Are you comparing Shopify alternatives to weigh their pros and cons?
You might have thought about using Shopify to create an online store. While it’s a popular option, it may not be the best fit for your eCommerce business.
In this article, we’ll compare the best Shopify alternatives along with their pros and cons, so you can choose the best platform to build an online store.
Is Shopify the Right Choice for Your Online Store?
Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce platform. It handles all the technical details that goes into running an online store, like hosting, domain name, maintenance, software updates, and more.
This makes Shopify a popular choice among business owners.
However, it doesn’t offer the same flexibility and freedoms that many other top eCommerce platforms offer. It is also more expensive than many alternatives on the market with their basic plan starting from $29/month.
That being said, let’s take a look at some of the best Shopify alternatives with the pros and cons of each option.
WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform in the world, and it is also our top pick for creating any type of online store.
It is beginner-friendly and incredibly easy to use. WooCommerce comes with hundreds of professionally designed website templates, and many of them are available for free.
You can also add any new feature to your eCommerce store using WooCommerce extensions (many of them are free as well).
There is also a ton of free online help and WooCommerce tutorials which makes it easier for you to learn and grow your online eCommerce business.
There are also more payment gateways extensions for WooCommerce available than any other platform. WooCommerce is used globally, so you will be able to integrate payment gateways supported in your targeted regions.
You will need to pay for web hosting and a domain to run WooCommerce. There are lots of options for WooCommerce hosting, but our top recommendation is Bluehost.
They are offering our readers a fantastic deal where you get a free domain name, free SSL certification, and hosting for $2.75/month:
However, you will need to pay the usual costs of running a WordPress website. This includes web hosting, your domain name, and any paid plugins you want to use for your online store.
MemberPress is our top pick for creating a membership site. It’s a great option if you want to offer digital content to customers. It lets you take subscription payments, or just charge one-time fee for digital downloads.
MemberPress is easy to set up, and you can use it to protect premium content on your site in lots of different ways.
For instance, it’s easy to protect all pages with a specific parent page, so only registered users can see them. MemberPress also lets you ‘drip’ content so that members don’t receive it all at once.
You can even set up different payment levels if you want to sell several different memberships or online products.
MemberPress integrates with lots of other tools such as popular email marketing services, live chat software, etc. It also has built-in support for PayPal and Stripe payments.
Price:
MemberPress costs from $129/year for the basic plan when you use our MemberPress coupon code.
BigCommerce is a fully hosted all-in-one eCommerce platform. The hosting, SEO, payment features, and more are all provided for you by BigCommerce. You don’t need to set anything up separately.
There’s also a BigCommerce WordPress plugin that lets you run a full BigCommerce store on your WordPress website. You can login to BigCommerce to manage your store and use WordPress to add / edit website content as normal.
There are hundreds of third-party apps and integrations that can be added onto BigCommerce. They have both free and paid apps available in their app marketplace. This gives you plenty of ways to add features like product popups with OptinMonster, cart abandonment, and more to your store as your business grows.
BigCommerce is a particularly good option if you’re not very confident with technology. The support team is available 24/7, and you can get phone, live chat, and email support. BigCommerce will handle things like backups, updates, and security for your store.
Price:
BigCommerce costs from $29.95/month. If you make more than $50,000 in sales per year, then you’ll need to upgrade to a more expensive plan.
Easy Digital Downloads lets you sell virtual (downloadable) products from your WordPress site. It’s specifically designed for selling digital products, so it’s not a good alternative to Shopify if you sell physical goods.
The Easy Digital Downloads plugin automatically protects your files. You can restrict how many times a customer can download a file. You can also let the download link expire after a set period of time. These methods prevent customers from sharing their purchased files with other people.
Easy Digital Downloads works well even if you have multiple digital products to sell. There’s a built-in shopping cart system where customers can buy several products at once. It’s also easy to make a customer account page, so that people can easily view all the products they’ve bought.
As with any WordPress plugin, you’ll need a domain name and WordPress hosting in order to use Easy Digital Downloads. It’s not a standalone solution.
There’s lots of help available through the support forums, videos, and tutorials. If you pay for the premium version, you’ll get priority support through email.
Price:
Easy Digital Downloads itself is free. There are a number of extensions available, some also free and some paid. Pricing plans start from $99/year, and these give access to email support and certain extensions.
Constant Contact is best known as an email marketing service, but the company also has a beginner-friendly website builder. You can use this to quickly and easily create an online store.
The built-in eCommerce functionality in the Constant Contact website builder lets you easily choose a layout, add products, and set up payments. There are also features that let you create a logo and analyze your website traffic.
You can try out Constant Contact’s website builder completely free of charge. Once it’s time to launch your site, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
The drag and drop interface makes this website builder really easy to use. There are over 550,000 free professional quality images to pick from for your site too.
Constant Contact also includes 24/7 support through phone and live chat, so it’s easy to get help if you need it.
Price:
Constant Contact’s website builder costs just $10/month. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, too.
Magento is an open source eCommerce platform, just like WordPress is an open source website builder platform.
You can use the community edition of Magento with any web host that supports it. We recommend SiteGround’s Magento hosting for this.
There’s also Magento Commerce, which is a paid platform. This includes lots of features and support, but you need to ask for an enterprise quote to get pricing.
Magento has a healthy extensions ecosystem that lets you add new functionality. Many of these are free, but a lot of them are premium extensions.
Magento is a powerful platform with lots of flexibility, but it can be tricky to get started with if you’re a beginner. It’s a good fit if you’re running a business and have developers on hand, or if you want to hire a developer to set things up.
Price:
The open source version of Magento is free. However, you’ll need to pay for web hosting that’s powerful enough to run a fully featured online store.
Weebly is an all-in-one website builder and eCommerce platform, so you don’t need to buy hosting separately. It comes with dozens of website designs that you can edit using drag and drop tools.
Weebly lets you easily create an online store. Their platform gives you the ability to sell digital items as well as physical ones. There are also options for selling services and taking donations.
With Weebly, you also get extra features like a mobile app to manage your store, automated abandoned cart emails, and more.
There are over 300 Weebly apps that you can add to your site to give it new features. Many of these are free, but some cost extra.
However, Weebly doesn’t have the full range of customization options that other eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce can offer.
Price:
Weebly’s business plan is $25/month. This removes the 3% transaction fee that Weebly would otherwise charge on all your sales.
There’s also a free version of Weebly, but this doesn’t include eCommerce tools.
Which is the Best Shopify Alternative for Your Online Store?
For most people, WooCommerce is the best Shopify alternative. It’s easy to use, and fairly quick to get started with. Best of all, it has lots of flexibility since WooCommerce offers the largest extension ecosystem and pre-made template library.
MemberPress is a great option if you want to offer digital products or online courses that people subscribe to. It’s easy to use and again offers lots of power and flexibility.
BigCommerce is another good alternative that offers the similar feature set as Shopify without the restriction of specific payment gateways or extra fees.
MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market. It lets you easily sell digital downloads. You can also use it to sell subscriptions, lock content on your site so that only members can access it, and much more.
The MemberPress Downloads addon gives you advanced download management capabilities. It lets you upload multiple files, tag or categorize them, and list them using a shortcode.
You can use MemberPress to protect files as well as posts and pages. You can lock files, so that only users with the right level of access can view them.
One great feature is that you can protect files by category and tag, too. You can set up a rule to protect all files that you’ve assigned to a specific category or tag. This makes it easy to restrict files based on user’s subscription level.
You can also list your files by their category and tag, using MemberPress’ shortcodes system. If you’re offering a lot of different downloads, then this makes it really easy to organize them for your users.
MemberPress gives you plenty of flexibility, too. It lets you go way beyond just selling downloads to create a full membership site. It even integrates with email marketing services like Constant Contact, ConvertKit, and AWeber.
LearnDash lets you charge a one-time fee for your product or set up a recurring subscription. You can easily insert video and audio files into your course, making it a great way to sell these types of files.
Aside from using LearnDash to lock the content on your site, you can use it to accept payments, create online courses, make assignments and quizzes, and more. There are also dynamic forums built into LearnDash where your users can interact with one another.
LearnDash works well on its own for taking payments and offering protected content. You can also integrate it with several of the other tools on this list, including MemberPress, WordPress Download Manager, and WooCommerce.
MonsterInsights, the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It’s the best option if you want to track which files on your site are being downloaded the most. This is crucial if you offer a lot of free downloads and need to know which ones are proving popular with your users.
You can choose which types of files to track, such as images, zip files, PDFs, and so on.
You can also label your different files so MonsterInsights can show which categories are being downloaded the most. For instance, you could track “Free Reports” separately from “Printable Worksheets” in MonsterInsights.
You can see the file downloads report in your WordPress dashboard along with MonsterInsight’s other user analytics report.
MonsterInsights seamlessly integrate with all the plugins mentioned in this list, and we recommend installing it alongside any file download manager plugin that you use. The free version of MonsterInsights also comes with file tracking, but you can upgrade to the Pro version to unlock other powerful features.
Alternatively, you can use MonsterInsights by itself too. Simply upload your files in the WordPress media library, embed the link to the files anywhere in your posts, pages, menus, etc. After that MonsterInsights will start tracking the download stats for you.
WooCommerce is a popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress. You can use it to sell both physical and digital products.
If you want to sell digital downloads, you can simply designate your download as a product in WooCommerce, so the customer only receives access after paying for it.
You can also use WooCommerce plugins to add more features to your online store. For instance, you can use smart coupons features to run sales and promotions more easily.
WooCommerce offers several different download methods and types of protection for your files. You can choose which suits your situation best. Just like regular WooCommerce products, your downloads can have variations, too.
You can also use WooCommerce to create a product that has both a downloadable and a physical component. For instance, you might provide an online video course that comes with a physical workbook.
As the name suggests, Easy Digital Downloads makes it easy for you sell digital products on your website. You can also use it to provide and track free downloads.
Your files will be automatically protected by Easy Digital Downloads plugin. You can track the date, time, and IP address of all purchases and free downloads.
You can restrict how many times a customer can download their files. You can also set the download link to expire after a certain period of time. These are both good ways to prevent customers from sharing their files with others.
You can integrate Easy Digital Downloads with lots of other services, including email marketing services like ConvertKit and AWeber. You can even integrate it with AffiliateWP to create a referral program.
Easy Digital Downloads has a built-in shopping cart system that lets customers buy several digital products at once. You can easily create a customer account page where logged-in customers can see a list of everything they’ve purchased.
File Manager is a really useful FTP like file manager. You can use it to edit files through your WordPress dashboard, rather than using FTP to move them between locations.
We always recommend using an FTP client or your WordPress hosting file manager where possible. However, there may be times when you want to quickly manage files through your WordPress dashboard.
File Manager lets you put your files into the WordPress media library, too. It creates thumbnails for all types of image files. It also has search functionality, making it easy to find your files.
With the Pro Edition of File Manager, you can also create private folders. You can set these so specific user roles or even specific users have access.
You can also use the Pro Edition to control what types of files can be uploaded and downloaded. You can even set up email notifications so that you get an email whenever a file is downloaded.
WordPress Download Manager is a great simple option. You can use it to manage free and paid file downloads.
You can set a password per file, or you can specify user roles that can have access to your files.
If you’re looking for a WordPress download manager to stop bots or spammers, then you can set a Captcha Lock or IP Block feature. You can also control downloads by putting a download limit on each user. This can help improve WordPress speed and performance.
You’ll also get download logs, so you can see the date, time, and location of the user that’s downloading your files.
When a user downloads a free file, they won’t need to go through the whole checkout process. With PDF and image files, WordPress Download Manager will give the user the option to open the file in their browser or download it.
You can easily give files a price by using the free “Premium Package – Complete Digital Store Solution” addon.
There are also a number of paid addons for WordPress Download Manager. These include BuddyPress integration, a User Review addon, a Download Limit addon, and more.
Final Thoughts: Best Download Manager Plugin for WordPress
Choosing the right download manager plugin can be tricky. All of the plugins on this list are great options, depending on how you want to manage your downloads.
If you’re going to sell downloads and want to restrict access to members, then MemberPress is best download manager plugin for you. It’s comes with all the powerful features like protecting files by categories and tag, email marketing integrations, payment gateways, etc.
If you simply want to track downloads, then MonsterInsights is the best plugin for you. It’ll provide you with all the stats you need. Simply upload the files in your WordPress file manager, embed it in a post, and MonsterInsights will show you the download stats.
We hope this article helped you learn about the best download manager plugins for WordPress. We also recommend going through our experts’ list of must have plugins for business websites.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
A common theme among my friend groups is the utter boredom of being under stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Part of me wants to tell folks that there has never been a greater time in human history to find something to do at home. There is a plethora of content available at the touch of a finger or even voice command.
We have built a system, the web, that provides education, entertainment, and art at near-instantaneous speeds. Our WordPress community is a large part of that human endeavor.
Perhaps the problem lies with our consumerist culture. With large social media networks effectively taking over the web, the trend seems to suggest that people spend their free time glued to their mobile devices, consuming content created by others. Now that many are home full time, it is easy to grow tired of consuming content that would normally be reserved for free time at all hours of the day.
When asking what the elders in my family did in their free time decades ago, before modern technological advances, I noticed a different trend. They created music. On my grandmother’s side of the family, that musicality in our genes produced Hank Williams. On my grandfather’s side, we had The Tadlock Quartet, a little-known gospel group. If our family had a motto, it would be: if you don’t sing or play an instrument, you are not a Tadlock.
I have an uncle who is a painter and magician. Some of my cousins are in a band. My sister creates vases, tabletops, and other pieces out of broken glass when she’s not chasing her two-year-old. My father is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrument musician. I could go on listing the art that my family creates.
Maybe I was fortunate to grow up in an artistic environment. That artistry has never been about fame and fortune. Most of my family will never reach stardom. However, we continue creating because it is simply a part of who we are.
I also reminisce over my childhood years. I grew up in a lower-middle-class household. We did not have the luxury of the internet. We could not afford cable or satellite television. The only channels on the tube were 8, 12, 20, and sometimes 32. It was the era of the Saturday morning cartoon block, which I gladly awoke to every weekend with my off-brand cereal.
Like many kids of my generation, I had a video game console and a handful of games. But, there are only so many times you can play through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time before finding something else to do.
Most of my childhood was spent creating things. I ran several issues of a homemade video game magazine, painstakingly drawing all the artwork by hand. Fortunately, my uncle had a printer and scanner so that I could make copies. I wrote short stories, crafted screenplays, and filmed movies on a borrowed camcorder. I built tree forts that probably would not have passed any level of building safety codes, but my friends and I survived.
I had about a three-year stint in the mid-’90s in which I fashioned myself a songwriter, following in my father’s footsteps (he has never sold a song but continues writing music to this day). I do not think I wrote anything other than love songs. What else would a 12-year-old boy write about? My only experience with love was a peck on the cheek from a previous girlfriend. Despite my naivete in matters of the heart, the human soul knows what it needs, and I expressed that through lyrics in the style of whatever boyband was popular in the given month. My music was not Grammy-worthy material, but it was deeply human.
As I grew into adulthood, I did not stop creating. My journey into the world of WordPress began only because I wanted to share my writing. Eventually, I learned to create a new type of art: WordPress plugins and themes.
Over my near-15 years of working with WordPress, my primary interest became more about building things that would help others to create. Even today, as a writer for the Tavern, my hope is to spark discussions and response articles that others create on their own blogs. This should never be a one-way discussion.
Like many others, I recently found myself in a position with “nothing to do.” For the previous several months, I had been working on a plugin development book during my free time. Suddenly, I found myself with an empty calendar for an entire weekend. No social gatherings. No book chapters due. That meant putting my artist hat firmly back on my head. It was time to enjoy the act of creation for the sake of it, which led to a new plugin.
It felt good to once again create something with no expectations. I was not getting paid to build this project. I wanted neither fame nor fortune. What I needed was a moment to express an idea.
The act of creating art is a primal part of our nature. The plugin was my modern-day equivalent of sitting around the campfire and crafting a story of slaying a great beast that happened upon the village.
I am a firm believer that every human has the capacity to create some form of artwork. A novel. A dance. A song. I have seen farmers with gardens so well-tended they would make you weep. I have watched a man with an intellectual disability hand-build intricate birdhouses. I have sat in astonishment, listening as a friend’s mother put together an entire piano arrangement after hearing a song only once.
For the same reason, I am proud to be a part of the WordPress community. I am surrounded by artists in their own right daily. We create software that allows others to share their creations.
When someone tells me they are bored during this social quarantine, I break out my speech about using this moment to create something. Anything. It does not need to have value to others. It should simply be an expression of one’s self. If they follow through, I give them a speech about building a site with WordPress to share what they have built.
No, now is not the time for boredom. It should be a time of pure creation.
Create a shop with WooCommerce for those handcrafted items you have been wanting to build for years. Build up your inventory right now so that it is ready to ship after the pandemic has passed. Write an e-book and sell it via Easy Digital Downloads. Start a local fundraising effort to help those in need in your neighborhood with the Give WP plugin. Create a new forum with bbPress on your favorite TV series or some other topic that piques your interest. Start a regular ol’ WordPress blog and share your thoughts during this time.
Use this brief moment in history to create something new. Whether it is a side hustle, a new business, or poetry, just create. Then, of course, share it via your WordPress website.
Do you want to sell digital products online? Perhaps you’re planning to create ebooks, online courses, software, or something else entirely.
Regardless of which type of digital product you create, you will need an easy to use platform to sell your digital products and deliver them to your customers.
In this article, we will share the best platforms to sell digital products online. As we go through them, we’ll explain their pros and cons to help you choose the best option for your needs.
Why You Need a Platform to Sell Digital Products
If you are selling a single product, then you can probably create a contact form and accept credit card payments using Stripe or PayPal.
However, if you are selling multiple products and need an efficient way for users to access downloads, then you need a proper platform to sell digital products.
These platforms provide you with all the features you’ll need to grow your online business, including:
Easy ways to accept payments using multiple payment methods
Deliver product downloads to the customers
You can provide an account management area for customers
You can sell subscriptions based access to downloads
You can offer courses, lessons, quizzes, etc.
Built-in tools to display and promote products on your website
That being said, let’s take a look at some of the best platforms to sell digital and downloadable products online.
You can create subscriptions for your digital or downloadable products, so customers can access them from their accounts after purchasing the membership.
You can use MemberPress to create as many members only pages or sections on your site. You could deliver your paid content in the form of posts, pages, or downloads that are accessed through a protected “members only” page.
There’s no limit to how many different membership levels you can set up in MemberPress. You can define these however you like.
MemberPress allows for one-off payments or recurring memberships. You can even set up a free trial membership, create coupon codes to offer discounts, or release drip content to convert more sales.
There are loads of reports available, so you can see which products and membership levels are selling well.
You can use MemberPress with any WordPress theme, but we recommend the following WordPress membership themes since they look beautiful. It can also be easily integrated with other WordPress plugins.
Cons
MemberPress is geared towards sellings subscriptions and memberships and may not be well-suited for businesses that just want to sell one-off downloads.
MemberPress is incredibly powerful and flexible. You may need to read their getting started tutorials to familiarize yourself with all the features.
Pricing
MemberPress costs $149 at the Basic level which is enough for most users who’re just getting started. You can upgrade to their Plus or Pro plan unlock other powerful features.
WooCommerce has dozens of payment gateways available as add-ons including all the top payment services.
Cons
WooCommerce can seem a little overwhelming at times as there are so many options.
Additional paid plugins or tools can increase your eCommerce website costs. However, you can easily control it by using free options whenever possible.
Pricing
Although WooCommerce itself is free, you might want to pay to add extra functionality. That might mean buying some premium plugins or a premium WooCommerce theme.
We recommend using either Bluehost or SiteGround because they offer the best WooCommerce hosting at affordable rates. After that you can follow our complete WooCommerce tutorial to get started.
LearnDash supports a huge range of pricing models. These include one time sales, subscriptions, memberships, bundles, and more.
There’s lots of help available, including video tutorials, community forums, and documentation. There’s also a support team.
If you’re running an online course, you’ll find loads of helpful features. These include certificates and badges that you can use as incentives for your students.
You can create your own forums, specific to your courses, so that students can interact with one another.
There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can get a refund if you decide that LearnDash isn’t the right option for you.
Cons
You can only contact the support team by submitting a ticket. There’s no live chat or phone option.
There’s no free version or trial period available.
Pricing
The Basic plan costs $199 at full price. You’ll almost certainly find that it’s on sale for $159 when you visit the site, though.
If you want to use LearnDash on several site, the Plus packet lets you install it on up to 10 sites. That costs $229 full price, though it’s normally on sale for $189.
For more details, see our guide on how to create and sell online courses with LearnDash.
Often users use LearnDash in combination with MemberPress to get the most value.
You can use Easy Digital Downloads for free, just like you can with WooCommerce. If you want extra features, there are lots of free and paid extensions available.
Easy Digital Downloads is specifically designed for selling digital products. If you have no intention of selling physical products, then it could be a great fit for you.
There’s plenty of support available. This includes support forums, videos, and tutorials. If you’re a premium user, you can get priority support.
You can use the Easy Digital Downloads shortcodes to display your products anywhere you want, such as in a blog post.
Cons
There aren’t all that many WordPress themes out there that are designed specifically for use with Easy Digital Downloads.
Easy Digital Downloads is free but you may need paid extensions to add extra features. This may increase your costs.
Pricing
The basic version of Easy Digital Downloads is free. If you want more features, then you will need their extensions. Some of them are free and others are paid addons.
You can also opt for one of the pricing plans, which are billed yearly. These give access to email support and various extras through included extensions. They start at $99/year.
Restrict Content Pro is the paid version of the Restrict Content plugin. It’s a WordPress membership plugin produced by the same team that’s behind Easy Digital Downloads.
Pros
Restrict Content Pro is really easy to get started with. Even if you’ve had little experience of WordPress, you should find it fairly straightforward.
Restrict Content Pro works seamlessly with Easy Digital Downloads. If you want to use both plugins on your site, it’s easy to do so.
It comes with a lot of built-in integrations, like Stripe, PayPal, MailChimp, WooCommerce, and more.
You can create as many different membership levels as you want, including free and trial memberships.
Your customers can move between subscription levels and only pay the difference. This happens automatically and could save you a lot of admin time.
You can easily view reports on your earnings, membership numbers, and more.
There’s an “Unlimited” plan available which includes lifetime updates and supports for a single one-off fee.
Cons
The free version of the plugin doesn’t handle payments. You’ll need to upgrade to Pro if you want people to pay to register.
Some of the most useful addons aren’t included in the Personal or Plus plans. These include the ability to drip content, which most membership plugins include as a basic feature.
There’s no phone or live chat support, even at the higher pricing tiers. You have to submit a support ticket instead.
Although there’s a 30 day refund period, you can only get a refund if you can explain why the plugin won’t work for you.
Pricing
There’s a free version of the plugin available, called Restrict Content. The Restrict Content Pro plugin costs from $99/year, which comes with 13 free add-ons.
Shopify is an all in one platform for eCommerce. This means it handles everything for you such as your site hosting, updates, and security. You just pay a single monthly fee.
Pros
Shopify is really easy to get started with. You don’t need to buy hosting or even a domain name. You just sign up for an account with Shopify and start creating your store.
You can sell both physical and digital products using Shopify. This could be useful if you might want to offer physical products in the future.
There are loads of apps available for Shopify. These add functionality to your store. Most of these will cost you money, but some are free integrations with other software that you might be paying for, such as OptinMonster.
You can pick from lots of different Shopify themes (templates) for your site, or even buy a premium theme from the Shopify themes store.
There’s 24/7 support available through live chat, phone, email, and Twitter. There’s also lots of documentation, plus video tutorials and support forums.
Cons
You can’t easily integrate Shopify with WordPress, so it’s not a good option if you want to sell directly from your existing website.
Shopify has a built-in payment system called Shopify Payments. If you want to use third-party payment gateways, like PayPal or Amazon Payments, Shopify charges an extra 2% fee on these transactions.
Pricing
Shopify costs $29/month for the basic plan. This gives you access to the majority of features that you’re likely to want, apart from reports and gift cards. Those are available on the next tier up, at $79/month.
Teachable is a platform where you can create your own online courses. It hosts your course for you, so you don’t need a website in order to use it.
Pros
Teachable is easy to get started with. It has a straightforward dashboard to guide you through the process.
There’s a generous free plan available, so you can get started without paying anything. This plan lets you have unlimited courses and students, and you can have a discussion forum and basic quizzes too.
It’s easy to arrange and organize your content in Teachable using the drag and drop interface.
You can upload your own logo, images, text, colors, and so on to customize how your Teachable sales pages looks.
Teachable can handle lots of different file types. It does a particularly good job of dealing with videos, which should look great whatever device your student is using.
There are great analytics that can show you how your students are doing. You can even track individual students’ progress.
You can communicate with students directly from your Teachable platform.
Cons
If you want to customize your course homepage using the Power Editor, you’ll need to understand HTML and CSS code.
Teachable is designed for courses. It’s not really going to work for you if you want to sell something like an ebook or software.
Pricing
Teachable’s free plan doesn’t cost anything. However, you will pay $1 plus 10% for every paid course that you sell. That means that if you have a course costing $200, you’ll pay Teachable $21 on each sale.
The cheapest plan is $29/month. If you’re on this plan, you’ll also be charged an additional 5% on each sale. To avoid paying any commission at all, you’ll need to be on the Professional Plan for $79/month.
Choosing the Best Platform for Your Needs
The best platform to sell digital products depends entirely on your needs.
If you want to sell subscription-based digital products, premium content, or pay-per-view website, then MemberPress is the best option.
If your products include ebooks, music, or software, then Easy Digital Downloads might well be all you need.
If you want to sell an online course, pick a platform like LearnDash or Teachable. These are specifically designed for online course creators, and it’s easy to use them to create a professional looking course.
Finally, if you’re also selling physical products, or might want to do so in the future, go with WooCommerce or Shopify. Both of these options make it easy to sell both digital and physical goods.
We hope this article has helped you compare the best platforms to sell digital products. You may also want to see our guide on the best WordPress plugins and our proven tips to grow your website traffic.
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WordPress is an easy to use CMS for creating blogs, websites, online shops, etc. For selling products or digital services through WordPress, all you need is the WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads plugin. Anyway, while you need to collect payments through your blog, you might want to integrate a payment gateway. Typically, there are two […]
Are you looking for the best WordPress eCommerce plugin to build your online store?
Choosing the right eCommerce plugin is crucial for your business because a better platform means more opportunities for growth. Often users end up losing money because they didn’t do proper research when choosing the eCommerce platform to start their store.
In this article, we will compare the best WordPress eCommerce plugins. We will also explain their pros and cons to help you find which eCommerce plugin is right for your business.
What to Look for in a WordPress eCommerce Plugin for Your Site?
There are plenty of WordPress eCommerce plugins in the market. But not all of them have the right set of features for your use case.
For example, some eCommerce plugins are made for selling digital goods like eBooks, photos, music, etc. Others are better suited for selling physical products that need shipping.
If you want to run a drop-shipping business, then you’ll need an eCommerce solution that provides better support for drop-shipping.
Basically, you need to consider what you will be selling and what kind of features you would need to efficiently run your online store.
Apart from that, the following are some of the most important factors you need to look for when choosing an eCommerce platform.
Payment solutions – Your eCommerce plugin should have support for your preferred payment gateways by default or through an extension.
Design and customization – Your store’s design is your customer’s first interaction with your business. Make sure there are plenty of templates and easy customization options available
Apps and integrations – Check out integrations available for third-party apps like email marketing services, CRM software, accounting software, etc. You’ll need those tools to manage and grow your eCommerce business more efficiently.
Support options – Make sure that there are support options available. Good support can save you a lot of money in the long run.
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. All their plans are eCommerce ready and comes with SSL Certificate which you need to collect payments securely, dedicated IP, and a dedicated support line. They also offer 1-click install options for the most powerful WordPress eCommerce plugins (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.
Having that said, let’s take a look at the best WordPress eCommerce plugins.
Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins – The Contenders
Now that you know what to look for in an eCommerce platform and what you need to get started, here are our top picks for the best eCommerce platform for WordPress users.
WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin. It’s also the most popular eCommerce platform in the world. WooCommerce was acquired by Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com’s blog hosting service) in 2015.
There is a large number of addons and themes available for WooCommerce. They also have a passionate developer community behind it. Recently several hosting companies have started creating specialized WooCommerce hosting solutions.
Pros of Using WooCommerce
Here are some of the advantages of using WooCommerce as your WordPress eCommerce plugin:
Extensions and Themes – There are hundreds of extensions and themes available for WooCommerce, which makes it easy for you to add new features to your eCommerce site. A large collection of themes means you have tons of options when choosing your site’s design and layout.
Supports Both Digital and Physical Goods – With WooCommerce, you can sell physical as well as digital downloads (such as ebooks, music, software, and more).
Sell Affiliate or External Products – Using WooCommerce, you can add affiliate or external products to your site. Affiliate marketers can create product sites and provide users with a better experience.
Complete Inventory Management – WooCommerce comes equipped with tools to easily manage your inventory or even assign it to a store manager.
Payment and Shipping Options – WooCommerce has built-in support for popular payment gateways, and you can add many other payment options using extensions. It can also calculate shipping and taxes.
Affiliate Management – You can easily add built-in affiliate management to WooCommerce using AffiliateWP and create your own referral program. This helps you avoid paying middle man fees.
Ecommerce SEO – WooCommerce is fully SEO optimized with the All in One SEO plugin (AIOSEO). This helps your product page ranks higher in search engines.
Ecommerce Growth Tools – WooCommerce has third-party extensions like WooFunnels that help you with funnel optimization to get maximum sales. You can also use Advanced Coupons extensions to add BOGO deals, free shipping, and even sell gift cards.
Support and Documentation – There is excellent documentation available online for WooCommerce. Apart from documentation, there is a knowledge base, help desk, and community forums available.
Cons of Using WooCommerce
Too Many Options – WooCommerce is very easy to use, but the number of options available on the settings page can be quite intimidating for a new user.
Finding Addons – There are lots of addons available for WooCommerce, sometimes a user may not find the right addon for features that they need.
Theme Support – WooCommerce works with any WordPress theme, but it’s not always as easy to set up or good-looking with all themes. You need a WooCommerce-ready theme to take full advantage of its features without too much hassle. Alternatively, you can use SeedProd builder to create custom WooCommerce pages with drag & drop interface.
Scalability – As your store gets larger, you will need to move to a managed hosting provider like WP Engine to scale your WooCommerce store.
WooCommerce is the perfect choice for any kind of eCommerce website. It has a large community of developers and users, a lot of addons and themes, excellent support for multilingual websites, and the best free and paid support options.
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) allows you to easily sell digital downloads online using WordPress. It’s very easy to use and comes with powerful features to create a beautiful and functional digital goods store.
We use Easy Digital Downloads to sell our software like WPForms and MonsterInsights, so we can easily say that it’s the best eCommerce platform for your site.
With Easy Digital Download’s growth, there are now even managed EDD hosting offerings that comes with EDD pre-installed.
Pros of Using Easy Digital Downloads
Designed To Sell Digital Goods – Easy Digital Downloads is built from the ground up to sell digital downloads. Unlike eCommerce plugins that can be used to sell all kinds of products, EDD provides a far better experience for selling digital goods.
Easy To Use – Easy Digital Downloads is very easy to use, from the start you would instantly figure out how to add products and display them. This is really useful for the first-timers.
Extensions – There are hundreds of extensions available for Easy Digital Downloads including addons for payment gateways, email marketing platforms, and other marketing tools.
Themes – Easy Digital Downloads works with almost any WordPress theme, however, if you have not chosen a theme yet, then Easy Digital Downloads has themes built specifically for the plugin.
Software Licensing – Easy Digital Downloads comes with robust software licensing support that allows you to sell plugins as well as SaaS products with proper digital rights management.
Affiliate Management – You can easily add built-in affiliate management to Easy Digital Downloads using AffiliateWP and create your own referral program. This helps you avoid paying middle man fees.
Ecommerce Growth Tools – Easy Digital Downloads seamlessly integrates with growth tools like MonsterInsights to offer you enhanced eCommerce tracking, AIOSEO to offer you maximum eCommerce SEO growth, and OptinMonster to offer content personalization and conversion optimization features.
Awesome Support – The plugin is very well documented, and you have free support forums, videos, tutorials, and even an IRC chatroom. There is also a priority support option for premium users.
Cons of Using Easy Digital Downloads
Digital Downloads Only – As the name suggests, Easy Digital Downloads makes it easier to create eCommerce sites for digital goods. But if you want to sell non-digital goods along with digital downloads then it will become quite complicated.
Selling External Products – If you want to add an external product or an affiliate product to your EDD store, then you will need to install a third-party add on for it.
When it comes to selling digital products online, we believe that Easy Digital Downloads is the best plugin to do that. We have used Easy Digital Downloads with great success, not only on client sites but also on our own projects to generate tens of millions each year.
You can use SiteGround EDD hosting to start your Easy Digital Downloads store with just a few clicks.
Note: There’s also a free version of Easy Digital Downloads that you can download from WordPress directly.
MemberPress allows you to sell subscription-based digital products and services. It’s the best WordPress membership plugin with tons of integration options. It can even integrate with WooCommerce.
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons MemberPress.
Pros of Using MemberPress
Sell Subscription-Based Products – This allows you to easily sell subscription-based products, membership plans, pay-per-view content, and more.
Powerful Access Rules – Powerful access control allows you to define user access levels and content restrictions. Only users with permissions will be able to access restricted content.
Built-in Course Builder – MemberPress comes with a course builder that allows you to create & sell courses by offering your users an immersive online learning platform.
Content Dripping – MemberPress allows you to release paid content over time similar to episodes on Amazon Prime shows or other platforms. This feature is known as automatic drip content.
Affiliate Management – You can easily add built-in affiliate management to MemberPress using AffiliateWP or Easy Affiliates plugin. This let you create your own referral program. This helps you avoid paying middle man fees.
Powerful Extensions – You can integrate it with your WooCommerce store or LearnDash LMS. There are tons of extensions to connect MemberPress with third-party services such as AffiliateWP to create your own affiliate program.
Cons of Using MemberPress
Limited Payment Options – MemberPress only supports PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net.
Yearly Pricing – Pricing plans are available on yearly terms alone.
MemberPress is the perfect eCommerce plugin to sell subscription-based products, sell courses, or build a membership website. It’s beginner-friendly and can be easily extended with addons that allow you to take your eCommerce website in any direction you want.
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 Maintenance – 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’re 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’s 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 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 a 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 cards both online and in person. Their shipping system streamlines 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. Often times, business owners end up switching from Shopify to WordPress to get more features while reducing their overall cost.
Conclusion – The Best WordPress eCommerce Plugin is:
If you want maximum control, flexibility, and features, then WooCommerce is the best solution for you.
If you’re selling digital goods like eBook, software, music, or other files, then Easy Digital Downloads is the best WordPress eCommerce plugin for you. You can use SiteGround’s EDD hosting to get started with 1-click.
If you don’t want to manage all the technical stuff of building an online store, then BigCommerce is the best option for you. It lets you use a SaaS eCommerce platform side by side with WordPress as your content management system.
From a personal perspective, there’s a number of things from 2017 I’d like to share, including accomplishments and challenges.
Moving to a new home in the Kansas Sandhills
Of everything that happened in 2017, there is one single highlight on the personal side of things: getting acreage outside of my city. In June, my wife and I noticed a property for sale three miles north of Hutchinson, KS, where we live. It had 11 acres comprised of woods, tall grass prairie, and plum thickets. Aside from a number of Cedar trees (an invasive species), the property was mostly pristine Kansas Sandhills that had never (to our knowledge) been farmed.
I grew up unschooled on an apple orchard my parents operated and the property included about 100 acres of trees and open prairie. I have longed to be back in the country away from the city ever since I moved away from my parents’ home. I consider my time growing up, free to be a wild child, some of the most important and formative years of my life and I want my children to have the same freedom and opportunities to explore and learn as I did. I hope for them to develop a deep love for nature through being immersed in it every day as I was.
After thinking about it for a week or two, we decided to jump on the chance of getting our own small plot of land. We put an offer on the property, which included a good house, and had it accepted less than 72 hours later. The next month was a whirlwind of getting everything in order, including selling our previous home. We had anticipated the possibility of it taking months, or even a year, to sell our house but were pleasantly surprised to have a solid offer on it in less than 10 days, which we accepted.
Moving to our new home was not free of challenges, especially as far as internet access was concerned, but after getting settled in everyone was thrilled. No place has ever felt more like home than where we are now and I’m eternally grateful to have had the opportunities and good fortune necessary to get here.
Building greenspace
Along with achieving a long-term goal of moving back into a rural setting, 2017 gave me an opportunity to move forward with another of my hopefuls: purchasing land to convert into greenspace and prevent the complete overtaking of concrete that was inevitable for the area. Shortly after completing our new home purchase, I also finalized the purchase of a vacant, 3 acre lot in our city for the sole purpose of creating a nature area.
There is still a lot of work to do on it, which I’ll be beginning later this winter and I look forward to including updates on my progress in followup year-end-review posts.
Part of preparing the property for tree planting and other green developments involves keeping it mowed. During the spring and summer I will be mowing it every other week and it takes me about 2.5 hours to finish. I’ve found it as a great opportunity to sit (on a mower) and think for 2-3 hours. It’s actually a rare opportunity, the option to sit and think for extended periods of time. At first I thought I would want to hire someone to mow it for me but I’ve found the time to myself and my thoughts to be exceptionally valuable.
Between spending long periods of time on my bike and mowing the park, I’ve found the time with just my thoughts to be some of my most productive for working through hard challenges. Originally I thought I would want to get rid of any and all “dead” time, now I cherish it.
Re-discovering my role within my own company
On at least four separate occasions I have sat down to write a blog post on how I have lost my role as the lead developer of my WordPress products. As I have continually brought on immensely talented individuals to join my team, I have successfully hired myself out of my primary job: writing code.
This was an entirely intentional transition that, all things considered, worked spectacularly. It has allowed me to step wholly away from the development of our products and focus instead of other areas of the business. What I had not anticipated, however, is the effect this move would have on my personal motivation.
I so successfully hired myself out of my job that I often found myself unsure of what I should do. I frequently found myself sitting in my office monotonously going from easy task to easy task while trying to find my purpose again.
As a solo founder, the beautiful thing about bringing highly skilled team members on board is that you are then given the flexibility to put your own focus and efforts where they are most needed or most valuable. The downside, however, is that you also tend to find that you are no longer needed by your team to complete the task you used to be solely responsible for.
My presence is no longer needed for an update to one of our products to be completed and released. I am no longer needed for customer support. I am no longer needed for our marketing efforts. It is no longer necessary for me to review every line of code that’s written. Most of the company administration tasks no longer depend entirely on me. Obviously my presence and focus on projects and around the company is still immensely valuable, but the profound effect that a lack of need has on a solo founder’s motivation and drive can be intense.
I have always been really good at taking care of things that need to be done, whether I enjoy the specific task or not. I was completely caught off guard by how much not being directly needed was able to undercut my motivation and drive to continue pushing forward.
Getting the company to a place where I am no longer needed is one of my best accomplishments as it takes care of a huge problem that many solo founder companies face: the bus factor. If I am struck by a bus tomorrow, or disabled in any way, I can rest assured that the company will continue to succeed, and that has been one of my long term goals, one which I’m thrilled to have succeeded at.
I simply did not anticipate the effect that protecting against the bus factor would have on my personal motivation.
I never did succeed in finishing my blog post on the subject of losing my role as the lead developer, but I did over time manage to rediscover my purpose with the company. That allowed me to find my source of motivation again and gave me a new drive to succeed and push us further and further forward.
The last 12 months have been an incredibly interesting journey. I never thought I’d be struggling to find my motivation when the company was thriving better than ever before.
The mind is a fascinating beast.
Team growth
When I first began building my company I had no intention of ever having more than 3-5 employees. Growth, though, has a habit of adjusting your plans in ways that may not be expected. In 2017 four new team members came on board and several moved from part time contractors to full time.
Ginger Coolidge joined to help with AffiliateWP support and documentation.
Ashley Gibson moved from a part time contractor to full time team member to work on Restrict Content Pro development.
Kyle Maurer moved from a part time contractor to a full time team member to work on Easy Digital downloads support and marketing.
Tyler Lau joined to help with billing support and social outreach.
Phil Johnston, previously a part time contractor, joined us as a full time team member to work on Easy Digital Downloads development and support.
Keri Jacoby joined to help with Easy Digital Downloads support and internal company documentation.
John Jacoby joined to help with development across all products and to help re-launch the next leg to our product table, Sugar Calendar.
We also said goodbye to several teammates. Between the ones that left and the new ones that joined, our team size remained about the same as 2016. 13-16 between full time employees and part time contractors.
The Sandhills Development team currently includes thirteen full time, salaried members and three active full to part time contractors.
Team photo from our company meetup in Keystone, Colorado
My team is the core of the company. Without them we are nothing and for them I am eternally grateful.
Team focused decisions
Throughout the year, and at the tail end of 2016, my team and I made a number of strategic decisions that all had a singular core goal: doing what is best for the team and the company.
Depending on who you ask, these decisions were supported, loved, applauded, chastised, and hated by many. I have been told quite a few times this past year that I am making excellent decisions that really convey the strength of the team I’ve built and of my leadership skills. I have also been told by numerous individuals that I am the scum of the earth, I am ruining the open source nature of WordPress, and my business will fail.
As anyone that continues to work online does, I have grown a pretty thick skin and am not terribly phased by people calling me a greedy criminal or a despicable person. Each time it happens I try to pause and do my best to understand why someone has this opinion of me. Are they right? Is there truth to what they’ve said about me? Regardless of how right or wrong anyone is, being the target of such accusations has made me very reflective and cognizant of the choices I make for my company.
Perhaps the most important lesson I’ve learned from the choices we have made, some of which I will detail below, is that it’s critically important for the health and wellness of my team to be put first on the list of priorities. This is for a very simple fact: if we are not well nor happy in life or work, we will never excel at making our customers happy. This understanding has become the pivot on which all company decisions are now based.
Is it good for us? If not, we do our best to find an option or route that is. Decisions that promote better health and wellness for the team automatically carry over to the promotion of better experiences for our customers.
Price changes
There were several adjustments to our product pricing in 2017, and one in 2016 that had its effects realized in 2017.
Easy Digital Downloads prices increased significantly in December, 2016
AffiliateWP prices increased in March, 2017
Restrict Content Pro prices increased in March, 2017
Renewal discounts removed from AffiliateWP in March, 2017
Renewal discounts removed from Restrict Content Pro in March 2017
Renewal discounts removed from Easy Digital Downloads in September, 2017
The price increase for Easy Digital Downloads was easily the most contentious of the decisions made. While most people supported the reasons for the change, there was a very vocal minority that vehemently hated us for our decision. I am a firm believer that it is not necessary for the vast majority of companies to have any justification for the prices they charge.
Whatever price chosen is perfectly acceptable, even if some argue the price is extreme. The reason for this is simple: free markets permit companies and individuals to make their own choices on the prices they charge. Beyond that, the “correctness” of the price can be gauged by how customers respond to it and how it affects the sustainability of the company. Too high and the company fails to attract enough customers; too low and the company fails to generate enough revenue. So long as both needs are met, the chosen price works.
A number of individuals made it very clear to us that they felt we’d made a terrible decision with our Easy Digital Downloads price increase and, in no uncertain terms, expressed how our mistake would be clearly realized in our financial failure. I have no wish to discredit or demean their opinions, but I will say this: increasing our Easy Digital Downloads prices is one of the single best decisions we have ever made. It has contributed almost single handedly to a complete turnaround of Easy Digital Downloads’ future. In previous years I have expressed how we felt Easy Digital Downloads was a sinking ship. Today I’m happy to say it is thriving and in a better position than ever. This turn around is something that should greatly reassure Easy Digital Downloads users, even those that were unhappy with the price change, as it is what will permit us to continue building, maintaining, and improving the platform.
The price increases for AffiliateWP and Restrict Content Pro were also very successful in allowing us to operate more freely and have given us a lot more ability to invest back into the further development of the products and company.
Closing the EDD marketplace
In September, 2017, my team and I made the decision to close down the extensions marketplace we operated for Easy Digital Downloads. This was the marketplace that allowed 3rd party vendors to sell their EDD extensions through our website. We had been working on slowly reducing the number of 3rd party plugins that we offered through the site over several years already but it was going to take a considerable amount of time before the process was completed at the pace we were going.
While working through the logistics of introducing some price and sales model changes for EDD, we encountered a number of challenges that were a direct result of our site selling 3rd party extensions. It had already been decided that the changes we wanted to make were really important to the longevity of Easy Digital Downloads as a platform and as a business, so we began looking at the feasibility of discontinuing our marketplace and removing all 3rd party extensions.
After a few weeks of analyzing, thinking, and talking, we quickly discovered that shuttering the marketplace was pretty feasible and would likely not result in too much discontent. Doing so, however, would have significantly positive affects on the future of Easy Digital Downloads.
In order to fully close the marketplace, we needed to get rid of, in one way or another, every plugin that was owned by a 3rd party developer. Getting rid of them really just meant that the plugins needed to be removed from the site so that only our own extensions remained. We decided that one of three things would happen to each of the 3rd party plugins:
It could be transferred off-site and distributed through whatever mechanism the author chose so long as it was not our site.
It could be discontinued entirely.
It could be acquired by Easy Digital Downloads and left as-is on the site.
While our site did not have nearly as many extensions for sale at the time as it once had, there were still a large number of plugins to be managed. In total, 55 plugins needed to be moved off, discontinued, or acquired.
Of the 55 plugins, we chose 37 that we wished to acquire and take over full ownership of. These were plugins built wholly or in part by 3rd party developers that had performed well or had strong potential for the future. For these plugins we determined what we felt was a fair price and then we reached out to each of the owners and made them acquitision offers. The vast majority of authors were thrilled with the prospect of selling their plugins and quickly accepted our offers.
18 of the 55 plugins were determined to be ones that we no longer wished to sell on our site, so these were either discontinued or moved to a place of the author’s choosing, their own site or a marketplace such as CodeCanyon.
Once we decided we were going to acquire the plugins and close down our marketplace, it took just about four weeks to complete the entire transition. After all was said and done, we spent $145,000 purchasing extensions. All extension purchases were paid for in cash with the exception of one, which was put onto a payment plan spanning four months. This was a move made possible by our price increase at the end of 2016. If we had not done that, we’d never have been able to afford purchasing so many plugins in such a short period of time.
A number of very interesting things happened as a result of our choice to acquire all extensions and close down our marketplace.
First, there was a palpable sense of relief and satisfaction among the team. Working closely with 3rd party developers and selling their products through your own site can have mixed experiences, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Most of the developers we worked with were great. They were responsive to bug fixes, welcoming of feature requests, and all around just good to work with. Others were less good for various reasons but regardless of how good someone is to work with, there are inherent challenges that come with working alongside outside developers. By acquiring all of the plugins, we removed all of the challenges that the 3rd party plugins posed to us, thus eliminating significant sources of stress and tension for the team. The effect that this had on everyone was very noticeable in the team’s moods and focus.
Second, by removing 3rd party plugins, we eliminated a significant monthly expense. Each month we paid out between $8,000 and $15,000 in commissions to 3rd party developers. As soon as there were no more 3rd party commissions to track, all of that revenue started going straight back into the company instead of being paid out, which then provided extra flexibility and safety nets. Through the savings of having significantly lower expenses we easily have the opportunity to hire more development resources and invest back into the improvement of the platform.
Third, we reduced our support load. Some of the extensions that were acquired had had long-term issues that were not being taken care of adequately. By taking over control of the plugins we were then able to immediately push out a large number of updates to extensions to resolve some long-standing bugs and problems. We were also able to further reduce support loads by discontinuing some of the plugins that were low sellers or simply not worth the time and effort it took to maintain them.
Overall, I would consider the decision to close our marketplace and acquire all of the extensions to be one of the single best decisions we’ve made in the last few years.
Firing
Twice in 2017 I found myself in a position where I needed to fire a team member. Bluntly, those were two of the hardest experiences in my professional career. Hiring the right people is hard, but I’ve come to find that firing people is perhaps harder.
Going through the mental exercise of firing someone is exhausting. You worry about how the person will react. Will they be angry, understanding, sad, unmoved? You worry about whether they will be okay in the coming months. Do they have funds set aside to get them through a period of unemployment? Do they have something else lined up? You worry about how the rest of the team will react to the news of one of their team members leaving. Will that make the others worry for the safety of their own positions? Will it cause rifts or resentment within the team? You worry about the company’s performance. Will firing this person harm your ability to deliver on promises to customers? You worry about what they will think of you. Will this person hate you for firing them? You worry about their family. Do they have children to support and will they be able to provide for their kids when their paycheck is cut off?
Firing someone you’ve worked with for multiple years is an absolute whirlwind of emotions. Nothing about it is easy. The objective side of the brain knows the choice you’ve made is the right one, but the emotional side struggles. It is obvious when a person is not performing, is not meeting quality requirements, is a poor fit for the team culture, and other issues, but those do not make it any easier to overwrite the human element when you care for the person and their wellbeing.
Realistically, I know I will have to fire someone again in the future, and probably more than one, but I dread the prospect of it. Having gone through the experience twice in a year has made me much more cautious about the hiring process and how we vet possible candidates. No system will ever be perfect but we will work harder to ensure those people we do hire are the right fit.
Revenue
2017 treated us well, largely in part to the strategic decisions we made throughout the year and earlier in 2016. Overall we saw a 53% increase over 2016 with a total of $2,268,000.00 in revenue.
Our 2017 revenue can be broken down as such:
Restrict Content Pro: $333,000.00
AffiliateWP: $901,000.00
Easy Digital Downloads: $946,000.00
Other: $94,700.00
Our revenue increase came from three primary factors:
Raising our prices
Automatic license renewals
Natural growth
The most interesting of these three is the automatic license renewals, so let’s take a deeper look at those stats.
Revenue from automatic license renewals
In the first quarter of 2016 we implemented automatic renewals for license purchases. This meant all license keys purchased automatically renewed with a payment on the annual anniversary of the purchase date. As this change was made in 2016, it wasn’t until January and March 2017 that we began to see the effects of it.
In my 2016 review post, I said that enabling automatic renewals was “one of the most important changes we made for the sustainability of the company”. Today I am completely confident that turned out to be true.
Let’s take a quick look at our license renewal stats for 2017.
Easy Digital Downloads
In 2017 Easy Digital Downloads saw $309,000.00 in revenue from license renewals. 2016, in contrast, only had $139,850.00 in revenue from license renewals, so we increased our renewal revenue by more than $150,000.00. And that revenue increase was not from an increased marketing effort nor natural growth, it was simply due to the difference between automatic and manual license renewals. Here’s a graph that illustrates the effect automatic renewals had very clearly:
Look at the change between March and April. The first automatic renewals began being processed at the end of March, 2017. It more than doubled the number of renewals we see every month.
Out of the $309,000.00 in renewal revenue, $208,000.00 came from automatic renewals. The rest was from manual license renewals for customers that did not have automatically renewing subscriptions.
AffiliateWP
Similar to EDD, AffiliateWP saw an increase in monthly renewal revenue as soon as automatic renewals kicked in, which happened in the second half of January, 2017.
In 2017, AffiliateWP brought in $201,000.00 in revenue from license renewals. Of that number, $181,500.00 came from automatic renewals. In contrast, 2016 had just $62,700.00 in license renewal revenue, so automatic renewals increased our renewal revenue nearly 3x by itself.
A graph showing renewal growth from Jan 2016 to December 2017:
Restrict Content Pro
Like Easy Digital Downloads and AffiliateWP, Restrict Content Pro also saw a nice boost in revenue due to automatic renewals.
In 2017, we brought in $59,750.00 from license renewals. Of that, $44,780.00 was from automatic renewals. This is a pretty significant increase from 2016 where we saw just $23,700.00 in renewals.
Here’s a visual of our renewals over 2016 and 2017:
Enabling auto renewals is easily one of the best financial decisions we have made.
SellBird
A project we’ve slowly worked on over the last two years, SellBird is beginning to take shape. We’re still a few months have having an MVP ready but it is getting closer.
I’ll have more to share on it in a couple of months but for now, here’s a screenshot from one of the dashboard views.
Follow @SellBirdHQ for updates.
Sugar Calendar
One of the earlier commercial plugins I launched, Sugar Calendar was built to be a simple, lightweight event calendar plugin for WordPress. While never a major success from a revenue stand point, the plugin has done decently well over five+ years.
Much like Restrict Content Pro, I’ve wanted to more fully develop the plugin into a full-fledged product for quite some time but had not managed to do that on my own.
Read about the effort to re-build Restrict Content Pro here.
I had originally partnered with another developer to try and move the plugin forward. That effort and partnership, unfortunately, fell through and did not produce nearly the results I had hoped for. It failed due to a number of reasons and no single person carries the blame for the failure.
In October, earlier this year, I decided it was time to restart the efforts to build out Sugar Calendar into a full-fledged product. To do this, I partnered again with another developer to aid in the efforts. This time I chose John Jacoby, whom began the process of modernizing the codebase and expanding the feature set of Sugar Calendar. At first it was decided it would be a possibly short term experiment to see how it worked. By early November, however, we’d already decided it was meant to be. JJJ joined my team as a full time member in December to continue his work on Sugar Calendar and other projects.
When the new version launches, it will see a price change and a new series of add-ons introduced. All current customers will have their license keys migrated to the new website and those customers that have purchased multi site versions will see complimentary access to new add-ons granted to their account.
There is still a lot of work to be completed before we’re ready to launch the new Sugar Calendar but we’re getting closer and closer each day. You can follow @sugarcalendar on Twitter to stay updated.
Achieving sustainable profitability
There several things I am deeply proud of with my company.
We have never missed nor skimped on payroll due to financial inflexibility
We are 100% self-funded and have never taken on loans nor any other kind of financing out of necessity
We have always been profitable
Those three facts mean a lot to me and continue to be pillars of every decision I make for the company.
I say that we’ve always been profitable, but that doesn’t mean we’ve always had comfortable profit levels. We’ve had a couple of years where our profit was only a few thousand dollars. That means very, very little when your monthly expenses surpass $100,000.
The choices that we made in 2016 and 2017 were aimed at moving us towards a number of goals, but one of the most important was targeting sustainable profitability.
What do I mean by sustainable profitability? I view it as a level of monthly and yearly profit that allows a company to:
Be financially stable and able to weather downturns in revenue
Have adequate resources to make strategic investments
Have the ability to bring on new team members to fill needed roles at any time
Be financially able to pay all employees greater than a living wage
Be financially stable enough to allow less liked or neglected revenue streams to be removed
Have adequate cash reserves to permit the company to survive in the case of catastrophe
In 2017 we achieved sustainable profitability. I do not know for certain that we’ll maintain it throughout 2018 and beyond but I am confident we are on the right path to long term sustainable profitability.
Insulating the company
Our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses.
I’ve spent a lot of time with nothing but my thoughts in the last two years and these periods have led me down a number of mind paths, many that went nowhere in particular, but there is one that I kept coming back to.
What do I want in the next 25 years?
As I’ve gone through the various ups and downs of the previous years, I’ve thought on numerous occasions that it might be time for me to sell my company and move on. The prospect of this really bothered me though. I knew that if I were to sell my company I could likely walk away very comfortably and I don’t doubt I’d be able to find a new owner that would continue to take good care of it, but I couldn’t get past the prospect of leaving my team.
The people that comprise my team are some of the best individuals I’ve ever met and many go beyond just teammates. they’re lifetime friends that I hope to always stay connected with.
The thought of selling my company has always ended with my team. Many of them have told me that if I go, they go, and that they’d happily follow me onto the next thing, whatever it might be.
Coming to understand the quality of the team I’ve built helped me to find the answer to my question: what do I want in the next 25 years?
I want to build a lifetime company.
I don’t want to spend 8 years building software products, sell it, and move on. As common as it is to hear of founders doing that, it’s not for me.
I first realized that I wanted to build a lifetime company after the owner of a local business I had hired to do a project told me their average employee tenure was more than 25 years. It astounded me that any company today could hold onto employees for so long. I want that! I want to know that we have so successfully taken care of our people that they never want to leave nor need to.
One of the first steps in building the lifetime company is insulating us from our biggest weakness: me.
I have worked hard in the last few years to remove dependency on me for the company’s operations. The next step was to protect against myself for decision making and succession.
If I fall off a cliff tomorrow, I want to know that my company and my team are going to be okay. Doing that meant I needed to no longer go it alone; I needed others to have clear roles in my succession.
In September, 2017, I made four of my team members full partners by giving them a combined 25% of my company.
This move helps to insulate the company from me in the case that I become unfit to run things. It also allows me to reward Sean, Chris, Andrew, and John in a small way for the important role they have all played in getting us to where we are today.
Brewery development
At the end of 2016 I declared one of my 2017 goals was to brew my first batch of commercial beer for Sandhills Brewing, a passion project my brother and I have been working on. We didn’t quite get there but we got very close.
For those that do not know, my brother and I have been working on opening a commercial brewery as a side project for the last several years. That work is getting closer and closer to having something to show for it.
A few highlights from our brewery development:
We helped another local brewery brew a small test batch using our equipment. This test batch was sold through their brewery and was well received.
We partnered with the same local brewery, Three Rings Brewing, in order to provide them with a barrel aging warehouse and our own expertise (my brother and I’s) with barrel aging beers.
We completed the majority of the build phase for our brewery.
We submitted our licensing application to the federal government and hope to receive our approval in early 2018.
Once we have had our application approved and have completed a few smaller, easier local and state license applications, we’ll be able to begin brewing commercially. At this time we expect that to happen sometime during the first quarter of 2018. If all goes well, we’ll sell our first 100% independently produced beer by summer 2018.
A nice example of the beer to be brewed by Sandhills Brewing
It’s been a great year and I really look forward to what 2018 has in store for us.
About twenty months ago, while sitting on a couch in Auckland, New Zealand, my team and I flipped the switch to enable automatic renewals for AffiliateWP. Two months later we did the same thing for Easy Digital Downloads and Restrict Content Pro. This was a move that we had been working towards for nearly a year and it’s one that we believed would fundamentally change the position of the company over the next one to two years. Now that it has been twenty months, maybe we can answer the question: were we right? Did it make a significant impact for us or was it all futile hopes?
Historically we, like many other online product companies, have struggled with low renewal rates. All of our products are sold with annual licenses that should be renewed each year so long as the products are in continued use. Renewal revenue is a critically important part of growing any online business because it reduces the expensive process of customer acquisition. Your revenue isn’t purely a factor of how many new customers you obtain, it’s a combination of your new customer acquisition and your existing customer retention. If you have great customer retention, you can grow your annual revenue year after year without having to rely on increasing the number of new customers acquired year over year.
Our goal with implementing automatic renewals was three-fold:
Reduce friction and effort for customers. Easy systems == happier customers.
Increase renewal revenue by reducing the number of “forgotten” renewals.
Provide a predictable revenue stream we could rely on and adequately forecast against.
Let’s start determining if we were successful by looking at some previous year stats.
Easy Digital Downloads
Here are some quick stats on our previous years with Easy Digital Downloads:
Total revenue in 2014: $474,622.54
Total revenue in 2015: $561,269.06
Renewal revenue 2015: $80,799.26
Total revenue 2016: $597,352.61
Renewal revenue 2016: $139,850.03
In 2015 we brought in $80,799.26 in renewal revenue. That’s revenue from existing customers that renewed their license keys. This number means only 14.4% of our total revenue in 2015 came from renewals. Ouch. While $80,000 isn’t a small number and is a nice addition to our annual income, it’s abysmally small when you recognize how few customers were coming back and purchasing renewals.
Our 2016 renewal revenue was higher at $139,850.03 but still only accounted for 23.41% of our total revenue that year.
AffiliateWP
For AffiliateWP, we have pretty similar patterns between 2014 and 2016.
Total revenue in 2014: $119,651.50
Total revenue in 2015: $379,078.36
Renewal revenue 2015: $19,774.60
Total revenue 2016: $491,890.90
Renewal revenue 2016: $62,827.80
For 2015, our renewal revenue accounted for only 5.22% of our total annual income. This is super drastic, though it does look worse on the surface before realizing part of the reason the renewal revenue was so low was because 2015 saw incredible growth for AffiliateWP. We more than tripled our 2014 revenue by bringing in a lot of new customers so our new customer acquisition was rapidly out pacing our existing customer base from 2014.
In 2016, we saw $62,827.80 in income from renewals, accounting for 12.77% of our revenue that year.
Restrict Content Pro
Again, Restrict Content Pro shows pretty similar patterns of abysmally low renewal income ratios.
Total revenue in 2014: $67,211.75
Total revenue in 2015: $83,806.60
Renewal revenue 2015: $10,460.30
Total revenue 2016: $157,486.89
Renewal revenue 2016: $21,706.60
In 2015, we brought in $10,460.30 from renewals, accounting for 12.48% of the year’s revenue. And in 2016 we saw $21,706.60 in renewals, or 13.78% of the total revenue that year.
Easy Digital Downloads in 2017
Automatic renewals for Easy Digital Downloads were enabled on March 30, 2016, which means the first payments to be processed by the resulting subscriptions would occur on March 30, 2017. This is important because it means the first three months of 2017 had the same manual renewals as previous years. Based on speculations, automatic renewals should dramatically increase the amount of revenue that comes from renewals.
Did it?
Total revenue so far in 2017, January 1 to August 1: $463,835.92
Renewal revenue so far in 2017, January 1 to August 1: $166,716.98
Revenue from auto renewals in 2017, March 30 to August 1: $90,297.20
Thus far, 35.94% of our Easy Digital Downloads revenue has come from renewals. That’s 12.53% more than in 2016, so a really good sign that automatic renewals are having a significant effect.
Of the $166,716.98 in renewal revenue, $90,297.20 of it was from automatic renewal payments processed with subscriptions. So 19.47% of our total revenue in 2017 has come from automatic renewals. That’s pretty good on the surface, but actually it’s really good. Why? Simple: automatic renewals didn’t start processing until the beginning of the second quarter of 2017 and yet it has already accounted for nearly 20% of our total yearly revenue.
If we look at March 30 to August 1, the time period that automatic renewals have been processing, we see that renewal revenue accounted for 38.72% of our revenue.
Here’s a graph that shows monthly license renewals for 2017. Can you see the point when automatic renewals began processing?
AffiliateWP in 2017
Automatic renewals for AffiliateWP began processing on January 21, 2017, so most of 2017 has included automatic renewals, unlike Easy Digital Downloads and Restrict Content Pro.
Total revenue so far in 2017, January 1 to August 1: $443,996.90
Renewal revenue so far in 2017, January 1 to August 1: $101,453.35
Revenue from auto renewals in 2017, January 21 to August 1: $89,686.40
22.85% of our 2017 revenue has come from renewals, and 20.2% was from automatic renewals. Just 2.65% came from manual renewals.
In 2017 we have had $101,453.35 in renewal revenue. In 2016 we had just $62,827.80. We’ve nearly doubled our renewal revenue and there are still four complete months left in 2017. Obviously some of that increase is due to natural growth, which we’ve continued to see for AffiliateWP, but it’s still a significant increase that I believe is largely attributed to automatic renewals.
If we exclude the first 20 days of January, we find that renewals have accounted for 24.20% of our revenue in 2017.
Here’s a graph showing license key renewals over time for AffiliateWP:
I don’t think I need to point out when automatic renewals were enabled.
Restrict Content Pro in 2017
The numbers for Restrict Content Pro in 2017 do share similarities with the other two products but it has one significant difference that needs to be noted. Throughout 2016 and 2017, one of our primary focuses has been to revitalize Restrict Content Pro and bring it back to a strong position within our product portfolio. I’ve written about these efforts and the results so far previously. I mention this because much of the growth Restrict Content Pro has seen in the last 20 months can be attributed to automatic renewals and extensive revitalization work.
Total revenue so far in 2017, January 1 to August 1: $184,686.45
Renewal revenue so far in 2017, January 1 to August 1: $28,503.85
Revenue from auto renewals in 2017, March 30 to August 1: $16,165.80
In 2017, 15.43% of our revenue has come from renewals. 8.75% of that was from automatic renewals. This is an increase over previous years but not too terribly drastic. It is, however, still significant when we recognize that automatic renewals did not begin processing until the beginning of the first quarter of 2017.
If we look at March 30 to August 1, the time period that automatic renewals have been processing, we see that renewal revenue accounted for 19.22% of our revenue.
The graph below shows the growth of license renewals overtime. There is a pretty distinct increase in April that continues through the end of July. That increase is the result of automatic renewals.
Wrap up
I think the numbers mostly speak for themselves and really show that automatic renewals are having a significant impact on the financial state of the company. I look forward to seeing whole-year numbers after we’ve had automatic renewals processing for more than just a few months.
Restrict Content Pro’s 2017 revenue has already passed that of 2016, AffiliateWP is less than a month away from beating 2016, and Easy Digital Downloads is two months away from surpassing 2016. There are still four complete months left in 2017 and one of those includes our historically best month: November.
We need to make an important note here regarding the price increase we did at the end of 2016 and early 2017. The price increase did not affect any existing subscriptions, so the majority of the renewals we’ve seen so far in 2017 have been at the previous, lower price. So even though our renewal revenue is mostly at a lower price point than new sales, the percentage of the total that renewals account for is still significantly higher that it was previously. Once we are seeing the majority of renewals come in at the new, higher price, we’ll see even more significant results.
There are a number of really excellent effects automatic renewals have contributed to, but there are two in particular that I would like to highlight.
First is the ability to reliably forecast our expected revenue month-to-month. We now have a reliable data set that provides us with much more accurate predictions for future revenue, and that is incredibly valuable, especially when making decisions about company investments and weighing risks.
Second is our profit margin. One of downsides to increasing revenue through new customer acquisition is the added support and development burden that entails. The burden of adding $10,000 per month from new customers is not minimal at all. In fact it can be a real challenge. One of the reasons companies hire new employees is to help meet the demand brought on by the new customers. This often creates an endless cycle of growing your expenses as quickly as your revenue. Adding $10,000 to your monthly income doesn’t make much difference if you also add $10,000 in new expenses each month simply to help manage that new $10,000 you brought in.
Renewal revenue, however, doesn’t require the same maintenance that new revenue does. In other words, if we earn $100 from a new customer, it is likely that we will have to spend $80 helping that customer. If, however, we earn $80 in renewal revenue from an existing customer, we most likely won’t spend more than $20-30 helping them, if that. The reasoning is simple: renewing customers cost significantly less because the maintenance for them has already been done.
Existing customers are so much cheaper than new customers, so it only makes sense that we should do the very best we possibly can to increase the revenue generated from those existing customers. If we do that, our profit margins will get better and better, and that is precisely what we have seen.
Our previous years have all been profitable in the end, sometimes not very profitable but profitable nonetheless. 2017, however, has seen a completely new trend. We are not only showing profit every month, we are showing monthly profit that is greater than all previous annual profits, and we’re seeing it every single month but one so far. Which month didn’t see that level of profit? January, right before automatic renewals began taking place. Coincidence? Absolutely not.
I’ve previously mentioned that I believed transitioning to automatic renewals would likely be one of the best things we ever did. Today I’m more confident of that prediction than ever.
WooCommerce has become the most installed eCommerce platform since Automattic purchased it in 2015. Are there any alternatives that even compare to WooCommerce? Let’s find out…
One of my favorite things about WordPress is when you find a reliable theme or plugin developer, you realize that the search for high-quality website-building tools is over. The only thing is, nothing changes faster than technology, especially in today’s digital landscape, where new platforms get launched, existing ones get acquired, and older ones go bust on an almost daily basis. Should you put all your eggs into one eCommerce plugin basket?
The WooCommerce website
WooCommerce – The eCommerce Market Leader
As of writing this article, WooCommerce powers over 3.3 million websites and has over 30% of eCommerce market share, making it the most popular eCommerce platform on the web.
WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform on the web. (Source: BuiltWith.com)
WooCommerce also states on its website that the plugin has been downloaded over 75 million times. According to technology monitoring sites like WTechs.com and BuiltWith.com, between 5%-6% of the top 1 million websites use WooCommerce.
WooCommerce is used by 6% of the top 1 million eCommerce sites. (Source: BuiltWith.com)
Finding an alternative to WooCommerce is getting harder for WordPress users, but it’s not game over yet. Some eCommerce plugins developed for WordPress early on still have legions of loyal users, so let’s explore other options.
WooCommerce Alternatives
If you’re concerned that other eCommerce plugins just won’t fit the bill, then let’s settle this once and for all today. Here are some other eCommerce plugins for WordPress to consider.
Cart66
If security is a major concern for your eCommerce store, then the Cart66 plugin is one you must look at. This plugin not only focuses on security, but it also comes chock-full of sales-enhancing features.
One thing to note about Cart66 is that it offers two subscriptions. The first one comes with the standard highlights mentioned below. The second one costs significantly more but offers more in the way of being able to manage the entire shopping experience from start to finish (like mailing labels, drip campaigns, etc.)
One-click Buy Now links for your other marketing platforms (e.g. email, social)
Easy Digital Downloads
One of the very few eCommerce plugins for WordPress that’s available for free, Easy Digital Downloads is a great option if your site is in the business of selling digital products like software, ebooks, and images and if you need a simple store setup. Anything beyond creating products and adding discount codes will require a paid extension or upgrade (but that should be expected with a free plugin anyway).
Highlights
It’s free
Works with most major payment gateways, like PayPal and Amazon
Create digital product pages the same way you’d create anything else in WordPress (which means it’s super intuitive)
Discount code creation
Built-in reporting system
eCommerce Product Catalog Plugin by ImpleCode
This free eCommerce plugin is great for creating and managing a physical product catalog, which is made even more easy with its drag-and-drop catalog builder. Now, while you could spring for the premium extensions that give you access to things like quote forms, product reviews, and a shopping cart, you may be best off using this in conjunction with a safe and secure payment gateway instead.
Highlights
It’s free
Drag-and-drop builder
Customize your design or use pre-made templates
Works with over 150 currencies and four price formats
Build a catalog for up to 100,000 products
Granular product catalog organization based on categories or tags
Control shipping options
SEO-friendly: includes metadata as well as separate catalog sitemap
Includes breadcrumb functionality
WP eCommerce
If you’re looking for something that is a step up from a free eCommerce plugin but not quite as robust as a premium one, you may be interested in the WP eCommerce plugin. They keep it simple in terms of setting up a new store but have also built this plugin with the developer in mind, offering a number of APIs to extend the functionality of your online store.
WP eCommerce uses the same model as WooCommerce… the eCommerce platform itself is free, but they offer limited extensions and add-ons that you can purchase.
Highlights
Integrates with reliable payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe
Manage tax and shipping rates
Coupon management options
Configure for recurring billing, processing refunds, and more
Includes on-page marketing options, like “Share This” and “User Who Bought This”
Monitor sales from within the tool
WP Easy Cart
Another free eCommerce solution to consider is WP EasyCart. This plugin is easy to install on your existing site and adds a straightforward shopping cart. You can sell a variety of products, both physical and digital, and play around with the settings to achieve the look you want. It is compatible with most themes and can be set up within minutes.
Highlights
It’s free
It comes with several widgets, menus, and more to manage features like store search, vertical and horizontal menus, price and manufacturer filters, categories, specials, and more.
Payment gateway integration, internationalization & live shipping
Advanced product settings (tiered pricing, B2B pricing, featured products, etc)
Coupons and promotions
Google Analytics integration
Social sharing
Administrative software
NinjaShop
NinjaShop touts itself as “the quickest way to start selling on WordPress!” but doesn’t give much more information than this on its website. Most of the information about this plugin can be found in its documentation section.
When we installed the plugin to test it out, it installed nicely with a clean and simple interface that guides you through the process. It is not for novice users, as customizations require good knowledge of editing CSS, and the plugin seems to be in development with some documented features still lacking and few user downloads.
Highlights
It’s free
The plugin is very light
It uses the store’s inbuilt pages (you can also create and use your own pages).
It has features and options that can be turned on or off so you can enable only what’s needed.
Product image zoom feature.
Other eCommerce Platforms That Integrate With WordPress
There are other options you can use to build an eCommerce site with WordPress. These include using other platforms that integrate with your WordPress site, like the ones listed below.
Shopify
Shopify generates a buy button code you can copy and paste to add products to your WordPress site. Once you drop the Buy Button into place and choose the product you’d like to feature, a standalone mini-storefront is created on your WordPress blog or website that connects directly with Shopify’s secure shopping cart platform to display product images, details, and prices automatically. This can be a good option for those who already have an existing WordPress site and Shopify shop.
And the benefits of using Shopify? Many are similar to the WordPress plugins, such as a secure shopping cart, various payment gateways, controlling taxes and shipping, and the ability to use CSS and HTML to build and style your website to match your brand’s look. It also lets you choose from over 100 professional themes and present your shopping cart as mobile or tablet-ready.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce provides scalable headless commerce on WordPress via a plugin.
The plugin allows you to link to your BigCommerce account and display products with embedded store images within your WordPress site on the front-end while handing things like catalog management, processing payments, and managing fulfillment logistics on the back-end from BigCommerce.
This is a good option for a standalone eCommerce site if you’re not too familiar with CSS and HTML, as the plugin supports WordPress’ standard method of overriding template files so you can modify out-of-the-box designs, customize product cards, lists, and cart without risking plugin updates that will undo your changes. Big Commerce gives you full catalog access, allows you to choose a theme, and use the point and click design features to make it your own. It’s also got built-in marketing and SEO tools, so you don’t need to be an expert in this either. Your site will be securely hosted, PCI compliant, and you’ll get a CRM to communicate with your customers.
Should You Switch From WooCommerce?
There are options available for WordPress users that don’t want to build stores or an eCommerce business on WooCommerce. Thanks to its long-standing presence as the top eCommerce plugin on the market, however, WooCommerce has the leg up on the competition, especially in areas like developing extensions and add-ons to deliver new features and functionality to the platform.
Like all businesses, web developers are driven by economic factors and will gravitate toward servicing growth markets and this will have a direct impact on your eCommerce setup. Your choice of platform, therefore, will affect key areas of your business like:
Adapting quickly to changes in technology, customer preferences, or the economy,
Growing your store with new features, and
Receiving reliable support when you need it.
If these areas are important to you, then you should think carefully before choosing to go with a WooCommerce alternative. Also, if you haven’t built your eCommerce site yet, make sure to read our comprehensive guide to planning an eCommerce store with WordPress.
