Overview

When it comes to buying a web hosting package, price plays a key part in determining which among the available plans is best suited for your business. Normally, you want a plan that offers you the most optimal speed and performance but still within your budget.

Luckily for you, iPage will offer you good value for your money with some of the cheapest introductory fees you’ll find anywhere online today. Of course, expect the price to go up once the initial period elapses.

So, is the low initial cost enough to make iPage worthy considering when looking for the best web host today? Our comprehensive review explains it all diving into key topics such as hosting plans offered by the company, features, guarantees, and its overall pros and cons.

About iPage

iPage first became an entity in 1998 with archive records showing that the iPage.com domain was active albeit not in any use related to web hosting at the time. Its founder was Thomas Gorny.

It was only until 2002 that the company relaunched as a web hosting provider although nothing much can be said of its success during the first few years of operations. In 2007, Endurance International Group acquired iPage and added it to its ever growing portfolio of web hosting companies that entail Bluehost and Hostgator.

iPage Features

Performance and speed

When shopping for a hosting service, the first thing to look out for is performance and speed. The latter is an accurate reflection of how your site will perform when your guests access it. iPage promises to offer world class loading speeds with optimized performance thanks to their expansive server network.

Here’s a detailed look at the major aspects that enable the company to guarantee impressive performance and speeds:

Unlimited disk space

Having an updated website will go a long way in ensuring that your site remains competitive. However, additional content and features will always mean additional space requirements. These are somewhat pricey especially if your host of choice charges a premium for extra disk space.

Thankfully iPage offers unlimited disk space allowing you to deliver your website’s content without any limitations. As a result, you can put up more pages and extra content without worrying about quotas. However, it should be noted that the customer has to abide by the Terms of Service and fair usage policy.

Scalable bandwidth

iPage does not limit the amount of data and traffic that flows between the rest of the internet and your site. This means that your site will be accessible to all potential visitors at all times and full speeds. The company is able to sustain this model while also keeping the costs to a minimum by utilizing shared architecture.

What this means for your site is that the available bandwidth from each server will be shared amongst the sites that are currently hosted on it. Therefore, the sites will share both hardware and transmission pipes. To ensure that all sites get optimal bandwidths, iPage usually monitors real-time usage and can intervene if one party is deemed to be negatively affecting other sites. This ensures that over 99.5% of their customers get optimum bandwidth without any issues.

Unlimited MySQL databases

MySQL is the most common database system for web and embedded applications. Its popularity is mainly attributed to its reliability and speed optimizations. iPage recognizes this and also the fact that the majority of their customers rely on MySQL especially those with online stores. In line with this, the company offers you unlimited MySQL databases as well as phpMyAdmin interfaces with every hosting account. Just like the previous unlimited options, the company expects users to abide by fair usage policies.

Support for multiple programming languages

iPage hosting accounts are able to support multimedia content such as real audio, video, flash, Shockwave, Macromedia, and MIDI files. You will, therefore, be free to use any of these formats to come up with great content for your site. On the programming side, iPage supports PERL, PHP, and Python which are powerful enough to get the job done. However, the host lacks support for Ruby on Rails and SSH.

Security

With a vast array of clients from personal site owners to corporate businesses, iPage puts great focus on ensuring a high level of security for their platform. They offer their clients with various services to keep your website safe from viruses, spyware, and malware.

Check out the following security features of iPage Hosting:

SiteLock Software

iPage has partnered with SiteLock, a company based in Arizona, in the United States. SiteLock scans websites to check for malware vulnerabilities and ensure they stay clean. This malware and spam-scanning software also works in collaboration with SSL to keep your website protected from DDoS attacks.

Besides, SiteLock has a global CDN as well as website acceleration services. That means your website gets unmatched security based on world-class infrastructure. What’s reven more impressive is that iPage offers Sitelock integration to all its hosting packages regardless of pricing.

Should you need an even more robust way to keep your site safe, then consider going professional with CDN by getting a great solution called TrueSpeed.

All your emails are safe with iPage thanks to malware monitoring and other security tools such as DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF).

There are 3 different packages to choose from depending on the level of security you need with iPage hosting. These include:

• Find – this package is ideal for small blogs in need of basic but strong protection and malware scan features.

• Fix – this works best for medium-sized websites.

• Prevent – the level of protection provided by this package works best for eCommerce websites as it comes with a security and trust seal.

SSL Security

Scanning your website regularly is the right way to prevent online threats; however, having a SSL Certificate is your best bet if looking to secure your customers' details as well as credit card transactions. Every customer wants to see a working security seal before buying from your site. Fortunately, iPage offers free Comodo SSL which offers impressive speed and security in addition to SiteLock Security.

Bonus Tip: when using WordPress with iPage, be sure to install a plugin that forces HTTPS. This is because SSL may not be enough as your website can still use insecure image folders hosted on your server or elsewhere. There are several free plugins to help you force HTTPS on all of your web pages.

Google now uses SSL certificates as a ranking factor which means your business is likely to rank better with a web host such as iPage. Also, with popular browsers such as Google Chrome marking sites that are without SSL as insecure, it pays to have one for visitor trust.

Other security tools and services that you get with iPage are:

• iPage QuickSSL Premium.

• iPage Identity Theft Protection.

• iPage Domain Privacy.

Backups

iPage performs regular backup for your website and is always quick to provide you with your data just in case you need to roll back to a prior version or get your website files back. Compared to other web hosting services, iPage has pretty affordable rates for backup services.

This web host offers automatic backup upgrade during sign up process. All you need to do is register by ticking the box that you would like to receive backups.

On the other hand, iPage offers a manual backup upgrade where users can restore files within specific dates. The key advantage with manual backup is that you can get a specific file you might be needing at some point. All your data is backed up on performance load balanced servers located in the two data centers owned by iPage.

Customer Support

If you like to have some support when embarking on new online projects, then you’ll be happy to hear about iPage customer service. The company boasts an impressive excellent support team comprising knowledgeable representatives who are well-versed with unique website queries. While their response time is not the best, their customer service representatives are very experienced which is a bonus to iPage users. Like most other hosting sites, iPage support will respond to your question via their live chat. However, with complicated issues, you may have to wait for their email support to get step-by-step instructions.

Their platform is also packed with numerous tutorials and guides to help you solve most basic issues. Its search box offers a simple way to get answers even when you’re unsure of the category to choose. You just need to write the question and the iPage search will list related articles.

The platform has organized support that is split to help in different sections such as email, website, portal, and domain.

iPage Control Panel

iPage includes a custom control panel with its hosting packages. The vDeck panel not only serves as a site management tool but also provides a ton of other features that give it an edge over the competition. The tool is currently on its 4th version and is more efficient and appeals more visually than ever.

Deck will provide you with the tools necessary for launching and maintaining your site using the following features:

• Domain management: use the domain tab to add domains, transfer and manage subdomains as well as domain pointers.

• FTP management tools: this web-based file manager allows you to pack, unpack, edit and export files from vDeck to local storage or vice versa.

• Email management; manage all of your correspondence from one inbox; you can also access the email forwards, autoresponders and spam & virus protection here.

• Drag and drop website builder: you no longer need to have coding knowledge to design a website; the drag and drop site builder makes the entire process as easy as selecting the desired theme and then dragging and dropping content into place as you prefer.

• eCommerce features: vDeck grants access to the eCommerce suite that is useful when building an online store especially the integration with PayPal.

• Site backup and restore: this feature is used to make backups of the site thereby ensuring that you have different editions of the site that you can deploy at any given time.

• App installer: a feature that enables you install custom apps for your website and managing pre-installed packages.

• Account management: this feature will come in handy when you want to change your billing information, change passwords or make payments.

Money-back Guarantee

iPage Hosting offers a 30-day money back guarantee. And while most web hosts attach strange terms and conditions to such guarantees, iPage claims to give a refund as long as you contact them within this period. If you’re not satisfied with their service, you can request your money back in full. Moreover, if you exceed the 30-days period, you will still be refunded the remainder of the hosting package. All you need to do is to contact their billing department via live chat or phone to request the refund.

eCommerce Features

Considering their low price tag, iPage features a pretty decent online shop. Its free online store and cart offers secure transactions directly from the website to users. What’s more, this online shop is easy to set up and includes the following features:

• Several choices of shopping carts such as ShopSite and AgoraCart.

• Shared SSL license.

• Paypal integration.

vDeck Extras

Site analytics tools

These tools keep a detailed count of all visitors and compile the data to be used in monitoring the site progress as well as identifying the areas that need some modification.

Multi-database support

iPage hosting accounts support both MS SQL and MySQL database driven site. This gives you some freedom as you can easily maximize the benefits of each.

Marketing tools

iPage includes up to $500 in advertising merchandise; this includes $100 Google Adwords, and $100 Bing Adwords. Of course, all this would be rather useless if they didn’t equip you with the necessary tools to capitalize on the free advertising. This is the reason the web host includes search engine optimization tools to make your site stand out.

Tutorials and guides

iPage has a blog that contains detailed articles and guides for each function that a user might want to perform while on the platform. This eliminates the need to contact the help desk for most issues.

Automatic site backup and recovery

iPage offers an automatic backup and recovery service that you sign up for when you are creating your account. This ensures that you always have a copy of your databases and content at all times in case the site gets compromised or the server crashes.

Premium SSL Certificates

iPage offers free Secure Sockets Layer certificates when you host a website with them. Of course, you can always purchase SSL certificates issued by another company and integrate them to your hosting account.

Directory listing

You can contact iPage to request that your site be listed on the iPage community directory which is a service exclusive to iPage users. This is key in helping your business get some visibility and gain popularity.

Strengths and weaknesses of iPage Hosting

Strengths

• iPage is extremely cheap even for those looking for budget hosting. With its shared hosting, this is one of the most affordable we hosts you can think of today.

• Commendable uptime of over 99.9% per month. While the company doesn’t offer any solid guarantees as to what happens if it fails to offer this level of uptime, statistics over the years have shown that it keeps its end of the bargain in most months.

• Lots of freebies despite the free pricing. iPage offers users free domains (in some of its plans), SSL certificates, and IP addresses.

• Flexibility is guaranteed particularly when it comes to bandwidth allocation. iPage allows you to extend your bandwidth depending on your usage in a certain month albeit at an extra charge.

• This company also supports eco-friendly causes by using wind energy for powering its data centers and other general operations.

Weaknesses

• iPage offers very limited room for upgrades as some hosting categories such as shared hosting come with only one plan. This can be particularly inhibiting for many small and growing business owners who anticipate to move to plans with more resources later.

• Availing live chat technology 24/7 – You can enquire at any time or day and the concern is handled expertly and professionally.

• There have also been lots of complains among users regarding persistent low speeds and downtimes. And as mentioned earlier, iPage doesn’t offer any tangible uptime guarantee which is another major downside especially after you’ve committed yourself to their yearly plans.

iPage Frequently Asked Questions

How long has iPage been offering hosting services?

This company has been in existence since 1998, first starting as a web-building software provider before getting into the web hosting industry. It has been appearing on various lists of top web hosting providers since 2009. The firm has two data centers in the US and serves over 1 million websites.

Why iPage?

iPage is among the cheapest hosting solutions on the market offering affordable hosting plans for all businesses regardless of size or financial situation. The host provides some of the best site building software and online marketing tools such as visitor stats, access logs, website traffic reports and error logs. Additionally, you get features such as USP power Backup and NetApp Snapshot Data Backups.

What hosting packages does iPage offer?

Currently, iPage provides the shared, VPS, Dedicated and WordPress hosting services. Also under each, you get plans with varying prices to choose from as your website expands.

What if I exceed my resource usage?

If you exceed your usage, you’ll receive a notification asking you to reduce your usage or upgrade to a higher plan. If no action is taken within 48 hours, they may suspend the account.

Does iPage offer unlimited disk space?

Based on their terms of service, iPage offer unlimited disk space. However, even though it reads as unlimited, the ToS puts usage restrictions. You'll be required to use your resources within the normal operations. For small businesses, however, there's no need to worry because the host offers enough system resources.

Typically, customers run into issues with iPage when they use their accounts for storage or file sharing which is not a service that iPage supports. And while this is quite rare, iPage may put constraints on accounts using resources beyond what is considered the normal operation of a personal or small site.

Does iPage offer a free domain name?

Yes, iPage offers free registration of domain names including a 1-year free registration for .org, .net, .com, .us and .co.uk domains.

I’m I obligated to register my domain name with iPage?

No. You’re free to register a domain name with iPage, but you're not obligated to register your domain with them. For the domain registration, you can use Namecheap, GoDaddy or any other registrar.

What will happen if my domain name expires?

You might be worried about losing your free domain name in case you don’t renew in time. iPage ensures that this doesn’t happen easily by sending you regular reminders from 30 days before its expiration date. After your domain name expires, it automatically becomes deactivated meaning no one will be able to access your website content.

It’s worth noting that once the expired domain name exceeds 30 days, it may be purchased again by anyone and hence you will not be able to renew it thereafter. At about 45 days after the expiration date, iPage may offer to renew the domain name at a fee.

What Control Panel does iPage use?

Unlike most other hosts, iPage uses a customized version of cPanel called vDeck. Luckily, it’s user-friendly and shares many similarities with the standard cPanel. The main advantage of the vDeck Control Panel is the consistent user interface that can be customized into themes.

Though you may take time to get used to vDeck, it works great for most professional website owners. Some users even prefer using vDeck over all other forms of control panels.

Does iPage work with WordPress?

iPage provides everything you require to run the WordPress Management System. Better yet, the company offers free domain name registration along with unlimited storage and bandwidth to all customers who sign up for their WP Essential and Starter accounts.

Does iPage offer reseller hosting?

Reseller hosting enables you to resell a hosting plan to your own clients. This is mainly offered by web developers who create websites and take care of hosting for their customers. You can make some money from iPage via reseller hosting through the company’s WholesalePlus Reseller program. With this plan, you’ll have the opportunity to use the vDeck control panels to brand yourself and offer clients site creation tools and emails.

Can I set my email accounts with iPage?

Yes, iPage offers unlimited email account hosting. You can use your domain to create unlimited email addresses and access them from the email clients.

Is it easy to build a website with iPage?

Sure, the process to create and customize your website with iPage is quite straightforward, thanks to the Weebly Drag and Drop Builder. Simply click on the Weebly icon in your control panel and add your domain name to start creating your site. Building a website using the method is very exciting as the interface allows you to create free templates and drag the elements you want to use. After a few minutes, your site will be up and running.

I already have a website; is it possible to transfer it to iPage?

Whether you have created an HTML website and want to update it on iPage or had registered with another company, iPage will help you transfer it to their hosting account. For websites that lack a database, the process of transfer to iPage is pretty simple and often come with two options; first, you can upload your files via a FTP client like FileZilla. On the other hand, you can use this web host’s file manager tool which works without third-party software and directly upload your files to the desired folder through the control panel.

Does iPage have a refund policy? If so, how does it work?

iPage offers a 30-day money back guarantee where you can cancel your subscription within the first 30 days if you're not satisfied with the company’s services. It's important to read through the iPage refund policy carefully as services like website protection or backup are non-refundable. Also, you will retain your domain name even after canceling the account and you can decide to transfer it to another host.

To cancel the account, you will need to chat with their customer service representative via live chat or phone. Remember any charges involved until the cancellation process is complete falls on you (unless you're still within the 30 day period).

What is iPage uptime guarantee?

iPage doesn't offer an exact uptime guarantee, but various tests have proved that this host has a quite stable uptime that averages at around 99.4%. This sounds fair for such affordable pricing. The company promises to monitor their Boston-based servers to reduce the downtimes significantly. To further stress on its accountability, iPage posts any problems on its social profiles like Facebook and Twitter.

Can iPage handle high traffic?

iPage will most definitely handle high traffic, but this depends on the plans you choose. A larger website may require more server resources. If you outgrow your plan, you will be asked to upgrade to a higher plan.

How long do I wait to have my site online with iPage?

Your iPage account is activated instantly once the payment is done. However, it could take up to 48 hours for the DNS to propagate.

How reliable is iPage’s customer support service?

iPage offers a 24/7 customer service by phone, live chat, or email. In most cases, your call is answered in just a few minutes. Their representative are generally courteous and professional. On the other hand, their online ticket system features a response time of about 30 minutes. You can also check out their detailed tutorials and guides that are helpful for novices and experienced users alike.

Can I create an eCommerce site on iPage?

Yes, iPage allows you to build an online shop from scratch to facilitate online transactions. The host also allows you to install online scripts such as OpenCart. You can also use a storefront on your WordPress site by getting an eCommerce plugin such as WooCommerce.

Does iPage offer a month-to-month payment option?

For the shared hosting plan, iPage does not offer month-to-month payment option. For other plans like dedicated and VPS servers, you get monthly options though you may have to sacrifice discounts provided for longer-term deals.

What kind of websites can be used with iPage hosting?

iPage is a budget-friendly hosting provider with full features required for hosting. However, a big website is likely to consume beyond their reasonable hosting per account. As such, the host works well with personal and medium-sized sites. iPage service also works excellently with small shopping cart sites.

What payment options can you use on iPage?

When hosting iPage hosting plans, you can use two payment methods. As with most host providers, iPage accepts credit card or debit card as well as Paypal.

What are iPage alternatives?

If you feel the need to transfer to another hosting provider, you can try out other hosting alternatives such as BlueHost, InMotion, GoDaddy and A2 Hosting. If you have a WordPress site, you may compare iPage to WP Engine hosting which offers a managed platform for WordPress websites. While WP engine is quite expensive, it prides itself in this area of specialization.

Another option is HostGator which works with a traditional cPanel and offers top-notch customer support. InMotion is yet another impressive web host that uses the fast SSDs and boasts friendly customer support.