WooCommerce ha pubblicato un avviso su una vulnerabilità XSS mentre Wordfence contemporaneamente ha informato di una vulnerabilità critica in un plug-in WooCommerce denominato Dokan Pro. L'avviso su Dokan Pro avverte che una vulnerabilità SQL Injection consente agli aggressori non autenticati di estrarre informazioni sensibili dal database di un sito web.
Plug-in WordPress Dokan Pro
Il plug-in Dokan Pro consente all'utente di trasformare il proprio sito Web WooCommerce in un mercato multi-vendor simile a siti come Amazon ed Etsy. Attualmente ha oltre 50.000 installazioni. Le versioni dei plugin fino alla 3.10.3 inclusa sono vulnerabili.
Secondo WordFence, la versione 3.11.0 rappresenta la versione completamente patchata e più sicura.
WordPress.org elenca il numero attuale di installazioni di plugin della versione lite a oltre 50.000 e un numero totale di installazioni di tutti i tempi di oltre 3 milioni. Al momento solo il 30,6% delle installazioni utilizzava la versione più aggiornata, la 3.11, il che potrebbe significare che il 69,4% di tutti i plugin Dokan Pro sono vulnerabili.
Schermata delle statistiche di download del plugin Dokan
Il registro delle modifiche non mostra la patch di vulnerabilità
Il registro delle modifiche è ciò che dice agli utenti di un plugin cosa è contenuto in un aggiornamento. La maggior parte dei creatori di plugin e temi pubblicherà un chiaro avviso che un aggiornamento contiene una patch di vulnerabilità. Secondo Wordfence, la vulnerabilità colpisce le versioni fino alla versione 3.10.3 inclusa. Ma la notazione del registro delle modifiche per la versione 3.10.4 rilasciata il 25 aprile 2024 (che dovrebbe essere corretta) non mostra che esista una patch. È possibile che l'editore di Dokan Pro e Dokan Lite non volesse allertare gli hacker della vulnerabilità critica.
Schermata del registro delle modifiche di Dokan Pro
Punteggio CVSS 10
Il Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) è uno standard aperto per l'assegnazione di un punteggio che rappresenta la gravità di una vulnerabilità. Il punteggio di gravità si basa su quanto sia sfruttabile, sul suo impatto, oltre a parametri supplementari come sicurezza e urgenza che insieme si sommano a un punteggio totale dal meno grave (1) al più alto (10).
Il plugin Dokan Pro ha ricevuto un punteggio CVSS di 10, il livello di gravità più alto, il che significa che si consiglia a tutti gli utenti del plugin di agire immediatamente.
Screenshot del punteggio di gravità della vulnerabilità di Dokan Pro
Descrizione della vulnerabilità
È stato scoperto che Dokan Pro contiene una vulnerabilità SQL Injection non autenticata. Esistono vulnerabilità autenticate e non autenticate. Non autenticato significa che un utente malintenzionato non ha bisogno di acquisire le credenziali dell'utente per lanciare un attacco. Tra i due tipi di vulnerabilità, quella non autenticata è lo scenario peggiore.
Una vulnerabilità SQL Injection di WordPress è quella in cui un plugin o un tema consente a un utente malintenzionato di manipolare il database. Il database è il cuore di ogni sito Web WordPress, dove si trovano tutte le password, i nomi di accesso, i post, i temi e i dati dei plug-in. Una vulnerabilità che consente a chiunque di manipolare il database è considerevolmente grave: è davvero grave.
Ecco come lo descrive Wordfence:
“Il plugin Dokan Pro per WordPress è vulnerabile all'SQL Injection tramite il parametro 'code' in tutte le versioni fino alla 3.10.3 inclusa a causa dell'escape insufficiente sul parametro fornito dall'utente e della mancanza di preparazione sufficiente sulla query SQL esistente. Ciò consente agli aggressori non autenticati di aggiungere ulteriori query SQL a query già esistenti che possono essere utilizzate per estrarre informazioni sensibili dal database.
Azione consigliata per gli utenti Dokan Pro
Si consiglia agli utenti del plugin Dokan Pro di considerare l'aggiornamento dei propri siti il prima possibile. È sempre prudente testare gli aggiornamenti prima di caricarli in tempo reale su un sito web. Ma a causa della gravità di questa vulnerabilità, gli utenti dovrebbero considerare di accelerare questo aggiornamento.
WooCommerce ha pubblicato un avviso su una vulnerabilità che colpisce le versioni 8.8.0 e successive. La vulnerabilità è classificata 5.4, ovvero una minaccia di livello medio e colpisce solo gli utenti che hanno attivato la funzione Attributo ordine. Tuttavia, WooCommerce consiglia “fortemente” agli utenti di aggiornare il prima possibile alla versione più recente (al momento della stesura di questo articolo), WooCommerce 8.9.3.
Vulnerabilità WooCommerce Cross Site Scripting (XSS).
Il tipo di vulnerabilità che colpisce WooCommerce si chiama Cross Site Scripting (XSS), che è un tipo di vulnerabilità che dipende dal fatto che un utente (come un amministratore del negozio WooCommerce) faccia clic su un collegamento.
Secondo WooCommerce:
“Questa vulnerabilità potrebbe consentire il cross-site scripting, un tipo di attacco in cui un utente malintenzionato manipola un collegamento per includere contenuto dannoso (tramite codice come JavaScript) su una pagina. Ciò potrebbe influire su chiunque faccia clic sul collegamento, inclusi un cliente, il commerciante o l'amministratore del negozio.
…Non siamo a conoscenza di alcuno sfruttamento di questa vulnerabilità. Il problema è stato originariamente riscontrato attraverso il programma di ricerca proattiva sulla sicurezza di Automattic con HackerOne. I nostri team di supporto non hanno ricevuto segnalazioni di sfruttamento e le analisi del nostro team di ingegneri non hanno rivelato che fosse stato sfruttato.”
Gli host web dovrebbero essere più proattivi?
Sviluppatore web ed esperto di marketing per la ricerca Adam J. Humphreys, Of Making 8, inc. (Profilo LinkedIn), ritiene che gli host web dovrebbero essere più proattivi nell'applicare patch alle vulnerabilità critiche, anche se ciò potrebbe causare la perdita di funzionalità di alcuni siti in caso di conflitto con altri plug-in o temi in uso.
Adamo osservò:
“Il problema più profondo è il fatto che WordPress rimane senza aggiornamenti automatici e con una vulnerabilità costante che è l’illusione che i suoi siti siano sicuri. La maggior parte degli aggiornamenti core non vengono eseguiti dagli host e quasi ogni singolo host non esegue alcun aggiornamento dei plugin, anche se lo fa finché non viene eseguito un aggiornamento core. Poi c’è il fatto che la maggior parte degli aggiornamenti dei plugin premium spesso non vengono eseguiti automaticamente. Molti dei quali contengono patch di sicurezza critiche”.
Ho chiesto se intendesse un aggiornamento push, in cui un aggiornamento viene forzato su un sito web.
“Esatto, molti host non eseguiranno gli aggiornamenti finché non verrà effettuato un aggiornamento del core di WordPress, gli ingegneri di Softaculous (un programma di installazione automatica di WordPress) me lo hanno confermato. WPEngine che afferma che gli aggiornamenti completamente gestiti non lo fanno sulla frequenza per applicare tempestivamente le patch per detti plug-in. WordPress senza una gestione continua è una vulnerabilità, eppure la metà di tutti i siti web sono realizzati con esso. Questa è una svista da parte di WordPress che, a mio parere, dovrebbe essere affrontata.”
Searching for the best WordPress security plugins to protect your website?
Having a security incident is every webmaster’s worst nightmare, so it’s natural to be looking for protection from the malicious actors out there.
Well, there’s good news and bad news here.
Here’s the good news:
The core WordPress software is secure. What’s more, many WordPress hosts build in added protections to keep your site safe, such as WordPress.com’s firewalls and other security protections.
But at the same time, WordPress sites are not immune from attacks. How you configure and maintain your site, along with which extensions you install, can open up potential vulnerabilities that malicious actors can exploit, whether that’s basic comment spam or more sophisticated malware.
For added peace of mind, you might want a dedicated WordPress security plugin to protect specific areas of your site (such as the login page) or to add general hardening and protection.
In this post, you’ll find the 26 best WordPress security plugins for a range of different use cases including brute force protection, malware scanning/protection, spam prevention, vulnerability detection, and more.
What Issues Can WordPress Security Plugins Prevent?
While using a secure hosting environment like WordPress.com can already prevent many issues, here are some of the areas where WordPress security plugins can add extra protection:
Spam and bot prevention
Brute force attacks and DDoS attacks
Malware scanning and removal
GDPR violations
Admin page attacks
Vulnerability detection for the WordPress core, plugins, and themes
Email and phone number scraping
Below, we’ll divide the plugins into these different use cases so that you can quickly find the best WordPress security plugins for your specific needs.
How Does WordPress.com Protect Your WordPress Site?
If you’ve created your WordPress site with WordPress.com, you’re already benefiting from a lot of built-in security protections, which might eliminate the need to use certain WordPress security plugins.
Here are some of the many built-in security protections that WordPress.com offers:
Spam and bot protection via Jetpack, which eliminates the need to use separate anti-spam plugins.
Automatically enabled encryption via SSL, which protects data as it passes between you and your visitors’ web browsers and your WordPress site. For example, when you log in to your site, that data will be encrypted so that potential malicious actors on your network can’t see your username and password.
Firewalls to proactively block threats before they can do anything malicious.
Automatic backups and recovery so that if anything happens to your site, you still have a working copy.
WordPress.com also has a dedicated security team that’s regularly monitoring and testing security for WordPress sites to catch potential issues before they can be exploited in the wild. Beyond that, WordPress.com also has a bug bounty program via HackerOne, which rewards other people for reporting vulnerabilities.
Here are some of the best WordPress security plugins that you might want to consider for even more protection…
26 Best WordPress Security Plugins for All Types of Protection
To make it easier to find the right WordPress security plugins for your site, we’ve divided the plugins into seven different sections:
Brute force and DDoS protection
Anti-spam protection
Malware scanning and removal
WP Admin protection
Vulnerability detection
GDPR compliance
Email address protection
Best Plugins to Protect Against Brute Force Attacks and DDoS Attacks
Brute force attacks are when a malicious actor will guess a bunch of username/password combinations, hoping to find one that works. Distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), on the other hand, are when a malicious actor just floods your site with traffic in the hopes of crashing it.
Both types of attacks work by sending automated traffic at your site. However, to prevent brute force attacks, you’ll want to focus on limiting access to your login page, while preventing DDoS attacks requires a more holistic approach.
Here are some of the best WordPress security plugins to protect against these types of automated attacks…
It lets you automatically block an IP address for a certain time period if a user/bot from that IP address enters too many incorrect usernames/passwords. You’ve probably encountered this technology before, as it’s used by pretty much every online banking system.
You can customize how many failed attempts trigger the ban, as well as how long you want to ban the IP address. You can also manually safelist or blocklist IP addresses as needed.
The free version of the plugin should work fine for most sites. There’s also a premium version that adds cloud-based protection and other cloud features starting at $8 per month.
Protection Against DDoS
Protection Against DDoS is a 100% free plugin that helps you protect against DDoS attacks by blocking access to common attack points including XML-RPC and RSS feed pages.
It uses .htaccess to protect these pages, which means that malicious requests will be blocked at the server level, rather than hitting your WordPress site.
If you’re using Cloudflare, the plugin also lets you allow/ban specific countries. For example, you could still let USA visitors access your feed pages, while banning visitors from the countries where you’re experiencing issues.
Advanced Google reCAPTCHA
Advanced Google reCAPTCHA lets you protect your login forms (and other important forms on your site, such as the password reset form) using the free Google reCAPTCHA service.
This can help you stop brute force attacks, as well as just generally cutting down on spam.
When you configure the plugin, you can choose which type of reCAPTCHA to use and which forms on which to activate protection.
Limit Login Attempts
Limit Login Attempts is another free plugin that lets you protect your login forms by setting up rules to limit the number of allowed failed attempts.
You can customize everything to suit your needs and also set up logging and email notifications to receive alerts if someone is trying to brute force their way into your WordPress site.
Limit Login Attempts is 100% free.
Best Plugins for Spam and Bot Prevention
Spam comments are not just annoying, but they can also negatively affect your site if the spam contains malicious content (e.g. links to bad websites) or attempts at code injection.
To protect against this security risk, you can use a WordPress anti-spam plugin. Here are some of the best…
Akismet
Akismet is a free anti-spam plugin from Automattic, the same team behind WordPress.com.
After a simple setup, Akismet can protect your WordPress comment forms from spam. Beyond comments, many WordPress form plugins also integrate with Akismet so that you can protect against spam form submissions, as well.
The setup process only takes a few seconds and then Akismet will start working automatically. All spam comments will be held in a special Spam area so that you can review them (if desired) and then permanently delete them with a single click of a button.
Akismet is 100% free for personal use (e.g. your personal blog). For commercial use, plans start at $8.33 per month.
Note – if you’ve created your site with WordPress.com, you’re already benefiting from Akismet’s spam protection, so there’s no need to install the plugin separately.
Jetpack
Jetpack gives you another way to access anti-spam protection from Akismet, along with a bunch of other helpful features to improve your site’s functionality, performance, and security.
If you’re interested in Jetpack’s other features, you can use the Jetpack plugin instead of Akismet. And again, as with Akismet, you’re already benefiting from Jetpack’s features if you’re using WordPress.com, so there’s no need to install Jetpack separately.
CleanTalk
CleanTalk is an anti-spam plugin that automatically protects pretty much every form on your site, including comments, contact forms, registrations, WooCommerce orders, and more.
In addition to protecting against spam submissions, it also offers a spam firewall that can block most spam bots from even loading pages on your site. It does this by checking visitor IP addresses against CleanTalk’s database of over five million spam bot IPs.
If you’re having unique issues, you can also manually create your own blocklist.
CleanTalk is a premium service. You can test it out with a free seven-day trial, but you’ll need to pay after that. However, paid plans are quite affordable, starting at just $12 per year ($1 per month).
WP Armour
WP Armour is an anti-spam plugin that protects the built-in WordPress comment and registration pages. Beyond that, it also integrates with most popular form plugins, as well as other plugins including bbPress (to prevent forum spam) and WooCommerce reviews.
The premium version also adds even more integrations including WooCommerce checkout, BuddyPress (for social communities), MC4WP (for email opt-in forms), and more.
The free version of the plugin should work fine for most sites. If you want the premium features, the paid plans start at $19.99.
Spam Destroyer
As the name suggests, Spam Destroyer aims to fully stop spam in its tracks. It works with native WordPress comments, as well as many other plugins including BuddyPress.
It’s very simple to use – just activate the plugin and it will start protecting your site.
It’s also 100% free forever – so it only destroys spam, and not your budget.
Anti Spam by Fullworks
Anti Spam by Fullworks helps you protect your WordPress comment forms from spam without affecting the user experience of your legitimate visitors.
You can review spam comments in a special “Spam” tab and the plugin will also automatically delete them after a certain number of days (which you can customize). Or, you can disable the automatic removal and only delete spam manually.
If you want even more spam protection, there’s also a premium version that can protect against other types of spam including user registration, WooCommerce registration, comment forms, pingbacks and trackbacks, and more.
If you need the premium version, it starts at just $9.99 per year.
Best Plugins to Prevent Malware
Malware is malicious code that’s been added to your site. In some cases, bad actors might modify legitimate files to include malicious code. Or, they might also add new files that contain malicious code.
To prevent malware, you can use WordPress malware plugins to scan your site. If the plugin does find malware, most of them can also help you remove it.
MalCare
MalCare is a popular WordPress malware plugin that helps protect your site without affecting its performance.
Instead of scanning files for malware on your WordPress site’s server, MalCare copies your site’s files to its own servers and runs the scan there.
If MalCare detects any issues, it can try to fix the problem with one click. You can also safelist certain files to avoid false positives.
Beyond malware scanning, MalCare also offers some general WordPress security hardening features, such as a firewall and login protection.
MalCare lets you scan your site for malware for free. However, to actually remove any malware that it finds, you’ll need the paid version. Paid plans start at $99 per year.
Sucuri Security
Sucuri Security is a free plugin that helps you detect malware issues that are visible on the frontend of your site. Beyond that, it will also check your site against common blocklists that your site might’ve been flagged in if it contains malware, such as Google Safe Browsing.
The free version of the plugin does not scan all of the files on your server. Instead, it just looks at the visible part of your site to detect visible malware.
If you want a full security scan of all your site’s files, you can upgrade to the premium plan starting at $200 per year. The premium plan also offers unlimited malware removals and hack fixes performed by Sucuri’s experts, as well as a web application firewall (WAF) to proactively block threats.
Malcure Malware Scanner
Not to be confused with MalCare, Malcure is another WordPress malware plugin that will scan all of the files on your server to detect malicious threats. That includes core WordPress files, plugins, your database, and more.
If you upgrade to the premium version, the plugin also offers a one-click option to repair or clean infected files. You can also manually safelist files, which helps you avoid false positives.
If you want the premium version, it starts at $247 per year.
Defender Security
Defender Security is an all-in-one WordPress security plugin that can help you with malware, as well as other key security areas such as login protection, firewalls, and basic security hardening.
The malware scan acts as a sort of file integrity checker, scanning your site’s files and detecting changes or suspicious files that should be there.
If Defender Security detects a file, you can delete it with just a few clicks. Or, if it’s a legitimate file, you can safelist it to avoid false positives in the future.
The free version of Defender Security lets you manually run malware scans. If you want scheduled scans and other advanced features, you can upgrade to the Pro version for $7.50 per month.
NinjaScanner
NinjaScanner is a free WordPress malware plugin that lets you scan your server for malicious files.
First off, it includes a file integrity checker that lets you check core WordPress files (as well as plugin or theme files) against the original versions of the files. If there have been changes, the plugin will alert you because that could indicate malware.
Beyond that, it can also detect malware signatures and the plugin can compare your database for changes between scans so that you can detect any malicious activity.
However, unlike some of the other malware plugins, NinjaScanner doesn’t offer one-click malware removal – you’ll need to manually remove any malware that it discovers. It does include a sandbox feature for quarantined files, though, and you can restore the original file when it comes to file integrity checks.
The free version includes all features for manual scanning. You can also upgrade to the premium version for scheduled scans, starting at just $19.50 per year.
BulletProof Security
BulletProof Security is another comprehensive WordPress security plugin that can protect against malware, along with implementing other protections and general WordPress security hardening.
In terms of malware, it comes with its own MScan malware scanner that can detect malicious files on your site. It also includes other checks such as file integrity monitoring and database differential checking.
If BulletProof Security detects an issue, you can remove it with just a few clicks.
BulletProof Security includes its malware scanner in its free version. However, there’s also a paid version that adds more protections for $89.95 with lifetime updates for unlimited sites.
Best Plugins to Protect Your Site’s WP Admin
While the brute force protection plugins above already do a pretty good job of protecting the WP Admin, there are other plugins that you can consider for even more protection.
SiteGuard WP Plugin
SiteGuard WP Plugin offers a number of ways to protect your WP Admin from malicious actors:
Change the login page URL.
Add an IP address filter to the WP Admin (only safelisted IP addresses can access the page).
Add a CAPTCHA.
Lock the login page after a certain number of failed attempts.
Receive an email alert whenever someone logs in to your site.
Basically, it offers the most popular WP Admin protection techniques in one plugin.
Change wp-admin login
As the name suggests, Change wp-admin login lets you change the URL of the WP Admin login page to anything you want, which lets you protect the WP Admin area from malicious actors and bots.
In addition to changing the login URL, you can also redirect users who try to access the WP Admin area when not logged in.
Best Plugins to Detect and Protect Against Vulnerabilities on Your Site
In addition to finding plugins to scan your site for malware, you can also find plugins that will detect potential vulnerabilities in your site.
These vulnerability detection plugins can help you detect potential backdoors in your site before malicious actors are able to exploit them.
Jetpack Protect
Jetpack Protect is a free security plugin that scans your site for vulnerabilities and alerts you to any issues, powered by the WPScan security scanner.
This lets you detect potential vulnerabilities before malicious actors have a chance to exploit them.
It will detect new vulnerabilities in the core WordPress software, as well as any themes and plugins that are installed on your site.
WPVulnerability is another free plugin that lets you scan your WordPress core, themes, and plugins for vulnerabilities so that you can fix them before a malicious actor exploits them.
To detect issues, it uses the free and open-source WordPress Vulnerability Database API.
Safe SVG
Safe SVG is a free plugin that fixes one specific type of vulnerability – SVG/XML vulnerabilities.
A lot of WordPress users want to upload SVG files, but WordPress blocks them by default because they’re a security risk.
Safe SVG lets you enable SVG uploads while also properly sanitizing those uploads to protect against vulnerabilities.
Best Plugins to Ensure Your Site Is GDPR-Compliant
While GDPR compliance might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to WordPress security plugins, complying with privacy laws is an important part of securing your site from legal challenges.
A basic tool to set up a cookie consent notice on your site.
A consent management platform (CMP) that handles all aspects of compliance, including consent record storage, automatic script blocking, and more.
If you want to ensure full compliance and have the records to prove it, you’ll want the CMP. It’s free for 1,000 visits per month and 30 days of consent storage. For unlimited usage and storage, plans start at $14.95 per month.
CookieYes
CookieYes uses a similar approach to the previous plugin.
At a basic level, it offers an easy way to set up a free cookie consent notice. However, you also have the option to connect it to the CookieYes web app to access a full consent management platform including cookie scanning, consent storage, and lots more.
The CMP app is free for 25,000 monthly pageviews. After that, paid plans start at $10 per month for 100,000 pageviews.
Complianz
Complianz is another freemium plugin that includes both a basic cookie notice as well as a more robust consent management platform to ensure full legal compliance.
There’s a free version and then you can upgrade to the paid version for $49 to access all of the features.
Best Plugins to Protect Your Email Addresses or Hide Other Data
If you want to make it easy for people to contact you, you might want to include your email address directly on your site. While this is convenient for your human visitors, it can lead to a lot of email spam.
One solution would be to just use a contact form instead of sharing your direct email address. Or, you can use one of these email protection plugins to prevent malicious actors from seeing your actual email address.
Email Encoder
Email Encoder is a free plugin that protects email addresses, phone numbers, or any other content.
It will automatically protect email addresses and phone numbers as soon as you activate the plugin, but it also lets you manually protect other types of content using a shortcode.
The plugin is 100% free.
Email Address Encoder
Email Address Encoder is a freemium plugin that lets you protect your email addresses, phone numbers, and other content using different encoding methods (no JavaScript needed).
The plugin works automatically for email addresses, but you can also manually encode other content using its shortcode.
If you want more advanced protection, there’s also a $19 premium version that adds new protection methods, including JavaScript and CSS techniques.
Bonus: A Few Other WordPress Security Tips (Beyond Plugins)
While the best WordPress security plugins can add extra layers of protection to your site, there are other areas of WordPress security that plugins can’t help with.
Most notably, it’s essential to use a strong, unique password for your WordPress account so that it’s hard for malicious actors to get their hands on your account credentials.
One of the best ways to achieve this is to use a password manager to generate a unique password for your account. Here are some of the best options:
If you allow other users to register for your site, you can make sure they’re using strong passwords with a plugin like Password Policy Manager.
We also recommend logging out of your WordPress account when you’re done working on your site, especially if you’re using a shared computer.
With that being said, WordPress security plugins can extend that strong foundation with additional protections in certain areas, such as protecting against brute force attacks, combating spam, detecting potential vulnerabilities, and more.
You certainly don’t need to install every single plugin on this list. But adding some of the best WordPress security plugins to your site can give you added peace of mind.
If you’re using the WordPress.com Business plan, all of the security plugins above are fully compatible with WordPress.com’s ecosystem, so you can install them today.
WooCommerce is a free plug-in for WordPress. It turns WordPress sites into ecommerce stores, allowing merchants to build a website with product pages and a checkout.
But WooCommerce doesn’t work for everyone. If you’re looking to expand the features of your WordPress store, or move to a dedicated commerce platform like Shopify, take a look at these eight WooCommerce alternatives.
If you’re not tied to WordPress, there are dedicated ecommerce store builders you can use instead of WooCommerce. These platforms are designed to include everything you need to start selling online, with optional apps and add-ons to customize your ecommerce store.
Shopify and WooCommerce are both used by entrepreneurs to launch online stores. But as businesses grow, Shopify’s wider range of tools and features gives merchants more power to manage products and serve customers.
With Shopify, you can oversee every aspect of your commerce business, including website design, physical point-of-sale systems, online payments, shipping, and funding.
Shopify users also get access to industry-leading features like super-fast load times and the best-performing checkout on the web. Unlike WooCommerce, all Shopify plans include hosting with unlimited bandwidth.
Shopify’s wealth of tools might seem daunting for new users compared to WooCommerce’s smaller product suite. But there’s a ton of resources to help, including an active community forum and help docs to guide merchants through each stage of their ecommerce journey.
Shopify versus WooCommerce: what’s the difference?
Shopify is a standalone platform. WooCommerce is an add-on for WordPress websites.
Shopify has a wider range of features and tools than WooCommerce.
Shopify plans include hosting with unlimited bandwidth.
For high-revenue ecommerce businesses, Shopify Plus offers enhanced capabilities.
Like Shopify, BigCommerce combines all the features store owners need in a single platform.
Price: From $29 per month
Free trial: Yes
Integrated sales channels: Yes
Mobile app features: Yes (some features Android-only)
Native POS: No
Website hosting: Yes
Like Shopify, BigCommerce puts everything store owners need into a single platform.
Some of BigCommerce’s most-used features include search engine optimization (SEO) tools, POS integration, multichannel selling, and conversion tools. It’s a more comprehensive commerce solution than WooCommerce, but may be overkill for smaller businesses.
A BigCommerce WP plug-in is also available for WordPress users who don’t want to leave the platform.
BigCommerce versus WooCommerce comparison
Unlike WooCommerce, BigCommerce includes web hosting.
Both WooCommerce and BigCommerce integrate with external sales and marketing channels like Google Shopping, Instagram, Etsy, TrustPilot, and price comparison engines.
Wix is an all-in-one ecommerce platform, similar to Shopify.
Price: From $29 per month
Free trial: No
Integrated sales channels: Yes
Mobile app features: Yes (limited functionality)
Native POS: Yes
Website hosting: Yes
Wix is a beginner-friendly WooCommerce alternative, with drag-and-drop editing and customizable templates. Users can make a website for free, then upgrade to one of several premium plans to remove Wix branding and access ecommerce features.
Because Wix is a full commerce platform rather than a plug-in, its premium plans include more store management tools and features out of the box. Merchants can track orders, accept payments from credit cards and via PayPal, create coupon codes, and establish tax and shipping rules without needing to install additional extensions or add-ons.
Wix versus WooCommerce comparison
While WooCommerce is free to install, the cost of a WordPress subscription and additional paid plug-ins makes Wix’s basic premium plans more cost-effective.
WooCommerce users can access a wider variety of third-party plug-ins and extensions for customizing their stores.
Adobe Commerce is a WooCommerce alternative platform for large businesses and B2B retailers.
Price: Quote on request
Free trial: No
Integrated sales channels: Yes
Mobile app features: No
Native POS: No
Website hosting: No
Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) is a more technical WooCommerce alternative for large retailers with multiple brands or complex back-office requirements. The platform supports huge companies like Coca-Cola and T-Mobile.
However, smaller commerce businesses can benefit from Adobe’s passwordless checkout solution, app-like mobile experiences, and advanced web design functionality.
Adobe Commerce versus WooCommerce comparison
Both Adobe Commerce and WooCommerce require third-party web hosting.
Adobe Commerce is built to handle businesses with multiple brands, global customers, and complex inventory management needs. While WooCommerce does support bigger retailers, it’s better suited to solo entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Adobe Commerce has bespoke pricing and may cost more than WooCommerce.
WooCommerce alternatives: WordPress plug-ins
If you’re not ready to migrate your store from WordPress, here are some WordPress ecommerce plug-ins to try instead of WooCommerce.
Embed Shopify product cards and checkouts into your WP site.
Price: $5 per month
Free trial: Yes
The Shopify Buy Button creates custom code that merchants can embed into any website or blog. With a few clicks, you can generate a Buy Button or product listing and add it to a WordPress web page.
Shopify’s Buy Button connects with Shopify’s shopping cart solution to handle checkout. Alternatively, connect the Buy Button to more than 100 compatible payment gateways.
Using the Shopify Buy Button is a quick and easy way to integrate Shopify’s powerful tool suite without leaving the WordPress ecosystem.
Shopify Buy Button versus WooCommerce comparison
Buy Button users have access to Shopify’s business management tools, so you don’t need to rely on WooCommerce systems.
Unlike WooCommerce, you can embed Buy Button code on any type of website, meaning you can monetize multiple sites at once (useful if you have a bunch of affiliate sites).
Ecwid integrates with non-WordPress sites, making it a good WooCommerce alternative.
Price: Free plan available
LightSpeed’s Ecwid WordPress plug-in is compatible with all WordPress themes and supports more than 40 payment gateways, including PayPal and Stripe. The plug-in also integrates with USPS, UPS, FedEx, Canada Post, Australia Post, and other major shippers.
Like the Shopify Buy Button, you can use Ecwid to sell on social media and popular marketplaces, such as eBay, Amazon, and Google Shopping.
Ecwid offers a free plan, but most merchants need a basic subscription, which supports up to 100 products.
Ecwid versus WooCommerce comparison
Unlike WooCommerce, Ecwid can be integrated with any website, including non-WordPress domains.
With its store builder, you can use Ecwid as a standalone ecommerce platform.
Reach customers on social media with Shopify
Shopify comes with powerful tools that help you promote and sell products on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google, and YouTube from one back office. Make sales on multiple channels and manage everything from Shopify.
The Easy Digital Downloads plug-in is a WooCommerce alternative for sites that offer digital products.
Price: From $99.50 per year
Free trial: No
Easy Digital Downloads is a WordPress plug-in that lets you sell digital products from your website. It’s a simple tool for anybody who creates ebooks, music, document templates, and other virtual products,
Features include a basic shopping cart and buy button, which supports Stripe and PayPal. There’s an analytics dashboard to monitor sales and downloads. Plus, you can create customer discount codes.
It’s worth noting that Easy Digital Downloads doesn’t include support for NFTs (unlike Shopify, which offers tokengated commerce).
Easy Digital Downloads versus WooCommerce comparison
Some users report the customer support team at Easy Digital Downloads to be more responsive and helpful than the folks at WooCommerce. This is especially valuable if you’re a small team or a one-person operation.
Easy Digital Downloads offers little SEO support. If you’re concerned about search, you’ll want to look at WooCommerce or one of the other alternatives on this list.
Add videos, songs, and graphics as products to your online store with Shopify’s Digital Downloads app.
MemberPress is a WooCommerce alternative plug-in for building members-only WordPress sites.
Price: From $179.50 per year
Free trial: No
MemberPress is a WordPress plug-in for recurring payments. Use it to create a WordPress store with a paywall that can only be accessed by subscribers.
MemberPress is a good WooCommerce alternative for those selling online courses, those running subscription box businesses, or other kinds of membership communities.
Features include an integrated learning management system (LMS) for hosting courses and timed content releases with expiration dates.
MemberPress has a greater variety of features for managing paywalled content.
Increase recurring revenue with Shopify subscription apps
Free subscription apps built for Shopify let you offer subscription services and integrate seamlessly with your Shopify admin. Install today to increase repeat purchases and customer lifetime value.
To choose a WooCommerce alternative, think about the size of your store and its current needs, as well as your future growth plans. Here are some considerations to guide you:
Platform type
Decide whether you need a dedicated ecommerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce, or if a WordPress plug-in such as Easy Digital Downloads suits your needs. This depends on whether you want a standalone solution or prefer to remain within the WordPress ecosystem.
Ease of use vs. scalability
If simplicity is a priority, look for platforms like Wix that are built for accessibility. At the same time, don’t sacrifice simplicity for features that your store might benefit from in the future.
For example, Shopify combines a user-friendly interface with tools to expand your business into physical sales and online sales channels such as social media platforms and marketplaces.
Ecommerce features
Does your chosen platform offer the selling features your business needs? For instance, if you handle large volumes of sales, Shopify Plus or Adobe Commerce may be the right platform. On the other hand, if you need a simple tool to handle digital sales, Easy Digital Downloads should suffice.
For merchants who prefer to run their businesses from their phone, a capable mobile app is a must.
Support
Robust support can drastically reduce management stress. Platforms like Shopify provide extensive resources and active community forums, which can be a huge help.
Cost efficiency
Evaluate the overall costs of each option. While standalone platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce may charge a higher monthly subscription fee, they come with built-in features that you may need to pay for separately if you choose a free plug-in like WooCommerce.
When does WooCommerce work well for WordPress users?
After being acquired by the parent company of WordPress in 2015, WooCommerce became the platform’s native ecommerce plug-in.
With 43% of websites built using WordPress, many online businesses are using WooCommerce to power their online stores.
WooCommerce converts the WordPress content management system into a basic ecommerce platform capable of selling products, accepting orders, and tracking analytics. From there, merchants can build complex functionality by adding WooCommerce extensions and other compatible WordPress plug-ins.
WooCommerce drawbacks
Multiple integrations
Adding extensions and plug-ins to your WordPress site creates a complicated back end. Maintaining and troubleshooting a large ecosystem of apps is time-consuming.
While WooCommerce is free, many plug-ins aren’t. Paying for multiple subscriptions makes it harder to track how much you’re spending on your store.
Third-party web hosting
With WooCommerce, you’re left to figure out web hosting alone. That adds costs and complexity to your setup—and means your site isn’t automatically payment card industry (PCI) compliant. WooCommerce also doesn’t include subdomains.
Limited file storage
As your WooCommerce store grows, you may reach the file storage limit included with the basic plug-in. You’ll then need to add a paid subscription to WooCommerce’s Amazon S3 Storage plug-in to make room for your content and data.
WooCommerce is a quick solution that works for many WordPress users. But if your business centers around commerce, WooCommerce doesn’t provide the best back-end experience or the most useful features.
Compare ecommerce platforms
Shopify is the best WooCommerce alternative
WordPress is a blogging platform that can be adapted for ecommerce using the WooCommerce plug-in.
That makes WooCommerce a good option if you want to turn your WordPress site into an online store and start selling products.
Shopify is built for growth, with a full suite of ecommerce tools to run your business now and in the future.
WooCommerce alternatives FAQ
Is there anything better than WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a plug-in for converting WordPress websites into online stores. It’s a good option for smaller sellers who already use WordPress, but if you’re looking to grow your store, try one of these dedicated ecommerce platforms:
Shopify
BigCommerce
Wix
Adobe Commerce
Who should use WooCommerce?
You should use WooCommerce if you want an easy way to sell products from an existing WordPress site.
Is WooCommerce the same as WordPress?
WooCommerce is a native WordPress plug-in that adds ecommerce features to WordPress websites. In 2015, WordPress’s parent company, Automattic, bought WooCommerce.
Why consider WooCommerce alternatives?
If your store’s performance is lagging due to the high volume of WooCommerce plug-ins, or you find the composite costs of necessary extensions unsustainable, a WooCommerce alternative may offer a streamlined, cost-effective solution. Platforms like Shopify combine ecommerce website design, hosting, security, and selling features in a single package.
Is Shopify better than WooCommerce?
For online store owners looking for a single ecommerce solution, Shopify is better than WooCommerce. Shopify is a complete commerce platform with a greater variety of built-in features.
WooCommerce, on the other hand, must be integrated into an existing WordPress website. The WooCommerce plug-in may need to be combined with other extensions and WP plug-ins, leading to a more complicated back end.
What is the difference between Shopify and WooCommerce?
Shopify is a full ecommerce platform that gives sellers everything they need to build and run their stores from a single back office. Shopify users range from solo entrepreneurs to large retail enterprises.
WooCommerce is a WordPress plug-in that adds ecommerce functionality to WordPress websites. That means you cannot use WooCommerce without WordPress.
OpenAsset, il principale fornitore di gestione delle risorse digitali per il settore AEC, ha annunciato oggi il lancio del plug-in OpenAsset per WordPress. Questo plug-in consente agli utenti di pubblicare, aggiornare e ottimizzare senza problemi i contenuti Web sui siti Web WordPress collegando la migliore gestione delle risorse di OpenAsset con lo sviluppo e la manutenzione Web quotidiani. Gli esperti di marketing possono ora pubblicare contenuti sui siti Web senza codifica, semplificando la gestione dei contenuti e riducendo la dipendenza dal supporto tecnico.
“Siamo lieti di offrire un miglioramento di grande impatto alla gestione dei siti Web dei nostri clienti con il nostro nuovo plug-in per WordPress”, afferma Jason JanickiCEO di OpenAsset. “Ciò segna una nuova pietra miliare nella nostra missione di semplificare le attività che richiedono tempo per i professionisti del marketing AEC e di offrire soluzioni innovative che li aiutino a incrementare il business per le loro aziende”.
Il plug-in OpenAsset per WordPress pubblica istantaneamente progetti, biografie del personale e immagini straordinarie su qualsiasi sito Web aziendale in cui WordPress è il principale sistema di gestione dei contenuti (CMS), consentendo agli esperti di marketing AEC di sincronizzare le risorse con il sito Web della propria azienda per mostrare progetti ed esperienza dei dipendenti con pochi clic.
Principali vantaggi del plugin OpenAsset per WordPress:
Gestisci le risorse da un'unica fonte di verità
Semplifica i flussi di lavoro rendendo OpenAsset la fonte definitiva per i tuoi contenuti web e per le risorse di progetti e dipendenti.
Dì addio agli aggiornamenti manuali e alle discrepanze dei dati
Pubblica e aggiorna le risorse web con pochi clic, garantendo la coerenza e l'affidabilità del marchio su tutti i contenuti web in tempo reale.
Promuovi una maggiore efficienza con una gestione del sito web orientata al marketing
Gestisci i contenuti direttamente dal plug-in, rendendo più semplice mantenere il tuo sito fresco e coinvolgente senza codice o consulenza agli sviluppatori.
Per ulteriori informazioni sul plugin OpenAsset per WordPress, visita il nostro pagina delle integrazioni oppure contatta il membro del team OpenAsset Customer Success all'indirizzo info@openasset.com.
Contatto con i media: Dhoreena Ventura dhoreena.ventura@openasset.com
Secondo Patchstack, sono state rilevate numerose vulnerabilità di sicurezza nel plugin WooCommerce Amazon Affiliates (WZone).
Questo plugin WordPress premium, sviluppato da AA-Team e che vanta oltre 35.000 vendite, è progettato per aiutare i proprietari di siti e i blogger a monetizzare i loro siti Web tramite il programma di affiliazione Amazon.
Le vulnerabilità identificate sono gravi e colpiscono tutte le versioni testate, inclusa la versione 14.0.10 e potenzialmente quelle dalla versione 14.0.20 in poi.
Uno dei problemi critici è una vulnerabilità di aggiornamento di opzioni arbitrarie autenticate, assegnata a CVE-2024-33549. Questo difetto consente agli utenti autenticati di aggiornare opzioni WP arbitrarie, portando potenzialmente a un'escalation dei privilegi. Questa vulnerabilità, che rimane senza patch, potrebbe consentire agli aggressori di ottenere un accesso di livello superiore al sito WordPress, ponendo notevoli rischi per la sicurezza.
Inoltre, lo studio Patchstack ha rilevato due tipi di vulnerabilità SQL injection, sia SQL injection non autenticata che autenticata, assegnate rispettivamente a CVE-2024-33544 e CVE-2024-33546.
Queste vulnerabilità consentono sia agli utenti non autenticati che a quelli autenticati di inserire query SQL dannose nel database WordPress, portando a violazioni o manipolazioni dei dati. La gravità di questi difetti evidenzia la necessità di un’azione immediata da parte degli amministratori dei siti che utilizzano questo plugin.
Patchstack ha consigliato agli utenti di disattivare ed eliminare il plugin WZone a causa dell'assenza di una versione con patch.
Nonostante i tentativi segnalati da Patchstack di contattare il fornitore, non è stata ricevuta alcuna risposta, spingendo l'azienda a pubblicare le vulnerabilità e fornire misure protettive per i propri utenti.
“La cosa più importante quando si implementa un'azione o un processo è applicare la convalida dell'autorizzazione o del ruolo e del nonce. Il controllo dei permessi o dei ruoli potrebbe essere convalidato utilizzando la funzione current_user_can e il valore nonce potrebbe essere convalidato utilizzando wp_verify_nonce o check_ajax_referer”, si legge nel redazione tecnica.
“Per il processo di query SQL, esegui sempre un escape sicuro e un formato per l'input dell'utente prima di eseguire una query e non fornire mai accesso arbitrario agli utenti per aggiornare le tabelle nel database.”
Automattic, la società dietro WordPress.com, Jetpack, WooCommerce e altri, ha annunciato un nuovo programma per coinvolgere le agenzie nel loro ecosistema di prodotti con più modi per guadagnare.
Questo nuovo programma potrebbe essere visto come una messa in concorrenza diretta di Automattic con sistemi closed source come Wix e Duda, ma ci sono chiare differenze tra tutti e tre i prodotti e servizi.
Automattic per le agenzie
Automattic for Agencies riunisce più prodotti Automattic in un unico servizio con un dashboard per la gestione di più siti cliente e della fatturazione. Il programma offre sedi unificate per la gestione dei siti dei clienti, nonché prezzi scontati e opportunità di condivisione delle entrate. Oltre ai vantaggi derivanti dalla razionalizzazione del programma, offre anche supporto tecnico per tutti i prodotti Automattic che fanno parte del programma. Infine, il programma offre alle agenzie miglioramenti gestiti in termini di sicurezza e prestazioni.
Secondo l'annuncio:
“Ci preoccupiamo delle prestazioni e della sicurezza del sito, così non devi farlo tu. Quando colleghi i tuoi siti al dashboard di Automattic for Agencies, riceverai notifiche istantanee su aggiornamenti e avvisi, così i tuoi siti rimarranno senza problemi e i tuoi clienti saranno felici.”
Quota di ricavi e sconti
Le agenzie possono ora guadagnare una quota di compartecipazione alle entrate dei prodotti Automattic utilizzati dai clienti. Ad esempio, le agenzie possono guadagnare una quota di entrate del 50% sui referral dei prodotti Jetpack, compresi i rinnovi. Come parte del programma Jetpack offre anche sconti sulla licenzas, a partire dal 10% di sconto per cinque licenze fino al 50% di sconto per 100 licenze.
WordPress.com, la filiale di hosting WordPress gestito di Automattic, offre una quota di entrate del 20% sui nuovi abbonamenti e una quota del 50% sulle migrazioni da altri host.
UN twittare da WordPress.com ha descritto il nuovo programma:
“Agenzie, abbiamo una novità per voi!
Il nostro nuovo programma di referral è attivo e, in qualità di referrer dei servizi di http://WordPress.com, la tua agenzia riceverà una quota di compartecipazione alle entrate del 20% sui nuovi abbonamenti e del 50% sulle nuove migrazioni a http://WordPress.com da altri hosting fornitori”.
Nuova directory per le agenzie
Un vantaggio imminente del programma Automatic For Agencies è una directory aziendale che elenca le agenzie che fanno parte del programma. Il vantaggio della directory è presumibilmente che può portare a segnalazioni di aziende alle agenzie.
L'annuncio di Jetpack descrive la nuova directory:
“Ottieni una maggiore visibilità attraverso più elenchi di directory nelle unità aziendali di Automattic. Questa maggiore visibilità crea maggiori opportunità per i potenziali clienti di trovare e interagire con i tuoi servizi, aiutandoti a far crescere la portata e la reputazione della tua agenzia.”
L'annuncio di WooCommerce descrive la directory in questo modo:
“Espandi la tua portata Aumenta la tua visibilità con gli elenchi delle directory dei partner di più marchi Automattic.”
Programma di affiliazione automatico
L'annuncio di Automattic for Agencies segue il lancio di un annuncio separato programma affiliato che offre un bonus di riferimento fino al 100% per gli affiliati che segnalano nuovi clienti di hosting, con un limite di pagamento di $ 300 per articolo e un bonus di riferimento fino al 50% per gli abbonamenti ai plug-in Jetpack. Il programma prevede un periodo di conversione dei cookie di 30 giorni che offre agli affiliati l'opportunità di guadagnare bonus di riferimento su eventuali vendite aggiuntive entro un periodo di 30 giorni.
Avvisa gli amministratori di WordPress. Se hai eseguito il plug-in Dessky Snippets sui tuoi e-store WordPress, scansiona i tuoi siti per possibili codici dannosi. Gli hacker criminali hanno recentemente sfruttato il plug-in Dessky snippets per distribuire web skimmer e rubare informazioni di pagamento.
Il plugin Dessky Snippets è stato sfruttato per distribuire malware di skimming delle carte
Secondo un recente inviare di Sucuri, hanno riscontrato un grave problema di sicurezza con il plugin WordPress Dessky Snippets. Sebbene il problema in genere non influisca sulla struttura del plug-in, consente agli autori delle minacce di abusarne in modo dannoso.
Come osservato, gli hacker hanno sfruttato il plugin Desky Snippets per distribuire malware per lo skimming delle carte sui siti Web presi di mira e rubare informazioni di pagamento.
Dessky Snippets è un plugin WordPress leggero che aiuta gli amministratori ad aggiungere codici PHP personalizzati senza modificare il file functions.php file. Secondo il suo Pagina WordPress.orgil plugin è relativamente nuovo nel regno dei plugin WP, con solo oltre 200 installazioni.
Con così poche installazioni, il plugin non sembra redditizio per condurre attacchi su larga scala ai siti WordPress. Tuttavia, sembra che gli autori delle minacce che hanno abusato di questo plugin non fossero realmente preoccupati di espandere il proprio raggio d'azione. Invece, sembravano più interessati a restare a lungo nascosti dal radar.
Elaborando l'abuso del plugin, i ricercatori di Sucuri hanno notato l'abuso del plugin l'11 maggio 2024, con un simultaneo aumento dei download. L'analisi del codice del plug-in li ha portati a svelare un malware di skimming oscurato. Come dichiarato,
Questo codice dannoso è stato salvato nel file dnsp_settings opzione in WordPress wp_options table ed è stato progettato per modificare il processo di pagamento in WooCommerce manipolando il modulo di fatturazione e inserendo il proprio codice.
Analizzando ulteriormente, i ricercatori hanno notato due blocchi nel malware: uno con un nome generico e una funzione fasulla twentytwenty_get_post_logos()e l'altro colpevole che in realtà ruba i dati. Questa funzione apparentemente fasulla funge da gancio per woocommerce_after_checkout_billing_forme aggiunge più campi nei moduli di pagamento per aggiungere i dettagli della carta di pagamento (che altrimenti apparirebbero nella pagina successiva). Dopo aver ottenuto i dati desiderati, il codice li esporta poi tutti su un URL di terze parti.
Per eludere il rilevamento, l'overlay di checkout falso non ha la funzione di completamento automatico abilitata, in modo da impedire ai browser di generare avvisi sull'immissione di informazioni sensibili.
Mantieni i tuoi siti al sicuro con precauzioni
Anche se lo sfruttamento dei plugin di WordPress, come nel caso del plugin Dessky Snippets, sembra inevitabile, gli utenti possono comunque prevenire in larga misura le minacce implementando migliori pratiche di sicurezza.
Sucuri consiglia agli utenti di mantenere aggiornati i propri siti con le ultime versioni di plug-in, integrare script di terze parti solo da fonti attendibili, impostare password complesse per tutti gli account, implementare firewall per app Web (WAF) ed eseguire scansioni regolari del sito per codici dannosi.
Allo stesso modo, gli utenti che visitano gli e-store dovrebbero anche garantire l'autenticità del sito e cercare eventuali modifiche sottili nel layout del sito relative alle informazioni di pagamento. Inoltre, da tenere d'occhio estratti conto bancari e rapporti di credito può anche aiutare a rilevare eventuali attività dannose in tempo e prevenire possibili danni.
On the hunt for WordPress payment plugins to help you accept payments from your visitors?
Whether you want to sell physical or digital products, charge for services, accept donations, or anything else, you can find tons of WordPress payment plugins to help you get the job done.
In this post, you’ll discover 15 WordPress payment plugins for pretty much any use case, from simple PayPal buy buttons to more advanced setups and automations.
By the end of the post, you should be able to pick the right payment gateway plugin for your unique needs. Let’s dig in!
What Are WordPress Payment Plugins? How Do They Work?
At a high level, WordPress payment plugins help you accept online payments from your website’s users – that part is pretty obvious.
However, to help you choose the right payment plugin for your website, it might be helpful to dig a little deeper into what WordPress payment plugins are actually helping you accomplish.
In order to process a payment via a visitor’s credit card (or via pretty much any other payment method), your payment plugin relies on a payment processor. For example, Stripe or PayPal, though there are lots of other options.
This is true regardless of which payment plugin you choose – it’s just a basic fact of accepting payments on the internet.
Therefore, payment plugins are tools that help you set up and process payments via your preferred payment processor.
You can use them to sell physical or digital products, accept payments for services, accept donations or sponsorships, and more.
By using a dedicated payment plugin to process payments on your site, you get a lot of benefits:
Reduce friction for users by letting them pay right from your WordPress site instead of sending them to a third-party service.
Integrate payments into other functionality on your site, such as registering an account for the user after they pay or automatically creating a new job post when a company buys a spot on your job board.
Boost your branding by eliminating the need to integrate a third-party service into your payment relationship. You will still need a third-party payment processor, but this integration usually happens behind the scenes so it doesn’t feel like a third-party service to your visitors.
15 WordPress Payment Plugins for Any Use Case
Keep reading for a detailed look at some of the most useful WordPress payment plugins for a variety of use cases, in no particular order.
Whether you want to set up a payment gateway in WordPress to sell products, charge for services, accept donations, or anything else – you’ll be able to find a helpful option on this list.
1. WooCommerce
If you value flexibility and support for lots of payment gateways, WooCommerce is one of the first WordPress payment plugins that you should consider.
While you might know WooCommerce as an eCommerce platform, WooCommerce is flexible enough to adapt to any WordPress payment use case.
You can use it to sell physical or digital products, collect payment for services, charge for access to your site or online course, invoice your clients, and lots, lots more.
With WooCommerce Subscriptions, you can even add support for recurring payments on any schedule that you set, including one-time signup fees or free trials. Or, you can set up deposits and payment plans using WooCommerce Deposits.
Another way in which WooCommerce excels when it comes to flexibility is its broad support for different payment gateways.
Collectively, WooCommerce supports hundreds of different payment processors, including big names like Stripe and PayPal as well as many smaller local gateways. You can add support for these payment processors by installing a plugin alongside your WooCommerce store.
Here are some of the many payment gateway plugins for WooCommerce:
WooCommerce is free, as are many of the WordPress payment gateway plugins for WooCommerce. You’ll typically only need to pay if you need more advanced payment functionality, such as purchasing WooCommerce Subscriptions to accept recurring payments.
As the name suggests, the plugin offers an easy way to add a PayPal buy now button to your site.
Instead of a full payment form, visitors will just see a button. Clicking that button will take them to PayPal to pay the amount that you entered when configuring the button.
You can customize the payment amount for each button and the plugin also supports 25 different currencies.
Or, if you want to accept donations, the same developer also offers an Accept Donations with PayPal plugin that offers a similar feature set, but for donations.
If you want a little more flexibility, there’s also a premium version that adds a bunch of features including the following:
Show multiple prices in a dropdown menu.
View sales in your WP Admin.
Offer coupons.
Collect tax.
Charge for shipping and handling.
The basic PayPal buy now button functionality is 100% free. If you want the other features, the Pro plan starts at $49.99.
3. Jetpack
Jetpack is an all-purpose plugin that helps self-hosted WordPress sites access a lot of the features that are available to WordPress.com users.
Note – if you made your website with WordPress.com, you don’t need to install the Jetpack plugin separately because you’re already benefiting from Jetpack’s functionality, including its payment tools. More on this later.
When it comes to accepting payments via your WordPress site, the most relevant features are the Payments and Donations blocks that Jetpack offers.
With these blocks, you can easily set up a payment or donation form right from the editor. But while you can work from the editor, you still get access to important payment configuration options including the following:
Enter a preset amount and/or let customers choose their own amounts.
Charge a one-time fee or set up an automatic recurring payment on a monthly or yearly basis.
The actual payment functionality itself is powered by Stripe.
While the Jetpack plugin has a free plan with lots of functionality, you will need the paid Jetpack Security or Jetpack Complete plans to access the Payments or Donations blocks.
You can use it to accept one-time or recurring payments and donations. Or, you can even use it as a lightweight eCommerce solution for physical or digital products.
Currently, Gravity Forms has official add-ons for six different payment gateways:
Stripe
PayPal Checkout
Square
Mollie
Authorize.net
2Checkout
You can also find third-party Gravity Forms payments add-ons for lots of other payment processors, as well.
One of the unique things about Gravity Forms’ approach is how it lets you integrate payments into its other form automation functionality. A few examples:
If you have a job board website, you could create a payment form that automatically creates a new job post after the company pays via the form (and includes their job details via that same form).
If you allow user registration, you could register an account for the user after they make their payment.
If you’re selling services, you could automatically create a new task in your project management software when someone makes a payment.
Most of Gravity Forms’s payment add-ons are available on the $159 Pro license, though Authorize.net and 2Checkout require the pricier Elite license.
5. WP Simple Pay
WP Simple Pay is a WordPress payment plugin designed to help you accept one-time or recurring payments via Stripe.
In addition to processing credit and debit card payments via Stripe, you can also enable Stripe’s other payment options such as US bank accounts (ACH debit), SEPA Direct Debit, Afterpay, Klarna, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others.
To create your payment form, you get a drag-and-drop form builder that lets you collect additional information from your customers if needed. You can also include multiple payment amounts in the form and let users choose the amount.
For the payments, you can collect one-time payments or set up automatic recurring payments on any schedule.
WP Simple Pay has a free version that works for basic one-time payments. To access more features, the paid plans start at $99 and range up to $399 for all features (or $599 for all features and use on unlimited sites).
6. Sliced Invoices
As the name suggests, Sliced Invoices is a full-service invoicing plugin that includes dedicated payment functionality as part of its feature set.
Here are some of the main invoicing features that you get alongside the payment functionality:
Create pre-defined invoice items to save time.
Design your own custom invoice templates.
Manage your client details just like other WordPress users.
Share online invoices and/or send them as PDFs.
If you’re primarily looking for a WordPress payment plugin to collect payments from your clients, this could be a great option.
You can send your clients an invoice and then clients can pay directly from that invoice, with support for PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, 2Checkout, and Authorize.net. There’s also a WooCommerce integration if you want to accept invoice payments via WooCommerce.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to sell products or services directly (without going through the invoicing process), then you’ll probably want to choose one of the other WordPress payment plugins on this list.
Sliced Invoices has a free version that works fine for basic use cases. For more functionality, the premium version starts at $79.
7. Download Manager
Download Manager is a great WordPress payment plugin to consider if you’re primarily looking to sell digital files.
As the name suggests, Download Manager offers a full-service suite of features to help you manage all aspects of downloadable files on your site, including collecting payments from users who want to download certain files.
You can even set up a full shopping cart system, complete with order and invoice management, coupons, and more.
In terms of payment functionality, you can charge both one-time and recurring fees.
To add payment functionality to the Download Manager plugin, you’ll want to pair it with the developer’s WordPress Digital Store Solution – Premium Package plugin.
Both plugins have free versions and premium versions.
8. WPForms
WPForms is another WordPress form plugin that, like Gravity Forms, also gives you the option to accept payments via the forms that you create.
To help you process payments, WPForms offers integrations for the following payment processors:
PayPal Standard or Commerce
Stripe
Square
Authorize.net
When setting up your payment forms, you can configure them to process one-time or recurring payments according to your needs.
You can also integrate the payment functionality into other forms, such as your user registration form.
While WPForms has a free version, you’ll need at least the Pro license plan to accept payments. This plan costs $399, though you can get a discount for your first year that brings the price down to ~$160 (renewals are at full price, though).
9. Donations via PayPal
As the name suggests, Donations via PayPal is a simple WordPress payment plugin designed to help you accept donation payments via PayPal.
It’s very easy to use. All you need to do is add your PayPal email address in the plugin’s settings, along with making a few other choices such as your preferred currency.
Then, you can add a PayPal donation button anywhere on your site using the plugin’s shortcode. When adding the shortcode, you can specify the amount and description for that specific payment button.
The Donations via PayPal plugin is 100% free.
10. Paymattic
Paymattic is a dedicated WordPress payment plugin that lets you accept one-time or recurring payments via a variety of different payment gateways.
When setting up payment forms, you can use a full form builder to collect additional information from your visitors as needed.
You can also set up more advanced payment details, such as including fields for taxes, user-defined amounts, item quantity, coupons, and more.
The free version of Paymattic supports payments via Stripe, while the premium version adds support for a number of other payment processors including the following:
PayPal
Razorpay
Paystack
Mollie
Square
Payrexx
Offline/checks
The premium version also gives you detailed reports and analytics to help you dig into your payment performance.
The free version of Paymattic works fine for one-time payments via Stripe. To add more advanced features and payment gateways, the premium version starts at $119.
11. Forminator
Forminator is another WordPress form plugin that includes payment forms as part of its feature set.
When compared to other form plugins on this list, one unique detail about Forminator is that even the free version of Forminator lets you accept payments via Stripe or PayPal. In contrast, many other form plugins only offer payment functionality in their premium versions.
The free version also lets you accept both fixed and variable payments. The latter is great if you’re primarily looking to accept donation payments.
If you want more advanced payment functionality, the premium version offers additional features such as automatic recurring payments via Stripe.
Forminator Pro is available via the WPMU DEV membership, which starts at $7.50 per month for access to all of the developer’s plugins and use on a single site.
12. GiveWP
GiveWP is a full-service WordPress fundraising and donations plugin that makes a great option if you want to accept donation payments from your visitors.
If you want to sell products and services, you’ll want to look elsewhere. But if your primary goal is to accept fundraising for payments, GiveWP is built for you.
When you create a donation form, you can specify preset donation amounts and/or let visitors enter their own custom amounts.
You can also accept one-time or recurring donations, including an option to let users choose whether or not to make it a recurring donation.
To actually process the payments, you can choose from a wide variety of payment processors including Stripe, PayPal, Square, Mollie, and many other providers.
GiveWP has a free version that lets you accept donation payments via PayPal. The paid versions start at $149 and add new features as well as support for all of the available payment gateways.
13. GetPaid
GetPaid is a plugin that’s focused on helping you…get paid.
You can use it to create full payment forms, buy now buttons, and more. Or, you can also create invoices or quotes to send to your customers that they can then pay online.
You can also choose between one-time payments or recurring subscriptions, along with giving customers the option to name their prices.
In terms of payment processors, GetPaid supports a wide array of options. It offers built-in support for PayPal Standard, Authorize.net, and Worldpay. However, the developer also offers extensions to add a number of other processors including the following:
If you want access to additional payment gateways or other features, you can purchase individual extensions or get a bundle of all extensions for $199 per year.
14. Formidable Forms
Formidable Forms is another all-purpose WordPress form plugin that includes flexible payment functionality as part of its feature set.
Like Gravity Forms, one of the most notable things about Formidable Forms is how you can integrate the payment functionality into other form functions.
For example, you could create a form that lets companies submit a job to your job board. As part of that form, you could charge companies for the privilege to do that. You could then automatically add the job to your job board, but only after the payment has been processed.
You can achieve similar setups with user registrations and other features in Formidable Forms.
To collect payments, Formidable Forms supports one-time or recurring payments via the following processors:
Stripe
PayPal
Authorize.net
Or, if you want even more flexibility, you can also integrate the plugin with WooCommerce to process payments using the WooCommerce plugin and any one of its gateways.
While there is a free version of Formidable Forms, you’ll need the premium version to accept payments. The cheapest license with payment support is the $399 Business license (though you can get a 50% discount on your first year).
The plugin supports any cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and many others.
It lets you add one or more wallets for different currencies. You can then display those wallets anywhere on your site using the plugin’s shortcode.
In addition to displaying the wallet address (with a click to copy button), the plugin also includes a QR code that your visitors can easily scan to send cryptocurrency to your wallet.
Cryptocurrency Payment & Donation Box is 100% free.
15.1 BONUS: WooCommerce Crypto Payment Solutions
Speaking of cryptocurrency solutions, WooCommerce has a number of excellent ways to accept crypto payments, and we definitely don’t want you to miss these. Check them out!
Coinbase – Supports payments from all crypto wallets and lets you send invoices to get paid in crypto
OpenNode – Accept Bitcoin payments with very fast transaction processing
DePay – One-click checkout to accept any crypto tokens
Hayvn – Lets users pay in crypto while you earn in fiat
Other Options to Accept Payments on WordPress
In addition to the WordPress payment plugins from above, you also have some other options for how to set up a payment gateway in WordPress.
Use the WordPress.com Payment Blocks
If you created your website with WordPress.com and you’re using one of the paid plans, you already have access to some helpful payment blocks that can help you accept one-time or recurring payments on your site:
Payment Button block– accept one-time or recurring payments. Each payment plan can have its own rules and you can add multiple payment plans to the block. For example, you could offer both one-time or recurring options via the same block. Or, you could add multiple recurring options.
Premium Content block– this block also lets you accept one-time or recurring payments. The key difference is that it also lets you restrict content on your site so that only people who paid are able to access that content.
Donations Form block– accept one-time or recurring donations. You can give users preset amounts to choose from or let them enter their own custom amounts. Or, you can do both at the same time.
All of these payment blocks are powered by Stripe.
One of the nice things about these built-in payment solutions is that you don’t need to install any plugins to access them.
Not only does this make your life simpler, but it also means that you don’t need the WordPress.com Business plan. In fact, these payment blocks are available on any paid WordPress.com plan – including the Personal and Premium plans.
To learn more about accepting payments on WordPress.com, you can check out the WordPress.com payments documentation.
Explore Other WordPress Payment Plugins
If you’re using the WordPress.com Business plan or eCommerce plan, you can also find even more WordPress payment plugins beyond the list above.
If you want to make money from your website, being able to accept payments directly on your WordPress site opens up a lot of opportunities.
With the WordPress payment plugins on this list, you can start accepting pretty much any type of payment. All of them are quality options, so it’s really just about choosing the plugin that best matches your specific use case.
If you’re using the WordPress.com Business plan, you can also install any one of the WordPress payment plugins on this list, as well as other payment plugins if needed.
Get started today and you’ll be accepting your first payment in no time!
Want more tips? Get new post notifications emailed to you.
