eCommerce - Self Hosted v Hosted Solution

Setting up an online store begins with a simple but important decision: Will you use a hosted or self-hosted eCommerce platform? There is no such thing as a right or wrong answer. The decision is depending on your business needs and your budget.

What is the difference?

Whit a managed hosting solution the software and hosting are provided by the company. You can’t download and you don’t own the source code. Depending on the solution you most likely have to pay a monthly fee.

A Self-hosted solutions means that download a software and run it yourself on one of your servers. Very commonly this would be open source and you can host it wherever you please. The responsibility of this setup will be solely yours.

Pros and Cons

Self Hosted Solution

• Free to download
• Server setup costs
• Need your own hosting and setup software
• Pay monthly hosting (traffic dependent)
• Pay for dedicated SSL certificate
• Developer managed server load maintenance
• Developer managed security updates
• Developer managed code maintenance
• Open source code
• Community based support
• Unlimited customisation
• More involved scope documentation

Eg: Magento Community, Prestashop, WooCommerce

Managed Hosted Solution

• Higher monthly fees
• No server setup costs
• Hosting and SSL costs included
• No server load issues
• Automated security updates included
• Code maintenance included
• Server maintenance included
• More secure code structure
• Full customer support available
• Pay for what you use
• Limited customisation

Eg: Shopify, BigCommerce, Adobe Business Catalyst