WooCommerce 4.0: New Admin, Better Onboarding, Faster Scheduler

WooCommerce—the open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress—is out with its latest major release. Version 4.0 is now available, and it packs several notable updates for store owners and developers alike.

Given the scope of the changes, WooCommerce recommends following the standard upgrade process: back up your site, test on a staging environment, and only then update production. Here is what the new version brings:

  • Integrated admin: The previously separate admin plugin is no longer needed—its functionality is now built directly into WooCommerce core. This includes detailed, customizable reporting that can compare year-over-year sales data across nearly any aspect of store performance.
  • Streamlined onboarding: New users get a multi-step setup wizard that asks questions about the business and automatically configures the store accordingly. Existing installations are unaffected.
  • Refined Action Scheduler: The Action Scheduler—used for background tasks like updating subscription states and refreshing admin data—now operates at the database level, providing better performance than in prior releases.

WooCommerce Payments Enters Beta

Alongside the core update, WooCommerce has launched a new free plugin: WooCommerce Payments. While the platform has long supported payment gateways—the Stripe plugin, for instance, enabled credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay processing—this new offering brings the entire payments experience into the WooCommerce dashboard itself.

After a brief activation onboarding flow, store owners gain a dedicated payments section within the dashboard. There, they can view all transactions, track deposits to their bank account, process refunds, and manage disputes directly—no need to switch to a third-party payment console. The interface is purpose-built specifically for WooCommerce.

WooCommerce Payments beta access is currently limited to the U.S., with a special signup link available to bypass the waitlist. Those outside the U.S. can still register their interest in the beta by region on the official page.

Memberships and Subscriptions: Two Plugins, One System

For store owners considering recurring access to content, WooCommerce's ecosystem offers two complementary tools that are often conflated:

  • WooCommerce Memberships controls content access—you sell a product that unlocks certain areas of a site, and member access expires at the end of a defined term.
  • WooCommerce Subscriptions handles the billing side—enabling recurring charges at any interval.

To run a membership that charges monthly or annually rather than as a one-time fee, you need both plugins working together: the subscription bill keeps the membership active by extending its term upon each successful payment.

With the Memberships plugin in place, I can create a Membership plan for the site. Notice that’s it’s “subscription tied” to a length of time, thanks to the Subscription plugin.

When a store owner publishes content that should be gated, the Memberships plugin adds a content restriction panel in the post editor’s "Advanced Panels" area.

I can choose to lock down content at the fine-grained post/page level if I like. I can also do whole hierarchies of pages or categories or custom post types or the like.

Visitors who are not current members only see a preview of the post, with the remainder hidden behind a content-locked message. The User Switching plugin integrates cleanly here, allowing admins to preview the front end as a user from any membership plan to confirm access rules are correct.

From that locked view, the visitor can proceed directly to purchasing a membership, which unlocks the content. On the 4.0 upgrade path, existing stores should find the transition painless—the update applies cleanly for those who keep the core plugin’s settings intact.