So you’ve got a great idea for your new online business, and you’ve decided to create your website using WordPress.org. Now how do you incorporate the shop functionality?

Even though it’s not exclusively an e-commerce platform, as Carrie Dils says in her LinkedIn Learning video Building a Small Business Website with WordPress, “if WordPress doesn’t have what you need built-in, you can probably find a plugin to do what you need.” And if you are setting up your online shop via WordPress, you will probably want to use an e-commerce plugin. The good news is that WordPress offers plenty of great plugins designed specifically for e-commerce! The only problem is, there are so many plugins available, it can be difficult to tell which ones are right for you.

Fear not! This article from Brian Jackson at Kinsta breaks down the 6 Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins For Your Store in 2021. Jackson was the Chief Marketing Officer at Kinsta, a WordPress hosting platform founded in 2013.

WooCommerce

Sometimes called the “king of WordPress ecommerce plugins,” WooCommerce was originally developed by Jigoshop employees who then moved to WooThemes. In 2015, WooThemes was acquired by the same organization that owns WordPress. Since then, it has grown to “power 8% of all ecommerce websites online and 21% of the top 1 million sites.” And it’s easy to see why this plugin has staying power: a small shop doesn’t have to spend any money to get started. It lets you sell just about anything, including digital downloads, subscriptions, and appointments. Since it’s the most popular e-commerce plugin, not only does it have a huge community of users and developers, but most WordPress e-commerce themes are built around WooCommerce, so integration should be a snap. Best of all, while the interface is simple enough for newbies, it’s also customizable enough for advanced developers.

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD)

But what if what you’re selling isn’t something tangible that has to be shipped through the mail? What if you make digital products delivered via download? Then the plugin Easy Digital Downloads may be for you. As with WooCommerce, the “primary plugin is completely free,” and it “has a large, active community of bloggers, developers, and enthusiasts.” However, you have to pay a fee to access a yearly subscription and some of the extensions in the Extension Library.

Ecwid Ecommerce Shopping Cart

So far, we’ve been talking specifically about WordPress plugins and their functionality. But Ecwid is a plugin that can be used on any platform – Tumblr, Facebook, Drupal, and many more. You’re not limited to WordPress. Similar to Cart66, the features are already there, rather than needing you to search through a library of extensions or third-party providers. Plus, all plugin upgrades happen automatically with Ecwid, and don’t require a manual upgrade as many other plugins do. While the free version limits users to just 10 products in their store, support for 100 products is just $15 per month. If you just want to instantly start selling from multiple sales channels, this could be the plugin for you.

WP EasyCart Shopping Cart and eCommerce Store

The WP EasyCart is an up-and-comer that’s starting to gain attention. Like some of the previous plugins, it’s aimed at “small business owners who want to create a beautiful online store without needing to train at all.” Like previous plugins, this one also offers a free plan, with affordable upgrades – their $99 per year plans can be quite affordable compared to some of the more expensive add-ons from WooCommerce. Check out this plugin if the simplicity of the interface is key for you.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce and WordPress – together at last. BigCommerce used to be a standalone e-commerce platform – it used to be that you had to choose either Big Commerce OR WordPress, as they were mutually exclusive. But they’re now expanding their “superior selling clout” into the WordPress space. As with Ecwid, this is another system that can be run on multiple sites. Kinsta says one of the main features of this plugin is that “the ecommerce portion of your site is run on the backend, while the content is managed on the frontend,” and that this should speed up your site. That can only be a good thing for a small business who wants to be competitive in the online space.

Check out some of the e-commerce plugins mentioned above. Which one would you like to try on your website?

This chapter is a revised version of a blog post titled “E-commerce Plugins for Fun and Profit” on Writing References.