VirtueMart vs WooCommerce (2026): which should you pick?

Pick VirtueMart if

• Fits if you already run Joomla and want a free shop
• Works for people who can get by on forum help

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you don't use Joomla, since it only runs there
• Skip it if you're moving to Joomla 6, as release 4.6.0 is marked as not working on it
• Watch out: no paid support plan is listed, only the forum and partner agencies
• Tight if you want a hosted shop, because you need your own hosting

Pick WooCommerce if

• Fits if you already have a WordPress site and want to add a shop to it
• Works for picking your own payment provider with no platform fee on sales

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you don't want to deal with hosting, updates, backups and security
• Not for you if you want one simple bill, as hosting at $25 to $350 a month and extensions are paid separately
• Watch out: many features are paid extensions at $29 to $299 a year each
• Tight if you ship a lot, since labels come through outside services such as ShipStation or Shippo
• Watch out: card fees depend on your processor; Woo gives about 2.5% to 2.9% + 30¢ for WooPayments

VirtueMart

• It runs only on Joomla and needs your own hosting.
• Release 4.6.0 is marked by the vendor as not working on Joomla 6; a VirtueMart 5 is planned for that.
• No paid support plan is listed on the site; help comes from the forum and community, and partner agencies are listed.

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.

VirtueMart

Product management

Products, nested categories, attributes and variants, with multiple media types such as images, PDFs and videos.

Multi-language shops

Built-in multi-language support for stores aimed at several markets.

Payments, shipping and tax

Payment gateways including PayPal, Stripe and Authorize.Net, plus shipping and tax calculation by weight, destination and tax rate.

Shopper groups

Groups change how prices are shown or calculated, for example prices with tax for B2C and without for B2B.

Inventory

Stock tracking, low-stock notifications and backorder management.

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.

VirtueMart

• VirtueMart$0

  Free open-source extension for Joomla that you install on your own site.

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.