WooCommerce is the number one WordPress plugin for eCommerce, but we don't recommend it for most eCommerce companies. It’s a distant second behind Shopify in terms of usage for eCommerce. WooCommerce and WordPress are both open-sourced meaning their code is publicly available and improvements are made by a community of developers rather than a single company (like a Shopify). The promise of an open-sourced platform is more freedom, and while WooCommerce might offer more freedom, the tradeoff is ease of use. For new, small businesses there will be more work involved in getting your business off the ground and for larger businesses that are scaling, there will be more headaches managing your tech stack as you grow. Unless you already have a WordPress site that you are looking to quickly monetize, we don’t recommend WooCommerce. Instead, we recommend Shopify for most eCommerce companies. Shopify will make it easier to start and scale your eCommerce business. It natively handles things like hosting, secured checkout, email confirmations etc. whereas with WooCommerce you will have to solve each of those individually. While WooCommerce bills itself as forever free, there unfortunately is no such thing as a free lunch, and you will likely end up paying the same or more for your WooCommerce store as you will for a Shopify store when you add up developer and plugin costs.
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Best for: Small ($0-$10M), Medium ($10-50M revenue) and Enterprise ($50M+ revenue) size companies.
WooCommerce is the number one WordPress plugin for eCommerce enabling WordPress sites to add eCommerce functionality (e.g., shopping cart, product blocks, checkout, etc.)
WooCommerce, an open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress, was founded by Adii Pienaar, Magnus Jepson, and Mark Forrester, who were all based in Cape Town, South Africa. It was first released in September 2011 by WooThemes, a WordPress theme developer. The initial version was a free plugin on the WordPress repository and quickly gained popularity due to its user-friendly features and customization options. In 2015, WooCommerce was acquired by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com.
WooCommerce and WordPress are both free, open-source software. However, that does not mean it will be free to run your WooCommerce store. At a minimum, you will have to pay for a domain name, website hosting, and pay credit card processing fees. The easiest payment processing option is through WooCommerce Payments, which charges no monthly fees, but charges a transaction fee of 2.9% + 30¢ for every purchase made with a US credit or debit card (plus an additional 1% fee for international cards). You will also pay for additional plugins that will unlock features for your store (e.g., tools for email popups, reviews, search and much more). Unless you are technically savvy you will also likely need to pay for professional developer support to ensure everything works on your site. Given all these costs the total cost of ownership (TCO) of your WooCommerce site will likely be as expensive as alternatives like Shopify.
SMB eCommerce Platforms
Enterprise eCommerce Platforms
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a free open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It allows you to easily set up an online store on an existing WordPress site.
Can I sell digital products with WooCommerce?
Yes, WooCommerce enables the sale of both physical and digital products.
How do I install WooCommerce?
Installing WooCommerce is very simple. You just need to install the WooCommerce plugin from your WordPress dashboard and activate it. This adds eCommerce functionality and features to your WordPress site.
What payment methods or gateways does WooCommerce support?
WooCommerce supports a wide range of payment gateways, allowing customers to pay for goods and services using various payment systems. Some of the popular payment gateways supported by WooCommerce include Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, and Authorize.net
WooCommerce also offers its own payment gateway called WooPayments, in addition to supporting a large range of other payment gateways through extensions. The platform allows for the use of multiple payment gateways, offering flexibility to cater to different customer preferences.
Does WooCommerce work with themes other than Storefront?
Yes. WooCommerce will work with any properly-coded WordPress theme. The Storefront theme is the official free theme built for WooCommerce, but you can use WooCommerce with any theme you like.
How do I add products to my WooCommerce store?
Adding products is easy. You simply go to Products > Add New in your WordPress admin. Then fill out details like the product name, description, price etc. You can also assign categories, images and other data.
Does WooCommerce allow product reviews?
Yes. WooCommerce has built-in support for customer product reviews. You can allow/disable and manage reviews for each product. Reviews can be moderated if desired as well.
How do I customize my storefront with WooCommerce?
There are many ways to customize the look of your store. Your active WordPress theme controls the overall design, but the Storefront theme is highly customizable. Many free and paid WooCommerce extensions also allow customizations.
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