Discover the top free WordPress shopping cart plugins to integrate e-commerce functionality seamlessly into your website. Explore our handpicked selection of user-friendly, feature-rich solutions to help you build a robust online store without breaking the bank. Unlock the potential of your WordPress site with these cost-effective shopping cart plugins, perfect for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to sell online.
After months of planning and weeks of preparation to set up a business, executing your business plan online is crucial. The best way to sell products online is through e-commerce. As a business owner, delivering a smooth shopping experience across all business categories is essential. While dipping your toes into e-commerce can be daunting, platforms like WordPress have simplified the process, making it as easy as a few clicks. To get started, you need effective shopping cart plugins.
Shopping carts and e-commerce platforms have been around for a while, with many options available. Choosing between a standalone platform and a plugin addon for your existing WordPress site can be tempting. WordPress makes it easier for anyone to start e-commerce, providing flexibility for business owners. By using WordPress, you can control fees, delivery costs, and other expenses that third-party platforms may charge.
To build your online store with a reliable WordPress shopping cart, it’s essential to explore the available shopping cart solutions. Here’s a detailed look at the best shopping cart plugins for WordPress, both new and established, with their key features to help you decide which suits your e-commerce needs.
Best WordPress Shopping Cart Plugins
1. WooCommerce (Most Popular)
WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress shopping cart plugin. It offers a comprehensive suite of features to build and manage your online store efficiently.
2. WordPress Simple PayPal Shopping Cart
This plugin provides a simple way to add a PayPal shopping cart to your WordPress site. It’s perfect for small businesses and individuals looking for straightforward e-commerce functionality.
3. WP EasyCart: e-Commerce Shopping Cart
WP EasyCart offers an easy-to-use interface and powerful features to help you manage your online store. It supports various payment gateways and is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses.
4. Ecwid Shopping Cart
Ecwid integrates seamlessly with WordPress, providing a full-featured e-commerce experience. It allows you to sell across multiple platforms with ease.
5. WP Easy Pay
WP Easy Pay is a versatile plugin that simplifies accepting payments on your WordPress site. It’s designed for ease of use and integration with various payment providers.
6. PayPal Shopping Cart
PayPal Shopping Cart for WordPress lets you add a PayPal cart to your site quickly. It’s ideal for those who prefer using PayPal for transactions.
7. WP Menu Cart
WP Menu Cart adds a shopping cart icon to your WordPress menu. It’s a great way to keep track of cart contents without cluttering your site.
8. Stripe Checkout
Stripe Checkout offers a seamless payment experience with minimal setup. It integrates well with WordPress to handle transactions securely.
9. WooCommerce Menu Cart
This plugin extends WooCommerce by adding a cart icon to your site’s menu, enhancing usability and visibility for your customers.
10. Easy Digital Downloads
Easy Digital Downloads is perfect for selling digital products through your WordPress site. It offers various features to manage and deliver digital goods efficiently.
Conclusion: Which is the Best WordPress Shopping Cart?
Choosing the best WordPress shopping cart plugin depends on your specific needs and business requirements. Consider factors such as ease of use, feature set, and compatibility with your existing WordPress setup. Each of these plugins offers unique benefits, so take your time to evaluate which one aligns best with your e-commerce goals.
1. WooCommerce (Most Popular)
WooCommerce is the leading shopping cart plugin for WordPress, boasting over 6.3 million active websites. This powerful plugin supports nearly one-third of all online stores, making it a top choice for WordPress users.
As the most successful e-commerce solution for WordPress, WooCommerce offers a comprehensive package of features. It benefits from a public open-source GitHub repository, where the community contributes ideas and improvements.
Setting up your e-commerce shop with WooCommerce is both simple and efficient. It integrates seamlessly with your existing WordPress site, providing a dedicated control panel to manage sales and products.
The default WooCommerce package supports both physical and digital products. Additionally, it can be extended to handle memberships, subscriptions, and ticket sales. The extensive collection of free and paid extensions and a robust API make WooCommerce highly adaptable.
Explore thousands of WooCommerce themes and see examples of successful WooCommerce websites for inspiration.
2. WordPress Simple PayPal Shopping Cart
The WordPress Simple PayPal Shopping Cart plugin allows you to quickly turn your existing WordPress blog into a lightweight e-commerce platform. With this plugin, you can add “Buy Now” buttons to your posts and pages, and offer a shopping cart for users to manage multiple items.
This plugin is fully responsive, ensuring compatibility with mobile devices. It also features a PayPal Sandbox for testing, allowing you to experiment with product buttons before going live.
3. WP EasyCart: e-Commerce Shopping Cart
Looking for a comprehensive e-commerce solution for your WordPress site? WP EasyCart is an excellent choice for transforming your WordPress blog into a full-featured e-commerce platform. This dedicated WordPress shopping cart plugin enables you to sell products, digital content, and more with ease.
WP EasyCart offers a downloadable software package to manage your inventory and customize the e-commerce experience on your website. It’s compatible with both desktop and mobile devices, ensuring a seamless shopping experience across platforms. The plugin includes integrated payment gateways from popular systems, making transactions straightforward.
Localization features allow you to configure language settings, currency, tax options, and payment gateways tailored to specific countries. Additionally, shipping services like USPS, FedEx, and UPS are natively integrated. Built-in Google Analytics helps you track sales and user behavior, while social sharing widgets boost product visibility.
4. Ecwid Shopping Cart
Ecwid is a leading e-commerce solution with millions of active sellers globally. This WordPress shopping cart plugin integrates seamlessly with your WordPress site, offering a responsive and user-friendly shopping experience with drag-and-drop functionality.
Ecwid allows you to manage your products, track inventory, and enhance sales with discounts and coupons. It supports over 30 payment gateways, giving you flexibility in processing transactions.
Additionally, you can leverage hundreds of Ecwid eCommerce themes to further customize your store’s appearance.
5. WP Easy Pay
WP Easy Pay is one of the simplest and most efficient free WordPress shopping cart plugins, especially when it comes to payments via Square. Ideal for handling simple transactions such as memberships or donations, WP Easy Pay allows users to make payments effortlessly with just a single button.
Additional features include custom payment amounts, Sandbox support for testing, and email notifications sent to the admin after successful transactions. For more advanced features, consider upgrading to the premium version of WP Easy Pay.
6. PayPal Shopping Cart
If PayPal is your preferred payment method, the PayPal Shopping Cart plugin is a great choice for your WordPress site. This free WordPress shopping cart plugin allows you to sell products and services with ease, featuring options like “Add to Cart” and “View Cart” buttons that can be placed anywhere on your website.
With support for 18 languages and 25 currencies, two different PayPal button styles, and customizable PayPal window settings, this plugin integrates smoothly with any WordPress theme, making it a versatile option for your e-commerce needs.
7. WP Menu Cart
WP Menu Cart is a free WordPress plugin that integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, WP-eCommerce, EDD, Eshop, and Jigoshop. It adds a shopping cart button to your website’s navigation bar, providing a convenient way to display cart contents and prices.
The plugin is quick and easy to set up, allowing you to enhance user experience by showing the cart icon when items are present or all the time. This feature helps to keep the cart accessible and boosts overall site functionality.
8. Stripe Checkout
Stripe Checkout simplifies credit card payments with minimal setup. This free WordPress plugin is perfect for any website, allowing you to easily integrate a payment form that works seamlessly across all devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
Stripe Checkout offers unlimited payment forms, support for twelve languages, and over 135 currencies. Customize your checkout experience with product image overlays, translations, and AffiliateWP integration. You can also set up custom success and failure pages without needing advanced shopping carts, form builders, or membership plugins.
9. WooCommerce Menu Cart
WooCommerce Menu Cart is a free WordPress shopping cart plugin that adds a convenient cart button to your navigation menu. It offers an easy setup process without requiring coding skills. The plugin is user-friendly and provides an option to upgrade for additional features.
With WooCommerce Menu Cart, you can customize the cart icon to display only when items are in the cart, show prices or items, and adjust its position in the menu. Enhance your site’s functionality and user experience with this versatile plugin.
10. Easy Digital Downloads
Best Plugin for Selling Digital and Downloadable Products
Easy Digital Downloads is the best tool for selling digital products such as eBooks, templates, plugins, and graphics. This user-friendly system allows you to quickly start selling digital goods and integrate with payment systems like PayPal, Stripe, and Amazon Payments.
The plugin is fully pluggable, meaning you can extend its functionality with various add-ons. Users can access their purchase history and download files at their convenience. For those selling multiple items, the Product Bundles feature lets you offer various products as a single discounted package. The dashboard provides detailed stats on earnings and sales.
Conclusion: Which is the Best WordPress Shopping Cart?
In conclusion, choosing the right free WordPress shopping cart plugin depends on the nature of your products. If you sell physical goods requiring shipping and inventory management, WooCommerce is a comprehensive solution tailored to those needs. For selling digital products such as eBooks, music, or software, Easy Digital Downloads is specifically designed to streamline that process. Both plugins offer robust support communities and extensive documentation, providing you with the resources needed to build a successful online store. Choose the plugin that aligns with your business model and watch your e-commerce venture thrive.
