WooCommerce

What it is

WooCommerce turns a WordPress site into a store. The plugin is free with no monthly subscription, no revenue share and no extra fee for using a third-party payment provider. You pay for hosting instead (WooCommerce puts most stores at $25 to $350 a month), paid extensions ($29 to $299 a year each) and card processing (WooPayments roughly 2.5% to 2.9% + 30 cents in the US). Subscriptions, bookings and memberships are official extensions. Because it is self-hosted, you own the code and data and can move hosts, but you also handle updates, security, backups and speed. Checked November 13, 2026 on woocommerce.com.

Best for

• Stores that already run on WordPress
• Content-heavy brands that sell alongside a blog
• Merchants who want to own their code and data

What we like

• Free plugin, no platform fee or revenue share
• Use any payment provider without a penalty fee
• Huge plugin and developer ecosystem
• Full ownership: move hosts any time

What to watch

• You manage hosting, updates, security and backups
• Real cost hides in hosting and paid extensions
• Slower to set up than a hosted builder
• Performance depends on your host and plugin choices