iPage Pros & Cons – Is iPage Hosting Still a Good Choice?

When starting a website, web hosting is one of the first things you’ll have to consider. If you’re planning to launch a website this year, and you’re looking for a cheap web hosting solution, in your search, you may come across iPage as an often-recommended web host in the affordable hosting category.

Indeed, iPage is a popular budget host with multiple hosting packages built for various web hosting needs and requirements. The company has been offering hosting services for the better part of two decades. Undoubtedly, this web host has endured the test of time, but is iPage still a good choice? Read our iPage review below to find out.

iPage Hosting Review

Besides the affordable pricing, the appeal of iPage’s hosting packages — and of the hosting packages of many budget host, for that matter — lies in the many freebies offered with the so-called bare-back plans. Thus, iPage’s hosting plans boast free domain registration, free site builder tools, pre-installed themes and plugins, free security tools, free search engine marketing credits, 24/7 support, video tutorials, and many other user-friendly features.

Budget hosts like iPage are also popular among beginners precisely for their ‘hand-holding’ practices or managed hosting services, which help even inexperienced users build websites and successfully manage their accounts.

Let’s see what hosting types does iPage offer and how are these plans configured to meet the demands of users planning on launching a website today.

iPage Hosting Plans

iPage lines up four types of hosting plans: shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers.

iPage offers a single, heavily discounted shared hosting plan that costs only $1.99/month for the first 36 months you sign up for. Discounts are available for 24 and 12-month contract periods as well, and plans renew at $7.99/month. This is a pretty good bargain if your host is a reliable one, and you’re looking for long-term hosting.

The shared package comes with unlimited disk space, scalable bandwidth, unlimited domain hosting, free site builder tool (up to 6 pages), 1-click WordPress and other CMS installer, vDeck control panel, choice of shopping carts, PayPal integration, Google AdWords credit, and other features.

iPage’s WordPress hosting packages build on the shared hosting plan and their pricing starts at $3.75/month. These packages include WordPress pre-installed, pre-installed plugins (W3 Total Cache, Jetpack, etc.), speed optimization, and a host of security tools from SiteLock.

If you outgrow these shared hosting plans, or you want guaranteed resources and more independence from the start, you should consider the VPS packages offered by iPage. Pricing starts at $19.99/month (billed monthly, longer periods get discounts), and these plans also feature all the freebies that were available with the shared package.

cPanel, optional root access, managed support, high-speed mirrored SAN storage, free IPs, Cent OS 6.4, and instant provisioning of resources are included with each VPS plan.

Dedicated servers at iPage offer independent control, cloud-based flexibility, and managed support. These packages start at $119.99/month (billed monthly), providing extensive security, mirrored storage, and ultimate performance.

From this overview of the hosting packages offered by this web host, it’s clear that iPage can offer your site room to grow, and can cover hosting needs that go beyond shared hosting. Next, let’s see how iPage fares in the customer support department.

iPage Customer Support

iPage has phone support available 24/7, live chat, and email. The knowledge base they maintain on their website is populated with several beginner-friendly articles, tutorials, and help guides.

Not all budget hosts have so many support channels available, so it’s a great plus for iPage that you can reach them on whichever channel is more convenient for you. A quick analysis of reviews of iPage shows that some users prefer getting in touch with them via phone, reporting quicker resolution outcomes.

Pros & Cons of iPage

Pros – Why Choose iPage?

Here are some reasons why iPage can be among the hosts to consider for 2018:

• Affordable Shared Hosting: Clearly pricing is a solid reason why iPage can still be a good choice for 2018, especially if you don’t mind signing up for longer periods.
• Lots of freebies: All plans have some extra features included for free, which make these packages more appealing especially if you plan on taking advantage of the freebies offered.
• Flexibility: All plans are scalable, allowing you to add more resources or upgrade to other packages if you need to expand.
• Beginner-friendly: iPage is an inclusive host that welcomes beginners by offering many features that benefit first-time users.

Cons – What’s Bad About iPage?

iPage is suitable for individuals and small businesses, but it’s not a “fits all” web host. So, here’s why iPage might not be a good choice for some:

• High renewal rates: Yes, iPage offers good introductory pricing on their shared hosting, but only if you commit for 3 years, and the renewal rate after the promotional is much higher.
• Lots of Upsells: At checkout, iPage pushes some extra features like Site Security tools, SSL, Site Backup and Restore, some of which are marked by default, so be careful to uncheck them if you don’t need them. Some hosts will offer these for free with their plans, especially backups.
• Only Linux hosting: iPage does not offer Windows-based hosting or the option to choose a preferred OS on VPS or dedicated packages.
• No SSD storage: Although iPage has some plans built on cloud technology, they’re yet to offer SSD storage as well, which delivers better speed and performance than traditional hard drives.

Conclusion on iPage

iPage’s shared hosting plan is probably their best-value plan, so if you’re still learning the ropes of web hosting and website building, this plan is definitely a good place to start. Although their VPS and dedicated plans may not outrank other offerings in the industry, they deliver plenty of resources to allow your website to grow.

If the points raised with regard to the disadvantages of iPage are not an issue for you, iPage is a good host to consider for 2018.