WooCommerce: Open-Source Ecommerce Platform for WordPress

WooCommerce describes itself as the open-source commerce platform for WordPress that gives merchants full control of their checkout, their data and their costs. Stores can be run with any payment provider, any set of features and any host, and can sell online and offline, locally or globally. The site cites Store Leads figures of more than 4 million online stores built with WooCommerce and a 31% share of the top 1 million ecommerce sites, alongside W3Techs data that 43% of the internet runs on WordPress.

• Open-source ecommerce platform for WordPress
• 4M+ online stores built with WooCommerce
• 31% of the top 1 million ecommerce sites
• Choice of payments, features and hosting
• Sell online and offline, locally or globally

Woo is the company behind WooCommerce. It began in 2008 as WooThemes and decided to focus exclusively on ecommerce in 2017. The first WooCommerce plugin was released in 2011, and the platform reached 5 million downloads during its early growth, as reported on the WooCommerce blog. Woo states that it empowers small and medium businesses to sell online by building exactly the store they want.

• Started in 2008 as WooThemes
• First WooCommerce plugin released in 2011
• Shifted to an exclusive ecommerce focus in 2017

WooCommerce is free and open source, with no monthly subscription for the core platform. Merchants build a custom store and pay only for the added features they use, with no platform fees and no revenue share. The pricing page gives indicative ranges for the two main cost components: extensions and hosting. A cost estimator is provided on the same page.

• Core platform free, no monthly subscription
• 0% revenue share and no platform fees
• Extensions from $29 to $299 per year
• Hosting from $25 to $350 per month for most stores

WooCommerce stores can be extended with hundreds of trusted extensions and themes available through the WooCommerce Marketplace. Products are published both by Woo itself and by third-party developers, and some carry an "Excellence verified" mark indicating elevated standards for security, compatibility, maintenance and customer satisfaction. Extensions cover marketing automation, payments, product configuration, bulk ordering and cart management, among other areas.

• AutomateWoo — marketing automation, by Woo
• Composite Products — product kit builders and configurators, by Woo
• Product Add-Ons — customer product customisation
• Product Bundles, Gift Cards and Smart Coupons
• Authorize.net Payments — credit cards and eChecks
• PayPal Enterprise Payments (formerly Braintree)
• Bulk Shop — product tables, filters and quantity inputs
• Clear Cart and Sessions — scheduled cart clearance
• Shipment Tracking, Min/Max Quantities and Measurement Price Calculator
• Google Analytics and Google, Social, Retargeting marketing extensions

The site organises its offering around three audiences: merchants selling with WooCommerce, developers building stores for others, and store owners adding new features through extensions and themes. Woo also invites enquiries about enterprise solutions from the homepage. Case studies on the site cover Nutribullet, House of Malt and Dan-O's Seasoning, and customer stories on the blog describe merchants such as Striiiipes.com and Memento Memorials building their own stores.

• Sell with WooCommerce — merchants building their own store
• Build stores for others — developer community
• Add new features — extensions and themes
• Enterprise solutions enquiries via the homepage

The WooCommerce Developer Blog publishes release announcements, roadmap information and technical updates from the Woo team. It is where release notes for WooCommerce versions are posted, including targeted fixes for security and specific bugs. The blog is framed around building WooCommerce collaboratively with its community.

• Release notes and announcements
• Roadmap information
• Technical updates from the Woo team