iPage Reviews

The web hosting company, Ipage is specialized in offering shared hosting plans at a very affordable rate. They also offer a range of bonuses and freebies on signup, worth more than $500, and their service is backed with a 24/7 online support and 30 day money-back guarantee.

iPage is a US-based company, having customers all over the world, and they claim having over one and a half million active domains on their system and hosting over one million websites in their datacenters.

The company was originally founded by Thomas Gorny, back in 1998, and now, iPage is owned by the Endurance International Group, which is the owner of other popular hosting companies like FatCow, BlueHost and others. In the following section of this ipage review will show you the pros and cons of the company.

What’s Good About iPage?

Affordable Starting Price: with the current promotional price, $1.99/month deal, iPage is the cheapest shared hosting provider that offers the possibility to host as many websites you want on the same account.

Easy Website Builder: this is a very useful tool, especially for beginners, who want to get their website going right after the signup. In theory, you can set up a website in 10 minutes with this tool.

Money Back Guarantee: unhappy with their service, want to change host, want to close website, the reason does not matter, you can ask for refund. *Please note that iPage no longer offer anytime money back, they changed their refund policy and now you can get a refund within 30 days. This is still a good period of time to test their services.

Instant Account Activation: after registration and successful payment, customer will receive an email with all the details that are required to access the newly purchased hosting account. No holding or phone activation is required.

Server Upgrade Options: if you are running a small business or online shop, you expect to get more and more traffic to your website. Shared hosting is great for small sites with low traffic, but if you need more server resources, you can always upgrade to one of iPage’s VPS or dedicated plans.

What’s Bad About iPage?

High Renewal Price: although their starting price is very competitive, their renewal rates are higher than competitor’s.

In-depth Review of iPage.com Web Hosting

Above we have shown you some history and broadly covered the good and bad sides of hosting your site with iPage. I’ve analyzed the company not only from the outside, but also from the inside. I’ve been hosting with iPage for years, and I know lots of things about their service, support and performance. In the following I will help you decide if iPage is the right choice for you or not. Please read along my detailed iPage review to find out everything you need before you sign up with them.

iPage Hosting Plans

The iPage Essential Plan is basically an “unlimited” all-in-one shared hosting package that comes with a wider range of features, tool and bonuses. Each account is allowed to create unlimited MySQL databases and add-on as many domains they like. iPage says that this plan includes unlimited space and bandwidth, under normal website operation. In their terms of service they do not specify the exact amount, but they do not allow certain type of behavior on these accounts such as file sharing service and other operations that consume high bandwidth and server resources.

The shared plan includes the Weebly drag-and-drop site builder tool, the starter version allowing you to create a webpage with up to six pages. To sell products online, you can use ShopSite which is a popular eCommerce platform that integrates with all major payment processors. It is also possible to install your favorite CMS or blog using their one-click installer tool. Click here to see all the available scripts.

Although the company does not advertise as heavily the virtual and dedicated server, you should know that they offer the possibility to their clients to upgrade their shared hosting account when necessary. The VPS and dedicated plans are available with monthly payment subscriptions as well.

iPage Uptime / Downtime

iPage do not claim neither do no not offer any uptime guarantee. Because I was curious about their up-time, I have monitored 3 websites (two wordpress and one php website with up to 50 visitors a day) over 30 days and the result the iPage’s uptime was fabulous: 99,99% as the screenshot shows:

The websites that are hosted at iPage are clustered over two data-centers, which are located in Boston, MA, USA. They use world-class technology and monitoring the network 24×7 to ensure that no service disruption occurs. iPage is prepared for an eventual power outage running UPS power backups along with a diesel backup generation system to make sure that websites are always up and running. Severs are backed up daily using NetApp Snapshot.

We wanted to show you a quick uptime status update on our iPage.com test website. As the following screenshot shows, there was a 4 minutes downtime at the end of November, 2017, but since then, there was no outage for our test website, resulting in 100% uptime in the last 30 days. The average response time is around 550ms, which is a great result.

Just to give you a most recent update on our test results about iPage.com’s uptime, here is a screenshot take from UptimeRobot:

The uptime status on our iPage hosted website was published one year ago. So I decided it is time to update it. In November 2017, there was a minimal outage, resulting in 99.99% uptime for a 30 day period, which is less than 5 minutes in a month. The average response time was around 650 ms. On high traffic spikes, the response time can increase, but it comes back to normal very quickly. These results are still very good for a low budget shared hosting plan. Nothing to worry about.

The uptime for the monitored website hosted at iPage in November 2016 is 99.99% while the average response time was 1023 ms. The response time is still above industry average, but acceptable for a shared account.

iPage Online Support

The company offers 24/7 online support via phone, chat and emails. They claim that on average calls are answered in about a minute.

Some ipage reviews sites claim that the online support is bad, most of them complain about the live chat, others are saying that the support team is great and they were able to get answers via phone in just couple if minutes. Searching the web, you will find a lot of different opinion about the quality and professionalism of the company’s support. It is a fact, that each customer is different and we all have different needs and thresholds. I also communicate in different ways and may approach a problem from a different angle and some time we misunderstand each other.

I had the chance to test Ipage support with a real problem and contacted all three support lines. Via the live chat I was not able to solve anything, the support specialist advised me to contact the technical department via email. Meanwhile I also called their phone support and tried to explain what my problem is; they were very professional and helped me right away. Because my problem was solved, they also closed the email ticket I sent earlier. So if you have a technical issue, you better send an email or call and avoid the live chat.

I did not found any information on their public site about the premium support option, but you should know that beside the free support there is a possibility to get benefit of a faster premium support at an additional cost.

Their knowledge base is a collection of articles, tutorials and videos that will help beginners to get started with their website. They cover the wide range of topics from how to use the control panel to WordPress and Joomla tutorials. It is a very good source of information for users who are new to web hosting and site building. This section of the website it is available for public users, so you can check it out before singup.

iPage Control Panel

iPage use a custom-built control panel for their account management, called vDeck. If you are switching from a cPanel host to iPage, you should know that this does not differ much from the well know cPanel. It includes all the features you will need from creating your email account through to install scripts to manage your billings. This is a browser-based control panel that can be accessed right from iPage’s website using the login information that you receive on singup.

iPage has been re-branded in 2017; they got a new logo a new website design and the control panel has also been updated. Here is the screenshot of the new control panel:

This is a screenshot from the old control panel of our iPage test account.

The most popular tools are included at the top in the “My Favorite” section, where you can access your domains, emails, quickly install WordPress or other scripts with SimpleScripts or access the Weebly site builder.

VPS and Dedicated hosting plans offered by iPage include cPanel, full root access and fully managed support.

iPage WordPress Hosting

While WordPress is the most popular open source CMS used for building websites, you most likely already heard about it. If you are looking to create your website using WordPress, probably you want to know if iPage is a good host to choose. The short answer is: Yes! iPage is good for WordPress sites.

The Essential plan is good enough for a standard WordPress site. I have been monitoring multiple WordPress sites that are hosted with iPage, and I got really good results in terms of uptime and performance. All these test sites are hosted on the Essential plan.

The installation of WordPress is straight forward. After accessing your iPage control panel, click on the WordPress icon, and follow the next few steps. In just a few clicks, you can setup WordPress to your website. No need to work with code or database, just follow the instructions provided on the installation page.

The WordPress optimized plans offered by iPage gives you an extra comfort. For instance, if you purchase the WP Essential plan, you will get WordPress installed to your website automatically. They also install handpicked plugins (Yoast SEO plugin, Ninja Forms, Google Analytics and others) to make your website more functional.

WP Essential also includes an extra layer of security, which detects and removes malware from your website. The benefit of using iPage’s WordPress plans is to save time and add extra security and functionality to your website. In case you have any questions or issues, you can contact the expert WordPress support.

Create eCommerce Website with iPage

Starting an online shop these days is very easy. With iPage you can setup an online store quickly. The company provides a handful of tools for creating a professional eCommerce website for your business both open source and premium.

You can choose from a wide range of open source eCommerce software such as PrestaShop, OpenCart, AgoraCart, CubeCart, ZenCart, osCommerce and others. These can be installed to your website for free via the MojoMarketplace one-click installer service. You can also choose to build your online shop using WordPress or Joomla. For these two you will need to install additional plugins (WooCommerce, WP EasyCart, WP Simple PayPal Shopping Cart, etc.) and extensions (VirtueMart, HikaShop, Eshop, j2Store, Quick2Cart, PhocaCart, etc. ) to get the eCommerce functionality.

Ecwid Online Sotre is a premium online store building tool, which is very easy to use, and comes with all the necessary features that an eCommerce website needs. It can be integrated with WordPress, Joomla, Weebly and other software. The Basic Ecwid plan allows adding up to 20 products and will cost less than $5 per month. Of course there are options to upgrade and sell as many products you like.

If you are only selling few items on your website, and decide to pay extra for a premium online store builder, Ecwid Online Store might be the best choice and best value for your money.

However, if you choose an open source eCommerce software, it would be wise to go straight away for a VPS plan, or try out the shared plan first and upgrade it as needed. For better security, you might also want to consider adding an SSL certificate to your online store. SSL is only available on VPS or dedicated plans or Ecwid Premium and Unlimited plan.

What if you want to use WordPress and WooCommerce for building your shop? You can certainly use WooCommerce at iPage, however I recommend at least a VPS plan for this plugin to run at a good performance. If you are interested in using WooCommerce, you should check out our recommendations on the best WooCommerce hosting providers.

iPage Pricing & Renewal Cost

Regularly iPage offers discounts and deals to its customers during initial term. The Essential Plan is available from $1.99 with a 36-month subscription for new customers. It is important to know that hosting plans at iPage renew at regular rates. Here I have collected the renewal cost of most popular hosting plans.

Please use the following table for informative purpose. These price table was updated on January 25, 2018. VAT rates may apply for EU customers.

	Monthly Term	12-Month Term	24-Month Term	36-Month Term
Essential Plan	n/a	$9.99 / mo	$8.99 / mo	$7.99 / mo
WP Starter	$10.49 / mo	$9.49 / mo	$8.49 / mo	$7.49 / mo
WP Essential	$12.49 / mo	$12.49 / mo	$11.49 / mo	$10.49 / mo

Please note the prices in the table below were taken from iPage.com official website on December 2016 and they are subject to change.

	Monthly Term	12-Month Term	24-Month Term	36-Month Term
Essential Plan	$12.95	$12.95	$11.95	$10.95
WP Starter	$10.49	$9.49	$8.49	n/a
WP Essential	$17.95	$17.95	$16.95	$15.95

Customize Your iPage Hosting Plan

When signing up with iPage, besides web hosting, you will have the option to select from couple of additional services. Some of them can be really good, while other might not needed. Let’s see which optional services you should purchase from iPage.

Domain Privacy: in our opinion this is a must if you register a domain with iPage. This service will hide your public domain information such as name, address and email from spammers, hackers and all unwanted eyes.

Website Security: this service promises to protect your website from viruses, hackers and malware by scanning it daily. If you are concerned about any of these, you might consider purchasing this service.

Site Backup & Restore: this service will automatically backup your website on a daily basis. In our opinion this worth purchasing, but to be extra safe, please keep a backup of current version of your website on a local device.

WordPress Optimization: you should only purchase this service, if you are planning to build your website with WordPress and need expert WP support. Please note that on optimized WordPress plans you are allowed to install only approved plugins and themes.

SSL Certificate: in our opinion this is a must for any type of website, not because you want to secure and protect sensitive visitor information and protect your website from phishing, but it is also a ranking factor in Google.

G Suite: this is a great business solution offered by Google enabling you to create professional company email, share calendars, create video conferences and store big files online. If you work online and you are in touch with lots of people, this product is a must to manage your work and time.

iPage Money Back Guarantee

A full refund is granted within 30 days after signup; the refund does exclude the domain name (if you registered one with them) and add-ons that are offered to you on singup.

Before I started creating this ipage hosting review, I also did an online research to see what customers are complaining about. I found that half of complains were on the company’s money back policy. To understand how ipage’s money back works, please read their policy here.

iPage Bonuses and Extras

There are few extras that are pretty basic and should be part of a standard hosting package such as spam protection and scans for malware, also the 24/7 support, however the marketing credits offered on Google, Facebook and Bing ad-networks which worth over $200 could be a good boost for initial website advertising.

iPage VPS Hosting Review

So you need a VPS hosting plan, and you might consider iPage.

Their VPS hosting service is pretty solid. Loading time as well performance are very good too. The only thing I don’t like about their VPS hosting plans is that you need to pay in advance for 12, 24 or 36 months.

In case of shared hosting, paying in advance for 3 years might not be a problem for most of us. But in case of a VPS plan, which starts at $20 / month, is a huge investment. If you choose to pay in advance for 3 years for the Basic VPS plan, you will need to pay them $720. This is huge for a basic VPS plan.

I recommend HostGator or InMotion Hosting if you are looking for a monthly payment VPS plan.

If you still decide, that you want to purchase VPS hosting from iPage, here are the features that come with their plans:

All VPS at least 1 Core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 40 to 120 GB of disk space, up to 4 TB of bandwidth and dedicated IP address. All plans come with pre-installed CentOS operating system and cPanel.

You can choose from 3 VPS plans: Basic, Business and Optimum. The last being packed with the most features and being the most expensive.

iPage Dedicated Server Review

Honestly, I’ve never tried their dedicated servers. I assume that you will get the same experience just with the VPS plans.

Just like their VPS plans, I think their dedicated plans are also overpriced. However, you don’t need to pay in advance for one year in advance for a dedicated plan. You can choose a monthly subscription plan.

iPage offers 3 dedicated plans: Startup, Professional, Enterprise.

All plans include at least 2 Core CPUs, 4 GB or RAM, up to 1000 GB disk space, 15TB of bandwidth and 3+ IP addresses.

Dedicated plans come with pre-installed CentOS operating system and cPanel.

Both VPS and dedicated plans are managed. You don’t have the option to choose unmanaged hosting at iPage.

Who Should Use iPage Hosting Service?

For sure, iPage is not for everyone. If you are a small business looking for an affordable and quick way to get online, iPage is a good solution for you.

Their essential plan enables beginners to start their website quickly.

If you want to setup an online store, you can also do it with iPage. However their shared plan is not suitable for an online store. You can opt for VPS server and setup an open source shopping cart. This requires some technical background. Or you can choose the Ecwid online store builder, which you can use at extra cost.

For those, who are looking to start a blog, iPage is the perfect option. With iPage, you can easily install WordPress or other free blogging platform you may prefer. Although, iPage’s shared plan is not suitable for hosting larger traffic blogs, it is definitely a good option to start with.

Is iPage Good for Beginners?

If you are a beginner and looking to a good and cheap way to get started online, iPage is definitely a good choice.

The signup process is very easy. You just need to fill in your personal and payment details, choose a domain name, and you are done.

As mentioned above, iPage’s control panel is very intuitive and easy to use. If you might get stuck, their knowledgebase is full with useful articles, which will help you to learn their platform quicker.

You can also ask their support too, through live chat if you have any questions.

So, iPage is indeed beginner friendly. When I started my first website, I actually launched it on iPage.

iPage Pros & Cons

There are many advantages choosing iPage as a hosting provider, but you should know that there are also disadvantages. Below you can find the top pros and cons of iPage hosting.

Why I Wrote this iPage Review?

It is not secret, that if you sign up through this page to iPage, I will get a small commission from them. However, my intent with this iPage review is not only to make money.

I actually want to help beginners and small business owners find a good and affordable hosting for their small website or blog.

I’ve wrote tons of tutorials and guides on my website to help entrepreneurs start their website.

I’ve tried to be as honest as possible and give you facts and share my experience with you.

Hopefully I was able to help with all this information.

Conclusion – Is iPage a Good Choice?

Certainly you will find both negative and positive iPage reviews. All companies has customers who are complaining for different reasons. Having millions of customers is almost impossible to satisfy the need of everyone, however I think that iPage tries its best to provide what they promises.

iPage is a good starting point for new webmasters and non-technical persons; with their online tutorials and solid support it is easy to get started with your first website. It is also possible to grow and upgrade to a more powerful plan when time comes.

The shared plan however is not ideal for everyone. Developers, who are planning to build or run custom applications, may find the Essential Plan insufficient for those tasks.

Now the decision is yours. If you are interested in learning more about the company, I suggest you visit iPage’s Official Website or if you are looking for something else, please check out our other reviews on BlueHost or InMotion Hosting.