How to Choose the Best eCommerce Hosting Plan for Your Online Store

Hostinger’s CDN, now fully launched after extensive testing on over 10,000 websites, can boost site performance by up to 40% without any need for user configuration. It offers features like:

Our site builder supports a wide array of third-party integrations. For example, you can install marketing tools, such as Google Analytics or Hotjar, so tracking sales is effortless.

Such integration ensures you can use the necessary features, from product management and payment processing to inventory management and customer analytics, all within a cohesive environment.

Which Hosting Plan Is Best for Your eCommerce Website

Upgrade to compatible hosting plans, including managed WooCommerce’s Business and eCommerce’s Cloud Startup, to leverage Hostinger CDN and potentially boost your store’s performance significantly.

Then, monitor your usage regularly and upgrade as needed.

WooCommerce Hosting

At just .99/month, Hostinger Website Builder ensures you have all the tools necessary to create and manage a successful eCommerce website.

99.9% uptime guarantee, often referred to as three nines, allows for about 8.76 hours of downtime per year. While it sounds near-perfect, it can be significant for high-traffic eCommerce websites.

• One-click WooCommerce installation – simplifying eCommerce store setups.
• Vast library of extensions – customizing and adding more functionality to your eCommerce business site is made more accessible.
• Specialized WooCommerce hosting support – available to assist with any plugin or transaction issues.

Our managed WooCommerce hosting has an easy-to-follow onboarding process. The hPanel control panel simplifies site management, letting you focus on your online business growth.

With a multitude of options available, understanding different types of eCommerce hosting helps you make a more informed decision. Let’s have a look at the three most common hosting solutions for online businesses.

• Free domain registration – give your eCommerce site a professional and branded identity from the start, all while eliminating the initial cost.
• Free SSL certificates – ensure encrypted transactions and boost customer trust.
• Caching tools – improve page load times and provide a better user experience thanks to LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress.
• Complimentary site migration – transfer your eCommerce site with no issues with our professional team’s assistance, free of charge.

The good news is that many eCommerce hosting providers, including Hostinger, offer unlimited bandwidth. Therefore, be sure to check with your eCommerce host.

Apr 15, 2024

Whether you’re building a small online store or looking to expand your existing one, finding the ideal eCommerce hosting plan is essential for ensuring the smooth operation and scalability of your business.

To support your journey, we offer extensive resources such as Hostinger Tutorials, an extensive knowledge base, and 24/7 live chat assistance.

eCommerce hosting caters exclusively to online stores’ needs, like processing transactions and managing consumer data. It also goes beyond the standard web hosting service by offering enhanced performance and heightened security that eCommerce stores demand.

First and foremost, your online store operates round the clock. Therefore, your support should too. Ensure the hosting service provides 24/7 technical support to address critical issues that could arise during non-business hours or on weekends, potentially affecting your sales and customer satisfaction.

13min Read

Let’s answer three frequently asked questions about choosing the best eCommerce hosting plan.

Hosting providers that integrate seamlessly with top eCommerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, and Magento can significantly simplify the technical hurdles of starting an online store.

• AI Builder – skip the hassle of choosing from hundreds of templates and let AI set up your website quickly with just your brand name, website type, and a brief description.
• AI Image Generator – create images instantly by entering prompts and selecting a style.
• AI Logo Maker – generate logos in various styles by simply providing your brand name, slogan, and a brief description.
• AI Writer – craft compelling website copy that turns visitors into leads and, finally, customers.
• AI Blog Generator – simplify content creation by providing estimated word count, writing style, and a brief description of the content.
• AI Page Generator – create a new web page instantly by providing a brief description.
• AI Heatmap – forecast user interactions to optimize your call-to-action placement.

eCommerce security involves measures to protect websites and online transactions from unauthorized access or disruption. It covers a broad spectrum of practices, from secure data handling and transaction processing to user privacy and data integrity.

eCommerce Hosting

Uptime, a crucial indicator of your online store’s reliability, reflects the proportion of time your website is operational and accessible to your audience. It’s essential for maintaining customer trust and ensuring consistent sales. Here’s why:

In addition to SSL certificates, here’s an eCommerce security checklist to verify with your hosting provider:

GTmetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights can provide insights into site speed and other performance metrics. While you won’t have access to the backend of these sites, seeing how they perform can give you a rough idea of what to expect for your site.

Shared hosting is a cost-effective option for building a small eCommerce site. However, it may not provide the performance and security needed for larger, high-traffic stores.

Free domain registration offers more than just cost savings. Here are additional benefits that can pave the way for sustained success:

• Shared hosting – allows multiple sites to share the same server and resources. The shared server nature results in lower costs, making it the best hosting option for small business owners just starting out.
• Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting – divides a physical server into multiple isolated virtual servers. The VPS hosting solution is a good choice for stores that have outgrown their shared hosting plans. Check our comprehensive guide on how shared hosting compares to VPS hosting.
• Cloud hosting – draws resources from interconnected physical servers to create a network of virtual servers for hosting websites. It often uses the pay-as-you-go billing model, which is ideal for eCommerce stores with fluctuating traffic.
• Dedicated server hosting – allows business owners to use an entire server for their eCommerce websites. Offering complete control, excellent performance, and first-rate security, it’s ideal for high-traffic eCommerce sites.

Remember, the best eCommerce hosting provider is one that offers a balance of performance, reliability, and scalability. By securing these three aspects, your eCommerce website will be in good shape to provide a seamless shopping experience for your customers.

On top of all, we have AI-powered tools to accelerate your eCommerce store setup process.

7 Factors to Consider When Selecting the Best eCommerce Hosting Plan for You

eCommerce platforms refer to software that allows you to build and manage an online store. Meanwhile, eCommerce hosting is the service that makes your store accessible on the internet.

eCommerce Hosting Features

Selecting the right eCommerce hosting plan can significantly impact the success of your online store. Let’s have a short recap on the three most common hosting solutions to create an eCommerce store and to whom they’re perfect:

Storage space

If you seek simplicity in creating an eCommerce store, a website builder is a game-changer. Its drag-and-drop interface and a wide selection of customizable templates are just some of the perks of using a site builder.

As a result, integrating a CDN into your eCommerce store brings the following benefits:

However, it’s not just about fitting in; it’s also about giving you more freedom and control. Look for a CDN that provides comprehensive analytics and flexible settings. This way, you can tailor caching rules to your needs and keep a close eye on how your content is being delivered and consumed.

• Average page size – determine the average size of your web pages in megabytes. Remember, high-quality images and videos can significantly increase page size.
• Average monthly visitors – estimate the number of visitors you expect to receive each month. Consider both regular traffic and potential spikes during promotions or holiday seasons.
• Average page views per visitor – estimate how many pages an average visitor views during their session.
• Redundancy factor – add a redundancy factor to accommodate unexpected traffic spikes. A common approach is to add 50% to your calculated bandwidth.

WooCommerce hosting is a perfect fit for small- to medium-sized businesses that use WordPress. The seamless integration makes it more convenient to manage your content and your store from a single platform.

Bandwidth

Security is another important consideration. You’ll want a CDN that not only speeds things up but also keeps your site secure with features like token authentication to protect your eCommerce business and your customers.

• Product catalog size – more products mean more pictures and possibly videos, increasing the need for storage.
• Content richness – high-resolution photos and videos provide a better user experience but require more space.
• Data storage – customer data, order histories, and other databases also consume storage.

Technical Support

Hostinger maintains transparency about our server performance through our status page. This dedicated page contains detailed logs and historical uptime data.

To enhance your site’s visibility and search engine rankings, make use of our integrated SEO tools. These tools let you easily edit meta titles and descriptions, implement keyword optimization, and add image alt texts.

We’ve also shared seven factors to help you review various eCommerce plans. By carefully considering those factors, you can choose a hosting solution that meets your specific needs and supports your business’s growth.

• Reduced startup expenses – one immediate benefit of free domain registration is cutting upfront costs. For startups and small businesses, saving every penny is crucial, enabling resources for other critical areas like design, development, and marketing.
• Simplified set-up process – free domain registration typically comes as part of a hosting package. This integration also means you can manage your hosting account and domain from a single dashboard, streamlining administrative tasks and website maintenance.
• Professional brand image – having a custom domain, as opposed to a subdomain provided by free web hosting services, enhances credibility. In addition to building brand recognition, it helps you gain audience trust from the outset.

Hostinger’s eCommerce hosting plans are secure, fast, and reliable. Starting from .99/month, you can build your small business site using your preferred platform, as well as get free SSL certificates, domain name registration for your first year, and unlimited bandwidth.

Now, eCommerce hosting options can encompass a variety of hosting types to suit different website needs and sizes. They also highly influence how much you have to pay for the web hosting service.

When researching CDNs for your eCommerce site, think about what’s crucial for your business. You can start by reviewing its geographic coverage to make sure the CDN’s servers span the regions where your target customers are.

• High-performance servers – opt for a web host that uses modern, high-speed servers. For example, solid-state drive (SSD) storage significantly outperforms traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) in data access times.
• Server location – the server’s location hosting your eCommerce site can impact load times for your visitors. Choose a web hosting company with data centers close to your target audience to minimize data travel time.
• Caching mechanisms – caching stores copies of your site’s files to serve them faster to your visitors. Look for hosting plans that include built-in caching technologies or support for caching plugins.

With advanced security protocols, integration with leading eCommerce platforms, and scalable options, Hostinger ensures that your online store can deliver an excellent shopping experience.

Incorporating a content delivery network (CDN) is a strategic move for eCommerce websites, especially those serving a global customer base.

A CDN stores your site’s static content, like images and script files, on global servers. When a user visits your eCommerce store, the nearest server delivers data, cutting down page load times by reducing data travel distance.

The right web hosting plan helps ensure your eCommerce business‘s success. It impacts everything, from performance and reliability to the overall user experience.

An excellent domain name is memorable and reflective of your brand. Thus, avoid using complex spellings, numbers, and hyphens, as they can negatively complicate things in the future. In addition, using keywords relevant to your business helps ensure recognition of the site’s purpose.

• Live chat – for immediate assistance and quick queries.
• Phone support – offers a direct line for urgent and complex issues.
• Email and/or ticketing system – suitable for less urgent issues where detailed documentation is beneficial
• Social media – increasingly, providers offer support through social media platforms, providing an additional avenue for reaching out.

When looking for the best eCommerce hosting services for easy integration, consider the following:

Instantly check domain name availability.

Security and Encryption

Encryption keeps data safe by turning it into a unique code. This means that only people with authorized access can see encrypted information, which often includes customer names, login credentials, and payment details.

Customer support specialists should not only be accessible but also knowledgeable. They should have a deep understanding of eCommerce website hosting, be up-to-date with the latest technologies, and possess the ability to solve a wide range of issues.

The storage space you need depends on the size and number of your website files, including HTML files, images, videos, and databases. Take into account the following when calculating your required storage space:

• Firewalls – block unauthorized access.
• DDoS protection – ensures your site remains accessible even during attempted attacks by distributing traffic across a network of servers.
• Regular malware scans – facilitates early detection to prevent damage and promptly neutralizes any threats.
• Proactive monitoring – detects unusual activity patterns, potentially identifying and mitigating new threats before they cause harm.
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) – adds an additional layer of login security, ensuring only authorized users can access sensitive backend functions.
• Secure payment gateways – partnering with reputable payment processors that comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is essential for a more secure online transaction.
• Data backups – automatic backups can be a lifesaver in the event of data loss, whether from technical failures or cyber-attacks. Ensure your hosting plan includes comprehensive backup solutions that allow for easy data restoration.

Guaranteed Uptime

Free Domain Registration

• Customers expect your online store to be available whenever they need it. High uptime guarantees are vital for providing a great online shopping experience, reducing the risk of losing sales and damaging your brand reputation due to website downtime.
• Frequent downtimes can negatively impact your website’s performance on the search engine results page (SERP). As search engines aim to offer the best user experience possible, a site that’s often down may be deemed less reliable.