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6 Best Checkout Plugins for WordPress (Compared)

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Written By: author image Natalie Jones

Are you comparing WordPress checkout plugins and wondering which one is better?

Checkout plugins can be used to turn your site into a full-fledged eCommerce store or provide a simple checkout solution that lets you accept payments and donations.

In this article, we’ve rounded up six of the best checkout plugins for WordPress to help you choose the best one for your specific needs.

Choosing the Best Checkout Plugin for WordPress

With so many checkout plugin options available, choosing the right one depends on what type of business you have. Some plugins are better suited for selling digital products, subscription content, memberships, and registrations. Others provide additional features like shipping services to help you sell and fulfill orders for physical goods.

For example, if you are a creator who wants to sell memberships or online courses, you’ll need a membership checkout plugin that offers support for a membership site.

On the contrary, you may be a nonprofit organization looking to collect donations from users who support your cause. In that case, you’ll want a checkout plugin that caters to fundraisers and crowdfunding.

The most important factors to consider while researching checkout plugins include:

  • Payment Gateway: Decide which payment methods you want to offer your customers or donors. Some checkout plugins allow you to begin accepting payments via Stripe, the best payment processor, right out of the box. Others require you to install extensions to offer additional payment options.
  • Ease of Use: You’ll want to make sure you choose a checkout plugin that lets you easily create payment forms and checkout pages. Be sure to watch for templates and customization options that let you style your forms and pages the way you want.
  • Third-Party Integrations: From email marketing to automating SMS notifications, you’ll need to be sure your checkout plugin integrates with apps and services to grow your business.

Now that you know what to look for in a checkout plugin, let’s take a look at the top checkout plugins for WordPress.

1. WP Simple Pay

wp simple pay homepage

WP Simple Pay is the #1 Stripe payments plugin for WordPress that lets you easily accept payments on your site without having to install any addons. It’s perfect for those who are looking to collect payments or donations without having to set up an eCommerce store or even a shopping cart.

With WP Simple Pay, you can create attractive, user-friendly payment forms that accept 10+ payment methods including debit/credit cards, ACH direct debit, Apple Pay / Google Pay, buy now, pay later, and more.

The plugin’s advanced drag-and-drop form builder and pre-made templates allow you to create forms in minutes and begin securely accepting payments from around the world.

Key Features Included with WP Simple Pay:

  • One-time or recurring payments: Easily accept one-time payments or set up automatic recurring payments.
  • Third-Party Integrations: Integrates with apps like Zapier to automate tasks like sending SMS notifications regarding orders
  • Coupons and free trials: Offer discounts and free trial periods to improve user experience and gain more customers or subscribers
  • Fee Recovery: Pass the Stripe processing fee onto your customers to ensure you collect the full payment amount
  • Form scheduling: Control when your forms start and stop accepting payments to avoid overselling or overbooking
  • Stripe Connect: Easily connect your site to your Stripe account without entering API keys manually
  • Stripe Link: Boost conversions by offering a simple one-click checkout
  • Summary Reports: Get actionable insights delivered weekly straight to your inbox

WP Simple Pay is a powerful, yet simple checkout plugin perfect for selling products and services as well as collecting donations. It’s a great solution for both small and large businesses looking to create a simple and hassle-free checkout experience.

Remove the additional 3% fee! 

Most Stripe plugins charge an additional 3% fee for EVERY transaction
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Pricing: You can get started with the free version of WP Simple Pay. Premium plans start at just $49.50/yr.

2. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads is the perfect checkout plugin for selling digital products including eBooks, PDF documents, digital art, music files, online courses, and more.

With Easy Digital Downloads, you can easily set up a fully featured eCommerce store that supports payment processing, download management, and customer management.

The plugin offers several payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.Net. With an EDD extended pass, you can even add a credit and deposit system (EDD Wallet) to your store that lets your customers purchase store credit to use later.

Key Features Included with Easy Digital Downloads

  • Full Shopping Cart System: Let your customers purchase several digital products in the same order
  • Sales Reporting and Analytics: Manage sales and customers right from the WordPress admin dashboard
  • Stripe and PayPal: Accept Stripe and PayPal gateways for free.
  • Lots of Extensions: Expand payment gateway offerings, perform email marketing campaigns, and more
  • Discounts and Coupon Codes: Includes special social discounts that give discounts to users who share your products with their social network
  • WordPress Themes: Works seamlessly with popular WordPress themes

Easy Digital Downloads is hands down the best WordPress checkout plugin for selling digital products.

Pricing: You can get started with the free version of the plugin. Extended passes start at $99.50/yr.

3. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most popular checkout plugin for WordPress on the market. It’s built on WordPress and powers more than 3 million online stores.

The plugin offers a complete eCommerce solution right out of the box that includes secure payment processing, customized shipping options, and analytics.

WooCommerce has built-in marketing channels that let you connect your store with some of the most effective advertising channels like Google Ads, Facebook, and TikTok.

The plugin is a great option for large and small businesses that sell physical products, digital downloads, subscriptions, services, and more.

Key Features of WooCommerce include:

  • WooCommerce Marketplace: Use thousands of tools, themes, and services to take your store to the next level
  • Shipping Management: Streamline shipping fulfillment
  • Multiple Payment Gateway: Offer multiple payment methods
  • Enterprise Solutions: Supports large businesses
  • Themes: Choose from tons of different themes

Pricing: WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin.

4. MemberPress

MemberPress is the best WordPress checkout and paywall plugin for membership sites.

The plugin lets you control what content your users see based on what membership they have purchased.

MemberPress is extremely easy to set up and even lets you sell online courses and grow communities and forums. Its ReadyLaunch™ page maker allows you to create a membership site quickly and easily.

Key Features of MemberPress Include:

  • Multiple Payment Methods: Accept Apple Pay, Google Wallet, credit/debit cards, and more with the Stripe and PayPal gateways
  • Subscriptions and Memberships: Easily manage subscriptions and memberships
  • Third-Party Integrations: Works seamlessly with email marketing services, and more to grow your business
  • Self-Serve Member Dashboard: Let your users manage their own subscriptions, memberships, and courses
  • Unlimited Courses: Set up an unlimited amount of courses
  • Drip Content: Send out content over time to help keep members engaged

Pricing: MemberPress starts at $179.50/yr.

5. SeedProd

SeedProd is the best drag-and-drop page builder for WordPress.

Because the plugin integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, you can use WooCommerce blocks to create high-converting checkout pages, in addition to shop pages, product pages, carts, product grids, pricing pages, and more.

SeedProd also offers 150+ landing page templates and a visual page editor that lets you easily customize pages for your site in minutes without writing any code.

Key Features of SeedProd Include:

  • WooCommerce Integration: Works seamlessly with WooCommerce to create checkouts, carts, and more
  • Responsive Landing Page Templates: Easily create and customize a variety of different landing pages including sales pages, coming soon pages, optin pages, and more
  • Stripe Connect: Easily connect your Stripe account to your site
  • Email Marketing Integrations: Integrates with popular email marketing service providers including Drip and Constant Contact.

Pricing: SeedProd offers a free version. To create checkout pages for WooCommerce, you’ll need SeedProd Pro, which starts at $119.50 per year.

6. WP Charitable

WP Charitable is a top-rated donation and fundraising plugin for WordPress that lets you create campaigns and accept payments directly on your site.

The plugin allows you to integrate your site with several popular payment gateways including Stripe, Authorize.Net, PayFast, PayUMoney, and more.

Key Features of WP Charitable Include:

  • Donation Management: Easily create and edit donations in the dashboard without having to install an addon
  • Recurring Donations: Set up recurring donations and collect funds automatically
  • Fee Relief: Give donors the option to cover the payment gateway processing fee
  • Peer-to-Peer Fundraising: Expand your reach by letting supporters create fundraising pages on your site

Pricing: WP Charitable starts at $99/yr. You can also get started with the free version.

There you have it! We hope this article has helped you learn about the best checkout plugins for WordPress.

To summarize, WP Charitable and MemberPress are powerful plugins that are specifically tailored to provide excellent checkout solutions for donations and memberships respectively.

WooCommerce and SeedProd work together to help you create high-converting checkout pages, carts, and more for your WooCommerce store.

Easy Digital Downloads is the best checkout plugin for selling digital products, while WP Simple Pay is the best checkout plugin for those looking to easily accept payments on their website via the Stripe payment gateway without setting up a cart or an eCommerce store.

If you liked this article, you might also want to check out Best WordPress Invoice Plugins.

What are you waiting for? Get started with WP Simple Pay today!

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