Best Ecommerce Hosting Providers Compared

Partnering with a competent ecommerce hosting provider has numerous benefits for your business. Your online store will be available whenever your customers want to purchase and you’ll be able to process customer transactions securely, plus a good host will help you manage your store with little technical experience. In our eyes, Bluehost is the best ecommerce hosting provider for most users with the bountiful features included in its affordable plans. 

The Best Ecommerce Hosting Provider for Most

Whether you’re starting an online store from scratch or migrating an existing store, Bluehost has everything you need to succeed. All hosting plans come with a ton of key features included. Get multi-layer caching, free SSL, unmetered bandwidth, and site monitoring and statistics.

The Bluehost marketplace also offers hundreds of ecommerce plugins to expand your store’s capabilities. This host provides the perfect combination of reliability, ease of use, and customization for all levels of ecommerce experience. Plus, you get all this at an affordable price.

The Best Ecommerce Hosting Providers to Consider

1. Bluehost – Best ecommerce hosting for most
2. HostGator – Best cloud hosting for ecommerce
3. Web.com – Best for simple online stores
4. LiquidWeb – Best for managed WooCommerce hosting
5. A2 Hosting – Best high-performance ecommerce hosting
6. SiteGround – Best for your first ecommerce store
7. DreamHost – Best for hosting on a budget

When It Makes Sense to Invest In an Ecommerce Hosting Provider

Standard web hosting may be sufficient for an online business you’re running out of your home with minimal traffic. However, with growth comes a time when you need ecommerce-specific web hosting. So, how do you know it’s time to upgrade to an ecommerce hosting provider?

The first sign that you’ve outgrown standard web hosting is that your website takes too long to load. Statistics show that visitors are likely to abandon a webpage that takes more than three seconds to load. If your latest speed test results disappoint once again, it’s time to look for an ecommerce hosting provider that can handle the content of your web store and its visitors.

Similarly, if your site is down for the umpteenth time, consider switching to an ecommerce hosting provider. Even a few minutes of downtime can hurt your reputation, damage your SEO rankings, and drive away customers.

While never experiencing downtime is practically impossible, anything less than 99.95% uptime reliability is unacceptable. This figure translates to about four hours of downtime a year. So look for a hosting provider with an uptime guarantee that you’re comfortable with to ensure your web store is always open to visitors.

Finally, there are ecommerce-specific needs some hosts can meet on their ecommerce-focused hosting packages. For example, they may have features to help you accept payments securely or even build an online storefront for you. That’s to say, it’s not just about upgrading the servers your ecommerce site is hosted on; upgrading to ecommerce web hosting can present opportunities to make big upgrades to your online store itself, as well.

#1 – Bluehost – Best Ecommerce Hosting for Most

Bluehost is one of the most recognizable brands in web hosting, maintaining a strong reputation over nearly three decades. Its WooCommerce hosting is the first choice for most new and existing ecommerce stores, as it’s flexible enough to accommodate everyone from experienced WordPress site creators to users who have never worked on WordPress before.

One-click WordPress setup means building an online store couldn’t be easier even if you’re not familiar with the platform. Beginners also don’t have to worry about navigating an incomprehensible backend. 

Bluehost has everything you need to launch your online store already configured. You get a complete storefront, shopping cart, inventory management, and marketing tools built into your WooCommerce hosting plan.

Similarly, expert designers can harness the full power of the robust backend to create a one-of-a-kind online store. From adjusting product image sizes to optimizing page visuals, Bluehost provides the control and customization that expert designers crave. There are also numerous extensions to help optimize your online store.

Bluehost’s reliability is ideal for an online store that needs as close to 100% uptime as possible. The hosting provider guarantees 99.98% uptime, which computes to roughly one hour and forty-five minutes of downtime annually.

Bluehost even offers free professional WordPress migration and a free domain for one year with any hosting plan. Plus, you can rely on Bluehost’s responsive customer support in case of any issues with your site, able to be reached 24/7 via phone or live chat. 

Bluehost offers two WooCommerce plans. The Standard plan costs $12.95 per month if you choose the annual subscription. It comes with everything you need to launch your online store, including a storefront, email marketing, one-click payment processing, unlimited products, WooCommerce installation, and customer product reviews.

The Premium plan costs $24.95 per month if you choose an annual subscription. You get additional features like discount codes, product customization, online bookings and appointment scheduling, and local and country tax management. This plan is perfect for scaling an existing online store.

So whether you’re building from scratch or expanding your store, Bluehost is an ideal hosting partner for your online business. 

#2 – HostGator – Best Cloud Hosting For Ecommerce

Speed and performance are crucial for any ecommerce website. So it often makes sense to go with something that’s a step above shared hosting, like cloud hosting—and that’s exactly where HostGator excels.

The best part about using a HostGator cloud plan to host your ecommerce shop is that you’re getting a high-grade service at the same price point as other shared packages on the market.

For less than $5 per month, you’ll benefit from a high-performance hosting plan that’s ultra-fast and built to scale.

HostGator’s cloud hosting comes with cPanel and 24/7/365 support. Plans are also backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can get a full refund if you’re not completely satisfied.

Other perks include:

• Integrated caching for fast page loading
• Simple and intuitive dashboard to track performance
• Automated failover protection to reduce downtime
• On-demand resource management to manage traffic spikes
• Data mirroring for safety and redundancy

HostGator also delivers a 99.9% uptime guarantee and offers a free domain for your first year when you sign up for a cloud plan.

Here’s a quick overview of the plans and pricing options:

• Hatchling Cloud: Starts at $4.95 per month
• Baby Cloud: Starts at $6.57 per month
• Business Cloud: Starts at $9.95 per month

The plans essentially come with the same core features. But the Hatchling plan only supports a single domain, and the Business plan comes with a few extra freebies—like an SSL upgrade, dedicated IP, and SEO tools.

Otherwise, you’re just getting additional memory and processing at each tier. Sign up now to get started.

#3 – Web.com – Best For Simple Online Stores

Web.com is the perfect option for new ecommerce sites seeking an all-in-one solution for hosting and building an ecommerce store. That’s because Web.com offers a drag-and-drop site builder with its web hosting plans, and it comes with ecommerce-specific templates to streamline your setup and design.

You can also sign up for plans that support marketplace sales in addition to your online store—further reducing your need to use multiple platforms and services just to sell on more sales channels. So if you want all of your needs handled under one roof, Web.com gets the job done.

Don’t let Web.com’s simplicity fool you. Just because it’s easy to use doesn’t mean that it lacks quality, service, or features. You’re still getting tons of capabilities and perks, including:

• Free domain and free domain privacy for one year
• AI copywriting tool
• Social and email marketing tools
• Ability to sell services and book appointments
• One hour of expert design support

If the DIY approach isn’t for you, Web.com also offers affordable setup and design services to get you started.

Let’s take a closer look at the plans and pricing options:

• Website + Marketing: Starts at $7.95 per month
• Online Store: Starts at $13.95 per month
• Online Marketplaces: Starts at $19.95 per month

These rates reflect annual billing paid upfront. Monthly billing is also available, but you’ll save up to 70% going with the yearly route.

It’s worth noting that the Website + Marketing plan only supports online services. So most of you will need to start at the Online Store tier, which comes with the ability to sell products with a secure online checkout.

The Online Store plan also allows you to sell on Facebook and Instagram, but you’ll need to upgrade to the Marketplaces package if you’re interested in selling on Amazon, eBay, or Etsy.

Get started today.

#4 – Liquid Web – Best for Managed WooCommerce Hosting

WooCommerce is an exceptional ecommerce platform, but not everyone wants to bother with server administration and other technical aspects of managing an online store. Managed WooCommerce hosting allows you to outsource the technical aspects to a dedicated expert and Liquid Web is the best provider for those looking for managed WooCommerce Hosting. 

You don’t have to worry about the limitations of hosting your online store on a shared server. Liquid Web only offers virtual private servers (VPS), dedicated servers, and cloud hosting. Plus, all their WooCommerce managed hosting plans come with DDoS protection, free SSL, pre-installed plugins, dedicated IPs, and even dropshipping features.

This host provider recognizes that caching for WooCommerce is different from WordPress alone. So, your VPS comes pre-configured to handle traffic surges and optimize resources and performance to handle the rigors unique to WooCommerce.

Liquid Web also takes care of all the backed maintenance so you can focus on driving sales. You get nightly automatic tests, a performance monitor plugin, a sales performance monitor, and more than 20 performance tests. You also get a dedicated WooCommerce expert to help you if something goes wrong with your store.

Other noteworthy Liquid Web features on their managed WooCommerce hosting include:

• Page builder plugins
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Migration support
• Product variations
• Mobile optimization

Liquid Web offers six pricing plans for managed WooCommerce hosting that scale quite a bit in terms of resources and features offered.

• Starter: Starts at $13.30/month. It supports one store, 30 GB of storage, and 500 orders per hour.
• Creator: Starts at $55.30/month. It supports three stores, 60 GB of storage, and 1,000 orders per hour. Also includes Beaver Builder and Iconic WP.
• Merchant: Starts at $104.30/month.  It supports five stores, 100 GB of storage, and 2,500 orders per hour.
• Standard: Starts at $209.30/month. It supports 10 stores, 300 GB of storage, and 3,000 orders per hour. Also includes dropshipping via ShopMaster and DokanPro marketplace.
• Growth: Starts at $384.30/month. It supports 20 stores, 500 GB of storage, and 5,000 orders per hour. Also includes Glew.io.
• Enterprise: Starts at $699.30/month. It supports 30 stores, 800 GB of storage, and 10,000 orders per hour. Also includes Elasticsearch.

Liquid Web is pricier than most alternatives. However, the extra cost is worth it since you don’t have to worry about store maintenance headaches and you get powerful features at each higher price point. The hosting provider also guarantees exceptional performance and uptime.

Learn more about how Liquid Web can boost your online store today.

#5 – A2 Hosting – Best High-Performance Ecommerce Hosting

If your main focus is a high-performance ecommerce store, you can hardly do better than A2 Hosting. The hosting provider boasts up to 20 times faster loading speeds, 40% faster CPU performance, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Newbies get access to the A2 site builder, which delivers drag-and-drop page editing, fast website publishing, and free professional themes.A2 Hosting also offers one-click installation for numerous integrations, including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, WooCommerce, and Magento. These integrations are pre-configured to provide the best possible performance.

The web host offers to migrate your existing site for free in most cases if you already have a web store up and running. You also get a free SSL certificate with any plan.

A2 Hosting’s ecommerce offerings span multiple types of hosting, including managed WordPress, managed VPS, and both managed and unmanaged dedicated servers. To get the maximum upgrade for your dollar, VPS or dedicated deliver the best performance at a solid price.

A2’s VPS hosting plans for ecommerce start at $39.99 per month when committing to a three-year contract. Managed dedicated hosting starts at $155.99 per month for a two-year commitment and unmanaged dedicated hosting starts at $105.99 per month for the same term.

A2 Hosting also offers high-performing hosting at a very solid price. Harness the power of VPS or dedicated hosting for your online store by signing up for A2 Hosting. 

#6 – SiteGround – Best for Your First Ecommerce Store

Bluehost’s WooCommerce hosting is an approachable package for new and experienced online merchants, but SiteGround is the platform ideally suited for new ecommerce stores or the less tech-savvy. Its platform is beginner-friendly, supported by its responsive and knowledgeable customer support team.

This is the perfect middle ground for getting the benefits of managed WooCommerce hosting in an easy-to-use (and much cheaper) hosting environment. 

SiteGround plans come with everything you need to set up your store immediately. Use the included site builder from Weebly or get help from their support team to get everything in working order and even install elements like a shopping cart app. 

The cheapest plan is surprisingly robust. You get unlimited subdomains and parked domains, plus unmetered traffic, unlimited databases, and an email account. Furthermore, all plans come with a free SSL certificate, daily backups, and integration with Magento, WooCommerce, and PrestaShop. 

You can get started on SiteGround with one of three pricing plans:

• StartUp: Starts at $2.99 per month for one website, 10 GB storage, up to 10,000 monthly visits, enhanced security, and managed WordPress.
• GrowBig: Starts at $4.99 per month for unlimited websites, a staging environment, on-demand backups, and 30% faster PHP.
• GoGeek: Starts at $7.99 for up to 400,000 monthly visitors, up to 40 GB of web space, Git, free private DNS, and priority support.

This is one of the easiest ways to secure solid web hosting and build your online storefront with equal ease. Overall, you can’t go wrong with even the cheapest SiteGround plan. 

#7 – DreamHost – Best for Hosting on a Budget

Most web admins wouldn’t consider shared hosting for an ecommerce site. However, small stores can save a ton of money by opting for shared web hosting over a more complicated or powerful ecommerce plan. 

DreamHost is the ideal choice here, because you can get shared hosting with WordPress installed for free, getting you two-thirds of the way to a working web store if you don’t already have one.

DreamHost’s shared plans come with SSL certificates, automatic daily backups, automated WordPress updates, and fast SSD storage. Plus, they’ll even handle website migration for free if you already have a web store online. 

If you don’t have a working WordPress store already, there’s good news. It just takes a little extra work, but all you have to do is install a WordPress plugin for ecommerce and you can have an online store on DreamHost’s shared hosting. These plugins can range from powerful platforms like WooCommerce and BigCommerce to more focused solutions like Ecwid or Easy Digital Downloads.

So, with a little bit more elbow grease, you can build a solid WordPress-based store on DreamHost’s hosting and only have to pay for the hosting itself. 

Speaking of which, DreamHost offers two shared hosting plans. Shared Starter starts at $2.59 per month for one website, while Shared Unlimited allows you as many sites as you want for $3.95 per month.

DreamHost guarantees 100% uptime. You also get live chat, email, and social media support from dedicated WordPress experts in case you need help with your website.

Get started affordably with DreamHost today.

Methodology for Choosing the Best Ecommerce Hosting Providers

There are specific criteria you can use to separate the merely good ecommerce hosting providers from the best ones. Here’s what we looked at when compiling our list of the top choices.

Performance

Most people prioritize performance when comparing ecommerce hosting providers. It’s a reasonable demand. You want a web host to keep up with your site infrastructure, traffic, and orders. You also want a scalable service that grows with your online store.

Site loading speed is a critical metric of your host’s performance. You’ll start losing customers if your pages take more than three seconds to load. Many web hosts offer add-ons to improve page loading speeds, but you still want a host that promises speedy load times right off the bat.

It can be tough to know how CPU processing power and memory on a server equates to load times for your site. If you have web hosting now, or had in the past, that isn’t cutting it, compare those resources to the packages you’re considering. Make sure you’re getting enough of an upgrade for the price. 

If you don’t want to leave performance issues to chance, try going straight for a cloud, VPS, or dedicated option. However, shared hosting is an affordable entry point for individuals and startups, and some providers like DreamHost offer solid shared hosting packages that keep up with the demands of smaller ecommerce stores.

Bandwidth and File Storage

Many new online vendors are surprised to receive hefty overage fees. This is because ecommerce websites use up a lot of bandwidth and file storage, which can mean you may exceed monthly limits depending on your provider. Some providers put a limit on the number of monthly visits instead of your overall allotted bandwidth.

Therefore, check that your potential ecommerce host of choice offers enough bandwidth and file storage for your web store’s media, customer base, and popularity. Some providers offer unlimited bandwidth, an excellent option for scaling your business with minimal limitations.

Must-Have Ecommerce Features

There are basic ecommerce features you shouldn’t overlook when shopping for hosting. At the very least, your hosting provider should offer:

• SSL encryption
• Free custom domain
• Payment gateways
• Shopping cart software

Many good hosting providers also offer professional setup and migration services, as well as a free year of a custom domain. Still, be careful to read the fine print. For example, many hosting providers offer free SSL encryption only for one year or just a year of your custom domain registration. After that, you’ll need to pay. 

Security features also fall under this umbrella. SSL encryption is just one component of the strong security you need for an online store.

Online stores are prime and lucrative targets for hackers. So, ensure that your hosting provider offers top-notch security. Beyond SSL, look for these features from a potential web host:

• Firewalls
• DDoS protection
• Antivirus capabilities
• Anti-spam filters
• Daily backups

Also, look for a web host who meets your compliance requirements. For example, choose a host that guarantees PCI DSS compliance if your business processes credit card payments.

Responsive Customer Support

Despite what your web host promises, problems will occasionally come up. Furthermore, every second of downtime may mean lost revenue. If this is frequent, you can also expect to lose some degree of your SEO rankings and reputation.

You need an ecommerce hosting provider who can be relied on in times of crisis. So, a responsive and available customer support team is a critical consideration. This factor is vital for managed web hosting. Ideally, your web host should provide 24/7 customer service. However, the team should also be reachable via various means, including phone, live chat, and social media.

The Top Best Ecommerce Hosting Providers in Summary

There are many terrific ecommerce hosting providers capable of satisfying your needs and budget. Partnering with a good web host will ensure optimum site performance, high conversion rates, and top-notch security. We think Bluehost ticks the main boxes for most people, but some of the options on our list may work better for your particular needs.