WooCommerce Hosting

WooCommerce is not a normal WordPress site, and hosting it on a plan sized for a blog is the reason most WooCommerce shops feel slow.

Why shops need different hosting

A content site can be cached almost entirely. A shop cannot. Baskets, checkout, account pages and stock levels are different for every visitor, so they have to be generated fresh each time. The database does real work on every request, and it does the most work exactly when you are busiest.

WooCommerce also writes constantly. Sessions, order status changes, stock adjustments and scheduled actions all hit the database while customers are reading from it.

What we do about it

• Servers tuned for WordPress and WooCommerce rather than general purpose configurations, with PHP and MySQL settings that suit the workload.
• Object caching available, which is what keeps repeated database lookups out of the database.
• Page caching that understands shops, so basket, checkout and account pages are never served from a shared cache.
• InnoDB throughout, so writes lock a row rather than an entire table.
• Real cron, so scheduled actions, subscription renewals and stock synchronisation actually run rather than waiting for a visitor.
• Free SSL, daily backups and cPanel.

Support that knows the platform

We have been hosting e-commerce since 2007. When you raise a ticket about a slow checkout you are talking to people who understand what WooCommerce does under the bonnet, not a first line script.

We will also tell you when the problem is not hosting. Plenty of slow shops are slow because of an unnecessary plugin or 4,000 pixel product photographs, and moving them to a bigger server would just cost more money for the same result.

Moving an existing shop

We migrate WooCommerce sites regularly and there is no charge for it. We take a copy, get it working on our servers, let you check it, and only then change the DNS. We plan the TTL beforehand so the switch is clean and no orders land on the old server.

If you are unsure whether your current hosting is the problem, ask. We are happy to look and tell you if it is not.

Why a shop is not just a bigger website

A brochure site or a blog can be cached almost entirely. Once a page has been generated, the same copy can be served to everyone, and the server does very little work per visitor.

A shop cannot work that way. Baskets, logged in accounts, stock levels and checkout are different for every person, so a much higher proportion of requests have to run PHP and query the database. That is the whole reason WooCommerce hosting exists as a separate product rather than as a marketing label.

The practical effect is that a WooCommerce store needs headroom rather than raw disk space. Our plans are sized on that basis, and the servers are loaded to leave it.

What that means day to day

• Object caching available, so repeated database queries are not run again on every page load.
• Page caching configured so it is safe for a shop, never serving one customer’s basket or account to another.
• PHP settings sized for a store, including the memory a busy checkout and bulk product imports actually need.
• Free SSL, issued and renewed automatically. Your checkout requires it and an expired certificate closes the shop.
• Correctly configured SPF and DKIM, so order confirmations arrive rather than landing in spam.
• Daily backups you can restore yourself, which matters more on a shop than anywhere else because the data changes constantly.

When to move up

Shared WooCommerce hosting suits the large majority of stores. The point at which it stops being the right answer is usually a large catalogue combined with sustained traffic, rather than either on its own.

If you reach that point we will tell you, and moving to a VPS or dedicated server is straightforward and involves no downtime. What we will not do is sell you a larger plan for a problem that a larger plan will not fix.

Migrating an existing store

Migration is free. We copy the store across, get it working, and let you test it properly, including placing a real test order, before DNS is changed. Nothing goes live until you are satisfied.

Shops are the migrations that most need care, because orders continue to arrive while the move is happening. We plan for that rather than discovering it afterwards.

Plans and pricing