What's the best hosting for a new ecommerce website?

[Seller]

I'll be starting an ecommerce website in the near future and will need web hosting for it. I haven't bought web hosting for a while so I don't know if much has changed and what exactly i would need so I am looking for some advice, tips or any good information on what I should look at or for.

What's the best hosting for a new ecommerce website?

 

[outpower hosting]

I'll be starting an e-commerce website in the near future and will need web hosting for it. I haven't bought web hosting for a while so I don't know if much has changed and what exactly i would need so I am looking for some advice, tips or any good information on what I should look at or for.

What's the best hosting for a new e-commerce website?

What you should look at is providers that give Managed e-commerce solutions. This is basically a combination of web hosting + ecommerce cart software + full support and help on setting up your store. The reason you should choose this over going with a regular hosting is that most of the provider who give a managed e-commerce solution actually do not have the silly tiny limitations that show up on shared hosting services and they give you full overall support than just with your hosting account. And as a beginner, you need all the support you can get in terms of setting up your store. Once you start becoming proficient in it, you could look out for more custom hosting solutions than going with managed e-commerce or shared hosting.

 

[Seller]

Seller

That sounds like something that would probably be a good idea for me. Are these types of managed e-commerce solutions expensive?

 

[Ron Killian]

Can depend on what system you are using. Although, most ecommerce solutions will run great on a VPS. They are not that much difference than most any other site.

Seems like it's another buzzword these days, to give hosting providers a reason to offer ecommerce or "wordpress" hosting, at higher prices, when it's not much different or better than regular hosting.

 

[Seller]

Seller

I'm not 100% sure which ecommece system I will be using just yet. I thought I had it figured out but have become undecided again. I was thinking about using Magento because I have seen some good information about it.

Do you have a recommendation as to what you think would be a good choice? I'm sure you know a lot more about it then I do.

 

[Ron Killian]

Ron Killian

Ask 10 people what ecomm platform to use and you'll probably get 10 different answers. Course most people will be talking out their arse, or just repeating what they've read somewhere else. I am sure some of those people will show up to give their opinions.

I tried Magento several years ago and found it a pain just to install. It required a different database and I think I even needed help from my host to get it installed. It might have changed since then. The other thing, you are going to be limited to what is available or works with that platform, layout/theme's add-on, ect. Again, maybe there is alot more available now. Course it has to be pretty good or it wouldn't be as popular as it is.

I personally prefer Wordpress with Woocomerce as the shopping cart platform. I prefer it because wordpress is easy to use and there are SO many theme's and plugins these days. Wordpress is so extendable. Not to mention there are so many plugin's for Woocommerce. But people will say wordpress is not the best. It's worked very well for me for a couple years now. I really like it. I've had no problem with it working correctly for me and my customers. Usually the only time there is a problem it's because of a mistake I've made.

One last thing, what ever you do, DON'T use OSCommerce. It use to be a great robust cart, functioned well for me for many years, but it's been pretty much dead for years now. Plus it a MAJOR pain to extend.

That is my opinion. Won't talk about shopping cart systems I don't know, or don't have experience with.

As for hosting, most of it is managed, so that is usually a given. Unless you get into dedicated servers. I've used VPS myself for many years now. It's close to a dedicated server without the price tag.

Your choice

 

[outpower hosting]

That sounds like something that would probably be a good idea for me. Are these types of managed e-commerce solutions expensive?

Depends on who you ask. You could find some as low as $8 a month to even some at $100 a month. Forum rules prevent me from sharing some links, so do have a look around for all the providers that offer managed e-commerce service.

Seems like it's another buzzword these days, to give hosting providers a reason to offer ecommerce or "wordpress" hosting, at higher prices, when it's not much different or better than regular hosting.

While "Wordpress Hosting" is a marketing buzzword; "Managed WordPress" or "Managed E-commerce" isn't because it does add value and additional support services. So I guess as long as you see the word "Managed" and what it includes, people should be pretty OK with it.

 

[Seller]

Seller

I didn't realize that there was that much difference in prices. Are the differences in prices in relation to quality or maybe features?

 

[outpower hosting]

outpower hosting

Quality maybe but it is not what decides the price. The pricing is based on mostly 2 differences:

1. Smaller companies have lower overhead costs and hence able to provide the same service as a bigger company but at a lower cost.
2. Depends on the featureset of the account you subscribe to. For example, some accounts will allow you only 50 products, some accounts will let you list a 1000 products, some unlimited.

Here is my write up on the difference between the open platform applications available for public use.

I’m writing this purely based on the experience our customers have had with multiple carts on our managed platform. They are presently on either Prestashop, Magento, Woocommerce or Opencart.

Now, I’m talking about this from a purely long term ownership cost perspective. At the moment, nothing beats Prestashop. The reason is pretty simple. Prestashop by default comes with a heck of a lot features pre-built into the installation which basically means you dont end up spending money every time you want a simple functionality added to your site. Right from inbuilt coupons, customer support modules, multi-store for multiple region custom store, super customized pricing and combinations for products, customizable shipment option etc.etc.etc. For a small to medium scale, honestly the only thing you will end up paying for additionally is maybe a theme and perhaps a usage based SMS integration.

Woocommerce is the worst in the lot when it comes to long term cost. Now, we love woocommerce, the simple way to set it up and a simple and easy to manage system, but that’s about it. It is simple, anything else you want to do is almost always a $50 plugin. Something as simple as setting up condition based product combinations, you’re going to have to spend money buying plugins. Woocommerce is unusable out of the box for anything other than a home based mom and pop type of business. While some might point out that there are a lot of free plugins available, from our experience, none of them except a few exceptional ones are worth their salt.

Magento is not for the faint of heart. There is a very steep learning curve and you have to invest considerable time and money to bring it upto the level of what something like Prestashop can offer out of the box. However, if you are looking to scale up over the next few years using the same platform, Magento would be the one to go with.

The thing about Opencart is a bit funny and sad at the same time. While there are a lot of free plugins out there, they are nowhere as good as the paid ones and the sad bit about opencart is that the core system is horribly designed. It is yet to modulize its components and everything is directly working on the core code and this is a huge problem because every time you fix something like to maybe get a plugin working, it breaks something else. You have to be painfully patient to work with open cart and know very well how to tinker with the core code.

There are several answers and links you can find on quora for this. A few of them I have linked below. Feel free to take a look at all the service providers listed there and search for additional questions that match yours.

 

[Seller]

I personally prefer Wordpress with Woocomerce as the shopping cart platform. I prefer it because wordpress is easy to use and there are SO many theme's and plugins these days. Wordpress is so extendable. Not to mention there are so many plugin's for Woocommerce.

I have some Wordpress experience but I have never used Woocommerce before. Is it fairly easy to setup and manage?

At the moment, nothing beats Prestashop. The reason is pretty simple. Prestashop by default comes with a heck of a lot features pre-built into the installation which basically means you dont end up spending money every time you want a simple functionality added to your site.

How hard is it to setup Prestashop and maintain it?

 

[outpower hosting]

outpower hosting

It takes us maybe 30mins - 1hour to install and configure prestashop ready for sale for our customers. But thats probably because we already know what to do and what to setup. First timers might take a couple of hours max to figure things out. If you have a web hosting account that has softaculous, use the single click installer. This you need to configure > Localization options if you are outside the US and payment gateway setup. Also, adding your store info and replacing all the prestashop links with your own.

 

[DTS-NET]

Lots of hosting companies offer one click set up and install for Prestashop
Prestashop is easy to run and maintain with a step by step guide

 

[Seller]

Prestashop is easy to run and maintain with a step by step guide

Is the guide on the Prestashop website or is it included in the install?

First timers might take a couple of hours max to figure things out.

That sounds great. I don't mind spending a few hours to learn how to work the software. I was just not wanting something that takes a long time or is just hard for a first timer to the software.

Also, adding your store info and replacing all the prestashop links with your own.

Is that difficult to do?

 

[DTS-NET]

there is a step by step walk through when you admin login after install

 

[Seller]

Seller

I did not know that. I thought it might be on their website which is where a lot of the software scripts have theirs. Thank you

 

[serversget]

Hello! I can suggest you use cloud solutions like cloud vps for Example DO or vultr.

 

[Seller]

Seller

Why do you suggest those services? What makes them good?

 

[serversget]

He has worldwide location, this is cloud technology, they are reliable, they has worldwide famus names.
On practice you get own server within 30 seconds, where you can start any project small or large,you can create free backups , you can pay hourly and etc.

 

[plrdeals24]

Ecommerce web hosting is invisible to your customers, but it’s really important for their experience. Bad ecommerce web hosting can even affect your chances of securing the sale – a fractionally slower page can frustrate buyers and will alienate a percentage.

I'll recommend you 5 best hosting for Ecommerce-sites!

1, SiteGround
2, Inmotion Hosting
3, BlueHost
4, Rackspace
5, WPengine

Hope useful to you!

 

[Seller]

Ecommerce web hosting is invisible to your customers, but it’s really important for their experience. Bad ecommerce web hosting can even affect your chances of securing the sale – a fractionally slower page can frustrate buyers and will alienate a percentage.

That's something that I want to make sure doesn't happen. I have been there myself and didn't stick around for a slow site to load.

I'll recommend you 5 best hosting for Ecommerce-sites!

1, SiteGround
2, Inmotion Hosting
3, BlueHost
4, Rackspace
5, WPengine

Why do you recommend those? Is it because they have fast hosting?

 

[plrdeals24]

plrdeals24

Is it because they have:

+ Excellent WordPress hosting
+ Multiple installers for e-commerce platforms
+ Easy site installation
+ Good server parameters
+ Priority support - 24x7x365 support
+ Good reputation

 

[Ron Killian]

Maybe all except Bluehost. Owned by EIG. No Thank you.

 

[SenseiSteve]

A lot of this depends on how many products you intend to sell on your site. Some shopping carts like WooCommerce or Prestashop will suffice for smaller stores. I wouldn't put Magento on shared hosting. You might also check out ECWID for comparison. The very best to you with your new store.

 

[Seller]

A lot of this depends on how many products you intend to sell on your site. Some shopping carts like WooCommerce or Prestashop will suffice for smaller stores.

Thanks Steve. I was planning on just using Woocommerce.

You might also check out ECWID for comparison.

I have no idea what that is, is that some kind of ecommerce software?