Getting started with SWPL Wishlist and Compare
Last updated July 10, 2026
What SWPL Wishlist and Compare does
SWPL Wishlist and Compare adds two things shoppers expect from a modern store:
- A wishlist – a “save it for later” list. Shoppers click a button on any product to keep it; their list lives on its own page, ready when they come back.
- A compare tool – shoppers pick a handful of products while browsing and see them side by side in one table: price, availability, and the product details you already maintain (metal, stone, size, brand, and so on).
Both work out of the box. Activating the plugin creates a Wishlist page and a Compare page for you, turns the buttons on, and wires everything together. The Settings tab only exists so you can choose where the buttons appear and what they say.
Installation
- Go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin, upload the plugin zip, and click Install Now.
- Click Activate. The Wishlist and Compare pages are created automatically, and the product-page buttons go live.
- When licensing arrives for your copy, enter your license key where prompted. Until then the plugin runs unlocked.
The five-minute tour
- Open any product on your store. Under the add-to-cart area you will see Add to Wishlist and Add to Compare.
- Click Add to Wishlist. The button changes to show the product is saved. Open the Wishlist page (it is in your Pages list) to see the saved product with its picture and price.
- Click Add to Compare on two or three products. A bar appears at the bottom of the screen collecting them; its Compare now link opens the side-by-side table.
- Everything a shopper adds stays put: signed-in customers keep their wishlist on your site across devices; guests keep theirs in their browser, and it moves onto their account automatically when they sign in.
Initial setup
The Settings tab controls presentation, not machinery:
- The “Show…” switches decide where the wishlist and compare buttons appear – on product pages and in product listings.
- Button text fields let you reword the buttons to match your store’s voice.
- The buttons attach to the standard WooCommerce product hooks, so they appear automatically on any WooCommerce theme.
Every field has its own entry in the plugin’s built-in Help, and the guides there also explain how the wishlist behaves for guests, how compare works, and how a developer connects a separate storefront app.
Who can see what
Each shopper only ever sees their own wishlist. There is nothing for you to moderate, approve, or clean up, and nothing in this plugin ever changes your products themselves.
Frequently asked questions
No buttons appear on my products
Check the “Show…” switches on the Settings tab, and confirm your theme is a WooCommerce theme – the buttons attach to the standard WooCommerce product hooks, so a theme that bypasses those hooks will not show them.
The Wishlist page is blank
The page needs the [swpl_wishlist] text in its content. If it was edited away or the page was deleted, re-activating the plugin recreates the page correctly.
A shopper deleted product still shows in someone’s wishlist?
No – a product that is deleted from the store disappears from the shopper’s wishlist view automatically. There is nothing for you to do.
What do guests keep, and what happens when they sign in?
Guests keep their wishlist in their own browser. When they sign in, it moves onto their account automatically, so nothing they saved is lost – and from then on it follows them across devices.
Where do the compare table’s rows come from?
From the product details you already maintain in WooCommerce – price, availability, and your product attributes (metal, stone, size, brand, and so on). Keep attributes tidy and the compare table stays useful by itself.