iPage Hosting Review 2021

About iPage

iPage is a website hosting service provider to customers looking for green and environmentally-conscious hosting. iPage was started in 1998 in Boston, Massachusetts by Tomas Gorny but has since been acquired by Endurance International Group, a publicly-listed technology company that owns several web hosting companies such as Bluehost and Hostgator. The acquisition led to a rebranding campaign in October of 2009.

iPage hosting is now owned and managed by the Endurance International Group (EIG), with John Shea as its current CEO. The EIG also happens to own some other major web hosting services such as Godaddy, BlueHost, FatCow, HostMonster, among others.

The hosting service has its headquarters at Temple, Arizona, USA where its employees work around the clock just to make sure that customers get the best services that they can provide at any time. The iPage Hosting team is highly dedicated towards helping customers get all the help they need.

Right from the sign up process, the iPage team offers any technical assistance that the customer may need in the creation and maintenance of their website platforms. This is possible as the hosting service has a people oriented approach where they endeavor to enhance the user experience in a technological industry.

iPage Hosting Reviews

In many instances when looking for a good web hosting service, most customers check out the reviews posted by prior or current users of the target hosting service. It is therefore paramount that the web hosting service has positive feedback from their customers such that other customers would be intrigued as to want the services provided by the web hosting service.

Nevertheless, I find that iPage Hosting has significantly failed in this aspect or at least, it has not been able to meet the standards that most of its respective customers were hoping to find. I say this because in nearly all the customer reviews that I have scanned through, majority of the customers express dissatisfaction in the services that were/are provided to them.

For instance; regarding the ease of use of iPage Hosting services, Josep argues, “Finding information about their pricing, features and hosting service limitations isn’t easy. The registration process is also confusing as they offer many unnecessary add – ons and try to sign you up for the longest period (36 months). Their control panel is not cPanel based and looks extremely outdated.”

In yet another customer review by Dallas Tanner in March 2020, he criticizes, “When iPage was based in England about 6 or 7 years ago, all was well. When it was outsourced to India, I ran into all of the usual issues with offshore lack of expertise or care about the customer. Their cPanel has been broken for over two years, so they manually go in and manipulate or set up sites, causing all kinds of problems with the root domain and existing sites.”

Needless to say, every cloud has its silver lining, as we shall see with a customer review from Paul Vloon which challenges prior reviews. Vloon disputes, “Are we talking about the same iPage? I am with them for over a year and am very happy with them. I have reached out to support on several occasions and are very happy about the friendly and knowledgeable support.”

A few positive customer reviews is good but a dominance of negative customer reviews about iPage’s hosting services does not exactly inspire confidence among prospective customers. This definitely results in a great loss of potential customers to alternative hosting services.

iPage Hosting Features

iPage Hosting has many features that sets it apart from its competitors in the web hosting industry. I have outlined some of the features that I find distinguishable from services offered by other hosting companies in the list below:

• Free domain name
• Free site – building tools
• Scalable bandwidths
• Unlimited emails
• Unlimited disk space
• Unlimited domains
• Unlimited mySQL databases
• Regular spam and malware scans
• Easy app installations
• vDeck control panel included in all plans
• Free online stores included in all plans
• Free advertisements on google and bing
• State of the art security on hosted websites

iPage Hosting provides an unlimited email service in that it allows emails of up to a maximum of 500 mbs or an approximate equivalent of ten thousand emails. This is made possible by the fact that the feature includes a rigorous testing process that also includes spam management.

This feature means that not only can I send or receive an astonishingly large amount of emails but also saves me the hustle of having to delete thousands of unwanted spam messages.

In addition, the unlimited disk space function enables all customers to have a myriad of files as long as they operate within the normal bounds of the iPage website. Else, any user will be forced to consolidate files that are insanely large to the tens of thousands.

Furthermore, iPage considers site security to be a top priority, much like the customer themselves. To this end I find that iPage has various strategic considerations that ensure that the security of my site is not jeopardized. iPage Hosting is able to maintain top level security for its clients through the following methods:

• iPage employs daily backups and restores that ensure all customer relevant data is not lost
• The hosting service has ultimate power backups that ensure that there is seamless and uninterrupted running of services thus sealing any threat loopholes
• Further, iPage has a 24/7 monitoring system through their support team that lets them identify any potential problems that are fixed hastily
• iPage also uses state of the art encryption in setting up firewalls that hinder users with malicious intent from accessing customer data
• Active monitoring of website error logs also lets iPage to be able to identify any potential threats to customer data
• Finally, an active human threat assessment process provides an intuitive approach to mitigating security threats from hackers and un authorized access by third parties

iPage Hosting Packages

iPage Hosting typically has three basic plans that define their hosting plans:

• Shared hosting (iPage essential plan)
• Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting plan
• Dedicated hosting plan

Shared hosting

iPage Hosting’s shared hosting plans entails hosting services that essentially use the same resources across various websites. This means that all relevant data operation authorizations are signed off from a common data resource and only differ on account of the user preference or choice of services offered.

The shared hosting plan is commonly referred to as iPage essential plan and entails various services as listed below

• iPage provides a free domain for up to one year of service
• shared hosting plans offers the customers with unlimited domains as well as sub – domains related to the running of the customer’s site(s)
• the essential plan also provides customers with an unlimited disk space and storage as long a the site files are set operating within the normal site operation parameters
• Further, the plan entails a scalable band – width which guarantees unmetered transfers of customer data
• In addition, the shared hosting plan encompasses an unlimited MySQL database for reliability in site control operations
• iPage’s shared hosting guarantees an unlimited email address protocol and webmails
• Moreover, the essential plan is associated with a twenty four hour customer support service which is accessible via web, phone or iPage emails
• It also provides clients with anytime optional backups in addition to the daily server backup service encoded in the hosting service
• iPage’s shared hosting plan also includes a free SSL certificate that lets the client save up on costs
• the shared hosting also incorporates the provision of a free template – based website builder that supports customer sites to up to six pages of content
• ipage’s shared hosting utilizes vDeck as its basic web hosting control panel
• it contains an additional yellow – pages listing not to mention the money back guarantee
• Finally shared hosting on iPage gives the customer access to la carte add – ons which are suitable for e – commerce

As most users use wordpress to build their sites, iPage’s essential plan features wordpress hosting as an exceptional hosting package. The wordpress hosting has two tiers: WordPress Essential and WordPress Starter. WP Essential plan’s added advantage is that the customer would be able to access wordpress expert support, a sitelock professional security service as well as an automatic malware detection and removal.

Whether a customer is using WP Starter or WP Essential, the hosting plan provides a customized control panel for use, not to mention the pre – installed themes and plugins that come with the wordpress site templates.

VPS hosting

For sites with higher traffic, iPage allows its customers to be able to have specified control over the servers such that they would be able to relatively control specific elements related to the high data traffic within their websites.

VPS hosting plans by iPage are categorized into three plans depending on the customer preference and requirements: Basic VPS plan, Business VPS plan and Optimum VPS hosting plan. All three plans vary in their prices owing to the different functionalities offered in the hosting plans.

All in all, iPage’s VPS plans entail all the features provided for in the shared plans with the addition of:

• A customized semi – private Linux server
• Full root access to all site eccentricities allowing the customer to change specific features and elements of the sites workability that would only be possible via the web hosting support otherwise
• An additional RAM allotment that increases the speed, functionality and reliability of the website
• An upgraded cPanel (vDeck) that offers more flexibility functions to the customer’s site
• A mirrored storage that provides realtime update of data to and from the customer’s website.
• Scalability of the VPS plan depending on the traffic flow within the website
• And an anytime money back guarantee which is not available to shared hosting plans

Dedicated hosting

Again, if you are looking for a hosting plan with a tight security protocol and with complete access to all the key and intricate features related to your site, a dedicated hosting plan is the plan for you. Similarly, much like the VPS hosting plan, the dedicated hosting plan is categorized into three tiers: the startup, professional and enterprise packages.

The choice of either one of these dedicated hosting plans is dependent on the level of control as well as individual preferences prevalent in the customer. Even so, the dedicated hosting plan entails all the features of the VPS hosting plan but with the addition of these extra features:

• An additional three free dedicated IP addresses to the two already provided for by the VPS hosting plan. This makes it a total of five IP addresses that a customer could utilize
• The inclusion of Intel Xeon Processors which tremendously increase the site operating speeds
• Availability of a free upgraded cPanel (vDeck) that offers more control over console functionalities coupled with a WHM license
• Total root access to the main customer’s server thus enhancing managed hosting capabilities. I would very much enjoy having a fully customizable site preferences that allows me to meet my business goals

The dedicated hosting plan, much like the VPS hosting plan, is covered in the anytime money back guarantees, giving the customer enough coverage and security of their money’s worth and potential.

iPage Hosting Pricing Plans

iPage Hosting pricing plans are basically categorized into two classes for each package that is bought. There is always an introductory pricing and a regular pricing. The introductory pricing signifies the introduction of the customer to the specified selected package for the first time while working with iPage Hosting.

This introductory pricing is always lower than the regular pricing as iPage seeks to reel in the customer to experience the new package before deciding to stick to the chosen hosting plan. Further I reckon that iPage also uses this unique technique as a marketing tool which serves the advantage of both parties.

I have listed below the appropriate pricing plans associated with the various hosting plans offered by iPage in a procedural relational sequencing that will allow you to have comparative analysis of the pricing.

iPage Shared Hosting Pricing Package

Introductory pricing:

• 2.99$/month – I year term – Total billing amount = $35.88
• 2.49$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $59.76
• 1.99$/month – 3 year term – Total billing amount = $71.64

Standard pricing:

• 9.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $119.88
• 8.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $215.76
• 7.99$/month – 3 year term – Total billing amount = $287.64

WordPress Hosting Pricing Package

WordPress Starter

Introductory pricing:

• 3.75$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $3.75
• 3.75$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $45.00
• 3.75$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $90.00
• 3.75$/month – 3 year term – Total billing amount = $135.00

Standard pricing:

• 9.49$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $9.49
• 9.49$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $113.88
• 8.49$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $203.76
• 7.49$/month – 3 year term – Total billing amount = $269.64

WordPress Essential

Introductory pricing:

• 6.95$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $6.95
• 6.95$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $83.40
• 6.95$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $166.80
• 6.95$/month – 3 year term – Total billing amount = $250.20

Standard pricing:

• 12.49$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $12.49
• 12.49$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $149.88
• 11.49$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $275.76
• 10.49$/month – 3 year term – Total billing amount = $377.64

iPage VPS Hosting Pricing Package

Basic

Introductory pricing:

• 19.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $19.99
• 17.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $215.90
• 16.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $407.81

Standard pricing:

• 24.49$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $24.49
• 22.49$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $269.88
• 21.24$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $509.76

Business

Introductory pricing:

• 47.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $47.99
• 43.19$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $518.31
• 40.79$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $979.04

Standard pricing:

• 59.49$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $59.49
• 53.54$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $642.48
• 50.47$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $1211.28

Optimum

Introductory pricing:

• 79.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $79.99
• 71.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $863.91
• 67.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $1631.84

Standard pricing:

• 99.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $99.99
• 89.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $1079.88
• 84.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $2039.76

iPage Dedicated Hosting Pricing Package

Startup/Introductory pricing:

• 119.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $119.99
• 139.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $1343.90
• 134.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $2495.81

Standard pricing:

• 149.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $149.99
• 139.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $1679.88
• 134.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $3239.76

Professional Introductory iPage Dedicated Hosting pricing:

• 151.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $151.99
• 143.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $1727.90
• 135.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $3263.81

Standard pricing:

• 194.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $194.99
• 184.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $2219.88
• 174.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $4199.76

Enterprise

Introductory pricing:

• 191.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $191.99
• 175.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $2111.90
• 167.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $4031.81

Standard pricing:

• 239.99$/month – 1 month term – Total billing amount = $239.99
• 224.99$/month – 1 year term – Total billing amount = $2699.88
• 209.99$/month – 2 year term – Total billing amount = $5039.76

iPage Hosting does not offer month to month billing for the shared hosting package thus you have to pay for at least a year when starting off with the web hosting service. Nonetheless, other than taking advantage of the lower introductory prices as a new client, you could also reduce your monthly operational costs significantly by selecting the package with a lower term upfront.

This is a one – time offer which has to be carefully thought over as subsequent renewals and payments would apply the standard charges as stipulated by iPage Hosting’s company services. The only exception is in the higher packages in the VPS and Dedicated hosting plans which allow monthly billing for the introductory pricing.

This is also because it is a little pricier than any of the other offered hosting plan packages not to mention the rarity of the usage and application of these high end provisional services from iPage to its respective customers.

All in all, iPage Hosting has relatively low and fair pricing quotations with respecting to the web hosting services offered within the web hosting industry. Other Web hosting companies should endear to learn from the elaborate pricing scheme utilized by iPage in relation to the services offered.

iPage Hosting Pros and Cons

Pros

• Easy to use

iPage is relatively easy to use owing to its simplicity. As compared to other big web hosting companies, iPage uses only one shared hosting plan which is easy for the customer to translate and apply. This is especially beneficial when considering small and medium sized enterprises that are just starting out.

Start – up companies have a relatively high affinity to grow via the internet when using non – complex web hosting services. I reckon that iPage Hosting provides a free template that enables the customer focus more on the business aspect other than the technical aspects of supporting their websites.

In any case, iPage Hosting has the provision of better hosting plans that the customer can upgrade to, relative to the growth of the business with respect to increasing site traffic. The customer is able to associate the growth in the business with the traffic flow within the site such that it is easy to learn the kings of the next available tier package.

• US based data centers

When considering the importance of data centers as they relate to the customers, it is ideal for the customer if the hosting company’s data center is within the business operational area in that it creates reliability. iPage Hosting has two data centers that are both located in Boston, Massachusetts.

These data centers are up to standard as they utilize advanced technologies to improve their efficiency in data handling. Further, as the data centers are very large, relaying information from different servers stretched across wide areas could create redundancy problems that could result in unreliability of the hosting services provided. In a sense, this would reduce the operating speeds.

In addition, data centers located in the US have a reliable power supply system owing to the stability of power supply in the country. More so, the data centers are fitted with backup generators that mitigate the risk of server downtime caused by unstable or complete power outages that would result in the loss of business.

• Unlimited storage

iPage Hosting provides unlimited disk storage space and especially considering the relatively low prices at which the hosting service charges to provide lucrative shared hosting plans. Most recent companies have bigger space requirements owing to the multiple digital files that are associated with the efficient running of all site components.

While other big web hosting companies offer limited space and especially on the lowly priced hosting plans, iPage Hosting eliminates these restrictions thereby enabling the various customers to be able to successfully set – up their site without restrictions. This ensures that all the relevant details associated with a specified business can be comfortably presented without reprehending certain important business related faculties.

• Flexible bandwidth

Similarly, iPage Hosting provides unlimited and scalable bandwidths. With an unlimited bandwidth, I can operate comfortably knowing that there is an efficient data transfer process between the server and the respective devices trying to access the site’s data. Therein, I can be able to serve a wider range of customers with absolute certainty that all the necessary and/or relevant data will be transmitted without capping.

Most web hosting services have limited bandwidths, which in effect affects the valiant communication between the customer and the service they wish to be provided for them. When you think about it, no one wants to be involved with any business that will not prioritize the information in which they are relaying.

iPage Hosting has acknowledged that its infrastructure can be able to support at least 99.5% of the bandwidth required by all its customers via the shared hosting plan. Furthermore, if a customer feels that there is extremely high traffic on their respective websites, iPage Hosting also offers a scalable VPS hosting plan that in effect solves this problem and making the site more responsive.

• Reliable uptimes

While iPage Hosting cannot boast of a hundred percent uptime, various uptime tests indicate that the web hosting service rarely goes beneath ninety nine point nine percent. Most competitors in the web hosting industry strive to achieve a hundred percent uptime. This precedent, however plausible, it not probable as unexpected errors in hardware or software could result in the hosting service servers going down.

Nonetheless, it is prudent to argue that iPage Hosting is among the top web hosting services that have an optimal and reliable uptime. This means that the hosted sites are rarely unable to complete sales or even have less traffic owing to this proponent.

• Reliable speeds

iPage Hosting has relatively high speeds with respect to the set industry standards. This however does not mean that it could compete with the speeds recorded by larger web hosting companies such as BlueHost, A2 hosting, SiteGround, among others.

Even so, while the standard response time is set at 890 milliseconds, iPage Hosting is able to clock 800 milliseconds, which is just a whiff higher than the set standard. It might seem like this difference in milliseconds is insignificant but you would be surprised at the output with regards to general user experience in the site.

• Free SSL certificate

The importance of an SSL certificate cannot be underestimated in the modern day usage of internet services. This is because there have been increased cases of theft and hacking of crucial and confidential data files in recent times.

The SSL certificate enables the encryption of connections between the server and user devices therein mitigating the risk of data theft, corruption, deletion or distortion by unauthorized persons. Seeing how SSL has become a significant and necessary protection tool against such atrocities, iPage Hosting enables the provision of free SSL certificates unlike many other web hosting companies that charge for the provision of SSL certification.

• Unlimited email accounts

Another iPage Hosting advantage is the availability of unlimited email accounts which enables the hosting and connection to multiple target clients. Using a site’s email account represents some level of professionalism and it sure helps to have an unlimited option of email creation for the respective clients.

More so, each email account from iPage Hosting comes with a 500mb guaranteed space that in effect enables seamless communication between the user and the site. In addition, the email accounts have inbuilt auto – responders, virus scanners and spam checkers that automatically eliminates junk or irrelevant mail from said accounts.

• Free domain

Perhaps the most interesting feature of iPage Hosting’s service is the provision of a free domain valid to up to a year from the moment of registration and approval. Majority of its competitors do not offer free domain services and especially considering the relatively low prices that the web hosting service charges for its shared hosting plan.

In comparison, web hosting providers that offer free domains also have a relatively high pricing for the hosting plan packages that include the free service. Moreover, iPage Hosting also allows you to host unlimited domains within your shared account. This is especially beneficial to start – up or small businesses that are able to save the costs before the subsequent paid renewal of services after a year.

• Excellent customer support

iPage Hosting prides itself in having a robust twenty four hour customer support service that is able to engage with the needs of the customers through various platforms. The customer support team involves experts who are well – versed in the intricate workings of the hosting services provided by iPage while engaging the customers in friendly way.

Further, the customer support team is highly knowledgeable such that they can be able to effectively assist any client with a wide scope of problems that they endear to resolve. Also there are relatively multiple platforms on which the user can engage customer support: 24 hour live – chat, mail or even phone contact.

Cons

• Limited use of cPanel

iPage Hosting fails to utilize cPanel, one of the most intuitive, versatile and well – designed web creation tools that allows site creators to effectively build and formulate site protocols that are able to serve the intended functions of easy and efficient user – site interactions.

Most web service providers use cPanel owing to its applicability and easy of learning. However, iPage Hosting uses vDeck, which is much more complex and less intuitive than cPanel. In fact, vDeck also presents the problem of having to spend a lot of time learning its mechanisms of service such that you can be able to apply it effectively to achieve the desired results in your site.

• Vague limits of the unlimited features

Taking into consideration that iPage Hosting has been highly praised for its unlimited service provision with regards to the disk space, email accounts and even domains, the service still holds the right to cap on these limits subject to the usage by other users.

iPage stipulates that you have unlimited features as long as you are working within the normal site operations bracket but is very unclear as to what these limits are. What constitutes over – usage I wonder?

On the one hand, it is logical in that, since it is a shared service with the same finite resources, no site should operate in a manner inconveniencing another. On the other hand, there are no clear guidelines as to where it would be deemed that a site working beyond normal parameters.

• Extra cost of backups

One of the biggest downside to iPage Hosting service is the extra cost of backups. Typically, many service providers offer regular backups free of charge. This is different with iPage Hosting as it not only does it have extra costs of running backups, but also has a limited backup service.

iPage Hosting has only two backup plans which are also not quite amicable given the purpose of a backup. Imagine the amount of time spent in creating a website and having to pay insane amounts of money just to safeguard your progress in the site creation process. Just a small error can render the created site dysfunctional.

• Additional protection fees

In as much as iPage Hosting provides a free SSL certificate to protect data from unauthorized persons, this only covers only the visitor’s end. The hosting service requires you to incur an additional cost so as to access site protection services that involve the scanning and automatic removal of malware from the site.

Nate R. Reiner

My name is Nate Reiner and I am the editor here at 10Webtools. I have 8 years of experience using 50+ different web tools ranging from podcast, web hosting, email marketing, and much more. I previously managed a team offering support services to a large conglomerate that utilized tens of software solutions. I now run this blog full-time and when I am not reviewing or testing software, I enjoy riding bikes and supporting my clients achieve internet success. You can reach me directly at [email protected]