Best Ecommerce Hosting for Stores (2026)
Our best ecommerce hosting shortlist compares hosts for online stores on what they publish: price, storage, backups and staging. It covers two hosts so far, with more to follow.
[Draft: the host data behind this page has not been verified by a human. Before publishing: cover at least the other Phase 1 hosts, decide the scoring formulas so hosts can be graded, and rewrite the quick answer if a ranking is made.]
Quick answer
Based on public plan pages checked 2026-10-21, we have recorded two hosts so far. Kinsta lists entry plans from $35 a month with staging and backups included. Cloudways lists server plans from $14 a month with staging and SSL included. We have not graded hosts yet, so we do not rank them.
Hosts compared so far
| Host | Entry plan | Listed price | Storage | Our review | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinsta | Launch | $35/month | 15 GB | Kinsta review | Visit Kinsta |
| Cloudways | Basic Micro (1GB RAM) | $14/month | 25 GB | Cloudways review | Visit Cloudways |
Source: Kinsta pricing page, checked .
Source: Cloudways pricing page, checked .
How we compared
Every figure comes from the host's own pricing page and terms, with a source link and the date we checked it. We do not estimate missing figures. Hosts will be graded with the fixed weights on our methodology page, but that scoring is not finished, so this page shows no grades or ranking.
Full comparison
| Feature | Kinsta | Cloudways |
|---|---|---|
| Plan compared | Launch | Basic Micro (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU) |
| Price, billed monthly | $35/month | $14/month |
| Introductory offer | $0 for the first month | not recorded yet |
| Price, billed annually | $350/year | not recorded yet |
| Storage | 15 GB | 25 GB |
| Visits per month | 75,000 (Kinsta's estimate) | not recorded yet |
| Backups | 14 days backup retention | On-demand or automated backups; offsite backup storage billed at $0.033/GB per server |
| Staging | Free one-click staging environments | Free staging environment, push live with one click |
| SSL | Free SSL certificates with wildcard support | Free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates |
| Object cache | not stated by host | Object Cache Pro free on a 4GB server or above |
| PHP workers | not stated by host | not stated by host |
Source: Kinsta pricing page, checked .
Source: Cloudways pricing page, checked .
[Human check: "not recorded yet" means the figure is not in our data files, not that the host omits it.]
Kinsta
The first month is listed as $0 on monthly plans, then $35 a month. The entry plans list 14 days backup retention, free staging and free SSL. Storage on the two plans we recorded is 10 GB and 15 GB. Read the full Kinsta review for limits, the three-year cost and the terms.
Cloudways
Cloudways lists 12 server plans from $14 to $967 a month, priced by server size. Staging and SSL are listed in every plan, and Object Cache Pro is listed as free on servers with 4GB of RAM or more, from $54 a month in our data. Offsite backup storage is billed on top. Read the full Cloudways review for the plans and costs.
Best ecommerce hosting: how to choose by store situation
Ecommerce hosting for a small store
Start from your numbers: how many gigabytes your store files take up and how many visits you expect. Kinsta lists 15 GB of storage and an estimated 75,000 visits a month on Launch. Cloudways lists 25 GB on its smallest server and does not use visit caps in the figures we recorded.
Ecommerce WordPress hosting
Both hosts we have recorded sell WordPress hosting. We have not yet compared WooCommerce-specific features, so see our WooCommerce hosting page once it is published.
Hosting for a store that is growing
Cloudways lets you move up through server sizes, with storage from 25 GB to 400 GB across the plans we recorded. Kinsta also sells larger plans that we have not recorded yet.
Decision guide by store size and platform
| If your store needs | Look at | Because the listed figures show |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 15 GB of files on one WordPress site, with backups and staging in the plan price | Kinsta Launch | 15 GB, 14 days backup retention, free staging, from $35/month |
| The lowest listed monthly price | Cloudways Basic Micro | $14/month with 25 GB of disk |
| Object Cache Pro included | Cloudways, 4GB servers and up | Free on 4GB of RAM or more, from $54/month |
These rows cover WordPress and WooCommerce stores only. The hosts here are not built for Shopify or other hosted platforms, where hosting is part of the plan. [Human check: confirm this statement before publishing.]
What hosting costs after year one
Introductory offers fade, so compare what you pay over time. We use one method for every host: the listed price, unchanged, with no tax and no promotions.
| Plan | Year one | Three years |
|---|---|---|
| Kinsta Launch, billed monthly | $385 | $1,225 |
| Kinsta Launch, billed annually | $350 | $1,050 |
| Cloudways Basic Micro | $168 | $504 |
| Cloudways Basic Small | $336 | $1,008 |
In our data, neither host lists a higher price after the first period than its entry price. The only introductory offer we recorded is Kinsta's free first month. Cloudways also advertises a limited-time discount that we have not recorded. Prices can change, so check each host before you buy.
Source: Kinsta pricing page, checked .
Source: Cloudways pricing page, checked .
Common questions
What is the best ecommerce hosting?
We cannot name a best host yet. We have recorded plan data for two hosts and have not graded them. Choose by the limits that matter to your store: storage, backups, staging, and what the price becomes after the first period. The comparison table on this page shows those figures with their sources.
How much does ecommerce hosting cost?
In the two hosts we have recorded, entry plans list from $14 a month at Cloudways to $35 a month at Kinsta. Larger plans cost more, up to $967 a month for Cloudways' biggest server. Prices are in US dollars and exclude tax.
What should I check before choosing ecommerce hosting?
Check the storage allowance against the size of your store files, whether backups and a staging site are included, the price after any introductory offer, and the refund and cancellation terms. Each host's own terms of service state the last two, so read them before you pay.
[FAQ questions are provisional until People Also Ask questions are pulled for this keyword.]
Sources and update log
- Kinsta pricing page, checked 2026-10-21.
- Cloudways pricing page, checked 2026-10-21.
Update log. 2026-10-21: first draft written from the recorded host data. Not yet fact-checked by a person.