IONOS review: is it the best web hosting provider for you? IONOS may not outperform the best hosting providers on the market, but it is the best choice when it comes to site speed and uptime. Every website owner should rest easy knowing that their hosting provider is reliable and stable, and in this department, IONOS has your back.
In addition to its excellent performance, IONOS is also a good choice for dedicated and VPS hosting. In total, IONOS offers four different types of website hosting:
To rank and compare IONOS fairly, our in-house research team tested the top hosting providers to come up with an accurate list of recommendations. We analyzed price, performance, features, help and support, and market analysis. Of the 13 hosting providers we tested, IONOS came in seventh place, with an overall score of 4 out of 5, despite being in the middle of the pack.
We recommend this hosting provider for small white-collar businesses largely because of its comprehensive packages, extremely inexpensive pricing, and focus on speed and reliability.
But is IONOS right for you?
Let’s dig a little deeper to find out if IONOS’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses….
Table of Contents
IONOS Review: is It the Best Web Hosting Provider for You?
Best For:
Best Overall Hosting Provider
IONOS is the best hosting provider in terms of speed and site uptime. Their hosting packages include daily backups, anti-spam protection and many other useful features. However, some of their offerings are better than others. Read on to find out if it is the right provider for your needs.
What Are the Pros & Cons of 1&1 IONOS?
Reliability & Performance
You don’t want a car that constantly breaks down, especially if you have to use it every day to get to and from work. The same goes for your hosting provider. You need a reliable service that keeps your website running smoothly.
This is where uptime and downtime come into play. Uptime shows how long a website is up and running, and downtime is how often sites go “down” and are inaccessible to visitors.
The first thing to say is that there is no such thing as 100% uptime. Updates and fixes mean that there will always be instances where downtime is unavoidable. But you want your provider’s uptime to be as close to that perfect score as possible.
1&1’s IONOS has a great uptime score. On its website, it claims to have a guaranteed uptime of 99.9%, and when we tested it ourselves, IONOS exceeded that, with a score of 5 out of 5 for uptime.
It has stability, but what about speed? In today’s world, website speed is very important, especially on mobile. If your website takes more than five seconds to load on mobile, 74% of U.S. mobile users will abandon the page.
Visitors are impatient, and page load times can make or break your website. It’s no use having amazing content if no one sticks around long enough to view it. IONOS performance varies depending on the type of hosting you choose. For the best performance, choose your WordPress hosting plans – IONOS scores an impressive 4.9 out of 5 for performance, making it the fastest web host we’ve tested.
IONOS has 10 data centers in five countries – you’re usually given the one closest to you, unless you’re on a plan where you can choose the data center. Performance will also vary depending on which of the 10 data centers you are using.
Ultimately, IONOS can’t be beaten when it comes to performance – your website will load quickly and run smoothly with IONOS. Its uptime and site speed are light years ahead of other hosting providers, including top dogs Bluehost and HostGator.
Hosting Features
When it comes to features, IONOS is a mixed bag; its shared hosting and dedicated hosting plans are quite strong, while its VPS and WordPress hosting plans offer little in the way of features. But across all hosting types, IONOS’ average score is 4.5 out of 5 for features, ranking joint first with GreenGeeks.
Below you can see some of the top features – including storage – of shared, VPS, dedicated, and WordPress hosting plans:
| Hosting Plan | Shared | VPS | Dedicated | WordPress |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux or Windows | Linux | Linux / Windows | Linux | Linux |
| SSL | SSL Wildcard Certificate | SSL Wildcard Certificate | SSL Wildcard Certificate | SSL Wildcard Certificate |
| Storage | 50-500GB | 10-240GB | 2TB HDD / 800GB SSD | 25-200GB |
| Traffic | Unlimited traffic | Unlimited traffic | Unlimited traffic | Unlimited traffic |
| Email Accounts | 1 email account | Unlimited mailboxes | 10,000 email accounts | 1-10 email accounts |
| Domain | 1 free domain for 1 year | Optional add-on | 1 free domain | 1 free domain for 1 year |
In our shared hosting provider tests, IONOS scores 4.6 out of 5 for features, and it’s not hard to see why.
All plans come equipped with daily backups, a free SSL certificate, unlimited traffic, 24/7 support, a professional email, and a free domain.
Of the three shared hosting plans, the Essential plan – designed for one website – is a bit limited, allowing only one website and 10 GB of storage. But once you upgrade to the Business and Expert plans, IONOS also includes unlimited websites, storage, and databases. The included features are quite impressive for the low price of IONOS shared hosting plans.
However, IONOS does not have the industry standard cPanel control panel, using its own clunky alternative instead. Since many people start with shared hosting, this can make the whole experience more difficult for those who need it to be as easy as possible. We’ve covered this in more detail in the ease of use section.
In general, IONOS shared hosting plans are inexpensive and a good starting point for websites. The storage, traffic allocations, and power (CPU cores) are pretty impressive (especially for the price), but you’ll need to opt for the Business plan or higher to fully enjoy the features.
Our main conclusion of VPS hosting plans is that they are a bit… weak. In our tests, IONOS scores a poor 2.5 out of 5 on VPS hosting features.
It has, on average, fewer CPU cores (power) and less RAM (memory) than competitors, so you may find your site slower than if it were hosted with a different provider. For example, Bluehost’s cheapest VPS plan comes with 2 cores, 2 GB of RAM, and 30 GB of storage. A lot, right? In comparison, the cheapest VPS plan from IONOS offers 1 core, 512 MB of RAM, and 10 GB of storage.
Again, IONOS advertises cheap plans, but, in this case, that’s the trade-off. For strong VPS hosting features, we recommend you check out HostGator or InMotion instead.
Fortunately, the feature offering picks up with IONOS dedicated hosting plans. IONOS is our second-best dedicated hosting provider, with an overall score of 4.7 out of 5, and an equally strong score of 4.3 out of 5 for features.
It offers plenty of power; if your website gets a lot of traffic, you’re in good hands. There are four HDD (hard disk drive), and four SSD (solid state drive) plans to choose from, with the cheapest offering a whopping 8 GB of RAM, 8 cores, and 240 GB of storage.
Of course, more power means more expense, but the IONOS plans are still quite reasonable. Dedicated hosting is the most expensive type of hosting of all, regardless of the hosting provider you choose.
Unfortunately, the features of IONOS WordPress hosting plans are quite poor, with a score of only 2.7 out of 5 in our tests – one of the lowest feature ratings of all providers.
All plans come optimized for WordPress, with daily backups, 100% SSD storage, unlimited traffic, a free domain, and customizable upgrades. But this is not that impressive as most WordPress hosting providers offer these basic features. You’ll have to upgrade to the highest plan, Boost, to enjoy more power, including 75 GB of storage, 20 GB of RAM, and 10 email addresses.
Since IONOS is the king of website speed, most of its marketing highlights its hosting plans’ stability and fast load times to keep your WordPress website running efficiently. Plus, it’s preparing a website migration tool to make things as easy as possible for you.
Realistically, if you’re looking for WordPress hosting, we recommend a hosting provider recommended by WordPress itself, such as Bluehost.
What To Learn More About IONOS’ Hosting Features?
Find out what daily backups, anti-spam protection and an SSL certificate mean for your website.
Ease of Use
Web hosting can be a daunting topic, especially if you’re new to it. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. A good hosting provider will make your life as easy as possible. How does IONOS make your customers feel at home?
One of the key things to consider is the customer interface. The control panel is where you manage your site and your account, and the interface is how the control panel is presented and how you interact with it.
From the control panel, you can track analytics, set up marketing campaigns, or manage your email accounts. But is it easy to navigate? After all, it’s very important that the interface doesn’t give you a migraine every time you access it.
Most hosting providers, such as HostGator and Bluehost, use cPanel, which is a popular and reliable control panel. IONOS, on the other hand, breaks this trend by using its own custom configuration.
It’s all well and good to be different, but the truth is that IONOS could do with updating its control panel. It’s rather outdated, not the most intuitive interface out there, and can be confusing, so it can take some time to get used to.
Considering that IONOS is aimed at small business owners and everyone from beginners to tech experts, it could do a lot more to make its service more user-friendly. We do not recommend IONOS to beginners. Instead, opt for a more user-friendly provider, such as Bluehost.
Customer Support
Good customer service can make all the difference, and it’s especially important with hosting companies. If something goes wrong with your website, you want to get it back online as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, IONOS is incredibly let down in this area, scoring a low 1 out of 5 overall for help and support. Wow, let’s see why IONOS scored so low.
IONOS offers 24/7/365 phone support and a clear knowledge base where you can find frequently asked questions and practical guides. In addition, once you subscribe to a plan, IONOS provides you with personalized assistance from your own personal consultant, free of charge.
There is also a live chat option, but there is rarely an agent available, which is a real shame if you are looking for help quickly.
In short, these services are fine, but they can be pretty sketchy, and most hosting providers offer reliable 24/7 support. With IONOS, your problem may not always be resolved as quickly or efficiently as you would like.
It’s clear that IONOS has put a lot of customer support resources in place, and even scores a good 3.8 out of 5 for support in our dedicated hosting research, but does this translate into good service overall? Not always. And it’s not just a question of speed of response….
As we mentioned above, IONOS has a lot of good reviews – and, lest we forget, millions of presumably satisfied customers who have never left a review. However, there are some recurring themes in the negative reviews that we find a bit troubling.
First, there are several mentions of rude customer service assistants and customers being hung up on or ignored. Don’t get us wrong: many of us have worked in customer service and know all too well that the customer isn’t always right. But still, it’s a disturbing trend.
Much of this frustration, from both consumers and assistants, seems to be due to unclear terms and conditions on contract cancellation, which we discuss in the next section.
Pricing Plans
Money moves the world. It also makes your head spin when you try to compare different prices for hosting plans, setup fees and email add-ons.
IONOS is one of the cheapest builders out there, and we found it to be the best value for money, with an overall score of 4.8 out of 5. It performed consistently well across all hosting types, and even made it to the top of the pricing table in our VPS hosting research with a score of 3.9 out of 5.
Without a doubt, IONOS has prices that will turn your head (in a good way!).
Here is a breakdown of the different hosting pricing plans offered by IONOS. Most plans have long-term promotions and offer cheaper prices if you commit for a longer period of time. However, in this article, we will focus on 12-month subscription prices (unless otherwise noted):
Shared Hosting
VPS Hosting
Here is a breakdown of the different hosting pricing plans offered by IONOS. Most plans have long-term promotions and offer cheaper prices if you commit for a longer period of time. However, in this article, we will focus on 12-month subscription prices (unless otherwise noted):
SSD Plans:
HDD Plans:
WordPress Hosting
Looking for a Cheap Hosting Provider?
Starting at just $1/month, IONOS offers excellent value for money. Check out their hosting packages and find the right one for you.
These are very attractive offers. With IONOS, you can start as low as $1 per month. Remember that when the promotion ends, you will start paying the regular price, so make sure you know how much you will be charged later on.
For example, the $1/month offer on the Business shared hosting plan will renew at $10/month, which is a big jump!
Best Value for Money
For most people, shared hosting is the starting point. In this case, the $1/month Business plan offers the best value for regular websites.
Its starting bid beats that of the cheapest Essential plan, and you get unlimited websites, storage and databases.
The Business plan is suitable for most websites. But if you run a serious business and need more than that, the $8/month Expert plan also gives you a lot for your money. This plan includes 19 GB of RAM, maximum performance, and 100 mailing lists; it even unlocks SiteLock anti-malware protection to keep any nasty threats at bay.
If you need more power, you can sign up for a VPS or dedicated hosting plan.
Hidden Costs
IONOS is upfront with its pricing. If you pay attention when choosing your plan, you won’t be caught red-handed.
At least, in theory. We have found several comments on the Internet complaining about unexplained charges. After analyzing the IONOS terms and conditions, we have to assume that this is a mistake, not a shady. That said, cancelling the contract is quite complicated: you have to deactivate the automatic renewal and sometimes even make a phone call to confirm the termination.
Dedicated hosting plans have a setup fee of $50. And if you want to use the IONOS MyWebsite website builder or email marketing software, you’ll have to sign up for a plan and pay extra per month.
This is the small downside of IONOS offering so many different services under one roof. The good thing is that they are all easy to integrate and work seamlessly. The downside is that people expect everything to be included in one price package, and all of this is not as cheap as you might expect at first glance.
IONOS also offers a 30-day money back guarantee on all plans, so if you’re not happy with their service, you don’t lose a penny.
Overall, IONOS won’t let you down. It’s one of the cheapest hosting providers on the market, and their promotions are consistent and offer decent value. There are add-ons you can buy, but they don’t impose them on you. Just don’t be surprised when it’s time to renew and the prices go back to normal.
IONOS vs Its Competitors
Anyone looking for a hosting provider knows that there are tons of companies out there, all vying for your position and attention. IONOS has been around long enough to earn a place in the pack, but where does it rank?
According to our research, IONOS ranks seventh out of the 13 hosting providers we analyzed, which is an improvement over our last round of testing, where it ranked ninth.
Of course, IONOS could still improve when it comes to ease of use and customer service, but it offers a wide variety of hosting types, as well as good value for money. It is also the best of the lot in terms of site speed and uptime.
The fact that it offers so much more than hosting makes IONOS stand out from the crowd.
When considering its rivals, IONOS could learn a few things from HostGator on customer support, which scored 5 out of 5 overall, compared to IONOS’ 1 out of 5. And while IONOS is an excellent choice for dedicated hosting, Bluehost is still in the lead with a score of 4.9 out of 5, just ahead of IONOS’ 4.7 out of 5.
Ultimately, the decision is yours. IONOS is the best of the bunch in terms of website speed and uptime, but the top spot goes to feature-rich and cost-effective Bluehost. It’s a well-established hosting provider, and even recommended by WordPress itself, so it’s no wonder it scored 4.8 out of 5 in our research. In comparison, IONOS scored a fair 4 out of 5.
Conclusion
IONOS fulfills many requirements. First of all, you can rest easy knowing that your website will load quickly and run smoothly thanks to its brilliant performance in our site speed and uptime tests. Let’s not forget that IONOS scored a perfect 5 out of 5 for uptime performance.
IONOS also caters to a variety of hosting types, and has a variety of plans and additional software to choose from, such as email marketing, domain registration, and its website creation platform.
It still has things to work on: its interface is outdated and confusing, while its customer support is hit and miss (especially compared to other providers, such as HostGator.) However, IONOS has shown that it’s making great strides in the right direction since its rebranding in 2018.
We recommend this provider for small businesses and individuals, but not for total beginners. It has good dedicated and VPS hosting plans, but anyone looking for shared or WordPress hosting should look elsewhere.
IONOS has enough features and plans to really scale a business, has the best site speed and uptime of any hosting provider on the market, and offers competitive pricing that is ideal for those starting out on a budget.
FAQ’s
What is IONOS and what services does it offer?
IONOS is a web hosting provider offering a wide range of services such as domain registration, website hosting, cloud infrastructure, website building tools, email solutions and much more. They provide comprehensive solutions for individuals, small businesses and enterprises.
Is IONOS a reliable web hosting provider?
Yes, IONOS is known for its reliability. They have a robust infrastructure and data centers around the world, ensuring excellent uptime and performance for websites hosted on their platform. Their robust network and security measures contribute to a reliable hosting experience.
What types of hosting plans does IONOS offer?
IONOS offers several hosting plans to meet different needs. They offer shared hosting, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting. Each plan comes with its own features, resources and pricing options.
Does IONOS offer good customer support?
Yes, IONOS offers customer support through multiple channels, including phone, live chat and email. They have a dedicated support team available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist customers with their hosting-related technical queries or issues. In addition, they offer an extensive knowledge base and community forums for self-help resources.
Does IONOS offer a website builder?
Yes, IONOS offers an easy-to-use website builder that allows users to create professional websites without any coding knowledge. Its website builder offers customizable templates, drag-and-drop features and various design tools to help users create a unique online presence.
Henry Sprung is an e-commerce tech blogger with several years of experience in online retail. Alex’s blog focuses on topics such as online marketplaces, payment processing, and digital marketing for e-commerce businesses. Henry’s expertise in e-commerce provides valuable insights into the latest trends in online retail and how businesses can use these platforms to grow their sales. He is a valuable resource for online retailers and entrepreneurs looking to start their own e-commerce businesses.
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