WooCommerce is a free, open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress that turns any WordPress website into a fully functional online store. It powers over 6.5 million active stores worldwide, making it the most widely used eCommerce platform on the internet. If you are running WordPress and want to sell products or services online, WooCommerce is where most store owners start.
This guide covers everything you need to know about WooCommerce in 2026, including its features, architecture changes like HPOS and block checkout, real costs, use cases, and how it compares to hosted alternatives.
WooCommerce was originally developed by WooThemes, a WordPress theme company based in South Africa. The plugin launched in September 2011 as a fork of Jigoshop, another WordPress eCommerce plugin. Within two years, WooCommerce had been downloaded over 1 million times.
In May 2015, Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com and Jetpack) acquired WooThemes and WooCommerce for a reported $30 million. This acquisition gave WooCommerce the resources and backing of the largest company in the WordPress ecosystem. Under Automattic’s stewardship, WooCommerce has grown from a simple store plugin into a full eCommerce platform with its own ecosystem of extensions, payment processing (WooPayments), and hosting partnerships.
By 2026, WooCommerce processes an estimated $45 billion in annual gross merchandise value and holds roughly 23% of the global eCommerce platform market share according to BuiltWith data.
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin. You install it on a self-hosted WordPress website, and it adds eCommerce functionality on top of your existing site. This means your blog, pages, and store all live on the same platform with a single admin dashboard.
When you activate WooCommerce, it creates several key pages automatically: Shop, Cart, Checkout, and My Account. It adds a Products menu in your WordPress dashboard where you can create simple products, variable products (with size/color options), grouped products, and external/affiliate products. Each product gets its own page with images, descriptions, pricing, inventory tracking, and shipping settings.
WooCommerce handles the full purchase flow: customers browse products, add items to cart, proceed to checkout, enter shipping and payment details, and receive order confirmation emails. You manage orders from the WordPress dashboard, where you can update order status, issue refunds, and communicate with customers.
Product Management
WooCommerce supports four product types out of the box: simple, variable, grouped, and external/affiliate. You can set regular and sale prices, manage stock quantities, configure tax rates, and organize products with categories and tags. Variable products let you offer options like size, color, or material with individual pricing and stock tracking per variation.
Block-Based Checkout (New in 2024-2026)
WooCommerce has been migrating from its legacy shortcode-based checkout to a new block-based checkout built on the WordPress block editor. As of WooCommerce 9.x in 2026, the block checkout is the default for new installations. It loads faster, supports extensibility through the Store API, and provides a more modern checkout experience. The block checkout supports express payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay natively, and extensions can add custom fields through the checkout blocks API instead of relying on action hooks.
High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS)
HPOS is one of the biggest architectural changes in WooCommerce history. Traditionally, WooCommerce stored orders as custom post types in the WordPress posts table. This approach worked for small stores but caused performance issues at scale because orders, products, pages, and blog posts all shared the same database table.
HPOS moves order data into dedicated database tables optimized specifically for eCommerce operations. The result is significantly faster order queries, better scalability for high-volume stores, and a cleaner separation between content and commerce data. Since WooCommerce 8.2, HPOS has been the default storage engine for new installations, and stores running older versions are strongly encouraged to migrate.
Payment Processing
WooCommerce supports dozens of payment gateways through extensions. The core plugin includes PayPal, direct bank transfer, check payments, and cash on delivery. WooPayments (formerly WooCommerce Payments) is Automattic’s own payment solution powered by Stripe, offering credit card processing, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and local payment methods directly in the dashboard without redirecting customers to a third-party site.
Shipping and Tax
You can configure flat rate shipping, free shipping thresholds, local pickup, and real-time carrier rates through extensions. WooCommerce Tax (powered by Jetpack) automatically calculates sales tax rates based on customer location for US, Canada, EU, UK, and Australian stores.
Analytics and Reporting
WooCommerce Analytics provides dashboards for revenue, orders, products, categories, coupons, taxes, and downloads. You can filter by date range, compare periods, and export data to CSV. For more advanced analytics, stores integrate with Google Analytics through plugins or WooCommerce’s built-in Google Analytics integration.
REST API
WooCommerce includes a comprehensive REST API that allows external applications to read and write store data. This is essential for integrating with inventory management systems, accounting software, mobile apps, POS systems, and custom dashboards. The API covers products, orders, customers, coupons, shipping, taxes, and more.
WooCommerce handles virtually any type of product or service:
- Physical products: Clothing, electronics, food, furniture, handmade goods. Manage inventory, shipping, and variations.
- Digital products: eBooks, software, music, photos, templates. Customers receive download links after purchase.
- Subscriptions: Monthly boxes, SaaS plans, membership access. Requires the WooCommerce Subscriptions extension for recurring billing.
- Bookings and appointments: Hotel rooms, consulting sessions, event tickets. The WooCommerce Bookings extension adds calendar-based availability.
- Services: Freelance work, consulting, maintenance plans. Sell services just like products without shipping.
- Wholesale and B2B: Tiered pricing, minimum order quantities, and role-based pricing for wholesale buyers.
- Courses and memberships: Integrate with LMS plugins like LearnDash or LifterLMS to sell online courses with WooCommerce as the payment layer.
- Multi-vendor marketplaces: Extensions like Dokan, WCFM, or WC Vendors turn a single WooCommerce store into a marketplace where multiple sellers list products. Check our guide to WooCommerce multivendor marketplace plugins for options.
The WooCommerce Marketplace (woocommerce.com/products) hosts over 900 official extensions and themes. Categories include payments, shipping, marketing, accounting, inventory, subscriptions, bookings, and store management.
Popular paid extensions include WooCommerce Subscriptions ($239/year), WooCommerce Bookings ($249/year), WooCommerce Product Bundles ($59/year), and AutomateWoo ($119/year). Many stores also use free extensions from WordPress.org, where over 6,000 WooCommerce-compatible plugins are available.
For themes, WooCommerce works with any WordPress theme that declares WooCommerce support. Popular choices include Storefront (WooCommerce’s official free theme), Astra, GeneratePress, Kadence, and OceanWP. Block themes like Twenty Twenty-Five also work with WooCommerce through the block-based product templates.
WooCommerce itself is free, but running a store involves several costs:
| Item | Cost Range (2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress Hosting | $10-$100/month | Shared hosting for small stores; managed WooCommerce hosting for serious stores |
| Domain Name | $10-$15/year | Standard .com registration |
| SSL Certificate | Free-$200/year | Most hosts include free SSL via Let’s Encrypt |
| Premium Theme | $0-$79 one-time | Many excellent free options available |
| Extensions | $0-$500+/year | Depends on features needed; subscriptions, bookings, etc. |
| Payment Processing | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction | Standard credit card rates via WooPayments or Stripe |
A basic WooCommerce store can launch for under $200/year total. Stores with advanced features (subscriptions, bookings, multi-currency) typically spend $500-$2,000/year on hosting and extensions. This is still significantly cheaper than Shopify’s $39-$399/month plans that charge additional transaction fees for non-Shopify Payments.
| Feature | WooCommerce | Shopify | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (self-hosted) | $39-$399/month | $39-$399/month |
| Hosting | You choose | Included | Included |
| Customization | Unlimited (open source) | Limited by Liquid templates | Moderate |
| Extensions | 6,000+ on WordPress.org | 8,000+ in Shopify App Store | 1,000+ apps |
| Transaction Fees | None (payment gateway only) | 0.5-2% unless using Shopify Payments | None |
| SEO | Full control | Good but limited URL structure | Strong built-in |
| Content/Blog | Full WordPress CMS | Basic blog | Basic blog |
| Ownership | You own everything | Platform-dependent | Platform-dependent |
WooCommerce wins on customization, content marketing, and total cost of ownership. Shopify wins on ease of setup and managed infrastructure. The right choice depends on your technical comfort level and business needs. If you already use WordPress or need deep customization, WooCommerce is the better fit. If you want everything managed for you and don’t mind platform lock-in, Shopify is simpler.
WooCommerce’s reputation for being slow at scale has improved dramatically with HPOS, the block checkout, and better hosting options. Modern managed WooCommerce hosts like Cloudways, Pressable, and WP Engine offer server-level caching, CDN integration, and PHP 8.3+ optimization specifically tuned for WooCommerce.
Stores processing 1,000+ orders per day run successfully on WooCommerce with proper hosting, caching (Redis for object cache, Varnish or nginx for page cache), and HPOS enabled. The key is choosing a host that understands WooCommerce’s database requirements and keeping your plugin count reasonable.
For stores needing even more speed, headless WooCommerce setups use the REST API or WPGraphQL to power custom React or Next.js frontends while keeping WooCommerce as the backend commerce engine.
Setting up a WooCommerce store involves these steps:
- Get WordPress hosting: Choose a host that supports WooCommerce. Managed WooCommerce hosts like Cloudways, Pressable, or SiteGround offer optimized environments.
- Install WordPress: Most hosts offer one-click WordPress installation.
- Install WooCommerce: Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard, search for WooCommerce, and install it. The setup wizard walks you through store details, payment, shipping, and tax configuration.
- Choose a theme: Pick a WooCommerce-compatible theme. Storefront is free and designed specifically for WooCommerce.
- Add products: Create your first products in Products > Add New. Set images, pricing, inventory, and shipping for each.
- Configure payments: Set up WooPayments or connect Stripe, PayPal, or your preferred payment gateway.
- Configure shipping: Set shipping zones and methods. Use flat rates for simplicity or real-time carrier rates for accuracy.
- Test and launch: Place test orders, verify emails are working, check mobile responsiveness, and go live.
For stores that need inventory tracking beyond the basics, see our roundup of the best WooCommerce inventory management plugins. And if you sell across multiple platforms, our guide to multichannel selling software covers the tools that keep everything in sync.
WooCommerce is ideal for:
- WordPress users who want to add a store to their existing site
- Businesses that need full control over their store’s code and data
- Content-driven brands where blog content drives store traffic
- Developers building custom eCommerce solutions for clients
- Budget-conscious entrepreneurs who want low ongoing costs
- Stores needing complex product configurations, custom checkout flows, or unique integrations
WooCommerce may not be the best fit if you have zero technical knowledge and no budget for a developer, or if you need a store live in under an hour with no configuration. In those cases, Shopify’s managed approach is more appropriate.
Is WooCommerce really free?
Yes, the WooCommerce plugin is 100% free and open source. You can download it from WordPress.org and use it without paying anything. However, you need to pay for web hosting, a domain name, and potentially premium extensions or themes depending on your store’s requirements. The core plugin includes everything needed to run a basic online store.
How many websites use WooCommerce?
WooCommerce powers over 6.5 million active online stores as of 2026, representing approximately 23% of all eCommerce websites globally. It is the most used eCommerce platform in the world, ahead of Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce by active installation count.
Is WooCommerce good for beginners?
WooCommerce has a moderate learning curve. If you are familiar with WordPress, adding WooCommerce is straightforward. Complete beginners may need a few hours to understand the dashboard, product creation, and settings. The built-in setup wizard helps, and there are thousands of tutorials available. Compared to platforms like Magento, WooCommerce is much easier. Compared to Shopify, it requires more initial setup but offers far more flexibility.
Can WooCommerce handle high traffic?
Yes, with proper hosting and configuration. WooCommerce stores handling thousands of orders per day exist and perform well. The keys are quality hosting with adequate PHP workers, object caching with Redis or Memcached, HPOS enabled for order storage, a CDN for static assets, and keeping plugin count reasonable. Managed WooCommerce hosts optimize their infrastructure specifically for this.
What is HPOS in WooCommerce?
HPOS stands for High-Performance Order Storage. It is a new database architecture that stores WooCommerce orders in dedicated custom tables instead of the shared WordPress posts table. This dramatically improves order query performance, especially for stores with thousands of orders. HPOS has been the default for new WooCommerce installations since version 8.2 and is recommended for all stores.
What is the block checkout in WooCommerce?
The block checkout is WooCommerce’s new checkout experience built using WordPress’s block editor technology. It replaces the legacy shortcode-based checkout with a faster, more extensible checkout page. The block checkout supports express payment buttons natively, loads faster, and allows extensions to add custom fields through the Checkout Blocks API. It became the default checkout for new installations in WooCommerce 9.x.
Does WooCommerce charge transaction fees?
No, WooCommerce itself does not charge any transaction fees. You only pay the fees charged by your payment gateway (such as Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction or PayPal’s similar rates). This is different from Shopify, which charges additional transaction fees of 0.5-2% if you don’t use Shopify Payments.
WooCommerce remains the most flexible and cost-effective way to sell online in 2026. With HPOS improving performance, the block checkout modernizing the buying experience, and a massive ecosystem of extensions covering every use case, it continues to be the platform of choice for WordPress-based businesses. Whether you are launching your first store or scaling to thousands of daily orders, WooCommerce gives you full ownership of your store, your data, and your customer relationships.
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