Best Ecommerce Hosting for SA: Shopify vs WooCommerce Local(2026)

Running an online store in South Africa is not the same as running one in the UK or the US. You deal with rand-based budgets, local payment gateways like PayFast and Peach Payments, and customers on mobile devices with variable data speeds.

This guide breaks down two of the most popular ecommerce setups for SA businesses — Shopify and WooCommerce — and shows you which hosting option gives you the best value for your money and why Truehost is the Best Ecommerce Hosting provider for the two.

What Is Ecommerce Hosting?

Ecommerce hosting is where your online store lives on the internet. It stores your products, images, and checkout pages on a server that customers access when they visit your site.

Good hosting mhttps://truehost.co.za/vps-for-ecommerce/eans fast load times, reliable uptime, and secure transactions. Bad hosting means slow pages, lost sales, and security risks.

Shopify: The All-in-One Platform

Shopify is a closed platform. That means your store and hosting are bundled together — you pay one monthly fee and Shopify handles the server side.

There are currently over 17,000 live Shopify stores in South Africa. The platform is popular because it is easy to set up and manage without technical skills.

Shopify Pricing in South Africa (2026)

Shopify prices in USD. Your actual rand cost changes with the exchange rate. Here is the current breakdown:

Important: Shopify Payments is not available in South Africa. You must use a third-party gateway like PayFast, Peach Payments, or Paystack — and Shopify charges an extra transaction fee on top of the gateway’s own fee.

Hidden Costs on Shopify SA

These are costs many first-time store owners miss:

• Transaction fees: Shopify charges 2% (Basic), 1% (Grow), or 0.6% (Advanced) per sale when using a third-party gateway
• Payment gateway fees: PayFast charges 3.5% + R2 per credit card transaction
• App costs: Many advanced features like subscription billing, advanced SEO, or loyalty programs need paid apps
• Themes: Premium themes cost between $100–$400 once-off
• Domain name: Not included — you pay separately

What Shopify Gets Right

• Very easy to set up — no coding needed
• Built-in SSL, CDN, and unlimited bandwidth
• Works well on mobile
• Strong app ecosystem with 8,000+ apps
• 3-day free trial available

What Shopify Gets Wrong for SA Businesses

• Prices in USD — your monthly bill changes with the rand
• No Shopify Payments locally, so you always pay extra transaction fees
• Costs grow fast as your store scales
• You do not own your store’s data fully — Shopify controls the infrastructure
• Switching away from Shopify later is not always smooth

WooCommerce: The Local Hosting Route

WooCommerce is a free plugin that runs on WordPress. Unlike Shopify, WooCommerce itself costs nothing to download and install. But you need to host it yourself — and that is where local South African hosting providers like Truehost become important.

As of January 2025, South Africa has over 56,300 live WooCommerce stores. Big names like Writers Write and the African Snakebite Institute run on WooCommerce.

WooCommerce Cost Breakdown for SA

A basic WooCommerce store in SA can cost as little as R500–R1,500 per year to run. A more advanced store with paid plugins and VPS hosting might cost R3,000–R8,000 per year — still far less than Shopify at scale.

Why Hosting Choice Matters for WooCommerce

With WooCommerce, your hosting provider is responsible for speed, uptime, security, and backups. A cheap, slow host will kill your store’s performance.

This is where choosing a local SA host like Truehost gives you a real edge over using an overseas provider.

Why Truehost Is Our Top Pick for WooCommerce Hosting in SA

At Truehost, we run our servers locally in South Africa. That means faster load times for your SA customers compared to hosting stored overseas.

Here is what we offer that makes us stand out for ecommerce:

Truehost Hosting Plans for SA Ecommerce

What You Get With Every Truehost Plan

• Free SSL certificate (included, no extra cost)
• Free website migration from your current host
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• 24/7 support team
• One-click WordPress + WooCommerce installation via Softaculous
• cPanel dashboard for easy management
• NVMe SSD storage on premium plans for faster load times
• Free .co.za domain with annual hosting plans

We use NVMe SSD drives on our higher-tier plans. NVMe storage is significantly faster than regular SSD, which means your product pages, cart, and checkout load faster for your customers.

Local Support That Knows SA Ecommerce

Payment gateways like PayFast, Paystack, and Peach Payments need correct server configuration to work properly. Our support team is based locally and knows how these gateways work.

If you run into a checkout issue at 10pm before a sale goes live, you can reach us and get help fast — not deal with a global support queue.

We offer free website migration to Truehost with zero downtime, handled entirely by our team. Start your migration here.

Shopify vs WooCommerce on Truehost: Side-by-Side

When to Choose Shopify

Shopify works well if:

• You have no technical skills and want a plug-and-play solution
• You plan to sell across multiple countries from day one
• You do not mind paying in USD and absorbing exchange rate risk
• Your monthly transaction volume is low (so the transaction fees stay small)

When to Choose WooCommerce + Local Hosting

WooCommerce on a local host like Truehost is the better choice if:

• You want full control over your store and data
• You want to keep costs in rand and avoid USD pricing
• You are selling to South African customers and want faster local load speeds
• You need local payment gateways without paying Shopify’s extra transaction fee
• Your store is going to grow — WooCommerce scales without jumping to expensive tier pricing

Speed and SEO: Why Local Hosting Wins

More than 60% of South African web traffic comes from mobile devices. Mobile users leave pages that take longer than 3 seconds to load.

When your hosting server is in South Africa, the data travels a shorter distance to reach your customer. This reduces what is called “latency” — the time it takes for the server to respond.

Overseas-hosted stores often have higher latency for SA visitors. With Truehost’s local servers, your WooCommerce store loads faster for people in Johannesburg, Cape Town, or Durban.

Google also uses page speed as a ranking signal. A faster store ranks better and converts more visitors into buyers.

Security: What Both Platforms Offer

Both Shopify and WooCommerce take security seriously, but in different ways.

Shopify handles security at the platform level — PCI DSS Level 1 compliance is built in, and you do not manage the server yourself.

WooCommerce on Truehost gives you:

• Free SSL on every plan
• Daily backups
• Firewalls and DDoS protection
• One-click security hardening via your cPanel
• Support for security plugins like Wordfence

We recommend pairing your Truehost hosting with a security plugin for an extra layer of protection. Both platforms give you the tools to run a secure store.

Which Platform Is Growing Faster in SA?

South Africa’s ecommerce market is growing. Both platforms are adding stores. However, WooCommerce has more than 3x the number of live SA stores compared to Shopify (56,300 vs 17,000).

WooCommerce’s dominance comes from its lower cost, local flexibility, and the fact that South African developers are deeply familiar with the WordPress ecosystem.

Our Recommendation

For most South African store owners — especially those starting out or growing to mid-size — WooCommerce hosted on Truehost gives you better value.

You save on monthly fees, avoid USD exchange rate uncertainty, pay no extra transaction fees from your platform, and get local support that knows the SA payment landscape.

If you are a complete beginner who wants zero technical involvement and has a healthy marketing budget, Shopify is a valid option — just go in knowing the real total cost.

Ready to launch? Explore Truehost’s hosting plans for SA ecommerce stores and get your WooCommerce store live on fast, local servers.

For a deeper look at hosting types and what fits your store size, read our guide on VPS hosting for ecommerce in South Africa.

Frequently Asked Questions