subscriptions, add discount coupons, and get integration with Apple Pay, Microsoft Pay, and 30+ other payment methods.
- The Premium version also gives access to EasyCart extensions for Facebook and Instagram feeds, Shipstation, Mailchimp, and more in the making.
- Shipping and order management also get better with the paid versions as you get integration with USPS, UPS, Canada Post, Australia Post, DHL, and FedEx for shipping and the ability to print receipts, send out email notifications for customers and view order locations.
Pricing
The EasyCart Pro Plan starts at $89 annual subscriptions which gets cheaper if you opt for longer subscription bundles.
Shopify
Shopify is a standalone eCommerce platform that hosts and handles eCommerce website building on its own. But you can integrate Shopify with WordPress to add the “Shopify Buy” button to your website which transforms your WordPress website into an online shop.
Features
- Shopify is a popular eCommerce building platform and is loaded with everything you need to sell online. By adding Shopify to your website, you can take advantage of all of it with what you have built in WordPress.
- It is simple to set up and fully customizable to suit the rest of your website and brand styling.
- To learn more about the features of the Shopify buy button and how to integrate it with WordPress, read this article.
Pricing
Shopify buy button and its features start at $5 per month.
This article gives an idea of the plugins you can use to convert your WordPress website into an online shopping website. If you use any other eCommerce plugin besides the ones on this list on your website, let us know in the comments.
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