5 of the Best WooCommerce Hosting Platforms Compared
Dianna Gunn Do you want to find the best WooCommerce hosting?
If so, you’ve come to the right place. 😎
WooCommerce is one of the most popular tools for building online stores and is currently used on 9.2% of all websites. This popularity has led many companies to create specialized WooCommerce hosting services.
👉 Of course, the quality of these offerings varies widely. That’s why we’ve narrowed this list down to the following best WooCommerce hosting companies:
We’ll take a close look at 🔎 the features and pricing of each of these companies’ WooCommerce hosting plans to help you choose the best option for your business.
First, though, let’s establish what makes a company worthy of being on this list of the best WooCommerce hosting options. 💻️💻️💻️
What to look for in a WooCommerce hosting platform
👉 There are a lot of things to consider when you’re looking for WooCommerce hosting, starting with several things that are important for any hosting plan:
- Free SSL certificates. While using SSL/TLS is important for all sites, it’s essential for eCommerce stores to keep your customers’ data safe.
- Storage. You want to make sure your plan can host enough data to accommodate your website as it grows.
- Bandwidth. This determines how many people can visit your website. Many web hosts offer unmetered bandwidth, which accommodates large traffic spikes. Some even offer unlimited bandwidth.
- CDN. A CDN is a tool that ensures fast loading speeds for all customers, regardless of where they are in the world.
- Caching. Caching systems save data your users view on your website so that your site loads faster next time they visit. However, you won’t be able to cache all WooCommerce content, so it’s important that the host automatically configures its caching system to play nice with WooCommerce.
- Backups. Daily backups ensure that you can easily restore your site if it goes down. However, you still might want to use a real-time backup solution if you have a busy store.
- Security. Security is important for any website, and doubly so if you’re going to be taking people’s credit card data to process payment. Many of the best WooCommerce hosting plans include firewalls, DDoS protection, and even access to advanced WordPress security plugins.
👉 There are also certain features specific to WooCommerce hosting plans:
- Pre-installed WordPress and WooCommerce. This allows you to skip the software installation process and go straight to the fun parts of building your store.
- Improved product search. Some WooCommerce hosts offer built-in support for Elasticsearch to improve your store’s product search results and performance.
- Free WooCommerce extensions. Some WooCommerce hosting providers have started offering free access to important WooCommerce plugins, which can save you a lot of money.
- Automated WordPress updates. This keeps your WordPress software up to date to ensure that your website keeps running smoothly. These updates also keep your site secure.
- WooCommerce-optimized templates. These are WordPress themes that are designed specifically for online stores. These themes often offer direct integration with WooCommerce, as it’s the most popular ecommerce plugin for WordPress.
- Staging site or developer environment. This is a version of your site specifically designed for you to safely test changes. These environments are kept separate from your main site, so your visitors won’t see the changes, and if one of those changes damages the developer environment in some way, it won’t damage your visitors’ shopping experience.
And the final thing you’ll want to consider is cost. WooCommerce hosting is often more expensive than regular hosting, so you’ll want to pay close attention to the price tag of the plan you’re interested in. Some plans also rise in cost after a set time period, most often when you renew your plan, so you’ll need to factor that increase into the long-term cost of your web hosting.
Now that you understand what to look for in WooCommerce hosting, let’s take a closer look at the top companies for this specialized type of web hosting. ⌨️⌨️⌨️
Best WooCommerce hosting platforms compared for 2023
1. Bluehost
⚙️ Features
The following features are available from the Online Store plan:
- Free domain for first year
- Free SSL certificate
- 40 GB storage
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Daily backups through Jetpack
- Automated WordPress updates
- Online store creation powered by YITH
- Wonder store theme
- Gift cards
- Wishlists
- Product search & filtering
- Bookings & appointments
- Customer account creation
- Yoast SEO
- Access to 24/7 expert customer service
🖱️ Overview
Bluehost is one of the most trusted providers of web hosting and is even recommended by WordPress.org itself. It offers a variety of WordPress-specific tools and plans, including two WooCommerce-optimized plans.
Bluehost’s WooCommerce plans come with everything you need to create a store built-in, including a specialized ecommerce theme called Wonder. These plans also feature several ecommerce tools from YITH, a very popular creator of WooCommerce extensions. The plugins make it easier for you to sell products and also offer tools for selling services, such as appointment setup.
💳 Pricing
The Bluehost Online Store plan starts at $9.95 per month and rises to $24.95 per month upon renewal. You’ll also want to buy SiteLock for enhanced security; Bluehost offers this addition for $2.99 per month. Note that you’re required to pay on an annual basis for these plans.
2. SiteGround
⚙️ Features
The following features are included in the SiteGround WooCommerce StartUp plan:
- 10 GB storage
- 10,000 visits monthly
- Free WordPress installation
- Free WordPress migrator
- Free email migrator
- Unlimited email addresses
- Pre-installed WooCommerce
- Free SSL certificate
- WordPress autoupdates
- Daily backups
- Supercacher technology
- Enhanced security
- Unlimited databases
- 24/7 customer service from WordPress and WooCommerce experts
🖱️ Overview
SiteGround is a specialized WordPress host with a variety of hosting plans, including three specialized WooCommerce hosting plans.
SiteGround also offers excellent security features including a high-quality web application firewall and AI anti-bot technology. Plus, if something does go wrong with your site, you can reach out to SiteGround’s award-winning team of WordPress and WooCommerce experts.
The SiteGround WooCommerce plans don’t come with any built-in store themes, but this can actually be an advantage if you want to choose your own one. You can easily find thousands of them in the WordPress directory, and you won’t have to delete any built-in themes or worry about unused ones hogging your site resources.
💳 Pricing
SiteGround’s WooCommerce StartUp plan starts at $2.99 per month and rises to $14.99 per month upon renewal. All SiteGround plans are billed annually.
You’ll also have to pay separately for a domain, which you can register through SiteGround for $17.99 in the first year and $19.99 upon renewal (based on .com prices). You can also look at other domain registrars to save a bit of money.
3. WP Engine
⚙️ Features
The following features are available on the Startup WooCommerce hosting plan from WP Engine:
- One online store (higher-tier plans allow the creation of multiple stores)
- 25,000 visits per month
- 10 GB storage
- 50 GB bandwidth
- EverCache for Woo
- Stripe Connect integration
- Automated updates for WordPress, PHP, and WooCommerce
- Global CDN
- Daily backups
- Genesis Spend theme
- One-click staging and developer environments
- Security patching and plugin risk scans
- Transferable sites for client handoffs
- 24/7 live chat customer support
- Elasticsearch integration on higher-tier plans
🖱️ Overview
As you might expect based on the name, WP Engine is a specialized WordPress hosting company. It offers a large range of WordPress hosting plans, including five of the best WooCommerce hosting plans on the web.
WP Engine offers a variety of tools to enhance your WooCommerce experience, including specialized caching tools for WooCommerce, a Genesis Spend theme featuring specialized ecommerce blocks, and EverCache software for advanced WooCommerce caching.
All of the WP Engine WooCommerce plans also come with advanced security features including a proprietary firewall and security patching.
Higher-tier plans also include built-in Elasticsearch to improve your store’s product search.
💳 Pricing
WooCommerce hosting from WP Engine starts at $24 per month, billed annually, for the Startup plan. Note that these plans don’t include a domain; you’ll have to purchase your domain elsewhere.
4. Nexcess
⚙️ Features
The following features are available with the Nexcess Starter WooCommerce hosting plan:
- One WooCommerce store (higher-tier plans allow for more stores)
- 30 GB storage
- 3 TB bandwidth
- Free SSL certificate
- CDN powered by Cloudflare
- Automated updates for core WordPress software and plugins
- Email hosting
- Site templates optimized for WooCommerce
- Plugin performance monitor
- Sales performance monitor
- WooCommerce automated testing
- Object cache pro
- Image compression
- Astra Pro
- Beaver Builder Lite
- HubSpot
- Weglot Translate
- One-click staging site
- Yoast SEO
- Disaster recovery assistance based on daily internal backups
- Advanced security features
- 24/7 live chat support
🖱️ Overview
Owned by Liquid Web, Nexcess offers a wide variety of managed WooCommerce hosting plans suitable for businesses of all shapes and sizes. All of these plans come with site performance monitoring, plugin monitoring, and nightly automated WooCommerce testing to make sure your checkout page and process is working correctly.
Nexcess WooCommerce hosting also offers a variety of software tools to make site management easier, including site building tools like the Astra theme and Beaver builder Lite. Plus, as a Nexcess customer, your site security will be protected by top-notch firewalls and the iThemes Security Pro plugin.
💳 Pricing
The most affordable Nexcess WooCommerce plan is the Starter plan, available for $17.50 per month when billed annually. You can also choose month-to-month hosting, which starts at $21 per month.
5. Woo Express
⚙️ Features
The following features are available on the Essential Woo Express plan:
- Custom domain
- Free SSL certificate
- 50 GB storage
- Automated backups
- Built-in ecommerce themes
- Built-in payment processing
- Automated tax calculation
- Live shipping rates and order tracking
- Built-in tools for advertising on Facebook, Google, and other sites
- Advanced malware and security scan
- Woo Mobile App
- 24/7 customer support via live chat and email
🖱️ Overview
Woo Express is a relatively new hosting program offered by WooCommerce itself. This hosting is offered through a partnership with WordPress.com, so you can guarantee the same level of speed, reliability, and security you would get from a WordPress.com hosting plan.
You’ll also get several features designed to help you run an online store smoothly, including ecommerce themes, payment processing, and advanced features, like live shipping rates and automated tax calculation. You’ll even be able to create and manage products, track orders, and more from your phone using the Woo Mobile App.
Another thing that earns Woo Express its place on this list of the best WooCommerce hosting is the customer service. Since this hosting option is provided by WooCommerce itself, you can guarantee that you’ll always be working with the most qualified WooCommerce experts available.
💳 Pricing
The Essentials plan from Woo Express can be purchased for $39 per month if you choose month-to-month billing. If you choose an annual plan, this price drops to $25 per month. You can also test out this hosting option with a 14-day free trial.
How to choose the best WooCommerce hosting plan for you
Feeling overwhelmed by all of the information in this article? Here’s a quick summary of the best WooCommerce hosting platforms to help you make the right choice:
- 🛒 Bluehost is ideal if you want to go beyond regular ecommerce sales to offer service appointments while still keeping your costs down. This is because you get free access to a lot of YITH WooCommerce extensions.
- ⭐ SiteGround is the best choice if you want simple, high-quality WordPress hosting without extra themes or plugins weighing it down. As an added bonus, SiteGround is the most affordable WooCommerce hosting option, at just $2.99 per month for the first term and $14.99 per month upon renewal.
- 🧰 WP Engine is a great choice if you want access to specialized WooCommerce tools but want to choose your own plugins for things like SEO.
- 📈 Nexcess is the best choice if you want highly scalable WooCommerce hosting that comes with a variety of built-in tools for things like simplified page building, SEO, and marketing.
- 💵 Woo Express is the ideal choice if you want access to advanced sales tools like automated tax calculation, live shipping rates, and built-in advertising tools. If you like to work on your phone, you’ll also enjoy having access to the Woo Mobile App.
What WooCommerce plan are you most interest in? Let us know in the comments below!
