WooCommerce in Pakistan: costs in rupees, gateways and COD

What WooCommerce is

WooCommerce works in Pakistan the same as anywhere else: it is a plugin for WordPress, and you run it on hosting you choose. Its own pricing page calls it “the free, open-source ecommerce platform for WordPress”: free to download and use, with no platform fee and no share of your sales. You install it on a WordPress website and it adds products, a cart, checkout and orders.

Its WordPress.org page shows more than 7 million active installs, with the last update on September 22, 2026, so you will not be short of developers or hosts who know it.

That is the key difference from Shopify. Shopify is a service you rent. WooCommerce is software you run. Nobody hosts it for you and nobody keeps it running for you, unless you pay someone to.

What you add yourself

A WooCommerce store needs all of these before the first order:

• Your own address. A .pk or .com name, bought from a registrar and renewed on time.
• Hosting. A server that runs WordPress. WooCommerce’s server recommendations ask for PHP 8.3 or newer, MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 or newer, and HTTPS support. Send that page to any host you are considering and ask whether their plan meets it.
• A security certificate (SSL). The padlock that turns on HTTPS. Ask your host whether one is included.
• A look for the store. A free or paid WordPress theme, set up with your logo, colours and pages.
• Updates. WordPress, WooCommerce, the theme and every plugin release updates. Someone has to apply them and check nothing broke.
• Backups. A copy of the site and its orders you can restore if an update or a hack takes it down.
• Security. Strong passwords, a security plugin or a host that handles it, and an eye on who has admin access.

None of this is hard for a developer. All of it is your job, or theirs, every month the store is open.

Payments: cash on delivery and cards

Cash on delivery is built in. WooCommerce has its own Cash on Delivery method: enable it in the payment settings, write the instructions buyers see, and pick which shipping methods offer it. COD orders stay at “Processing” until you confirm the cash was collected and mark them “Complete”.

Cards and wallets need a gateway plugin. You sign up with a gateway that takes Pakistani merchants, get approved, then install the plugin it gives you. Four WooCommerce plugins for gateways that serve Pakistan, as listed on October 3, 2026:

A plugin that has not been updated in a year or more may break after a WooCommerce update. Ask the gateway which plugin it supports today before you install anything. For JazzCash or Easypaisa direct, ask their merchant team the same question.

Watch for name clashes. The “WooCommerce Payfast Gateway” on WordPress.org, published by WooCommerce itself with 30,000+ installs, is for Payfast of South Africa, not Pakistan’s PayFast. Get the plugin link from your gateway, not from a search.

WooCommerce takes no fee of its own on card payments, so the gateway’s charge is the only one. On Shopify, a third-party gateway payment carries Shopify’s fee as well. Which gateways are licensed, what papers they ask for and what they charge is in our guide to payment gateways in Pakistan.

Before you build a whole site to take cards, look at how your own buyers pay now. If your orders come in on COD, the gateway can wait.

Couriers and tracking

WooCommerce does not come with Pakistani couriers set up, and the plugin directory does not fill the gap. A search of WordPress.org on October 3, 2026 found no plugin published by Leopards, TCS, Trax, M&P or BlueEx themselves. What is there comes from third parties, mostly with a handful of installs.

One more name clash: “Postex Advanced Shipping Method” on WordPress.org is a Persian-language plugin for Iranian postal services. It has nothing to do with PostEx in Pakistan.

That leaves two ways to handle it:

• Your courier’s own integration. Ask your courier whether it offers a WooCommerce plugin or connection, where you get it, and who keeps it updated. A plugin nobody maintains can break with a WooCommerce update.
• By hand. Book the parcel in the courier’s own app or portal, then add the tracking number to the order as a note so you can find it when the buyer asks.

To compare couriers before you choose, use the courier charges calculator, and the COD profit calculator to see what an order leaves you after delivery and returns.

What WooCommerce costs in Pakistan

The plugin is free. The store is not. WooCommerce’s own pricing page puts hosting at $25–$350 a month for most stores and extensions at $29–$299 a year each. Pakistani hosts sell entry WordPress plans for far less, billed yearly in rupees. Published prices as of October 2026:

What that adds up to in the first year:

• Bare store, set up yourself: a .com address and HosterPK’s WordPress I plan, about Rs 8,500–9,000. Websouls’ Startup plan is Rs 9,990 with the .com included.
• With Astra Pro and Product Add-Ons: $178, about Rs 49,500 at Rs 278 to the dollar, or about Rs 54,200 once your bank’s card charge and advance tax are added. About Rs 63,000 in all.
• With a developer: their setup fee on top, then their monthly fee for as long as the store runs.

The dollar charges are real money. Bank Alfalah’s schedule of charges for July to December 2026 takes 4.5% (at least Rs 125) on foreign transactions on its credit cards and lists advance tax on international transactions at 5% for filers and 10% for non-filers. Renewals move too: in year two, Astra Pro and Product Add-Ons come to $228, and Websouls’ Startup hosting goes from Rs 9,990 to Rs 16,650.

If you add cards, the gateway takes its own cut of each payment. How WooCommerce’s yearly cost compares with Shopify, Webx and a free store is in our guide to the ecommerce website price in Pakistan.

Who WooCommerce suits, and who it does not

It suits you if:

• You have a developer, or you are happy to learn WordPress and keep a site running.
• You need something specific: a custom product builder, a blog beside your store, a feature only a plugin offers.
• You want card payments on your own site and are ready to apply for a gateway.
• You want the files and the database on a server you control.

It does not suit you if:

• You sell on cash on delivery and want to start this week.
• You run the business from your phone and have no one to call when the site goes down.
• You would rather spend the hours on stock, photos and orders than on updates and backups.

If you are still deciding between your own store and a marketplace, read Daraz vs your own online store first.

WooCommerce vs Shopify vs Storelala

As of October 2026. The Shopify column is from our guide to what Shopify costs in Pakistan.

WooCommerce wins on control. Coupons are part of core WooCommerce, with fixed and percentage discounts, card payments are a plugin away once a gateway approves you, and if a feature exists for WordPress, you can add it. The price is the work of running a website. Shopify takes that work off you for a plan billed in dollars. Storelala takes it off you for free, with fewer features.

For the two big platforms head to head, see Shopify vs WooCommerce in Pakistan.

Moving off WooCommerce

Your products, your address and your links each move separately. Plan all three before you cancel the hosting.

1. Export your products. WooCommerce has a built-in CSV tool: go to Products, then All Products, and press Export. The file has names, prices, stock, categories and image links.
2. Reshape the file. Shopify and Storelala both read Shopify’s product CSV format, so rename the columns in a spreadsheet: Name to Title, Regular price to Price, Stock to Inventory quantity, and Categories to Type. Give each product a URL handle. WooCommerce puts all of a product’s photo links in one Images cell; move each link to its own row under the same URL handle. Each size or colour becomes its own row too, with Option1 name and Option1 value. Weight goes in grams, so a 0.5 kg kurta is 500.
3. Import and check. In Storelala, the sample file is under Products, then Import / Export. The preview lists any problem by spreadsheet row number before anything changes. Storelala downloads the photos from your old site and keeps its own copies, so they keep working after the old site closes. Sale prices are not carried over.
4. Keep your address. Make sure the .pk or .com is registered in your name and you have the registrar login before you cancel anything. If a developer or host bought it for you, ask them to hand it over. On Storelala, the store can move from yourbrand.storelala.com to your own .pk or .com, and the store and orders stay the same.
5. Fix your old links. WooCommerce product links usually look like yourbrand.pk/product/lawn-suit/. They stop working once the address points to the new store, unless the new platform forwards them. List the product links you have shared or paid to promote, ask the new platform about forwarding, and update the ones it cannot.
6. Test before you switch off. Place a cash on delivery order yourself, open your best sellers on your phone, and check their prices and stock. Keep a full backup of the old site for a few months.

If you are moving to Webx, its pricing page offers migration help from platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce.

WooCommerce alternatives in Pakistan

If running a website is the part you want to drop, these take it off you:

• Shopify for apps and selling abroad, on a plan billed in dollars.
• Webx for a Pakistani builder priced in rupees, from Rs 1,950 a month on its pricing page as of October 2026, plus 2.5% on online payments on that plan.
• Storelala for a free store with cash on delivery, JazzCash, Easypaisa and cards built in, run from your phone.

The full comparison is in the best ecommerce platform in Pakistan, and the case for leaving Shopify is in the Shopify alternative in Pakistan.

Questions sellers ask

Is WooCommerce available in Pakistan?

Yes. WooCommerce is free, open-source software that runs on your own WordPress website, so it works wherever your hosting works. What changes in Pakistan is payments: cash on delivery is built in, but card and wallet payments need a gateway plugin from a provider that serves Pakistani businesses.

Is WooCommerce free?

The plugin is. WooCommerce’s pricing page says it is free to download and use, with no platform fees and no revenue share. You still pay for your own address, hosting, and any paid look or extensions you add.

Does WooCommerce have cash on delivery?

Yes. Cash on Delivery is one of WooCommerce’s own payment methods. You enable it in the payment settings, write the text buyers see, and choose which shipping methods offer it. COD orders sit in Processing until you mark them Complete after the cash is collected.

Which payment gateway works with WooCommerce in Pakistan?

Paymob’s plugin lists debit and credit cards, Easypaisa and JazzCash for Pakistan, and was updated in September 2026. Safepay links its current card plugin from its help centre, and bSecure has its own plugin. Stripe and PayPal do not take Pakistani businesses. Every gateway approves you first, and a card gateway such as Safepay asks for documents such as your CNIC and NTN certificate.

How much does WooCommerce cost in Pakistan?

The plugin is free. As of October 2026, a store on it costs about Rs 8,500–9,000 for the first year with a .com address and HosterPK’s smallest WordPress plan, if you set it up yourself with a free look. A paid look and one paid extension, priced in dollars, take it to about Rs 63,000. A developer’s fee comes on top.

WooCommerce or Shopify for Pakistan?

WooCommerce costs nothing as software but needs hosting and someone to run the website. Shopify runs everything for you but needs a paid plan billed in dollars, and Shopify Payments is not available in Pakistan. If you sell on cash on delivery and want neither job, a store built for Pakistan such as Storelala is the simpler start.

Storelala is the Shopify alternative in Pakistan with nothing to host and nothing to update. Your store lives at yourbrand.storelala.com, buyers pay by cash on delivery, JazzCash, Easypaisa or card, there is no commission on your sales, and you run it all from your phone. You book PostEx, Leopards or TCS from the order screen, and the tracking number goes to your buyer on WhatsApp. Coming from WooCommerce, you can bring your products in with a product CSV, photos included. It is free to start, with no card needed. Start your store today.