January 31, 2023
Best ecommerce hosting

Finding the best ecommerce host is crucial because that’s where your website lives on the internet. Critical factors like performance and security depend on the hosting you select.

Lots of hosts promise to be the best hosting for ecommerce sites. But which hosts offer the features you need to support your ecommerce website?

You need a reliable hosting service with a proven track record of uptime and excellent performance.

Here, we list the seven best hosting services for ecommerce websites that follow those criteria. That’ll way you have the best ecommerce hosting under your belt in 2024.

What to look for in an ecommerce host

The best ecommerce web hosting services offer features and services targeting the unique needs of ecommerce websites.

Look for these when selecting hosting to ensure your website has the functionality you need:

  • Storage space: Ecommerce websites need to store webpages, customer data, product images, and more on the hosting platform. Your ecommerce web’s storage needs depend on the volume of these elements. For example, the more products you have, the more storage you need. Similarly, you might also need more storage if you install plenty of WordPress plugins or integrations on the backend.

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  • Performance: Hosting performance is vital for customer experience and SEO. Google has prioritized page load speeds as a ranking factor for a long time, including in Google’s Core Web Vitals. Ecommerce sites that load in one second have a conversion rate 1.5x higher than an ecommerce website that loads in ten seconds.
  • Uptime: Downtime is the digital equivalent of closing your store. When selecting the best hosting for your ecommerce site, look at the type of uptime guarantee the service offers. Many service level agreements (SLAs) promise over 99% uptime, but is that good enough? An uptime calculator can help you visualize how much downtime these promises still allow. Notice how even with 99.5% downtime, your ecommerce store will remain unavailable to customers for over one day and 19 hours every year.
  • Security: According to Baymard Institute, 18% of customers are reluctant to share credit card details with ecommerce websites they don’t trust. You’ll store much of your business and customer information on your web host’s servers, so you want a service that offers excellent security. Ideally, you need an ecommerce host that includes an SSL certificate — if customers see an insecure tag on your website, they’re unlikely to share payment information. A host that offers site-level security instead of only server-level security is also helpful.
  • Features: The best hosting for ecommerce sites offer scalability, proactive support, automatic backups, support for your chosen ecommerce platform, and more. You might also consider whether a host offers a cPanel or custom panels based on your preference.
  • Cost: While chasing the lowest price isn’t the best strategy, the cost is still important because it’s recurring and affects your budget.

Best hosting for ecommerce sites

Now that you know what to look for, let’s talk about the best hosting for ecommerce sites for 2024. Select one based on the best combination of factors mentioned above and your specific needs.

1. Nexcess

Best ecommerce hosting: Nexcess.

Nexcess offers fully managed ecommerce hosting tailor-made for WordPress, Magento, and WooCommerce.

Nexcess is a PCI DSS Level 1 provider. Our data center is fully PCI-compliant and can help merchants with PCI compliance as well. All Nexcess plans include a free SSL certificate to increase the security of your ecommerce website.

The best-in-class cloud hosting architecture and customer support you get as a Nexcess user make running your online store much easier. We also guarantee 99.9% uptime and scale to accommodate traffic spikes during the peak shopping season.

Moreover, our scalable infrastructure and high-speed content delivery network (CDN) help ensure consistent, top-notch website performance.

You also get advanced features like ecommerce store management analytics. For example, you can use the Sales Performance Monitor to gain valuable revenue insights and monitor profitability.

If you need help setting up your hosting account or are stuck, Nexcess’s 24/7 customer support is ready to help.

Features:

  • Support for PHP-based applications, including WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento.
  • Free SSL certificate.
  • Level 1 PCI compliance.
  • Excellent speed and security.
  • 24/7 support.

Best ecommerce hosting for: Growing ecommerce businesses that need a fast, reliable, and scalable hosting solution.

Price: Plans start at $13.30/month when billed annually.

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2. Hostinger

Best ecommerce hosting: Hostinger.

Hostinger is an affordable ecommerce web hosting platform that offers low-cost domain registration.

Despite its low price, Hostinger offers many features on its shared and managed WordPress hosting plans, including a one-click installer for ecommerce content management systems like Magento, Joomla, and PrestaShop.

You can opt for shared hosting, cloud hosting, managed WordPress hosting, VPS (Virtual Private Server), or dedicated hosting based on your preference, regardless of the content management system or framework you use to build your website.

However, keep in mind Hostinger’s most affordable plan (shared hosting) isn’t the best option for an ecommerce website. You’ll need to opt for VPS or dedicated hosting to ensure better performance for your ecommerce website on Hostinger.

Besides that, Hostinger provides several security measures to protect your data. All plans include unlimited free SSL, automatic backups, IP blockers, and Cloudflare-protected DNS.

Just note Hostinger has no phone support options and only offers chat and email support.

Features:

  • Custom control panel.
  • Free SSL.
  • Automatic backups.
  • Cloudflare-protected DNS.

Best ecommerce hosting for: Small businesses looking for managed hosting at a lower price point.

Price: Plans start at $1.99/month under a four-year plan.

3. Bluehost

Best ecommerce hosting: Bluehost.

Bluehost is a shared hosting provider that is WordPress-recommended. It also offers a standard WooCommerce plan that bundles various tools and features like WooCommerce installation, email marketing tools, and website analytics.

The hosting claims 99.98% uptime, but the feature set isn’t all that impressive, especially when reviewing its cheapest plan.

For example, the basic plan doesn’t include free backups. And while Bluehost supports WooCommerce, it lacks support for Magento and other popular ecommerce platforms.

The mid-tier plan is a better option if you're using a supported platform. It offers unmetered bandwidth and unlimited SSD storage and supports the creation of unlimited websites.

Bluehost offers strong security. The hosting platform offers a free SSL certificate, Secure Shell (SSH) access, hotlink protection, and SpamAssassin to protect you against spam. You also get support via chat, phone, email, or ticketing.

Two significant downsides to choosing Bluehost are its lack of focus on speed and servers outside the U.S. You should consider another option if your target audience isn’t in the U.S.

Features:

  • Free SSL certificate.
  • Security features like SSH, hotlink protection, and SpamAssassin.
  • Support via chat, phone, email, and ticketing.
  • Unmetered bandwidth.

Best ecommerce hosting for: U.S.-based ecommerce businesses using WordPress and WooCommerce.

Price: Plans start at $4.95/month when billed annually.

4. SiteGround

Best ecommerce hosting: SiteGround.

SiteGround has servers across four continents, which means you’ll likely find the right server location to host your ecommerce website. Add unmetered bandwidth and CDN to the mix and you’ve got excellent website speed potential.

With SiteGround ecommerce hosting plans, you also get ecommerce-specific features like free shopping carts and ecommerce-optimized servers. You also get the Softaculous installer that helps install platforms like Magento, WooCommerce, and PrestaShop faster.

SiteGround also develops tools internally to make WordPress websites load faster. For example, it offers an Nginx web server, three-level caching, and a custom PHP setup. In addition, SiteGround also provides an SSL certificate, WAF (Web Application Firewall), and daily backups.

You can request help from support via live chat, ticketing, and phone. Support is reliable and fast, so you never need to worry about being stuck.

The only downside is that unless you’re a small store, you’ll need the GrowBig or GoGeek plan, which can be pricey. You also don’t get a free domain name with your SiteGround plan.

Features:

  • Servers on four continents.
  • Built on Google Cloud.
  • Free SSL.
  • Automatic updates and backup.
  • Security features like SSL and WAF.

Best ecommerce hosting for: Ecommerce businesses with a target audience in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Singapore.

Price: Plans start at $14.99/month when billed annually.

5. GoDaddy

est ecommerce hosting: GoDaddy.

GoDaddy can be expensive, but it’s worth considering if you want a hosting plan loaded with features. However, the free plan isn’t a great option for ecommerce stores, and the Basic and Premium plans include few ecommerce features.

You still get features like SSL, analytics for your ecommerce site, and a unified inbox. However, you miss out on features like online auto inventory and product sync, real-time shipping rates, and automated sales tax calculation unless you opt for the higher-priced plans.

That said, GoDaddy covers the basics well. It offers decent website speeds and the support is quick too. Plans include live chat and phone support but not email. You also get a free professional email account for a year when you sign up.

Features:

  • Unmetered bandwidth.
  • Daily backups.
  • Ecommerce-specific features like product sync and real-time shipping rates.
  • Free SSL.

Best ecommerce hosting for: Ecommerce business owners who like ecommerce-specific features and don’t mind the additional cost.

Price: Plans start at $6.99/month.

6. A2 Hosting

Best ecommerce hosting: A2 Hosting.

A2 Hosting focuses on website speed. The hosting provider offers multiple functionalities to improve speed.

Their LiteSpeed servers use three-level caching for static and dynamic web elements. The hosting also has the functionality to compress images automatically and optimize code to further speed up your website.

The pricing can be a little confusing because A2 Hosting has many pricing tiers. It has a different price for plans in multiple categories like Turbo Hosting, cPanel Hosting, and Dedicated Server Hosting.

The Turbo Hosting plans give you access to A2’s LiteSpeed web servers, non-volatile memory express (NVMe), and HTTP/3. All Turbo plans include a free SSL certificate and free expert website migration. However, the basic Turbo plan only offers 50GB of SSD storage and allows hosting one WordPress website.

The platform uses cPanel, which is easy to use but feels a little dated. A2 commits to 99.9% uptime, so you’ll have a maximum of two hours and 10 minutes of downtime each year.

Features:

  • LiteSpeed servers, NVMe, and HTTP/3.
  • Free SSL certificate.
  • Free expert website migration.
  • 99.9% uptime.

Best ecommerce hosting for: Ecommerce businesses heavily focused on speed.

Price: Plans start at $2.99/month when billed annually.

7. DreamHost

Best ecommerce hosting: DreamHost.

DreamHost is a popular hosting company that offers affordable hosting packages for online ecommerce businesses. The most basic plan is a shared hosting plan, best for the initial days when you’re starting your ecommerce business and need to keep costs to a minimum. It offers a free domain, SSL certificate, and WordPress website builder.

If you’re a small or medium-sized ecommerce business, you might consider the DreamPress plan. The plan offers 30GB SSD storage, unlimited email, and on-demand backups.

DreamHost also offers great performance, so sites load fairly quickly. However, DreamHost only has servers in the U.S. The website performance might suffer if your target audience is in a different country.

Support options are limited to email and live chat, so you can’t request help via phone. If you don’t mind the lack of support channels, DreamHost might be a good low-cost option.

Features:

  • Affordable.
  • Great security.
  • Decent website speed.
  • Unlimited bandwidth.

Best ecommerce hosting for: Startups looking for a low-cost option with limited features.

Price: Plans start at $2.95/month when billed annually.

Final thoughts: the best ecommerce hosts

When you’re overwhelmed with hosting feature choices, go back to basics. Key features to look for in the best web hosting include a fast and reliable support team, strong security, user-friendly interface, and excellent performance.

Nexcess offers strong ecommerce hosting solutions backed with these key features. With Nexcess, you get a proactive support team, comprehensive security, an easy-to-use interface, and great website speeds.

We have a 24/7 support team eager to help you when you need it. Get started with fully managed WooCommerce hosting today.

Maddy Osman
Maddy Osman

Maddy Osman is a WordPress expert, WordCamp US speaker, bestselling author, and the Founder and SEO Content Strategist at The Blogsmith. She has a B.A. in Marketing from the University of Iowa and is a WordCamp Denver organizer while also operating The Blogsmith, an SEO content agency for B2B tech companies that works with clients like HubSpot, Automattic, and Sprout Social. Learn more about The Blogsmith's process and get in touch to talk content strategy: www.TheBlogsmith.com

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