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Introduction to Stackless for WooCommerce

Updated October 17, 2026

A typical WooCommerce store collects add-ons one problem at a time. One plugin for subscriptions, another for Stripe, another for PayPal, a licensing plugin, a currency switcher, a wishlist, an invoicing tool. Each one has its own settings screen, its own update cycle and its own idea of how the cart should work, and they don’t always agree with each other.

Stackless puts that stack into one plugin that runs on core WooCommerce alone. It has 30 modules, and you switch on only the ones you use. A module that’s switched off loads no code at all, so a store that only needs subscriptions and Stripe carries nothing else.

What Stackless Replaces

The plugin is built so you don’t need these alongside it:

  • WooCommerce Subscriptions or another subscriptions plugin
  • WooPayments, or a separate Stripe or PayPal plugin
  • a software licensing plugin
  • a multi-currency or currency switcher plugin
  • separate plugins for invoices, quotes, order bumps, wishlists, back-in-stock alerts, product add-ons, delivery slots and saved carts

Payment gateways connect to your own Stripe, PayPal or Polar accounts. Any other WooCommerce gateway you already use keeps working, and it can still sell Stackless subscriptions in manual-renewal mode, where the customer gets a pay link for each renewal.

If one of those other plugins is still active, the matching Stackless module pauses itself instead of fighting it. Troubleshooting and Plugin Conflicts lists exactly which plugins pause which modules.

The 30 Modules

Here’s every module by its name on the Stackless dashboard, grouped the way this course is.

Subscriptions:

  • Subscriptions

Payments:

  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Polar

Checkout and sales:

  • Checkout Builder
  • Checkout Enhancements
  • Order Bumps
  • Buy Links
  • Custom Invoices
  • Request a Quote

Multi-currency:

  • Multi-Currency Checkout
  • Currency-Aware Payment Gateways
  • Storefront Currency Selector

Software and access:

  • Software Licensing
  • Page Access

Catalog:

  • Free Price Text
  • Sold Count
  • Stock Urgency Labels
  • Min/Max Quantity
  • Hide Price Until Login
  • Custom Add to Cart Text
  • External Product Extras
  • Product Details Table

Store tools:

  • Wishlist
  • Back-in-stock Alerts
  • Fields & Paid Add-ons
  • Delivery & Pickup Slots
  • Saved Carts & Order Again
  • Service Products

The 30th module is License & Updates. It handles your own Stackless license and plugin updates, and it’s the only module that’s on when you first install. Everything else starts switched off.

A few modules build on another one. Currency-Aware Payment Gateways and Storefront Currency Selector both need Multi-Currency Checkout switched on, and Request a Quote needs Custom Invoices.

Requirements

  • WordPress 6.6 or later
  • WooCommerce 9.9 or later, active
  • PHP 7.4 or later
  • Stripe, PayPal or Polar accounts if you use those gateways

Stackless declares support for WooCommerce’s High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) and for the Cart and Checkout blocks. Every module that touches the cart or checkout works on both the Checkout block and the classic shortcode checkout, and it runs with HPOS or the older posts storage.

If WooCommerce is missing or older than 9.9, Stackless doesn’t start any module. It shows an admin notice saying which WooCommerce version it needs instead.

How to Read This Course

The course doubles as the Stackless documentation. Each module lesson tells you what the module does, where its settings live, and what it can’t do. Setting names and menu paths match what you see in your admin.

Start with the rest of this section: install the plugin, activate your license, and learn how the dashboard and settings screens work. After that, jump to whatever you need. Each section opens here:

If you’re selling subscriptions, I’d read the Subscriptions section and the gateway lesson you plan to use before switching anything on. Renewals depend on both.

Limits

These come straight from the plugin’s known limits:

  • Polar takes one subscription per checkout, with no other items in the cart.
  • There’s no importer from WooCommerce Subscriptions yet. Stackless pauses its Subscriptions module while WooCommerce Subscriptions is active.
  • Product add-on fields and the Buy now button need the classic add-to-cart form. WooCommerce’s newer “Add to Cart with Options” block doesn’t show them.
  • On the block checkout, links inside consent checkbox labels show as plain text, because WooCommerce’s checkbox field label is plain text.
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