Webshop hosting costs: what do you pay for e-commerce hosting?

Starting a webshop brings various costs, and hosting is one of the most important recurring expenses. Costs can range from a few euros per month to thousands, depending on your needs. In this guide, we help you understand what you can expect and how to make the right choice for your budget and scale.

Webshop hosting types and prices

Shared hosting: €3-15 per month For starting webshops with minimal traffic (< 100 visitors/day), shared hosting can be sufficient. You share server resources with other websites, keeping costs low but potentially limiting performance.

Suitable for: test webshops, very small catalogs (< 50 products), side-projects Disadvantages: limited resources, slower performance during peak traffic, less control

WordPress/WooCommerce hosting: €10-50 per month Optimized hosting specifically for WordPress and WooCommerce with better performance than shared hosting. Often includes SSL, daily backups and staging environment.

Suitable for: small to medium WooCommerce shops (100-5000 products) Providers: SiteGround (€14.99/m), Kinsta (€30/m), WP Engine (€25/m)

VPS hosting: €20-150 per month Virtual private server hosting offers dedicated resources and better control. You have a virtual server with guaranteed CPU, RAM and storage. Requires more technical knowledge or managed VPS.

Suitable for: growing webshops with 200-2000 visitors/day, catalogs up to 10,000 products Unmanaged VPS: €20-60/m at providers like DigitalOcean, Linode Managed VPS: €50-150/m at Cloudways, Kinsta, Nexcess

Cloud hosting: €30-500+ per month Scalable cloud infrastructure where you pay for what you use. Perfect for webshops with fluctuating traffic. Automatic scalability during peak periods.

Suitable for: medium to large webshops, seasonal shops with large traffic variations Providers: Cloudways (€30-200/m), AWS, Google Cloud (variable), Shopify Plus (€2000/m)

Dedicated server: €100-500+ per month A complete physical server exclusively for your webshop. Maximum performance and control, but also highest costs and most technical requirements.

Suitable for: large enterprise webshops with 5000+ daily visitors, mission-critical applications Unmanaged: €100-250/m, managed: €250-500+/m

Extra costs with webshop hosting

SSL certificate: €0-200 per year Essential for every webshop. Most providers offer free Let's Encrypt SSL. Paid EV/OV certificates for extra trust cost €50-200 annually.

CDN: €0-50 per month Content delivery network for faster loading times worldwide. Cloudflare is free, premium CDNs cost €10-50/m depending on traffic.

Backups: €5-30 per month Automatic daily backups are crucial. Sometimes included, otherwise €5-30/m extra. Cheap for the peace of mind.

Email hosting: €0-10 per month Professional email (@yourwebshop.com). Often included with hosting, otherwise via Google Workspace (€5.20/user/m) or external provider.

Domain: €10-15 per year .nl domains cost about €10/year, .com €12/year. First year often discounted.

Costs per webshop size

Micro webshop (< 50 products, < 50 visitors/day)

• Hosting: €10/month (shared or starter WordPress hosting)
• SSL: €0 (free Let's Encrypt)
• Domain: €10/year
• Total: ~€130/year or €11/month

Small webshop (50-500 products, 50-200 visitors/day)

• Hosting: €25/month (managed WordPress/WooCommerce)
• SSL: €0
• Backups: €0 (included)
• CDN: €0 (free tier)
• Domain: €10/year
• Total: ~€310/year or €26/month

Medium webshop (500-5000 products, 200-1000 visitors/day)

• Hosting: €80/month (managed VPS or cloud hosting)
• SSL: €0-50/year
• Backups: €10/month
• CDN: €15/month
• Domain: €10/year
• Total: ~€1270/year or €106/month

Large webshop (5000+ products, 1000+ visitors/day)

• Hosting: €200-500/month (dedicated or enterprise cloud)
• SSL: €100/year (EV certificate)
• Backups: €30/month
• CDN: €50/month
• Extra services: €100/month (monitoring, security)
• Domain: €10/year
• Total: ~€4600-9200/year or €380-770/month

Tips to save costs

1. Start small and scale up - begin with affordable hosting and upgrade as you grow
2. Pay annually - often 10-20% discount with annual payment
3. Compare well - look beyond just monthly price, check what's included
4. Avoid unnecessary features - don't pay for resources you don't use
5. Monitor your usage - with cloud hosting you can save costs by optimizing resources

For a complete overview of hosting options, check our hosting for webshops comparison.

Hidden costs to watch out for

Renewal prices Many providers offer attractive intro pricing for the first year, but then double or triple the price upon renewal. Always check the renewal rate before signing up.

Example: A hosting plan advertised at €5/month might be €12/month after the first year. Over 3 years, that's a significant difference.

Overage fees Some hosts charge extra if you exceed bandwidth, storage or visitor limits. These overage fees can be expensive and unpredictable.

Read the fine print: What are the resource limits? What happens if you exceed them? Can they suspend your site for excess usage?

Migration costs If you want to move to another provider later, some charge for migration assistance. Free hosting might come with a €100-200 migration fee.

Premium support Basic support might be slow or limited. Priority support often costs extra (€20-50/month) but can be worth it if you depend on quick responses.

Payment processor fees Not strictly a hosting cost, but don't forget payment gateway fees. Most charge 2-3% + €0.25 per transaction. For a shop with €10,000 monthly revenue, that's €250-300/month in fees.

What's included at different price points?

€5-15/month:

• Shared hosting
• Basic SSL (Let's Encrypt)
• Limited support
• Shared IP address
• No staging environment
• Basic backups (if any)

€25-50/month:

• Managed WordPress/WooCommerce
• Free SSL
• Daily backups
• Staging environment
• Better support
• Some CDN
• Better performance

€50-150/month:

• VPS or cloud hosting
• Dedicated IP
• Multiple staging environments
• Priority support
• Advanced caching (Redis, Varnish)
• CDN included
• Expert support

€150+/month:

• Dedicated resources
• Auto-scaling
• Advanced security
• 24/7 expert support
• Custom configurations
• SLA guarantees
• Performance monitoring

How to budget for webshop hosting

Step 1: Estimate your traffic Use Google Analytics (if you have an existing site) or make realistic estimates. Better to overestimate than underestimate.

Step 2: Calculate product count How many products will you have? Product catalogs affect database size and performance needs.

Step 3: Consider seasonality Do you have peak seasons (Black Friday, Christmas)? You'll need hosting that can handle 3-5x normal traffic during peaks.

Step 4: Factor in growth Choose hosting that allows growth without expensive migrations. It's easier to upgrade than to migrate.

Step 5: Include extra costs Don't just budget for hosting - include SSL, backups, CDN, email, domain renewal, and buffer for unexpected costs.

Step 6: Calculate total cost of ownership Look at 1-year and 3-year total costs, not just monthly price. Factor in renewal rates, potential upgrades, and hidden fees.

When to upgrade your hosting

Signs you need better hosting:

• Site becomes slow during normal traffic
• Downtime or errors during checkout
• Database errors or timeouts
• You've outgrown storage limits
• Support can't help with technical issues
• You're hitting bandwidth limits regularly

Don't wait too long Upgrading hosting is easier than recovering from a crashed site during your busiest sales period. If you're consistently at 70-80% of your resource limits, it's time to upgrade.

Upgrade triggers:

• Traffic doubled in past 3 months
• Adding 500+ new products
• Planning a major marketing campaign
• Conversion rate dropping due to speed
• Receiving customer complaints about site speed

Conclusion

Webshop hosting costs vary enormously, from €10 to €500+ per month. For starting webshops, €20-50/month is a realistic budget that offers good performance. Invest in quality hosting - it's a small percentage of your total costs but crucial for conversions.

Calculate your hosting budget based on expected traffic and catalog size. It's better to pay €20 extra per month for good hosting than to lose thousands of euros in revenue due to slow loading times. Start with a solid foundation and scale up as your success grows.

Don't be fooled by ultra-cheap hosting. A €3/month shared hosting plan will not perform well for a serious webshop. The money you save on hosting will be lost many times over in lost sales, poor SEO rankings, and frustrated customers.

On the other hand, don't overpay for resources you don't need. A starting shop with 50 products doesn't need a €200/month dedicated server. Match your hosting to your actual needs, with room to grow.

Our recommendation: For most new webshops, start with managed WordPress/WooCommerce hosting in the €25-40/month range. This offers good performance, expert support, and room to grow. Upgrade to VPS or cloud hosting when you consistently exceed 200-300 visitors per day or 1000+ products.

Remember: hosting is not where you want to save money on a webshop. It's the foundation of your entire business. Invest appropriately, and your shop will thank you with better performance, happier customers, and higher revenue.