To create your online store, are you seeking the finest WordPress eCommerce plugin?

The correct eCommerce plugin is essential for your company because a better platform offers great room for expansion. Because they didn’t conduct adequate research before selecting the eCommerce platform to launch their business, users frequently wind up losing money.

We will contrast the top WordPress eCommerce plugins in this article. To assist you in determining which eCommerce plugin is best for your company, we will also discuss its advantages and disadvantages.

What Features Should Your WordPress eCommerce Plugin Have?

The market is flooded with WordPress eCommerce plugins. However, not every one of them has the characteristics you need for your use case.

For instance, some eCommerce plugins are designed for the sale of digital commodities such as eBooks, images, music, and more. Others are more suitable for selling tangible goods that require transportation.

You need an eCommerce solution that offers greater drop-shipping support if you want to operate a drop-shipping business.

Basically, you need to think about what you’ll be offering and what kind of features your online store will require to function well.

Payment options – Either by default or by an extension, your eCommerce plugin should support your preferred payment channels.

Design and customisation – A customer’s initial encounter with your company will be through the design of your store. Ample templates and simple modification possibilities should be provided.

Apps and integrations – Look into third-party app integrations for services like email marketing, CRM software, accounting software, etc. To manage and expand your eCommerce firm more effectively, you’ll need those tools.

Choices for support – Verify the availability of options for help. In the long term, having good support can save you a tonne of money.

What Are the Requirements for Running an eCommerce Website?

Ecommerce websites are resource-intensive, so the first thing you will need is the best WordPress hosting that you can afford.

If you’re on a budget, then you can start with SiteGround or Bluehost. All their plans are eCommerce ready and come with an SSL Certificate which you need to collect payments securely, dedicated IP, and a dedicated support line. They also offer 1-click install options for the most powerful WordPress eCommerce plugins (as you’ll find out later in this article).

If budget is not an issue, and you want the best performance, then we recommend using a managed WordPress hosting provider like WPEngine.

Next, you will need to choose a domain name for your website. Here is our guide on how to pick the right domain name for your eCommerce site.

Last but not least, you must decide on crucial business plugins that you will require, like OptinMonster, which aids in lowering cart abandonment and raising sales.

Now that that has been said, let’s look at the top WordPress eCommerce plugins.

The Competition for the Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins

Here are our top suggestions for the finest eCommerce platforms for WordPress users, now that you know what to look for in one and what you need to get started.

  1. WooCommerce
  2. Simple Digital Downloads
  3. MemberPress
  4. BigCommerce
  5. Shopify
  • WooCommerce

The most used WordPress eCommerce plugin is WooCommerce. Additionally, it is the world’s most widely used eCommerce platform. Automattic purchased WooCommerce in 2015.

WooCommerce supports a substantial number of extensions and themes. They are supported by a dedicated developer community. Specialized WooCommerce hosting solutions are now being developed by numerous hosting firms.

Advantages of Using WooCommerce

Use WooCommerce as your WordPress eCommerce plugin for the following reasons:

Plugins and Themes – You can easily add new features to your eCommerce site thanks to the hundreds of extensions and themes that are available for WooCommerce. A big selection of themes gives you a wide range of options for the look and organisation of your website.

Supports Physical as well as Digital Goods – You may sell both physical products and digital downloads with WooCommerce (such as ebooks, music, software, and more).

Sell Affiliate or External Products – You can include Affiliate or External Products on your website using WooCommerce. Affiliate marketers are able to build product websites that offer users a better user experience.

Complete Inventory Management– WooCommerce has features that make it simple to manage your inventory, and you can even provide them to a shop manager.

Payment and shipping options – WooCommerce comes with built-in support for well-known payment gateways, and extensions let you add a tonne of other payment alternatives. Additionally, it can compute taxes and shipping.

Affiliate Management – By using AffiliateWP, you can effortlessly integrate built-in affiliate management into WooCommerce and develop your own referral programme. You can avoid paying middleman costs by doing this.

Cons of WooCommerce Use

Too Many Options – WooCommerce is incredibly simple to use, but the sheer volume of options on the settings page can be somewhat overwhelming for a novice.

Finding Extensions – WooCommerce has a large number of add-ons available, however occasionally a user may not discover the right plugin for the features they require.

Theme Support – WooCommerce is compatible with every WordPress theme, but not every theme makes it as simple to set up or attractive to look at. To fully utilise WooCommerce’s functionality without too much effort, you need a theme that is compatible with it. As an alternative, you may use the drag-and-drop interface of the SeedProd builder to create unique WooCommerce pages.

Scalability – To scale as your store grows, you’ll need to switch to a managed hosting provider like WP Engine.

Every type of eCommerce website should use WooCommerce. It boasts the greatest free and paid support options, a sizable developer and user community, a variety of add-ons and themes, great support for multilingual websites, and a lot of add-ons.

  • Simple Digital Downloads

Using WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads (EDD), you can quickly sell digital downloads online. It has strong features that make building a stunning and useful digital products store very simple.

Easy Digital Downloads is the ideal eCommerce platform for your website because we use it to sell our tools, including WPForms and MonsterInsights.

As a result of Easy Digital Download’s expansion, managed EDD hosting services are now available with EDD already installed.

Advantages to Using Simple Digital Downloads

Built From The Ground Up To Sell Digital Downloads – Easy Digital Downloads were designed from the ground up to sell digital downloads. EDD offers a far better experience for selling digital goods than eCommerce plugins that may be used to sell any type of commodity.

Simple to Use – You can add products and show them right away with Easy Digital Downloads since it is so simple to use. For those who are just starting off, this is quite helpful.

Extensions – There are a large number of add-ons for payment gateways, email marketing services, and other marketing tools available for Easy Digital Downloads.

Themes – Easy Digital Downloads is compatible with practically any WordPress theme, but if you haven’t made a decision yet, they have themes designed specifically for the Plugin.

Software Licensing – Easy Digital Downloads has strong software licencing support that enables you to offer SaaS applications with appropriate digital rights management as well as plugins.

Affiliate Management – By utilising AffiliateWP, you can quickly add integrated affiliate management to Easy Digital Downloads and develop your own referral network. You can avoid paying middleman costs by doing this.

E-commerce Growth Tools – Easy Digital Downloads seamlessly integrates with growth tools like MonsterInsights to provide you with improved eCommerce tracking, AIO SEO to provide you with the highest possible growth for eCommerce SEO, and OptinMonster to provide you with content personalization and conversion optimization features.

Fantastic Support – The plugin is well-documented, and there are free support forums, IRC chat rooms, videos, and tutorials available. Additionally, premium members have access to priority support.

Drawbacks to Using Simple Digital Downloads

Only digital downloads– Easy Digital Downloads, as its name suggests, make it simpler to build eCommerce sites for digital goods. However, it will get very difficult if you wish to offer non-digital products alongside digital downloads.

Selling External Products – You will need to install a third-party add-on if you wish to add an affiliate product or an external product to your EDD store.

We think that Easy Digital Downloads is the greatest plugin for that when it comes to selling digital goods online. We have used Easy Digital Downloads to produce tens of millions of dollars annually, both on client sites and on our own initiatives.

  •  MemberPress

You can offer subscription-based digital goods and services by using MemberPress. The most integration options of any WordPress membership plugin. Even WooCommerce integration is possible.

Let’s examine MemberPress’s benefits and drawbacks.

Offer Subscription-Based Items – You can easily sell subscription-based products, membership plans, pay-per-view content, and more by using MemberPress.

Powerful Access Rules – You can specify user access levels and content restrictions with powerful access control. Access to restricted content will only be available to people with permission.

Built-in Course Builder – MemberPress includes a course builder that enables you to develop and market courses by providing your users with an engaging online learning environment.

Content Dripping – MemberPress enables you to drip-release premium content over time, much like episodes on platforms like Amazon Prime programmes. Automatic drip content is the name of this functionality.

Affiliate Management – Using the AffiliateWP or Easy Affiliates plugin, you can quickly integrate built-in affiliate management into MemberPress. This enabled you to design your own recommendation system. You can avoid paying middleman costs by doing this.

Strong Extensions – You can connect it to your LearnDash LMS or WooCommerce store. There are numerous extensions that allow you to integrate MemberPress with external tools like AffiliateWP to build your own affiliate network.

The Drawbacks of MemberPress

There are just three payment methods supported by MemberPress: PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net.

Annual Pricing – Annual terms are the only terms available for pricing plans.

To sell subscription-based goods, provide courses, or create a membership website, MemberPress is the ideal eCommerce plugin. You can easily modify it with add-ons to take your eCommerce website in whatever direction you wish, and it is user-friendly for beginners.

  • BigCommerce

BigCommerce is an eCommerce platform that can be completely hosted and offers seamless WordPress integration. This enables you to utilise WordPress to manage your content and run your website while employing a scalable eCommerce platform.

It includes a potent WordPress integration plugin that makes it incredibly simple to embed your products in WordPress. The sign-in, cart, account, and other crucial pages are automatically created for you by the system.

The benefits and drawbacks of adopting BigCommerce as your WordPress eCommerce platform will be discussed.

Advantages of Using BigCommerce

High scalability – It has all the features you’ll need, together with performance that’s unmatched in the industry and scalability that’s simple.

Reduced Maintenance– Running your WordPress site is made easier by keeping your eCommerce engine separate from other content.

Sell across Multiple Channels – This feature allows you to sell not just on your website but also on Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon.

There are no transaction fees– It doesn’t charge you for each transaction, in contrast to several other eCommerce platforms. Numerous reputable payment gateways are available, and you only have to pay the payment service provider.

Cons of BigCommerce Use

Limited Integrations – All of the main third-party tools and apps are integrated by BigCommerce. Its app market is still expanding, therefore you might not be able to locate an integration for some less well-known programmes.

Annual Sales Threshold – Each plan has an annual sales threshold. You get upgraded to the next plan if you cross that criterion. Costs could go up when your company expands as a result.

BigCommerce is a very effective and user-friendly eCommerce platform. Although it’s a SaaS eCommerce platform, you may enjoy the best of both worlds with their BigCommerce WordPress plugin.

It eliminates the hassle of growing your hosting needs as your company expands. You don’t need to stress about performance, security, or finding extensions for SEO and caching.

  •  Shopify

A rapidly expanding eCommerce platform, Shopify takes care of everything for you. Although Shopify isn’t a plugin, it is a hassle-free all-in-one solution. For an in-depth side-by-side comparison of the two platforms, see our article on Shopify vs. WooCommerce.

Let’s examine Shopify’s advantages and disadvantages.

Benefits of Shopify

Super Simple for New Users – There is no need to stress over an eCommerce store’s technical aspects, such as installing SSL, integrating with various payment gateways, managing shipping, thinking about taxes, etc. Shopify manages everything.

Supports Both Tangible and Digital Goods – Shopify can handle both physical goods like shirts and digital downloads like music.

Complete inventory management is made simple with Shopify, which includes an inventory editor, a bulk importer, and an order tracker.

Options for payments and shipping – Shopify makes it simple for you to accept credit cards both in person and online. Their shipping system automates your fulfilment process by integrating directly with well-known companies like USPS.

Buyable Pins and the Facebook Store are both integrated by Shopify. Shopify allows you to do everything, including setting up Facebook stores and Pinterest buyable pins.

Cons of Using Shopify 

Shopify Payments: Shopify recommends you to use their Stripe-powered payment system, which is a great choice for novices. Shopify will charge you more, though, if you wish to leverage external systems and overcomplicate things.

Shopify charges– a monthly platform price, which is comparable to the cost of hosting and individual add-ons when utilising the other plugins on our list.

Shopify is the best option if you want to have a robust platform without having to deal with technological difficulties. The hassle-free method and peace of mind are undoubtedly worth it because they let you concentrate on what you do, even though the monthly charge initially seems unpleasant.

As a result, the following is the best WordPress eCommerce Plugin:

WooCommerce is the ideal option if you want the most control, flexibility, and features.

Easy Digital Downloads is the ideal WordPress eCommerce plugin for you if you offer digital products like eBooks, software, music, or other items. EDD hosting from SiteGround allows you to get going with only one click.

BigCommerce is your best option if you don’t want to handle all the technical aspects of creating an internet business. It enables you to use WordPress as your content management system in conjunction with a SaaS eCommerce platform.

That’s it, and we sincerely hope that this article was helpful in your search for the top WordPress eCommerce plugins. You might also be interested in viewing our comparison of the top WordPress drag-and-drop pages.


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