iPage Hosting Review: They Are Cheap, but Is Their Hosting Any Good?

iPage Main Features

» Free domain name.

» Unlimited emails. Includes thorough testing functionality so you can test before sending. Spam management is also included: No more need to delete tons of spam each day. Each individual mailbox, however, has a maximum storage capacity of 500MB or 10,000 email messages (whichever comes first).

» Unlimited disk space (as long as your usage falls under what iPage considers to be “normal operation of your iPage website” — some users with tens of thousands of files, however, were forced by iPage to consolidate their files).

» 100% powered by wind energy.

» Free site-building tools including templates.

» Daily malware and spam scans.

» Scalable bandwidth. For most users, you will get what iPage considers unlimited bandwidth, though some power users may be “encouraged” by iPage to upgrade from a shared plan to a VPS plan.

» Unlimited domains. Users, however, should note that iPage makes it easy for you to set up your first few sites. Afterward, the process becomes increasingly difficult. As such, if you need more than a handful of sites, your better off with a reseller host plan or similar.

» Unlimited MySQL databases.

» Easy installation of apps such as b2evolution and WordPress.

» 99.99% uptime.

» Fast server speeds and page uploads.

Security

» 24/7 monitoring so problems can be detected and fixed fast, often before you’re even aware of them.

» Nightly backups and restores.

» Access to error logs so you can see what’s happening on your website.

» Power backups so if the power goes out, your site won’t.

» State of the art security including database lockdowns, firewalls, encryption practices and the best people to oversee all these elements to protect your business from all problems.

» The network operations center can quickly identify breaches in security and lock them down the moment they’re detected.

» iPage’s systems have multiple redundancies. Each machine has an identical machine that kicks in seamlessly if the first machine crashes for any reason. The units are also backed up to other sets of units that contain a mirror copy of your data in case the primary units’ disc fails.

» SiteLock is an extra form of security. With this system, you can:

» Activate malware scans to protect your visitors from viruses and other problems.

» Verify your domain so your visitors will know your site is legitimate and not merely another phishing scam.

» Post a security badge so your visitors will see your site is regularly tested.

» Access the pooled structure that provides better speed than the standard server-by-server structure competitors usually offer.

iPage Website Builder

iPage’s primary purpose is to provide you with the web hosting you need to get your site up and running on the internet. However, if you do not already have a website, you can easily build one using the iPage Website Builder. It features:

• An easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor
• Beautiful themes to help you get started
• Modular design: You can use pre-built sections to add functionality to your site with ease.

If you purchase an iPage hosting plan, it comes with the free version of the iPage Website Builder. With this version, you can build up to six pages for your website.

Upgrading to the Professional or Business versions gets you extra features including (but not limited to):

• Support for HD video
• Version control
• Analytics
• E-commerce functionality (including full checkout process and support for coupon codes)

Site Builder Comparison: iPage vs. Weebly

If you have ever used Weebly, you will find that the iPage Website Builder is very similar. However, Weebly’s dedicated niche is the all-in-one website builder, so you might prefer its product over iPage’s, especially if you do not already have a website. Though iPage’s option is good, we would say that Weebly’s offers more, especially if you need more than a basic website.

Weebly’s site-building functionality is more robust than iPage’s, but if what you are looking for is robust web hosting, iPage is the better option for you. Weebly limits you in terms of web hosting options, whereas iPage offers different types of web hosting. If you ever see traffic spikes, you can scale up with iPage, whereas you might see an outage with Weebly.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

For small business owners, getting traffic to your website is extremely important. However, just putting up your website isn’t enough to ensure that people will find it. That’s why search engine optimization (SEO) is so important.

What SEO boils down to is getting your website to the front page of search engine results when people search for keywords relevant to your website. (And yes, it is important to be on the front page and even better to be at the top of the front page — when was the last time you looked at the second page of your search results?)

Optional SEO Packages

To help with this, iPage offers its customers optional SEO packages.

This package gives you access to a dedicated team of iPage SEO experts who will:

• Write search engine-friendly content for your website
• Edit and manage your links as appropriate
• Track your website’s performance over time to plan actions to boost your website’s SEO performance.

Measuring SEO Success

iPage’s SEO option, however, is on the more expensive side (especially for small businesses on a learn marketing/web development budget) and the rates are assessed on a monthly basis.

However, getting more traffic to your site, which can increase your business’ bottom line, may more than offset the cost of professional SEO assistance.

Consider in advance how you will measure SEO success and ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment) and discuss this with your iPage representative.

Hosting Types and Plans

iPage has various plans on offer.

Shared Hosting (the iPage Essential Plan)

This plan is designed to do everything that most individuals and small businesses need and that includes:

» Free domain name.

» Free site builder and templates to help with a fast set up of your site.

» Personalized email addresses.

» Plenty of marketing credits to get you going.

» 1-click installation of apps, blog software, photo galleries and much more.

» 24/7 support via phone, live chat, email tickets, a knowledgebase, and tutorials.

» Online store facilities including shopping carts, PayPal integration, coupons and more.

» 1 GB of Cloud storage so you can access material from anywhere.

VPS Hosting

There are three plans to choose from.

You get all the goodies from the Essential plan and a lot more.

It’s the dedicated server you want, without having to pay the higher rates.

If you expect a high level of traffic, you might want to go straight to purchasing a VPS hosting plan. Though iPage brands its shared plans as offering unlimited bandwidth, there have been instances where they “strongly encouraged” their users to get off a shared plan and on to a VPS plan.

Dedicated Servers

There are three plans.

You get your own server and can choose to manage it yourself or have an iPage expert manage it for you.

These plans come with all the benefits of the Essential and VPS plans and loads more.

» cPanel (the most popular control panel on the net) is provided, though you can use any option that you want. Remember, one of the perks of a dedicated server is nearly 100% control over all aspects of your hosting plan.

» Optional root access.

» Maximum site performance that’s unhindered by other users

Try iPage. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Customer Support and Help

» 24/7/365 support via phone, email and live chat.

» Helpful tutorials.

» Large knowledgebase.

» No waiting time in Live Chat.

» Calls usually answered in less than two minutes.

» Emails are answered within two hours.

» All support staff undergo extensive Quality Assessment to ensure they know what they’re doing.

Money-Back Guarantee

»30-day money-back guarantee minus $15 for your domain if it was free to start with and you want to keep it.

» 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Bonuses/Extras

» $100 for Google AdWords.

» $25 for Bing/Yahoo! ads.

» $50 for Facebook.

» Free listing in yellowpages.com.

» Free marketing and search engine credits.

» Site authentication seal.

» Domain Privacy. When purchasing a domain name, your personal information (including name, physical address, email address, phone number, and so on) are published in a public-accessible directory. If you want to hide this information, you can do so by purchasing domain privacy. This is a good option, especially for small business owners who are using a personal account to purchase their hosting plan and domain name. You may want only a professional address (or even no address) associated with your website.

Pros and Cons

So is web hosting from iPage any good?

Pros

» Really cheap pricing.

» Host unlimited sites on your one account.

»30-day money-back guarantee.

» Instant activation of your account once it’s paid for and registered.

» Unlimited storage, bandwidth, and MySQL databases.

» Unlimited domains.

» Free site building tools to help even the newest of members.

» Free shopping cart and online store.

» 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Cons

» After the initial term, the renewal price is higher than that of many competitors.

» Statistics aren’t broken down into individual sites.

» When you log in, sometimes there will be upsells.

» Domain price is higher than usual after the first year.

» Site building functionality is limited unless you upgrade to one of the more expensive plans.

Summary

iPage is a reputable hosting provider with a solid history of performance and cheap pricing. If you’re considering a hosting site, iPage is definitely worth a look. However and as with any web host you consider signing up with, ask lots of questions before committing to any hosting provider.

Try iPage. 30-day money-back guarantee. Get started now.

iPage frequently asked questions

iPage plans & prices

iPage offers a range of plans to suit your needs; shared hosting, VPS and dedicated servers, as well as WordPress hosting. Here below is an overview of their plans and current price list. For latest and most up to date prices visit iPage’s website.

Try iPage. 30-day money-back guarantee.

Best iPage alternatives

Our experts work hard to give you a thorough and objective look at iPage. But you can also learn a lot by looking at actual user reviews. Go over to our sister site WhoIsHostingThis to read hundreds of reviews from people who have actually used iPage. Along with our review here, you should be well placed to make the right decision.