Enabling advanced subscription capabilities on a WooCommerce website is often difficult for businesses. Most businesses are busy determining what plugins to use and how they will impact their store. But what if we told you that this decision does not have to be so complicated?
Below we present the best WooCommerce subscription plugins for your online store. The article explains the salient features and capabilities you can add to your WooCommerce website with a subscription plugin integration.
What is WooCommerce Subscription?
WooCommerce subscription involves setting up your online store to support automated or recurring payments. You can accomplish this by using a premium WooCommerce plugin or extension. The plugins allow you to sell products and services on your store via regular charges or subscription fees.
Your eCommerce customers can subscribe to a product or service via the automated payment method. The admin has the option to approve or deny subscriptions to the customers. After subscribing, users can log in to your WooCommerce website as a subscriber.
Typically, the subscriber login redirects the user to a product page. The user can change their role and access the paid website section after successful payment. The paid section could be exclusive content or a dashboard for accessing your services.
Role of WooCommerce Subscription Plugins for WooCommerce Website
In short, the role of WooCommerce plugins is to enable store owners or admins to manage subscription (recurring) payments and related services. There are three types of subscriptions that you can implement on your eCommerce store.
Product subscription enables you to offer recurring payment options for products you sell on your WooCommerce store at periodic intervals. Membership subscription allows customers to purchase a membership to access your products and services.
Email subscription allows your customers or target audience to facilitate effective communication with your brand. It typically involves communications, such as major updates, newsletters, promos, and more.
Even if you have an inferior subscription plugin on your website, you can still upgrade it with WooCommerce Subscriptions migration. The WooCommerce developers at Virtina can help you ensure a fast and efficient subscription migration. We can customize the WooCommerce subscription plugin to add tailor-made features to manage your online business better.20 Best WooCommerce Subscription Plugins
One of the advantages of using WooCommerce's open-source platform for running your online business is access to numerous plugins. You can easily add subscription capabilities to your website by integrating a WooCommerce subscription plugin.
There are numerous plugins with unique features and functionalities that you can use on your WooCommerce store. Following is the list of the most efficient WooCommerce subscription plugins you can use for your online store in 2023.
1. WooCommerce Subscriptions
It is arguably the most widely used WooCommerce subscription plugin today, and it is a native product from none other than WooCommerce itself. It is an ideal choice for your WooCommerce store because it offers unique features, including the ability to manage different subscriptions simultaneously.
Besides that, the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin also lets you access functionalities, such as periodic billing and automatic invoice generation. That's not all. You can access numerous other features and functionalities with the WooCommerce plugin. Some other attractive features of the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugins are listed below.
Top Features and Benefits of Using WooCommerce Subscriptions by WooCommerce
2. Subscriptions for WooCommerce
WebToffee offers an advanced subscription plugin called Subscriptions for WooCommerce. It is another excellent WooCommerce subscription plugin to consider for your online store. You can easily use the plugin to set up and manage subscription/recurring payments on your WooCommerce store.
The WooCommerce plugin lets you handle your subscription billing needs without a complex setup. More importantly, you can use the plugin to set up subscriptions for physical and digital products. Following are some other attractive features of Subscriptions for the WooCommerce plugin.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Subscriptions for WooCommerce
3. Subscriptio
With Subscriptio, you get a WooCommerce subscription plugin that lets users sell subscriptions. Another attractive aspect of this plugin is that it can easily enable recurring revenue schemes for your website.
It is an ideal WooCommerce subscription plugin for your business if you wish to sell eLearning packages. Of course, you can still use the plugin for selling online memberships, including for online magazines and other similar items. Some other features you can access with the WooCommerce plugin include the following.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Subscriptio
4. YITH WooCommerce Subscription
Another popular WooCommerce subscription plugin you can consider for your eCommerce store is the YITH WooCommerce Subscription plugin. It lets WooCommerce store owners create subscription products ranging from essential items to product articles.
You can download the YITH WooCommerce Subscription plugin for free from the WordPress store, but you can also use its premium version if necessary. With YITH, you can create unlimited subscriptions for your physical or digital products.
You can control sales volume, provide fixed membership plans for content distribution, and more. YITH even lets you set up a schedule for content distribution to your subscribers. Other attractive features of the YITH WooCommerce Subscription plugin include the following.
Top Features and Benefits of Using YITH WooCommerce Subscription
5. WP Simple Pay (Stripe Payments)
It is an excellent plugin for implementing a subscription option on your WooCommerce website using Stripe's secure payment gateway. WP Simple Pay lets you facilitate recurring and one-time payments via Stripe. Zero coding is required to add the WooCommerce subscription capability to your website.
The plugin lets you create subscription plans for your business using nothing but your Stripe account. It allows you to design installment plans and specify the trial period and initial setup fees. Besides that, you can use the plugin to create custom form fields, collect data, and enable custom entries using dropdowns.
Top Features and Benefits of Using WP Simple Pay
6. SUMO Subscriptions
Another excellent WooCommerce subscription plugin you can use on your website is SUMO subscriptions by Fantastic Plugins. One of the specialties of the SUMO Subscriptions plugin is that it comes with several built-in payment gateways.
The plugin facilitates automatic renewals via PayPal and Stripe. You can create the variable and grouped product subscriptions using this WooCommerce subscription plugin. Apart from that, the plugin lets users set their subscription duration, renewal frequency, etc.
Top Features and Benefits of Using SUMO Subscriptions
7. Paid Memberships Pro
Unlike most WooCommerce subscription plugins discussed above, the Paid Memberships Pro plugin is exclusively for membership sites. It means you can't use this plugin for physical or digital products. The company also offers several other plugins for networking, email marketing, and more that can work seamlessly with each other.
It is also worth noting that the plugin supports numerous add-ons and integrations. However, this WooCommerce subscription plugin works best for membership-based websites. Besides, Paid Membership Pro plugin offers many features to enhance your WooCommerce site capabilities. You can further enhance these capabilities via appropriate add-ons.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Paid Memberships Pro
8. WP Full Stripe
You can significantly enhance the payment capabilities of your WooCommerce store using the WP Full Stripe plugin. The plugin lets you create subscriptions and send invoices to customers. Furthermore, it also supports the standard one-time purchases on your WooCommerce store. As the name suggests, the plugin uses Stripe's secure API.
No coding is necessary for using this WooCommerce subscription plugin on your online store. The plugin even lets you integrate pricing tables and receive donations through the WooCommerce website. Besides that, the plugin offers advanced payment and refund management capabilities for your online business.
Top Features and Benefits of Using WP Full Stripe
9. Paid Member Subscriptions
Another excellent WooCommerce subscription plugin for membership websites is the Paid Member Subscriptions plugin. With this WooCommerce subscription plugin, you can set explicit access to premium content on your website. The Paid Member Subscriptions plugin offers Elementor page builder integration for content restriction.
The plugin offers numerous features that enable WooCommerce store owners to manage memberships and payments better. After installation, you can organize subscriptions into different hierarchies. Furthermore, the plugin lets you offer customers free trials before choosing a subscription plan.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Paid Member Subscriptions
10. WooCommerce Memberships
Membership associations, eLearning sites, online magazines, and similar businesses can significantly benefit from WooCommerce Memberships plugin. The WooCommerce plugin provides superior access control for managing your content or products. Besides content restriction, the plugin lets you manually assign memberships and facilitate a complete member integration to your WooCommerce website.
Top Features and Benefits of Using WooCommerce Memberships
11. AWeber Newsletter Subscription
It is an ideal WooCommerce subscription plugin for your business if you want a specialized newsletter plugin. AWeber integration requires zero coding and instantly connects your email marketing with your WooCommerce store. Many online store owners use the specialized newsletter subscription plugin to grow their email audience and boost sales.
Top Features and Benefits of Using AWeber Newsletter Subscription
12. Minimum Periods for WooCommerce Subscriptions
It is a unique WooCommerce subscription plugin that allows you to assign a minimum period for subscriptions. Besides, you can set custom payment terms for your subscription products using the Minimum Periods for the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin. The plugin requires customers to keep their subscriptions active for a minimum period before they can cancel the subscription.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Minimum Periods for WooCommerce Subscriptions
13. Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions
You can use the Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin to enhance your site's subscription capability. It allows you to offer all your existing products in your WooCommerce store for subscription purchases. The plugin is ideal for any business wanting to sell its stand-alone products using a subscription plan.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions
14. Groups for WooCommerce
Another popular WooCommerce subscription plugin for your membership-oriented website is Groups for WooCommerce. The plugin is one of the best for enabling and managing group memberships. It is also a robust access control solution that works seamlessly on WordPress and WooCommerce websites.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Groups for WooCommerce
15. Bulk Table Editor
Although not a dedicated plugin for managing WooCommerce subscriptions, the Bulk Table Editor is famous for its diverse capabilities. The plugin is an excellent choice for businesses that want to edit their subscriptions and products in bulk. Besides bulk editing your subscriptions, the plugin lets you quickly schedule sales, assign tags, edit prices, and more.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Bulk Table Editor
16. Donation For WooCommerce
The WooCommerce Subscription is ideal for NGOs and non-profits to accept donations on their website. It enables you to create fundraising campaigns with advanced capabilities. Donation for WooCommerce plugin allows you to create tailored donation campaigns to meet your organizational goals.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Donation For WooCommerce
17. Kissmetrics
Organizations must keep close track of their subscriptions, and Kissmetrics is one of the best plugins. The plugin works seamlessly with WooCommerce subscriptions and enhances its capability. Besides subscriptions, you get actionable insights on various aspects of your WooCommerce store.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Kissmetrics
18. Autoship Cloud
WooCommerce site owners often consider Autoship Cloud one of the best alternatives to WooCommerce Subscriptions. It enables you to build an advanced subscription system for your organization that works on par with the subscription capabilities in Amazon. Using this plugin, you can even implement a subscribe and save system similar to Amazon on your site.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Autoship Cloud
19. Chargebee
It is one of the most widely-used subscription management software in eCommerce. Chargebee enables subscription-based businesses to retain and grow their revenue with advanced capabilities. Some of the most attractive aspects of this WooCommerce subscription plugin include recurring billing and superior subscription management.
Top Features and Benefits of Using Chargebee
20. PPWP (Password Protect WordPress) Pro
PPWP Pro is another effective alternative to the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin. It lets you restrict access to products on your WooCommerce website, product pages, etc. Advanced password protection enables you to provide access to your protected virtual products for authorized users only.
Top Features and Benefits of Using PPWP (Password Protect WordPress) Pro
Tips to Choose a WooCommerce Subscription Plugin for Your Website
Choosing the ideal WooCommerce subscription plugin for your website can be complex, depending on your unique requirements. The WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin from WooCommerce works well for most businesses.
Moreover, you can enhance the subscription capabilities of your website with appropriate add-ons. The only way to figure out the best WooCommerce subscription plugin for your website is to analyze your subscription requirement deeply.
The WooCommerce subscription tools discussed above can help you meet most of your subscription needs. You can also customize these plugins with the help of an expert like Virtina to tailor a plugin that perfectly meets your unique requirements.
Wrapping up
Managing subscriptions on your WooCommerce website can be challenging without the right tools. The plugins discussed above can significantly enhance your website subscription capabilities. However, choosing the right plugin that perfectly fits your subscription requirements takes time and effort.
The experts at Virtina can analyze your requirements and equip your WooCommerce store with the most suitable subscription plugin. We can even add custom capabilities to the plugins and ensure an efficient subscription capability for your store.
Best WooCommerce Subscription Plugins - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You can sell all types of subscriptions on your website with the right WooCommerce subscription plugin. Most popular WooCommerce subscription plugins let you sell physical, virtual, and downloadable products. However, you must first analyze your requirements and ensure the plugin you choose can meet them without any problem.
You can set up an automatic subscription renewal capability on your WooCommerce store. With the right plugin, we can help you set up a feature allowing users to opt for automated subscription renewal for physical and digital products. Our experts can help you implement one-time and subscription purchases on your WooCommerce store.
With the appropriate WooCommerce subscription, you can sell multiple subscriptions to your customers. Most of the popular plugins come with this feature out of the box. However, you can always add custom capabilities to your WooCommerce store. The experts at Virtina specialize in customizing plugins to meet the needs of the WooCommerce store owner.
It is easy to schedule your subscription billing with an advanced WooCommerce subscription plugin. Once you integrate the WooCommerce subscription plugin into your online store, you can control all aspects of the subscription from the backend. We can even help you implement custom backend functionalities to manage your subscriptions better.
With the right plugin, you can apply a subscription option for your existing products in your WooCommerce store. There are even specialized WooCommerce subscription plugins to enable subscription options for existing products in your store. You can implement the capability using a plugin that works seamlessly with your existing subscription plugin.
An advanced WooCommerce subscription plugin enables you to create and manage discounts for recurring subscriptions. You can often extend a discount to the customer via a discount coupon. Besides providing discounts, such plugins help you cultivate loyal customers for your brand and keep your subscriptions for extended periods.
Several WooCommerce subscription plugins let store owners or admins provide free or paid trials to users. All you have to do is ensure that the subscription plugin you use supports free subscription trials. You can customize existing plugins to incorporate additional capabilities with the help of an expert like Virtina.
Yes, several WooCommerce subscription plugins come with built-in recurring payment capability. The plugin can directly incorporate Stripe/PayPal's periodic payment capability. Moreover, most popular subscription plugins are compatible with big payment processors like Stripe and PayPal.
Several WooCommerce subscription plugins provide you with quick access to your transaction records. However, it is only sometimes the case. Sometimes, you may have to use an add-on for accurate access to subscription transaction records or even customize the existing plugin. Virtina can help you in both cases and ensure access to correct transaction records.
Donations, especially recurring ones, are similar to subscription payments, and you can quickly implement them using a plugin. If your WooCommerce website exclusively deals with contributions, you can opt for a specialized recurring donations plugin. If necessary, you can even add new features to the plugin with customization.
Whether or not your WooCommerce store needs a variable product subscription depends on your website and the products you sell. You only need the variable product subscription feature if you sell at least two different product versions. Netflix and its various packages are a perfect example of variable product subscriptions.
The membership and subscription plugins are very similar and serve the same or similar purposes. However, memberships create a community of users; with subscriptions, you can apply them individually. It is vital to understand and define your goals clearly so that you can identify and integrate the right plugin to meet your business needs.
You can use WooCommerce subscription plugins to set up unique content accessible to users. Only users who subscribe and pay can access the exclusive content you post on your website. You can also add more access control or limitations by customizing the plugin. Some plugins even let you set up special pricing for subscribers/members.
You can create subscription plans for kids with the help of the WooCommerce subscription plugin with multi-tier membership support. It allows the parents to access and manage the child's account. You can use the same feature to build similar WooCommerce subscription plans where a different person holds account management privileges.
Several WooCommerce subscription plugins support offline payments too. Hence, offering offline payment options to your customers for subscription purchases should be relatively easy. It is an excellent way to provide more flexibility to your customers. Our experts can help you with implementing advanced online and offline WooCommerce payments.
