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Hosted Shopping Cart Software That Handles Everything
Hosted Shopping Cart Software That Handles Everything
A hosted shopping cart is one where the provider runs the software and the servers for you, so your store, your checkout, and your hosting arrive as a single managed service. With shopping cart hosting, you are not installing software, sizing servers, or patching security holes at midnight. You sign in, build your store, and start selling, while the provider keeps everything online behind the scenes.
UltraCart is an all-in-one hosted shopping cart built for merchants who would rather grow a business than manage infrastructure. Everything you need to sell online is included and runs on our servers, inside our PCI Level 1 environment.
What to look for in a hosted shopping cart
Not every cart that calls itself hosted gives you the same coverage. These are the five things that separate a truly hosted shopping cart from one that only hosts part of the job.
1. Everything included in one price
A strong hosted plan covers the store, the checkout, the hosting, and the support in one predictable monthly cost. There is no separate hosting bill and no surprise add-ons just to keep the lights on.
2. Flexibility to match your brand
From ready-made templates to a fully customized storefront, your cart should adapt to how you sell. UltraCart gives you a visual builder, custom domains, and hundreds of ways to tailor the storefront and the buying experience to your brand.
3. Built-in tools to grow revenue
Look for upsells, A/B testing, subscriptions, affiliate and email marketing, and multiple product types built in, so you are not stitching together plugins to run a modern store. On UltraCart these are part of the platform, not extras.
4. Room to scale without moving hosts
A holiday rush should be the provider's job to absorb, not a server you size in advance. UltraCart scales with your traffic and your catalog, so growth never forces a migration to another host.
5. Security and PCI compliance handled for you
Protecting payment data is the heaviest part of running a store, and with shopping cart hosting it should sit with the provider. UltraCart holds PCI Level 1 certification, encrypts cardholder data end to end, and keeps it off your servers, so your store inherits the strictest security tier without the audit burden.
Hosted vs. self-hosted shopping cart software
There are two ways to run shopping cart software. With self-hosted software, you rent a web host, install the cart on it, and take on the server, the updates, the security patches, and the PCI scope yourself. With a hosted shopping cart, the provider runs the software and the servers together, so there is nothing to install and nothing to patch.
| Self-hosted cart software | Hosted shopping cart (UltraCart) | |
|---|---|---|
| Web hosting | You rent and manage a server | Included |
| Software updates | You install them | Applied automatically |
| Security patches | Your responsibility | Handled for you |
| PCI compliance | You scope and certify your own server | PCI Level 1 environment |
| Traffic spikes | You size servers in advance | Scales with your store |
| Support | Split between your host and the software vendor | One team for the whole store |
If you are comparing web hosting with a shopping cart bundled in, ask who is responsible when something breaks. A general web host gives you a server and a one-click cart install, but the store on top of it is still yours to secure and keep updated. Hosted shopping cart software moves that responsibility to the provider. Every UltraCart plan includes hosting, and you can compare plans on the pricing page.
Hosting, checkout, and security in one place
Because UltraCart runs the servers and the checkout together, the pieces that usually live in separate tools all work as one system. Your checkout, your storefront, your payment processing, and your data protection are maintained for you and updated automatically. You get your evenings back, and your customers get a fast, secure place to buy.
New to the idea of a managed cart? Read what a hosted shopping cart handles for you for a plain-English breakdown, or explore UltraCart StoreFronts to see the full platform.
Hosted shopping cart FAQ
What is a hosted shopping cart?
A hosted shopping cart is an online store where the provider runs the cart software and the servers for you, on their infrastructure, for a monthly fee. You get the storefront, the checkout, and the hosting as one managed service instead of software you install and maintain yourself.
What does shopping cart hosting include?
Shopping cart hosting typically covers the servers and uptime, automatic software and security updates, PCI compliance, backups and recovery, and the ability to scale for traffic. With UltraCart, marketing, subscriptions, and payment processing are included as well.
Is a hosted shopping cart PCI compliant?
It depends on the provider. UltraCart is a PCI DSS Level 1 certified hosted shopping cart, the strictest tier, so cardholder data stays inside our environment and your store inherits our certification.
Do I need separate web hosting for my shopping cart?
Not with a hosted shopping cart. UltraCart hosts your storefront, checkout, and store pages in every plan, so there is no separate web host to rent or maintain. You can connect your own domain to your store.