How to Add Advanced Custom Fields to WooCommerce Product Pages

To add advanced custom fields to a WooCommerce product page, install the free Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin, create a field group, add the fields you need, set the location rule to Product, then display the values on the frontend with a shortcode or a PHP function.

This guide covers each step with screenshots, where ACF fields are genuinely useful on a WooCommerce store, current ACF Pro pricing, and answers to the most common questions.

What Are Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)?

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) is a WordPress plugin that lets you add extra fields to product pages, posts, taxonomy terms, and other WordPress screens without writing custom code for each one. It ships with 30 native field types, from simple text and image fields to repeaters and relationship fields, and it’s used on more than 2 million websites. ACF has a free version available on WordPress.org and a paid ACF Pro version that unlocks repeater fields, flexible content, galleries, and options pages.

How to Add Custom Fields to WooCommerce Product Pages Using ACF

Step 1: Install Advanced Custom Fields

Go to your WordPress dashboard, open Plugins > Add New, search for “Advanced Custom Fields,” and install and activate it. If you need repeater fields, flexible content, or options pages, install ACF Pro instead using the license key from your ACF account.

Step 2: Create a New Field Group

Open Custom Fields > Add New and name the group. For a store selling computers, for example, you might name it “Computer Specifications.” A field group is simply a collection of fields you’ll display together on a product page.

Step 3: Add Your Custom Fields

Click Add Field and set:

Field Label: The name shown on the edit screen, for your own reference. Field Name: Auto-generated by ACF. You’ll use this exact name in shortcodes or PHP later, so leave it as-is unless you have a reason to change it. Field Type: Text, checkbox, radio button, dropdown, image, date picker, or any of ACF’s other native types.

If you choose a field type with multiple options, such as Select or Radio Button, add each choice on its own line. These options appear on the product edit screen so you can pick the right value per product. Toggle Required to Yes if the field must always be filled in, then click Publish or Update to save.

Repeat this for every field you need. You can reorder fields by dragging them, and add more at any time with the Add Field button.

Step 4: Set the Location Rule to Product

Scroll to the Location section and set the rule so Post Type is equal to Product. This tells ACF to show the field group only on WooCommerce product edit screens. If you only want the fields on a specific product category, choose that category instead of applying the rule to every product.

Under Settings, confirm the field group is set to Active. An inactive group won’t appear on product pages, and shoppers won’t see any values you’ve entered.

Step 5: Add Field Values to a Product

Open an existing product under Products > All Products, or create a new one with Products > Add New. Your custom field group appears on the edit screen in the position you configured. Fill in the values for that specific product and click Update.

Step 6: Display the Field Values on the Frontend

You have two ways to show the values to shoppers:

Shortcode method: Add [acf field=”field_name”] directly inside the product’s short or long description. Replace field_name with the exact Field Name from Step 3, which you can find again in the field group editor if you forget it.

PHP method: If you’re editing a theme template, use the_field(‘field_name’) to output the value directly, or get_field(‘field_name’) to return it so you can use it inside your own markup or conditional logic. This is the better option if you want more control over layout than a shortcode allows, or if you’re displaying fields somewhere other than the product description.

Where ACF Fields Are Useful on a WooCommerce Store

Beyond basic specifications, ACF’s field types map to specific WooCommerce needs:

• Repeater fields: Useful for anything with a variable number of entries per product, such as a list of technical specs, size charts, or ingredient lists. 
• Relationship fields: Link related products together, for example showing complementary items like socks with shoes, or accessories with a main product.
• Taxonomy fields: Filter or categorize products by an attribute beyond WooCommerce’s default categories and tags, useful for letting shoppers narrow results by a custom spec. 
• Date/time fields: Display countdowns, release dates, or auction end times on a product page. 
• Flexible content fields: Build a variable page layout per product when different products need different information blocks, without editing a template file for each one.

Common real-world uses include listing CPU and RAM specs for computer products, showing rotating promotional messages that change without a developer, embedding extra product videos, and adding detailed usage instructions as a distinct field rather than burying them in the main description.

Advanced Custom Fields: Field Types and Key Features

ACF’s free version includes 30 native field types, covering text, textarea, number, email, URL, password, WYSIWYG editor, image, file, gallery, oEmbed, select, checkbox, radio button, button group, true/false, link, page link, post object, relationship, taxonomy, user, Google Map, date picker, date time picker, time picker, color picker, and range, plus the structural repeater, group, and flexible content types.

Beyond fields, ACF supports:

ACF Blocks: Build custom Gutenberg blocks using PHP and field groups, without writing React or JavaScript. Options Pages: Add global admin pages for site-wide settings that can be pulled into any template, rather than tying data to one specific post. A documented function API: get_field(), the_field(), and related functions to load and display values in any theme file.

Note: If you manage many websites, third-party add-ons exist that extend ACF with additional field types beyond the native 30, but the core plugin covers most standard WooCommerce use cases without extensions.

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) Pro Pricing

ACF Pro is sold as a standalone plugin with three annual license tiers, at the time of writing:

Personal: Around $49/year, covering one live website. Suits a single store owner who won’t need ACF Pro on additional domains within the year. Freelancer: Around $149/year, covering up to 10 websites. Suits developers managing multiple client sites. Agency: Around $249/year, covering unlimited websites. Suits agencies maintain many sites that regularly need ACF Pro’s features.

Check the official ACF pricing page before purchasing, since prices and tier limits can change. ACF no longer offers a one-time lifetime license; all current plans are annual subscriptions. Development and staging sites don’t count against your activation limit on any tier.

A note on ACF’s current status: In late 2024, a dispute between WP Engine (ACF’s owner) and Automattic led WordPress.org to fork ACF into a separate, free plugin called Secure Custom Fields (SCF). ACF itself is still actively developed and updated directly by WP Engine, remains available at the official ACF website and on WordPress.com, and still powers more than 2 million sites. If you’re comparing options, know that SCF is a separate community-maintained plugin, not a newer version of ACF, and installing it will deactivate ACF if both are present on the same site.

Frequently Asked Questions

Key Takeaways

• Adding custom fields to a WooCommerce product page takes five steps: install ACF, create a field group, add your fields, set the location rule to Product, and fill in values per product.
• Display field values with the [acf field=”field_name”] shortcode, or use get_field() / the_field() in theme templates for more layout control.
• Repeater, relationship, and taxonomy field types cover the most common WooCommerce use cases: variable spec lists, cross-sell links, and custom filtering.
• ACF Pro pricing runs on three annual tiers (Personal, Freelancer, Agency) with no lifetime license option currently available.
• ACF remains actively maintained by WP Engine despite the 2024 fork that produced the separate Secure Custom Fields plugin.