If you own a WordPress website and want to start selling stuff online, you are likely looking for best free ecommerce for wordpress and free wordpress plugins for ecommerce. While several plugins are claiming to provide these features some are actually good and some are not, which is why we recommend you only use the best ones.
The need for an e-Commerce website design or platform is on the rise. As per the latest news, a majority of people use the internet to search for products that they want to buy online. This has led to the creation of free e-Commerce WordPress themes which are best suited for any kind of online store.
Interested in selling online? The free eCommerce plugin for WordPress is a perfect solution for selling products or services worldwide. It allows you to easily display goods and collect payments without the need of any middlemen.
WordPress is the first choice of most online entrepreneurs. The reason for that goes beyond the ease of use (it takes just a few hours to build your website by following WordPress tutorials from scratch) and beyond the ranking friendly architecture (it’s search engine friendly). The main reason why this CMS is popular among bloggers and retailers alike is that it’s free.
What Do You Need to Run 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. The Ecommerce plan comes with SSL Certificate which you need to collect payments securely, dedicated IP, and a dedicated support line. They also install WooCommerce by default, which is the most powerful WordPress Ecommerce plugin (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.
Lastly, you will need to choose essential business plugins that you will need such as OptinMonster which help you reduce shopping cart abandonment and increase sales.
Having that said, let’s take a look at the best WordPress eCommerce plugins.
Easy Digital Downloads
Putting Easy Digital Downloads in second place begs the question: Was there anything that knocked it out of the first place spot? Well, not really, since Easy Digital Downloads serves as the best solution for selling digital goods. It does have the ability to work as a physical goods system, but we mainly like it as the core recommendation for digital sellers.
Take a gander at the bullet points below to see where Easy Digital Downloads fell to WooCommerce (along with where it succeeded):
- Integrations with the most credible payment gateways – Securely processing payments comes easy with EDD. You get options like Stripe. Braintree, Authorize.net, PayPal, Bitpay and more. The quantity and quality both look good, but you have to pay for some of these as extensions. That isn’t the case for the major WooCommerce payment gateways.
- Themes built just for the plugin – The EDD add-on library supplies some high-quality extensions, some of which include EDD Message, ConvertKit, MailChimp, and Software Licensing. The add-ons typically cost you a little money, and you’re not going to be able to find many third-party plugins. The library serves as the primary place to locate the add-ons. You don’t really need a special theme for EDD to work.
- Advanced user capabilities (wishlists, saving a cart, making a profile) – Each user has a profile that they make when checking out or whenever they want to. Customer records can be linked to the profiles, so users see which downloads they may want to use in the future. In addition, this assists with boosting your customer service, seeing as how it shows what people have recently bought.
- Integrations with multiple CMSs – Similar to WooCommerce, EDD doesn’t integrate with anything besides WordPress. For some people, this will be just fine, but if you have a previously-built site on something like Weebly, EDD can’t help you there.
- Marketing tools (like email marketing and affiliates) – Various newsletter extensions come into play with options like MailChimp and AWeber. You can also locate extensions to maintain a solid set of marketing tools (such as social media buttons, SEO and landing pages).
- Tools to Sell Subscriptions and Memberships – EDD offers quite a few membership and subscription add-ons. For example, one of them gives you the ability to accept recurring payments. The Bookings add-on works well, too.
- Powerful customer management – EDD provides one of the most impressive customer management centers in the business. A separate file is stored for each customer, and you can view and edit any customer you like. The main reason EDD works so well for customer management is that it features an area that explains customer lifetime value for each of your buyers. Along with linking customer records to profiles, you can’t go wrong with EDD in this department.
- Discount codes and promotions – The discount codes and promotions compare nicely to WooCommerce since EDD offers you the chance to choose flat rates or percentage-based coupons. Specify the products you’d like to discount and set automated start and end times. You can also have limits to who can use the coupons and minimum cart totals.
- Advanced reporting – EDD monitors downloads and sales, and you can view earnings by date range or category. It does have a quick stats view on the dashboard, but the real magic comes into play with the primary reports area. Some other reports offer information on taxes collected per year and exportable data.
- Shipping and tax calculators – No calculators are given with the default EDD download. However, the Simple Shipping extension serves you well for understanding your shipping processes and letting people know how much they are going to pay for shipping. I’ve yet to find a tax calculator that integrates with EDD, but I’ll let you know if one comes along during the rest of my research.
- Variable product options – You’re not going to find much built into EDD that assists with variable products. That said, the Variable Pricing Switcher plugin has you covered as an extension. It lets customers quickly switch between pricing options on your website. Therefore, if you’d like to offer three payment plans for a batch of WordPress themes, the users would be able to select the options they want. The variable product extension combines nicely with pricing tables since you can talk about the differences in the plans but also push customers through the actual payment process.
Ecwid
We already talked about Ecwid, but you could really go with any of the plugins to get fairly simple checkouts. Jigoshop probably has one of my least favorite carts, but simplicity on the backend can make up for that. Overall, I would start with Ecwid then move on from there if you’re a beginner.
As you can see, the Ecwid checkout provides plenty of white space while the customer moves through the process. I’m a fan of keeping the checkout to as few pages as possible, but sometimes that’s not realistic. Therefore, Ecwid has a progress bar at the bottom of the checkout, telling customers how close they are to completion. For example, you can see steps for the shopping bag, shipping details, payment details and placing an order.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is hands down one of the top e-commerce platforms on the market for scalability. The stats speak for themselves; the average BigCommerce client boasts a 28% in growth year on year.
Not only can you set up an online store but you can also access tons of built-in features and data tools which go a long way in helping you grow your business. BigCommerce is best suited to business owners who already own either a large brand or a rapidly growing e-commerce store.
One of the many fabulous features of BigCommerce is the ability for business owners to sell from anywhere. Their multichannel integrations are phenomenal. You can sell via all the following channels:
- Facebook,
- Instagram,
- Pinterest,
- eBay,
- Amazon,
Just to name a few!
Then using BigCommerce’s dashboard, you can manage all your orders from the convenience of one place- how awesome is that?!
BigCommerce is a fully hosted eCommerce platform that offers seamless integration with WordPress. This allows you to use a scalable eCommerce platform while using WordPress to manage your content and run your website.
It has a powerful integration plugin for WordPress which makes it very easy to embed your products in WordPress. It automatically creates the sign in, cart, account, and other important pages for you.
Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of using BigCommerce as your WordPress eCommerce platform.
Pros of Using BigCommerce
- High scalability – It includes all the features you will need with enterprise grade security, high performance, and easy scalability.
- Less Maintainence – Keeping your eCommerce engine separate from other content makes it easier to run your WordPress site.
- Sell across Multiple Channels – You can use it to sell not only on your website but also on other channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon.
- No transaction charges – Unlike some other eCommerce platforms, it does not charge you on each transaction. You can choose from dozens of top payment gateways and only pay the payment service provider.
Cons of Using BigCommerce
- Limited Integrations – BigCommerce integrates with all the top third-party apps and tools. However, its app store is still growing, and you may not find an integration for some less popular apps.
- Yearly Sales Threshold – They have a yearly threshold on sales for each plan. If you reach that threshold then you are upgraded to the next plan. This may increase costs as your business grows.
BigCommerce is an incredibly powerful yet very easy to use eCommerce platform. It is a SaaS eCommerce platform, but with their BigCommerce WordPress plugin you can have the best of both worlds.
It takes away the pains of scaling your hosting requirements as your business grows. At the same time, you don’t have to worry about security, performance, or finding extensions for SEO and caching.
BigCommerce is a rising contender in WordPress for headless eCommerce. It takes care of technology infrastructure, so you can focus on growing your business.
Shopify
Shopify is a fast growing eCommerce platform that handles everything for you. Shopify isn’t a plugin but it’s an all in one solution that’s completely hassle free. See our guide on Shopify vs WooCommerce for detailed side-by-side comparison of the two platforms.
Let’s look at the Pros and Cons of Shopify.
Pros of Using Shopify
Super Easy for Beginners – No need to worry about the technical aspects of an eCommerce store such as setting up SSL, integrating with different payment gateways, handling shipping, worrying about taxes, etc. Shopify handles it all.
Supports Both Digital and Physical Goods – Whether you’re selling physical goods like shirts or digital downloads like music, Shopify can handle it all.
Complete Inventory Management – Shopify comes with an inventory editor and bulk importer combined with an order tracker which makes managing inventory a breeze.
Payment and Shipping Options – Shopify makes it easy for you to accept credit card both online and in person. Their shipping system streamline your fulfillment process with direct integration with popular providers like USPS.
Facebook Store and Buyable Pins – Shopify integrates with everything. Whether you want to create a Facebook store or create buyable Pins on Pinterest, you can do it all with Shopify.
Cons of Using Shopify
Monthly Platform Fee – Shopify charges you a monthly fee to use their platform which is comparable to purchasing hosting and individual addons using the other plugins in this list.
Shopify Payments – Shopify encourages you to use their payment platform which is powered by Stripe and is a very good option for beginners. However if you want to overcomplicate things and use external systems, then Shopify charges you an additional fee.
If you want to have a powerful platform without having to deal with technical issues, then Shopify is the solution for you. While the monthly fee sounds bad at first, the hassle-free approach and peace of mind are definitely worth it because it allows you to focus on what you do best, your business!
Shopify does not have a native integration with WordPress. BigCommerce in our list gives you everything Shopify offers while offering a seamless integration with your WordPress site.
SendinBlue
SendinBlue made a list on account of its dashboard layout and Reporting feature.
SendinBlue helps you improve your customer-centric capacity. Its effect is felt more in connecting with your clients.
Truthfully, the SendinBlue e-commerce plugin doesn’t seem like the regular WordPress e-commerce plugin. To start with, it lacks inventory management features and some other essential features that are generic to other WordPress e-commerce plugins.
Still, nonetheless, it is instrumental in the running of your store. You’ll soon find out how.
It is your best bet if you aim to build long-lasting relationships with your target audience and improve the rate of returning customers and regular sales.
Its highlight features include improved user experience, real-time reports, and creation of custom subscription forms. Its segmentation feature is also topnotch. It segments customers according to personas, to enhance unique experiences, send automated newsletters, improve presence on the search engine result pages, and lots of other tools that enhance the customer experience.
The drag-and-drop tool for WordPress comes at no cost until you send more than 300 emails per day, and this attracts a reasonable price of around $25 per month.
Summary
While WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads are typically the ecommerce plugins we see users choose, that doesn’t always mean they’re the right choice. That’s what is awesome about WordPress, you have different options. So which one is best for your business?
- If you’re a developer who needs plenty of customization tools – consider WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads. Bigcommerce isn’t a bad option either if you’re ready to dive into something new.
- If you’re a complete beginner with ecommerce – consider Cart66 or WP EasyCart. Many people can also handle WooCommerce.
- If you’d like plenty of features curated for small businesses – consider WP EasyCart.
- If you’re looking for a free core ecommerce plugin – consider WooCommerce.
- If you’d like to keep your costs down with fewer add-ons – consider Cart66 Cloud or WP EasyCart.
- If you like the idea of add-ons – consider WooCommerce.
- If you’re only selling digital products – consider Easy Digital Downloads.
- If you’d like to sell on many channels – consider Ecwid.
- If you like the idea of combining the mighty BigCommerce with WordPress – consider the BigCommerce Beta.
There you have it! Those are the top WordPress ecommerce plugins for launching, managing, and developing your online store. Hopefully, this helps you differentiate between the many options and service customers the best you can. If you have any questions about the best WordPress ecommerce plugins, drop us a line in the comments below.
Conclusion
WordPress is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) and the most popular blogging system on the web. Because of its popularity, WordPress powers over 30% of the websites on the web. Though WordPress began as just a blogging system, this feature has evolved into something much more than that. A couple of years ago, some developers created an eCommerce plugin for WordPress and now you can create your own eCommerce website with WordPress in just few steps.
WordPress is an incredibly powerful blogging and CMS platform. It offers a ton of great tools to make your website more interactive, informative, and user-friendly. Best of all, it’s all free. WordPress is used on tens of millions of websites worldwide, and I’m sure you’ve benefited from its popularity too: whether you’ve downloaded a theme, visited a blog built on WordPress, or used some other WordPress tool in your professional life as a web developer or marketer.