“Best WooCommerce barcode plugin” is a search that actually covers three different jobs, and most roundups answer it as if it were one. If you need a GTIN or EAN number on each product so Google Merchant Center stops rejecting your feed, you want a different plugin than the one that prints scannable labels for your warehouse shelf, which is different again from the one that generates a QR code a customer can scan in a printed catalog. This post compares one real plugin for each job: EAN Barcode Generator for WooCommerce for GTIN and EAN data, Barcode Generator for WooCommerce for printed labels, and QR Code Woocommerce for scannable QR codes, with real setup steps and honest limits for each.
| Plugin | Best for | Price | Last updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAN Barcode Generator for WooCommerce | GTIN, EAN, UPC and ISBN data for Google Shopping feeds | Free, Pro from $59.99/year | August 2026 |
| Barcode Generator for WooCommerce | Printed barcode labels for shelves, POS and warehouse scanning | Free, Pro from $99/year | October 2026 |
| QR Code Woocommerce | QR codes linking to a product or coupon, for print or offline use | Free | July 2026 |
EAN Barcode Generator for WooCommerce: GTIN, EAN and UPC Data
EAN Barcode Generator for WooCommerce, built by WPFactory, is the one to reach for when the problem is data, not printing: your products need a GTIN, EAN, UPC, ISBN, JAN or EAN-14 value attached so a feed plugin, Google Listings & Ads, or a marketplace can read it. It handles EAN-13, UPC-A, EAN-8, ISBN-13, JAN, EAN-14 and custom formats, lets you assign a code to simple, variable and variation-level products, and adds that value to your product’s structured data so search engines pick it up automatically. The part that actually separates it from typing numbers into a custom field by hand is the bulk tooling: you can generate codes automatically with a chosen prefix and seed, copy existing SKUs or product IDs into the EAN field in one pass, or wipe every EAN across the catalog if you need to start over.
Setup is a normal plugin install from Plugins > Add New, then activate and look for the “WPFactory” menu in your WordPress admin sidebar, where the EAN settings and bulk tools live. From there you either enter codes product by product on the usual product edit screen, or run one of the bulk actions against your whole catalog at once, which is the realistic path if you’re retrofitting GTINs onto a store that already has a few hundred products. The plugin is also built to work alongside Google Listings & Ads, Rank Math, Dokan and several POS and invoicing plugins, so it slots into a feed-generation workflow rather than replacing one.
The honest limit: the free version manages the GTIN as a number, a value you can search, display, export and feed into Google Shopping, but it does not generate an actual barcode image or a printable PDF of that code. If what you actually want is something to stick on a shelf or scan with a handgun scanner, this plugin alone won’t produce it; that image-and-PDF generation is a Pro-only feature. For a pure data and compliance play, that’s a reasonable trade. For anything you need to print, pair it with a label plugin or skip straight to one.
Barcode Generator for WooCommerce: Printed Labels for Shelves and Warehouses
Barcode Generator for WooCommerce by UKR Solution solves a physically different problem: it prints real, scannable barcode labels straight out of WooCommerce, for A4 and Letter sheets or continuous thermal roll printers (Dymo, Zebra, Brother, Rollo and similar). It supports CODE128, CODE39, UPC-A/E, EAN-13/8, GTIN, the GS1 family, DataMatrix and QR code formats, and it can pull the data for each label from the product ID, SKU, a GTIN custom field, or order fields, which means it can sit downstream of the EAN plugin above and print whatever GTIN that plugin already stored. Labels render as vector SVG rather than a compressed raster image, which is the detail that actually matters for scan reliability on cheap thermal printers.
Setup happens from the plugin’s own screen after activation, where you pick a print profile: a built-in A4 or Letter sheet (12, 14, 16, 21, 24, 40, 44, 56, 65, 120, 189, 230 or 324 labels per page), a thermal roll size, or a custom layout you define yourself. You select which products to print, choose the barcode format and the one data field to show on the label, and print through your browser’s print dialog. The plugin’s own documentation is blunt about this part: if labels come out misaligned or cut off, set your browser’s print margins to “None” and the scale to exactly “100%” (never “Fit to Page”), and make sure you’re using the actual manufacturer printer driver rather than a generic one. That’s a real, specific step most label plugins don’t bother explaining, and it’s the difference between a working setup and an afternoon of wasted paper.
The honest limit: the free version caps each label at one data field, so you can show the SKU or the price or the product name, but not a combination of them on the same tag. Printing hundreds of labels in one batch, or generating labels directly from the incoming orders screen, is a Premium feature. For a small shop printing a few dozen labels at a time, the free version is genuinely usable; for a warehouse doing this daily at volume, budget for the upgrade.
QR Code Woocommerce: Scannable Codes for Print and Offline Use
QR Code Woocommerce solves a third, unrelated problem: getting a customer from something physical (a flyer, a packaging insert, a shelf tag, a market stall banner) to a specific product or coupon page on your site without them typing a URL. It generates QR codes for simple and variable products and for coupons, supports a PDF download of the generated code for offline printing, and includes a bulk generator plus basic design options like color, a label, and an image overlay in the center of the code. This is not a GTIN or inventory tool; it doesn’t touch Google Shopping compliance or warehouse scanning at all, it’s purely a way to point a phone camera at something and land on a page.
Setup is a standard activation, with WooCommerce required and active, followed by opening the “Woo QR” menu in wp-admin to design codes and run the bulk generator across your catalog. For a single product or coupon dropped into a post or page, the plugin also exposes a shortcode, [wooqr id="product_id" title="1" price="1"] for a product or [wooqr id="coupon_id" title="1" description="1"] for a coupon, with the ID left optional when the shortcode sits on that product’s own page.
The honest limit here is less about missing features and more about maturity: this is a smaller plugin from a single-purpose landing page rather than a plugin studio with a support team and a track record across dozens of products, and it’s newer than the other two in this comparison. For a straightforward “generate a QR code that opens a product page” need, it does exactly that without complication. If you need the QR code to carry structured product data for inventory purposes rather than just a URL, that’s outside what this plugin is built for.
How to Pick the Right WooCommerce Barcode Plugin
- If a product feed or Google Merchant Center is rejecting listings over missing GTIN, EAN or UPC values, start with EAN Barcode Generator for WooCommerce and its bulk-assign tools.
- If you run a physical counter, shelf or warehouse and need something a handheld scanner can actually read off paper, use Barcode Generator for WooCommerce and print to whatever hardware you already own.
- If the goal is getting someone from a printed flyer, package insert or market stall sign to a product or coupon page on your phone, use QR Code Woocommerce.
- If you need both a compliant GTIN and a printed barcode of that same code, generate and store the GTIN with the EAN plugin first, then point the label plugin’s field mapping at that custom field so the printed barcode matches the one in your product feed.
- If none of the three free plugins cover a combination you need in one place, such as GTIN management plus bulk label printing plus order-level barcodes in a single screen, that’s a case for a custom build rather than stacking three separate plugins; our Plugin Development team builds exactly this kind of feature directly into a store.
FAQ
Does WooCommerce already have a built-in GTIN field?
Yes, recent versions of WooCommerce added a single GTIN, UPC, EAN or ISBN field on the product’s Inventory tab, including on individual variations, and Google’s own WooCommerce integration reads it automatically. What it doesn’t give you is bulk tools to populate that field across an existing catalog, a barcode image, or a print layout, which is exactly the gap these plugins fill.
Can I use my product SKU as the barcode instead of a real EAN or UPC?
Technically yes, Barcode Generator for WooCommerce can print a barcode from your SKU field directly, and it will scan fine with a handheld scanner for internal use. Just don’t submit an SKU-based code as the GTIN in a Google Shopping feed; that field expects a real, globally recognized identifier, not an internal one.
Do I need an officially registered GS1 barcode number, or can a plugin just generate one?
If you’re selling through Google Shopping, Amazon or another retailer that validates GTINs against GS1’s database, you need a real, purchased prefix. If the barcode is purely for your own internal inventory or in-store scanning, a plugin-generated code works fine since nothing outside your own systems is checking it against a registry.
Will a free barcode plugin actually scan correctly with a real scanner?
For Barcode Generator for WooCommerce, yes, the free version prints real vector barcodes in standard formats that scan correctly; the limitation is one data field per label, not scan quality. EAN Barcode Generator for WooCommerce’s free version is the opposite case: it manages the GTIN number correctly but doesn’t generate a scannable image at all in the free tier.
Can I run more than one of these plugins at once?
Yes, and for a store that needs both compliant GTIN data and physical labels, that’s the realistic setup: use the EAN plugin to manage and store the codes, then point the label plugin at that same field to print them.
If what you’re really after is a custom identifier on the order itself rather than the product, our rundown of sequential order number plugins for WooCommerce covers that separately. And if “identifying a product” for you means a visible badge rather than a scannable code, our WooCommerce product badge plugin comparison is the closer match.
Sources
- EAN Barcode Generator for WooCommerce (WordPress.org)
- EAN, UPC, ISBN Generator Pro pricing (WPFactory)
- Barcode Generator for WooCommerce (WordPress.org)
- Print Barcode Labels for WooCommerce Pro pricing (UKR Solution)
- QR Code Woocommerce (WordPress.org)
- WooCommerce Development (ConicPlex)
- Plugin Development (ConicPlex)
