As the “Gig Economy” continues to reshape how we buy and sell, tipping culture has moved rapidly from the countertop to the digital checkout. Whether you run a local pizza shop, a florist, a boutique agency, or a delivery service, offering a tipping option is no longer just a “nice to have”—it is an expectation.
Recent data suggests that over 60% of customers are willing to add a gratuity if prompted correctly during the online checkout process. However, WooCommerce—the world’s most popular e-commerce platform—does not include this functionality out of the box.
To accept tips, you need a plugin. But with dozens of options in the WordPress repository, how do you choose? Some are bloated “multipurpose” suites that will slow down your site, while others are designed for non-profit donations rather than service tipping.
We tested the top contenders to bring you the 5 Best WooCommerce Tipping Plugins for 2025, specifically evaluating them on User Experience (UX), Mobile Design, and Ease of Setup.
Quick Comparison Table
In a rush? Here is how the top 5 plugins stack up against each other.
| Plugin | Best For | Key Feature | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. LocalSiteBuilder Tipping | Local Businesses | One-Click Smart Buttons | $29/yr |
| 2. Order Tip for WC | Hobby Sites | Free Basic Field | Free |
| 3. YITH Donations | Non-Profits | Donation Campaigns | €79/yr |
| 4. Booster for WC | Power Users | 100+ Other Modules | $179/yr |
| 5. FunnelKit | Marketing Pros | Upsell Funnels | $99/yr |
1. LocalSiteBuilder Tipping (Our Top Pick)
Best For: Restaurants, Delivery Services, and Local Shops who need a high-converting, mobile-first solution.
When we analyzed the market, we noticed a massive gap. Most tipping plugins were either ugly input fields (which kill conversions) or complex charity donation systems. LocalSiteBuilder Tipping was built to solve this specific problem for local commerce.
It takes the #1 spot because it focuses entirely on frictionless tipping. It mimics the interface of modern food delivery apps (like DoorDash or UberEats), offering customers simple percentage buttons (10%, 15%, 20%) that update the cart instantly without a page reload.
Key Features
- Smart “One-Click” Buttons: Customers can tap pre-set percentage amounts or fixed dollar amounts instantly.
- Zero Performance Impact: The code is ultra-lightweight. It only loads its assets on the Cart and Checkout pages, ensuring your homepage remains lightning fast (Core Web Vitals friendly).
- Tax & Accounting Compliance: Unlike basic code snippets, LocalSiteBuilder Tipping allows you to mark tips as “Non-Taxable” and separates them in reporting, keeping your accountant happy.
- Total Customization: You can change every text label. Want to say “Buy the Kitchen a Beer” instead of “Add a Tip”? You can do that in seconds.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Pro: The most mobile-friendly interface on this list.
- ✅ Pro: Extremely affordable compared to enterprise suites.
- ✅ Pro: Setup takes less than 2 minutes.
- ❌ Con: It is a dedicated tipping plugin; it does not do upsells or cross-sells (focused utility).
Pricing: Starts at $29/year (Includes 1-site license and standard support).
2. Order Tip for WooCommerce
Best For: Hobby stores, test sites, or businesses with a strict $0 budget.
If you search the WordPress repository for “WooCommerce Tip,” this is one of the first free results you will see. Created by a third-party developer, “Order Tip for WooCommerce” is a functional, bare-bones solution.
It works by adding a simple “Fee” line item to the checkout. While it gets the job done technically, it lacks the polish required for a high-volume professional store.
Key Features
- Basic Placement: Adds a field to the Cart and Checkout pages.
- Fee Calculation: Can calculate a percentage fee or a fixed fee.
- Free: It is open-source and available on the WordPress repository.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Pro: Completely free to use.
- ✅ Pro: Simple to install from the plugin repository.
- ❌ Con: Poor UI/UX: It often looks like a generic form field or a “Shipping” calculator, which confuses customers.
- ❌ Con: No Mobile Optimization: It uses small text inputs that can be hard to tap on mobile devices.
- ❌ Con: Limited Support: As a free plugin, support is often slow or non-existent if you run into conflicts.
Pricing: Free.
3. YITH Donations for WooCommerce
Best For: Non-Profits, Charities, and NGOs.
YITH is one of the giants in the WooCommerce ecosystem. Their “Donations” plugin is a robust, powerful tool, but it is important to understand the distinction between a Donation and a Tip.
YITH’s plugin is designed to help you run charity campaigns (e.g., “Round up for Red Cross”). Because of this, it often treats the donation as a “Product” in the cart rather than a “Fee.” This can cause complications for restaurants—for example, a “Donation Product” might accidentally trigger shipping rules or confuse kitchen display systems.
Key Features
- Campaign Support: You can link donations to specific charity forms.
- Widgets: Includes a widget to show “Total Donated” progress bars.
- Email Integration: Sends specific donation receipts (useful for tax-deductible charities).
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Pro: Powerful features for actual charities.
- ✅ Pro: Backed by a large development company.
- ❌ Con: Expensive: At roughly $85/year, it is pricey for a simple tip jar.
- ❌ Con: Bloated for Tips: You don’t need “Campaign Progress Bars” for a pizza delivery tip.
- ❌ Con: Setup Complexity: Requires significantly more configuration than a dedicated tipping plugin.
Pricing: €79.99/year (Approx. $85 USD).
4. Booster for WooCommerce
Best For: Developers and “Power Users” who want 100 features in one.
Booster (formerly WooCommerce Jetpack) is a “Swiss Army Knife” plugin. It includes over 100 different modules, ranging from PDF Invoicing and Currency Converting to—you guessed it—Checkout Fees and Tipping.
The Tipping module inside Booster is quite capable. It allows for custom labels and percentage calculations. However, installing Booster just to get a tip jar is like buying a literal tank to drive to the grocery store. It is overkill.
Key Features
- Massive Toolset: Includes tools for buttons, labels, prices, emails, and more.
- Global Discounts: Can handle complex store-wide pricing rules.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Pro: If you already own Booster Plus, you don’t need to buy another plugin.
- ✅ Pro: Highly technical configuration options.
- ❌ Con: Dashboard Bloat: It adds massive menus and settings to your WordPress admin.
- ❌ Con: Performance Risk: If not configured correctly, loading 100+ modules can slow down your site’s backend.
- ❌ Con: Price: The full version is expensive ($179+) if you only need one feature.
Pricing: $179/year for the Plus bundle.
5. FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels)
Best For: High-end marketers building complex sales funnels.
FunnelKit is an incredible piece of software. It allows you to build ClickFunnels-style sales pages directly inside WooCommerce. As part of their checkout editor, they include an “Order Bump” feature that can be used to ask for tips.
This is the “Ferrari” option. If you are a sophisticated marketer running paid ads and need to A/B test your checkout page design, FunnelKit is the way to go. But for a local flower shop or restaurant? It is almost certainly too complex and too expensive.
Key Features
- Drag & Drop Checkout Builder: Completely redesign your checkout page.
- A/B Testing: Test if a 10% tip button converts better than a $5 button.
- One-Click Upsells: Offer additional products after the checkout.
Pros & Cons
- ✅ Pro: The most advanced checkout modification tool on the market.
- ✅ Pro: incredible analytics and data tracking.
- ❌ Con: Overkill: Way too complicated for a simple “Tip Jar” requirement.
- ❌ Con: High Learning Curve: You need to learn a whole new interface to use it.
- ❌ Con: Price: Starts at $99/year, but the good features are often in higher tiers ($199+).
Pricing: Starts at $99.50/year.
Buying Guide: How to Choose the Right Plugin
Still undecided? Here are the three factors you should consider before making a purchase.
1. Mobile UX is Everything
Look at your analytics. Chances are, 70% to 80% of your customers are ordering on their phones.
If you choose a plugin that uses a tiny text input box, your customers will get frustrated trying to type in a number. They will skip the tip. You want big, tappable buttons (like the ones in LocalSiteBuilder Tipping) that make tipping a reflex, not a chore.
2. Tax & Accounting Handling
This is the boring part, but it saves you from an audit. A tip is legally distinct from a product sale. In many jurisdictions, tips are not subject to sales tax.
- Donation Plugins often treat the money as a “Product,” which gets taxed automatically by WooCommerce.
- Dedicated Tipping Plugins treat the money as a “Fee,” allowing you to mark it as non-taxable.
Make sure the plugin you choose has a checkbox for “Is this fee taxable?”
3. “Donation” vs. “Gratitude”
Words matter. If you are a for-profit business (restaurant, delivery, barber), do not use a plugin that says “Donate.” Customers donate to charity; they tip for service.
Using the wrong language confuses customers (“Wait, is this money going to a charity?”). Ensure your plugin allows you to fully customize the label to say “Tip,” “Gratuity,” or “Support the Team.”
The Verdict
For most users reading this guide—local business owners, agencies building sites for clients, and service providers—the choice is clear.
You don’t need the complexity of FunnelKit, and you shouldn’t settle for the poor user interface of the free Order Tip plugin.
LocalSiteBuilder Tipping offers the perfect balance. It was built specifically to help you earn more money by making the tipping process seamless, beautiful, and mobile-friendly.
Ready to increase your staff’s earnings? Download LocalSiteBuilder Tipping today.