To address the prohibitive cost of traditional web-to-print software solutions (software, systems, periodic software upgrades, technical staff, ...), providers offer web-to-print as "hosted" or software as a service (SaaS) solutions. Using this model application creation, maintenance, enhancement, technical support, application upgrades, and hosting, are provided as an out-sourced service. Since the software, systems, and support resources are spread over a larger client base, costs can be reduced significantly. This makes it possible for any print house or print broker to offer professional web-to-print applications and services with only a modest investment of time and capital.

SaaS solutions are generally delivered through a purely online environment — allowing them to take advantage of relatively low cost per seat, cross-platform compatibility, multi-user collaboration, and live database integration for product and digital asset management (DAM).