iPage Review

iPage was founded in 1998 and hosts over a million websites across two data centers in the US.

Their uptime has been above average at 99.96% over the past few 24 months, while their page loading times are an average of 746ms. iPage’s single shared hosting plan is among the cheapest we’ve reviewed at $1.99/mo for three years. They also have two WordPress-based plans with a few extra features like SiteLock and automatic malware removal.

Default plans come with unlimited bandwidth and disk space, a free domain name for the first year, and a free SSL certificate.

   

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Pros of Using iPage Hosting

iPage is extremely inexpensive when you sign up for the first three years. Their uptime is above average and customer support is friendly. Furthermore, they have access to just about every tool or open source app that you could want.

1. Cheap, Inexpensive Hosting

iPage has consistently been one of the cheapest web hosts we’ve reviewed over the past few years.

And it seems like every so often, they find a way to discount the starting price even further.

Currently, the iPage starts at $1.99/month. The value, as you’ll see in a minute, is good, too. They only have one shared hosting plan, so nothing is ‘held back’ to try and force you to upgrade.

The only catch is that you’ll have to pay for three full years upfront to get that $1.99/month price point.

Otherwise, the regular (read: “renewal”) rate is $7.99/month.

If you’re only paying for a single year, the introductory pricing is $2.99/month (with the renewal at $9.99/month). And if you’re paying for two years, instead of three, it’s $2.49/month (or $9.99 renewal). 

2. Lots of Third-Party Applications

As mentioned, iPage’s ‘core’ offering is solid. Here’s a brief rundown of everything you get for that $1.99/month (times three years).

All hosting plans come with a free domain registration for the first year. This saves you ~$15/year right off the top.

You’ll also get a free email address and SSL certificate, too. Each email account is branded for your domain, includes email forwarding, autoresponders, spam filters, virus checking, and even POP3/IMAP accounts so you can set everything up with Outlook.

This plan comes with unlimited disk space, ‘scalable’ bandwidth (meaning mostly unmetered), and unlimited MySQL databases. Not too shabby.

3. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

iPage has a no-questions-asked 30-day refund policy. Simply let them know within the first month that you’re not happy and they’ll gladly give your hosting money back.

Like other hosts, however, domain names and additional services are usually not refundable.

iPage gives you a free domain name for the first year. So if you ask for a refund, a $15 fee to cover the cost of the domain name will be deducted. The good news is that you will still own the domain name and can move it or ‘point’ the domain to another hosting company somewhere else.

4. Decent Loading Time (746ms)

Over the last 24 months, iPage’s loading times have been an average of 746ms.

That means they take a bit under a second to load a page, which is definitely a good sign in the Internet world

Studies have shown a correlation between fast page speeds and higher conversion rates. Lower page speeds have the opposite effect: lower conversion rates and revenue.

5. Strong Uptime of 99.96%

iPage has a lot of features to like. However, none of them are really worth anything unless your site is reliably online and open to your visitors.

That’s why one of our favorite performance tests is to track uptime performance. We use a long period of 24 months, so we can rule out any one-time problems. Then, we can objectively compare these uptime results against other hosting service providers to show you exactly how one host is better than another — no bias included.

Thankfully, iPage has delivered a 99.96% uptime average over this time period. That’s well above industry average, and good enough to comfortably place it in the top bracket of hosts we’ve reviewed.

There were some months during the 24-month tracking period where iPage struggled with uptime, and this brought down the average a bit. Otherwise, that average could have been even higher.

6. Friendly Customer Support

iPage offers customer support through an online help desk and ticketing system. They offer tutorials if you want to try and fix the issue quickly by yourself. Otherwise, they also offer phone and chat support.

iPage Pricing, Hosting Plans & Quick Facts

Shared Hosting: iPage just has a single shared hosting plan that starts at $1.99/month for three years. It comes with unlimited disk space, bandwidth, and MySQL databases. You also get a domain name the first year for free, plus an SSL certificate and email address.

WordPress Hosting: They have two main WordPress hosting plans:

• WP Starter: This plan costs $3.75 per month. It comes with a free domain name for a year, unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, customized control panel, and pre-installed themes and plugins.
• WP Essential: This plan costs $6.95 per month. It includes everything in the Starter option, plus WordPress expert support, automatic malware removal, and SiteLock professional security.

• Free domain? Yes.
• Ease of Signup: Fairly easy sign-up process.
• Payment Methods: Credit Card, PayPal.
• Hidden Fees and Clauses: Accounts with an inode count measurement over 200,000, over 1000+ database tables or more than 3GB total MySQL/PostgreSQL / 2GB MySQL/PostgreSQL usage might be terminated with zero notice.
• Upsells: Lots of upsells.
• Account Activation: Quick activation.
• Control Panel and Dashboard Experience: Easy-to-use vDeck control Panel.
• Installation of Apps and CMSs (WordPress, Joomla, etc.): Easy installation of popular apps and CMSs via their control panel.

Conclusion

iPage’s pricing is among the cheapest; they have solid uptime, speed,  and pretty good customer support.

  

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