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iPage Review: Is This Cheap Host Good?
What is iPage?
iPage is a hosting platform that offers cheap plans for you and your business. They power small businesses and offer you a way to easily put your business or idea online.
iPage has been in existence for over two decades. They’ve been hosting websites for people and businesses since 1998. This makes them one of the older hosting providers in the industry.
For over 20 years, businesses and individuals have trusted iPage to let them handle their online presence. iPage has proven to be reliable.
iPage has made their focus on their clients needs. Their experienced staff are always available to help users when needed. However, they have slightly fallen behind some of the other older hosts as the industry has changed.
In particular, iPage is known for their affordable plans. With them, you simply get more for less. iPage offers some of the best pricing in the industry. Let’s dive into the plans and pricing next!
iPage WordPress Plans
Before diving into the specific WordPress plans I want to mention their shared plans. On iPage’s shared plans you can start for as little as $1.99 per month. This is the second lowest starting cost of any host we’ve reviewed. The lowest we’ve reviewed was Hostinger.
iPage does offer two main WordPress plans as well. The WordPress starter plan is priced at just $3.75 a month.
With their WordPress plans, you get free domain registration for one year. Additionally, you get unlimited storage and bandwidth. There are more options as well. Some include a customized control panel, themes, and plugins that are already pre-installed.
The WordPress Essential plan starts at $6.95 per month. With this plan you get everything that the Starter offers and more. The extra features include automatic malware removal and SiteLock professional security.
For WordPress, iPage gives you built-in function and style. They have curated the best possible features to optimize your new WordPress site.
iPage VPS and Dedicated Plans
iPage also offers VPS and dedicated plans outside of their WordPress plans.
With that being said, their website made these plans somewhat difficult to find. These type of plans can be found at the bottom of their site within the footer.
The VPS plans include a basic, business, and optimum plan. The plan prices and features can be seen below.
Additionally, they have several dedicated hosting options. These plans are the most expensive that they offer. They include the startup, professional, and enterprise plans. You can view their features and prices below.
Security and Eco Benefits
You are guaranteed some level of security iPage.
They have teamed up with SiteLock to deliver a deluxe security bundle. This bundle includes a custom firewall.
iPage is an EPA Green Power Partner. They have this recognition due to having data centers and web servers powered by wind energy.
Because of this, iPage is certified as a green site. To become certified you need to meet specific requirements. They do this by purchasing enough Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) to offset their energy use. In fact, they do this by as much as 200%. This is the same as planting a massive 244 acres of trees or taking 244 cars off the road.
By hosting with iPage, you will be contributing to their commitment to helping the planet. If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint or work with socially conscious brands, iPage is a web host you should consider. Another you might want to look at is GreenGeeks.
iPage Hosting Support
iPage provides decent support through phone, email, and live chat. I say decent because it could be better. It ranks somewhere in the middle of the pack from the various hosts I’ve tried. It’s good, but not great in my opinion.
With that being said, they do provide a lot considering how cheap it is to get started. There are other more expensive hosts out there that offer less support options.
We have read reviews stating that emails are often ignored. We did not experience this during our review tests with their support.
As with any provider I recommend reaching out to them prior to deciding to use them. Test their support out as much as you can via live chat or phone before you buy. This is a great way to see what kind of value you’re likely to receive.
iPage Website Builder
iPage has a drag and drop website builder. This builder is free with iPage plans. The builder will allow your site will look great on any device. This includes smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
There are many different website builder templates to choose from as well. iPage boasts that they have thousands of professional looking templates to choose from. This could be a good option for new customers who can’t afford to pay a designer.
Additionally, the iPage website builder is search engine friendly. This again could help you to avoid having to pay for an SEO expert.
I personally would recommend learning WordPress, but this builder could be a fit for you. With WordPress you’re able to have much more control over your sites structure.
iPage Pros and Cons
PROS:
- iPage is very cheap to start.
- With iPage’s cheap and inexpensive hosting, it is one of the most affordable out there. Coming in at a mere $1.99 per month, it is one of the cheapest web hosts you can get.
- You get a free SSL certificate.
SSL certificates are important for security, and beneficial in Google’s eyes. - There is a 30 day money back guarantee.
- iPage Hosting offers a money-back guarantee. However, almost all hosts do this, and some provide longer guarantees than this.
- You get a free domain name.
- Free email
The free domain name also comes with a free email for you. This is a very nice, and often overlooked feature. - They have many support options
- Good uptime
CONS:
- Slow loading speeds
The loading time could be a lot better. iPage’s page loading times came in at 1.2 seconds.. That is not a huge problem. Some of the best web hosts regularly deliver page loading speeds of under 500ms. With load speeds this slow it’s hard to recommend them.
Increased renewal prices - With iPage, you get low promotional pricing for plans of 12-36 months.
However, when the plan period comes to an end, your costs skyrocket to $7.99 – $9.99 per month. Increased renewals are nothing new in the hosting industry. But I want you to be aware that this high priced renewal pricing applies to ALL hosting plans.
That is an increase of over 350%!
iPage Money Back Guarantee
All reputable web hosts offer some kind of money back guarantee. iPage Hosting is one of them.
However, unlike the guarantees offered by others, iPage’s is a little different. They claim theirs is a 30-day money back guarantee, and there are “no questions asked”.
They do note that there are some fees, which are not refunded. These include the set-up fee cost and the domain registration fee.
iPage Review: Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve found this iPage review to be helpful. To recap, we’ve covered many pros and cons of iPage. After thoroughly reviewing them and many other hosts I cannot highly recommend them.
iPage could be a good option for someone wanting a cheap plan to get started. But, there are less expensive plans that I’ve rated higher before. You can view the full rankings in my WordPress hosting comparison article. If you’re looking for an even more affordable host I’d recommend Hostinger. You can check out my full Hostinger review if that’s what you’re looking for.
My final iPage review rating is a 7.5 out of 10.
Are you an iPage user? Do you agree with my iPage review? If you’ve ever tried their platform please feel free to share your experience. I’d love to hear your own mini iPage review in the comments below!