Definition: Hosted software means the vendor takes care of installing, setting up, and maintaining the program. Rather than download, configure, and install the software yourself, you let the vendor take care of the technical heavy lifting.
Also Known As: software as a service (SaaS), hosted service
Examples: When choosing an ecommerce platform, it is often more cost effective to use hosted software like Shopify even though it might cost more than self-hosted software. The trouble saved from having to install and setup the application, plus not having to keep up with new versions and dealing with software upgrades, often justifies the higher cost of using hosted software.