Is WooCommerce Free?
WooCommerce for WordPress is one of the leading eCommerce platforms on the web, with over 39 million active installations. Itâs easy to use, incredibly scalable, and customizable to your specific needs as a business. WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress and itâs also free! Thereâs got to be a catch, right? Surely a platform this popular and this useful should cost something?
While the basic WooCommerce plugin is free, there are costs involved in actually using it. To run an online store, youâre going to need a website first. WooCommerce runs on WordPress, so you need a WordPress website. Along with building your website, youâre going to need to pay for website hosting. Website hosting is a service that enables you give your website a spot on the internet. A web host uses sophisticated computers called âserversâ to store your website digitally so that others can view it. A good web host will also routinely check that your site is functional and provide you with support if itâs not. An entry-level web hosting package usually starts at about $2.99 per month, but itâs worth shopping around for one that suits your needs. We recommend a managed WordPress hosting plan (link to our article).
For your web host to broadcast your business to the world, your website needs a domain name. Your domain name is what your customers will type into their URL bar to get to your website. For example, the domain name for this website is [INSERT DOMAIN NAME HERE]. To create a website, youâll need to buy a domain name. You can register your website domain name through a domain registrar, who will officially assign your chosen domain name to your website. Domain names can cost as little as $2 per month through a domain registrar.
Now that you have set up a working website, you can start to use WooCommerce. The basic plugin is robust on its own, but it can be customized and improved with the use of tons of helpful extensions offered by and built for WooCommerce. These extensions cover everything from inventory to invoicing, and theyâll enhance your seller experience and your customerâs shopper experience exponentially. These are some of our favorites:
1. WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips
If your business deals with shipping orders, itâs likely that you need invoices and packing slips to be part of your transactions. The PDF invoicing process isnât built into the basic WooCommerce software, but this plugin can automate it. The plugin can even automate the printing of packing slips! The basic version of the plugin is free, but we recommend going for the premium version at $65.
If your business specializes in customized products, or youâre very committed to unique customer experiences, this plugin is for you! It allows you to add custom fields to the âcheckoutâ step in the purchasing process. You can use these fields to ask your customers if they prefer discreet packaging if they want to add a special message to the packaging, or what theyâre interested in seeing from you next. A customer in the checkout process is already engaged, so why not use that attention to get useful information? The premium version of this plugin costs $39, but the insights it gives you could be invaluable.
This plugin gives your customers the ability to save items for later! If your customer is interested in an item but doesnât intend to buy that item immediately, allowing them to bookmark it means theyâll be more likely to revisit it and purchase it later. Customers can check back in and find their wish list at any time. You can also use their wish lists to create targeted advertising and gain valuable insights into your target customerâs buying habits. The basic plugin is free, but for $89.99, you can unlock some handy features.
4. MyWorks QuickBooks Sync for WooCommerce
This essential accounting solution integrates your WooCommerce store with QuickBooks – the most popular and widely used accounting extension. While WooCommerce is a fantastic eCommerce solution, it isnât built for accounting. However, when integrated QuickBooks via MyWorks Sync, it provides all the data needed for your QuickBooks accounting platform to create financial reports. MyWorks Sync supports all versions of QuickBooks and offers plans suited for every stage of your business – from a free âLaunchâ plan for QuickBooks Online; to paid, full-feature plans for QuickBooks Online, Desktop, and POS.
So, is WooCommerce free? Yes. Is using WooCommerce the best way for your business free? Not quite. The good news, though, is that the costs of starting and running a website can be minimal, especially when compared to Shopify. There are also hundreds of free plugins that you can use to extend your online storeâs capabilities. Youâll never run out of options to improve, observe and build when you choose WooCommerce.
