If you want to sell something from a WordPress site, two names dominate the conversation: WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads (EDD). They solve overlapping problems in very different ways. WooCommerce is a general-purpose store platform that can sell almost anything, from T-shirts to ebooks. EDD is built specifically for selling digital products such as software, templates, music, photography and courses.
This guide compares them on what you are actually choosing between: what each is for, how each is priced, what is included and what costs extra, and which one fits which kind of store. Figures come from each plugin's WordPress.org listing and EDD's pricing page, checked on 5 November 2026. We have not built stores with both for this article, so we describe what the vendors say and where their pages leave gaps.
The short answer
Selling physical products, or a mix of physical and digital? WooCommerce is the natural choice, because shipping, tax, stock and product variations are what it is built around. Selling only digital downloads and want a focused tool? EDD is designed for exactly that, and its checkout and file delivery are tuned for it. WooCommerce can sell digital products too, so the choice is not forced. It is a trade-off between breadth and focus.
At a glance
| WooCommerce | Easy Digital Downloads | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Any kind of store, physical or digital | Digital products only |
| Active installs | 7,000,000+ | 40,000+ |
| Rating | 90/100 (4,833 ratings) | 94/100 (592 ratings) |
| Current version | 11.2.2 (updated 4 November 2026) | 3.7.3 (updated 2 November 2026) |
| Required PHP | 7.4 | 8.0 |
| Core plugin | Free and open source | Free "Lite" version |
| Paid | Extensions for specific features | Yearly plans, from about $99.50 (promotional) |
What WooCommerce is
WooCommerce describes its core as a free, open-source ecommerce platform for WordPress, and stresses that you keep ownership of your store's content and data. Its listing says you can sell physical and digital goods, product variations, custom configurations, instant downloads and affiliate items, and add subscriptions, bookings and memberships through extensions. It lists support for more than 100 payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal and Square, its own payment system WooPayments (available in a list of countries including the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Spain, France, Germany and Italy), shipping tools (USPS label printing is U.S.-only) and tax tools.
Its scale is the headline: more than 7 million active installs, which means a huge ecosystem of themes, extensions, developers and tutorials. That also means a lot to learn and a lot of moving parts to keep updated, since a Woo store usually runs several extensions. The rating (90 out of 100 from 4,833 ratings) is good for a plugin this complex.
What Easy Digital Downloads is
EDD calls itself the plugin built specifically for selling digital products: ebooks, software, templates, music, photography, courses. Its listing promises unlimited products, unlimited transactions and "zero listing fees". The setup wizard gives you a shopping cart, payments by credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, a streamlined checkout, customer management, reports, secure storage for your download files and discount codes. It has far fewer installs (40,000+) but a higher rating (94 out of 100 from 592 ratings), and it requires PHP 8.0.
The free plugin is the "Lite" version of a paid product. The listing says the paid version adds subscriptions and recurring payments, software licensing, content restriction for memberships, abandoned cart recovery and "70+ premium ecommerce features".
What each really costs
WooCommerce: the plugin is free, but a working store adds costs: hosting that can handle shop traffic, a theme that suits it, extensions for features you need (subscriptions, bookings and memberships are extensions), and payment processor fees, which depend on your gateway and country. Check those fees on the processor's own site; we do not quote them here.
Easy Digital Downloads: the Lite plugin is free, and EDD's pricing page lists four yearly plans. At the time we read it, the prices shown were promotional, with a higher "regular" price listed alongside:
- Personal (1 site): $99.50 a year promotional, listed regular price $199. Core checkout, Stripe, PayPal and Apple Pay, subscriptions, discount codes, EU VAT and abandoned cart recovery.
- Extended (1 site): $199.50, listed regular $399. Adds more gateways (including Authorize.net and 2Checkout), bundles, reviews and Zapier.
- Professional (2 sites): $299.50, listed regular $599. Adds software licensing and a marketplace and commissions, with premium support.
- All Access (3 sites): $499.50, listed regular $999. The full feature set, including fraud prevention and advanced reports.
EDD's page says paid plans have no platform fees, and the page does not state what your payment processor charges. It also says subscriptions renew each year, that a lapsed subscription loses support, updates and locked-in pricing, and that a 14-day money-back guarantee applies. The page was not fully clear on whether the "regular" prices are the renewal prices, so check that before you commit.
Where each is stronger
WooCommerce wins on
- Physical goods: shipping, stock, product variations and tax are core strengths.
- Ecosystem: themes, extensions, developers and answers online are plentiful.
- Flexibility: subscriptions, bookings and memberships through extensions.
- Cost to start: the core is free and you can add paid extensions only as you need them.
Easy Digital Downloads wins on
- Focus: everything is designed around digital delivery: secure file storage, download links, licensing.
- A simpler admin for people who only sell downloads, without shipping and tax screens they never use.
- Digital-specific features such as software licensing and content restriction in the paid plans.
- Predictable bundles: a clear list of plans per year, with no platform fees.
How to choose
- List what you sell. Any physical product, even one, points towards WooCommerce.
- List the features you need (subscriptions, licensing, memberships, bookings), then look at what is free and what is paid in each. Add up the yearly cost.
- Check your payment methods and countries. Make sure both your processor and your customers' countries are supported.
- Check your host. Stores need more server power than blogs, and checkout and account pages must not be served from a shared page cache (see caching plugins explained).
- Prototype both on a test site with one real product and walk through a purchase as a customer.
Things every store needs, whichever you pick
- Backups before every update, and a tested restore (see our backup plugin comparison). Orders are data you cannot recreate.
- Reliable email. Order confirmations and download links must reach customers; set up SMTP (see SMTP plugins).
- HTTPS and a strong login, including two-factor for admins (see securing your login).
- Legal pages: privacy policy, terms, refund policy and any tax information the law requires where you sell.
The bottom line
WooCommerce is the broad, enormous, free-to-start platform, best when you sell physical goods or want maximum flexibility. Easy Digital Downloads is the focused tool for digital products, with clear yearly plans and no platform fees. If you sell only downloads, EDD deserves a close look. If you sell anything that ships, or you are unsure how your store will grow, WooCommerce is the safer default. Either way, count the total yearly cost, test a purchase as a customer, and make sure backups and email are solid before you take real orders.
Sources
Plugin figures are from the WordPress.org plugin API on 5 November 2026; EDD prices are as shown on its pricing page that day, with promotional prices running, and change often. Feature descriptions are paraphrased from the vendors' own pages.
