If you’re looking to add ecommerce functionality to your WordPress site, you might be surprised to learn that there are more options than you initially thought. While WooCommerce is by far the most well-known and popular choice – and for good reason – there are several other plugins worth considering.

Key questions to ask when evaluating ecommerce plugins include:

• Is the plugin user-friendly and easy to set up?
• Does it offer the flexibility to customize to your brand?
• Are essential ecommerce features like inventory management and payment processing included?
• Does it support the type of products you’re selling (physical, digital, memberships, services)?
• Can it integrate with your marketing tools, such as email platforms and analytics?
• Will it scale with your business as traffic and sales grow?

We’ll show you some of the best WordPress ecommerce plugins on the market, each offering its unique strengths, catering to different business sizes and types. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a clear picture of which ecommerce plugin fits your needs, helping you make a confident decision to power your online store! Let’s get started with WooCommerce, the reigning champion, before looking at other options:

1. WooCommerce

As a WordPress user, you’ve almost certainly heard of WooCommerce. It is a highly customizable ecommerce solution for WordPress, and is by far one of the top choices for many online businesses.

WooCommerce offers a vast amount of functionality for online retailers:

• WooCommerce provides comprehensive product and order management capabilities, supporting various product types including physical, digital, variable, and subscription-based products.
• You can easily enhance your WooCommerce store’s SEO reach by using other plugins like Yoast SEO and its premium WooCommerce add-on. This add-on will create product schema via structured data, which can lead to rich snippets, which are more visually appealing and informative search listings that can improve click-through rates.
• Integrating a feed plugin allows you to connect your store with Google’s Merchant Center Next, which will further expand your products’ visibility in Google Shopping results and traditional search engine results.
• WooCommerce integrates with numerous payment gateways, including WooPayments, PayPal, Stripe, and many more. This flexibility ensures that you can offer your customers their preferred payment methods.
• It also offers a fully customizable checkout process to optimize conversion rates.
• If you’re located in the United States, you can also install WooCommerce Shipping for obtaining discounted shipping rates and printing of shipping labels printing. 
• WooCommerce provides detailed analytics and reporting features, giving you insights into sales, customers, and stock levels to help you make informed business decisions.

One of WooCommerce’s greatest strengths is its extensibility. The plugin offers its own suite of extensions, both free and paid, to add functionality like subscriptions, bookings, or memberships. At the time of writing, there are more than 850 official WooCommerce extensions, and this list keeps growing. On top of that, WooCommerce integrates seamlessly with thousands of third-party extensions. This allows you to add features like advanced marketing tools, customer relationship management, or enhanced shipping options. For those with coding skills, WooCommerce’s open-source nature allows for deep customization, making it a developer-friendly option.

WooCommerce offers a flexible pricing model:

• Core Plugin: Free to use, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.
• Extensions: Prices will vary depending on the tier and level of license. You will find plugins that are free and plugins that cost hundreds of dollars per year, with plenty of options in between. Some plugins can be paid for monthly or annually, with some offering lifetime purchase options.
• Transaction Fees: With WooPayments (WooCommerce’s built-in payment processing service) fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for US credit and debit cards. Other payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe have similar fee structures, typically around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
• Additional Costs: Consider potential expenses for hosting, security, and developer fees, which can vary based on your store’s complexity and traffic.

WooCommerce is great for businesses of any size looking for a flexible and scalable ecommerce solution. Its extensive customization options and wide range of integrations make it a powerful tool for building a successful online store.

For those wanting to take a closer look into the costs associated with WooCommerce, you can check our guide on WooCommerce pricing.

2. North Commerce

North Commerce is a lightweight alternative to WooCommerce, designed to streamline building and managing an ecommerce store on WordPress. Its primary advantage is its focus on reducing the need for numerous plugins, which can slow down a site and complicate maintenance. It is built to keep your store lean and fast for quick load times and a good user experience.

Its ability to create webhooks that send order data to applications like Make, Zapier, and Pabbly Connect. This flexibility helps businesses integrate their ecommerce operations with preferred tools and automate processes. It also offers pre-made patterns, full-page designs, and templates for forms and emails, simplifying store setup and customization without extensive development.

North Commerce offers two main pricing tiers:

• The Core plan is $199/year and allows one website
• The Pro plan is $299/year and allows three websites

The Pro plan also has a lifetime purchase option, offering additional features for a one-time fee. This structure accommodates businesses of all sizes.

This plugin is ideal for those who prefer an all-in-one platform that minimizes the need for multiple plugins, simplifying setup and ongoing management. This makes it a great choice for businesses aiming for a fast, efficient, and scalable online store without extensive plugin management.

3. Paid Memberships Pro

Paid Memberships Pro is a versatile plugin for WordPress that helps businesses and individuals create and manage membership sites. It offers features to restrict content and manage member subscriptions, catering to various membership models.

One strength of Paid Memberships Pro is its ability to restrict content in multiple ways. Users can control access to pages, posts, blocks, categories, custom post types, and single pages. This flexibility is useful for businesses that need to protect specific content for different membership levels. The plugin also supports scheduling and drip-feeding content to members based on their start date, ideal for online courses or subscription services.

Paid Memberships Pro offers diverse payment options, including recurring payments, subscriptions, trial periods, membership pausing, and renewals, allowing businesses to customize their payment structures. It includes advanced admin tools and reports for insights into member activity and financial performance.

Paid Membership Pro offers multiple pricing plans:

• The free plan includes the core plugin and 29 add-on
• The Standard plan is $174/year and includes 1 website
• The Plus plan is $299/year and includes 2 websites
• The Enterprise plan is $5000+/year and includes 50+ websites

This plugin is great for businesses and individuals wanting to create membership sites, sell online courses, or offer subscription-based services on WordPress. It caters to both beginners and advanced users with its features and customization options, making it a comprehensive solution for membership site management.

4. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a fully hosted, cloud-based ecommerce platform. One of its most notable features is its ability to support multi-channel selling, enabling businesses to integrate their products across various marketplaces and social media platforms like Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and Instagram. This multi-channel capability helps businesses reach a broader audience and increase sales opportunities.

The platform offers customizable themes that allow businesses to create a unique and engaging online store without needing extensive coding skills. BigCommerce also has advanced built-in SEO features and marketing tools, which are essential for driving traffic and improving search engine rankings. Integrated payment processing with over 65 payment gateways ensures that businesses can offer their customers a variety of payment options, enhancing the shopping experience and potentially boosting conversion rates.

You can integrate BigCommerce with your WordPress website using the official BigCommerce for WordPress plugin. By using this plugin, you can leverage BigCommerce’s robust backend while maintaining the flexibility and familiarity of your WordPress frontend.

Pricing for BigCommerce is structured to accommodate businesses of various sizes and sales volumes:

• The Standard plan costs $39/month and supports up to $50,000 in online sales per year
• The Plus plan is priced at $105/month and supports up to $180,000 in online sales per year
• For fast-growing businesses, the Pro plan costs $399/month and supports up to $400,000 in online sales per year

For businesses with higher sales volumes or more complex needs, the Enterprise plan offers custom pricing based on specific requirements and sales volume. Notably, BigCommerce does not charge additional transaction fees, although payment processors may charge their own fees.

BigCommerce is an excellent choice for small to large businesses looking for an all-in-one hosted solution with advanced ecommerce features readily available. Its feature set, combined with its flexibility and scalability, makes it a powerful platform for businesses aiming to grow and thrive in the competitive online marketplace.

5. Shopify Buy Button

The Shopify Buy Button offers a unique way to integrate Shopify’s ecommerce infrastructure with your existing WordPress site. Unlike plugins that transform your WordPress site into a full Shopify store, the Buy Button allows you to embed products directly into your WordPress site while using Shopify’s backend for ecommerce management. This setup provides a middle ground for users who want to maintain their WordPress site while using Shopify’s economic infrastructure.

The Shopify Buy Button is part of Shopify’s all-in-one ecommerce platform, which includes hosting, a domain name, and an SSL certificate. This platform offers over 100 customizable themes and access to more than 4,100 apps to extend functionality, meaning businesses can create a store that matches their brand and meets their specific needs. Shopify supports selling through multiple channels, including online stores, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, and even in-person sales via point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Shopify’s pricing plans also cater to different business needs:

• The Basic plan costs $29 per month, with transaction fees of 2.9% plus 30 cents per online transaction
• The Shopify plan is priced at $79 per month, with lower transaction fees of 2.6% plus 30 cents per transaction
• The Advanced plan, at $299 per month, further reduces transaction fees to 2.4% plus 30 cents per transaction
• The Shopify Plus tier starts at $2,300 per month and offers advanced features and support

One drawback is that creating a wholesale or B2B shop requires the Plus tier or third-party apps, which can add to the cost and quickly price Shopify out as an option for many small businesses.

Additional fees include a 2% transaction fee if not using Shopify Payments, a domain name fee of $14 per year after the first free year, and potential costs for premium apps and themes. Despite these additional costs, Shopify remains well-suited for entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses looking for a user-friendly, fully-hosted ecommerce solution.

6. Ecwid

Ecwid completely integrates with any WordPress theme, requiring no coding skills. Its compatibility with the Gutenberg editor allows for easy customization and content management directly within WordPress. One of Ecwid’s advantages is its ability to sync automatically between WordPress and other sales channels like Facebook, providing a cohesive and streamlined selling experience across multiple platforms.

Designed to support a variety of product types, Ecwid allows businesses to sell physical and digital products, services, and memberships. This flexibility makes it an attractive option for different business models. The platform ensures secure checkout processes, offers various payment options, and integrates well with shipping services, providing real-time shipping quotes and efficient order management.

Ecwid’s higher plans include additional features like product variations, abandoned cart recovery, and advanced email marketing tools, which are crucial for increasing sales and customer retention. The platform is mobile-responsive, ensuring that your store looks great and functions well on any device. Unlimited storage and automatic backups give peace of mind that your data is safe and secure. With 24/7 customer support, help is always available when you need it.

Like the other options, Ecwid offers a multiple level pricing plan:

• There is a free plan, but this only allows users to list up to five products
• The Venture plan at $21 per month and allows up to 100 products
• The Business plan at $39 per month and allows up to 2,500 products
• The Unlimited plan at $89 per month and allows unlimited products

These tiers increase product listing limits and add functionalities like gift cards and handling fees. Additional fees may include transaction fees from payment providers and costs for premium themes and apps in Ecwid’s App Market.

Ecwid is particularly well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses that are not limited by the product listing cap on the free tier. It is also ideal for multi-channel sellers who need to manage their sales from a single dashboard.

7. SureCart

SureCart is a versatile ecommerce plugin that integrates with WordPress, allowing you to add ecommerce elements to any page or post. It is compatible with major page editors and builders like Gutenberg and Elementor, making it easy to customize your online store to match your brand’s aesthetics. Whether you’re selling physical products, digital downloads, services, or subscriptions, SureCart provides the tools needed to manage and grow your ecommerce business.

One of SureCart’s main features is its drag-and-drop checkout form builder, which simplifies creating customized checkout experiences for your customers. The plugin supports multiple payment gateways, ensuring that your customers have flexible and secure payment options. Additionally, SureCart includes essential marketing tools such as discount codes and abandoned cart recovery emails, helping to boost sales and retain customers.

SureCart’s pricing structure:

• Users can start with a free tier that provides basic ecommerce functionality.
• For more advanced features, you can opt for the Grow plan at $39 per month or the Scale plan at $69 per month.
• The Grow plan includes custom email addresses, while the Scale plan offers advanced features such as multi-currency support.

SureCart is particularly well-suited for digital creators who want to sell digital products or offer paid memberships for exclusive content. It is also ideal for small to medium-sized businesses with simpler ecommerce needs, providing a balance of functionality and ease of use.

For even more help in choosing the right ecommerce platform for your needs, be sure to check out our guide on how to choose an ecommerce platform.

Take your Ecommerce Store to the Next Level with Pressable

As part of the Automattic family, which also creates WooCommerce, we at Pressable can vouch for the flexibility and open-source possibilities you get with WooCommerce. However, we recognize that each business has unique needs, and any of the options on our list could be the perfect fit for your online store.

Regardless of which plugin you choose, Pressable provides the superior infrastructure and support you need to ensure your online shop runs smoothly. With Pressable, you benefit from high-performance hosting tailored specifically for WordPress sites, outstanding security features, and exceptional customer support. This means you can focus on growing your business while we handle the technical details.