Are you looking for the best WordPress eCommerce plugin for building your online store? If yes, we have got you covered.
WordPress is the most popular content management system powering over 45% of the websites online today. The popularity of WordPress is primarily due to its ease of use, community, and flexibility; WordPress can be easily extended with the help of plugins to build any website and, most especially, a full-fledged eCommerce website.
Building an eCommerce website has many parts. You need to think about all the components that make up an online purchasing experience. You need to cater to order management, product listing, payment processing, security, product delivery, notifications, and so on.
Fortunately for you, these eCommerce features and more can be easily integrated into your WordPress site using a WordPress eCommerce plugin.
In this article, we will look at some of the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress. We will review their features, pros, and disadvantages to help you make the best decision for your business.
What are WordPress eCommerce Plugins?
A WordPress eCommerce plugin is a tool that extends the functionality of the WordPress platform by adding all the components needed to build and run an eCommerce business. It gives you all the tools to start selling products on your WordPress website without coding or programming experience.
A WordPress eCommerce plugin often offers a range of features that make it easy to successfully sell, manage orders, and run an eCommerce site. The plugin integrates with your WordPress site to provide eCommerce features such as customer management, payment processing, Inventory, Analytics, Shopping cart, notifications, and lots more.
Some eCommerce plugins may offer advanced features such as external integrations, automation, tax and shipping calculations, and multiple payment gateways. This can give you more flexibility and customization options when building your eCommerce website.
Important Features of an eCommerce Plugin
There are a bunch of WordPress eCommerce plugins out there, and choosing the right one can be a big dilemma. When choosing an eCommerce plugin, it is important to choose the one that offers the features that suit your specific needs.
For example, some plugins are best for selling digital products, while others are better for selling physical products. So, to make the right decision, you need to understand your type of product and the features you need to sell it.
To help you make the right decision, below are some key features you should look out for when choosing the best eCommerce plugin for your business. These features include:
- Multiple Payment Methods
- Third-party apps and integrations
- Full shopping cart
- Regular updates, tutorials, and support.
- Design and customization
These features represent the basic things you will need to build a successful eCommerce business, so make sure you are on the lookout for them before choosing a WordPress eCommerce plugin.
Let’s look at some of the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress.
5 Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins
Now that you know what eCommerce plugins do and the important features to look out for, let’s look at our Top 5 picks for the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress websites. For our selection, we considered ease of use, features, limitations, and pricing.
1. ProfilePress
ProfilePress is an eCommerce and WordPress membership plugin that allows you to build powerful eCommerce websites. This plugin will allow you to sell digital products, physical products, membership plans, and anything else on your WordPress website.
ProfilePress allows you to accept one-time or recurring payments via PayPal, Stripe, Paystack, and more. It supports email notifications, social login, email marketing, user management, and integration with other plugins such as Woocommerce.
ProfilePress is the perfect tool for building a highly customized eCommerce website. It allows you to customize every aspect of your WordPress website, from customer registration to customer login, emails, user profiles, payment processing, tax collection, and much more.
It supports sales of digital and physical products, and its eCommerce functionality can be further enhanced by integrating it with Woocommerce, one of the most popular eCommerce plugins.
Key features of ProfilePress:
- Inventory management
- Multiple payment gateways
- Reporting and analytics
- Support for physical and digital products
- Coupons and discounts functionality
Pros of using ProfilePress:
- Customer support from developers.
- Easy setup
- Extensive documentation and tutorials
- Free core plugin
- Flexibility and customization
The main drawback of ProfilePress is its additional features that you may not need on an eCommerce website, especially if you are looking at building a simple site.
ProfilePress pricing: Free with premium plans starting at $129/year.
2. Woocommerce
Wocommerce is one of the most popular eCommerce plugins for WordPress. It mostly excels in selling physical products, unlike other plugins like ProfilePress, which has good support for the sales of Digital products. This robust and flexible plugin will allow you to turn your WordPress site into a full-blown eCommerce store with the click of a few buttons.
Woocommerce is free and has a lot of features. It has almost everything you need to start selling on your WordPress site. It supports shipping, multiple languages, and currencies. It is easy to use and offers plenty of customization options.
Key Features of Woocommerce:
- Inventory management
- Support for popular payment gateways
- Shipping and taxes calculations
- Physical and digital products support
- Extensive addons library
Pros of using Woocommerce:
- Flexibility and customization options
- Free core plugin
- Plenty of addons and integrations
- An active community of developers
The biggest drawback of Woocommerce is its scalability. As your store grows in traffic and inventory, your hosting or server will also need to grow.
Woocommerce Pricing: Free with premium themes, extensions, and add-ons.
3. Easy Digital Downloads
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is another popular WordPress eCommerce plugin. This plugin excels at selling digital products like ebooks, software, training, etc.
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) give you all the tools to sell your digital products. It makes it easy to set up subscription plans, manage customers, create purchase receipts, and more. Other eCommerce plugins will also allow you to sell digital products, but most of them are not designed for the purpose, so they usually come with many features you may never use.
Key features of Easy Digital Downloads (EDD):
- Unlimited digital products
- Ease of use
- Excellent support system
- Third-party integrations
- Multiple payment gateways
- Analytics and Reporting
Pros of using Easy Digital Downloads (EDD):
- Integrates with all themes and other plugins
- Easy to setup
- An active community of users
- Extensive documentation and tutorial
The major drawback of Easy Digital Downloads is its focus on digital products. If you plan to sell physical and digital products on your site, then Easy Digital Downloads is not a suitable choice.
Easy Digital Downloads Pricing: Free with premium plans starting at $99.50/year.
4. Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart
Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart is a software as a service (SaaS) eCommerce platform that enable you to integrate your online store with WordPress and use various social media platforms as your sales channel.
Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart will host your online store data on their servers, so you don’t need to worry about software updates or maintenance. Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart is a SaaS platform, which means your store is not restricted to a WordPress site. Instead, it is hosted by Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart, and you can easily include your eCommerce shop on multiple websites and marketplace.
Key Features of Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart:
- Complete Ecwid panel integration into WordPress
- Built-in support for Google Ads
- No transaction fees
- Social eCommerce integration
Pros of Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart:
- Sell on multiple marketplaces
- eCommerce mobile app for store management
The major drawbacks of the Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart are limited products for the free plan (10 products), the configuration panel is not beginners friendly, and you get limited features based on your subscriptions.
Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart Pricing: Free with premium plans starting at $19/month.
5. WP EasyCart Shopping Cart & eCommerce Store
WP EasyCart is a powerful eCommerce plugin built for small business owners who want to create an online store with zero learning curve. This plugin will handle the heavy lifting and allows you to start selling as quickly as possible.
WP EasyCart supports multiple payment gateways and allows you to sell on social media with its premium extensions. The plugin offers unlimited products, orders, and compatibility with any WordPress theme.
Key features of WP EasyCart:
- Support for multiple product types
- Social media integration
- Store management with desktop and mobile app
- Subscription and recurring billing.
Pros of using WP EasyCart:
- Easy to setup
- Low learning curve
- Integrates with other plugins and themes
The significant drawbacks of WP EasyCart are limited basic features for the free plan and a 2% application fee for each transaction. To get the most out of this plugin, you must buy a premium plan.
WP EasyCart Pricing: Free with premium plans starting at $69/month.
Final Words
A WordPress eCommerce plugin is the best way to create an online store with WordPress because it will provide you with all the tools you need to manage and run an eCommerce site successfully. eCommerce plugins allow you to quickly build a professional and functional online store without knowledge of coding or the need to hire a programmer.
If you are looking for the best eCommerce plugin for your WordPress site. In that case, we recommend ProfilePress because it is flexible, allowing you to sell any product and collect payments in multiple ways on your website.