WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the open source ecommerce platform for WordPress. It enables merchants to completely customize their store, own their data, and manage their customer relationships.

Built on WordPress, WooCommerce powers over 4 million online stores and 31% of the top 1 million ecommerce sites worldwide. It’s free, flexible, and designed to grow with a business, from selling a single product to high-volume global operations.

The WooCommerce Marketplace offers over 1,300 paid extensions and themes that merchants can use to customize, optimize, and scale their stores.

This guide explains what WooCommerce is, what the Marketplace offers, and how to earn by promoting extensions and themes to your audience.

What WooCommerce is

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that turns any WordPress site into a fully functional online store. Once installed, merchants can sell physical products, digital goods, subscriptions, bookings, memberships, and more, with complete ownership over their checkout, customer data, and costs.

WooCommerce empowers anyone to sell anything, and takes no cut of what they sell — no platform fees, no revenue share, no surcharge for choosing your own payment provider. It’s open source, which means merchants can customize every part of the platform and choose any hosting provider, payment gateway, or shipping solution.

Key characteristics:

Free and open source — No platform fees or revenue sharing
Built on WordPress — Powers 42% of the web, with a massive global community
Fully customizable — Merchants own their code, data, and customer relationships
Unlimited scalability — From one product to millions of orders
Extensible — Over 1,300 extensions and themes available in the Marketplace

What the WooCommerce Marketplace includes

The WooCommerce Marketplace is the official destination for high-quality extensions and themes that enhance WooCommerce stores. All products in the Marketplace are vetted, documented, and come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Extensions add functionality to WooCommerce stores, including:

Payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Square, etc.)
Shipping and fulfillment tools
Marketing and customer engagement features
Subscriptions, memberships, and bookings
Product customization and display options
Analytics, reporting, and automation tools

Marketplace themes are professionally designed storefronts built for ecommerce. WooCommerce Marketplace themes are built specifically for online stores, with layouts designed to boost conversions and create trust.

Good fits for WooCommerce Marketplace products

WooCommerce Marketplace extensions and themes can be a strong fit for content creators whose audiences include:

Store owners looking to add functionality — Merchants who want to expand their WooCommerce stores with features like subscriptions, advanced shipping options, or product customization tools.
New store owners getting started — People launching their first online store who need themes and extensions to create a professional, high-converting shopping experience.
Developers and agencies building client stores — Web professionals who recommend extensions and themes as part of their client projects.
Content creators in the ecommerce space — Bloggers, YouTubers, and course creators who produce tutorials, reviews, or comparisons of WooCommerce tools.
Established merchants scaling operations — Businesses running high-SKU catalogs, B2B or wholesale alongside DTC, or multi-region operations, who need extensions for complex pricing, subscriptions, and fulfillment workflows.

What sets WooCommerce Marketplace apart

Vetted, high-quality products

Every extension and theme in the WooCommerce Marketplace is reviewed for quality, security, and compatibility. Merchants get comprehensive documentation, regular updates, and support from the extension or theme developer, not generic marketplace support.

Built for WordPress and WooCommerce

Unlike generic plugin marketplaces, WooCommerce Marketplace products are designed specifically for WooCommerce stores. Extensions integrate with WooCommerce core features, and themes are optimized for ecommerce performance from product pages to checkout.

30-day money-back guarantee

All paid extensions and themes come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, removing purchase risk for merchants and making it easier for affiliates to recommend products confidently.

Subscription model with updates and support

When merchants purchase an extension or theme, they receive a subscription that includes product updates, security patches, and developer support for the duration of their subscription. This provides ongoing value and keeps stores secure and up to date.

Affiliate commission details

Earn 30% on a customer’s first paid purchase and 10% on purchases from returning customers.
All paid extensions and themes from the WooCommerce Marketplace are eligible. Free products don’t earn commissions.
Tracking duration: 30 days.

For current payout rules, cookie windows, and commission details, see the Payouts and commissions guide.

Extension demos for testing and content creation

Select WooCommerce Marketplace extensions offer live demos that let users test functionality before purchasing. Demos run on temporary test sites (TestWoo.com) that are automatically created when a user clicks “View demo” on an extension page.

How demos work:

Navigate to a Marketplace extension page
Click “View demo” near the “Buy now” button
A temporary test site is created with the extension pre-installed
Explore the extension’s features for up to 30 days
The test site is automatically deleted after 30 days

Why demos matter for affiliates:

Test extensions hands-on before recommending them
Create tutorials, walkthroughs, or comparison content showing real functionality
Give your audience confidence by showing exactly how an extension works

Extensions with available demos

The following WooCommerce Marketplace extensions offer live demos. Click “View demo” on any extension page to create a test site and explore features.

For the complete, up-to-date list of extensions with demos, visit the WooCommerce Marketplace and look for the “View demo” button on individual extension pages.

WooCommerce and WordPress.com Commerce plan

WooCommerce is also the ecommerce foundation for WordPress.com’s Commerce plan. The Commerce plan includes WooCommerce pre-installed, plus managed hosting, built-in performance optimization, and priority support, so merchants can launch a WooCommerce store without managing hosting or server setup.

For audiences comparing hosting options, see the WordPress.com hosting plans breakdown.

Common questions

Is WooCommerce free?

Yes. WooCommerce itself is a free, open-source WordPress plugin. Merchants can download and use WooCommerce at no cost. However, they can enhance their stores with paid extensions and themes from the WooCommerce Marketplace, which is where affiliates can earn commissions.

Do WooCommerce users need to host their sites on WordPress.com?

No. WooCommerce is self-hosted, which means merchants can use any WordPress-compatible hosting provider. However, WordPress.com offers a Commerce plan that includes WooCommerce pre-installed with managed hosting, performance optimization, and expert support.

Can I test WooCommerce extensions before promoting them?

Yes. Selected extensions offer live demos that let you test functionality on a temporary test site. Visit the WooCommerce Marketplace and look for the “View demo” button on individual extension pages.

What’s the difference between WooCommerce Marketplace and WordPress.com theme directory?

The WooCommerce Marketplace sells extensions and themes specifically designed for WooCommerce stores. These products work on any self-hosted WordPress site with WooCommerce installed, including sites hosted on WordPress.com’s Business or Commerce plans.

The WordPress.com Theme Directory sells themes designed for WordPress.com-hosted sites. Some of these themes support WooCommerce, but they’re not WooCommerce-specific.

Affiliates can earn commissions on paid themes from both the WooCommerce Marketplace and the WordPress.com Theme Directory. For details on WordPress.com themes, see Premium themes.