The 6 Best WooCommerce Flexible Shipping Plugins

The 6 Best WooCommerce Flexible Shipping Plugins

Last Updated July 6th, 2022

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Shipping can be a nightmare scenario for both store owners and customers alike. Fortunately, there are a lot of shipping options and controls out of the box with WooCommerce. Unfortunately, these shipping rules and setups can be quite rigid and set in stone. WooCommerce, thanks to the power of the plugin system, is easy to extend and improve upon. Dealing with shipping is no exception. Let’s take a quick look at some of the best WooCommerce flexible shipping plugins available right now. These plugins will allow you to have finer control over what shipping options your customers have, how much they have to spend, and how accurate those costs are at checkout.


Popular WooCommerce Flexible Shipping Plugins

These WooCommerce flexible shipping plugins are some of the most popular available for download at WordPress.org. Every one of the plugins in this article is available for free in some form. Each of them also has a paid version with extra functionality. Generally, the free versions should be enough to start but know in advance that more features are available at a price.

Flexible Shipping

Flexible Shipping

Flexible Shipping claims to be one of the most advanced WooCommerce shipping plugins available. With Flexible Shipping, store owners can figure out their shipping costs by weight and cart total. You can use this plugin to add additional fees, for handling or insurance as two examples, based on the value of the order being placed. There are no limits on the number of shipping methods or rules for cost calculation. Flexible Shipping also includes customization features so you can tailor the checkout experience to match your store needs more. This means offering options like only showing shipping methods to customers already logged in to your site.

Plugin Details

This product was originally published by its developer in June of 2016. It is currently on version 4.24.17 and last had a revision on March 13th, 2024. The most recent edition works on WordPress 6.4.3 and requires at least PHP 7.4 to operate on your server. This plugin is actively functioning on over 100,000 WordPress websites. It has had over 5,734,860 downloads. There have been 22 assistance requests with a 86% response rate. Table Rate Shipping Method for WooCommerce by Flexible Shipping is well supported by its developer. Reviews for Table Rate Shipping Method for WooCommerce by Flexible Shipping are very positive. Many of the customers who left a piece of feedback found Table Rate Shipping Method for WooCommerce by Flexible Shipping to be wonderful.

Security Issues and Vulnerabilities

There has been one recorded security or vulnerability issue with Flexible Shipping. The security problem was fixed and here are the details.

DateDescriptionFixed?
6/14/22Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
This was a medium concern issue that was fixed in version 4.11.8.
Yes

Premium Version

The premium version of this plugin is called Flexible Shipping Pro. It expands on the free version by adding a large number of additional features. You can use the pro release to control shipping costs according to order quantities or line items. There are controls for managing shipping prices by product dimensions, volume, categories, user role, and more. You can disable shipping methods depending on the current time or day. Flexible Shipping Pro also supports a system of conditions. This gives you even more flexibility when setting delivery prices for your WooCommerce store. This is one of the most robust and useful WooCommerce flexible shipping plugins you will find today.

Flexible Shipping for FedEx and WooCommerce

Flexible Shipping for FedEx and WooCommerce

Adding live shipping rates is a very common request amongst WooCommerce site owners. Fortunately, there is a free plugin available that lets you do just that. The aptly named Flexible Shipping for FedEx and WooCommerce gives your customers the ability to see real FedEx shipping rates right at checkout. This plugin claims you can have this up and running on your site in under five minutes. Out of the box, the plugin automatically calculates shipping costs and displays live rates from FedEx. It can limit available options based on your customer’s address and offers support for insurance and all currencies that FedEx works with. Importantly, this plugin also includes a debug mode to help you solve issues when FedEx experiences service problems.

Plugin Details

This plugin was originally released by its owner in September of 2019. It is presently on version 2.8.1 and last experienced a revision on March 25th, 2024. The most recent update runs on WordPress 6.5 and requires at least PHP 7.4 to operate on your server. This plugin is actively functioning on over 2,000 WordPress sites. It has had over 113,430 downloads. There have been 7 assistance requests with a 71% response rate. Shipping Live Rates for FedEx for WooCommerce has ok support from its creator. Reviews for this plugin are very positive. Many of the end-users who left an evaluation found this plugin to be worthwhile.

Premium Version

Flexible Shipping for FedEx and WooCommerce PRO is the paid upgrade to this free plugin. It helps you deal with box packing for products that need to be split based on their dimensions. It also includes estimated delivery dates right inside of your WooCommerce checkout which is a huge concern for customers. In terms of delivery dates, you can exclude specific days of the week or include information such as time in transit, lead time, and cut-offs.

WooCommerce Advanced Free Shipping

WooCommerce Advanced Free Shipping

WooCommerce Advanced Free Shipping gives owners flexible shipping choices throughout their store. You can use this plugin to set advanced controls to figure out when customers should have free shipping. Rules are made by you, the store owner, to determine when in fact shipping should be free on an order. You use this plugin’s intuitive interface to create and implement these shipping rules. Rules can be set based on country, product, category, cart totals, quantities, and more. It is one of the most practical WooCommerce flexible shipping plugins on our list.

Plugin Details

This product was first released by its owner in October of 2019. It is currently on version 1.6.4.31 and last experienced a change on March 23rd, 2024. The latest update works on WordPress 6.5.0. This plugin is actively running on over 2,000 WordPress sites. It has had over 93,780 downloads. There have not been many support requests from end-users. Reviews for Conditional shipping & Advanced Flat rate shipping rates / Flexible shipping for WooCommerce shipping are very positive. Many of the users who left an evaluation found this plugin to be wonderful.

Premium Version

You can purchase the Pro WooCommerce Advanced Free Shipping version of this plugin for additional features. Control free shipping decisions based on city, state, and/or zip code. Calculate order weights, width, height, and/or length to determine if an order is eligible for free shipping. You can even dictate shipping based on what kind of payment method your customers are using at checkout. These are just a few of the dozens of additional rules and conditions available in the premium version.

Fish and Ships

Fish and Ships

The hilariously named Fish and Ships provides conditional shipping for WooCommerce sites. You can use this plugin to set flexible shipping rates based on many factors. Rates can be determined by weight, volume, price, product quantity, cart total, and more. In addition to setting shipping rates, this plugin lets you control what triggers flat shipping and even local pickup options. One of the key selling points of Fish and Ships is that you can stack conditions together. This means you can determine your shipping, for example, by product quantity and weight to reach a specific price for your customers to pay.

Plugin Details

This piece of software was first released by its creator in March of 2020. It is presently on version 1.5 and last underwent a change on March 15th, 2024. The latest release operates on WordPress 6.4.3 and requires at least PHP 7.0 to work on your server. This plugin is now working on over 1,000 WordPress websites. It has had over 36,020 downloads. There have not been many support requests from customers. Reviews for this plugin are very positive. Many of the customers who left a review found this plugin to be wonderful.

Premium Version

The premium release, Fish and Ships Pro, includes additional selection choices for making your conditions. These extra choices include what category a product is in (or isn’t) and the same possibilities for product tags. The pro version also lets you use the OR operator when setting up your conditions. The free version is limited to just offering AND as an option. On top of those features, Fish and Ships Pro has extra display capabilities so you can add custom messages and rename existing shipping methods inside of WooCommerce.

DHL Express WooCommerce Live Rates

DHL Express WooCommerce Live Rates

The DHL Express WooCommerce Live Rates plugin does exactly what it says: offers real shipping costs directly from DHL based on your customer’s order. This plugin is the only free WooCommerce flexible shipping plugin that supports DHL at the moment. You can use this plugin to present your customers with real, live shipping costs for DHL Express directly inside your checkout process. The rates are based on cart weight and the customer’s shipping address. You can limit services based on that address as well. Support for shipment insurance and a fallback if DHL’s data service fails are also provided.

Plugin Details

This piece of software was initially released by its developer in April of 2020. It is actively on version 3.1.0 and last experienced a revision on March 20th, 2024. The newest release functions on WordPress 6.5 and requires at least PHP 7.4 to work on your server. This plugin is actively functioning on over 600 WordPress websites. It has had over 39,950 downloads. There have not been many help requests from customers. Reviews for DHL Express Shipping for WooCommerce – Live Rates are very positive. Many of the customers who left a piece of feedback found this plugin to be great.

Premium Version

DHL Express WooCommerce Live Rates PRO, the paid upgrade of this plugin, comes with automatic box packing for your products based on their volume and weight. It also supports custom boxes if your WooCommerce store requires that. Estimated delivery dates, displayed right in the checkout, come as part of the premium version. You can omit certain days of the week from those estimated dates as well if you need to.

USPS WooCommerce Live Rates

USPS WooCommerce Live Rates

The USPS WooCommerce Live Rates plugin is a free option to offer your shoppers real-time shipping prices from USPS. This applies to both domestic shipments and those going out internationally. During checkout, your customers will be able to see live pricing from USPS to know exactly how much their order will cost to ship. These rates are calculated, immediately, based on an order’s destination and dimensions. You control which USPS services are available so there are no surprised on your side when an order comes through. The plugin supports fallback measures in case the USPS data service has an outage as well.

Plugin Details

This plugin was initially published by its developer in October of 2021. It is currently on version 1.10.0 and last experienced a revision on March 18th, 2024. The latest update runs on WordPress 6.5 and requires at least PHP 7.4 to operate on your server. This plugin is actively working on over 1,000 WordPress websites. It has had over 36,110 downloads. There have not been many assistance requests from end-users. Reviews for USPS Shipping for WooCommerce – Live Rates are very positive. Many of the end-users who left a review found this plugin to be wonderful.

Premium Version

USPS WooCommerce Live Rates PRO is the paid upgrade to this free plugin. It has additional features that offer support for shipping in multiple boxes by weight and volume. You can set fixed, or percentage-based, handling fees and discounts against the rates USPS provides. One interesting feature here is that you can set a custom origin that is different than what might be set in your WooCommerce settings. Some stores need that flexibility and it is available here with the paid plugin.


The End of Our Look at WooCommerce Flexible Shipping Plugins

There you have it. That’s the conclusion to our article about the best WooCommerce flexible shipping plugins. These are all great choices if you are looking to improve the checkout experience in your store. Offering flexible shipping choices, and real-time pricing, means you are more likely to have completed sales and fewer instances of an abandoned WooCommerce cart.

Before you go, check out our collection of tutorials and plugins. We’ve built this site to help you get the most out of customizing WooCommerce. You can follow our articles to write your own coded solutions or purchase one of our plugins to handle the hard work for you. Our list of guides and plugins is always growing as we offer more ways to change WooCommerce to suit your needs.