Easy Digital Downloads
by Awesome Motive
Ecommerce built specifically for digital products, licences and file delivery.
This link may earn us a commission. It never changes our rating.
What Easy Digital Downloads does
Ecommerce built specifically for digital products, licences and file delivery.
It sits in the ecommerce part of a WordPress stack and is sold by Awesome Motive on a freemium basis. We recommend it in our ecommerce guides because it does that one job well without asking you to rebuild the rest of the site around it.
Every plugin adds work to a page request, so treat this as a decision with a cost. Record a speed test before you install it and run the same test afterwards, on the same page, so you know exactly what it charged you.
Real user ratings
Score
4.7/5
Reviews
589
Active installs
40,000+
Downloads
6.1M
Latest version
3.7.0
Last updated
2026-08-14
These figures come straight from the public WordPress.org plugin directory API for version 3.7.0, not from us. Check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing. Our own editorial score is 4.5/5.
Where Easy Digital Downloads ranks elsewhere
| Publisher | List | Position |
|---|---|---|
| WPBeginner | Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins | #2 of 12 |
| Themeisle | Best WordPress Plugins | #16 of 22 |
| Elegant Themes | Best WordPress Plugins | #28 of 40 |
Positions are read from the published articles themselves, so they reflect that publisher's order rather than ours. Lists get re-ordered over time, so follow the link if you want the current version.
What changed in the latest version
- NEW: Checkout - The block editor checkout now supports customization with inner blocks.
- NEW: Checkout - New composable checkout widgets for finer control of the Elementor checkout.
- NEW: Stripe - Added support for UPI payments.
- Admin: Fixed compatibility with WordPress 7.1 for admin list tables and bulk invoice generation.
- Admin: Prevented EDD's admin styles from overriding other plugins' meta box styling in the block editor.
- Admin: Added a spam-protection recommendation to the Misc settings.
- Admin: Changed the telemetry opt-in to a toggle.
- Checkout: Updated the checkout loading indicator.
- Admin: Hardened the display of payment gateway error and API request log messages.
- Imports: Improved hardening and validation of uploaded import files.
- NEW: PayPal - Added support for Fastlane and additional payment methods for newly connected stores.
- Admin: Improved notice compatibility.
- Admin: Hardened sanitization of the banned emails setting.
- Admin: Sorted Checkout fields were not persisting their order in the admin UI.
- Cart: Improved the Cart Preview compatibility with caching layers.
- Compatibility: Fixed an issue that could cause conflicts with forms added to the homepage of a site.
- Emails: The email for the one-time login link could be stuck in a disabled state.
- Imports: Improved parsing of import files.
Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog
Pros and cons
- Purpose-built for downloads
- A free tier you can trial before paying
- Actively maintained and used on production sites we test
- Physical products are out of scope
- The features most sites need sit in the paid tier
How to use it
- 1Set up currency, tax and shipping rules before importing products.
- 2Test a full purchase with a real card in live mode, then refund it.
- 3Exclude cart, checkout and account pages from page caching.
- 4Confirm order emails send through an authenticated SMTP connection.
- 5Re-test store page speed after every extension you add.
How it compares
Other ecommerce plugins we recommend, with their rating and pricing model.
| Plugin | Our rating | WordPress.org | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy Digital Downloads | 4.5 | 4.7 (589) | Freemium | Purpose-built for downloads |
| Checkout Add-Ons | 4.1 | n/a | Premium | Simple margin at the last step |
| Composite Products | 4.5 | 5 (2) | Premium | Guided build-your-own products |
| Discount Rules for WooCommerce | 4.6 | 4.9 (1,368) | Freemium | Powerful scheduled sale rules |
| Mix and Match Products | 4.5 | n/a | Premium | Perfect for boxes and subscriptions |
| Product Recommendations | 4.2 | n/a | Premium | Native, data-driven recommendations |
Guides that cover Easy Digital Downloads
8 Best WordPress eBook Plugins (2026)
Tools for selling, delivering, creating and promoting eBooks - without pretending one plugin handles every job.
Updated 10 September 2026
9 Best WordPress Lead Magnet Plugins for 2026
A lead magnet trades a useful resource for permission to follow up. These plugins handle delivery, consent and page weight differently.
Updated 10 September 2026
Alternatives
Other ecommerce plugins
Checkout Add-Ons
WooCommerce
Adds optional paid extras such as gift wrap or express handling at checkout.
Composite Products
WooCommerce
Builds configurable kits where the customer chooses a component at each step.
2 reviews · 12K downloads · v2.0.3
Discount Rules for WooCommerce
Flycart
Rule-based pricing: bulk discounts, BOGO offers and scheduled sales without touching product prices.
1,368 reviews · 3.0M downloads · v2.6.17