The Best NopCommerce Hosting Providers for 2019

Finding a reliable nopCommerce hosting provider can be tough and time-consuming. For one thing, nopCommerce is an e-commerce platform. This means that your server must be able to process a large number of transactions on a daily basis and handle peaks in traffic during sales campaigns. For another, your hosting provider must meet the nopCommerce technology and system requirements:
Last but not least, nopCommerce consumes on average  300 MB RAM which means that, in order for your website to run smoothly, you will need at least 500 MB RAM. However, note that this is the bare minimum and it is very likely that you will experience downtime if there is an unexpected traffic spike. This is why we recommend choosing a hosting plan that offers at least 1 GB RAM.

Finding a hosting provider that meets all these requirements can be a major hurdle. To make things easier for you, we did extensive research, talked to our clients and partners and compiled this guide to the best hosting providers for nopCommerce.

In this article you will learn what are the top 5 nopCommerce hosting providers and what each hosting provider can offer in terms of hardware and software features (OS, web server, .NET, MS Sql Server, control panel, SSL, CDN, etc.), security, performance, technical support, and pricing.

What are the best nopCommerce hosting providers?

Listed in alphabetical order, the best nopCommerce hosting providers are Microsoft Azure, PeoplesHost, Rackspace, SoftSys, and velia.net.

Microsoft Azure

You can install and host your nopCommerce website on Microsoft Azure - a highly scalable and secure cloud hosting solution with a global network of 54 data centers located in 140 countries across the globe.
Microsoft Azure is managed by Microsoft which makes it the most reliable hosting provider for Windows and ASP.NET based systems: it sports advanced features (automated database backups, app monitoring, diagnostic login, etc.), supports all Microsoft databases, and all versions of Windows.

Azure’s control panel is called Azure portal - it is fully customizable and extremely user-friendly: you can browse through, monitor and manage your resources (apps, SQL server database, virtual machine, storage, etc.), optimize your cloud spend in one click, get early access to new features, and much more.

There are two ways to install your nopCommerce website in Microsoft Azure: automatically (Microsoft Azure creates a Web App and a SQL database for your store. It also automatically deploys and configures the latest version of nopCommerce), and manually (in this case, you have to build your nopCommerce project in Microsoft Visual Studio and then deploy it to Microsoft Azure. Usually, you need to do this if you are working with the source code).
You can also download nopCommerce directly from the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. In all cases nopCommerce can be installed easily without uploading any files. For more information on how to install nopCommerce in Microsoft Azure, read our step-by-step guide to installing nopCommerce.

Azure offers flexible pricing conditions and plans tailored to your individual needs - you can start for free, upgrade your plan any time and increase your resources on demand, have access to more resources than you need and only pay for the resources you use, and more (see all pricing options). Azure also offers savings through existing licenses (SQL Server or Windows Server for example) and free extended security updates.
On average, hosting your nopCommerce website on Azure costs from $50 / month to $100 / month. You can estimate your exact monthly bill with their pricing calculator. You can also compare the cost of owning your on-premises infrastructure with the cost of deploying your website to Azure with their TCO (total cost of ownership) calculator.

Microsoft Azure offers five support plans: Basic (free and available to all Microsoft Azure accounts), Developer ($29 / month), Standard ($100 / month), Professional Direct ($1000 / month), and Premier (custom). All 5 plans include 24/7 billing and subscription support, access to Microsoft Azure documentation, white papers, support forums, and more. Compare plans

PeoplesHost

PeoplesHost is a nopCommerce silver partner that offers a wide range of Windows ASP.NET hosting services - shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting. PeoplesHost has a SOC1 (SSAE16) Type II & PCI DSS compliant Tier 4 Datacenter, located in Orlando, Florida. The company supports .NET core 2.x and, respectively, nopCommerce 4.x.
We have not found any Windows hosting which offers automated nopCommerce installation because the hosting panels do not have such integration with nopCommerce. However, PeoplesHost offers free installation/migration of nopCommerce with their Windows hosting plans and a free domain name for nopCommerce users.

Shared hosting

PeoplesHost shared hosting supports Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012, IIS 8.5, as well as all major versions of ASP.NET including ASP.NET Core 2.0.
You get a WebsitePanel Control Panel and remote IIS access. Other perks of using PeoplesHost shared hosting include: free domain name, SSD storage, an SSL certificate, Cloudflare CDN, 24/7 support and a 60-day money back guarantee.
Keep in mind that PeoplesHost shared hosting might not be the best shared hosting option because the app pool memory is limited to 500 MB and the database is limited to 10 GB.
Note: PeoplesHost also offers a Windows Business Hosting which has a 1 GB app pool memory limit. Pricing starts from $32 / month.

VPS hosting

PeoplesHost offers 3 main Windows VPS hosting options: 2 GB RAM, 3 GB RAM, and 4 GB RAM. Pricing starts from $39 / month. These plans come with perks like free domain, SSD storage, Windows Hyper-V, enhanced WebsitePanel, free weekly backups, 24/7 support, and a 60-day money back guarantee. We recommend choosing at least the plan with 3 GB RAM. It costs $73 / month.

Dedicated hosting

PeoplesHost offers three managed dedicated server solutions: 8 GB DDR3, 16 GB DDR3, and 32 GB DDR3. Pricing starts from $199 / month. The perks of choosing a dedicated hosting plan include: fully managed servers, free SSL, weekly backups, 24/7 support and monitoring, and a 60-day money back guarantee.

Rackspace

Rackspace is not your ordinary hosting provider. As one of the biggest vendors of IT infrastructure, Rackspace’s offer is high-end and, respectively, more expensive. If you go to the Rackspace website you can easily get lost in the myriad of services the company offers. But let us make it easy for you! As far as nopCommerce is concerned, all you need to know is that Rackspace offers dedicated servers and these machines mean business!

Rackspace dedicated servers are extremely powerful and high-performant. The RAM options start at 32 GB and go as high as 3 TB. The minimum storage is 480 GB provided by a 6G SATA MU SSD. Rackspace offers only fully-managed dedicated servers, which means that you are backed by their support staff. Read more

Of course, such powerful hardware is unnecessary if you’re a nopCommerce merchant hosting one, or a handful of websites. But as a nopCommerce vendor we do partner with a few web agencies that use Rackspace dedicated servers to host the nopCommerce installations of their clients. Some of these machines cost $600 / month. This may seem expensive but when you host 50 nopCommerce installations and you have clients paying you to maintain their websites, you can see that it makes sense to have performant and scalable infrastructure at your disposal.

SoftSys

SoftSys is one of the leading and most versatile companies when it comes to offering hosting for Windows and, respectively, for nopCommerce. The company has 4 data centers, located in Denver, Chicago, London, and Singapore. SoftSys also provides hosting services on top of AWS and Microsoft Azure. Therefore with some of the plans you can choose from as many as 15 global locations.

Shared hosting

The perks of choosing SoftSys for your shared hosting provider include: SSD Storage, Plesk Onyx control panel, support for all major versions of ASP.NET including ASP.NET Core 2.x, SQL Server 2012, SSL certificate, Cloudflare ServerShield, scheduled backups, 24/7 support, and a 5-day money back guarantee. Pricing starts from $4.95 / month.

VPS hosting

SoftSys offers four types of VPS hosting: fully managed Windows VPS hosting, fully managed VPS hosting on Azure, budget VPS hosting, and replicated VPS hosting.

Fully managed Windows VPS hosting: This option comes with free daily backups, 24/7 server monitoring, 24/7 support (over helpdesk, email, or chat), as well as emergency phone support, and updates and patches for applications. It also comes with Windows 2012 R2 or Windows 2016 and a free Plesk panel.
You can choose a VPS server with RAM of 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB and a custom configuration. Pricing starts from $49 / month (read more). We believe that the 4 GB configuration is excellent for a single nopCommerce installation. It costs $79 / month.

Fully managed VPS hosting on Azure: You get all the benefits of the fully managed support service but your virtual machine is specifically hosted on Microsoft Azure. Your server comes with Windows Server 2012 R2/ 2016. You get free architecture, setup and configuration support, as well as a Plesk panel.
You can choose a server with 2 GB RAM, 4 GB RAM, 8 GB RAM, 16 GB RAM, 32 GB RAM, or a fully customized server tailored to your needs. Pricing starts from $99 / month. See all options

Budget VPS hosting: In this case, you are in the basic-managed tier - you do not get daily backups, server monitoring, updates and patches for applications. You do get 24/7 support but only over helpdesk or via email. Disaster recovery backups are done every 7 - 10 days. You can purchase an additional backup plan (read more). You do get a Web based Remote Desktop Access and a WebsitePanel control panel. You also get Windows Server 2008/ 2012/ 2016/ 2019.
You can choose servers with RAM capacity from 1 GB to 32 GB. Pricing starts from $10 / month (read more). We believe that the 4 GB option is excellent for a single nopCommerce installation. It cost from $40 / month to $60 / month.

Replicated VPS hosting: In this case your server is automatically replicated on a second physical machine for a fast disaster recovery. This option is only available in the 4 main datacenter locations. You get Windows 2008 R2/ 2012 R2/ 2016. You have four RAM options: 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, or 16 GB. Pricing starts from $40 / month (read more). We believe that the 4 GB option is excellent for a single nopCommerce installation. It costs $75 / month.

Dedicated hosting

SoftSys offers two types of dedicated servers: fully managed dedicated servers and standard dedicated servers.

Fully managed dedicated servers: Fully managed dedicated servers come with hosting environment setup, troubleshooting server and network issues, free daily backups, 24/7 server monitoring, 24/7 support (over helpdesk, email, or chat), emergency phone support, and third-party software installation assistance. The fully managed dedicated servers come with Windows Server 2008/ 2012/ 2016 and ASP.NET. They also include WebSite Panel or Plesk Panel. You can choose from two US locations (Chicago and Denver).
You can choose from the following plans: XEON E3-1230V2/V3 PROCESSOR SERVER ($159 / month), XEON E5-1650V3 PROCESSOR SERVER ($299 / month), and DUAL E5-2620V3 PROCESSOR SERVERS ($375 / month). Compare plans

Standard dedicated servers: In this case, you’re in the self-managed tier. Again, you can choose between two US locations (Chicago and Denver). You can also choose a standard dedicated server in one of four other locations: Singapore, UK, UAE, Australia. Standard dedicated servers come with Windows Server 2008/ 2012/ 2016 and include WebsitePanel or Plesk Panel.
You can choose from the following plans: Opteron 4122 4c 2.2GHz ($89 / month), Xeon x3440 4c/8t 2.5GHz ($99 / month), and Xeon E3-1230 4c/8t 3.2GHz ($109 / month). Compare plans

velia.net

velia.net is a dedicated server hosting company based in Germany, which was recently acquired by GoDaddy. The company has more than 5,000 business customers worldwide and hosts more than 7,000 dedicated servers.

The company has 6 global data centers located in St. Louis (US), Los Angeles (US), Miami (US), Strasbourg (France), Frankfurt (DE), and Hong Kong (HK). All data centers are connected to a multi-homed 200+ Gbit/s backbone. The majority of the data centers are ISO 27001:2005, ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 compliant. The Hong Kong data center is SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS certified.

velia.net offers only ready-to-go (i.e. preconfigured) dedicated servers.

Every server comes with: Intel Xeon CPUs (Single Quad to Dual 14-Core power), 100 MBit/s port, full KVM/IPMI remote access, private VLANs, 99.9% guaranteed availability, and 24/7/365 support. All servers support the following OS: Custom, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, Microsoft Windows Server 2012/2016, and VMWare ESXi.

Available upgrades: Up to 10 GBit/s port, up to 29 usable IPs, additional IPv4 addresses or /64 IPv6 subnet, custom rDNS setup, DDoS protection, FTP-Backup options, Cisco hardware firewalls options, and cPanel / WHM control panel.

Ultimately, velia.net offers extremely powerful dedicated servers at a considerably low cost! Hosting your website on velia.net's dedicated servers will cost you from €49 / month to €349 / month (depending on the Cores, RAM, and HDDS specifications of the server you choose). View all pricing options

Wrap-up

In this article, we discussed the top 5 nopCommerce hosting providers - Microsoft Azure, PeoplesHost, Rackspace, SoftSys, and velia.net. To sum up:

• Microsoft Azure is managed by Microsoft, which makes it the most reliable cloud hosting provider for Windows and ASP.NET based systems.
• PeoplesHost offers great VPS hosting options for nopCommerce.
• Rackspace is too powerful and expensive for nopCommerce retailers who run one, or several nopCommerce websites. But it is the most viable option for agencies that host and maintain dozens of nopCommerce websites.
• SoftSys is one of the most versatile companies when it comes to offering hosting for nopCommerce. Their VPS hosting and dedicated hosting plans are perfectly viable options for nopCommerce.
• Without a doubt, velia.net is the perfect choice if you need powerful dedicated hosting for nopCommerce at a reasonable price.

Well, this is all from us! Now, we’d like to hear from you! What do you think is the most important factor to consider when choosing a hosting provider for your website - features, performance, security, technical support, or pricing? Which hosting provider do you think will be the best fit for your nopCommerce website (or websites)? Let us know in the comments section below!