Top 8 WooCommerce Alternatives and Plug-Ins (2024) - Shopify UK (2024)

WooCommerce is a free plug-in for WordPress. It turns WordPress sites into ecommerce stores, allowing merchants to build a website with their own branding, products, and checkout.

But WooCommerce doesn’t work for everyone. If you’re looking to expand the features of your WordPress store, or move to a dedicated commerce platform like Shopify, take a look at these eight WooCommerce alternatives.

8 alternatives to WooCommerce

1. Shopify
2. BigCommerce
3. Wix
4. Adobe Commerce (Magneto)
5. Shopify Buy Button
6. Ecwid
7. Easy Digital Downloads
8. MemberPress

💁 Tip: This list is split into two categories: alternative ecommerce platforms, where you can migrate your store, and alternative WordPress plug-ins that you can use instead of WooCommerce.

WooCommerce alternatives: commerce platforms

If you’re not tied to WordPress, there are dedicated ecommerce site builders you can use instead of WooCommerce. These platforms are designed to include everything you need to start selling online, and have optional apps and add-ons to further customize your store.

Shopify

• Price: $39 per month to $399 per month (depending on features included)
• Free trial: Yes
• Integrated sales channels:Yes (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Google, Walmart, etc.)
• Mobile app features: Yes
• POS: Yes
• Website hosting: Yes

Shopify and WooCommerce are both used by entrepreneurs and small businesses to launch their online stores. But as those businesses grow, Shopify’s wider range of tools and features gives merchants more power to manage products and serve customers.

With Shopify, you can oversee every aspect of your commerce business, from web design to physical point-of-sale (POS) systems, integrated shipping, and sourcing funding through Shopify Capital.

Shopify users also get access to industry-leading features like super fast load times and the best-performing checkout on the web. Unlike WooCommerce, all Shopify plans include hosting with unlimited bandwidth.

Shopify’s wealth of tools might seem daunting for new users compared to WooCommerce’s smaller product suite. But there’s a ton of resources for new and established entrepreneurs alike. An active community forum, support hub, and free learning resources guide merchants through each stage of their ecommerce journey. If you can’t DIY something, you can work with a trusted Shopify Expert.

Shopify versus WooCommerce: what’s the difference?

• Shopify is a standalone platform. WooCommerce works with WordPress websites.
• Shopify has a wider range of features and tools than WooCommerce.
• Shopify plans include hosting with unlimited bandwidth.
• For high-revenue ecommerce businesses, Shopify Plus offers further support and capabilities.
• Shopify has no free basic plan.

💡 Switch platforms hassle-free: Find out how to migrate your WooCommerce site to Shopify.

BigCommerce

• Price: Standard: $29 to $299 per month (depending on features included)
• Free trial: Yes
• Integrated sales channels: Yes
• Mobile app features: Yes
• POS: Yes (third party)
• Website hosting: Yes

Like Shopify, BigCommerce puts everything store owners need into a single platform.

Some of BigCommerce’s most-used features include search engine optimization (SEO) tools, POS integration, multichannel selling, and conversion tools. It’s a more comprehensive commerce solution than WooCommerce, but may be overkill (and too expensive) for smaller businesses.

For WordPress users who don’t want to leave the platform, BigCommerce is also available as a WP plug-in.

BigCommerce versus WooCommerce comparison

• BigCommerce includes web hosting while WooCommerce does not.
• Both WooCommerce and BigCommerce integrate with external sales and marketing channels like Google Shopping, Instagram, Etsy, TrustPilot, and price comparison websites.

Wix

• Price: $27 per month to $159 per month for plans that include payment and product tools (price dependent on other included features)
• Free trial: Yes (14-day refund policy)
• Integrated sales channels: Yes
• Mobile app features: Yes
• POS: Yes
• Website hosting: Yes

Wix is a beginner-friendly WooCommerce alternative, with drag-and-drop editing and customizable templates. Users can make a website for free, then upgrade to one of several premium plans to remove Wix branding and access ecommerce features.

Because it’s a full commerce platform rather than a plug-in, Wix premium plans include more store management tools and features out of the box. Merchants can track orders, accept payments from credit cards and via PayPal, create coupon codes, and establish tax and shipping rules without needing to install additional extensions or add-ons.

Wix versus WooCommerce comparison

• While WooCommerce is free to install, the cost of a WP subscription and additional paid plug-ins makes Wix’s basic premium plans more cost-effective.
• WooCommerce users have access to a wider variety of third-party plug-ins and extensions for customizing their stores.

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento)

• Price: On request
• Free trial: No
• Integrated sales channels: Yes
• Mobile app features: No
• POS: Yes (third-party)
• Website hosting: No

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) is a more technical WooCommerce alternative for large retailers with multiple brands or more complex back-office requirements. The platform supports huge companies like Coca-Cola and T-Mobile.

However, smaller commerce businesses can also benefit from Adobe’s password-less checkout solution, app-like mobile experiences, and advanced web design functionality.

Adobe Commerce versus WooCommerce comparison

• Both Adobe Commerce and WooCommerce require third-party web hosting.
• Adobe Commerce is built to handle businesses with multiple brands, global customers, and complex inventory management needs. While WooCommerce does support bigger retailers, it’s better suited to solo entrepreneurs and small businesses.
• Adobe Commerce has bespoke pricing and it may cost more than WooCommerce.

WooCommerce alternatives: WordPress plug-ins

If you’re not ready to migrate your store from WordPress, here are some other WordPress ecommerce plug-ins to try instead of WooCommerce.

Shopify Buy Button

• Price: $5 per month
• Free trial: Yes
• Integrated sales channels:Yes
• Mobile app features: Yes
• POS:Yes

The Shopify Buy Button creates custom code that merchants can embed into any website or blog. With a few clicks, you can generate a Buy Button or a product listing and add it to your WordPress store.

Shopify’s Buy Button connects with Shopify’s shopping cart platform to handle checkout. Alternatively, connect the Buy Button to more than 100 compatible payment gateways.

Using the Shopify Buy Button is a quick and easy way to integrate Shopify’s powerful tool suite without leaving the WP ecosystem.

Shopify Buy Button versus WooCommerce comparison

• Buy Button users have access to Shopify’s business management tools, so you don’t need to rely on WooCommerce’s disparate systems.
• Unlike WooCommerce, you can embed Buy Button code on any type of website, meaning you can monetize multiple sites at once (useful if you have a bunch of affiliate sites).

💡Get started: Try the Shopify Buy Button on your WordPress site.

Ecwid

• Price: $0 to $82.50 per month (depending on number of products)
• Integrated sales channels: Yes
• Mobile app features: Yes
• POS: Yes

LightSpeed’s Ecwid WordPress plug-in is compatible with all WP themes and hostings, and supports more than 40 payment gateways including PayPal and Stripe. The plug-in also integrates with USPS, UPS, FedEx, Canada Post, Australia Post, and other major shippers.

Like the Shopify Buy Button, you can use Ecwid to sell on social media and popular marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, and Google Shopping.

Ecwid offers a free plan, but most merchants need a basic subscription, which supports up to 100 products.

Ecwid versus WooCommerce comparison

• Unlike WooCommerce, Ecwid can be integrated with any website, including non-WordPress domains.
• With its store builder, you can use Ecwid as a standalone ecommerce platform.

Easy Digital Downloads

• Price: $99.50 per year to $499.50 per year (depending on included features)
• Free trial: Yes
• Integrated sales channels: No
• Mobile app features: No
• POS: No

Easy Digital Downloads is a WordPress plug-in that lets you sell digital products from your website. It’s a simple tool for anybody who creates ebooks, music, document templates, and other virtual products,

Features include a basic shopping cart and Buy Button, which supports Stripe and PayPal. There’s an analytics dashboard to monitor sales and downloads. Plus, you can create customer discount codes.

Right now, Easy Digital Downloads doesn’t include support for NFTs (unlike Shopify, which offers tokengated commerce and NFT distribution for approved sellers.

Easy Digital Downloads versus WooCommerce comparison

• Users report the customer support team at Easy Digital Downloads to be more responsive and helpful than the folks at WooCommerce. This is especially valuable if you’re a small team or a one-person operation.
• Easy Digital Downloads offers little SEO support. If you’re concerned about search, you’ll want to look at WooCommerce or one of the other alternatives on this list.

💡Learn more: Add videos, songs, and graphics as products to your online store with Shopify's Digital Downloads app.

MemberPress

• Price: Basic: $179.50 per year to $399.50 per year (depending on included features)
• Free trial: No
• Integrated sales channels: No
• Mobile app features: No
• POS: No
• Ecommerce platform compatibility: WordPress

MemberPress is a WordPress plug-in for recurring payments. You can use it to create a WordPress store with a paywall that can only be accessed by subscribers.

That makes MemberPress a good WooCommerce alternative if you sell online courses, run a subscription box business, or have another kind of membership community.

Features include an integrated learning management system (LMS) for hosting courses, and timed content releases and expiration dates.

MemberPress versus WooCommerce comparison

• WooCommerce does have its own recurring payments extension, called WooCommerce Subscriptions.
• MemberPress has a greater variety of features for managing paywalled content.

When does WooCommerce work well for WordPress users?

After being acquired by the parent company of WordPress in 2015, WooCommerce became the platform’s native ecommerce plug-in.

With 43% of websites built using WordPress, many online businesses are using WooCommerce to power their online stores.

WooCommerce converts the WordPress content management system into a basic ecommerce platform capable of selling products, accepting orders, and tracking analytics. From there, merchants can build complex functionality by adding WooCommerce extensions and other compatible WordPress plug-ins.

WooCommerce drawbacks

Multiple integrations

Adding extensions and plug-ins to your WordPress site creates a complicated back end. Maintaining and troubleshooting a large ecosystem of apps is time-consuming.

While WooCommerce is free, many plug-ins aren’t. Paying for multiple subscriptions makes it harder to track how much you’re spending on your store.

Third-party web hosting

With WooCommerce, you’re left to figure out web hosting alone. That adds costs and complexity to your setup—and means your site isn’t automatically payment card industry (PCI) compliant. WooCommerce also doesn’t include subdomains.

Limited file storage

As your WooCommerce store grows, you may reach the file storage limit included with the basic plug-in. You’ll then need to add a paid subscription to WooCommerce’s Amazon S3 Storage plug-in to make room for your content and data.

WooCommerce is a quick solution that works for many WordPress users. But if your business centers around commerce, WooCommerce doesn’t provide the best back-end experience or the most useful features.

Shopify is the best WooCommerce alternative

WordPress is a blogging platform that can be adapted for ecommerce using the WooCommerce plug-in.

That makes WooCommerce a good option if you want to turn your WordPress site into an online store and start selling products.

But, it’s just as easy to migrate your content to Shopify—a platform dedicated to merchants and their businesses.

Shopify is built for growth, with a full suite of ecommerce tools to run your business now and into the future.