“I was very impressed with just about every aspect of InMotion Hosting. This company has been around for more than 20 years and keeps striving to improve to meet the needs of all its customers.” – Michael Levanduski, Digital.com Hosting Expert
InMotion Hosting has been in business since 2001, providing customers with a variety of different high-quality hosting options to its customers. It currently has about 570,000 customers and over 350 employees, making it one of the larger and more successful hosting companies in the industry.
When using this company, you will have access to everything from basic shared hosting accounts up to dedicated servers and just about everything in between. In addition to its normal hosting services, it also offers website builder tools, domain name registration, private cloud solutions, and more.
While InMotion hosting does have customers from around the world, its main focus is on websites that are visited by people from the U.S. and the rest of North America. This is made evident by the fact that it has just two data center facilities, one in Los Angeles, California, and the other in Washington, D.C.
InMotion hosting is known for putting quality first on all its hosting services while still keeping prices reasonable. While certainly not a discount hosting service, you can get entry-level hosting for as little as $2.29/month if you are willing to pay three years at a time.
Some key things that InMotion is known for beyond quality hosting include:
- Managed hosting services
- Eco-friendly policies
- Private cloud services
- Great place for employees to work
- Commitment to open-source technology
- Helping small and local businesses
- Marketing tools
| InMotion Hosting Standout Features | |
| Performance | Very fast response times and excellent reliability |
| Average Load Time | Approximately 1 second |
| Average Response Time | Approximately 988ms |
| Free Domain | Yes on most packages, but only for six months |
| SSL | Free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate from LetsEncrypt.org |
| 1-click WordPress | Yes, included with all hosting packages |
| Support | 24/7 support via phone, email, or live chat |
What Makes InMotion Hosting Stand Out?
With so many different hosting companies available to choose from, how does InMotion stand out from the crowd?
InMotion Hosting Offers a Full Line of Hosting Options
Unlike many other companies, InMotion Hosting gives you access to all types of hosting, including shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated servers. It also has multiple options for things like WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and reseller hosting accounts. I love hosting companies with all these options because it lets the customers decide what is needed for their website.
Unlimited Bandwidth on All Shared Hosting Accounts
Most hosting companies put a lot of limitations on their shared hosting accounts to help minimize the system resources that each shared server requires. But InMotion Hosting takes a different approach. This hosting company offers unlimited bandwidth to all its shared hosting customers so that you can get as much traffic as possible without having to worry about a thing.
For many simple websites that get a lot of visitors, this will be a way to maintain excellent performance without having to pay huge prices.
InMotion’s Commitment to Eco-Friendly Policies
While not everyone puts eco-friendly policies at the top of their list of requirements for a hosting company, I do think it is important, especially in the hosting industry. InMotion is committed to being as green as possible and has succeeded in many ways. What is particularly inspiring to me is that it goes beyond just reducing electricity usage through improved efficiency; the company also puts policies in place that actually benefit the environment. Some of the most impressive steps InMotion Hosting has taken in this area include:
- Running the first official green data center in Los Angeles
- Cutting cooling costs by almost 70%
- Implementing policies encouraging employees to reduce waste and recycle
- Partnering with Trees for the Future and planting 5,000 trees around the world
What Are the Pros and Cons of InMotion Hosting?
InMotion Hosting is an extremely popular hosting provider, especially in North America, but the fact that it doesn’t have servers outside of the region is concerning. Read through these important pros and cons of InMotion Hosting to see if it is the right option for you.
Pros
- Fast loading speeds: InMotion Hosting ensures all websites on its servers are configured to load as quickly as possible.
- Dedication to open- source: Wherever possible, InMotion Hosting uses open-source software and strategies.
- Full lineup of hosting options: You can choose from all major types of hosting including shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated servers.
- 90-day money-back guarantee: All hosting packages from InMotion Hosting come with a 90-day money-back guarantee so you can be certain you love the services.
- Free domain name: Most hosting packages from InMotion Hosting include a free domain name for a year.
- NGINX software: NGINX is a web and proxy server in one. This open-source software offers a fast and reliable hosting environment.
- 24/7 technical support: All customers will have access to InMotion Hosting’s experienced technical support teams to address any issues right away.
Cons
- No Windows-based hosting: InMotion hosting does not offer any type of Windows-based hosting solutions.
- Facilities only in the U.S.: InMotion Hosting’s servers are located exclusively in the U.S.
- Automatic backups aren’t free: InMotion Hosting offers automatic backup options, but only as a paid add-on to your normal web hosting package.
InMotion Hosting may be the best web host for: Almost anyone who prioritizes quality over low costs. This hosting company has lots of different options that will work for anything from a small site to one that is getting large amounts of traffic.
InMotion Hosting Shared Hosting Packages
| Core | Launch | Power | Pro | |
| Price: | $2.29 – 36/mo term | $4.99 – 36/mo term | $4.99 – 36/mo term | $12.99 – 36/mo term |
| Best for: | Personal websites, small businesses, entrepreneurs | Regional business websites, bloggers, social media influencers | Online businesses, popular blogs, midsize businesses | Midsize companies, sites with a national audience, popular social media influencers |
| Websites: | 2 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Disk space: | 100 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth: | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Email accounts: | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email storage: | 100 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
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Who should use shared hosting? Shared hosting from InMotion hosting is an ideal option for personal websites, bloggers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and more. This is a reliable environment for almost any type of site, and with InMotion Hosting’s multiple options, most people will be able to find exactly what they need.
InMotion WordPress Hosting Package Options
| WP Core | WP Launch | WP Power | WP Pro | |
| Price: | $3.99/mo for 24 months | $7.99/mo for 24 months | $7.99/mo for 24 months | $15.99/mo for 24 months |
| Best for: | WordPress blogs, small business sites | Popular WordPress blogs, regional businesses, entrepreneurs | WordPress blogs that get a lot of traffic, popular social media influencers, national small businesses, online businesses | Midsize and large businesses, entrepreneurs with multiple sites, popular bloggers and influencers |
| Websites: | 2 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage: | 100 GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Extras: |
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*Jetpack provides security, performance, and growth tools for WordPress sites.
*OPcode cache saves precompiled script bytecode in a server’s cache so web pages load faster.
Who should use WordPress hosting? Anyone who builds a website using the popular WordPress content management system will want to consider these hosting packages. This includes small businesses, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and many others.
InMotion WooCommerce Hosting Package Options
| WP Launch | WP Power | WP Pro | |
| Price: | $7.99 – 24/mo term | $7.99 – 24/mo term | $$15.99 – 24/mo term |
| Best for: | Smaller e-commerce sites | Midsize e-commerce sites | Larger e-commerce sites |
| Websites | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Who should use WooCommerce hosting? The WooCommerce hosting packages from InMotion Hosting are designed specifically for those running the popular e-commerce content management system. Anyone who wants to run any type of e-commerce business may want to consider these hosting packages.
InMotion Hosting VPS Hosting Package Options
| VPS 4GB RAM | VPS 8GB RAM | VPS 12GB RAM | VPS 16 GB RAM | |
| Price: | $19.99 – 36/mo term | $39.99 – 36/mo term | $49.99 – 36/mo term | $59.99 – 36/mo term |
| Best for: | Small business sites and blogs that require an isolated hosting environment | Entrepreneurs and regional businesses that want an isolated hosting environment | Midsize businesses and e-commerce sites that require an isolated hosting environment | National or international businesses with a large amount of traffic and that need an isolated hosting environment |
| CPU: | 2 CPU cores | 4 CPU cores | 6 CPU cores | 8 CPU cores |
| RAM: | 4 GB | 8 GB | 12 GB | 16 GB |
| NVMe SSD Storage | 90 GB | 150 GB | 210 GB | 360 GB |
| Network Bandwidth: | 2 TB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domains: | 1 (for 6 months) | 1 (for 6 months) | 1 (for 6 months) | 1 (for 6 months) |
| Dedicated IPs: | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Who should use VPS hosting? VPS hosting is a great option for anyone who needs an isolated hosting environment with dedicated resources. This is typically for websites that are larger and busier than what shared hosting can provide, including small businesses that rely on their website, e-commerce sites, entrepreneurs, and midsize companies.
InMotion Hosting Dedicated Server Hosting Package Options
InMotion Hosting offers quite a few different dedicated server options, including ‘Bare Metal’ servers, which can be custom configured. For this review, I am just looking at the entry-level, mid-tier, and top-end dedicated servers. Note that there are options in between these levels.
| Essential | Advanced | Elite | |
| Price: | $139.99 – 12/mo term | $189.99 – 12/mo term | $259.99 – 12/mo term |
| Best for: | Busy e-commerce sites, businesses that get a lot of traffic, and anyone who needs direct control of their servers | Larger companies and very popular blogs, especially sites that have system resource intensive features | Popular e-commerce sites, busy sites with lots of video and animation |
| CPU: | 4 core 8 thread | 6 core 12 thread | Dual Xeon® Silver 4214 |
| RAM: | 16 GB DDR3 RAM | 64 GB DDR4 RAM | 192 GB ECC DDR4 RAM |
| SSD Storage | 1 TB | 2×1 TB RAID | 2×2 TB RAID |
| Network Bandwidth: | 1 Gbps unmetered | 1 Gbps unmetered | 1 Gbps unmetered |
| Dedicated IPs: | 5 | 15 | 15 |
Who should use dedicated hosting? Larger businesses or anyone with a site that gets a lot of traffic. It is also perfect for businesses that run many separate websites.
Hosting Features from InMotion Hosting
InMotion Hosting has designed its packages to more than meet the needs of its customers. You will find a fantastic lineup of features available, and some noteworthy extras you can add to your account when needed. The following are some of the features that I found to be important:
- Solid-state drives (SSDs) for all storage
- Custom security suite
- Marketing tools for your website
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Ultrastack powered hosting
- E-commerce tools
- 90-day guarantee
- U.S.-based support
- Automatic backups
- Zero downtime migrations
Solid-State Drives for All Storage
InMotion Hosting uses SSDs in all of its hosting servers. Depending on what type of files you have on your website, the storage drive being slow can cause significant latency. SSDs are significantly faster than the older technology spinning disk drives, which will help to optimize your website’s performance.
Custom Security Suite
Each hosting package with InMotion Hosting comes with a notable lineup of different cybersecurity tools to keep your site safe. These tools include the following:
- Free SSL Certificate
- Hack and Malware Protection
- DDoS Protection
- SSL Certificates
These tools will be running in the background on your server to help protect your site and any visitors to your page.
Different Ways to Create a Website
You can create your website using drag-and-drop tools included with your hosting package. These are accessible through your Account Management Panel (AMP) and make it quick and easy to design beautiful, customized websites. I really like the easy-to-use tools offered, especially for those who are newer to making websites.
Marketing Tools for Your Website
All of the shared hosting accounts (including WordPress and WooCommerce) will come with a number of different tools and features that can help you to market and promote your website. These include the website builder, the option to manage email from any device, free advertising credits, and customer management tools.
Unlimited Bandwidth
All of the shared hosting accounts, and most other hosting options with this company, have unlimited bandwidth. While most people will not use a huge amount of bandwidth for their site, this is just one less thing that you need to worry about. This is an especially important feature for those who are making websites with large images, video streaming, and other bandwidth-intensive items.
Ultrastack Powered Hosting
Ultrastack is a set of web hosting server tools that help to speed up websites. This tool is comparable to Litespeed. I am a big fan of Litespeed, and while I have not personally used Ultrastack, it does offer many of the same benefits. Included with the Ultrastack features are NGINX proxy caching, Redis (Remote Dictionary Server) for caching SQL processes, and much more. Compared to hosting without Ultrastack (or a similar platform), your website will load noticeably faster.
E-Commerce Tools
You can choose hosting that is designed specifically for e-commerce websites. The WooCommerce hosting packages include a number of powerful tools that will help you to build your online store and begin successfully selling right away.
90-Day Guarantee
If you are unhappy with your hosting for any reason, InMotion Hosting will give you a full refund for up to 90 days. Most hosting companies offer a 30-day guarantee, so this is a much better option.
U.S. Based Support
Since InMotion Hosting focuses its services on North America, it is nice that the support teams are based in the U.S. This helps to minimize any issues with a language barrier and allows the company to provide premium quality support around the clock.
Automatic Backups
Backing up the data from your website is one of the most important things you can do to protect your site. InMotion Hosting offers automatic services that will backup your site on a regular basis so that your data is never at risk. The one downside to this feature is that it is not free.
Zero Downtime Migrations
If you already have a website on a different hosting company’s server, you can migrate over to InMotion Hosting without any downtime. It offers the tools you need to easily move your entire site over to InMotion Hosting without a service interruption to your visitors. If you need help with this process, you can reach out to the support team, and they will assist you every step of the way.
Uptime and Reliability
I’ve run various uptime tests on InMotionHosting over the course of several days and it consistently rates very well. This company offers an uptime guarantee of 99.9%, which is fairly standard. In our tests, the servers were up well over 99.9% of the time.
Site Response Times
InMotion Hosting’s servers are very responsive and offer fast load times. Over the last 30 days, we saw an average response time for the hosting servers at 988ms, which is not bad at all. For many third-party testing sites, InMotion Hosting shows slightly slower response times than normal because the tests come from locations around the world. In this case, InMotion Hosting’s results are hurt by the fact that the only servers are in the U.S. For visitors from North America, however, sites on InMotion Hosting’s servers will respond very well.
SSL Certificates
Almost all hosting companies offer SSL certificates to their customers because they are an important part of securing web traffic. The SSL Certificates from InMotion Hosting are quality options that will ensure all traffic to and from a website is encrypted properly.
DDoS Protection
All traffic coming to your site hosted at InMotion Hosting will be filtered through a DDoS mitigation system. This helps to protect your site and all the other sites on InMotion Hosting’s servers from getting flooded with invalid traffic. DDoS attacks are among the most common types of cyberattack out there today, so having this layer of protection is important.
InMotion Hosting wants to make sure that you have the help you need, when you need it. To accomplish this, it offers 24/7 customer support from a team of technical experts. You can reach out to them in a number of different ways to get assistance. In addition to the live support options, it also offers a useful support center with lots of articles and other information to help you understand your hosting environment.
InMotion Hosting is always working on making improvements. The following are some of the more recent announcements the company has made:
- Awarded 2022 Great Place to Work Certification – While not directly related to the actual services, it is good to know that this company treats its employees well. Happy employees work hard to make happy customers.
- Google Workplace – InMotion Hosting now offers customers access to the Google Workplace suite of tools.
- Unlimited Bandwidth for Shared Hosting – In November 2021, InMotion Hosting announced that all of its shared hosting customers would receive unlimited bandwidth.
- On Demand Private Cloud – In 2021, InMotion Hosting began offering on-demand private cloud services to customers.
- Hardware Updates – InMotion Hosting is constantly upgrading the hardware used for hosting services to ensure customers get the best possible experience.
InMotion is always adding to and improving the services on offer. If you want to keep up to date on all of its improvements, you can visit the news page.
Compare InMotion Hosting Alternatives
InMotion Hosting is an excellent hosting provider that can exceed the needs of most small businesses, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and others. If you don’t like InMotion Hosting (perhaps because your target audience is outside of North America), however, know there are plenty of other quality hosting companies to choose from. I have personally used and researched dozens of hosting companies over the years, and the following are some of my favorites.
| Web Host | Pricing | Hosting Packages | Basic Plan Features | Compare |
| InMotion Hosting Overall rating: | $2.29 to $539.99/month |
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| SiteGround Overall rating: 4.5/5 | $3.99 to $400/month |
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| SiteGround has servers located in countries around the world and offers quality hosting solutions. While InMotion hosting is generally a higher-end hosting option, it is primarily for North American-focused sites. Consider SiteGround if: Visitors to your site are likely to come from outside North America. |
| DreamHost Overall rating: 4.5/5 ★★★★★★★★★★ | $1.99 to $279/month |
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| DreamHost and InMotion Hosting have a similar lineup of options. But DreamHost has a bigger focus on things like antivirus and malware, which is important in some situations. Consider DreamHost if: You want to be certain that your site is protected from viruses and malware. |
| GreenGeeks Overall rating: 4.5/5 | $2.95 to $109.95/month |
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| As you would expect from the name, GreenGeeks is the most environmentally friendly hosting company around. While InMotion Hosting is making great strides toward being more eco-friendly, it still isn’t quite up to the level of GreenGeeks. Consider GreenGeeks if: Eco-friendly hosting is essential for your business. |
| HostGator Overall rating: 4.5/5 | $2.75 to $139.89/month |
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| HostGator is the largest hosting provider in the world with millions of customers. It is very affordable and offers excellent entry-level hosting solutions. But InMotion Hosting has higher end hosting services for more demanding sites. Consider HostGator if: You just need simple hosting for a basic website. |
| GoDaddy Overall rating: 4/5 | $5.99 to $399.99/month |
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| GoDaddy is best known as a domain name registration company, and shines at that. While InMotion Hosting also offers domain name registration services, that is more of a secondary feature, as its primary focus is the hosting services. Consider GoDaddy if: You only need to buy a domain. |
Frequently Asked Questions About InMotion Hosting
Who Owns InMotion Hosting?
What Are the InMotion Hosting Nameservers?
What Kind of Support Does InMotion Hosting Offer?
Where are the InMotion Hosting Servers Located?
What Are the Best Alternatives to InMotion Hosting?
I am a big fan of InMotion Hosting and its services. If you find that this is not the right hosting company for you, there are some solid alternatives to choose from. Some of my favorite hosting companies include:
What Is InMotion Hosting’s Cheapest Hosting Plan?
Can You Register Domain Names With InMotion Hosting?
Can You Automatically Install WordPress With InMotion Hosting?
Which InMotion Hosting Plan Is Best for WordPress?
How We Rated InMotion Hosting
Whenever evaluating a hosting company, I work hard to take a comprehensive approach and look at every aspect of the company. This ensures that all readers of this review can get the information they need. The bulk of my time was spent reading about and using the actual hosting services provided by InMotion Hosting. This included a significant amount of time logged into a hosting account and using each of the different features.
On top of the personal, hands-on approach, I also used many different web hosting testing tools. These tools are a useful way to evaluate things like uptime and reliability, load times, and much more.
I take all of the information I gathered and evaluate it against other web hosting companies. This is done through research as well as my own personal experiences. I have been creating websites and writing about web hosting companies for well over a decade and have been a customer of many different hosting companies (though I have not yet been a direct customer of InMotion Hosting).
After taking everything into account, I was very impressed with InMotion Hosting and have no trouble recommending them to the readers of Digital.com. I give the company 4.5/5 stars, and it would have rated even higher if it had servers in countries outside of North America. If you want to run a website with a target audience of North American visitors, InMotion Hosting is an excellent option to consider.
