Do you want to convert your creative ideas into a full-fledged thriving online business? The world of e-commerce is hotter than ever. Although WordPress provides a powerful platform to create your storefront, navigating the plugin landscape is tricky. This post serves as your guide to finding the best e-commerce WordPress plugins that lead to your e-commerce success!

WordPress is the popular and most used CMS (content management system) in the world. Today, it powers 40% of 10 million websites across the globe. Other than being a beginner-friendly website builder, WordPress is immensely popular for offering massive bank of plugins and themes. You get both free and paid options in plugins which help to extend the functionality of your website.

As the demand for plugins has increased exponentially, when you look for the best options on the internet, the results are quite overwhelming. There are over 60000 WordPress plugins available. Plus, finding the best e-commerce plugins best suited to your business can a challenge.

To help our readers find the best e-commerce WordPress plugins, we have thoroughly researched the market and prepared a handpicked list. This list will navigate you through each plugin’s features, pricing structure, and pros and cons to empower you to make the right choice for your business.

Let’s explore them and make an informed decision!

Top 07 E-commerce WordPress Plugins to Create Stunning and Fully-Functional Online Stores

Building a fruitful online store that grows and keeps attracting new customers requires an essential set of tools. If you own a WordPress site, you have just won the half-battle. Plus, doing manual work requires a lot of expertise and knowledge. Fortunately, e-commerce WordPress plugins are specifically designed to take this burden off your shoulders.

You must have encountered many blogs talking about Shopify vs. WooCommerce, but these two are not the only website builders that cater to your needs.

Let’s explore more about these two popular platforms along with other e-commerce plugins that help you create visually stunning and fully functional storefronts.

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress plugin with more than 5 million active installations. It is a free and open-source plugin that converts a basic WordPress website into a visually stunning and functional online store. WooCommerce is a very popular choice among entrepreneurs because it is easy to use and immensely flexible.

Key features of WooCommerce:

  • Ease of adding, editing, and managing products.
  • Tracking stock levels and preventing overselling is effortless.
  • Offers seamless integration with popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and more.
  • Provides several shipping options including free shipping threshold, flat rates, and real-time calculations of the carrier.
  • Calculates tax automatically based on your product settings and locations.
  • Ease of creating discounts and promotions to attract new customers.
  • Allows customers to sign up easily for easy checkout and tracking of the shipment.
  • Offers robust security (being built on WordPress). For more protection, additional plugins can be added to the site.

Pricing Structure of WooCommerce:

  • The basic plan is free with core functionality.
  • Price can range from a little $3.99 per month to as high as $5000 depending on your choice of extensions, themes, and web hosting.

Pros of WooCommerce:

  • The core WooCommerce plugin is free to use.
  • A vast customization option allows you to reflect your brand identity.
  • More than 400 extensions to extend the functionalities of the online store.
  • Cost-effective platform to build an online store.
  • Easy to set up and manage your store.
  • A large community of developers and users offering quick support and resources for troubleshoot.

Cons of WooCommerce:

  • Requires you to find your own web hosting, maintain server performance, and manage security updates.
  • Adding extra functionality requires paid extensions.
  • The cost of premium plugins can increase ongoing costs.
  • For robust security, you require additional plugins.

2. Shopify

Shopify is among the leading e-commerce platforms today that offers comprehensive features to create functional and stunning e-commerce websites. This platform is one of the most extensively used in the market. Many people compare Shopify and WooCommerce due to their similar functionalities and popularity.

Key features of Shopify:

  • Offers a user-friendly interface, making it the best choice for beginners with no coding experience.
  • Huge choice of customizable themes to create a unique look and feel of your online store.
  • Unlimited product listings are offered in all the Shopify plans.
  • Adding, editing, and managing products is easy.
  • Ease of managing inventory including tracking stock levels and getting notified for low running stocks.
  • Seamless integration with third-party payment gateways.
  • Flexible options in setting up shipping options based on location, weight, or price.
  • Offers in-built marketing tools like abandoned cart recovery, discount codes, and email marketing (included in higher tiers).

Pricing Structure of Shopify:

  • 3-day free trial.
  • The Basic plan is $29 per month.
  • The Shopify plan is $79 per month.
  • The Advanced Shopify is $299 per month.

Pros of Shopify:

  • Drag-and-drop functionality and user-friendly interface make it the best option for beginners.
  • Shopify scales as your business grows.
  • Huge selection of apps to add powerful features and customize your online store.
  • Provides secure hosting and PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance to keep your website’s data protected.

Cons of Shopify:

  • Extensive design customization requires coding knowledge or even hiring a developer.
  • Shopify charges translation fees on payments.
  • Lacks an email hosting service, you need to purchase it separately.

3. MemberPress

MemberPress is another popular WordPress plugin built for creating and managing membership sites. It offers a huge library of add-ons that extend your site’s functionalities. It allows you to sell subscriptions for your digital products.

Key features of MemberPress:

  • Allows you to release content over time to engage customers.
  • Ease of creating different tiers based on pricing and access levels.
  • Seamlessly integrates with popular payment gateways.
  • Creating discounts, coupons, and promotions is easy.
  • Integrates with email marketing services for campaigns.
  • Ease of restricting access to posts, pages, tags, etc.

Pricing Structure of MemberPress:

  • The Basic plan is $179 per year.
  • The Plus plan is $299 per year.
  • The Pro plan is $399 per year.

Pros of MemberPress:

  • User-friendly interface.
  • Flexibility in creating various membership tiers with unique benefits.
  • Seamlessly integrates with popular payment gateways, email marketing tools, etc.
  • Keeps your subscribers engaged via content dripping.

Cons of MemberPress:

  • Don’t offer any free plan.
  • Essential features require additional purchases.
  • Limited customization options compared to its competitors.

4. Easy Digital Downloads (EDD)

Easy Digital Downloads is another popular WordPress plugin specifically designed to sell different types of digital products on your website. Using EDD, you can transform your website into a functional e-commerce store for downloadable ebooks, software, music, and even your own WordPress themes.

Key features of Easy Digital Downloads:

  • Adding, editing, and managing your digital downloads is easy with a user-friendly interface.
  • Allows customers to easily add multiple products, review their hoices, and complete purchases through a secure and easy checkout process.
  • Offers seamless integration with popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, and more.
  • Ease of creating and managing discount codes and promotions to incentivize customers who purchase from you.
  • Deliver digital files to customers securely after purchase.
  • Reporting and analytical tools allow you to gain valuable insights including tracking your sales, analyzing customer behavior, and more.

Pricing Structure of Easy Digital Downloads:

  • Offers freemium model with basic features.
  • The paid extensions starts at $39 per year.
  • The yearly license starts at $199 per year.
  • The lifetime license requires custom pricing.

Pros of Easy Digital Downloads:

  • Easy to set up and manage, making it best for users who are new to e-commerce.
  • Lightweight doesn’t put pressure on your site.
  • The free core plugin offers a good set of features.
  • A large community offers extensive documentation, support, and tutorials for troubleshooting.

Cons of Easy Digital Downloads:

  • Purely focused on selling digital products, not ideal for physical products.
  • Advanced features require paid extensions.
  • Comparatively limited customization options than its competitors.

5. WP EasyCart

WP EasyCart is another best e-commerce WordPress plugins for creating a fully functional online store. It boasts a user-friendly interface and feature-rich elements that match all sizes of business requirements. This plugin caters to both beginners as well as established brands.

Key features of WP EasyCart:

  • From digital downloads, subscriptions, and physical products to services, you can sell anything on the menu.
  • Ease of accepting payments from popular payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Square.
  • Provides inventory management features including tracking stock levels, low-stock alerts, handling product variations, etc. for smooth operations.
  • Configure shipping options based on location, weight, value, etc. for seamless tax calculations.
  • Mobile-friendly online store.
  • Ease of creating discounts, coupons, and promotions to boost sales.
  • With premium extensions, you can sell directly on Instagram and Facebook.
  • Offers seamless integration with other WordPress plugins.

Pricing Structure of WP EasyCart:

  • The basic plan is free.
  • The Professional plan is $99 per year.
  • The Premium plan is $199 per year.

Pros of WP EasyCart:

  • The premium version offers payment integration with more than 30 additional processors.
  • User-friendly interface.
  • Free plan to test the plugin before committing to hire tiers.
  • Handles various aspects of an online store.
  • Easy upgrade to higher plans as your business grows.

Cons of WP EasyCart:

  • Limited features in the free version.
  • Limited customization options for those looking for a high-end personalized look.

6. Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart

Ecwid is one of the best free e-commerce WordPress plugins specially designed to add a functional online store to any social media platform, existing websites, or marketplace. Ecwid seamlessly integrates with your existing online presence.

Key features of Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart:

  • Offers a user-friendly interface, best for beginners.
  • It is mobile responsive which offers a smooth shopping experience to your customers.
  • Adding, editing, and managing products is easy.
  • Ease of uploading images, variants, descriptions, and inventory tracking.
  • Accept a range of payment options like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Stripe.
  • Provide accurate shipping costs to customers based on their locations.
  • In-built marketing tools like social media integration and email marketing.
  • Support multiple languages.

Pricing Structure of Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart:

  • Free for 10 products (transaction fees apply).
  • The Venture plan is $15 per month.
  • The Business plan is $49 per month.
  • The Unlimited plan is $99 per month.

Pros of Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart:

  • Offers seamless integration of Ewid store with existing website or platform.
  • Ease of upgrading to higher tiers as your business grows.
  • Mobile responsive.

Cons of Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart:

  • Limited customization options and applicable transaction fees in the free plan.
  • Advanced features are available in paid plans only.

7. MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is another popular WordPress plugin specifically created for tracking and analyzing website traffic. It analyzes data directly from Google Analytics within your WordPress dashboard. This plugin offers a user-friendly interface, making it the best option for beginners.

Key features of MonsterInsights:

  • Seamlessly integrates with Google Analytics to track and analyze website traffic.
  • Offers deep insights into your storefront’s performance including conversion rates, product popularity, and customer demographics.
  • Get real-time reporting on your website traffic on specific metrics that matter to you the most.
  • Ease of creating personalized dashboards.
  • Tracking user’s interactions with your website forms is easy. You can analyze forms’ effectiveness in capturing leads.
  • Get insights into well performing content and those areas needing improvement.

Pricing Structure of MonsterInsights:

  • Offers freemium model.
  • The Basic plans start at $99 per year.
  • The Enterprise plan costs $299 per year.

Pros of MonsterInsights:

  • Caters to users of all technical soundness.
  • Easy to set up and use.
  • Valuable insights help you optimize your marketing campaigns and website.
  • Offers advanced features for online stores including tracking KPIs (key performance indicators) based on your products.

Cons of MonsterInsights:

  • Limited features in the free version.
  • Real-time reporting and e-commerce tracking features require a paid plan.
  • Relies on Google Analytics for gathering data, so users require knowledge of this platform as well.

Parting Thoughts

So, this was our handpicked list of best e-commerce WordPress plugins.

Whether you are looking for advanced features, budget-friendly options, or focus more on ease of use, there is an e-commerce plugin waiting for you to make your store thrive.

But, go through the features, pros and cons, and pricing structure of each plugin before settling for one.

Once you are sure, implement your choice on your WordPress site, and watch your conversion rate soar!