iPage Web Hosting Review: Free SSL Cert Included But Is There a Downside? We Find Out.

iPage is a full-service domain and web hosting provider targeting smaller businesses that want to jump into the e-commerce arena. It is owned by Endurance International Group, a conglomerate that owns top internet firms like Bluehost, HostGator, and Constant Contact.

In addition to offering users unlimited disk space, a free domain name, and an unlimited number of email addresses, iPage has numerous features that help you quickly and easily develop your site. You can choose from hundreds of pre-built website templates and themes. You can opt to use their mobile-optimized website builder.

Another feature appealing to small business owners is the ability to quickly implement e-commerce add-ons, such as shopping carts and PayPal integration. iPage integrates well with any of the commonly used Content Management Systems (CMS), such as WordPress, Drupal, and Magento.

Contacting iPage’s customer service team is easy using their online ticketing system or 24/7 chat and phone availability. If you’re not satisfied with the services you receive, iPage offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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iPage Main Features

iPage web hosting contains many features that set the hosting provider apart from competitors. Below is an outline

• Free domain name
• Unlimited Emails
• Unlimited disk space
• 100% powered by wind energy
• Free site-building tools including templates
• Daily malware and spam scans
• Scalable bandwidth
• Unlimited domains
• Unlimited MySQL databases.
• Easy installation of apps such as b2evolution and WordPress.
• 99.99% uptime guarantee.

Unlimited Emails

This feature includes thorough testing functionality so you can test before sending it. 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

Plans include 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).

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.

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.

Security

Security is one of the biggest considerations for your business when choosing a hosting provider. Below is a list of some of the security features offered by iPage.

1. 24/7 monitoring so problems can be detected and fixed fast
2. Nightly backups and restores
3. Access to website error logs
4. Power supply backups
5. State of the art encryption
6. Firewall
7. Human monitoring of threats

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’ disk fails.

SiteLock Security

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 competitors

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.

If you purchase an iPage web 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. Features include:

• An easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor
• Beautiful themes to help you get started
• Modular design for ease-of-use
• Support for HD video (Premium)
• Version control (Premium)
• Analytics (Premium)
• E-commerce functionality (Premium)
• Full checkout processing (Premium)
• Support for coupon codes (Premium).

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 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
• 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 to meet your hosting needs. Which plan you choose will depend on the individual needs and requirements of your business.

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 plan and VPS plans and loads more.

• vDeck control panel is included
• 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

1. 24/7/365 support via phone, email and live chat
2. Helpful tutorials
3. Large knowledgebase
4. No waiting time in Live Chat
5. Calls usually answered in less than two minutes
6. Emails are answered within two hours
7. All support staff receives extensive Quality Assessment to ensure they know what they’re doing.

Guarantee

One of the best features available to iPage customers is the company’s guarantees. Each customer is given the following assurances upon joining.

• 30-day money-back guarantee minus domain costs
• 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Bonuses/Extras

Meanwhile, there are a number of additional bonuses and features available to iPage customers, which the company states add up to $500. These include the following features.

1. $100 for Google AdWords
2. $25 for Bing/Yahoo! ads
3. $50 for Facebook ads
4. Free listing on yellowpages.com
5. Free marketing and search engine credits
6. A site authentication seal
7. Domain Privacy

What is 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?

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 and 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

People share their opinions about companies on Twitter each and every day. We monitor tweets about iPage and apply a sentiment analysis algorithm that classifies these tweets as positive or negative. Every review is from a real personal opinion. We use this information and output an approval rating score, which is based on real people, positive and negative, opinions about iPage on Twitter.