Hosting Requirements for a WordPress e-commerce site?

  • MatthewGalloway

    (@matthewgalloway)


    12 years, 4 months ago

    I can’t seem to find out what level of hosting I’ll require for a WordPress e-commerce website. (yes, I realise this will vary based upon a heap of factors but I’m looking for some ballpark ranges for each factor)

    I’m thinking about such plugins as WP e-Commerce, Shopp, etc… for instance all those mentioned in http://mashable.com/2011/06/16/wordpress-ecommerce-plugins/ ! (tips with direction there would be nice… but perhaps I just need to research more first, or maybe later create an entirely new question for that instead!)

    This isn’t a massive store I’m talking about, I’m referring to the e-Commerce twin of your typical business brouchure site (the sort of thing which would easily be fine on your standard decent shared hosting provider if it was non-e-commerce). So just a handful of products, few dozen at the very most.

    So, should I go for a good shared host still (I’ve been using Hostgator for websites in the past) or go for a VPS? (and if VPS, what level of VPS?!) I’m quite sure a dedicated server is way over the top for what we need (plus I don’t expect my client’s budget would stretch that far, they’re a non-profit).

    I’m just trying to get a handle on the starting point, for instance even when I look around with Zen Cart, Magneto, etc (which can be “integrated” with WordPress and would be the next step up) they don’t seem to be clear with what is the minimum starting level for a small low traffic site is. Although I’m sure it would be at least a VPS, and shared hosting is out of the question entirely!

    Thanks in advance! 🙂

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • RichardWPG

    (@richardwpg)

    12 years, 4 months ago

    Check out the VPS at here. I am pretty sure it will be able to help you out.

    Tim S

    (@tim-s)

    12 years, 4 months ago

    Magento almost always requires a VPS or higher. WordPress can run on shared hosting quite easily. Most hosts will notify you if your account is too resource intensive and help you upgrade to VPS. I have multiple WordPress sites running on shared as well as my VPS. It’s all about how well you optimize the WordPress installation as well. I suggest you use a caching plugin to control some of those resources.

    If you’re not expecting to have a large amount of traffic from the start, there’s no point in purchasing a VPS. Start on shared and as your website grows, move to a VPS.

    I work for a large hosting company and we deal with these types of situations all the time. Look for a good host thats willing to help you figure out what you need, without misleading you to get a server thats well over the specs you need!

    I hope this helps!

    Thread Starter MatthewGalloway

    (@matthewgalloway)

    12 years, 4 months ago

    RichardWPG: that is not at all what I’m looking for, it doesn’t answer my question in the slightest. All it is doing is offering up the (probably) over the top hosting options for a price more than I need to pay.

    Also it looks like self promotion too? Which I’m fine with, but would’ve preferred you being more upfront about that 🙂

    Tim S: I know ” WordPress can run on shared hosting quite easily”, done many such sites myself! 😉

    But my question was about WordPress *e-commerce* websites, as I’m lead to believe they’re significantly more resource hungry than the equivalent WordPress website without e-commerce functionality.

    Thus are they unsuitable for shared hosting (or perhaps marginally on the edge here?) and should be on a basic VPS from the very start? (Am I correct in thinking that typically even the cheapest VPS would have more grunt than the shared hosting account?)

    Now I read over my original post I think I should’ve clarified my question just a little more, so here goes the addition: it is fairly straightforward the appropriate version of PHP & MySQL etc they need. What isn’t clear is the “hardware” which is required. So is the slither of hardware capacity in a shared hosting account ok, or if a VPS is required what is the appropriate amount of RAM etc which is needed & should be requested from the hosting company?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    12 years, 4 months ago

    Depends on the plugin. And it depends as much on your traffic than the plugin. So … it’s really hard to say.

    Tim S

    (@tim-s)

    12 years, 4 months ago

    There’s really too many variables to accurately say. Ipstenu is right, your resources are directly related to the traffic your website sees. Think of it this way, each time a visitor lands on your site, it makes a request for a page. If you have 1000 visitors on your site, that’s a 1000 requests to the server, hence it becomes resource intensive.

    Again, I’d start out on the lowest tier of hosting you want. So if it’s a VPS you’re looking for something like a VPS256 would be fine. If your site grows, you then have the ability to upgrade and most hosts will let you know what you’d need to move to in that situation.

    This really is all speculation. I know I run 2 e-commerce sites on a VPS256 without any problems. I monitor my server load regularly and it’s more than enough to handle 2 sites with a few hundred visitors to each site a day. Keep in mind to, it has a lot to do with how you’ve configured the server as well.

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    12 years, 4 months ago

    I’d be inclined to start with a VPS, since on my host, that lets me have root access to makes httpd.conf tweaks on the fly, to optimize it all for my needs. In all other ways, it’s overkill for me.

    Thread Starter MatthewGalloway

    (@matthewgalloway)

    12 years, 4 months ago

    Thanks for the advice, I’ve gone with a shared hosting account which I really trust to be good (and looking into use of a CDN to help offload some of the demand).

    If need be I’ll upgrade to something else in the future 🙂

    Tim S

    (@tim-s)

    12 years, 4 months ago

    Good deal, thanks for the update. I’m sure your host will advise you if and when it’s time to upgrade.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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