10+ best WooCommerce plugins for product variations

Did you know that listing WooCommerce product variations in your online store can help increase sales for your business? If you’re thinking about adding variations to your existing products, or if you already have product variations but aren’t displaying them in the best way, this article is for you.

There are four main reasons why setting up product variations in your WooCommerce store is a good idea:

•  They increase your sales by offering more options to your customers (for e.g., a customer might not want a watch with a black strap, but will buy the same watch with a brown strap).
•  They improve customer satisfaction by giving them what they want, which can lead to repeat customers.
• They make it easier for customers to add products to their cart and checkout since they don’t need to go to different product pages just to see product variations.
•  They make your site look more professional and well-designed.

In this guide, we’re going to cover the top 10 WooCommerce plugins for displaying product variations.

Why are WooCommerce product variations important?

Product variations are a great way to increase sales. If customers have more options to choose from for the product they’re interested in, they’ll be able to select the exact item they want. This gives them a better shopping experience and boosts the chance of them completing their purchases.

There are many ways store owners can use WooCommerce product variations. For example, if you run an online apparel store, you can offer multiple colour or size options for customers to select before adding a product to their cart. This can help users find what they’re looking for easily when shopping from your online store.

Similarly, you can also use product variations on your online store to facilitate bulk purchases of the same item. For instance, if a customer wants to purchase five t-shirts but only wants three in Medium size and the other two in Small, you can let them add all five t-shirts to their shopping cart from the same page.

In addition to this, product variations are also great for offering product bundles on your online store. For example, you can sell a “Hoodie Pack” that lets customers purchase 3 hoodies at once and choose their desired sizes and colours from the same screen, without having to add each hoodie individually.

Why use a plugin for WooCommerce variations?

WooCommerce comes with functionality to let you create product variations out of the box. However, there are some limitations when it comes to managing and displaying them on the front end of your online store.

A WooCommerce plugin will give you much more functionality to manage and display product variations. You’ll also save a lot of time, headache, and money if you use a readily available plugin compared to coding a custom solution.

What’s more, WooCommerce offers very limited customisability of how product variations look and feel on your online store by default. In fact, you can only display a dropdown menu to showcase product variations. This gives your product pages a plain and bland look. Depending on the WooCommerce product variations plugin you use, you’ll be able to display all product variations in a grid or table or let users view different variations using attractive swatches.

Another major limitation of default WooCommerce is that it makes it difficult for you to inform your customers which variations are in stock and which aren’t. This can lead to a confusing and disappointing customer experience when users order something your online store doesn’t actually have in stock. Some WooCommerce product variation plugins solve this by making it possible for your customers to see which variations are in stock, so they don’t end up placing orders for out-of-stock products from your online store.

Top 10+ product variations plugins for WooCommerce

When deciding on a plugin, it’s important to consider the kinds of products you stock, how many variations you have for each product, how often your products go out of stock, and other important factors such as budget and tech support.

Here, we’ll list the top 10 best product variation plugins for WooCommerce that offer slightly different features from each other. We’ll dive deeper into the key features of each plugin so you can choose the best solution for your online store.

#1. WooCommerce Better Variations

WooCommerce Better Variation offers a complete solution for managing and showcasing product variations on your online store.

The plugin offers two main features that make it super useful for WooCommerce sites. For starters, you can set clear differentiation between variations that are in stock and those that are out of stock. The plugin lets you disable or grey out out-of-stock products while also giving you the option to add optional text and a “back-in-stock” date. This is a great way to enhance the shopping experience on your online store while encouraging customers to check back for product availability at a later date.

Another useful feature of the WooCommerce Better Variations plugin is that it lets you re-style and re-sort variations by giving out-of-stock items a different colour than in-stock items. This way, you can showcase in-stock product variations on top of out-of-stock ones.

In addition to this, the plugin also lets you display all variations for your products in a grid layout. This makes it easier for customers to order multiple variations and multiple products at once as they can clearly see all variations in one view on your shop page. For instance, a customer can order multiple items of a single product in different sizes. This way, if a customer wants to get 2 t-shirts in Large size and one in Medium, they can do that in one click thanks to the grid style display.

In addition to the WooCommerce Better Variations plugin being intuitive and fully compatible with all WordPress themes, it also works really well with the WooCommerce Product Add-Ons Ultimate plugin. This way, users can personalise their products and create their own bundles. You’ll also get the added benefits of displaying product variation options in attractive swatches or custom product variation fields.

WooCommerce Better Variations is a must-have plugin for any WooCommerce store that sells product variations, especially if your online store has lots of variations for each product. This way, you can display them neatly and ensure a solid customer experience by informing customers when specific product variations are out of stock or when they will be back in stock.

Want to get a better idea of how the plugin actually works? Check out the WooCommerce Better Variations demo site, that’s already set up and ready to go.

#2. WooCommerce Product Table Ultimate

The WooCommerce Product Table Ultimate plugin allows you to display your products in a sortable product table that makes it easy for customers to find the product variations they need.

Each product can be displayed in a row so you can let customers add multiple products to their cart from a single page, including variable products and products with add-on fields. One great thing about the WooCommerce Product Table Ultimate plugin is that it lets you create and display product tables anywhere on your site without having to touch a single line of code.

That’s not all, you also have full control over the customisability of your product tables. This means you can choose which columns to include such as thumbnails, product titles, SKUs, descriptions, stock level attributes, categories, tags, quantity, and add-to-cart buttons. This also means you have multiple ways you can display product variations on your WooCommerce site.

For instance, you can include a table on a product page that lets customers view all variations of a product at once and select the ones they want to add to their cart within a few clicks. Similarly, you can also create one big product table that displays your entire product catalogue and lets your customers choose between product variations from the same screen.

Additionally, the WooCommerce Product Table Ultimate plugin also lets you offer customers the option to add multiple products to their shopping cart at once by using a checkbox next to each product row. Once customers have selected their preferred variations for each product they want to buy, they can simply click on an “Add all to cart” button.

#3. Swatchly

Swatchly is a simple-to-use plugin that gives you a lot of options to create swatches for displaying product variations on your WooCommerce site.

Using the plugin, you can add up to three different swatch types including image swatches, colour swatches, and label swatches while also having the option to choose between three shapes: square, rounded, or circle.

Another great feature about Swatchly is that it lets you set swatch size, margin alignment, and other design options. This is a great way to make your product pages more professional and ensure your product variations look attractive.

In addition to this, the plugin also lets you enhance the shopping experience on your online store by offering the option to disable out-of-stock variations from swatch items.

#4. YITH WooCommerce Color and Label Variations

YITH WooCommerce Color and Label Variations offers a professional solution for displaying product variations better on your online store.

The plugin lets you add unlimited variations for each item by using product attributes. This allows you to sell products with lots of variations, which makes it easier for customers to select their desired variations quickly. You also spice up the look of your WooCommerce product pages by replacing the standard WooCommerce selects with responsive icons, custom product images, and dynamic labels.

The YITH WooCommerce Color and Label Variations plugin is a great option if you want to add colour swatches to your variable products or are looking to easily add images to every variation you create. 

#5. Variation Swatches for WooCommerce

Variation Swatches for WooCommerce is an intuitive plugin that makes it easy to display swatches instead of the generic-looking WooCommerce variation dropdown menus.

The plugin lets you transform the default variation selects that WooCommerce comes with into radio images, colours, and labels. You also have full control over how your swatches will look on the front end and you can choose from different design styles including rounded swatches or circle swatches.

A standout feature of the Variation Swatches for WooCommerce plugin is that it not only lets you display product variations on the product page itself, but you can also showcase product variations in the quick view on many WooCommerce themes.

#6. WooCommerce Attribute Swatches

WooCommerce Attribute Swatches lets you replace WooCommerce’s variation dropdowns with colour, image, and text swatches.

This plugin is a solid option if you want total customisation of your swatches. For example, you can categorize swatches into groups, such as by having a swatch for plain product variations and a swatch for patterned product variations. You can adjust the colour of your swatches to make sure they match your products. And, if there’s a swatch styling you like, you can choose to assign it to all your products or reuse it on specific products.

Other notable features include large previews for image swatches and tooltip swatch hints which give customers more details about the item. If any of your products are out-of-stock, they will be marked as such on the swatches.

#7. Variation Swatches & Photos for WooCommerce

Variation Swatches & Photos for WooCommerce is a simple-to-use plugin that’s designed to help you replace the default WooCommerce product variations display menus.

You can replace the default dropdown menus with custom-looking product variation swatches and images. This gives you a more visual way of showing different colours, sizes, styles, and other attributes of a product while making it easier for customers to differentiate between different product variation options.

#8. Product Variations Table for WooCommerce

Product Variations Table for WooCommerce is a robust plugin that lets you showcase product variations in a table-style layout on your online store.

By displaying product variations in a table format, you make it easy for customers to filter through all available variations for a product to find the exact attributes they need. This way, they can add the item to the cart directly using the table, making the shopping experience on your online store frictionless.

#9. WooCommerce Additional Variation Images

The WooCommerce Additional Variation Images is a unique product variation plugin that lets you showcase product variations with images and videos.

You can add images and even videos to better visually represent each product variation option on the front end of your online store. This makes it easy for your customers to identify product variations better and helps them differentiate each variation from others.

#10. Variation Switcher in Cart for WooCommerce

The Variation Swatcher in Cart for WooCommerce is also a unique mention in our list as it does something different from most “traditional” product variation plugins.

The plugin makes it possible for your customers to select their product variation options directly from the cart. This helps improve the shopping experience on your online store as this saves your customers the hassle of removing the item and having to find the right product page once again.

#11. WooCommerce Variation Prices

WooCommerce Variation Prices allows you to replace the default price range with any other format.

WooCommerce displays variation prices as range, which is too limited for many stores. WooCommerce Variation Prices improves the display of variation prices by replacing the price range with prices such as “$50+”, “From $50”, or any format you like. You can also replace the dash between the low-high variation prices with anything – e.g. “$50 to $100” or “$50 / $100”. Another useful strategy to draw attention to your pricing is displaying the variation starting price or top price only – e.g.  “$50+” or “Up to $100”.

On top of being able to replace the price range format, WooCommerce Variation Prices also lets you list all variation prices immediately. This way, customers don’t have to select a variation before they can see the price which could potentially improve customer experience. This plugin works with grouped or variable products and is easy to use and set up.

Which WooCommerce product variations plugin do I need?

All the WooCommerce product variations plugins we’ve listed above give you many options for managing and displaying product variations on your online store. However, if you’re looking for one, perfect plugin that lets you optimise your product variations, WooCommerce Better Variations is the way to go.

It’s very important to give your customers better clarity and visibility on your product variations, so they’re able to make quick informed purchase decisions. This is why the WooCommerce Better Variations plugin is the ideal option as it lets your customers know which variants are in stock, which are out of stock, and when they’ll be restocked again.

The WooCommerce Better Variations plugin also facilitates bulk purchases thanks to its “Grid” mode that makes it easy for customers to see how many items are in stock for each product variation. As a result, customers who want to purchase products in larger quantities can easily buy multiple variations of each product in bulk.

With this plugin, your product listings will look aesthetically better, but more importantly, your customers will have a better time buying from your store. This not only helps boost sales but is a great way to encourage more customers to visit your online store again.

Getting started with WooCommerce product variations

Here, we’ll show you how easy it is to set up the WooCommerce Better Variations plugin on your online store and optimise your product variations.

For this, you will need a WordPress site with the WooCommerce plugin installed. You’ll also need the WooCommerce Better Variations plugin to display variations better on your online store.

Step #1: Install and activate WooCommerce Better Variations

First, get the WooCommerce Better Variations plugin and install it on your WooCommerce site. Once you’ve downloaded the plugin’s .zip file, navigate to Plugins → Add New from the WordPress admin panel dashboard.

Upload the plugin to your WooCommerce site and click on the Install Now button. Make sure to activate the plugin before continuing. Once the plugin is installed, navigate to WooCommerce → Settings → Better Variations and click on the Licence link from the top.

Enter the licence key given to you at the time of purchase and click on the Save changes button to continue.

Step #2: Select display mode

With the plugin installed and activated on your WooCommerce site, navigate to WooCommerce → Settings → Better Variations to select the display mode.

Using the DIsplay mode dropdown menu, you can either select the Standard or the Grid display mode. The Standard display mode works great if you want to grey out or disable out-of-stock variations on your online store. You can display custom text and custom back-in-stock text to inform customers when they should check back. In addition to this, using the Select2 section, you can also customise how out-of-stock and in-stock variations look on the front end.

You can display quantity fields for each variation using the Grid display mode. This will let customers select multiple items using the same product page and select their desired variations even when purchasing in bulk.

Once you’re done selecting your variations display mode, make sure to click on the Save changes button to continue.

Step #3: Preview

If you’ve selected the Standard display mode, customers will be able to tell which product variations are in stock and which are not available for purchase.

On the other hand, by selecting the Grid display mode, you can let customers select their desired quantities for specific product variations and add them to their cart at once.

This makes it easier for customers to bulk purchase variable products on your online store.

Add product variations to your store with WooCommerce Better Variations

Displaying product variations using default WooCommerce functionality limits the customer experience and makes your online store look and feel more generic. By using a WooCommerce product variations plugin, you have more ability to manage and display product variations on your online store.

While there are many plugins that let you display product variations on your online store, we recommend using the WooCommerce Better Variations plugin as it’s the perfect solution for all types of WooCommerce sites that have products with extra options or product variations.

The plugin offers an all-in-one solution for managing your product variations better. You can display out-of-stock and in-stock product variations in custom colours, making it much easier for customers to identify products that are available for purchase. In addition to this, the plugin also lets you display product variations in a grid-style layout that’s easy for customers to select exact quantities for variations while also being able to purchase multiple product variations in one click. This is also a great way of offering a full scope of your store’s inventory and delivering a good customer experience on your online store.

Other than WooCommerce Better Variations, the WooCommerce Product Table Ultimate plugin is another excellent choice for displaying product variations better on your online store. You can use it to display all your products in one table, making it much easier for customers to view multiple products and select different product variations for multiple products at once.

Both plugins can be a great help for your ecommerce store especially when it comes to enhancing the overall shopping experience. However, if you’re constantly finding out that your online store’s products are out of stock most of the time, the better option is to get started with the WooCommerce Better Variations plugin first.

Ready to start optimising product variations on your WooCommerce site? Get WooCommerce Better Variations today!