Server Requirements

Shop Craft is designed to run on affordable shared hosting — the same kind of hosting you would use for a WordPress site. You do not need a VPS, dedicated server, Docker, or command-line access.

Minimum Requirements

Requirement	Minimum
PHP	8.1 or higher
Database	MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
Web Server	Apache, LiteSpeed, or Nginx
RAM	256 MB - 512 MB
Disk Space	~100 MB (plus space for your product images)
Hosting Type	Shared hosting (cPanel compatible)
Root Access	Not required
CLI / SSH	Not required

Recommended Hosting Providers

Shop Craft works great on popular shared hosting providers like Hostinger, Namecheap, Bluehost, SiteGround, A2 Hosting, and GoDaddy. Any cPanel-based hosting plan with PHP 8.1+ and MySQL will work.

Required PHP Extensions

Your hosting provider must have the following PHP extensions enabled. Most shared hosting plans include all of these by default.

Extension	Purpose
pdo_mysql	Database connectivity
openssl	Encryption and secure connections
mbstring	Multi-byte string handling (international characters)
tokenizer	PHP code processing
xml	XML parsing for data exchange
ctype	Character type checking
json	JSON data encoding and decoding
bcmath	Precise math calculations (pricing, taxes)
fileinfo	File type detection (image uploads)
curl	External API communication (payment gateways, license verification)

Don't Worry

You don't need to check these manually. The Shop Craft installer will automatically verify all requirements in Step 1 and tell you if anything is missing.

How to Check Your PHP Version

If you want to verify your PHP version before installing:

1. Log in to your cPanel dashboard
2. Look for the PHP Version or Select PHP Version option
3. Make sure PHP 8.1 or higher is selected

If your hosting is running an older PHP version, you can usually switch to PHP 8.1+ from this same page. If you don't see the option, contact your hosting provider's support team.

How to Enable Missing PHP Extensions

If the installer reports that a required extension is missing:

1. Log in to cPanel
2. Go to Select PHP Version (or PHP Extensions)
3. Find the missing extension in the list and check the box next to it
4. Click Save or Apply

Contact Your Host

If you cannot find the PHP extension settings in cPanel, contact your hosting provider. They can enable the required extensions for you — it is a quick and common request.

Web Server Configuration

Apache (Most Common)

Shop Craft includes an .htaccess file that handles URL routing automatically. No extra configuration needed — it works out of the box on Apache and LiteSpeed.

Nginx

If your hosting uses Nginx, you may need to add a rewrite rule to your server configuration. Ask your hosting provider to add this to your site's Nginx config:

location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
}

Most Shared Hosting Uses Apache

If you are on shared hosting with cPanel, you are almost certainly using Apache or LiteSpeed, and no extra configuration is needed.