Tiered Pricing in WooCommerce: The 3 Kinds and Which Plugin Fits
Tiered pricing in WooCommerce means a product has more than one price, and which price applies depends on a rule. There are three kinds, and they follow different rules: how many units one customer buys (quantity tiers), who the customer is (wholesale or role tiers), or how many units have sold in total (sales-based tiers, also called early bird or progressive pricing).
WooCommerce doesn’t include any of them. A product has one regular price and an optional sale price with dates, so every kind of tiered pricing needs a plugin. Picking the wrong kind is the most common mistake, so this guide explains each one first, then the plugins that do it.
The three kinds at a glance
| Kind | The price depends on | Example | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantity tiers | Units in one order | 1–9 at $29, 10–49 at $24, 50+ at $19 | Larger orders, bulk buyers |
| Wholesale / role tiers | Who the customer is | Retail $29, wholesale $18 | B2B and trade customers |
| Sales-based tiers | Total units sold so far | First 50 at $19, next 100 at $29, then $39 | Launches, pre-sales, early bird offers |
The first two reward bigger or special customers. The third rewards early customers: the price is the same for everyone at a given moment, and it rises as each batch sells out.
1. Quantity tiers (bulk discounts)
The price per unit drops when one customer buys more in the same order. Buy 1 to 9 and pay $29 each; buy 10 or more and pay $24 each. The cart total is what triggers the lower price, so it encourages bigger orders. It doesn’t change the price for the next customer.
Free plugins for quantity tiers on WordPress.org include:
- Tiered Pricing Table for WooCommerce — “bulk, wholesale, and quantity-based pricing” with pricing tables (10,000+ active installs).
- Discount Rules and Dynamic Pricing for WooCommerce — bulk, quantity, BOGO and category discounts (9,000+ active installs).
- WPC Price by Quantity for WooCommerce — quantity-based prices (1,000+ active installs).
- YayPricing — dynamic pricing including tiered and bundle discounts (3,000+ active installs).
2. Wholesale and role tiers
Different customers see different prices: retail shoppers pay the regular price, approved wholesale or trade accounts pay less. The rule is the customer’s role, not how much they buy (though many wholesale plugins also add minimum quantities).
Free plugins for wholesale and role tiers include:
- Wholesale Suite — wholesale pricing, user roles and dynamic pricing for B2B customers (20,000+ active installs).
- B2BKing — wholesale, B2B or hybrid B2B and B2C stores (10,000+ active installs).
3. Sales-based tiers (early bird pricing)
The price depends on how many units have sold in total, across all customers. The first 50 units sell at $19, the next 100 at $29, then the regular price. Everyone sees the same price at the same moment, and it steps up when each batch sells out. This is how crowdfunding reward tiers work, and it’s the model behind early bird and launch pricing.
It’s the right choice when you want to:
- reward the first buyers of a new product, course or batch;
- run a pre-sale where the price rises as orders come in;
- show honest urgency: “Only 12 left at $29, then $39”.
TierStep is a free plugin for sales-based tiers, made by CommerceWP, the makers of this guide. It counts units sold, switches the price at each threshold, shows shoppers how many units are left at the current price, holds units during checkout and gives refunded units back to their tier. Its docs cover tiers and price modes, store-wide campaigns and what shoppers see.
Shop and category pages can show the same information in a small badge, so shoppers see which products are in a sales-based offer before they open them.
For a full walk-through, see how to set up early bird pricing in WooCommerce. To compare the sales-based plugins, see WooCommerce early bird pricing plugins compared. For tiers set as a shrinking percentage off, see progressive discounts in WooCommerce.
How to choose
Ask one question: what should make the price change?
- “Buy more, pay less per unit” — quantity tiers.
- “Trade customers pay less” — wholesale or role tiers.
- “The first buyers pay less, then the price goes up” — sales-based tiers.
If you sell to bulk buyers *and* run launches, you can use both kinds on the same store, on different products. TierStep works alongside Discount Rules and Dynamic Pricing for WooCommerce: on a product with a running TierStep campaign, the product page shows the tier price the cart will charge. More in early bird pricing vs bulk discounts.
Frequently asked questions
Does WooCommerce have tiered pricing built in?
No. WooCommerce gives each product one regular price and an optional sale price with a start and end date. Quantity tiers, wholesale tiers and sales-based tiers all need a plugin.
What is the difference between tiered pricing and bulk pricing?
Bulk pricing is one kind of tiered pricing: the price per unit drops when one customer buys more in a single order. Tiered pricing is the wider idea of a product having several prices chosen by a rule, which can also be the customer’s role or the total units sold.
What is sales-based tiered pricing?
Sales-based tiered pricing changes the price for everyone as total sales grow: the first batch sells at the lowest price and the price rises as each batch sells out. It’s also called early bird or progressive pricing, and it rewards early buyers rather than large orders.
Can I increase a WooCommerce price after X sales?
Yes, with a sales-based pricing plugin. Set the first 50 units at $19 and the next 100 at $29; when 50 units sell, the price becomes $29 automatically. See how to increase a WooCommerce price after X sales.
Which kind of tiered pricing is best for a product launch?
Sales-based tiers. They give every early buyer the same lower price and a clear reason to buy now, and the price rises on its own as the launch sells. Quantity tiers suit bulk orders instead.
Sources
Plugin details and install counts are from each plugin’s WordPress.org listing, checked on October 20, 2026: Tiered Pricing Table, Discount Rules and Dynamic Pricing, WPC Price by Quantity, YayPricing, Wholesale Suite, B2BKing, TierStep. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it.
