WooCommerce
by Automattic
The default WordPress ecommerce stack. Free core, vast extension ecosystem, runs roughly a quarter of all online stores.
- Lighthouse
- 84 / 100 Tested May 29, 2026
- Accessibility
- WCAG AA
- Open CVEs
- 0
- Last release
- May 28, 2026 v9.8.2
- WP.org rating
- 4.5
WooCommerce is the WordPress ecommerce default by a wide margin. It ships free as a plugin and adds a complete store layer to any WordPress site: products, cart, checkout, orders, payments, taxes, shipping. The revenue model is extensions and integrations, not the core. Owned by Automattic since 2015. Powers an estimated 25% of all online stores on the web.
Pros
- Free core covers a full store from product catalog to checkout
- Largest extension ecosystem of any ecommerce platform on WordPress
- Owned and maintained by Automattic, with sustained engineering investment
- Genuinely portable, your data stays in the WordPress database
Cons
- Performance work needed past around 1,000 products or 100 concurrent shoppers
- Paid extensions add up quickly for a fully featured store
- Block-based cart and checkout are still maturing relative to the legacy shortcode flow
Pick WooCommerce when you want a portable, self-owned ecommerce stack on top of WordPress and you do not mind sourcing extensions for specific features. The default ecommerce choice for any store that wants long-term control of its data and stack.
Avoid WooCommerce for very high catalog count (50,000+ products) or very high concurrency without dedicated hosting and infrastructure work. Avoid for headless-first builds where Shopify Hydrogen or Medusa are a cleaner fit.
Frequently asked questions
- Is WooCommerce free?
- Yes. The core WooCommerce plugin is free and GPL-licensed. Revenue for Automattic and third-party developers comes from extensions (subscriptions, bookings, memberships) and themes. A complete store often ends up paying for 3-5 extensions, but the baseline is free.
- What hosting is best for WooCommerce?
- For small to mid-size stores: Cloudways or Hostinger. For serious traffic: Kinsta, WP Engine, or Pressable (the Automattic-owned managed WP host). Shared hosting works for proof-of-concept but breaks down past around 100 concurrent shoppers.
- How many products can WooCommerce handle?
- Up to roughly 10,000 products on default settings with reasonable hosting. Past 10K you need database indexing work, custom query optimization, and ideally a dedicated search engine like ElasticPress. Past 100K you are doing real engineering.
- Can WooCommerce do subscriptions?
- Yes, via the official WooCommerce Subscriptions extension ($199 per year). Free alternatives exist (YITH WooCommerce Subscriptions) with narrower feature coverage. Subscriptions support recurring billing, signup fees, trial periods, and integration with major payment gateways.
Recent releases
- v9.8.2 May 28, 2026
Block checkout layout fixes, two security patches
- v9.8.1 May 8, 2026
Tax calculation edge-case fix, Stripe gateway compatibility
- v9.8.0 April 21, 2026
Major release: revamped Orders admin, new product type API
- v9.7.2 April 3, 2026
Maintenance release
- v9.7.1 March 17, 2026
Cart block accessibility fix
- v9.7.0 February 26, 2026
New analytics dashboard, GDPR cookie defaults
- v9.6.3 February 5, 2026
Patch release
- v9.6.2 January 19, 2026
Currency rounding fix
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Performance testing
Tested on Kinsta Starter (Google Cloud C3D, Iowa). Configuration: WooCommerce baseline store, Storefront theme, 50 products, mobile, 4G simulated, cold cache. 5 runs, median reported. Raw Lighthouse JSON downloadable on request.
Vulnerability tracking
Open and recently closed CVE counts pulled from Patchstack and Wordfence Intelligence on every build. Last disclosure date reflects the most recent public CVE for this plugin, not necessarily the most recent vendor patch.