When we look back at 2025, one thing is very clear — StoreEngine didn’t just grow, it matured.

What started as a brand-new eCommerce plugin for WordPress on April 10, 2025, quickly evolved into a reliable platform powering hundreds of real stores, handling payments, subscriptions, digital downloads, and licensed software with confidence.

This year wasn’t about hype.

It was about shipping, learning, and earning trust — one release at a time.

April 10, 2025: The Day StoreEngine Went Live

StoreEngine officially entered the WordPress ecosystem on April 10, 2025.

From day one, the vision was simple but ambitious:

build an eCommerce solution that feels native to WordPress, removes dependency on dozens of third-party plugins, and gives store owners full control without complexity.

Early users immediately started experimenting with StoreEngine for digital products, physical goods, subscriptions, and LMS integrations. Their feedback became the foundation for everything that followed.

Since launch, adoption has grown steadily, and today:

• ⭐ 5/5 average rating on WordPress.org
• 🏪 700+ active stores running on StoreEngine
• 💙 Used by creators, businesses, agencies, and developers worldwide

2025 by the Numbers (Yes, We’re Proud of These)

Instead of a few big updates, 2025 became a year of continuous improvement.

Free Version:

• 40 total releases
• 68 new features added
• 226 bug fixes
• 130 existing features improved

Pro Version:

• 15 total releases
• 17 major features added
• 15 bug fixes
• 11 feature enhancements

This pace wasn’t accidental — it reflects our commitment to shipping fast, listening closely, and improving continuously.

This release cadence reflects something important:

StoreEngine is actively maintained, actively listened to, and actively evolving.

What We’ve Built So Far: StoreEngine Feature Highlights

Since its first launch on April 10, 2025, StoreEngine has evolved rapidly into a powerful and reliable eCommerce solution for WordPress. Throughout the year, our focus has been clear: remove complexity, improve performance, and give store owners complete control over how they sell digital products, physical goods, subscriptions, and licensed software. 

Every update has been shaped by real-world use cases, customer feedback, and modern WordPress standards—resulting in smoother checkout flows, stronger security, deeper integrations, and a more flexible selling experience. The following features highlight what we’ve built so far to help businesses scale with confidence while keeping things simple, fast, and conversion-focused.

New Payment Method PayPal:

Enables recurring payments through PayPal, allowing store owners to sell subscriptions smoothly without relying on external tools.

New Payment Gateway Paddle:

Introduced Paddle as a payment option, expanding global payment flexibility.

New Payment Gateway Stripe:

Introduced Stripe as a payment option, expanding global payment flexibility.

New Payment Gateway Razorpay:

Adds Razorpay support for businesses targeting Asian markets.

Stripe Trial Subscription Support:

Allows offering free or paid trial periods via Stripe subscriptions.

Stripe Auto-Renewal Hook:

Automatically processes subscription renewals through Stripe.

Saved Payment Methods (Stripe):

Allows customers to securely save cards for faster future payments.

Abandoned Cart Recovery:

Automatically track unfinished checkouts and bring customers back to complete their purchases, helping you recover lost revenue with minimal effort.

Customer Dashboard:

Give customers a clean and organized dashboard where they can view orders, manage downloads, update account details, and track subscriptions in one place.

Multi-Tier Pricing:

Offer flexible pricing options for the same product, such as basic, standard, and premium plans, allowing customers to choose what fits their needs best.

Sell Memberships:

Create and sell membership plans that grant exclusive access to products, content, or features, all managed directly from your store.

Sell Subscriptions:

Set up recurring payments for products or services with full control over billing cycles, renewals, and customer access.

Bank Transfer Payments:

Allow customers to place orders using direct bank transfers, making it easier to accept payments from users who prefer offline or manual payment methods.

Affiliate System:

Create and manage affiliate programs to let partners promote your products and earn commissions automatically.

Coupon System:

Offer flexible discounts with usage limits and conditions to run promotions and boost conversions.

Tax Management:

Automatically calculate and apply taxes at checkout based on your configured tax rules.

New Addon Order Bump:

Introduced a clean and structured user interface for the Order Bump addon, making it easy to configure upsell offers during checkout.

Setup Wizard for New Installations:

A guided onboarding experience that helps new users configure StoreEngine quickly without technical confusion.

Advanced Color Customization Options:

Added subtitle and input text color settings to give better visual control over store design and branding.

Copy Download Link UI Support:

Allows admins to easily copy the latest free item download link directly from the dashboard, saving time and reducing errors.

Automatic Refund Status Handling:

Ensures orders are correctly marked as refunded when a full refund is issued, keeping order records accurate.

Selective COD Shipping Zones:

Provides fine-grained control over where Cash on Delivery is available based on shipping zones.

COD for Virtual Products:

Extends Cash on Delivery support to virtual products, offering more flexibility for store owners.

COD Configuration Admin Alerts:

Displays clear admin notices if COD is enabled without proper shipping or virtual product settings, reducing misconfiguration issues.

MaxMind GeoIP Integration:

Automatically detects customer country using GeoLite2 data, improving location-based pricing, tax, or restrictions.

Software Analytics Dashboard:

Introduced a centralized dashboard to monitor downloads, usage, and performance of software-based products.

Advanced Coupon Usage Limits:

Added separate usage limit controls to help admins better manage promotional campaigns.

Mini Cart Feature:

Provides a lightweight cart preview for faster checkout and better user experience.

Improved Free/Pro UI & Deployment Options:

Enhanced the interface to clearly distinguish between free and pro features and manage deployments efficiently.

Direct Checkout via URL:

Allows products to be added and checked out instantly using a parameterized URL, ideal for campaigns and funnels.

Hide Specific Prices from Frontend:

Gives admins the ability to hide certain pricing options without deleting them.

Archive Page Price Display Controls:

Improves how multiple prices are displayed on product archive pages for better clarity.

User Registration Confirmation Email:

Adds an extra layer of trust by sending confirmation emails after user registration.

Secure URL Presigner System:

Generates time-limited, encrypted download links to protect digital products from unauthorized access.

Licensed Software Download Support:

Enables secure delivery of licensed plugins and themes directly through StoreEngine.

Order Pay Feature:

Allows customers to complete payment for pending or failed orders without creating a new one.

CSV Import & Export:

Makes bulk product, order, or data management faster and easier.

Free Checkout (Zero Price) Support:

Allows products with zero cost to be checked out smoothly without payment gateways.

Detailed Order View:

Provides a clearer and more structured order details screen for admins and customers.

Subscription Details & Actions:

Lets users manage subscriptions with clear action buttons and status visibility.

Subscription Cancellation:

Enables customers to cancel subscriptions directly, improving transparency and trust.

Order Notes Management:

Admins can now add or remove internal order notes for better order tracking.

Cart & Checkout Settings Tab:

Centralizes all cart and checkout-related configurations in one place.

New Addon WooCommerce Migration:

Helps users migrate their existing WooCommerce store data into StoreEngine seamlessly.

Order Invoice PDF:

Automatically generates downloadable PDF invoices for orders.

Add to Cart Shortcode:

Allows inserting add-to-cart buttons anywhere using a shortcode.

New Webhook addon:

Triggers webhook events when orders are created by admins, enabling automation.

Webhook for Order Restoration:

Notifies external systems when an order is restored.

Unified Admin Notice System:

Displays notices consistently across React-based and native admin screens.

Catalog Mode Feature:

Lets store owners disable purchasing while showcasing products only.

FSE Archive Sidebar Fix:

Resolved product archive sidebar issues in Full Site Editing themes.

Frontend Dashboard Redirect Control:

Allows redirecting users after accessing the frontend dashboard.

API Permalink Helper:

Ensures compatibility with both pretty and plain permalink structures.

Group Buy Button Injection:

Adds support for group-buy-style purchase flows.

Course Bundle Price Display:

Ensures prices display correctly on course bundle pages.

Academy LMS Course Subscription Support:

Enables subscriptions when selling Academy LMS courses.

Academy LMS Tutor Booking Integration:

Connects Tutor Booking purchases with StoreEngine payments.

Academy LMS Course Bundle Integration:

Enables selling and managing Academy LMS course bundles through StoreEngine.

Shipping System:

Introduced a complete shipping feature for physical products.

Subscription System:

Core subscription functionality added for recurring products.

Order Deletion Controls:

Admins can now trash or permanently delete orders.

Single Product Gallery Shortcode:

Lets users display product image galleries anywhere using a shortcode, ideal for custom layouts.

Single Product Summary Shortcode:

Allows flexible placement of product summaries across pages or builders.

Single Product Description Shortcode:

Gives full control over where product descriptions appear on the frontend.

Single Product Comments Shortcode:

Enables embedding product comments section into custom templates.

Single Product Reviews Shortcode:

Makes it easy to showcase customer reviews in custom product layouts.

Single Product Cart Notice Shortcode:

Displays important cart-related notices wherever needed on the product page.

Coupon Apply Form Shortcode:

Enables coupon application forms anywhere on the site.

Cart List Table Shortcode:

Displays cart contents in a structured table layout.

Checkout Form Shortcode:

Allows full checkout forms to be embedded anywhere.

Continue Shopping Shortcode:

Adds flexible navigation back to the store from cart or checkout.

Billing Address Shortcode:

Displays billing address fields independently.

Order Details Shortcode:

Shows detailed order information anywhere on the site.

Order Downloads Shortcode:

Displays downloadable items for customers.

Order Summary Shortcode:

Provides a clean summary view of orders.

Proceed to Checkout Shortcode:

Adds direct checkout buttons where needed.

Payment Instruction Shortcode:

Displays custom payment instructions clearly.

Trust Earned from Real Usage

By the end of 2025, the results spoke for themselves:

StoreEngine maintained a perfect 5/5 average rating on WordPress.org, built entirely on real user reviews. More than 700 stores ran on StoreEngine throughout the year, using it for everything from simple digital downloads to complex subscription and licensing setups.

This level of trust isn’t bought — it’s earned through stability, support, and consistent delivery.

StoreEngine Content at a Glance

We’ve invested heavily in creating helpful, easy-to-follow content so users can get started quickly and grow with confidence.

• 8 in-depth blog posts covering core eCommerce concepts, product updates, and best practices to help users make smarter decisions.

• 53 detailed documentation articles designed to guide users step by step through setup, features, and advanced use cases.

• 19 tutorial videos that visually walk users through key features and real-life workflows inside StoreEngine.

• 38 short-form reels focused on quick tips, feature highlights, and bite-sized learning for faster understanding.

Together, this content ecosystem ensures StoreEngine users always have the guidance, clarity, and resources they need—whether they prefer reading, watching, or learning in quick snippets.

Looking Ahead: What’s Next for StoreEngine

2025 laid a powerful foundation for StoreEngine — but this is just the beginning of a much bigger journey.

As WordPress eCommerce continues to evolve, StoreEngine will stay focused on solving real problems for store owners, creators, and developers. Our direction is clear and intentional:

• Reducing dependency on multiple plugins by offering more built-in capabilities
• Making onboarding smoother with clearer workflows and improved documentation
• Expanding integrations across the WordPress ecosystem
• Delivering a truly performance-first eCommerce experience built natively for WordPress

Every improvement moving forward will be guided by one goal: helping users build faster, simpler, and more scalable online stores.

What We’re Building in 2026

The roadmap for 2026 is already taking shape, and it’s focused on unlocking the next level of flexibility and growth for StoreEngine users.

Some of the major initiatives currently planned include:

• SaaS License Manager to power software, plugin, and subscription-based businesses
• Marketing-focused features to help store owners increase conversions and customer retention
• Traditional eCommerce functionality to support more classic retail use cases alongside digital products
• Headless eCommerce compatibility, including a fully working headless demo to showcase real-world implementation
• Checkout Builder for complete control over the checkout experience
• Product Item Builder to create and manage complex product structures with ease
• Quick Checkout for faster purchasing with fewer steps
• Instant Checkout based on single or multiple product selection, designed to remove friction and boost conversions

These features are being planned with scalability, performance, and developer freedom at the core. For more explore roadmap. 

A Thank You to the Community

To everyone who installed StoreEngine, tested new features, shared feedback, left reviews, or built real businesses with it — thank you. Your support, ideas, and trust are what shape every release and push the platform forward.

Conclusion: Building the Future of WordPress eCommerce

StoreEngine is more than just another eCommerce plugin. It’s a long-term vision to simplify selling on WordPress without compromising performance, flexibility, or control.

With a strong foundation built in 2025 and an ambitious roadmap for 2026, we’re committed to building a modern, developer-friendly, and conversion-focused eCommerce ecosystem — one release at a time.

The future of WordPress eCommerce is being built, and StoreEngine is proud to be part of that journey.