WooCommerce Grid : Display Product + AJAX Filter Ecommerce is a WordPress plugin that replaces the default WooCommerce shop loop with a configurable product grid, list, table or carousel, and adds layered AJAX filtering and search on top of it. It is sold on ThemeForest by the developer proword for $27, and the listing shows 1,066 sales. It suits store owners who want control over how products are displayed and filtered without hiring a developer to rebuild shop templates.
What the WooCommerce Grid : Display Product + AJAX Filter Ecommerce plugin actually does
The plugin’s core job is to take over product output. Instead of the standard WooCommerce archive markup, it renders products through its own grid engine, which can be placed on any page, post, widget area or archive through a shortcode or widget. That distinction matters: the grid is not tied to the shop page, so a store can run several differently configured product displays across the same site.
Four display modes are available. General Grid is the conventional column layout. Fit Row/Column Grid and the different-size and different-pattern variants allow mixed tile sizes within one grid, which is useful for editorial-style merchandising where a hero product sits beside smaller items. Boxed Grid and Outer Description Grid add overlay effects with SVG elements, and there are separate List, Colorize Grid and Table views. A carousel mode turns the same query results into a horizontal scroller.
Filtering is handled through what the vendor calls Build Query. Rather than relying only on WooCommerce’s native layered navigation, the plugin lets a store define which products enter the grid in the first place. Filters can pull all products, featured products, on-sale items, in-stock or out-of-stock items, free products, hidden products, or results from a custom query. Categories, custom taxonomies, attributes and individual product IDs can be included or excluded. That combination of query building and front-end filtering is the plugin’s main differentiator against simpler grid plugins.
The search form is equally configurable. It supports custom fields, can display category, attribute or taxonomy images inside the filter controls, and can be rendered in four modes: label only, image only, image with label, or a list and inline arrangement. Fields can appear as dropdowns, lists or buttons. The search block itself can be positioned in five ways, including sticky left and right columns, a popup, or as a sidebar widget.
Pagination is not an afterthought. Four systems are supported: horizontal page numbers at the top or bottom, vertical page numbers on the left or right, a Show More button, and infinite scroll. Each can be styled with custom colours and saved as a preset.
Item-level control is granular. Add to cart, title, star rating, meta data and excerpt can each be toggled. Quick View, favourite icons, share icons and send-to icons can be switched on or off. Thumbnail size, excerpt length, box effects and image effects are adjustable, and the image effects include a second product image on hover, zoom in, zoom out and greyscale. Fonts can be set separately for general text, price and meta data.
Layouts can be saved and reused, which the vendor introduced in version 3.0. The plugin also supports WPML for multilingual stores and can be assigned as the default output for the main shop page, product category pages, tag pages and taxonomy pages.
Which stores and projects this fits, and where it does not
The strongest fit is a WooCommerce store with a large or awkward catalogue where the default shop page undersells the products. A store selling furniture, fashion or electronics with wide attribute variation benefits most, because the query builder and attribute filters let shoppers narrow results by the criteria that actually matter for that category.
It also suits agencies building client sites where the shop page needs a specific visual treatment that the theme does not provide. The saved layout presets mean a grid configuration can be replicated across multiple pages or even multiple client sites without rebuilding it each time.
A third fit is content-led commerce. Because the grid can be embedded anywhere via shortcode or widget, a store can place a filtered product block inside a blog post, a landing page or a sidebar without touching theme templates.
Where it is the wrong choice: stores running a modern block-based theme with the WooCommerce Cart and Checkout blocks, or stores that have already invested in a dedicated filtering plugin and only need a visual grid. The plugin’s last update was in May 2019, and the changelog shows compatibility work up to WooCommerce 3.4.x and PHP 7.2. A store on current WooCommerce and PHP 8.x should test thoroughly before committing, and anyone who needs guaranteed ongoing compatibility should look at actively maintained alternatives.
Setting up the plugin in practice
Installation follows the standard WordPress path: upload the plugin through the dashboard or via FTP, then activate it. WooCommerce must already be installed and running, since the plugin extends WooCommerce product queries rather than working standalone. A working product catalogue with categories, attributes and images in place makes configuration much faster, because the filter fields are drawn from existing taxonomy and attribute data.
Configuration happens in two stages. First, a grid is created through the plugin’s wizard, where the display mode, query source, columns, item fields and pagination style are chosen. Second, the grid is placed, either as a shortcode on a page or as a widget in a widget area. Version 2.0 added the option to make a saved grid the default output for the main shop page, category pages, tag pages and taxonomy pages, which is the setting most stores will want.
Realistic time to a working result is roughly one to three hours for a straightforward shop page with a handful of filters. A complex build with multiple saved layouts, custom query rules, image-based attribute filters and a popup search can take considerably longer, because each filter field needs its own configuration and testing. Budget extra time for cross-browser checks on the sticky and popup search positions, which are the parts most likely to conflict with a theme’s own CSS.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Query-level filtering goes beyond standard layered navigation, allowing featured, on-sale, in-stock, free and hidden products to be targeted directly.
- Four display modes plus carousel give genuine layout flexibility rather than a single grid with cosmetic options.
- Saved layout presets make it practical to reuse a configuration across pages or client projects.
- Granular item controls mean the shop page can show exactly the fields a store wants and hide the rest.
- Search form can display category, attribute and taxonomy images, which helps shoppers navigate visually.
- WPML compatibility is documented, which matters for multilingual stores.
Limitations
- The last vendor update was 12 May 2019. The changelog’s most recent compatibility notes reference WooCommerce 3.4.x and PHP 7.2, so current WooCommerce and PHP 8.x compatibility is not stated by the vendor.
- Infinite scroll and Show More pagination can hurt SEO on archive pages if used on the main shop page, because products beyond the first load may not be crawlable as separate URLs.
- The feature set is broad, and the settings screens reflect that. There is no indication in the listing of a simplified mode for stores that only want a basic grid.
- No documentation is described in the listing beyond the feature list, so buyers should check the item’s support tab for guide material before purchasing.
- Sticky and popup search positions are the most likely to clash with theme CSS, and the listing offers no compatibility list of tested themes.
How it compares with the wider product grid and filter category
Products in this category generally fall into two groups. The first is grid and layout plugins, which change how products look but leave filtering to WooCommerce’s built-in widgets. The second is dedicated filtering plugins, which handle layered navigation well but typically render products in the theme’s existing loop.
This plugin sits across both. Its query builder is closer in capability to a filtering plugin, while its layout engine is closer to a grid plugin. For a store that would otherwise need two separate products, that consolidation is the main argument in its favour, and it is why the $27 price is competitive against buying both.
The trade-off is maintenance. Dedicated filtering plugins and dedicated grid plugins are usually updated more frequently than a combined product, because each has a narrower surface area to keep compatible. A store that values long-term compatibility over feature breadth may prefer two actively maintained plugins. A store that wants one configuration screen and one support channel may prefer this.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does WooCommerce Grid : Display Product + AJAX Filter Ecommerce work with the latest WooCommerce version?
The vendor does not state current compatibility. The most recent changelog entry is from May 2019 and references WooCommerce 3.4.x and PHP 7.2. Stores on newer WooCommerce or PHP 8.x should test on a staging site first, and check the item’s support comments for reports from recent buyers.
Can the product grid be used somewhere other than the main shop page?
Yes. The grid can be placed on any page, post or widget area using a shortcode or widget, and version 2.0 added the option to set a saved grid as the default output for the main shop page, product category pages, tag pages and taxonomy pages. Multiple grids can run on the same site.
What is the difference between the AJAX filter and WooCommerce’s own layered navigation?
The AJAX filter updates results without a page reload and is built on the plugin’s own query system. That system can target products by status rather than only by taxonomy, including featured, on-sale, in-stock, out-of-stock, free and hidden products, which WooCommerce’s default widgets cannot do on their own.
Is the plugin compatible with WPML and multilingual stores?
WPML compatibility was added in version 2.1 and the listing states multi-language support as a feature. That covers the plugin’s own interface strings and filter labels. Stores using other translation plugins should confirm behaviour with the developer, since the listing names only WPML.
Verdict
This plugin is worth buying for a store owner or agency that wants one product to handle both product layout and layered filtering, and that is comfortable testing compatibility on a staging site before going live. The query builder is the standout feature, and the saved layout presets make it efficient across multi-page or multi-client work.
It is not the right purchase for a store running current WooCommerce and PHP 8.x without a willingness to test, nor for anyone who needs a vendor actively shipping compatibility updates. Stores that already have a filtering solution in place and only need a visual grid will find the overlap unnecessary.
At $27 with 1,066 sales, the price is low enough that the risk is limited to time rather than money. The decision comes down to whether the feature set outweighs the age of the last release for a specific project.
