If you are running an online store, you need more than just a standard hosting plan. A good e-commerce website hosting provider will have adequate security features, a fast load time, good customer support, and add-on tools to supercharge your online shop.
There are a number of considerations to ensure your customers have a great experience shopping on your website. To help you decide what provider to choose, we’ve rounded up the options, including who has the best introductory deals, pricing, uptime, security and more.
iPage
Price: From $2.99 – $79.99/month with a 12-month commitment
iPage is the home of unlimited. You get unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, and you can host unlimited domains on your plan. This provider also stands out as the cheapest e-commerce website hosting provider with prices starting from $2.99 per month.
iPage also offers dozens of useful tools to help you design your e-commerce store. There are handy website builders, seamless PayPal integration, shopping carts, email marketing integration, and 24/7 customer support phone and chat support. You can integrate different e-commerce payment methods such as PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.
Pros
- Free SSL
- Cheapest shared hosting plan on the market
- Toll-free U.S. and U.K. phone support
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth
Cons
- Best for new businesses and beginners only
Bluehost
Price: From $9.99 – $6.95/month with a 12-month commitment
If you are looking to give your customers the best experience, you should prioritize website speed and uptime. Bluehost offers a 99.98% uptime with an estimated downtime of below two hours for the entire year. It also offers a seamless WordPress integration, which is why it’s the official WordPress recommended host.
Pros
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Generous SSD storage
- Free domain
- Excellent customer support
Cons
- Continuous upsells
- Entry-level plans have poor backup options
Liquid Web
Price: From $12.67 – $2,788/month with a 12-month commitment
Liquid Web stands out for its high-performance features, especially if you are looking for a managed WooCommerce hosting plan. They’re extremely powerful and easily allow for the sale of physical, digital and virtual goods regardless of the size of your business. They’ve also got a huge portfolio of hosting offerings, from dedicated to VPS and Private VPS to HIPAA-Compliant, and can help you choose the right fit for your online business. This provider promises 100 percent power and network uptime.
Pros
- Supports physical and digital products
- Dedicated servers
- Automatic daily backups
- 100 percent uptime guarantee
Cons
- Expensive hosting plans
- Limited downgrades
SiteGround
Price: From $14.99 to $400/month with a 12-month commitment
SiteGround is specifically tailored for e-commerce and has hosting options for WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and Magento platforms. You also get 18 free shopping carts, free-eShop transfers, and multiple server locations spread across three continents.
SiteGround is fully PCI-compliant – a security standard required for a website that stores billing details. This standard helps you protect customers’ credit cards and prevent unauthorized credit card data access.
Pros
- Proprietary AI security
- Uptime of 99.98 percent
- Free daily backups
- Free SSL
Cons
- Low storage for basic plans
- High renewal prices
A2 Hosting
Price: From $10.99 to $149.99/month with a 12-month commitment
A2 Hosting offers e-commerce plans with powerful e-commerce functionalities. They offer plans for shared, reseller, VPS, and dedicated server hosting, so you’ll find one that’s suitable for your online store regardless of its size or complexity.
A2 Hosting offers free SSL certificates for new hosting accounts, and you also get access to the Perpetual Security initiative, which includes a dual hosting firewall, free HackScan protection, and reinforced DDoS.
Pros
- 24/7 live chat, email, and phone support
- Fast load speeds
- Multiple server locations across U.S., Europe, and Asia
Cons
- Mediocre uptime guarantee
- On-demand backup system is purchased separately
Choose A Provider
Before settling a hosting provider and plan for your e-commerce store, compare several options, paying attention to uptime, load speed, storage, bandwidth, pricing and whether you want a hands-on or hands-off approach. Remember, who hosts your website will affect customer experience, so take your time to find the best fit.