Automation and integrations decision
Ship Restrict
A single technical person can build a useful WooCommerce-only replacement (admin UI, rule engine, checkout blocking) in about a week, but matching Shopify native checkout behavior, maintained regulatory feeds, and enterprise features makes a complete replacement impractical.
Visit website↗$29.99/mo
$360/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off32 h to build
$0/mo3 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 1 seat.
No open-source build does this yet
Nothing published replaces this one, so a replacement starts from an empty file. Here is what it would have to cover.
What a replacement has to do
- A store admin defines rules mapping products/categories to allowed/disallowed geographies; the checkout hook validates the cart destination against those rules and blocks checkout with a configurable message.
What it still won’t have
- Shopify native checkout blocking implementation and Shopify app behavior
- Researched state presets and maintained regulatory feed
- Enterprise features: multi-store sync, unlimited site licenses, dedicated account manager, white-glove onboarding, 24/7 support
- Priority support and phone support
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 1 seat.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a WooCommerce plugin in PHP (WordPress 6.x compatible) that enforces shipping restrictions by state, city, and ZIP. Stack: PHP 8.1+, MySQL, WP REST API for admin UI. In scope: plugin scaffold and activation hooks; persistence via a custom DB table (or custom post type) for rules; admin UI pages to create/edit/delete rules and bulk import/export JSON; a rule engine that maps cart line items (products/variations/categories/tags) to geographic restrictions; checkout integration using WooCommerce checkout validation hooks to block checkout before payment and return configurable error messages; WP-Cron scheduled tasks for rule activation/expiration; logging of blocked attempts. Out of scope: Shopify app, hosted regulatory feeds, multi-store sync, paid licensing. Require: input validation, error handling, unit/integration tests (PHPUnit), and installation/uninstallation scripts.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- 3 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- Evidence score58
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 3
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official pricingShip Restrict | WooCommerce & Shopify Shipping Restrictions
- official productShip Restrict | WooCommerce & Shopify Shipping Restrictions
- official docsShip Restrict Documentation
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
