Founded in 1988, iPage is one of the most recognized web hosting companies today. Owned and run by Endurance International Group (EIG) iPage currently host beyond one million sites.
Its shared plan is among the cheapest in the industry. iPage is perfect for those the beginner blogger or small site businesses that want something cheap, and reliable yet with good features.
So let’s get started.
Table of Contents
The Pros of Using iPage:
Cheap pricing–
From other web-hosting providers, iPage is different. It provides one pricing system rather than multiple pricing on shared plans with different features. A 3-year shared plan cost $1.99 per month. It is mainly for beginners or businesses that have a tight budget. Similarly, a 2-year shared plan is $2.49 per month and a 1-year shared plan cost $2.99 per month. This cost is initially just for the first term which depends on how many years of shared plan you are purchasing i.e. 1 to 3 years. Once that time is over, the renewal price is quite high with $ 7.99 per month for a 3-year shared plan.
Dependable uptime-
A crucial factor determining the success of your platform is server uptime. You don’t want your users having to wait to access your website because the servers are down. This could lead them to switch to other web hosting platforms.
But thankfully that is not the case for iPage. The server uptime of iPage is most of the time is 99.9% like other web hosting providers. Even if there is a downtime their engineer monitors it immediately as their server has a 24/7 monitoring facility. On average monthly uptime always remained between 99.9%-100%. Downtime is zero for most of the months. This makes it one of the most reliable web host services for users.
Free domain-
On signing up for an iPage account, for the first time, you will be provided a free domain name for your website. New registration for a separate domain is not required as a result you get to save $15 for the first year.
Not just a free domain, a free SSL certificate is also given for your site which ensures basic security. This is highly important because without a valid SSL certificate Google Chrome warns the user that the site is unsafe for browsing. Therefore, traffic to your site and search engine ranking and be impacted significantly.
Unlimited storage and bandwidth-
As long as the user follows iPage’s instructions on website operation only then does the user get unlimited storage. That’s good for beginners or small businesses as they won’t need much disk space and it rarely happens with them anyway.
The bar on storage is so high that small or medium-sized websites need to worry about crossing it.
But if a user has thousands of files stored on the server then they will need to merge their file forcibly by iPage and be asked to limit their usage.
There is no limit on bandwidth according to iPage because they expect that small businesses on shared plans won’t need more data transfer than they are providing. So for shared servers, there is a flexible amount of bandwidth.
Unlimited Email-
iPage provides a maximum storage capacity of 500MB or 10,000 email messages for an individual mailbox. It also includes spam management which means your spam emails are automatically deleted without you having to do it.
Money-back guarantee-
For all shared hosting accounts, iPage promises a 30-day money-back guarantee if are not happy with their service just like its competitors.
Excellent customer service-
iPage offer 24/7 phone call support, email, and live chat. They are very responsive in their live chat and won’t make the customer wait for long. You can speak to their support team from any part of the world and they are very responsive. Extensive Quality Assessment is received by all support staff so they have a wide knowledge base. If you are running out of time and want to fix the problem by yourself, they offer helpful tutorials also.
Reliability and Security–
Apart from a free SSL security certificate, iPage also offers SiteLock security which is an extra form of security.
With Sitelock security, your site is scanned daily for the threat of viruses and malware, malware is removed automatically, automated bot attacks are blocked, the website’s code and the app are protected from cyber threats and the unwanted scam is blacklisted.
Website builder-
Whatever hosting plan you choose iPage offers a free website builder for all. It helps to customize the look of your site without having to pay to a web designer. Many readymade templates are available to customize your site’s layout. It is Al powered website builder which means you are dependent on the machine to do your work.
Though ipage is cheap and has good customer support still every web hosting company has some limitations despite the good features. Now we shall into those.
The cons of iPage are:
Server speed slow-
iPage’s only two data centers are both located in Boston, Massachusetts in the USA. So if visitors belong outside of North America then the site will take a considerable amount of time to load up the page.
Slow site speed may result in poor search engine ranking and poor performance.
High renewal cost and extra fees for additional services-
Though the introductory price is low once the time comes to renew it, it’s quite expensive. For 3 years shared plan, the introductory price is $1.99 and the renewal price after 3 years is $7.99 which is four times higher than its starting price.
iPage provides additional security by offering a Sitelock plan. But this is not free. Starting costs range from $3.99-to $24.99 per month.
Similarly, there is an extra fee for website backup of $14.99 per year as automatic backup is not available and a site migration fee of $150 per site.
Site migration is not free-
If a user wants to shift their existing site from their previous host it is generally free on other web hosting platforms. But that’s not the case for iPage. A fee of $150 is charged by iPage for the migration of a single site.
Absence of cPanel- The traditional cPanel that many users are accustomed to using is absent in iPage. They have their own control panel and many users may not like this thing if they were more comfortable using the cPanel.
Do we recommend iPage?
Yes. For a smaller website with a shared plan, it is recommended due to its cheap plans and flexible features.
Why should iPage be my priority over other web hosts?
24/7 customer service, affordability, attractive features like website builder, strong uptime, and cheap cost are the reason to pick iPage over other web host companies.
Are there other web hosts better than iPage?
That totally depends upon your priorities. Every web host companies have its good and the bad. But Hostgator, DreamHost, and Bluehost are also good options.
Overall rating
Ipage makes an excellent choice of entry-level users like personal bloggers, smaller sites and local business pages. Its affordable price offers excellent value for money. With the simple dashboard, iPage is easy to use. The responsive support team and free domain registration are likable benefits. Overall it’s a well-rounded web hosting provider.
