iPage Hosting Review: Cheap and Somewhat Cheerful

Using a web host is supposed to give you more independence and control over your site – and a good hosting provider won’t overcomplicate things for you, either. iPage is generally easy to use, with a simple dashboard – although its sign-up process could be quicker.

Signing Up for iPage Hosting

The first thing you’ll be asked to do when signing up for an account with iPage is choose a domain name.

If you already have a domain name, you can enter it at this stage, and then transfer your domain to iPage later on.

If you don’t yet have a domain, you can use the search bar to find available domain names to purchase. We like that you can register a new domain through iPage, because it’s a lot more convenient than having to manage a third-party domain name registrar.

Just note that you’ll have to pay a $15 fee to ensure that you won’t lose your domain name if you end up switching from iPage at any point.

Once you’ve chosen a domain name, you’ll be taken to the checkout page. Along with your hosting plan and your domain name, you’ll notice a few additional costs thrown into your basket – these are completely optional, so be sure to uncheck any costs that you don’t really want.

The additional costs that iPage throws into your basket – in this case, website backups and enhanced security – are really excellent features that you might want to purchase. We just think it’s a little annoying that they’re automatically added to your cart.

Using the Control Panel

A web host’s “control panel” is just the account dashboard where you can manage your website and server settings. This is where you’ll keep track of everything from domain names to website files.

iPage’s control panel is called vDeck, and it features a really simple grid layout where you can find and use all of the different tools that come with your account. Tools are even categorized into different sections, like “Website” and “Email”, to help you find things faster.

iPage differs from many popular hosting providers in that it uses vDeck, and not cPanel. cPanel is another control panel dashboard, and it’s pretty similar to vDeck, although the layout is a little more modern.

Migrating to iPage

So, what if you already have a hosting provider, but now you want to switch your website over to iPage?

iPage doesn’t offer a website transfer service. Some other hosting providers do this – it means you could have your new host completely handle the switching process for you, either for free or by paying a one-time fee. For example, Bluehost will transfer most shared WordPress sites for free, but if you don’t meet certain requirements, the team will still do it for $149.99.

If you don’t mind doing it yourself, then you can manually transfer your website to iPage for free. It doesn’t take very long, and you don’t have to be a tech expert, either. That said, it will involve some time and effort – that’s why we’ve written this guide on how to transfer website hosting, which you can check out if you decide to go this route!

iPage earned a score of 4.0/5 in the “types of hosting” category of our research. Its variety of hosting options include:

• Shared: Save money by sharing a server’s resources with other websites. Best for smaller sites, like personal blogs or local business pages.
• WordPress: Shared hosting that’s optimized specifically for WordPress sites.
• VPS: A server where fewer resources are shared between different websites. Best for growing websites that need to accommodate more traffic or media.
• Dedicated: The most expensive hosting option, where you have a server’s resources entirely to yourself. Best for large ecommerce websites.
• Reseller: This is different from the other four types listed here. Reseller hosting means purchasing server space from a hosting provider, which you then sell to other customers. Basically, you would be hosting websites on behalf of third parties.

That said, shared hosting is iPage’s best offering. iPage’s other plans don’t offer the same value for money as competitors’ – for example, Bluehost has better WordPress integrations, while HostGator has more powerful dedicated hosting features.

iPage’s shared hosting is cheap, and has everything that a smaller website could need. Its VPS and dedicated plans don’t offer as many features for the cost. Check out the table below to see what we mean.

iPage Hosting Features

Storage, also known as disk space, is the amount of server space available to store your website’s files. Bandwidth is the amount of data your website can transfer to visitors in a certain amount of time. The more bandwidth your site has, the more traffic it can handle without slowing down.

You might be wondering what “unlimited storage” and “scalable bandwidth” means for shared plans:

• Storage isn’t actually unlimited. What iPage really means is that the cap on storage space is set high enough that most small to medium-sized websites won’t have to worry about exceeding it.
• Bandwidth is also not capped at a hard limit, and again, iPage doesn’t expect websites on shared servers to need more data transfer than it can provide. This means you’ll get a flexible amount of bandwidth on shared servers.

All of iPage’s plans also come with an SSL certificate included for basic security, and one year of free domain registration (these two offerings are pretty common among web hosting providers).

iPage is different from most hosting providers because it offers one flexible, one-size-fits-all shared hosting plan, rather than multiple plans with different features and prices. It also offers some of the best prices of any hosting provider we’ve seen, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

iPage’s shared plan starts at $1.99 per month, but this cost depends on how much time you want to sign up for in advance. The more time you commit to at sign-up, the more money you’ll save.

Just note that, like most hosting providers, iPage’s super-low prices only last for your first term – hosting providers call these “introductory prices.” Your first term can last for 1-3 years, paid in advance. But once it’s time to make your second payment, you’ll have to pay higher renewal prices. See what we mean:

iPage Shared Plan Cost

You have to commit to purchasing at least a year in advance. A lot of hosting providers do this. But if you’d rather pay month-to-month, then we recommend looking into HostGator, which lets you choose from one, three, and six month payment plans.

What About iPage’s Other Plans?

We were really impressed by iPage’s VPS plan prices. Unlike most providers, iPage’s renewal VPS prices aren’t massively more expensive than its introductory prices – instead, you’ll get affordable VPS pricing regardless of whether it’s your first term or not.

Unlike its shared plan, iPage offers a few different VPS and dedicated plans, so there’s a price range that depends on the amount of features you’ll need. Here’s what to expect:

iPage Pricing vs Competitor Pricing

iPage ties with Bluehost for first place in the “value for money” section of our research, scoring a 4.6/5.

iPage’s shared plan offers lots of features for a really low price. Its dedicated and VPS plans don’t have the same level of features compared with other providers, but prices are still really competitive.

iPage’s renewal prices are also consistent with other providers – and its VPS renewal prices are actually more impressive than most. Check out this comparison of the cheapest shared and VPS plans from some top providers:

Uptime

iPage has an uptime guarantee of 99.94%, which amounts to less than six hours of downtime each year. That means that the rest of the time, your website should be live and available to visitors with no issues.

99.94% is definitely not a bad uptime, but a lot of the other providers we analyzed have higher percentages. For example, HostGator and Bluehost offer 99.99% and 99.98%, respectively. That may not sound like much difference, but every second matters in the long run.

In short, iPage’s uptime is okay – but if this feature is your top priority, then you’re better off looking elsewhere.

Site Speed

Site speed is an important part of the user experience – in fact, a quarter of visitors would abandon a website that takes more than four seconds to load. Website speed depends a lot on your hosting provider, since you need to have enough storage and bandwidth to ensure your site performs well for visitors.

iPage scores an emphatic 5/5 for storage space in our research, because it offers technically unlimited storage on its shared plans. Its scalable bandwidth will also help your site maintain its speed, even with an influx of visitors.

However, site speed is also impacted by a host’s data center locations, and iPage doesn’t have very many. There are only two data centers, and they’re both located in Massachusetts. So if visitors aren’t coming from North America, your website may load more slowly for them.

If your website has a lot of international visitors, you may want to look into a host with more global data centers. For example, A2 Hosting has data centers in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Included Security Features

iPage includes a free SSL certificate on every plan, which keeps the connection between your server and a visitor’s browser secure. SSL certificates are especially important for ecommerce websites, where you’ll be handling customers’ payment information.

You can tell if a website is SSL secure because its address bar will look like this:

That’s the only real security necessity that you’ll need on your hosting plan, so iPage covers all of the important stuff at no extra cost. However, if you want to go the extra mile for security (which larger website or online store owners may want to consider), then you’ll have to make some room in your budget.

Extra Security Features

iPage offers SiteLock security plans. These plans will:

• Protect your website’s code and apps from cyber threats
• Scan your site daily
• Automatically remove malware
• Block automated bot attacks

There are three different SiteLock plans to choose from, ranging from $3.99 – $24.99 per month. We recommend starting with the $3.99 Essentials plan, and then seeing if you need any more security.

One additional security feature from iPage that’s a little frustrating is its Website Backup & Restore package. It’s a really useful feature, but some hosting providers actually include automatic backups in their plans, which iPage doesn’t do.

If you want iPage to take care of daily website backups for you, and have the option to restore an entire website or download a .zip archive of it, then you’ll have to buy this separate package starting at $14.99 per year.

iPage earned a perfect 5/5 in the “support” category of our research. It offers:

• 24/7 phone support
• 24/7 live chat support
• A searchable knowledge base

iPage’s live chat support is really responsive – we’ve never had to wait more than five minutes for someone to get back to us – but it doesn’t always give the most detailed answers.

Some users have complained that iPage’s support team doesn’t always provide the step-by-step instructions that they’re looking for. We’ve never personally experienced this, but it’s worth keeping in mind.

If you have a more technical question, like something relating to file transfers or databases, then you may want to start looking for help in the knowledge base before resorting to live chat.

Domains

We mentioned earlier that, in addition to a web host, iPage also acts as a domain registrar. 

You can still use a third party domain registrar if you want to, but purchasing a domain (or transferring a domain you already have) through iPage is super convenient – it means you can manage your hosting and domains all in one place.

Like with any registrar, the cost of a domain depends on which extension you choose (.com, .org, and so on). You’ll usually pay for domains on an annual basis, and there are introductory prices for the first year.

So for example, purchasing a domain ending in “.com” through iPage will cost you $10.99 for the first year, and $17.99 for every year after that.

Yet another advantage of signing up for hosting and domains in one place? iPage will give you a free domain for the first year of your hosting plan, so you won’t have to pay that initial $10.99.

Website Builder

iPage also offers a website builder for those who want more help with the technical side of things, and who don’t need as much independence when it comes to managing and designing their website.

iPage’s website builder is decent: it’s AI-powered, so you won’t have to do much work, and you will get to customize your site’s layout a little.

The basic website builder plan comes free with every hosting account, or you can sign up for a more feature-rich version starting from $6.99 per month.

This is a nice tool and all, but you don’t really come to a web host to look for a website builder. If you want the convenience and ease of use that a builder can offer, it’s best to look at dedicated website builders themselves instead.

Email

iPage offers integrations with two popular email suites: Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

This basically just means that you can enjoy all of the tools these email programs offer – like calendars and video meetings – with email addresses that end in your domain. So instead of yourname@gmail.com, you can use all of the same tools with an address like yourname@yourwebsite.com.

These email integrations are ideal for business websites that need to maintain a professional network. The Google integration starts at a flat rate of $6 per month, while the Microsoft integration starts at $1.99 per user, per month.

Marketing Help

iPage also offers customized marketing services for small businesses. You can set up a free consultation with an expert, and then you’ll get a price estimate for services like website design, SEO strategy, and creating marketing campaigns.

We found iPage to be an affordable, well-rounded hosting provider. We liked its responsive support team and convenient domain registration process.

We recommend iPage for smaller websites looking for shared or VPS hosting, because of its flexible features and cheap plans.

That said, if you’re looking for dedicated hosting, or just a more powerful provider with better uptime, then you might want to check out Bluehost instead.