One of the first things to consider once you've decided to take the plunge into eCommerce is where you're going to host your online storefront. There are tons of hosting providers out there, so we've compiled this list of the best eCommerce hosting providers to help you focus and choose the right one for you. As an eCommerce business, your needs are a bit different from a service industry or publisher. After all, you'll be handling monetary transactions that your customers expect you to keep safe.
With so many eCommerce hosting providers on the market, which is going to meet your needs as an eCommerce business owner, providing you the features that you need as well as the support and security to keep your site running and your customers trusting you? While we're certain you'll find a host for you on our list of the best eCommerce hosting providers, we also wanted to share some important things you should look for in a host in case you decide to do the research on your own.
10 Best eCommerce Hosting Providers to Start or Grow Your Business:
What to Look for in the Best eCommerce Hosting Providers
When you're trying to find the best eCommerce hosting provider for your business, there are a few things to consider. Of course, price is important, but we're not even going to talk about that right now. As you'll see when we get into our list, you'll see that there are high-quality hosting providers for different budgets. So, other than budget, here are the things you'll want to get nailed down before committing to an eCommerce hosting provider:
Security & PCI Compliance
As an eCommerce business owner, you're dealing with people's money. And you need to keep it safe. The eCommerce hosting provider you choose should come with SSL encryption and offer HTTPS to better protect the data that your customers share on your site, like credit card information, billing addresses, and more.
PCI compliance is an important aspect of site security. In order to keep you and your customers protected, choose a hosting provider that complies with PCI DSS standards.
Uptime
Website uptime is the amount of time a website is up, functioning, and operational. Your eCommerce store is your business, so you'll obviously want a high uptime. Downtime can lead to a bad reputation, loss of trust with your customers, and can impact the profitability of your eCommerce business. Look for a web host that monitors things 24/7 and addresses issues quickly.
Integrations
As a business owner, it's not likely that point-of-sale software is going to be all you need. You'll also want other marketing tools like a content management system, email marketing, and maybe a customer relationship management tool, too. But to get the most from the tools you decide to use, you'll want to make sure they play well together. This means choosing an eCommerce hosting provider that offers support for and integrations with your favorite tools.
Support
There are a lot of moving pieces involved in running an eCommerce business. What will you do if you run into an issue or need some help figuring out how to make something work the way you need it to? Well, if you have a solid eCommerce hosting provider, you'll be able to contact them for support! It honestly doesn't matter how you get the support, as long as you get it. But, if you're partial to being able to call a number and speak to a real, live human, you'll want to choose a hosting provider that offers support in that way. Before signing on with a hosting provider, find out more about their support.
10 Best eCommerce Hosting Providers
Now that you know what to look for in the best eCommerce hosting providers, it's time to dig into our list. Here are the eCommerce hosting providers we're loving right now.
1. SiteGround
SiteGround provides an excellent eCommerce hosting experience for small businesses and offers tailored hosting for some of the bigger names in eCommerce platforms like Magento, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and others. This provider's support team is great and the security features are exactly what you should be looking for to keep your customers' data safe.
? SiteGround Features
- WordPress and WooCommerce (with the Storefront theme) are pre-installed
- Free Cloudflare CDN with smart caching
- Free pre-installed SSL (through Let's Encrypt)
- Managed updates
- Daily backups
- Staging site (GrowBig and GoGeek plans)
- Custom WAF (Web Application Firewall)
- AI anti-bot system that blocks millions of security threats each day
- Uptime: 99.99%
- Page load time: 716ms
?? SiteGround Support
SiteGround offers 24/7 phone and live chat support as well as a comprehensive knowledge base.
? SiteGround Security
SiteGround provides a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt as well as an in-house monitoring system that checks your server status twice per second. This monitoring system detects and fixes many of the ongoing issues that crop up and helps prevent problems in the future. The provider also offers advanced spam protection, filtering both incoming and outgoing messages.
?? SiteGround Pros and Cons
- ? Excellent uptime
- ? High-speed hosting
- ? Easy to use
- ? Lots of advanced features like staging, Git repositories, own caching
- ? Unlimited traffic
- ? No free professional migrations
- ? Maximum database size (might be a problem for larger sites)
? SiteGround Pricing
If you're looking for a fast host with excellent uptime and were planning to use WooCommerce in the first place, there's probably no better option than SiteGround. They offer three pricing plans:
- StartUp: $4.99/month (when billed annually; renews at $14.99/month)
- GrowBig: $7.99/month (when billed annually; renews at $24.99/month)
- GoGeek: $14.99/month (when billed annually; renews at $39.99/month)
If you want features like PCI compliant servers (which you do, if you're an eCommerce business), you'll want to choose from the GrowBig or GoGeek plans.
2. Bluehost
Bluehost is easily one of the most popular website hosts. You can get basic shared hosting for dirt cheap (starting at $2.75/month when you sign up for three years). Bluehost is the host of choice for WordPress and, as such, has an automated setup for WordPress. The marketplace gives you access to WordPress plugins and other apps.
? Bluehost Features
- SSL Secure Server
- OS Commerce Shopping Cart
- Agora Shopping Cart
- Cube Cart Shopping Cart
- Zen Cart Shopping Cart
- Free Generated Certificate
- Password Protected Directories
- OpenPGP/GPG Encryption
- Uptime: 99.96%
- Page load time: 688 ms
?? Bluehost Support
Bluehost offers 24/7 customer service options through email, live chat, and phone support. They also have a robust knowledge base and blog.
? Bluehost Security
For security, Bluehost offers a free SSL certificate, Spam Assassin protection, hotlink protection, and SSH access. For an eCommerce business, we recommend that you purchase a premium SSL (which you can do through Bluehost).
?? Bluehost Pros and Cons
- ? Low up-front costs
- ? Decent uptime
- ? Tons of storage
- ? Unmetered bandwidth
- ? Speed is mediocre
- ? Entry-level backup options aren't great
? Bluehost Pricing
Since Bluehost is so tight with WordPress, it just makes sense to use the WordPress eCommerce plans as they'll give you seamless integration with the WooCommerce plugin. There are two plans to choose from:
- Standard: $29.95/month, $191.40/year, or $466.20/3-year term.
- Premium: $49.95/month, $395.40/year, or $898.20/3-year term.
With either plan, you get:
- Online store (website and blog)
- Email marketing
- Unlimited products
- WooCommerce installed
- Store-front theme installed
- Customer product reviews
- Website traffic analytics
- 24/7 customer support
- Payment processing (one-click install)
- Manual order creation
- Discount codes
- 1 year of CodeGuard Backup Basic
- 30 days of Office 365
3. InMotion Hosting
InMotion has low prices and a comprehensive set of features. Its eCommerce hosting plans could be a great fit for smaller stores or eCommerce businesses that are just coming into the market. Even with the Shared server option, you'll have scalability options to help you grow, but we do recommend upgrading to a VPS plan as you grow.
? InMotion Hosting Features
- Dedicated IP addresses (for VPS or Dedicated server plans)
- SSD storage
- Free SSL
- Unlimited bandwidth
- BoldGrid website builder
- eCommerce ready (Power and Pro plans)
- Automatic backups
- Uptime: 99.91%
- Page load speed: 389 ms
?? InMotion Hosting Support
InMotion Hosting offers 24/7 live chat, phone, and knowledge base support.
? InMotion Security
InMotion has partnered with Corero Network Security to offer a Smartwall Threat Defense System (TDS). The TDS is a system of DDoS protection appliances that can detect, mitigate, and eliminate DDoS attacks. However, we have heard that InMotion isn't super great in this area unless you have a VPS or Dedicated server.
?? InMotion Hosting Pros and Cons
- ? No bandwidth limits or metered traffic
- ? Easy to use
- ? Good support
- ? No free backup feature
- ? Uptime isn't the best
- ? Not much in the way of advanced features
- ? Limitations on storage, email accounts, and databases
? InMotion Hosting Pricing
InMotion pricing starts at $5.99/month for hosting on a shared server. If you need VPS hosting, pricing starts at $31.99/month (for a 3-year term). For Dedicated hosting, that jumps to $99.99/month (for a 1-year term).
4. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting offers eCommerce hosting for small businesses using most of the popular eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, and OpenCart. They offer quite a range of hosting options, from different levels of shared, VPS, Reseller, and Dedicated hosting plans. You'll want a VPS hosting plan for the eCommerce features you need.
? A2 Hosting Features
- Dual firewall system
- Automatic backups
- Server rewind functionality
- Dedicated IP addresses for a small monthly fee
- Free SSL certificates
- One-click setup for many eCommerce platforms
- Uptime: 99.97%
- Page load speed: 285 ms
?? A2 Hosting Support
A2 Hosting has excellent customer support. Like many of the other eCommerce hosting providers on our list, they offer 24/7 support via phone and live chat. Where they really stand out, though, is in response time.
? A2 Hosting Security
The free SLL certificate will keep your site and shoppers safe. A2 Hosting also provides its own Perpetual Security platform that includes HackScan protection against attacks, a dual hosting firewall, and reinforced distributed DDoS protection.
?? A2 Hosting Pros and Cons
- ? It's fast and has decent uptime
- ? Unmetered storage and bandwidth
- ? Some advanced features on the higher plans
- ? Server locations in the US, Europe, and Asia
- ? On-demand backups for a fee
- ? Shared hosting limited to 15–50 concurrent HTTP connections
? A2 Hosting Pricing
While shared hosting starts at $2.99/month (for a 3-year term), for eCommerce businesses, A2 Hosting encourages at least VPS hosting. For VPS, plans start at $4.99/month (for a 3-year term). That includes:
- 1 GB RAM
- 150 GB RAID-10 SSD storage
- 2 TB transfer
- 1 server core
- Root access
- Integration with your eCommerce platform
5. HostGator
HostGator is another eCommerce hosting provider that's been around for ages. It offers tons of hosting plans, a free SSL certificate, easy WordPress installs, and a free domain for the first year. The hosting plans include the standard — shared hosting, VPS, and Dedicated — as well as WordPress hosting and a web builder included.
? HostGator Features
- Free website builder
- Unmetered bandwidth and disk space
- Free SSL certificate
- Free dedicated IP (Business plan)
- Free positive SSL upgrade (Business plan)
- Uptime: 99.93%
- Page load speed: 734 ms
?? HostGator Support
HostGator offers 24/7 live chat, phone support, and even support on Twitter. It also offers an extensive knowledge base.
? HostGator Security
HostGator offers the standard free SSL certificate as well as 24/7 server monitoring and flood protection to prevent DDoS attacks. The business plan gets you a private SSL certificate for better security.
?? HostGator Pros and Cons
- ? Lots of storage
- ? Unmetered bandwidth
- ? Flexible terms
- ? Expensive renewals
- ? Uptime isn't great
- ? Limited backup options unless you pay
? HostGator Pricing
As we mentioned, HostGator offers shared, VPS, Dedicated, and more hosting plans. Any plan will work for your eCommerce store, but you'll probably want to run with the Business plan for the dedicated IP address, dedicated SSL, and the addition of shopping carts and payment gateways. The Business plan starts at $5.25/month for a 36-month commitment.
6. DreamHost
DreamHost has also been on the hosting scene for a while, and it's another huge WordPress partner. This hosting provider offers a custom control panel and a suite of tools to make creating the best site easy. DreamHost is employee-owned, committed to security, and provides 24/7 support. Uptime and page load speeds are a drawback when comparing DreamHost to the other eCommerce hosting providers on our list.
? DreamHost Features
- Custom control panel
- Solid-state hard drives
- Unlimited traffic (doesn't include DreamPress)
- Free SSL certificate
- Free daily backups
- Uptime: 99.90%
- Page load speed: 1320 ms
?? DreamHost Support
DreamHost has award-winning customer service. You can access support 24/7 via email, but live chat is available 3:00 AM–9:30 PM PT through the panel. DreamHost also has a knowledge base.
? DreamHost Security
Every DreamHost plan comes with the standard free SSL certificate and you can also get their malware remover.
?? DreamHost Pros and Cons
- ? Affordable plans
- ? Unlimited bandwidth and tons of storage
- ? Modern backend
- ? No email accounts included in the starter plan
- ? Limited chat support
- ? Limited advanced features
? DreamHost Pricing
DreamHost's shared hosting plans start at $2.59/month for a 3-year term. The starter plan doesn't come with email, so we'd recommend the unlimited plan that starts at $3.95/month (3-year term) instead. Of course, a better option for your business would probably be VPS hosting and that starts at $10/month (3-year term).
7. WP Engine
WP Engine, as you can probably guess from the "WP" in the name, is built for WordPress. It's a little different than the other eCommerce hosting providers on our list because WP Engine is a managed hosting provider. With managed hosting, the hosting company handles the setup, administration, management, and support of your server. You'll still need to install the WooCommerce plugin by yourself, though, so don't get excited about that. WP Engine has partnered with WooCommerce to provide extensive documentation and feature options that will make your eCommerce site run well on the backend.
? WP Engine Features
- One-click store creation
- Optimized store theme
- WooCommerce template
- Automated plugin updates
- 24/7 support
- 10 premium themes
- Free automated migrations
- Daily backups
- Free SSL and SSH
- One-click staging site
- Uptime: 99.95%
- Page load speed: 305 ms
?? WP Engine Support
WP Engine offers support 24/7 via email and you can log in to your account for one-on-one support, too. WP Engine also has an extensive, well-organized knowledge base, and their support is known for being incredibly helpful and, well, supportive.
? WP Engine Security
WP Engine handles patches and upgrades for you, keeping your infrastructure locked down. Plus, they offer real-time threat detection, security audits, code reviews, and more. Plus, there's a guarantee that WP Engine will fix things if your site gets hacked.
?? WP Engine Pros and Cons
- ? Excellent page load speeds
- ? Solid backup and version control
- ? Great support
- ? Limited to WordPress sites
- ? No email service
- ? Visitor limits
? WP Engine Pricing
WP Engine is a powerful eCommerce hosting option and that doesn't come cheap. The eCommerce-specific plans start at $30/month, billed at $360/year. Of course, for a managed hosting service that handles a lot so you don't have to, that just might be worth it to you.
8. Shopify
Shopify is a hosted eCommerce platform — a bit different from the eCommerce hosting providers we've already mentioned. With Shopify, you choose a template that matches your industry, customize your storefront to match your brand, configure your settings, and add products. It's an incredibly easy-to-use and popular eCommerce platform.
Check out our full Shopify review.
? Shopify Features
- Unlimited products
- Unlimited bandwidth and online storage
- Shopify point of sale
- Gift cards
- Online sales channels
- Fraud analysis
- Manual order creation
- Discount codes
- Staff overview dashboard
- Finance reports
- Customer support
?? Shopify Support
Shopify offers 24/7 phone and live chat support as well as phone support, social media support, a community forum, email support, video tutorials, and more.
? Shopify Security
Shopify is an eCommerce platform and, as such, is automatically secure for your eCommerce store. The platform handles security threats, updates, and is PCI compliant. SSL security is included in all plans.
?? Shopify Pros and Cons
- ? Incredibly easy to use
- ? Tons of high-quality themes
- ? Full code access for maximum flexibility
- ? URL structure not great for SEO
- ? Multi-language support
- ? Transaction fees if you don't use Shopify Payments
? Shopify Pricing
There are three Shopify plans offering various features:
- Basic Shopify: $29/month
- Shopify: $79/month
- Advanced Shopify: $299/month
9. Wix
Wix is similar to Shopify in that the website builder and hosting are connected and dependent on one another. Wix isn't nearly as powerful for eCommerce businesses as Shopify, but it's still a great option for building a brand using your own domain and creating a beautiful storefront where you can hawk your wares.
You can check out our Wix review here.
? Wix Features
- Secure online payments
- Plans and recurring payments
- Customer accounts
- Custom domain (free for the first year)
- Remove Wix ads
- Unlimited products
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Social selling
- Uptime: 99.95%
- Page load speed: varies
?? Wix Support
Wix offers great support with multiple options including 24/7 on-page editor support, an in-depth knowledge base, and phone, social media, forum, video tutorial, and email support.
? Wix Security
Wix offers SSL support and is PCI compliant, so your customer transactions are safe and secure.
?? Wix Pros and Cons
- ? Beautiful, well-designed templates
- ? Flexible
- ? Wix Artificial Design Intelligence helps create awesome sites
- ? Automatic site backups
- ? Difficult to change templates
- ? Slow loading speeds on mobile devices
? Wix Pricing
Wix offers three plans specific to businesses and eCommerce stores:
- Business Basic: $23/month
- Business Unlimited: $27/month
- Business VIP: $49/month
10. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a powerful and scalable hosted eCommerce platform — like Shopify but a bit more robust. It has tons of features that make it less user-friendly than Wix or Shopify. Despite that, the pricing is right in line with what you'd expect from a platform like Shopify, so if you're looking for a hosted eCommerce solution, BigCommerce is worth checking out.
Get more details about BigCommerce from our BigCommerce review.
? BigCommerce Features
- Visual page builder
- Mobile optimization
- Theme and checkout customization
- Coupons and discounts
- Supports digital wallets
- Social selling, marketplaces, brick-and-mortar stores, and multiple storefronts
- Uptime: 99.99%
- Page load speed:
?? BigCommerce Support
BigCommerce support varies depending on the plan you're using. At a minimum, you'll get 24/7 phone and live chat support. BigCommerce also provides email support and an extensive Help Center.
? BigCommerce Security
BigCommerce is built for eCommerce. That means PCI compliance, sitewide SSL, DDoS protection, and more.
?? BigCommerce Pros and Cons
- ? Ability to add product variants
- ? Scalable
- ? Great SEO tools
- ? Yearly sales threshold (leads to higher pricing if you go over it)
- ? Difficult to create non-eCommerce content
- ? Multi-language support requires coding
? BigCommerce Pricing
BigCommerce offers four different pricing tiers:
- Standard: $29.95/month
- Plus: $79.95/month or $863.40/year
- Pro: $299.95/month or $3239.52/year
- Enterprise: by quote
Frequently Asked Questions
Do hosting providers offer eCommerce-specific plans?
Some do, but it's usually just a label to let eCommerce business owners that the plan will be good for their eCommerce store. Much of the time, eCommerce plans are just the shared or VPS hosting plans that are already optimized for eCommerce. Some eCommerce hosting providers, like many of those on our list, offer eCommerce plans that have specialized features perfect for eCommerce.
Can you build an online store with your hosting provider?
Sometimes! Some hosting providers, like HostGator and others on our list, offer their own website builders. However, many of these built-in website builders aren't very powerful and probably won't have everything you'll need to create a robust eCommerce site.
What is shared eCommerce hosting?
Shared hosting is only recommended for smaller eCommerce stores because your site will be on a server with several other sites. The "shared" part of "shared hosting" comes in because you'll be sharing space and resources.
What is dedicated eCommerce hosting?
Dedicated hosting just means that your site gets its own server. This makes it more expensive but generally higher-performing since you're not sharing resources with other sites as you do with shared hosting.
What is VPS eCommerce hosting?
A VPS is a "virtual private server." You'll still be sharing resources from a single server, but your website accesses the server virtually and gets its own space, operating system, and bandwidth, giving you a better performance.
Can I use Shopify with my own hosting provider?
No, you can't. Shopify uses integrated hosting so you have to have both. However, Shopify is a great option for many eCommerce businesses. It offers PCI compliance and unlimited bandwidth.
