WordPress and WooCommerce Bugs — Analysis of 367 Interventions Since 2023

Your WordPress site shows a white screen, a plugin conflict, or your WooCommerce store stopped working? Since 2023, MonSiteBug has handled 367 tickets related to the WordPress ecosystem — 227 pure WordPress tickets and 140 WooCommerce tickets. While our historical expertise is centered on PrestaShop, we quickly extended our know-how to the world's most used CMS.

This article is an exclusive study based on our real support data. No generic copy-paste: hard numbers from our 8,660 support tickets, root causes identified in the field, and a concrete analysis of the WordPress and WooCommerce issues we resolve daily.

The WordPress ecosystem at MonSiteBug in numbers

Our WordPress activity started in 2023, but growth has been rapid. Here's the year-by-year evolution:

Observation: In just 3 years, the WordPress ecosystem already represents 367 tickets — a significant share of our activity. The stability between 2023 and 2024 (82 tickets each year) shows constant demand from WordPress and WooCommerce site owners.

WordPress vs WooCommerce: problem breakdown

Out of our 367 tickets, 62% concern WordPress itself (core, themes, plugins, administration) and 38% are WooCommerce-specific (payments, orders, shipping, product catalog). This breakdown reflects the added complexity of WooCommerce which, although being a "simple" plugin, transforms WordPress into a full e-commerce platform with its own set of challenges.

Most common WordPress problems

Here's the breakdown of sub-themes from our 227 WordPress tickets:

Note: the categories above represent the most frequently tagged sub-themes. Many WordPress tickets cover cross-cutting issues (server configuration, DNS, SSL, etc.) that are not individually listed here.

WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD)

The infamous WSOD — White Screen of Death — is one of the most common WordPress issues we handle. The site displays a blank page, sometimes with a "There has been a critical error on this website" message. The causes are multiple:

• Incompatible plugin after an automatic update
• Insufficient PHP memory (WordPress + resource-heavy plugins)
• Theme conflict after a change or update
• Error in wp-config.php or corrupted file

Our approach: FTP/SSH access, PHP error log review, and targeted plugin deactivation by renaming folders in /wp-content/plugins/. Similar to our methodology for PrestaShop error 500, but adapted to WordPress architecture.

Plugin conflicts: WordPress's biggest challenge

With an ecosystem of over 60,000 plugins, conflicts are inevitable. In our interventions, plugin conflicts account for a significant portion of breakdowns. The most frequent scenarios:

• Two cache plugins fighting each other (e.g., WP Rocket + W3 Total Cache)
• SEO plugin incompatible with the theme (Yoast vs RankMath + custom theme)
• Overly aggressive security plugin blocking admin access
• Auto-updated plugin breaking PHP compatibility

Elementor issues

Elementor is WordPress's most popular page builder, but it generates specific issues we regularly handle (3 identified tickets):

• Editor not loading (infinite spinner, JavaScript error)
• Incompatibility with WordPress updates
• Degraded performance (excessive DOM, unoptimized CSS/JS)
• Conflicts with other plugins (cache, SEO, forms)

WooCommerce: e-commerce specific problems

With 140 WooCommerce tickets, we have a clear picture of this e-commerce platform's recurring issues. The stakes are identical to those we massively handle on PrestaShop: checkout must work, payments must go through, and orders must be processed.

WooCommerce payment issues

Payment is the critical moment for any online store. On WooCommerce, the payment issues we resolve include:

• Stripe/PayPal not displaying after a WooCommerce update
• "Order could not be processed" error — often gateway conflict related
• Payment validated on gateway but not in database — misconfigured webhooks
• Payment pages returning error 500 — see our WooCommerce interventions

Checkout and order issues

Beyond payment, the WooCommerce checkout funnel can malfunction at multiple levels:

• Cart randomly emptying (session or cache issue)
• Incorrect shipping costs (misconfigured zones, buggy shipping plugin)
• Confirmation emails not sent (misconfigured SMTP, faulty email plugin)
• Order page in an infinite loop (JavaScript conflict between plugins)

Shipping issues

Managing shipping rates and zones in WooCommerce is a recurring topic:

• Incorrect calculation by weight/volume
• Incompatible carrier plugin (Colissimo, Mondial Relay, DHL)
• Shipping zones not applying correctly

WordPress security: hacked sites and cleanup

WordPress is the most targeted CMS by hackers due to its popularity (43% of the web). We regularly handle hacked WordPress sites, with symptoms similar to those detailed in our study of 329 security interventions:

• Redirects to malicious sites
• Spam content injection (pharma hack, SEO spam)
• Backdoors in WordPress files
• Infected plugins or themes (pirated "nulled" versions)

Our malware removal service covers all CMS platforms, WordPress included. The methodology is similar: full file scan, injection cleanup, security updates, and hardening (changing security keys, verifying admin accounts, installing a security plugin).

WordPress updates: when everything breaks

WordPress updates represent 9 identified tickets in our data, but the real impact is much broader as many errors (plugins, themes, white screen) are direct consequences of a poorly prepared update.

Problematic update scenarios

• Major WordPress update (e.g., 6.4 to 6.5) without compatibility checks
• Auto-updated plugin breaking the site overnight
• PHP update by the host without notifying the client
• WooCommerce update changing checkout behavior

Our recommendation: disable automatic updates for critical plugins, test in staging before updating in production, and always back up before any major update.

WordPress vs PrestaShop: comparing the challenges

With 8,660 total tickets and expertise on both CMS platforms, we have a unique perspective:

Key point: WordPress problems are often more "accessible" for an experienced developer to resolve, but the sheer number of plugins and their interdependencies can make diagnosis more complex than on PrestaShop. On PrestaShop, error 500 is the king of problems. On WordPress, it's plugin conflicts and the white screen of death.

Our WordPress numbers at a glance

Why trust us with your WordPress troubleshooting?

Since 2023, we've handled 367 WordPress and WooCommerce tickets. Each intervention strengthens our understanding of this ecosystem. And our 8-year PrestaShop expertise gives us a unique advantage: we understand e-commerce challenges holistically, regardless of the CMS.

What sets us apart:

• 367 WordPress/WooCommerce interventions — and 8,660 total tickets across all CMS platforms
• Dual CMS expertise — PrestaShop + WordPress, two complementary perspectives
• Quick diagnosis — direct access to files, logs, and database
• Native e-commerce expertise — checkout, payment, shipping: we know the stakes
• Full transparency — detailed report for every intervention
• 285 Google reviews — proof through the satisfaction of our 2,519 clients

Your WordPress site or WooCommerce store has a problem? Tell us about your WordPress bug or your WooCommerce issue. You can also open a support ticket directly. Check our pricing to discover our intervention plans.