"Self-hosted" sounds like a technical decision. It is really an ownership decision, and it is worth understanding before you choose a platform.
What you own when you self-host
- The code. You can read it, change it, move it to another server and hire anyone to work on it.
- The data. Customers, orders and products live on your hosting, under your control.
- The economics. No monthly platform fee and no cut of your sales. You pay for hosting and your domain.
- The roadmap. Nobody can deprecate a feature you rely on or change your pricing tier.
What you take on
It would be dishonest to pretend this is free of responsibility. Self-hosting means somebody has to look after:
- Hosting and uptime.
- Backups.
- Security and software updates.
- Technical support when something breaks.
Hosted platforms bundle all of that into the monthly fee. That is a real service and, for many merchants, a fair trade.
Getting ownership without the sysadmin job
You have two honest options:
- Handle it yourself or with your own developer. We install on your cPanel or DirectAdmin hosting, train you, and hand over.
- Let us run it. StoreAdept Care, a monthly plan, covers hosting, daily backups, security and plugin updates, uptime monitoring and technical support. Cancel any time, and you still own the store.
That second option is the point: you keep ownership, but the operational weight is somebody else's job.
Questions to ask any platform
- Can I export everything, including customers and orders, in a usable format?
- If I leave, do I keep a working store?
- What happens to my cost if sales double?
- Can I change how checkout behaves if my business needs it?
If the answers are "no" or "it depends on your plan", you are renting. That may be fine. Just know it.
Performance and control
Because you control the stack, a lean build stays lean. Our demo storefronts score 100/100 on Lighthouse. Your live score will depend on your own content, images and integrations, but you are not fighting a vendor's script to improve it.
Common worries
"What if StoreAdept disappears?" The code and licence pass to you with the store, as set out in our Terms. Any competent developer can continue the work.
"Is it less secure than hosted?" Security depends on updates and monitoring, not on where something runs. That is exactly what Care covers.
If this is the direction you are leaning, read why merchants leave Shopify and WooCommerce, then browse the packages.