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Best web hosting for e-commerce

We extensively research every web host we include on lists like this one. We start by reading their websites to evaluate the quality of their plans and pricing. We also read reviews from third-party sites like Trustpilot and check the Better Business Bureau for complaints about the service. Furthermore, we conduct full reviews of popular web hosting companies to provide our hands-on, expert assessments. These reviews use our framework for testing web hosting services, including:

  • Uptime monitoring for one week
  • Server speed tests over the course of five days
  • Calls and emails to customer support to determine things like response time, professionalism and expertise of the customer support teams

Notes from these reviews are included in the listings for the relevant hosts. This page will be updated regularly with new notes as we publish more reviews. 

HostGator

HostGator is a popular web host that powers over 707,000 websites. HostGator’s two WordPress-based e-commerce plans include several preinstalled plugins for e-commerce and marketing, automated WordPress updates and automated daily backups.

HostGator delivers decent security features with all plans, including SSL certification and an advanced firewall with DDoS protection.

In my testing, I found HostGator’s site setup and management tools easy to work with. Benchmarking showed that HostGator’s servers offer decent performance. Customer support was inconsistent across channels, so you might want to avoid HostGator if your site is complex and/or you expect to need a lot of support.

Pricing: Online Store plan starts at $10 a month and rises to $25 a month on renewal; Online Store + Marketplace starts at $13 a month and rises to $40 a month on renewal. You can save money by purchasing a shared hosting plan ($3.75 a month to start, $11 a month on renewal). All of these prices are based on the purchase of a three-year term. 

Read our HostGator review.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy is the biggest player in the web hosting space, powering a full 15.6% of all websites. You can get many types of web hosting from GoDaddy, including shared and WordPress hosting. The company also offers Managed WooCommerce Stores that include hosting, automated WordPress/WooCommerce updates and shipping discounts of up to 84%.

GoDaddy’s Managed WooCommerce Stores also come with SSL certification, an advanced firewall with DDoS protection and malware scanning. This is notable, as many of GoDaddy’s hosting plans don’t include these features.

During my hands-on assessment, I found GoDaddy frustrating to get started with, but this was balanced out by excellent server performance and customer service. There are a lot of open complaints on GoDaddy’s BBB page, so you might want to avoid GoDaddy if your site is complex or you expect to need high-level support.

Pricing: The most affordable WooCommerce Store plan starts at $25 a month, and rises to $30 a month on renewal. The most expensive WooCommerce Store plan starts at $130 a month and retains this price on renewal. GoDaddy also offers online store builder plans starting at $10 a month ($16 a month on renewal).

You can save a lot of money by choosing a regular shared hosting plan — starting at $6 a month for the most affordable option, with a renewal price of $10 a month — but you’ll be sacrificing a lot, including basic security features like a firewall.

Read our GoDaddy review.

Hostinger is the best hosting service for an e-commerce website, with both website builder and WooCommerce plans available for affordable prices. Hostinger offers AI site and content creation tools, email hosting and 24/7 customer service.

WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce platform worldwide, with a market share of 39%.

GoDaddy is a reasonably good choice for e-commerce hosting, offering managed WooCommerce plans with heavy shipping discounts available for some regions and shipping methods. Starting prices for GoDaddy’s WooCommerce plans are high, and non-WooCommerce plans lack key security features.


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Company Best for Starting storage Starting bandwidth Starting price – WooCommerce Starting price – Website builder
SiteGround Best overall 10GB (enough for at least 100 pages) 10,000 monthly visitors $3 a month for the first year, $18 per month after $3 a month for the first year, $18 per month after
Shopify Best e-commerce website builder Unlimited Unlimited N/A $29 a month, billed annually
Hostinger Best value web hosting 50GB (enough for at least 500 pages) for WooCommerce, 200GB (enough for 2,000 pages) + 600 products for store builder Unmetered (recommended max of 100,000 monthly visitors on basic WooComerce plan) $4 a month to start, $14 a month on renewal, based on four-year contract $4 a month to start, $14 a month on renewal, based on four-year contract
Hosting.com Best WooCommerce hosting for beginners 15GB (enough for at least 150 pages) Unmetered WordPress hosting is $3 a month for the first year, $9 a month on renewal N/A
Ionos Best variety of options 100GB (enough for at least 1,000 pages) for WordPress, 500 products for website builder Unlimited $16 a month to start, $20 a month on renewal, based on one-year contract $4 a month to start, $24 a month on renewal, based on one-year contract