Easy Digital Downloads vs WooCommerce
We give Easy Digital Downloads and WooCommerce the same GPA: 2.2 out of 4.0. They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Easy Digital Downloads
WordPress plugin for selling digital downloads from your own site
WooCommerce
Free, open-source store plugin for WordPress that you host yourself
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAEasy Digital DownloadsFair | 2.2GPAWooCommerceFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe free Lite plugin adds a 3% fee to Stripe sales: $30 on $1,000, plus the cost of hosting WordPress, which isn't on record. Extended at $399 a year drops the fee. Software that's free only if you host it yourself counts as a C here. | CThe plugin is free, but a store needs hosting, which Woo puts at $25 to $350 a month, plus paid extensions at $29 to $299 a year each. So call it $25 a month and up, the ordinary middle here. Woo takes no fee on sales, whichever payment provider you use. |
| Free plan and trial | BLite is free on WordPress.org with unlimited products and transactions, so you can run a real store on it. Not an A: it needs a WordPress site on a paid host, and subscriptions and discount codes need a pass. | BThe whole plugin is free and open source, with unlimited products and orders and no revenue share, so one person could run a shop on it for years. It isn't an A because a live store can't run without paid hosting. |
| Features | CStore, cart and checkout, then subscriptions, content restriction, license keys, a multi-vendor marketplace and cart recovery on paid passes. A broad kit, but it needs a WordPress site to be useful, and much of it sits on Professional at $599 a year. | CProducts, carts, checkout and orders are all in the free core, any payment provider works, and the app takes payments in person. But a lot sits in extensions, many of them paid, and shipping labels come through outside services such as ShipStation or Shippo. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. You host it yourself: a WordPress site you run, or a WordPress.com business plan, plus yearly licence renewals to keep support and updates. | DYou host it yourself: WordPress, a web host, and updates, backups and security on you or your host. The phone app's 4.75 from about 7,800 App Store ratings is for running orders once the store is up, not for getting it up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BRuns in the browser inside WordPress, with Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, Zapier, Mailchimp and Elementor, and an API on Professional. No phone or desktop app is listed. | BWeb, plus a free iPhone and Android app, with Stripe, ShipStation, Shippo, Easyship, Klaviyo, Google, TikTok and Pinterest, and no cap on API use. No desktop app, so B is the ceiling. |
| Best for | selling files from your own WordPress site | adding a store to a WordPress site |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Easy Digital Downloads and WooCommerce. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only WooCommerce lists iOS and Android apps.
- WooCommerce is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Easy Digital Downloads also covers digital downloads.
At a glance
| Easy Digital Downloads | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $199 per year at renewal, after a first year for $99.50 | Not published |
| Free plan | The Lite plugin is free on WordPress.org with unlimited products and transactions and Stripe and PayPal checkout; Stripe sales carry an extra 3% fee in the free version. | The WooCommerce plugin is free and open source, with unlimited products and orders and no revenue share. Hosting, paid extensions and payment processing cost extra. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Sandhills Development, LLC | WooCommerce, Inc. |
| Price read from | easydigitaldownloads.com | woocommerce.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Easy Digital Downloads
- WordPress site owners who want to sell files from their own site
- Plugin and theme makers who need license keys and updates
- Sellers who want no platform fee once on a paid pass
WooCommerce
- WordPress sites that want to add a store
- Sellers who want to own their code and data and pick their own host
- Developers and agencies building custom stores for clients
Worth knowing
Easy Digital Downloads
- It needs a WordPress site you run yourself, or a WordPress.com business plan, which allows third-party plugins.
- First-year prices are introductory: passes renew at full price, from $199 a year for Personal.
- The free version and the Personal pass do not include no-platform-fees; EDD's blog puts the free version's Stripe fee at 3%.
- Licenses renew yearly; cancelling ends support and updates, and you lose your locked-in price.
WooCommerce
- You need WordPress and web hosting from a provider you choose; Woo puts hosting for most stores at $25 to $350 a month.
- Many features come as paid extensions, which Woo says cost $29 to $299 a year each.
- Card fees depend on the processor; Woo gives about 2.5% to 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction for its own WooPayments.
- Because the store runs on your own hosting, updates, backups and security fall to you or your host.
Key features
Easy Digital Downloads
- Store on your own WordPress site
- Unlimited products, a cart and checkout inside WordPress, with full ownership of your store data and Elementor checkout templates.
- Payments
- Stripe, PayPal and Square in the free plugin, Apple Pay listed on every paid pass, and Authorize.net and 2Checkout from Extended up.
- Subscriptions and memberships
- Recurring payments with free trials and setup fees on paid passes, plus content restriction for members from Extended up.
- Software licensing
- Issue license keys and deliver updates for plugins, themes and other software, on Professional and All Access.
- Marketplace and commissions
- Run a multi-vendor marketplace and pay commissions to sellers, on Professional and All Access.
- Marketing tools
- Discount codes, abandoned cart recovery, cross-sells and upsells, AI product recommendations and syncing with Mailchimp, ConvertKit and others.
WooCommerce
- Open-source WordPress plugin
- Adds a store to a WordPress site. The code is open source, so the store can be changed freely, and products, orders and API use are not capped.
- Any payment provider
- Use Woo's own WooPayments or any other gateway or buy-now-pay-later service, run several at once, and pay no extra fee to Woo for using a third-party processor.
- Extensions and themes
- Hundreds of extensions and themes in Woo's marketplace add features such as subscriptions, wholesale pricing and marketing tools, many of them paid.
- Shipping integrations
- Live carrier rates, label printing, tracking and returns come through integrations such as ShipStation, Shippo and Easyship, which are free to download.
- Mobile app and in-person sales
- The free WooCommerce app for iOS and Android manages products and orders and takes payments in person with Tap to Pay or a Woo card reader.
Plans
Easy Digital Downloads
Lite$0
Free plugin from WordPress.org that you run on your own WordPress site. EDD adds a 3% fee to each Stripe transaction in the free version.
Personal$199
per year at renewal, after a first year for $99.50
1 site, subscriptions and free trials, discount codes, EU VAT, AI recommendations and cart recovery. Platform fees are not waived on this pass.
Extended$399
per year at renewal, after a first year for $199.50
1 site, no platform fees, Authorize.net and 2Checkout, multi-currency, content restriction, bundles, reviews and Zapier.
Professional$599
per year at renewal, after a first year for $299.50
2 sites, adds software licensing and API, a multi-vendor marketplace with commissions, shipping, post-purchase funnels and premium support.
All Access$999
per year at renewal, after a first year for $499.50
3 sites, every extension, including loyalty rewards, fraud prevention, advanced reports and bulk discount codes.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce$0
The free, open-source WordPress plugin, which you host yourself on a provider you choose. No monthly subscription, platform fee or revenue share.
Ways to pay less
Easy Digital Downloads
- Other savings
Half price in the first year
EDD's pricing page shows introductory first-year prices of half the regular rate, from $99.50 for Personal; renewals are at full price.
WooCommerce
No public discounts listed.
