eCommerce sales are growing each year and are forecasted to reach about 8.1 trillion dollars by 2026. It's an interesting topic to discuss because money is on the line, but the size and location of your audience, payment and shipping methods, and the best marketing techniques are not the only things to consider. There are also other – technical – aspects, like performance and security, that can make you either rich or broken.
Yes, we're talking about web hosting services, and their market is growing too. How does eCommerce web hosting work? What is its influence on the functioning of your online store? In a nutshell, if your provider can't ensure good speed, your website will be slow too. If your web hosting provider is temporarily down, your online store is also unavailable for visitors, which results in a poor user experience and possible revenue loss.
Even if you're running a regular website (with only hundreds of pages that don't require additional security or multiple payment gateways), finding a good web host may be a challenge. Now imagine searching for one that can keep an online store live 24/7.
But don't you worry, we took it upon ourselves to check the best hosting for eCommerce and compared five of our favorite solutions. Let's dig into it and find the best option for you!
Why it's so important to have the right web hosting
Your eCommerce website is as good as its hosting is secure and reliable. A cool web design or authoritative content would be useless if you visitors can't access it. To keep your web shop operational and user-accessible, you need to choose the right eCommerce hosting. A cheap solution will save you some money but cause the following issues.
- Poor page load time. Page speed is a ranking factor and the web host has a direct impact on the loading time. If your website provides a slow experience, it's likely to be demoted. Users are also inclined to click away or give up if it takes a website too long to load, which increases your bounce rates and worsens search engine results. Statistics indicates that a half of mobile users leave a page that takes more than 3 seconds to fully load. Check the CDN (Content delivery network) and server-side caching features.
- Reliability and downtime. Your SEO rankings will suffer if your website frequently goes down when search engine bots are trying to visit and evaluate it. Due to this outage duration, your online store will temporarily fall in the search results or be completely removed from the index. Downtime also prevents prospective customers from using your website, which has a negative impact on revenue. To avoid such malfunctions, it is in your best interest to invest in reliable eCommerce hosting solutions.
- Data protection and security. If your website is hosted by a reliable web hosting company with a secure IP address and a built-in SSL certificate, you are well on your way to implementing HTTPS. As a result, the website is safer and protects confidential data. This translates into the automatic encryption of information that travels through your website, keeping it hidden from the rest of the Internet. Look for hosting servers with PCI compliance, DDoS protection and firewall to keep any confidential, delicate, or sensitive data on your website unaccessible to hackers.
- Backups. If your website does not back up, it can easily lose product, order and customer data after one cyber attack or error update. It's often recommended to choose a hosting server with an automatic daily backup.
These are the most common (and deadliest) but not all issues you’re likely to experience with a poor hosting for eCommerce. However, it doesn’t mean that you must go with the most expensive option to avoid such malfunctions. The type of hosting and pricing plan will depend on the scale of your eCommerce project. Below you’ll find the best web hosting for eCommerce websites based on different technologies.
Most used types of eCommerce website hostings
There are different types of web hosting that can maintain eCommerce. Some of them are more suitable for startups prioritizing an affordable price over complex security features, while the others aim at larger projects embracing thousands of pages and domains across the globe. Naturally, these types of projects have different resources and business requirements.
- Shared Hosting is one of the most basic and affordable website hosting options. It is when several websites are hosted on the same server. This hosting is best suited to personal websites, new startups/small businesses looking for a good starting option, etc.
- Dedicated Hosting gives your website exclusive rights over a server. This option offers more benefits but is also more expensive than shared hosting. It is the best web hosting for eCommerce sites with large arrays of data, complex structure and many third-party integrations.
- VPS Hosting is a middle ground between shared hosting and dedicated web hosting. Your website still shares the physical server space with other websites, but each website has its own "independent virtual real estate".
- Cloud Hosting utilizes a network of connected virtual and physical cloud servers to host a website. This web hosting option offers a wide variety of benefits, such as greater reliability, flexibility, and scalability.
Which type of hosting is best for an eCommerce website? Well, it depends on a particular project - budget, website load, types of products on sale, future scalability, etc. Although website migration can be a pain for both merchants and their visitors, you still can change hosts at any moment, but it’s better to pick a web host that suits your needs in the best way right from the start.
Best web hostings for an eСommerce website
When it comes to web hosting services for eCommerce, business owners and web developers have a lot of possibilities. However, one solution cannot suit everyone, so it is crucial to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each choice. Here’s a closer look at some of the overall best website hosting service providers.
Best ASP.NET hosting providers
Technological stack can play a decisive role in choosing a suitable web hosting. While some eCommerce platforms are lightweight and don’t need many resources to be maintained, the others will underperform when stored on a slow host.
If your online store is powered by ASP.NET technologies, then you’re going to need a powerful web host that supports the framework of your app. Perfect .NET hosting providers should be scalable, have a Windows server optimized for ASP.NET scripts, and meet other server requirements for an eCommerce website.
As we closely work with the ASP.NET technology, we’ll list top ASP.NET hostings that, we know, can handle an eCommerce platform with a complex and scalable architecture like that of nopCommerce.
Everleap for mission-critical websites
Everleap offers some of the best Windows hosting solutions, especially for professional developers and users running multiple websites. The platform makes it a point to incorporate the most recent technology like MS SQL, ASP.NET Core, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and even Microsoft Azure's infrastructure. As a result, it becomes a scalable platform for those getting out of shared hosting.
The account control panel is straightforward and intuitive. It's easy to monitor resource usage, upgrade plans, or buy extra services. A CDN, SSL services, domain names, cloud backups and other features are also available. Everleap gives a one-month free trial (no credit card required) to test the services.
With Everleap, you won't have to worry about how to host an eCommerce website as there's tech support available through email and live chat. The team offers video calls instead of phone calls, which is even better for visual demonstration and troubleshooting.
Everleap pricing
In relation to complex projects and multiple websites, Everleap offers one of the best eCommerce hosting plans in the market today. Within a yearly subscription, Everleap's base price ranges between $20/month for one site and $40/month for up to five. Everleap also develops custom plans with the exact configuration a particular eCommerce site needs.
Pros
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Hassle-free scaling
- Free email services
- Global CDN and Cloudflare Firewall
- Free website migration services
- Suitable for complex projects (ASP.NET support)
- 30 day free trial & 60 day money back guarantee
Cons
- Insufficient knowledge base
- No technical support over the phone.
Note: The fully-managed Private Cloud hosting by Everleap is among the best hosting for nopCommerce mission-critical websites that require non-sharing cloud space. As a result, you as a store owner get better performance and security, unlimited customization, no regular hardware updates and resource contention let alone that you shouldn’t worry about setup and maintenance. To learn more about this hosting option, read a comprehensive comparison of Everleap Managed Hosting vs. Microsoft Azure.
Winhost for cost-effective services
WinHost is a budget-friendly company that is focused on providing ASP.NET hosting plans. They specialize in Windows hosting and keep the servers up to date with the current versions of SQL Server and ASP.NET.
WinHost offers fairly reliable services at a low cost, which makes them a good choice for people who don’t need extra services. The technical documentation/FAQ section they provide is complete.
nopCommerce users can certainly benefit from a simple and fast installation package created by the nopCommerce team in collaboration with Winhost. One of the hosting plans comes with the platform pre-installed. That means you can start working on your website right away without technical knowledge or skills.
Pros
- One-click app installation
- Reliable 24/7 support
- 30-day money back guarantee
Cons
- Have some scalability limitations
WinHost pricing
The price starts from $19.95 per month and goes up to $44.95 per month for more powerful plans.
SoftSys Hosting for fast deployment
SoftSys Hosting is a privately held company that provides cheap ASP.NET hosting, domain registration, and eCommerce services. There are shared plans on Windows OS and cloud plans hosted on Linux OS.
These plans come with cPanel and Plesk Onyx control panels, both of which are suitable for account control and management. SoftSys Hosting also offers a free SSL certificate to encrypt sensitive information.
Pros
- Free installation and migration
- 24/7 support services
- Daily backups
Cons
- No Linux plans on the shared servers
- No free domain registration available
SoftSys pricing
Softsys offers a wide range of pricing options to fit any budget. The most popular plan starts at $19.99/month.
Foremost Media for all-in-one nopServices
Foremost Media is a full service web development and web marketing company that specializes in ASP.NET and SQL server developments, including DotNetNuke.
These services are an all-in-one solution for running a nopCommerce-powered website as it provides both pre-configured hosting options and custom-configured hostings for more complex projects.
Pros
- Geo-redundant servers
- 24/7/365 support
- Disaster recovery
Cons
- Not so many hosting plans to choose from
Foremost Media pricing
The Standard version costs about $40/mo, with the Advanced version coming at $60/mo and the Premium version available at $80/mo.
AccuWebHosting for customizable VPS plans
AccuWebHosting is a respectable option for customers looking for specialized configurations, scalable resources, and responsive support. Combining affordability and high-powered infrastructure, the company delivers SSDs and cloudflare even to shared servers.
Particularly appealing to Microsoft ASP.NET hosting customers, AccuWebHosting is a popular choice for users in the market for VPS hosting. Their Windows VPS hosting plans charge no extra fee if you choose a Windows license instead of a Linux installation.
Pros
- Daily backups and 24/7 monitoring
- Fast and stable server access
- Reasonable pricing plans
Cons
- No month-to-month shared hosting plans
- No unlimited email with Windows accounts
AccuWebHosting pricing
While not as cheap as some of the bargain-basement hosting providers, AccuWebHosting is priced competitively for mid-tier services. The Personal Plan costs $3.52/month, the Small Business Plan grows to $6.58/month, and the Enterprise Plan is available at $12.46/month.
PeoplesHost for backing security issues
PeoplesHost is an American hosting service run by a team of seasoned experts with more than 10 years of experience in the industry. They own the hardware allowing for more flexibility to cater to the needs and wants of customers.
The CloudFlare CDN that comes with all their hosting packages will go a long way to help keep your site up at all times, even through DDoS attacks and other common issues. There is also a free domain name for all new customers.
Pros
- 60-day money back guarantee
- 24/7x365 phone, chat, and ticket support
- Free one-click installations, free website migration, and automatic daily backups
Cons
- Only one data center, located in the U.S.
PeoplesHost pricing
The prices vary depending on hosting plans, but starts at $8.00/mo for a VPS hosting (if billed biannually) and go up to $55.00/mo for Business versions.
WinServe for geo-sensitive websites
WinServe.co.uk is an England-based web hosting company that is officially a Microsoft hosting partner. The best thing about WinServe is that it operates at a very high speed and also is a host of various types of hosting services.
Pros
- Free dedicated SSL
- Free nopCommerce installation or migration
- Wide range of domains
Cons
- Complicated live chat and support system
WinServe pricing
The Bronze package costs £11.50/month, and the Platinum package comes at £92.00/month.
Best Linux web hosting services
Hostinger for startups and SMBs
If you're looking for the best web hosting for small business, Hostinger is a good option for those on a tight budget. The provider has seven data centers around the world (the US, UK, Lithuania, Netherlands, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brazil) to host any website closest to the target audience. This allows to reach optimal speed and eliminate lags.There is also an access manager feature to facilitate easy collaboration – create multiple accounts for various team members to run a single online store.
Hostinger is probably the cheapest solution for its value and quality, but affordability comes at the price of limited functionality. For example, it used to offer full-fledged Windows hosting, but its Linux-based VPS hosting is the only plan that can handle ASP.NET projects now. Also, keep in mind that Hostinger isn't exactly scalable, so its advantages for a small website are hard to be expanded to a large-scale project.
Hostinger pricing
With its cheapest plan starting at $1.99 per month ($3.95/mo for VPS Windows hostings), Hostinger is an affordable alternative if you don't need heavyweight Windows features. For more powerful plans, the monthly price can range between $37 and $250.
Note: this pricing represents the monthly cost of a four-year subscription; and if you select an eCommerce web hosting for a shorter term, the cost will be slightly
Pros
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- 1TB+ bandwidth – network port speed 100 mbps
- All servers are secured by BitNinja and have DDoS protection
- Automated weekly backups
- 30 day money back guarantee
Cons
- Higher fees for short-term subscriptions
- Lower tier hosting plans lack CDN and automatic backups
- Resource contention for VPS options
- No free SSL on iVPS plans, meaning you have to install one yourself (for example, a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate).
SiteGround for PHP-based applications
SiteGround is known as one of the best website hostings for an online store supporting WordPress and PHP-based applications. Initially, the company positions itself as a hosting service for newcomers in small businesses. However, the hosting also provides enterprise-level capabilities that are mostly available in the Google Cloud and LiteSpeed web servers.
It is also one of the few companies offering hosting tailored to a certain geographic area, with 6 data centers spread around the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia. You can select a European data center if you worry about data privacy or retention regulations. Although SiteGround guarantees reliable uptime and customer service, you'll need to go elsewhere for dedicated, VPS, or Windows servers.
SiteGround pricing
For shared hosting, SiteGround charges a starting price of $2.99/month (with 10GB storage for 10 000 monthly visits) and goes all the way up to $7.99/month (with 40GB storage for around 400 000 monthly visits). Large web retailers can also choose cloud hosting, which starts at $100 per month (40GB storage and 5TB bandwidth, 10,000 SKUs).
Pros
- 99.98% uptime guarantee
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Free email, CDN and SSL
- Daily backups, custom caching
- 30 day money-back guarantee
Cons
- No free domain name available
- High renewal rates and premium-level prices
- The cheaper plans are not fast enough.
DreamHost for beginner merchants
The interface and tools of DreamHost are designed with beginners in mind. However, its security and privacy are top-notch. Every DreamHost plan includes a free SSL certificate and malware remover, which detects and removes malware from your website. With this eCommerce store hosting, you also get automatic backups, domain privacy, and a firewall to protect your site on all fronts. Domain names come free only for the first year when registering .com, .org, .club, .net, or .info.
Although DreamHost does not monitor traffic, it does advise using the DreamPress plan if there are no more than 100,000 visits each month. Your online store won't be closed, but its performance will significantly worsen. In relation to tech support, you can choose between live chat, phone support, and 24/7 email tickets
DreamHost pricing
DreamHost's shared plans start from $3.95/mo. VPS hosting usually comes at $10 per month. Dedicated Hosting, which is more suitable for eCommerce websites, starts at $169/mo.
Pros
- 99.77% uptime guarantee
- One-click deployment
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Free daily backups on all plans
- Basic features available out-of-the-box in all plans
- 97 day money-back guarantee (credit & debit card payments for shared hosting plans)
Cons
- Servers in the US only
- Limited customer support
- Text-based control panel lacks user-friendliness.
Cloudways for cloud-based services
Cloudways is an eCommerce service provider specialized in cloud hosting services with a pretty good balance between functionality and pricing. Derived from the cloud, it facilitates configuration and installation. With only one click, users can complete numerous things like starting their websites, increasing their RAM and bandwidth, and backing up.
To get access to flexible prices, you can choose cloud servers from 5 IaaS (infrastructure as a service) companies, including DigitalOcean, Linode, Google Cloud, Vultr, and AWS. Free SSL, automated and on-demand backups, staging zones, and, most importantly, a robust hosting stack made up of Apache, NGINX, Varnish, MariaDB, and MySQL are among the additional features.
Cloudways pricing
As mentioned above, Cloudways offers five data center providers to choose from. After a 3-day free trial for new users, the service is available across 4 pricing tiers for 5 different data centers. Every provider has at least 10 plans. They start from $10/mo and go up to $274.33/mo.
Pros
- 99.99% uptime guarantee
- Automated backups
- Dedicated CDN & Firewall
- Unlimited website installations
- Pay-As-You-Go bandwidth
- 62 data centers across 15 countries
Cons
- Not suited for beginners
- Many add-ons have an extra cost, including email
- Offsite backups are chargeable
- CDN charges for bandwidth
- No money-back guarantee.
What is the best hosting for eCommerce?
In this article, we have broken down and reviewed the best eCommerce hosting providers for webshops of various sizes, business needs and technical requirements. Sadly, your customers will never compliment you on your hosting working well but, make no mistake, slow loading pages or site crashes will dump you sales, where a reliable hosting provider will have your customers coming back again and again.
So which hosting is best for an eCommerce website? The answer is quite simple – the one that keeps your website up and running, doesn't break your budget and is ready to scale once the time comes. Eventually (if you're doing your business right), you'll need to upgrade to a more powerful hosting package, and at that point website migration to another provider can be a real pain. Therefore, we recommend you to look for a hosting provider you can trust right away and allow them to expand with you over time. For example, Everleap that offers free migration services and is capable of customizing