Best WooCommerce Plugins & Extensions

Written by Web Hosting Expert

Reviewed by Technical Editor

Updated August 9, 2022
Best WooCommerce Plugins & Extensions

As one of the most popular and established eCommerce stores on the market, WooCommerce now has more than 50,000 plugins and extensions to choose from. They can transform the way you do business, boost sales and add an air of true professionalism to your site.

We’re going to walk you through some of the best plugins and extensions. If you need a quick refresher on what WooCommerce is and how it works, check out our previous guide on guide on WooCommerce hosting.

What Are WooCommerce Extensions?


WooCommerce extensions are like plugins for your online store. They can add new features and functionality, such as different types of products, shipping tracking, and new payment methods like Stripe. With WooCommerce extensions, you can tailor your store to fit your specific needs.

They take a basic eCommerce platform and change it into a highly customized sales and marketing tool combined with a payment processor. The best extensions can enhance the ‘shop window’ aspects of your online store, helping to draw in customers and display your products in their best light.

While the out-of-the-box WooCommerce platform comes with some pretty impressive functionality, the vast majority of extensions have been developed by third-party providers. ​​Many of the best ecommerce platforms come with a price tag, but we believe that the benefits of a great online store are worth the investment.

You can usually get your hands on the plugins via your hosting provider, on the WooCommerce official website, or directly from a third party.

Why Use WooCommerce Extensions?


  • To compete - If you don’t use extensions, but your rivals are doing so, your store is going to look pretty bland in comparison. You need to make yourself stand out, gather useful analytics, and process payments efficiently if you’re going to differ from the competition.

  • Added functionality - The base version of WooCommerce simply doesn’t have enough features to operate larger and more complex businesses, such as marketing tools, payment gateways, store management options, etc. Extensions allow you to run new marketing campaigns, monitor sales and so much more

  • Access to a large developer community - WooCommerce has a huge pool of developers working on plugins and extensions right across the world. This means you get access to some of the most innovative tools in the world of eCommerce, well ahead of other platforms

  • They’re easy to use - While it might take some time to get to grips with the many extensions on offer, they’re generally quick to install and fairly straightforward to use. Most come with comprehensive guides from the developers, or you can ask your hosting provider for advice on the best

  • They give you total control - With so many plugins to choose from you can really build a store that’s totally unique to your business. If you think of it, WooCommerce has a plugin for it

WooCommerce Extensions Vs. WordPress Plugins


WooCommerce itself is actually a plugin that can only be used on WordPress sites.

This software then branches out into a number of extensions that can only be used with WooCommerce.

WordPress itself has thousands of other plugins you can use, including a range of other WordPress plugins for eCommerce. Where the two really differ is that WooCommerce is a highly specialized tool designed for selling products, while WordPress plugins can have any number of general uses like page builders, blog features, and user registration forms.

If you’re ever confused about the difference between plugins and extensions, most users often use the two terms interchangeably and see both as adding extra functionality to their sites. In many cases, you’ll even find compatibility between WooCommerce extensions and WordPress plugins, increasing the functionality of your store.

WooCommerce Plugins and Extensions For...


Best WooCommerce Extensions to Boost Sales

Analytics

  • Metorik - This tool gives you immediate and useful insights into how your store is performing and comes packed with more than 100 features. Find out which products are selling best and with which audience segment and track sales in real-time

  • Advanced WooCommerce reporting - Exactly what it says on the tin. Access product reports, tax and refund information and set sales goals to track to

  • Jetpack - The premium and professional versions of this plan will integrate directly with Google Analytics, providing valuable insights into the behaviors of visitors to your site

Marketing

  • Beeketing - Here you’ll find 10 automated marketing tools to help boost conversions and sales. Features include email campaigns, product recommendations, site exit pop-ups, and social proof tools

  • Facebook tab - This extension links your store with your Facebook business page. Users can then browse and shop directly from their social media account without having to visit your landing page

  • Remarkety - Perhaps one of the best email marketing tools on WooCommerce, this takes your campaigns to the next level. It uses algorithms to predict buying behavior based on past purchases

Payments

  • WooCommerce Stripe - This allows you to accept payments directly to your store via Stripe as well as all major debit and credit cards

  • PayPal Payments Pro - This tool supports all payments via PayPal in up to 24 currencies, built-in fraud protection, and can take payments from customers that don’t have a PayPal account

  • Authorize.net - This allows users to accept payment from both online and physical brick and mortar locations. It has 13 configurable fraud filters to detect false transactions

Shipments

  • Shipstation Gateway - This highly customizable shipping tool can be easily scaled to match the needs of both small and large businesses. As well as tracking orders, it has a tool to communicate with customers should packages go missing

  • Table Rate for WooCommerce - This plugin automatically calculates shipping prices across the country based on weight and distance and displays all shipping methods to customers on checkout

  • YITH WooCommerce Order Tracking - This handy tool is the ultimate shipping tracker. It monitors carrier details, shipping codes, and dates and knows exactly where your orders are at any given time

Themes and Builders

  • Elementor WooCommerce Builder - This drag-and-drop page editor has some stunning designs to really make your store stand out from the crowd. It’s designed to work seamlessly with WooCommerce and you can have a great-looking store up and running in no time

  • Divi Woocommerce - Divi has some great options for customizing your online store. The module builder will let you edit and change specific elements of any WooCommerce store, making it the ultimate in customization

  • Jupiter X - This builder has more than 270 pre-built templates to choose from, including more than 40+ eCommerce demo sites. Designs are sleek, modern, and easy to edit

Live Chat

  • WooCommerce Help Desk and Live Chat - You can manage ticketing, chat, and queries all from one handy tool. Plus, it collects customer information and feedback so your service agents will be able to provide better assistance and support in the future
  • Live Chat By Formilla - This chat tool comes with a built-in AI chatbot to cover periods where you’re not able to have staff physically man the desk. It also incorporates visitor monitoring to help generate new sales leads

Store Management

  • Official WooCommerce Tax Services - Get automated tax calculations across jurisdictions in 30 different countries. You won’t need to lift a finger until it comes time to file

  • WooCommerce Dynamic Pricing - This add-on lets you offer bulk discounts and deals every time your customers spend over a certain limit

WooCommerce Shortcodes


WooCommerce shortcodes let you customize snippets of your online store without the need for complicated lines of code. We’ve covered some of the best below.

Cart Shortcodes

Cart Shortcodes

This shortcode can be utilized using ‘woocommerce_checkout’. You can place this line of code anywhere on the backend of your website and your customers will be taken to the checkout in one click.

Product Shortcodes

Product Shortcodes

Product shortcodes, denoted by typing [product] will link back to products, limit the number of options displayed by page and change the layout of your pages.

Page Shortcodes

Page Shortcodes

Page shortcodes come in four different types: cart, checkout, my account, and order tracking form. You can move these around your site rather than having customers follow a traditional buying route.

Summary


With so many extensions and plugins to choose from, we’d recommend you take your time when browsing WooCommerce. Try out the base version of the online store first to get a feel for it, then focus on add-ons that are going to bring value to your business. That being said, we’d always advise getting a good analytics tool to monitor sales as well as an automated marketing extension to carry out mundane tasks for you.

Lots of plugins come with free versions too, so you can have a play around with lots of them before you decide to upgrade to the premium package.

Frequently Asked Questions

What support will I receive for my plug-ins?

This depends on what you’ve purchased. Sometimes you may get support directly from your hosting provider, while with others you’ll need to contact the third-party platform directly.

How Expensive Are Extensions?

Some are free, others may only cost a few dollars, while premium end add-ons can cost several hundred dollars. Always check carefully what you’re paying for before you buy.

Will my extensions expire?

Usually, no. Once you’ve bought and installed a plug-in it’s yours for the lifetime of your website. However, it’s always worth checking the terms and conditions as some may have annual billing.

Can I trial extensions?

No, but many have a 30-day money-back guarantee if you don’t like it.

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