WooCommerce
by Woo
The self-hosted ecommerce platform for WordPress: products, cart, checkout, taxes and an enormous extension market.
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What WooCommerce does
The self-hosted ecommerce platform for WordPress: products, cart, checkout, taxes and an enormous extension market.
It sits in the ecommerce part of a WordPress stack and is sold by Woo on a free 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
4.5/5
Reviews
4,823
Active installs
7,000,000+
Downloads
461.6M
Latest version
11.1.0
Last updated
2026-09-03
These figures come straight from the public WordPress.org plugin directory API for version 11.1.0, not from us. Check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing. Our own editorial score is 4.5/5.
Where WooCommerce ranks elsewhere
| Publisher | List | Position |
|---|---|---|
| WPBeginner | Best WooCommerce Plugins for Your Store | #3 of 32 |
| WPBeginner | Best Email Marketing Services | #7 of 14 |
| WPBeginner | Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins | #9 of 12 |
| Themeisle | Best WordPress Plugins | #14 of 22 |
| WPBeginner | Must Have WordPress Plugins for Every Website | #23 of 24 |
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
- Fix - Activity Panel counts endpoint now respects an explicitly-empty actionable order statuses setting instead of falling back to the defaults, so a cleared setting reports zero orders to fulfill. #66483
- Fix - Add aria-label to Product Gallery Thumbnails #67303
- Fix - Add a visible validation message for the checkout terms and conditions checkbox. #66449
- Fix - Add explicit sale date fields to product Quick Edit and save schedules consistently with the full product editor. #66931
- Fix - Align the Core Breadcrumbs block output with WooCommerce Store Breadcrumbs on shop, product, account, archive, and custom taxonomy pages. #66382
- Fix - Align the Payments settings partner recommendations with the partnership tracking sheet: add Mayotte, add PayPal to Guyana, add Airwallex to Malaysia and South Korea, make MONEI the preferred provider in Andorra, and place Paytrail...
- Fix - Allow customers to save account details when an unchanged display name is already an email address. #66645
- Fix - Allow null parent names in REST API order line items. #66636
Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog
Pros and cons
- Total control and the largest ecosystem
- Free with no licence to renew
- Actively maintained and used on production sites we test
- Extensions and hosting add real cost
- Support is community-led rather than guaranteed
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce | 4.5 | 4.5 (4,823) | Free | Total control and the largest ecosystem |
| 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 |
| Easy Digital Downloads | 4.5 | 4.7 (589) | Freemium | Purpose-built for downloads |
| Mix and Match Products | 4.5 | n/a | Premium | Perfect for boxes and subscriptions |
Guides that cover WooCommerce
9 Best WooCommerce Booking Plugins for Service-Based Businesses
Compare product-based bookings, appointment calendars and class scheduling before you commit to a plugin licence.
Updated 10 September 2026
7 Best WooCommerce Inventory Management Plugins (2026)
A buying guide for stock editing, shared inventory, supplier records and restock alerts - organised by the job you need done.
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