Variation images not included with commerce plan

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  turboedge · Member · May 5, 2026 at 5:22 pm

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  I just tried to link certain gallery images to certain variations of a product, because I’ve had customers order the wrong thing based on the picture. Worse the picture will change to the default picture when they make a selection making them think they have selected whatever the main picture for the item is. However to my surprise I need to have a plugin to make this critical store function work. Further the plugin is not included in the commerce plan. How is it possible that a hosting plan specifically designed for selling products does not include the plugin required to show the customer the correct product image?

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  staff-webwizard · Staff · May 6, 2026 at 2:20 pm

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  Hi there,

  I understand the frustration. When you’re running a store and customers are ordering the wrong item because of misleading images, that’s a real problem, and you’d expect this to be handled out of the box.

  WooCommerce core currently only supports setting one image per variation. When a customer selects a variation, the main product image swaps to that variation’s image, but the gallery thumbnails underneath stay the same. This is a limitation of core WooCommerce itself (not specific to WordPress.com).

  The good news: Since you’re on the Commerce plan, you can install plugins, and there are free options that solve this:

  • Variation Images Gallery for WooCommerce: It lets you add unlimited images per variation in the free version. This plugin has 10,000+ active installs.
  • Additional Variation Images Gallery for WooCommerce: another popular option with 20,000+ active installs ( the free version supports 2 extra images per variation; pro unlocks unlimited).

  Either one will let you set up a separate image gallery for each variation so customers see the right photos when they pick a color, size, or style.

  To install one of these, head to Plugins → Add New in your WP Admin dashboard and search by name, or click on one of the links above, click on “Manage sites”, and choose your site to install the plugin.

  I hear you on the expectation that this should be built in for a plan geared toward selling products. We appreciate your feedback, and we’ve taken note of it. For now, one of these free plugins should get you sorted.

  Please let me know if you have any questions!