6 Leading eCommerce Hosting Providers You Should Have in 2024

Choosing the right web hosting for your online store is super important. It affects how fast your website loads and your customers' info is safe. But with so many options, it takes time to figure out which is best for you. Don't worry, though—we've got your back! In this post, we will compare the six best eCommerce hosting providers. We'll check out what they offer, how well they perform, and how much they cost. This way, you can pick the one that gives you the most bang for your buck and supports your business as it grows.

What Are eCommerce Hosting Services

An eCommerce host is like a landlord for your online store. They provide a space on their computer (server) where your store can live online. They take care of everything that makes your store work, like text, pictures, and the special code that runs your website. When someone visits your store online, the host sends all that stuff to their computer so they can see your store.

Having a good eCommerce host is like having a reliable landlord. They make sure your store is always open for business on the internet. If your host is fast and reliable, your store might need to be fixed, and you could lose customers. So, choosing the best eCommerce hosting is important to keep your online business running smoothly.

Types of eCommerce Web Hosts

Exploring the diverse landscape of eCommerce web hosts unveils a spectrum of options tailored to suit varied business needs and aspirations.

SaaS-hosted Providers

When you use a SaaS-hosted provider for your online store, the software and hosting come together in one package. This is great for folks who need to be more tech-savvy because the platform handles all the tricky stuff, like connecting your website to its web address. Plus, it's budget-friendly for small business owners since you pay one monthly fee for everything you need, like hosting your site and tools to manage your inventory, process payments, and track sales.

Self-hosting Providers

Self-hosting providers offer ways for you to take charge of your website. They have different levels to suit your needs:

1. Shared hosting: This is like renting a room in a big house. It's good for beginners because it's affordable. However, if another website in the same "house" uses many resources, it might slow down your site.
2. Virtual private server (VPS): Here, you get your own space on the server. It's a bit pricier, but you have more control over your website's performance, and other websites won't affect you as much.
3. Dedicated server: This is like having your own house. It's great for busy websites with lots of visitors. Other websites won't bother you because the whole server is yours.

But be aware: self-hosting can get expensive. The more you want, like speed and support, the more you'll pay, which adds to your usual website costs.

Top 6 eCommerce Web Hosting Providers

Discover the top 6 best eCommerce Hosting providers, each offering the perfect blend of performance, reliability, and affordability.

Shopify

If you're considering starting an online store, Shopify is a great choice. It's a platform that helps you build and run your e-commerce website. One cool thing about Shopify is that it includes hosting for your website in its plans, so you don't have to pay extra. This means your website will always be online and load fast because Shopify uses super-fast servers. They also use something called a content delivery network to make sure people from all over the world can access your store quickly.

With Shopify, you get many cool features like a free domain name, unlimited bandwidth (lots of people can visit your site without slowing down), free SSL certificates for security, unlimited email forwarding, and PCI compliance to keep your customers' payment information safe. The best part is you can get started for just $39 a month, which includes everything you need to start selling online hassle-free.

Bluehost

Bluehost is a company that helps you put your website on the internet so people can see it. They have different plans for different needs and budgets. If you want to sell things online using a WooCommerce or WordPress platform, Bluehost can help you with that, too. Their plans come with lots of space to store your website stuff and let people visit it without limits on how many can come. You can even make your website look cool with custom themes. Bluehost keeps your website safe by automatically backing up your information and giving you a free CDN tool. Their plans start at $9.95 monthly, but some extra features cost more.

IONOS

IONOS, previously known as 1&1, offers various hosting packages for individuals, businesses, and organizations of all sizes. Check out their Web Hosting Expert package if you're considering hosting an online store. It comes with cool stuff like 99% uptime, which means your site will be up and running almost always, and you'll get a big 500 GB storage space. Plus, you can monitor your website's performance with website analytics and enjoy faster loading speeds, beating out other popular hosts like GoDaddy, Hostgator, and Bluehost. They also make setting up your online shop easy with a one-click install function for platforms like Shopify. However, their control panel has a learning curve, especially for newbies. The prices start at $8 a month for the first year, which is reasonable.

Hostinger

Are you looking for an affordable web hosting option for your small business? Hostinger might be the answer! It's a favorite among entrepreneurs watching their budgets. With Hostinger, you get many cool features perfect for your online store. They have this special setup just for e-commerce, so your product pages load fast. A neat tool called the access manager system lets you work with your team on your store. And guess what? All their plans come with awesome stuff like a drag-and-drop builder, free email, SSL certificate for security, and customer support that's there for you 24/7. Prices start from just $9.99 a month. So, if you're ready to get your business online without breaking the bank, try Hostinger!

SiteGround

Looking into SiteGround, it's a popular choice for hosting websites, supporting over 2.8 million domains with a high satisfaction rate of 98%. If you're using WordPress, you'll find it recommended for its features like Cloudflare protection, seamless WooCommerce integration, constant security monitoring, free daily backups, and round-the-clock customer support. However, it's essential to note that SiteGround is no longer PCI compliant, which means if you're handling payments, you may need to link up with an external compliant platform like Shopify, which could mean extra costs. Prices start from just $4.99 per month.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy is a good choice if you're considering getting your business online. They're big in web hosting, grabbing about 10% of the market. They've got four different hosting options, depending on how much space and power your website needs. With any plan, you get access to 150 free apps, easy WordPress setup, fast loading with servers worldwide, and security around the clock. As your online shop grows, you might need to upgrade to a bigger plan for more storage and speed. The basic plan starts at $9.99 a month.

What to Know to Choose an eCommerce Web Hosting Service

When selecting the best eCommerce hosting service, several factors are crucial in ensuring your online store's success.

Uptime

Uptime measures how often a website is online and ready for visitors. It's shown as a percentage, telling you how much time the site spends up and running. The higher the percentage, the more reliable the website is, meaning it stays online most of the time. When running an online store, you want a hosting provider with uptime close to 100% so customers can access your store whenever they want to shop. You can check a hosting provider's uptime using tools like Uptime and Pingdom. These tools report how often the hosting service has had downtime and how quickly they fix any problems.

Speed and Bandwidth

Having a fast website is super important. When your site loads quickly, more people will likely buy stuff from you. Even if you make it just one second faster, you could increase phone sales by up to 27%! Plus, speed helps your site rank higher in Google searches because Google prefers fast sites. So, it's a win-win. Ensure your online store loads fast by checking how much data your hosting can handle at once – bandwidth. If your site gets too busy and goes over the bandwidth limit, customers can't reach it. You might need to upgrade to a more expensive plan to keep up. Look for hosts that offer unlimited bandwidth. That way, your site won't slow down as your store gets more visitors.

Pricing Plan

When choosing a hosting plan, it's important to consider pricing carefully. Some plans might look cheap initially, but they could miss important things your online store needs to grow. To avoid problems, think about getting hosting straight from your ecommerce platform. This usually means you pay one monthly fee for everything you need. For example, Shopify offers hosting for $39 a month. With this, you get a domain name, unlimited bandwidth, inventory management, and PCI compliance, which are all included.

Customer Support

When it comes to the quality of customer support for hosting your website, it's crucial to find a provider who's easy to reach when you need assistance, especially as your website becomes more popular. For urgent issues, phone calls or live chat can be beneficial. But for smaller problems, you might prefer sending a quick message instead of waiting in line. It's important to note that there's a difference between SaaS platforms (like Squarespace or Shopify) and platforms you host yourself (like WordPress). If you're hosting it yourself, you might have to pay more for faster support, meaning the more you spend, the quicker you'll get help.

Conclusion

Regarding online business success, having the best eCommerce hosting is super important. You want your website to load quickly when people visit it and be safe from viruses and hackers. Whether you're starting a new online store or your business is getting bigger, there are some great web hosting options out there to choose from. So, no matter what your business needs, you can find the right web hosting.