Weight Based Shipping brings shipping by weight to WooCommerce. Your price list becomes a table of rules — weight brackets, a price per pound or kilogram, free shipping over an amount, a different rate per country — and the plugin calculates the shipping cost your customer sees at checkout from that table.

The plugin has been in the directory since 2013 and runs on more than 50,000 stores. There is no carrier account to open and no rate service to connect: prices come from your own table and are calculated inside your store.

Weight brackets

A price for every weight range, the way carrier price lists are written and what table rate shipping usually means: up to 2 kg $5.00, 2 to 5 kg $8.00, over 5 kg $12.00. Weights come from your products, in kilograms, grams, pounds, or ounces — whichever unit your store uses.

Shipping per lb or per kg

Charge by weight itself rather than by range: $1.50 for every 0.5 kg, or a straight price per kilogram or per pound. Add a base amount and you get the familiar “$3.75 for the first 5 kg, plus $0.75 for every kilogram over it”.

Free shipping over an amount

Free delivery once the cart reaches your threshold, normal rates below it. The threshold can be an order amount or a weight — free shipping up to 10 kg, paid above.

Rates by order total

Price shipping by the cart total as well as by weight: $6.00 under $50, $3.00 from $50 to $100, free from $100. Weight and order total also combine in one rule, so free shipping over $100 can stop at 10 kg and let heavier orders pay their way.

Flat rates, handling fees, and surcharges

Not every line of a price list depends on weight. A rule can add a fixed amount — a flat national rate, a handling fee, a surcharge on oversized orders — and applies only to the orders it is meant for.

Shipping rates by country

Different shipping rates for different countries in one table: a domestic rate, a rate for neighbouring countries, and a rest-of-the-world rate. For finer geography, down to postcodes, the method slots into WooCommerce shipping zones.

Quantity based shipping

For products of a uniform weight, weight stands in for quantity: $4.00 for every 0.5 kg is $4.00 per 0.5 kg item. The quantity based shipping recipe extends that to bulk pricing.

Several shipping options at checkout

Standard and Express, or delivery alongside pickup: add the method to a zone as many times as you have options, each with its own name, its own rules, and its own price.

Rule priority

Rules that both apply add up — a handling fee on top of a per-class rate, as a mixed cart should be priced. Rules meant as alternatives get conditions that cannot both hold, such as 0–2 kg and 2–5 kg, and only one of them applies.

For everything beyond that, the Pro edition adds mods:

— Stop ends the evaluation at its rule: the first match wins, and a rule placed higher overrides everything below it.
— Drop takes the items a rule has already priced out of the calculation, so nothing is charged twice.
— Deny withholds the method from orders it must not carry — a weight your carrier does not accept.
— Require shows the method only for orders that match — a refrigerated option only when something frozen is in the cart.

Mods has the details.

Rates by shipping class [Pro]

Pro rules can target a shipping class, so each kind of product is priced its own way: a flat price for T-shirts, a per-kilogram rate for bulky goods, a surcharge on anything fragile. The same targeting decides free shipping product by product — items that never ship free, items that do not count toward the threshold, or one product that makes the whole order free.

Split shipping [Pro]

Pro keeps several tables inside one shipping method. When two of them each cover part of the cart — a frozen courier and an ordinary parcel — the customer sees one combined option, priced as the sum of both parts. Multiple shipping options covers both arrangements.

Copy rules from staging to production [Pro]

Build and test the price list on a staging or local site, then move it to the live store without retyping a number: copy a table, or just the rules you pick, and paste it on the other site. The transfer goes through the ordinary clipboard, so there is no file to export and upload. Copy and paste shows it step by step.

Pro also brings undo and redo, value thresholds converted by an active currency switcher, and direct email support. Compare the editions.

Documentation

Getting started builds a first price list, how rules work explains matching and combining, and troubleshooting covers a checkout that reports no shipping options. Recipes are worked setups: shipping by weight, shipping per lb, free shipping over an amount, rates by country, and rates by shipping class.

Install the plugin, open the starter table, and replace the numbers with your own. If anything does not add up, ask in the support forum.

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1. Install and activate the plugin from Plugins → Add Plugin, or upload the Pro package from your purchase email.
2. Make sure your products have weights (Product data → Shipping); a product without one counts as zero.
3. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping, open a zone, and add the Weight Based Shipping method.
4. Open it and replace the numbers in the starter table with your own.

Rules use the store’s weight unit, set at WooCommerce → Settings → Products, so settle on kg, g, lbs, or oz first. Getting started walks through the same steps with screenshots.

1. 

   Tiered weight-based shipping configuration

2. 

   Free shipping over a threshold, and tiered weight-based shipping

3. 

   Per-product shipping with shipping classes

6.20.0

• Split-shipping breakdown: show in the cart and checkout blocks as well; add visibility settings; format in multiple lines for better readability.
• Tested with WooCommerce 11.2.

6.19.0

• Fix order subtotal might be incorrectly detected for block-based Cart.
• Fix a fatal error on the cart and checkout pages with Local Pickup Plus.

6.18.0

• Fix Local Pickup or other global shipping methods are not available on checkout when the global WBS method is enabled.

6.17.0

• PRO: Restore updates check.
• Tested with WooCommerce 11.1.

6.16.1

• Tested with WordPress 7.1, WooCommerce 11.0.

6.16.0

• PRO: Update the updater code.
• Tested with WordPress 7.0, WooCommerce 10.8.

6.15.3

• Hide woocommerce ads on the settings page.

6.15.2

• Tested with WooCommerce 10.7.

6.15.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 10.6.

6.15.0

• Fix deprecation warnings from PHP 8.3, 8.4.
• PRO: Support Require mod. All required rules must be matched for a shipping method to be activated.

6.14.0

• More flexible configuration loading for better compatibility with third-party code.
• Tested with WooCommerce 10.5.

6.13.0

• Improve the appearance of the Save, Undo, Redo buttons.
• Move the settings icon into the table header.
• Fix “from” field of the Weight/Value dropdown is not automatically focused.
• Fix the replacement suggestion for zero-length ranges having fractional numbers in the Weight/Value dropdown.
• Improve wording.
• Other UI tweaks.

6.12.1

• Don’t show the legacy global config tab by default for new installations.

6.12.0

• PRO: Support automatic multi-currency conversion provided by the plugins: CURCY Multi Currency for WooCommerce, WooCommerce Multilingual & Multicurrency (WCML), Booster for WooCommerce, FOX Currency Switcher Professional for WooCommerce (WOOCS).
• Tested with WooCommerce 10.4.

6.11.0

• Redesign Save, Undo, Redo buttons.
• Replace unicode symbols for kg, cm, mm, with plain texts for better rendering.
• Tested with WordPress 6.9.

6.10.1

• No longer test with PHP 7.2 (end-of-life reached 2020-11-30), WooCommerce prior to 7.0 (released in 2022-10-11), WordPress prior to 5.8 (released in 2021-07-20).
• Avoid settings save errors on extra whitespace added to the responses by other plugins.

6.10.0

• Fix minor legacy UI appearance issues.
• Tested with WooCommerce 10.3.

6.9.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 10.2.

6.9.0

• Fix “Automatic conversion of false to array is deprecated”.
• Table headers are not sticky anymore as it doesn’t work well with the recent WooCommerce UI updates.
• Tested with WooCommerce 10.1.

6.8.0

• Rename the plugin according to the requirement from the WooCommerce team.
• Tested with WooCommerce 10.0.

6.7.0

• Fixed the Save button position for RTL locales.
• Tested with WooCommerce 9.9.

6.6.2

• Tested with WordPress 6.8.

6.6.1

• Better handle possible clipboard copy-paste issues.
• Tested with WooCommerce 9.8.

6.6.0

• Fix the issue when the shipping tax is excluded from the shipping total after an order is placed when using the checkout block with WooCommerce 9.7+.
• Fix PHP 8.4 notices regarding implicit nullables.

6.5.0

• Fix the global shipping method not being activated by WooCommerce 9.7.
• Tested with WooCommerce 9.7.

6.4.1

• Use the new global method by default for new installations.

6.3.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 9.6.

6.3.0

• UI tweaks.
• Tested with WooCommerce 9.5.

6.2.0

• Limit the width of the Destination column.

6.1.0

• Rename the column Amount to Value.
• Add a note regarding multiple matching shipping rules.
• Tested with WordPress 6.7, WooCommerce 9.4.

6.0.0

• Make the new UI the default. No breaking changes.

5.11.0

• Fix order subtotal might be incorrectly detected for block-based Cart.
• WBS6 preview: UI tweaks.

5.10.0

• Fix WooCommerce PayPal Payment admin messages cause WBS rules to appear empty.
• Tested with WooCommerce 9.3.

5.9.4

• Tested with WooCommerce 9.2.

5.9.3

• Tested with WordPress 6.6, WooCommerce 9.1.

5.9.2

• Tested with WooCommerce 8.9, 9.0.

5.9.1

• Tested with WordPress 6.5, WooCommerce 8.8.
• WBS6 preview: minor fix of the Save button visibility

5.9.0

• Prevent running with unsupported PHP, WordPress, or WooCommerce versions.
• Fix an error when multiple installations of the plugin are active.

5.8.0

• Ship WBS6 Preview with the free version.
• WBS6 preview: improve the WooCommerce sticky header height detection.

5.7.2

• Tested with WooCommerce 8.6, 8.7.
• WBS6 preview improvements (Plus version only).

5.7.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 8.5.
• WBS6 preview improvements (Plus version only).

5.7.0

• Tested with WooCommerce 8.4.
• WBS6 preview improvements (Plus version only).

5.6.3

• Tested with WordPress 6.4, WooCommerce 8.3.
• Drop PHP 7.1 support.

5.6.2

• Tested with WooCommerce 8.2.

5.6.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 8.1.

5.6.0

• Enable WBS6 preview (Plus version only).

5.5.7

• Tested with WooCommerce 8.0, WordPress 6.3.
• Drop WooCommerce pre-5.0 support.

5.5.6

• Show a notice on the global shipping method suggesting to try shipping zones instead.
• Remove WooCommerce pre-2.6 compat code.
• Prepare WBS6 preview.

5.5.5

• Tested with WooCommerce 7.9.

5.5.4

• Tested with WooCommerce 7.8.

5.5.3

• Tested with WooCommerce 7.7.

5.5.2

• Tested with WooCommerce 7.6.

5.5.1

• Declare compatibility with HPOS.
• Tested with WordPress 6.2.

5.5.0

• Check nonce on config update.
• Remove the legacy config import option (used for 4.x -> 5.x migration).
• Tested with WooCommerce 7.5.

5.4.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 7.4.

5.4.0

• Use the cart price provided by WooCommerce by default for fresh installations of the plugin. It makes Order Subtotal to account for virtual items’ prices and increases compatibility with third-party plugins.
• Make sure a user has manage_woocommerce capability to update the shipping rules.
• Tested with PHP 8.2.

5.3.27

• Raise the minimum required WordPress version to 4.6.

5.3.26

• Tested with WooCommerce 7.1.

5.3.25

• Tested with WooCommerce 7.0, WordPress 6.1.

5.3.24

• Tested with WooCommerce 6.9.

5.3.23

• Tested with WooCommerce 6.7

5.3.22

• Tested with WooCommerce 6.5, WordPress 6.0.

5.3.21

• Fixed a PHP warning triggered by some other plugins about a missing InstalledVersions.php file.
• Tested with WooCommerce 6.4.

5.3.20

• Tested with WooCommerce 6.3.

5.3.19

• Tested with WordPress 5.9, WooCommerce 6.1.

5.3.18

• Tested with WooCommerce 6.0.

5.3.17

• Tested with WooCommerce 5.9.

5.3.16

• Tested with WooCommerce 5.8.
• Drop PHP 5.6 support.

5.3.15

• Tested with WooCommerce 5.7.

5.3.14

• Tested with WooCommerce 5.6.

5.3.13

• Tested with WordPress 5.8, WooCommerce 5.5.

5.3.12

• Tested with WooCommerce 5.3.

5.3.11

• Tested with WooCommerce 5.2.

5.3.10

• Tested with WooCommerce 5.1, WordPress 5.7.

5.3.9

• Bump the minimum supported PHP version to 5.6.
• Tested with WooCommerce 5.0.

5.3.8

• Tested with WooCommerce 4.9.
• Require minimum WooCommerce 3.2.

5.3.7.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 4.8, WordPress 5.6.

5.3.7

• Fix the issue with the global WBS method not being triggered by WooCommerce for customers having no location set.
• Tested with WooCommerce 4.7.

5.3.6.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 4.6.

5.3.6

• Raise the minimum required WooCommerce version to 3.1.2.
• Tested with WooCommerce 4.5.

5.3.5

• Fix unsaved settings warning with WooCommerce 4.4.1.

5.3.4.5

• Tested with WordPress 5.5.

5.3.4.4

• Fix a typo in the settings link.

5.3.4.3

• Tested with WooCommerce 4.3.

5.3.4.2

• Tested with WooCommerce 4.2.

5.3.4.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 4.1.

5.3.4

• Fix small appearance issues with recent WordPress/WooCommerce.

5.3.3.2

• Tested with WooCommerce 4.0, WordPress 5.4.

5.3.3.1

• Tested with WooCommerce 3.9.

5.3.3

• Fix appearance with WordPress 5.3.

5.3.2.2

• Update the supported WooCommerce version to 3.8, WordPress to 5.3.

5.3.2.1

• Update the supported WooCommerce version to 3.7.

5.3.2

• Workaround VaultPress false-positive.

5.3.1

• Fix ‘400 Bad Request’ error on saving settings.

5.3.0

• Add the ‘after discount applied’ option to the Order Subtotal condition to match against order price with coupons and other discounts applied.

5.2.6

• Fix WooCommerce 3.6.0+ compatibility issue causing no shipping options shown to a customer under some circumstances.

5.2.5

• Fix PHP 5.3 compatibility issue.

5.2.4.1

• Update the supported WordPress version to 5.1.

5.2.4

• Partial support for decimal quantities.

5.2.3

• Update the supported WordPress version to 5.0.

5.2.2

• Improve prerequisite checking.
• Update the supported WooCommerce version to 3.5.

5.2.1

• Update supported WooCommerce version.

5.2.0

• Don’t ignore duplicate shipping classes entries. When multiple rates are specified for a class in a rule, they all will be in effect starting from this version.

5.1.5

• Fix issue with Weight Rate causing zero price in case of a small order weight and large step (“per each”) value.
• Fix appearance issues with WooCommerce 3.2.

5.1.4

• Fix the blank settings page in Safari when Yoast SEO is active.

5.1.3

• Fix WooCommerce pre-2.6 compatibility.
• Minor appearance fixes.

5.1.2

• Fix the blank settings page in Firefox when Yoast SEO is active.

5.1.1

• Fix settings not saved on hosts overriding arg_separator.output php.ini option.

5.1.0

• Support WooCommerce convention on shipping option ids to fix shipping method detection in third-party code, like Cash On Delivery payment method and Conditional Shipping and Payments plugin.

5.0.9

• Show a warning on PHP 5.3 with Zend Guard Loader active known to crash with 500/503 server error.

5.0.8

• Fix IE11 error preventing from adding/importing rules.

5.0.7

• Fix welcome screen buttons appearance in WP 4.7.5.

5.0.6

• A bunch of minor fixes.

5.0.5

• Fix PHP 5.3.x error while importing legacy rules.
• Fix WooCommerce 3.x deprecation notice about get_variation_id.

5.0.4

• Fix WooCommerce 3.x deprecation notices.
• Deactivate other active versions of the plugin upon activation (fixed).

5.0.3-beta

• Fix ‘fatal error: call to undefined function Wbs\wc_get_shipping_method_count()’.

5.0.2-beta

• Avoid conflicts with other plugins using the same libraries.
• Deactivate other active versions of the plugin upon activation.

5.0.1-beta

• Fix Destinations not being saved on WooCommerce 3.0.

5.0.0-beta

• Rewritten from scratch, better performance and look’n’feel.
• Shipping Zones support.

4.2.3

• Fix links to premium plugins.

4.2.2

• Fix rules not imported from an older version when updating from pre-4.0 to 4.2.0 or 4.2.1.

4.2.1

• Fix saving rules order.

4.2.0

• Allow sorting rules by drag’n’drop in the admin panel.

4.1.4

• WooCommerce 2.6 compatibility fixes.

4.1.3

• Minimize chances of a float-point rounding error in the weight step count calculation (https://wordpress.org/support/topic/weight-rate-charge-skip-calculate).

4.1.2

• Don’t fail on invalid settings, allow editing them instead.

4.1.1

• Backup old settings on upgrade from pre-4.0 versions.

4.1.0

• Fix WC_Settings_API->get_field_key() missing method usage on WC 2.3.x.
• Use package passed to calculate_shipping() funciton instead of global cart object for better integration with 3d-party plugins.
• Get rid of wbs_remap_shipping_class hook.
• Use class autoloader for better performance and code readability.

4.0.0

• Admin UI redesign.

3.0.0

• Country states/regions targeting support.

2.6.9

• Fixed: inconsistent decimal input handling in Shipping Classes section (https://wordpress.org/support/topic/please-enter-in-monetary-decimal-issue).

2.6.8

• Fixed: plugin settings are not changed on save with WooCommerce 2.3.10 (WooCommerce 2.3.10 compatibility issue).

2.6.6

• Introduced ‘wbs_profile_settings_form’ filter for better 3d-party extensions support.
• Removed partial localization.

2.6.5

• Min/Max Shipping Price options.

2.6.3

• Improved upgrade warning system.
• Fixed warning about Shipping Classes Overrides changes.

2.6.2

• Fixed Shipping Classes Overrides: always apply base Handling Fee.

2.6.1

• Introduced “Subtotal With Tax” option.

2.6.0

• Min/Max Subtotal condition support.

2.5.1

• Introduce “wbs_remap_shipping_class” filter to provide 3dparty plugins an ability to alter shipping cost calculation.
• WordPress 4.1 compatibility testing.

2.5.0

• Shipping classes support.
• Ability to choose all countries except specified.
• Select All/None buttons for countries.
• Purge shipping price calculations cache on configuration changes to reflect actual config immediatelly.
• Profiles table look tweaks.
• Other small tweaks.

2.4.2

• Fixed: deleting non-currently selected configuration deletes first configuration from the list.

2.4.1

• Updated pot-file required for translations.
• Added three nice buttons to plugin settings page.
• Prevent buttons in Actions column from wrapping on multiple lines.

2.4.0

• By default, apply Shipping Rate to the extra weight part exceeding Min Weight. Also, a checkbox added to switch off this feature.

2.3.0

• Duplicate profile feature.
• New ‘Weight Step’ option for rough gradual shipping price calculation.
• Added more detailed description to the Handling Fee and Shipping Rate fields to make their purpose clear.
• Plugin prepared for localization.
• Refactoring.

2.2.3

• Fixed: first time saving settings with fresh installations does not save anything while reporting a success.
• Replace short php tags with their full equivalents to make code more portable.

2.2.2

Fix “parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_FUNCTION in woocommerce-weight-based-shipping.php on line 610” https://wordpress.org/support/topic/fatal-error-1164.

2.2.1

Allow zero-weight shipping. Thus, only Handling Fee is added to the final price.

Previously, the weight-based shipping option has not been shown to the user if the total weight of their cart is zero. Since version 2.2.1 this is changed, so the shipping option is available to user with price set to Handling Fee. If this does not suite your needs well, you can return previous behavior by setting Min Weight to something a bit greater than zero, e.g., 0.001, so that zero-weight orders will not match constraints and the shipping option will not be shown.