If you are running an eCommerce store, an effective tactic for increasing sales is providing subscriptions. Getting your customers to sign up for recurring memberships or receive products or services regularly means more regular income.
If you use WooCommerce, you might wonder if there is a way to set up WooCommerce subscriptions. Thankfully, there is, in the form of a WooCommerce subscription plugin. Here, I look at five of the best plugins.
5 Best WordPress Subscription Plugins for WooCommerce
Each of these plugins has an average rating of over 4 out of 5 stars on independent review sites. But, of course, they each have their own unique set of features, so let’s dive in and see how they compare.
Booster for WooCommerce
🏆 Best for professional eCommerce stores that would benefit from the many other WooCommerce enhancements included, not just subscriptions.
Booster for WooCommerce is more than just a subscription plugin. It is a whole bunch of WooCommerce enhancements rolled into one — a mega plugin, if you like.
But speaking specifically about subscriptions, it comes with some great features. For example, you can choose between different subscription frequencies, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. You can also have subscriptions for specific products for specific days, create product bundles, and set expiry dates for your subscriptions.
Pricing: starting from $149 per year for one website.
Key features:
- Sell products on a subscription basis or as a lifetime payment.
- Choice of subscription frequencies — daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
- Ability to have subscriptions for specific products for specific days.
- Set when your subscriptions expire.
- Create product bundles.
- If someone cancels a subscription, you can automatically prompt them to provide a reason.
- Multiple subscription options for each product.
- Let customers change their payment date.
Booster for WooCommerce has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars from 462 reviews on WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Many plugins rolled into one — has many more features besides subscriptions.
- Adds extra functionality to many WooCommerce settings.
- Excellent support.
Cons:
- Documentation could be improved.
Subscriptions for WooCommerce by WP Swings
🏆 Best free WooCommerce subscription plugin.
Subscriptions for WooCommerce by WP Swings is a free plugin that some users say is better than WooCommerce’s own subscription plugin, which definitely isn’t free. The free version is quick and easy to set up, providing enough subscription features for most eCommerce stores. However, there is the option to upgrade to a Pro version for even more functionality.
But best of all is the support. Many user reviews have high praise for how responsive the support team is and how much effort they put into helping you if you have a problem or query. However, this plugin is not compatible with all payment gateways, including PayPal, which might put off some potential users.
Pricing: Free. The pro version, with additional features, starts from $99.
Key features:
- Easily create subscription products by ticking a checkbox.
- Set the subscription frequency to weekly, monthly, or yearly.
- Set the subscription expiry date.
- Support for 10+ payment gateways, including Stripe.
- Offer free trials on subscription products.
- View subscription data for all users.
Subscriptions for WooCommerce plugin has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars from 36 reviews on WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Quick and easy to set up.
- The free version works well.
- Excellent support.
Cons:
- Not compatible with all payment gateways.
SUMO Subscriptions
🏆 Best for drip-feeding downloadable subscription content.
SUMO Subscriptions claims it is the “most comprehensive subscription plugin” and is a complete subscription system. It certainly has many useful features for the price. For example, it can offer different subscription types, such as simple subscriptions, variable subscriptions, and grouped product subscriptions.
But one particularly useful feature is the ability to automatically drip feed downloadable content, which is ideal if you are offering a subscription to downloadable digital content. However, there appears to be an issue with PayPal, and feedback on the support quality is mixed. Some users say the support team is extremely helpful, whereas others say they are useless.
Pricing: $49.
Key features:
- Offers different subscription types — simple subscriptions, variable subscriptions, and grouped product subscriptions.
- Users can decide on renewal frequency and the number of installments.
- Automatic subscription renewal.
- Provide multiple subscriptions in a single checkout.
- Users can easily upgrade or downgrade their subscriptions.
- Drip feed downloadable subscription content.
- Send reminder emails for overdue payments.
SUMO Subscriptions has an average rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars from 83 reviews on CodeCanyon.net.
Pros:
- Works well without slowing down your website.
- Reminder emails are well thought out.
- Good documentation.
- Some users have praised the responsive support team.
Cons:
- Has issues with PayPal.
- Some users have had a bad support experience.
Subscriptio WooCommerce Subscription
🏆 Best for handling overdue payments.
Subscriptio WooCommerce Subscription is another good WooCommerce subscription plugin. However, the other plugins I’ve already mentioned are probably better. For example, it is $20 more than SUMO Subscriptions but doesn’t seem to offer $20 worth of additional features.
However, one feature that could be extremely useful is how it automatically handles overdue payments. It sends payment reminders before and after the payment is due, giving users a grace period. Once that grace period ends, the subscription is suspended, and further reminder emails are sent before the subscription is eventually canceled.
Pricing: $69.
Key features:
- Handles all subscription-related actions automatically, including reminders for overdue payments.
- Supports PayPal and Stripe for automatic subscription payments.
- Subscriptions are available for both simple and variable products.
- Set the billing cycle to any length and the max subscription length.
- Configure trial periods of any length or charge a one-off signup fee.
- You can manually pause, resume and cancel any subscriptions.
- Sell any products, whether tangible on intangible.
Subscriptio WooCommerce Subscription has an average rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars from 160 reviews on CodeCanyon.net.
Pros:
- Easy to use.
- Very customizable.
Cons:
- Some users have not had a good experience with support.
WooCommerce Subscriptions by WooCommerce
🏆 Best if you want to be able to accept many different payment types, including PayPal.
This is the official WooCommerce subscription plugin from the creators of WooCommerce. So, you would expect this to be the best WooCommerce subscriptions plugin, but it’s not.
Not that it’s terrible. It’s still a good plugin. It’s just a bit expensive, considering it doesn’t seem to offer that much more than other WooCommerce subscription plugins.
However, it may support more payment gateways than the other plugins, including PayPal, with which some of the other plugins have a problem.
Pricing: $199 per year.
Key features:
- Supports multiple billing schedules to suit your online store.
- Integrates with over 25 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and WorldPay.
- Subscribers can manage their own plans and upgrade or downgrade without your assistance.
- Renewal notifications alert you and your customers to any renewal activity.
- Detailed reports so you can see all your subscribers and revenue.
WooCommerce Subscriptions by WooCommerce has an average rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars from 25 reviews on g2.com.
Pros:
- Integrates well with WooCommerce and WordPress.
- Easy to use.
- Works well for both software-based subscriptions and physical products.
Cons:
- Unable to customize the price wording.
- Rather expensive, considering it’s not the best WooCommerce subscriptions plugin.
Do You Need Recurring PayPal Payments?
You may have noticed several WooCommerce subscription plugins have a problem with PayPal.
Well, if you want to create subscriptions on your website without using WooCommerce, let me introduce our JetFormBuilder.
JetFormBuilder is a dynamic WordPress form builder that you can use to create almost any type of form on your website.
JetFormBuilder has various add-ons that come with its Pro version, including PayPal Recurring Payments.
This allows you to accept regular PayPal payments for a variety of subscription services, such as:
- Streaming services.
- Online courses.
- Social media marketing services.
- Software subscriptions.
- Fitness training subscriptions.
Check out this helpful video showing how you can easily set up JetFormBuilder’s PayPal Recurring Payments:
Alternatively, if you prefer written instructions, click here.
FAQ
Yes, WooCommerce is great for subscriptions if you choose a good plugin. Subscriptions are a great way to generate regular income from your customers on your WooCommerce store.
To do subscriptions on WooCommerce, you need to install a WooCommerce subscriptions plugin. A good free one is Subscriptions for WooCommerce by WP Swings.
If you are looking for an excellent all-around plugin that offers subscriptions plus a whole host of other WooCommerce enhancements, Booster for WooCommerce is the one to go for. Alternatively, if you only want to add subscriptions to WooCommerce, a good free plugin is Subscriptions for WooCommerce by WP Swings.
Summary
WooCommerce subscription plugins are a great way to add additional regular income to your WooCommerce store. Today, I have looked at five of the best plugins, and here is a recap of each of them.
- Booster for WooCommerce is more than just a subscription plugin and provides many other enhancements to WooCommerce. It costs $149 for one website.
- Subscriptions for WooCommerce is the best free WooCommerce subscription plugin, although you can pay $99 for the Pro version with additional features.
- JetFormBuilder is a good option for setting up recurring subscriptions, costing $39 per year.
- SUMO Subscriptions is a good WooCommerce subscription plugin, costing $49. However, there seems to be an issue processing PayPal payments.
- Subscriptio – WooCommerce Subscription is another good plugin, although, at $69, it may not be worth the extra price over SUMO Subscriptions.
- WooCommerce Subscriptions by WooCommerce is the official subscription plugin from the creators of WooCommerce. It is good, but it’s hard to justify the $199-per-year price tag.