Just another Endurance International Group company, or is iPage worth considering?
- About iPage
- What Makes iPage Unique?
- iPage Online Reputation
- Shared Hosting (From $1.99/mo)
- Shared Hosting (From $1,99/mo)
- WordPress Hosting (From $3.75/mo)
- WordPress Starter ($3.75/mo)
- WordPress Essential ($6.95/mo)
- VPS Hosting (From $19.99/mo)
- Basic VPS ($19.99/mo)
- Business VPS ($49.99)
- Optimum VPS ($79.99)
- Features and Tools Offered
- Cancellation Policies
- Customer Service Review
- Who’s the Ideal iPage Customer?
- iPage Verdict
About iPage
iPage is one of several hosting companies owned and managed by Endurance International Group (others include Bluehost and HostGator). Launched in 1998, they’re one of the longest-running hosting companies under the Endurance umbrella. iPage hosts over 1 million domain names worldwide and specializes in providing low-cost shared hosting.
What Makes iPage Unique?
iPage is virtually identical to other hosting companies within the Endurance International Group. The only notable features are a free domain and $100 in Google Adwords vouchers.
The major difference between iPage and their competitors is the price: Shared Hosting starts at $1.99 per month. One significant problem is the design of the iPage website: It doesn’t make clear the pricing structure for Shared Hosting or the features that come with different options. Instead, the website’s design forces you into the purchasing process. Setups like this can often trick people into thinking, “Oh well, I might as well since I’ve gone this far”, but personally, I appreciate more price transparency.
A screenshot of iPage’s home page. Note the lack of pricing info!
iPage Online Reputation
As with other budget hosting companies in the Endurance International Group, online customer reviews for iPage are mixed. TrustPilot.com gives them a one-star rating. At the date of this review, 70% of the 40 posted reviews give iPage one star. iPage has not replied to any customer complaints.
On the other hand, WhoIsHostingThis.com give iPage a 4-star rating. This score is calculated from 427 reviews, over 50% of which give the company 5 stars (the highest rating). Only 76 of the 427 reviews feature a score of under 3 stars.
In the majority of cases, the negative reviews focus on renewal fees. Apparently, iPage exercises the right to withdraw funds prior to the renewal date, kind of like Fatcow. It’s worth noting that this is a perfectly legitimate business practice and not a problem if you want to renew your hosting. However, you should keep this in mind if you want to migrate away.
Overall, there don’t seem to be many complaints regarding regular downtime and poor customer support. This is an very positive sign for people new to hosting. One point of complaint is that iPage is one of the few hosting companies that doesn’t use cPanel (this helps explain their incredibly low prices). Again, like Fatcow! This can be an issue if you are moving away from iPage, since other services that rely on cPanel often need it to make moving websites smooth and easy. Not all hosts use cPanel though, so it’s not completely out of the ordinary to offer this. In fact, lots of people dislike cPanel!
iPage do use an alternative for managing your databases, email, and webiste installs., which we’ll examine later in this review.
A screenshot of the iPage control panel.
Shared Hosting (From $1.99/mo)
iPage has the cheapest shared hosting that I’ve found so far based in the US. For a cheap UK alternative, 123-reg.co.uk offers hosting for £1 per month for the first year.
Basic hosting plans at iPage start from $1.99/mo–if you commit to a 36-month agreement, that is. A 12 month agreement costs $2.95, which puts iPage in line with hosting companies like HostGator and Bluehost.
It’s important to note that these are introductory prices, which have been discounted by 75%. When your renewal comes around, expect a 75% price bump.
iPage only offers one shared hosting plan, which claims to come with over $500 worth of free add-on services. You’ll receive a free domain name for the first year ($14.99 annual renewal). Customers will also receive free SEO marketing vouchers.
Shared Hosting (From $1,99/mo)
- Unlimited Domains
- Unlimited Storage
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- Unlimited E-mail
- Unlimited MySQL Database
- Free SiteLock
Watch out for the additional services that get added by default when you register. Although iPage claims to offer many free security features, you’ll need to deselect the $19.95 security bundle if that’s all you want.
WordPress Hosting (From $3.75/mo)
More often that not, hosting companies such as SiteGround host WordPress on an optimized cloud or VPS server. By contrast, iPage’s WordPress Hosting employs a standard shared server. All of their WordPress Hosting plans come with a free domain name and free SEO marketing vouchers.
iPage’s website claims that they offer a managed service with many WordPress themes and plugins already installed. These themes and plugins come with every copy of WordPress just FYI.
WordPress Starter ($3.75/mo)
- Unlimited Storage
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- Enhanced Security and Support
WordPress Essential ($6.95/mo)
- Unlimited Domains
- Unlimited Storage
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- SiteLock Security
- WordPress Expert Support
Please note: WordPress Expert Support is not a managed service. You’ll receive help installing WordPress (even though they claim to have one-click installation). You can also get support for installing themes and plugins. If you have any technical issues relating to your website (i.e. issues not related to hosting), they offer further assistance at a cost. Personally, I’d rather pay more for a WordPress optimize service that includes WordPress help like WP Engine rather than genera shared hosting with a monthly fee for so-called WP support that has limits!
I don’t expect hosting companies to help with every aspect of WordPress. In reality, none of them do. Still, iPage delivers a rather mixed marketing message.
A screenshot of iPage’s Help Center page.
VPS Hosting (From $19.99/mo)
iPage offer 3 VPS hosting packages. They’re all built on cloud server technology, making them more reliable than standard VPS hosting packages. All 3 packages are Linux-based, which means that users will need some technical know-how to get the most from this service.
Like their material on WordPress Hosting, the iPage marketing material makes bold claims of being a managed service. However, customer support is limited to basic server functions. If you’re willing to shop around, you can find some very affordable, fully managed services. For VPS, I use KnownHost (shown below).
Basic VPS ($19.99/mo)
- 1 Core CPU
- 1GB RAM
- 40GB Storage
- 1TB Bandwidth
Business VPS ($49.99)
- 2 Core CPU
- 4GB RAM
- 90GB Storage
- 3TB Bandwidth
Optimum VPS ($79.99)
- 4 Core CPU
- 9GB RAM
- 120GB Storage
- 4TB Bandwidth
All hosting plans come with a free domain name and cPanel.
Features and Tools Offered
iPage doesn’t use the industry standard cPanel as a user interface. This is one way iPage is able to offer their remarkably low-cost hosting. The replacement control panel is reportedly not as user-friendly. Though I used to think that cPanel was just a standard for hosting, I’m finding it more and more common for companies to NOT offer cPanel, or only offer cPanel as an option if you want it. In fact, I haven’t used it for many years now and I don’t miss it!
Once you learn FTP, you won’t miss the file manager, and then you can just manage email though your Gmail forwarding.
Customers receive a free domain name for the first year. However, the renewal cost is $14.99. This is more expensive than what you’ll find with a dedicated domain name providers.
New customers will receive search engine vouchers. Unfortunately, the $100 Google Adwords voucher is only available to US customers. These are pretty common, but it’s still nice to have $100 to advertise your business. The voucher will be most useful for someone selling physical products through an ecommerce website, and can be a great method of learning how to do PPC advertising rather than spending your (not yet earned) money!
A screenshot of iPage’s WordPress Hosting page.
Cancellation Policies
iPage offer a 30-day cancellation and a money back guarantee. To cancel, you can contact their 24/7 live support or launch a ticket with their billing department. After contacting several sales representatives, I couldn’t obtain any further information.
Customer Service Review
iPage customer support is reportedly good. They have a policy requiring a response to all support tickets in less than 24 hours.
Also, every hosting plan comes with access to 24/7 live chat support. The support window feels a little old and clunky compared to other hosting providers.
For the most part, the online reputation for iPage customer support is very positive: As promised, they do respond to most support tickets within 24 hours.
Some of iPage’s advertised services, including their website builder, security features, marketing tools and 24/7 support.
Who’s the Ideal iPage Customer?
Without a doubt, iPage is meant for small WordPress blogs and those new to website hosting. iPage offers some of the cheapest shared hosting available. To their credit, they haven’t cut back on services to support their low prices. Instead, they offer an extensive range of useful, free extras, including a domain name.
iPage Verdict
iPage offers services comparable to other budget hosting companies. Among other hosting companies in the Endurance International Group, iPage scores highly. When it comes to service and support, I’d place them below Bluehost but light years ahead of HostGator.
iPage does offer some of the cheapest entry-level hosting available. If you’re willing to commit to 36 months, you’ll receive shared hosting at $1.99/mo. That price is hard to beat. However, it’s hard to say where you business will be in three years. Rather than commit right now, test out their service for a few months, then upgrade to the three year plan. You have plenty of time. Alternatively, you can pick one of my most recommended services and start out your business on the best foot.
Although a little slow and clunky, the iPage support system is practical and effective. Independent uptime checks show that iPage has rarely fallen below 99% uptime on any given month.
My all-time favorite host is Kinsta. They are pricey, but freakin’ fast and the support is rock-solid. The STARTER plan is great for one website, but I recommend the BUSINESS 1 if you want to build multiple websites
What’s up ladies and dudes! Great to finally meet you, and I hope you enjoyed this post. Sign up for my #1 recommended training course and learn how to start your business for FREE!