Selling online
WooCommerce, and whether it is the right choice
WooCommerce turns a WordPress site into a store. It is free to install, which is the part that misleads people, because free to install is not the same as free to run.
What it is
What it is
- A plugin that adds products, a cart, checkout and orders to a WordPress site.
- You keep full control of the data, the design and the hosting. Nothing is rented.
- It powers a large share of small business stores, particularly where the store sits alongside an existing content site.
How it works
What it actually costs
- The plugin is free. Almost nothing else is.
- Hosting capable of running a store properly, which is not the cheapest tier.
- Payment processing fees, the same as anywhere.
- Extensions for shipping rules, subscriptions, tax handling or bookings. These are where the budget goes.
- Somebody to keep it updated, because a store is a payment system and an unpatched one is a liability.
What to check
When it beats a hosted platform
- You already run WordPress and the store is part of a larger site.
- You need product data or checkout behavior that hosted platforms do not allow.
- You sell parts by number and need search behavior a standard catalog cannot do.
- You want the customer data in your own system rather than a platform account.
Worth knowing
When a hosted platform is the better answer
- You want somebody else responsible for uptime, updates and compliance.
- Your catalog is straightforward and the volume is high.
- Nobody in the business wants to think about a payment system ever again.
- That is a legitimate answer and we say so regularly.
The short version
Choose on who you want responsible for the store staying up, not on the license fee.
Start here
Deciding between WooCommerce and a hosted platform?
Tell us what you sell and how. We will give you a straight recommendation, including when the answer is that you should not use WooCommerce.
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- You talk to the people who do the work, not an account handler.
- Fixed scope and fixed price before anything starts.
- You own every file, every login, and every asset. Always.
- Straight answers, including when the answer is that you do not need us.
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