You have your WordPress site set up and ready to go. If you plan to offer physical or digital products, memberships, or subscriptions, your next step is to choose a WordPress payment plugin to handle those transactions.
You want to choose a payment plugin that is trustworthy, fast, and hassle-free for both you and your customers. To achieve successful payment integration in WordPress, you’ll also need features that are tailored to your type of business.
In this article, I’ll review the 8 best WordPress payment plugins, including features, pricing, and the type of business they’re best for, to help you make a smart and profitable decision for your business.
- What Is a WordPress Payment Plugin?
- 8 Best WordPress Payment Plugins
- What’s the Best WordPress Payment Plugin for My Business?
What Is a WordPress Payment Plugin?
A WordPress payment plugin is a software extension that you install on your WordPress website to facilitate online payments. These plugins are designed to integrate seamlessly with your WordPress site, enabling you to accept payments from customers through various methods such as credit cards, debit cards, and online wallets.
Key Features of WordPress Payment Plugins:
- Easy installation and setup: You can install these plugins directly from the WordPress dashboard, making it simple to configure your payment options without needing extensive technical knowledge.
- Multiple payment options: Many plugins support various payment methods, giving your customers the flexibility to choose their preferred way to pay.
- Additional functionalities: Beyond processing payments, these plugins often offer features like recurring billing, refunds, order management, and transaction reporting.
Interaction with Payment Gateways and Processors
WordPress payment gateways and payment processors are integral components of online payment systems, and understanding how they interact with your WordPress payment plugin helps business owners to ensure smooth operation.
A payment gateway is a front-end service that collects a customer’s payment information. It acts as an intermediary between your website and financial institutions to ensure secure transaction data transfer. When a customer makes a purchase on your site, the payment plugin connects to the payment gateway to verify the transaction.
- Role of payment gateways: Authorizing the transaction by encrypting sensitive information and ensuring it reaches the bank securely.
- Examples: Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net
A payment processor is a service that handles the technical aspects of completing a transaction. This includes communicating with the cardholder’s bank and your merchant account to transfer funds.
- Role of payment processors: Facilitating the transfer of payment data between the buyer’s bank and the seller’s bank, ensuring funds are deducted from the customer’s account and credited to your merchant account.
- Examples: Square, PayPal, Stripe
As you can see, many services, such as PayPal and Stripe, perform both the gateway and the processing functions in online payments.
How They Work Together
- Customer Makes a Purchase: A customer decides to buy a product on your WordPress site and proceeds to checkout.
- Payment Plugin Activation: The payment plugin captures the payment details and sends them to the payment gateway.
- Transaction Authorization: The payment gateway securely processes this information and authorizes the transaction.
- Funds Transfer: The payment processor handles the actual transfer of funds from the customer’s bank to your merchant account.
- Completion: Once the transaction is approved, the payment plugin updates the order status on your WordPress site, completing the purchase process.
By using a WordPress payment plugin, you integrate these processes seamlessly into your site, ensuring a smooth and secure payment experience for your customers. This integration not only enhances the functionality of your website but also builds trust with your customers by providing reliable and secure payment options.
8 Best WordPress Payment Plugins
| Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| WP Simple Pay | Self-employed individuals, small business owners, consultants, nonprofits, developers | $49.50 – $299.50 per year |
| WPForms | Sites needing varied forms that accept payments | $199.50 – $299.50 per year |
| Easy Digital Downloads | Businesses selling digital products | $89.50 – $449.55 per year |
| MemberPress | Subscription or membership-based sites | $179.50 – $399.50 per year |
| WooCommerce | Full eCommerce stores | Free (with paid extensions) |
| WP Full Pay | Sites needing quick and easy payment setups | $49 – $269 per year |
| Accept Stripe Payments | Small websites or individuals with limited sales | Free |
| LearnDash | Websites offering online courses | $199 – $799 per year |
1. WP Simple Pay
WP Simple Pay is an easy-to-use WordPress payment plugin.
It’s perfect for beginners and veterans alike because it comes with payment form templates, it requires no coding, and it’s fully optimized for mobile.
You can easily add recurring payments, create your own payment forms inside the builder, and allow your customers to pay directly from their bank accounts.
Features:
- Secure payment processing
- Optimized for mobile
- Payment form builder
- Payment form templates
- Coupon codes
- Non-card payments
Payment Gateway/Processor:
Stripe
Best for:
Self-employed individuals, small business owners, consultants, nonprofits, and developers. In short, anyone who wants a hassle-free payment experience without having to worry about coding.
Pricing:
The pricing starts at $49.50 per year for the Personal plan, and it goes up to $299.50 per year for the Elite plan. No transaction fees, outside of those charged by Stripe.
Get started with WP Simple Pay today!
Check out our full review of WP Simple Pay:
WP Simple Pay Review: Is It the Right Stripe Payment Plugin for Your Business?
2. WPForms
WPForms is the best form plugin for WordPress, and it doubles as a payment plugin.
The Pro version of WPForms allows you to accept payments. It also allows you to set up recurring payments and receive money without additional fees.
One of the best things about this plugin is the freedom it gives you. More specifically, you can add a payment form anywhere on your website, within widgets, posts, pages, and any other place you can think of.
Features:
- Recurring subscriptions
- Flexible placement
- Unlimited forms
- Integration with multiple marketing platforms for Plus, Pro, and Elite plans
- Integration with CRMs for Elite plan
Payment Gateway/Processors:
Stripe, Square, Paypal for Pro plan and above. Authorize.Net for Elite plan.
Best for:
Any site that needs to include a variety of forms and accept payments through them. Form types include registration forms, surveys, and contact forms, and there are over 1,800 templates available.
Pricing:
The Pro plan, which is required to accept payments, starts at $199.50 per year, with no additional transaction fees. The Elite plan starts at $299.50.
Get started with WPForms today!
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3. Easy Digital Downloads
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is my go-to WordPress plugin for selling digital products.
This particular plugin might not be a good fit for you if you’re selling physical products, but if you’re solely dealing with digital goods, then you can count on it to handle all your transactions..
It’s easy to work with, it has advanced functionality, and great customer support.
We use it at OptinMonster, and it never fails us. You can read our full Easy Digital Downloads review to get more details.
Features:
- Full shopping cart
- Discount codes
- Download activity tracking
- Full data reporting
- Customer account page
- Unlimited file downloads
Payment Gateways/Processors:
PayPal at Personal plan and above. The Extended plan and above includes all of EDD’s payment gateway extensions, which include Stripe and Authorize.net.
Best for:
Any business that deals primarily in downloadable digital products. If you do offer a small number of physical products, the Professional plan offers basic product management functionality.
Pricing:
The Personal plan starts at $89.50 per year, with no additional transaction fees. If you want access to more advanced payment gateways, the Extended plan starts at $199.50 per year. For more advanced functionality, such as physical product management, choose the Professional ($269.55) or All Acces ($449.55).
4. MemberPress
MemberPress is the very best WordPress membership plugin, and it lets you accept payments through PayPal and Stripe.
What are membership plugins for? These tools let you require users to log in to access members-only content. This content could include online courses, subscription-only blogs, downloadables, or member-only products.
MemberPress won’t be right for just any business, but it’s an excellent choice if you use a membership or subscription-based business model.
Features:
- Recurring payments
- Locked downloads
- Flexible payment gateway
- Pricing pages
- Paywall
- Coupons
Payment Gateways/Processors:
PayPal and Stripe
Pricing:
The pricing starts at $179.50 per year for the Basic plan, with no transaction fees. It goes up to $399.50 per year for the Pro plan.
5. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is one of the most well-known WordPress plugins on the market.
It’s the perfect option for those who want to run full-fledged eCommerce stores, because it has plenty of useful features.
Most WordPress eCommerce websites use WooCommerce as their main plugin. If you’re doing eCommerce, you should give it a try.
Features:
- Extensive list of additions and plugins
- Stripe integration
- Stripe refunds
- A wide variety of themes
- Fast mobile checkout
Payment Gateways/Processors:
WooPayments, Stripe, Paypal, Square, and more
Best for:
Online store owners who want an extremely customizable experience.
Pricing:
WooCommerce’s basic WordPress plugin is free. For more advanced features, WooCommerce offers a wide variety of free and paid extensions, so you can tailor your payment plugin to have exactly what you need.
6. WP Full Pay
WP Full Pay is a beginner-friendly WordPress Stripe payment plugin.
It doesn’t require coding, it’s easy to use, and it’s trusted by over 7,000 users.
The vast majority of payment management tasks can be done inside the WordPress dashboard, so it’s not confusing even if you’ve never used a similar plugin in the past.
Features:
- Recurring payments
- Donations
- Settling invoices
- Collecting customer payment information
- Secure payments
Payment Gateway/Processor:
Stripe
Best for:
WordPress sites that want to be able to quickly and easily start accepting payments for one-time purchases, donations, or subscriptions.
Pricing:
There is a free basic version of the plugin. For more features, the Starter plan is $49 per year with no transaction fees, and pricing tops out at $269 per year for the Agency plan.
7. Accept Stripe Payments
Accept Stripe Payments does exactly what the name says it does. It’s a WordPress plugin created specifically for those who want to receive payments through Stripe.
It’s simple, and it doesn’t have advanced functionality. All you can use it for is to add “Buy now” or “Donate now” buttons on your website with the help of shortcode.
Features:
- Responsive
- Flexible placement
- One-click payments
- Stripe payment history
- Easy installation
Payment Gateway/Processor:
Stripe
Best for:
Individuals and small websites with low sales or donations or that are just getting started.
Pricing:
Free
8. LearnDash
LearnDash is a learning management system (LMS) plugin for WordPress. In simpler terms, it helps users sell online courses in a format similar to Udemy.
Just like MemberPress and WooCommerce, LearnDash is not a standalone payment plugin, but it allows you to receive payments for your courses.
Features:
- One-time payment or subscription courses
- Automatic user enrollment after payment
- Course and group management
- Beautiful design
- Detailed reporting
Payment Gateways/Processors:
PayPal and Stripe
Best for:
Websites that offer a significant number of online courses.
Pricing:
The LearnDash LMS plugin starts at $199 per year for a single site. It’s $399 a year for up to 10 sites and $799 for unlimited.
What’s the Best WordPress Payment Plugin for My Business?
The list we put together has several standalone payment plugins, as well as more robust plugins that have a more targeted purpose.
- If you want something efficient and easy to install, your best option would be a standalone payment plugin like WP Simple Pay.
- If you need to host multiple types of forms on your site, WPForms is the best plugin.
- For subscription or membership-based sites, MemberPress would be a better choice.
- Full eCommerce stores should consider WooCommerce
- Educational sites should look into LearnDash.
In short, there is no single best payment plugin for WordPress. Instead, you should choose the one that best fits your business’s needs.
Get More Sales Through Your Payment Plugin
I hope this article helps you find the best WordPress Stripe payment plugin for your business!
If you found it helpful, then you might want to also check out these resources:
- 15 Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins
- 23 Best WooCommerce Themes for Your Online Store
- 11 Best WordPress Marketing Plugins (Compared)
- Ultimate eCommerce Optimization Guide: 13 Steps to Instantly Boost Revenue
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