Free ecommerce plugins for WordPress

If you want to sell products or services through your WordPress site, you do not need to spend money on software to get started. The WordPress plugin directory includes several free ecommerce options, each suited to different types of stores. The challenge is knowing which one fits your situation.

The plugins below cover the most widely used free options. They vary in scope, from full-featured store builders to lightweight tools for selling a handful of products, so there is likely one that matches what you are trying to do.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most widely used ecommerce plugin for WordPress, and for good reason. The core plugin is free and covers the fundamentals well: product listings, a shopping cart, checkout, order management and basic payment options including PayPal and bank transfer. It also integrates with Stripe through a free official extension.

The plugin suits physical products, digital downloads and variable products (such as clothing in different sizes or colours). You can extend it significantly through paid add-ons, but a straightforward store can run on the free version alone. WooCommerce is actively maintained and has a large community, which means finding answers to problems is rarely difficult.

One thing to be aware of: WooCommerce adds meaningful weight to a WordPress install. If your hosting plan is on the lighter end, you may notice the impact on page load times as your product catalogue grows. Hosting built for WooCommerce, like UWH’s WooCommerce hosting, is worth considering if performance matters to you.

WP eCommerce

WP eCommerce is one of the older WordPress shopping cart plugins, predating WooCommerce by several years. The free version supports product management, a checkout process and a handful of payment gateways. It is less feature-rich than WooCommerce out of the box, but it is also lighter and may suit a smaller store that does not need the full WooCommerce ecosystem.

The plugin has a smaller developer community than WooCommerce, which is worth factoring in if you anticipate needing custom work or third-party integrations down the line. For a simple store with modest requirements, it remains a workable option.

Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is built specifically for selling digital products: software, ebooks, music, PDFs and similar files. Unlike WooCommerce, which handles physical and digital products, EDD focuses entirely on the digital side. This makes it leaner and more straightforward to configure for that use case.

The free version includes file delivery, a shopping cart, discount codes and basic reporting. Payment gateway support in the free tier is limited, with PayPal Standard included. Stripe and other gateways require paid extensions. If your store sells only digital goods and you want a plugin that is purpose-built for that, EDD is worth a look before defaulting to WooCommerce.

Cart66 Lite

Cart66 Lite takes a different approach to the others on this list. Rather than building a full store within WordPress, it focuses on keeping things minimal: you add products to pages using shortcodes, and customers check out without leaving your site. The free version supports PayPal payments and covers the basics for a small product range.

It is not the right choice for a store with dozens of products or complex requirements, but for a site that needs to sell a small number of items without a lot of setup, it is one of the less intimidating options available.

Ecwid eCommerce Shopping Cart

Ecwid works differently from the other plugins here. Rather than being a native WordPress ecommerce solution, it connects your WordPress site to an external Ecwid store. The free plan supports up to 10 products and includes a responsive storefront, basic inventory management and the ability to sell across multiple channels including Facebook and Instagram.

Because the store itself is hosted by Ecwid, your WordPress install carries less of the load. The trade-off is that you are dependent on a third-party platform, and the free tier has product limits that you will hit quickly if your catalogue grows. For a very small store or a proof-of-concept, it is a reasonable starting point.

Choosing the right plugin for your store

The right plugin depends on what you are selling and how much complexity you need. These are the main factors worth thinking through before you install anything.

• Physical products. WooCommerce is the strongest free option, with the widest range of extensions if you need to add functionality later.
• Digital downloads only. Easy Digital Downloads is purpose-built for this and will be less cluttered to manage than WooCommerce for a purely digital catalogue.
• A very small product range. Cart66 Lite or Ecwid may be sufficient and involve less setup than a full WooCommerce installation.
• Multi-channel selling. Ecwid’s free tier includes Facebook and Instagram integration, which the others do not offer without paid extensions.
• Long-term flexibility. WooCommerce has the largest ecosystem of developers, themes and extensions. If you expect your store to grow, starting with WooCommerce avoids a migration later.

All five plugins have free versions available through the WordPress plugin directory. Installing from there means you get the version reviewed by the WordPress team, with automatic update notifications through your dashboard.

If you are building a new WordPress store from scratch, our WooCommerce hosting is configured to handle the demands of an online shop. For more on getting WordPress set up, the WordPress section of our knowledgebase covers installation, configuration and common troubleshooting. You are also welcome to get in touch if you have questions about which hosting plan suits your store.