Volusion Review

Laura Bernheim

By: Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

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Editor: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian brings more than 30 years of editing and journalism experience to our team. She has written and edited for major news organizations, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the New York Times, and she previously served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Florida. Today, she edits HostingAdvice content for clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement.

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OVERALL RATING 4.7 / 5.0
★★★★★
Features4.7 / 5.0
Ease of Use4.6 / 5.0
Pricing4.8 / 5.0
Reliability & Support4.4 / 5.0
Discount for Our Users See Deals

Volusion is a fully hosted online store builder that caters almost exclusively to aspiring online retailers. While the company's tech is not as powerful as competitors in the shared hosting space, Volusion shines when it comes to the number of ecommerce-related features. If you want to take your mom-and-pop shop to the web, you can do so with Volusion.

Category Ratings

We had one of our resident hosting experts, Laura Bernheim, sign up for a Volusion account and take it for a spin. Below are Laura’s ratings of the Volusion experience, broken down by the types of hosting Volusion offers.

If you decide to go with Volusion, you may get a discount by using our link to sign up. While we often make commissions on purchases made through our links, this had no bearing on Laura’s review.

Here’s what Laura found in reviewing Volusion:

Disclosure: When you sign up through links on our site, we often earn referral fees from partners. For more information, see our ad disclosure and review policy.

Volusion's Overall Rating (4.7 / 5.0)

Best Overall Rating

4.7
★★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com):

Founded by 16-year-old Kevin Sproles in 1999 as a web design studio, Volusion added ecommerce functionality in 2002 and hasn't looked back.

More than 180,000 entrepreneurs have looked to the company for help hosting and managing their online businesses, and Volusion has processed more than 185 million orders worth $26 billion.

The company offers a hosting/site-building combo platter worthy of consideration if you're in need of a basic online store and the means to promote products. The company focuses on easy, custom designs and ecommerce-optimized features.

Although Volusion could increase its support offerings to further justify a price tag that exceeds most shared hosting competitors, the company's focused niche in online store design and inventory management warrants the investment.

Store owners will need to purchase a domain elsewhere before connecting it to Volusion and launching their store. Once you're ready to start designing your site, Volusion's revamped site builder provides dozens of stellar mobile-friendly themes.

The company used to offer hundreds of themes, so we expect — and want — to see the number of options grow. Unlike many ecommerce site builder plans that limit your product numbers substantially, Volusion's most basic plan allows you to display unlimited products.

Regardless of which plan you choose, site owners are allotted unlimited storage and zero transaction fees, in addition to tools for inventory management, order processing, and shipping oversight.

Finally, market your products via social media integrations and reach new markets via integrations with Amazon, eBay, and Google. Collect payments via all the major credit card issuers (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and AmEx), as well as through cash, PayPal, Google Wallet, Amazon, and Stripe. The platform will calculate reports to show your return on investment and store activity.

  • Design your store with a drag-and-drop builder
  • No transaction fees, plus easy app integration
  • Market products via email, coupons, and social
  • Guides, tutorials, and 24/7 customer support
  • 99.9% network uptime guarantee
  • Try Volusion FREE for 14 days.
Money Back Guarantee
14-Day FREE Trial
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
5 minutes
Volusion's Cheap Hosting (4.7 / 5.0)

Cheap Rating

4.7
★★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

When folks typically search for cheap web hosting, they're often in need of a shared server provider that offers a basic site builder or easy integration with blogging apps or content tools. For folks looking to launch an online store, however, costs can rise with the addition of ecommerce-friendly features.

Volusion might not be the most affordable hosting/site-building combo around, but the company does focus on helping customers build a better ecommerce store. All of their plans are geared toward promoting more products in more ways, though the price scales rapidly as you upgrade your plan to take advantage of additional services.

Similar to mainstream hosts, however, Volusion is designed to help store owners become successful. The company makes the design and setup process user-friendly and emphasizes ecommerce with each feature or customization option added.

You might not get the same 24/7 technical support that other hosts offer, but Volusion can help entrepreneurs build a basic website and beautiful online store that profits quickly with zero transaction fees.

Volusion's business is helping you launch your online business quickly and painlessly. The company makes store designing simple and offer a solid number of customization options when it comes to promoting your products.

While Volusion may not have the lowest price tag on its services, the company offers what many hosting newcomers are looking for, which is an extensive feature set that caters to ecommerce needs.

  • Tools for inventory, orders, payments, and shipping
  • Integrations allow store owners to sell on Amazon, Facebook, and eBay
  • PCI compliance and SSL certificate on all plans
  • Easily collect payments with NO FEES
  • Built-in SEO keeps your store in search results
  • Try Volusion FREE for 14 days.
Money Back Guarantee
14-Day FREE Trial
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
5 minutes
Volusion's Dedicated Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated Volusion for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Tech Expert

Want Laura to review your hosting service? Request a review.

Volusion's VPS Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated Volusion for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Tech Expert

Want Laura to review your hosting service? Request a review.

Volusion's WordPress Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated Volusion for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Tech Expert

Want Laura to review your hosting service? Request a review.

Volusion's Website Builder (4.5 / 5.0)

Website Builder Rating

4.5
★★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

Volusion's drag-and-drop builder and ecommerce interfaces are exceedingly modern and user-friendly, but the company is still playing a bit of catch-up.

Our biggest knock on the site builder when comparing Volusion to other ecommerce platforms is the lack of theme options, which we expect to be solved as time passes. At the time of writing, Volusion offers roughly 50 design templates, while competitors offer hundreds of choices.

The beauty of an online website builder is the idea of focusing on the WYSIWYG or what-you-see-is-what-you-get aspects of the design process and knowing that the web hosting itself is happening in the background. That's why online platforms like Volusion are particularly good options for first-time site owners and mom-and-pop shops that just need to get a basic website off the ground.

When it comes to easy-to-learn customization features, Volusion does an excellent job of giving users options. Once you're up and running, you can promote unlimited products and add plenty of photos and videos to display your items, with specifications for the colors, sizes, and textures that are available for each.

Finally, promote your online store via social media, send out email marketing campaigns, sell on a variety of integrated third-party platforms, and track your business progress with informative reports and analytics.

Overall, Volusion's strong suit is site building for ecommerce. There are tons of online web builder platforms out there, but Volusion specializes in catering its plans to meet the needs of future online store owners. The company makes it pretty easy to get started, offer a bunch of layout options, and allow you to customize via HTML and CSS as well.

  • Sleek, modern site builder provides drag-and-drop usability
  • Professional design services are available for help crafting your store
  • Built-in marketing tools help with newsletters and coupons
  • FREE system for CRM handles customer inquiries
  • Dozens of mobile-friendly themes for FREE or for sale
  • Try Volusion FREE for 14 days.
Money Back Guarantee
14-Day FREE Trial
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
5 minutes

Features

(4.7 / 5.0)

Solid and Secure Hosting Experience

  • Volusion gives new customers 30 days to provide a domain name for their online store. We love that the company won't put stores on a Volusion subdomain but wish the company could provide a one-stop experience by offering domain registration and hosting services.
  • Offering the industry-standard 99.9% network uptime guarantee, Volusion will reimburse customers 5% of their monthly fee for each 30 minutes of downtime.
  • Volusion's system is PCI/CISP-certified, meaning it has met the infrastructural security criteria to be considered a full-fledged web host and securely process credit card information. Plus, all plans come standard with a free SSL certificate.

Easy Editor Designed for Building Online Stores

  • Free and premium templates for online stores can be implemented and manipulated via Volusion's drag-and-drop editor. Templates are responsive, so customers can access your online store via desktop, mobile, or tablet.
  • Drag-and-drop functionality enables entrepreneurs to customize and optimize their content for conversions. Volusion's site builder allows for a variety of navigation styles, category and product organization, and an efficient checkout process.
  • If you don't have the time or know-how to put your online store together, Volusion's team of in-house design professionals can help you elevate your branding and visitors' shopping experiences. On average, Volusion-designed stores sell four times more products.

Powerful Inventory, Payment, and Shipping

  • Showcase your products with unlimited photos and videos specifying the colors, textures, sizes, and styles available. Volusion can handle thousands of SKUs and will create custom barcodes for easy inventory management.
  • Profit from customer purchases easily. Volusion allows you to accept payments from Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express credit cards, as well as cash, wire transfers, money orders, Amazon, Google Wallet, PayPal, and Stripe.
  • Sell and ship globally with a built-in, real-time tax calculator, currency exchange definitions, and configurable shipping options. Store owners can decide to require a signature, provide flat-rate shipping options, or set up drop shipping directly from the supplier to the customer.

Built-In Marketing Tools to Promote Your Site

  • Volusion users can offer customers online coupons, gift cards, and promo codes, enticing them to continue shopping at your store. The included customer relationship management platform manages customer inquiries and interactions with aplomb.
  • Market your products to former and frequent shoppers via email marketing and newsletters. Keep customers in the know about your store's latest product additions, news, and deals using Volusion's email marketing suite.
  • Volusion also includes SEO tools to help you format your site to be better noticed by search engines. Plus, you can easily integrate your eCommerce store with social media platforms, including options to sell on Facebook, Google, eBay, and Amazon.

Ease of Use

(4.6 / 5.0)
Streamlined Dashboard
Volusion Review
Create & Manage Product Listings
Volusion Review
Robust Website Builder
Volusion Review

Volusion was designed with the intention of helping store owners create an online hub to market and sell their products quickly and easily. The number of available themes has dropped considerably since a recent update, but we expect to see dozens more added in the coming weeks and months. The majority of Volusion's features are centered around the idea of helping business owners track inventory and profit efficiently while making the user experience informative and intuitive for their shoppers. Entrepreneurs can easily customize their online storefront with Volusion's revamped site builder, which provides easy access to product display settings, navigation menus, and more. The drag-and-drop platform is tied in with users' store management systems, allowing business owners to easily switch between design tools and the features covering order processing, customer relationship management, inventory tracking, marketing, design, and analytics.

Pricing

(4.8 / 5.0)

Personal Plan

Professional Plan

Business Plan

Volusion seems to strike the balance between affordability and productivity, offering ample features and tools to justify what it charges. Naturally, the platform is significantly more expensive than free, self-hosted, open-source options, such as WooCommerce, Magento, or PrestaShop. Those services, however, require store owners to purchase and maintain a web hosting account. Although hosting can be procured for less than $5 per month, performance, security, and other features typically lag behind until you get to options priced comparably to Volusion. When examined alongside other commercial hosted services, Volusion is quite a bargain. BigCommerce plans start nearly twice as high and come with transaction fees on purchases made through external payment gateways. Although the themes available through each ecommerce platform are visually impressive, they're both typically priced beyond $150. Wix and Weebly are priced equally or less than Volusion and offer cheaper themes, but the site builders include storage or product limitations and fees.

Reliability & Support

(4.4 / 5.0)

As with seemingly every web hosting provider, ecommerce specialized or not, Volusion promises customers free 24/7 support and a 99.9% network uptime guarantee. Our support standards typically drop somewhat with ecommerce platforms, but Volusion puts forth a decent effort. Although we understand the upsell opportunities of offering priority support to the customers spending the most money on higher-tier plans, as Volusion does, we tend to gripe at hosts that limit support options for the small-time customers just getting started with the cheaper plans. Volusion reserves phone support to those spending at least $35 per month. As for the online-only support, however, we do appreciate the level of depth in the support articles, blog posts, and how-to guides, as well as the ability to relatively quickly chat with a Volusion representative, but we struggled with finding different resources quickly. Information is spread among the blog and help center on the Volusion website, as well as the store and account management interfaces.

Volusion Includes:

24/7 Support via Phone, Chat, and Online Tickets; Extensive Help Center, Design and Marketing Services, Blog, Video Tutorials, SSL Certificates, PCI certification

Does Not Include

Money-Back Guarantee or Phone Support for All Users

Other Hosts vs. Volusion

Wondering how Volusion stacks up againt other web hosting services? See our host-vs-host reviews below and compare them side by side.

Volusion vs. Wix

Wix and Volusion pack their plans with some outstanding features.

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Wix vs Volusion

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0
Wix vs Volusion

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

Volusion vs. Shopify

In the Black Friday shopping spree of empowering eCommerce site builders, Shopify and Volusion are always at the front of the line when the doors open.

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Volusion vs Shopify

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0
Volusion vs Shopify

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

Volusion is the winner
2 out of 2 times.

The Rundown

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Hosting Expert:

To recap, here's a rundown of what Volusion has to offer

Volusion's major overhaul in mid-2017 was a giant step forward for the ecommerce platform, giving entrepreneurs and their customers more confidence in doing business together. The company streamlines the daunting process of starting an online storefront, finding success, and growing profits. We appreciate how many features and tools Volusion packs into the company's largely affordable plans, to say nothing of the hassle-free hosting experience. The Volusion website builder might not be quite as intuitive as some of the company's competitors, but motivated site owners should have no problem picking up the reins and taking control of their online business.

Volusion review

Overall Rating

4.7 / 5.0
★★★★★

About The Author

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.
Laura Bernheim
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