In case you haven't guessed yet from the dozens and dozens of posts on this site I'm a huge fan of WooCommerce. It's such a great tool for e-commerce. But just because it's a great tool for me doesn't mean that it's the right solution for everyone. There are a ton of other great solutions based on your needs and your abilities.
There are dozens of e-commerce solutions out there (although I'd only recommend a 1/2 dozen or so) but before we get into the specifics of each platform you need to understand the difference between a hosted & self hosted solution.
What Is a Hosted Solution?
Car or Bus?
Do you prefer using a car? Or do you prefer taking the bus? That answer will probably help you understand if you want a hosted or self hosted solution.
Cars allow you to go anywhere anytime you want. You can paint your car any color you like, you can customize it in just about any way you can dream. You can choose between a car with good mileage or a car with more storage space. You can choose how fast you get to your destination and you can choose what radio station to listen to. There are of course downsides to owning a car – you have to pay for the car itself, you have to pay to park the car, you have to fill it up with gas, you have to pay for maintenance and repairs, and if you want to customize it you have to do it yourself or pay someone else to do it for you. If you like the freedom of owning a car you'll probably like a self-hosted solution.
You could of course take public transportation. It goes to where most people want to go, it goes at a decent speed (sometimes even beating cars), & the maintenance free (for you). There are a lot of busses but you can't leave exactly when you want you might have to wait a bit to get on the bus. There are usually reasonable monthly fees instead of a big upfront cost when purchasing a car. You can't customize anything on the bus. You have to follow their rules – even if they're stupid. And if you ever move to a different city you'll have to learn a whole new bus system. If you like taking public transportation you'll probably like a hosted solution.
Technical Explanation
A hosted solution is a piece of software that runs on someone else's server. In most cases you don't have access to the code that runs your site. You use their website to make changes to your site. A good example is Facebook. You don't manage it & you don't run it. You create an account and then edit your profile via their site.
Examples of hosted e-commerce solutions: Shopify & Bigcommerce
A self hosted solution is a piece of software that you run on your own machine (or a machine you rent from someone). You usually see the code and are told where to upload it. A good example would be a computer program like Excel. You can control exactly when you want to update it, but you are ultimately the one responsible for pressing the update button. If you have technical problems you have to figure them out, ask for help, or pay for someone else to troubleshoot it for you.
Examples of self hosted e-commerce solutions: WooCommerce & Magento
Advantages of a Hosted Solution
Ease of Use
By far one of the best reasons to use a hosted solution is that they're very easy to use. These solutions typically only have a web interface which means that there's not a line of code to write. It's about as complex as signing up for a Facebook account.
Updates
With a hosted solution you never have to worry about updates. With a site like Facebook they roll out changes daily or multiple times a day if they need to. That means that when there's a bug they'll be able to fix it for everyone immediately. You don't have to login and press and update button. It's just fixed.
Advantages of a Self Hosted Solution
Customization
On the flip side of easy to use is how much you can customize something. With a self-hosted solution if you don't like something you can change it. If you want your store to have two columns, one on each side, and your products in between you can do that. When you have the code you can do anything – or you can pay a developer to do anything.
Ownership
Do you hate when Facebook changes their policies and all of a sudden your private images are now available to the world at large? That can happen with hosted solutions. They can change the rules whenever they want. Your hosted solution could close overnight and you'll be stuck. You don't own the code, you don't have access to your content or any of your sales stats. It's going to be a pretty miserable time to get back up and running.
If you host your own software it will always be there. If another platform becomes more popular you can stay on your existing platform for as long as you want – forever even. Owning code isn't something people think about until something bad happens. Make sure you take that into account if you're building a business around a hosted solution.
Both Are Great
Both paths have their pros and cons. Here's the TLDR:
- If you think Facebook is complex use a hosted solution.
- If you prefer ease of use over customization use a hosted solution.
- If you prefer to own your code and pressing the update button your self then use a self hosted solution
Pick what type of solution you want and then look into specific solutions. I'll be digging into my favorite solutions in a future post.
Photo Credit: BobMical
Excellent post and series, Patrick — great explanation. Love the car / bus analogy.
Thanks! So what are you a car or bus person when it comes to e-commerce?
Despite all there is to learn — and as easy as a bus can be for e-commerce — I’m a car person.
I like the options and control of my own “car”. Even if I don’t yet use all the features, the bells and whistles available to me, it is good to know I have these options and I can take my car wherever I need to go, or as conditions change, to go left/right, or even to reverse and stop for a bit…
Awesome text, Patrick! Many thanks for laying this difference out in a normal human-friendly language! I loved your ‘car-bus’ comparison! 🙂
[…] differences between hosted vs self hosted platforms, I recommend reading Patrick Rauland’s overview of the major differences. WordPress eCommerce usually falls under self-hosted eCommerce (I don’t count WordPress.com […]
[…] major differences between hosted vs self hosted platforms, I recommend reading Patrick Rauland’s overview of the major differences. WordPress eCommerce usually falls under self-hosted eCommerce (I don’t count WordPress.com since […]
It would be nice if you mentioned some of the negatives or important considerations to remember prior to embarking on a project with each solution, such as Magentos perceived complexity and learning curve or performance issues etc. to give people more of an informed choice.
That’s a massive topic in itself. There are entire sites that compare the specifics of each platform. Before you can even get to that point though you have to understand the difference between hosted and self-hosted platforms. That’s why I wrote this. 🙂
Lovely post Patrick. The comparison is well explained for a layman like me. thanks.
I am a car person, but I need a hassle free, easy maintenance and reasonable budget car. Not loaded with luxury but equipped with all basic n safety features.
Please share the link of your post which tour me through for ‘How and which car to select for’
I like the article before reading of course I like driving my own car but after I was more of a bus person. Maybe after taking a few courses I could become a car person but right now I need a hosted site. I’m starting a online fashion store and event planning businesses. What hosted site would you recommend?
That depends on what sort needs your store has. I would love to say use x, y, or z, but you may have specific needs that are only handled by one solution.
As a good starting point you can try Shopify.
Awesome post!
I usually use WooCommerce as I generally build custom WP themes. This is a great article to help my future clients understand what they’re getting into when it comes to e-comm.
Bookmarked 🙂
I love the metaphor of cars & busses!
I do think it’s a shame that a store owner has to choose between the ability to customize and the turn-key, worry-free nature of a hosted solution.
What would be the metaphorical representation of WooCommerce backed by a service that provided the same piece of mind as a hosted solution, but maintained your ability to customize it to your heart’s content?
After way too much thinking, I realized the answer is quite simple. You still own a car. However, you have a service agreement with your master mechanic where he proactively keeps your car running and in the best condition.
Do these “master mechanics” providing regular proactive service to WooCommerce exist? Sure, I expect most upstanding developers would setup a site care plan with their customers. Or you could take a peek at https://woobetter.com/
In any case, I love how the ecommerce space is always evolving and blurring the lines between Car & Bus as hosted solutions are offering more and more customization options and self-hosted solutions like WooCommerce (and the community surrounding it) create more turn-key user-friendly solutions for store owners.
Great Article! How about buying and selling on Amazon? Where does this belong and what’s your take on this compared to building your own own site?
Hah. I hadn’t thought about Amazon originally. Maybe like borrowing a friends car? It’s relatively low cost but they could pull the rug out from under you whenever they want.
Such an amazing example for explaining the whole difference between hosted and self-hosted. Car & bus example is pretty! Easily get it by anyone.
The explanation of the difference between Hosted and Self Hosted E-Commerce are grate. An example of the car & bus is the best to understand it!
It would be beneficial if you highlighted some of the disadvantages or important considerations to make before beginning a project with each solution, such as E-commerce perceived complexity and learning curve, performance issues, and so on, to assist users in making more educated judgments.