Are you considering WooCommerce for your online store? Then you're in good company. WooCommerce is a free extension that turns a WordPress site into a complete online store. Over four million online stores worldwide use it today (Store Leads, 2026). This makes WooCommerce the world's most widely used e-commerce solution measured by number of stores.
In this guide, we explain what WooCommerce is and what it actually costs to run a store. You'll also learn how to set up local payment with Vipps and Klarna, and how to make your store visible in both Google and AI search.
What Is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is free, open-source software that you install on WordPress. WordPress is the tool behind around 41 percent of all websites in the world (W3Techs, 2026). Think of WordPress as the foundation and WooCommerce as the shop you build on top of it.
With WooCommerce, you can sell physical goods, digital products, services, and subscriptions. You decide how the shop looks and works. All content, all customer data, and the entire solution belong to you. No provider can shut down your shop or change your terms overnight.
Open source means the code is open and free for everyone. Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, leads the development. In addition, thousands of developers from around the world contribute.
How Big Is WooCommerce?
The size of a platform says something about safety. A solution with millions of users doesn't disappear overnight. Here are the key numbers:
- Over four million active online shops run on WooCommerce (Store Leads, 2026).
- That's more shops than on any other platform, including Shopify.
- Among the very largest online shops in the world, however, Shopify is more common.
- WooCommerce gets a new version roughly every five weeks.
We'll say it as it is. WooCommerce has the most shops, while Shopify dominates among the biggest brands. For small and medium-sized Norwegian businesses, both are safe choices. The difference lies in price, control, and freedom. We'll come back to that further down.
The Benefits of WooCommerce
You Own Everything Yourself
The shop sits on your own web hosting. You own the code, the design, and the customer list. If you want to switch agency or provider later, you take everything with you.
No Fixed License Costs
WooCommerce itself costs nothing. You only pay for web hosting, domain, and the add-ons you choose yourself.
Thousands of Plugins and Templates
Need integration with accounting, email, or inventory? There's usually a ready-made plugin for it. The same goes for design. You choose a ready-made template or get a custom design made.
The Shop Grows with You
You can start with ten products and end up with ten thousand. WooCommerce handles both, as long as the web hosting keeps up.
What Does a WooCommerce Store Cost?
The software itself is free. That doesn't mean the shop is free to run. Here are the usual costs:
- Domain: around 100 to 200 kroner a year.
- Web hosting: from around 100 kroner a month for small shops. Larger shops need faster servers and pay more. Read more about fast WordPress hosting on Norwegian servers.
- Template (theme): free, or up to around 1,500 kroner as a one-time purchase.
- Plugins: many are free. Paid plugins often cost 500 to 2,000 kroner a year each.
- Payment: providers charge a fee per sale, typically between 1.5 and 3 percent. Always check current prices with Vipps, Klarna, and others.
- Help from an agency: a fully built shop often costs from 30,000 kroner and up, depending on design, integrations, and number of products.
If you set everything up yourself, you can get started for a few thousand kroner a year. If you want help with the entire setup, see how we help you start an online store.
Payment: Vipps, Klarna, and Cards
Norwegian customers expect Vipps. Over four million Norwegians use the app, and many abandon shops that lack it. Vipps MobilePay has an official and free plugin for WooCommerce. Then customers pay with just a few taps on their phone. Remember that you must first set up a business agreement with Vipps.
Klarna also has its own plugin for WooCommerce. With Klarna, customers can pay by invoice or split up the payment. This works especially well for more expensive items.
In addition, you should offer regular card payment, for example through Stripe or Nets. A good combination for Norwegian online shops is Vipps plus cards, often with Klarna on top.
Shipping for Norwegian Online Shops
WooCommerce has ready-made plugins for Posten, Bring, PostNord, and Helthjem. The customer sees shipping cost and pickup location directly at checkout. You can print shipping labels right from the shop and save time on every single order. Correct shipping setup is one of the easiest ways to reduce abandoned purchases.
SEO: Get Visible on Google
WooCommerce inherits the good search properties from WordPress. You control addresses, titles, and descriptions on every single page yourself. With an SEO plugin like Yoast or Rank Math, you get even more control.
The tools don't do the job alone, though. Good product texts, fast pages, and a clean structure determine whether you end up at the top. If SEO is new to you, first read our guide on what search engine optimization is. If you need help, see our SEO optimization service.
AI Search: Get Recommended by ChatGPT and Google
More and more people find products through AI services like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google's AI overviews. It's no longer enough to just rank in regular search. The shop must also be easy for AI to read and cite.
WooCommerce gives you a good starting point. The platform automatically adds structured data to your products. Structured data are small labels in the code that tell Google and AI what the price, stock status, and ratings are. Clear answers, honest product texts, and up-to-date information increase the chance of being recommended.
This field is called AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization. Read our guide on AEO optimization, or see how we work with AEO for customers.
Security and Maintenance
WooCommerce and WordPress receive regular security updates. That's good, but it requires someone to actually do the updating. An unmaintained online shop becomes an easy target over time.
This should be in place from day one:
- Automatic backup every day.
- Regular updates of WordPress, WooCommerce, and all plugins.
- Firewall, strong passwords, and two-factor authentication.
WordPress has built-in tools for privacy, such as export and deletion of customer data. This helps you comply with GDPR. The responsibility, however, lies with you as the shop owner, not with the software.
If you'd rather not think about this yourself, a maintenance agreement takes care of updates, security, and monitoring.
WooCommerce or Shopify?
This is the question we get most often about online shops. In short:
Choose WooCommerce if you want to own everything yourself, keep fixed costs down, and have full freedom to customize the shop. It also works well if you already have a website on WordPress.
Choose Shopify if you want everything delivered as a package for a fixed monthly price. Then you avoid maintenance, but you give up control and pay more over time.
Both can become great Norwegian online shops with Vipps, Klarna, and Norwegian shipping.
Is WooCommerce Right for You?
WooCommerce works for most, but not for everyone. Here's our honest assessment.
WooCommerce is a good choice if you have or are planning a WordPress site, want to own the solution yourself, want to keep fixed costs down, or need customizations beyond the ordinary.
Consider another solution if you don't want to deal with maintenance at all, and would rather pay a fixed monthly price for a ready-made package.
If you're unsure whether an online shop is the right step for your business, feel free to read 10 reasons to start an online shop and our 12 tips for starting an online shop first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that turns a WordPress site into an online shop. Over four million online shops worldwide use it (Store Leads, 2026).
What does WooCommerce cost?
The software itself is free. You pay for domain, web hosting, and any paid plugins. A simple shop you run yourself often costs a few thousand kroner a year.
Can I use Vipps and Klarna in WooCommerce?
Yes. Both Vipps MobilePay and Klarna have official plugins for WooCommerce. You need a business agreement with each provider before you can accept payment.
Is WooCommerce better than Shopify?
It depends on your needs. WooCommerce gives more control and lower fixed costs. Shopify is quicker to get started with, but costs more over time and gives less freedom.
Do I need technical knowledge to use WooCommerce?
You can get far without coding, but you need to enjoy learning. Payment, shipping, and security require a bit of effort to set up. Many get help with the setup and run the shop themselves afterward.
Is WooCommerce safe?
Yes, as long as the shop is maintained. Keep WordPress, WooCommerce, and the plugins updated, take backups, and use strong passwords.
Summary
WooCommerce is the world's most used online shop solution measured by number of shops, and for good reason. You own everything yourself, the fixed costs are low, and the solution works well together with Vipps, Klarna, and Norwegian shipping.
The price of the freedom is that someone has to maintain the shop. So plan operations and security from day one.
We at Mementor build online shops on WooCommerce and develop our own plugins for WordPress. Considering WooCommerce for your business? Contact us for a no-obligation chat, or read more about how we help you from idea to first sale.
