Overview

When you decide to start an online business, selecting a reliable hosting provider is one of the most crucial decisions you will have to make, after a domain name. The right way to select a web host depends on the type of site you need and the expected traffic.

iPower hosting has been in the industry since 2001 and hence an established company. The firm is best suited for people who are on a budget and still want a dependable hosting with basic features.

Tony Gorny is the founder of iPower hosting which has become a home to over 1 million websites. However, in 2007, the Poland owner sold it to Endurance International Group (EIG), although his picture and name still appears on the site to-date.

iPower offers cheap web hosting with all plans featuring a 30-day money-back guarantee. The company main target are small and medium sized online businesses. The host puts emphasis on site building tools thereby making it easy to create a site and put it together. Perhaps what you’ll love the most about iPower is that you do not need to tie yourself to year-long subscriptions as it offers monthly plans as well.

This company uses wind power to generate energy which is a good gesture to show that they care for the environments and want to reduce the carbon print. All websites hosted by iPower have an eco-friendly logo on the home page to show this value for the environment. What’s more, WordPress users can choose to use eco-friendly templates to appeal to the eyes of their visitors.

Apart from being powered entirely by wind energy, iPower stands out in many other aspects such as decent customer support and other useful features that we shall go through later in this guide. If you need a middle ground between robust and basic hosting services, then this firm may be your best answer.

Keep reading our iPower Hosting review article to learn about their plans and pricing, unique features, extras, strengths, and weaknesses and finally the FAQs. In the end, you should be able to decide whether the company is suitable for you or not.

iPower Hosting Plans

iPower offers a variety of hosting services including shared, VPS, Reseller and dedicated hosting. All its offerings come with free SSL certificates and domain names. The only glaring omission has to be cloud hosting which is not provided here.

The plans offered for shared, VPS, and dedicated are relatively more affordable for Linux users. Windows users may have to pay higher as windows applications tend to be more costly. With most web hosts offering Linux alone, the availability of windows servers makes iPower hosting a plus for some.

iPower Shared Hosting

Backed by high-performance servers each with multiple gigabit fiber optic connections, iPower’s shared hosting packages offer the ultimate performance to price ratio. These plans rely on clustered hardware and pooled resources which means you can expect some limitations to any resource that the company claims to be unlimited. The platform comes with several standard features that cut across all the three packages under shared hosting including; power plugins and java plugins, advanced settings, FTP manager for remote file transfers, and access logs.

The packages also include the latest software and scripts such as CGO BIN, PHP 7.1, PERL, and MySQL.

-          iPower Starter Plan

With 5 GB worth of disk space, this plan represents the lower end of iPower’s web hosting plans. As such, it is best suited for small sites especially blogs. However, expect to enjoy several excellent features with this package such as 250 GB worth of bandwidth, CM4all website creator, and international domain name support. If you need a personalized domain name, you’ll need to spend an extra $10.99. The plan has a somewhat extreme MySQL database limit as you are only allowed to create a single database. It also allows only one domain. The package goes for $3.99 a month.

-          Pro Plan

Unlike the previous plan which had a capped disk usage, the iPower Pro plan is equipped with unlimited storage option. The bandwidth cap is also scalable meaning that as long as you keep within the fair usage rates, your site’s traffic will not get throttled. The cherry on top, in this case, happens to be a free personalized domain; there’s also no limitation as to the number of domains you can add.

iPower has also included Shopsite (15 products) which is an excellent solution if you are looking to start a small online shop. The plan costs $3.95 a month.

-          Pro Plus Plan

This plan includes all the features of a standard iPower shared plan plus a few bonuses such as three free customized domains. The plan also gets an upgrade in terms of ShopSite software whereby you can stock up to 50 products per account instead of 15. The plan has scalable bandwidth although MySQL databases are limited to 25. Currently, the plan is going for $11.99 each month.

-          Windows Pro Plan

Equipped with ASP.net with AJAX, blog-building tools, and ODBC, this plan represents iPower in the Windows-based hosting platform. It includes unlimited disk and scalable bandwidth for your site’s changing storage and traffic needs.

iPower allows up to 25 domains with each of this account and also includes a free domain. However, the forwarding account will be capped at 1000 and so will the POP3 Email accounts. In terms of MySQL databases, you will be allowed to create up to 5 of them. The plan costs $6.95 each month.

-          WordPress Starter Plan

iPower recognizes the fact that WordPress represents the epitome of CMS hosting. The demand for WordPress optimized plans has led the company into investing in two WP plans; WP Starter and WP Essential. This starter plan offers all the main benefits of iPower’s shared hosting platform such as unlimited storage, free domain registration, unlimited email accounts, and handpicked themes. iPower will pre-install essential plugins as well as customize the control panel for your convenience. The plan goes for $3.75 a month.

-          WP Essential Plan

The Essential plan is an upgrade of the previous starter plan mainly with the addition of SSD based super speed storage infrastructure and enhanced security. It also comes with WP experts support instead of the standard support crew. Get it for $6.95 each month.

VPS Hosting

A successful website is almost always likely to demand more computing power as it grows with each new customer. This can be rather risky especially if you are on a shared hosting plan, whereby, resource overuse can get you in trouble if the host determines that your site is affecting the performance of other sites within the shared platform.

For this reason and the need to introduce scalability to computing resource allocation, many hosting firms usually offer Virtual Private Servers (VPS). These are relatively cheaper than dedicated hosting plans but more functional compared to shared plans.

The plans offered by iPower under this category include cPanel for all your control and settings; this makes it easy to configure the entire package from a single control panel. The root access is optional depending on your needs so feel free to activate the feature if you deem it necessary.

Resource provisioning is also done in real time with a VPS account, so your virtual server will be deployed instantly. iPower also includes fully managed support. Currently, you can choose from three plans under this platform: Basic, Business, and Optimum.

-          Basic Plan

This plan is equipped with a single core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 40 GB storage capacity and a bandwidth cap of 1TB. The low computing count makes this plan suitable for the early stages of establishing an online presence as the resources will be scalable over time. A monthly subscription will cost you $19.99.

-          Business Plan

When you’ve outgrown your shared plan and have a steady traffic flow, the next solution to look into would be a mid-tier VPS plan. IPower’s business plan offers two processing cores; 4 GB RAM, 90 GB storage option, and has a bandwidth cap of 3000GB. The plan is selling at $47.99 per month.

-          Optimum Plan

The Optimum plan is the highest performing VPS from iPower. The package comes with four cores worth of processing power, 8 gigabytes of RAM, and 120 GB storage. The bandwidth, on the other hand, is capped at 4 TB. You can equip your business with this plan for as little as $79.99 a month.

iPower Dedicated Servers

Changes in trends are forcing business owners and companies alike to adopt e-commerce and online based service provision. All these require one thing: computing power. While you may invest in a physical server and have it operate out of your garage, the chances are that, sooner or later, you will run into some interruptions resulting in downtime. To avoid this, iPower offers a collection of top-tier custom dedicated servers. These are equipped with industry-standard hardware and housed in secure data centers.

iPower provides fully managed support for all dedicated servers to eliminate any chances of downtime. The cloud flexibility feature gives room for scaling resource allocation depending on the demand. Finally, the servers utilize mirrored storage for advanced data protection. Currently, the company has three plans under this category:

-          Standard Plan

This server is equipped with two cores, 4 GB RAM and 500 GB storage. The bandwidth limit is set at 5Tb which is more than enough in most cases. The plan will cost you $119.99 a month.

-          Enhanced Plan

The Enhanced plan represents the mid-performance dedicated servers class. It comes equipped with four cores, 8 GB RAM, 1000GB ROM, and 10 TB bandwidth cap. The sticker price on this package is $151.99 a month.

-          Premium Plan

This is the ultimate plan from iPower. Packing 4 cores and 16 B RAM, you will have no problem processing heavy loads. The storage option maxes out at 1000 GB, and the bandwidth is capped at 15TB. A monthly subscription will cost you $191.99.

iPower Features

iPower Performance and Speed

The best way to quantify a hosting firm’s reliability is by looking into its performance and speed. These variables are influenced by the level of hosting infrastructure, network, as well as software compatibility that the individual hosting firm invests in. iPower promises to deliver world-class speeds on their secured hosting services.  To achieve this, it has invested in a couple areas with an aim of boosting its hosting performance:

-          Multiple Data Centers

To effectively serve their over one million customers, iPower has set up a number of data centers. Each of these houses thousands of servers and the entire facility is secured with the most effective security installations in the industry. Currently, the company has data centers in Boston, MA area and their most recent in one is in California. To maintain low ping counts, these data centers are connected through multiple redundant connections.

It’s worth mentioning that the parent network Endurance International Group backs iPower. Therefore, some resources across the entire system are shared thus allowing your site to reach more people thanks to the group’s extensive global coverage.

-          Full Speed SSD Storage

Using SSDs instead of the conventional HDDs has a massive impact on a server’s speed. For this reason, iPower relies fully on SSD storage options with their shared hosting plans. The increased read/write speeds result in near instant page loading whenever anyone requests for your site. SSD storage also offers increased redundancy against data loss so expect a drastic reduction in such cases when you switch over to iPower.

-          Scalable Hosting

Your business will undergo various stages of growth with including changes in resources demanded for hosting and computation. iPower offers scalability options for its hosting services, thanks to its scalable design. With this feature, you can economize on the service without any wastage of resources as you will only need to pay for what your business needs on the go. This is often beneficial whenever you expect an increase in traffic, e.g. during holidays or when you have a running promo.

-          Unlimited Bandwidth

iPower recognizes the need to offer unlimited bandwidth on their hosting plans. As such, their servers are connected to the web through fast connections and rely on the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) which drastically improves exchange routing and ultimately results in faster loading speeds.

-          Pooled Network Infrastructure

iPower relies on pooled network infrastructure and interconnectivity to provide impressive web performance. This is made possible by the fact that whenever a visitor requests your site, the first free machine within the pool handles the request immediately. The setup also plays a significant role in increasing redundancy against hardware failure whereby if one server fails, another automatically takes up its workload without any significant service downtime.

Security

You should always consider robust security from your web host to keep your site safe from attacks. Below are the functions that iPower puts in place for enhanced security.

-          SiteLock Security

SiteLock is known to offer robust protection against malware and other attacks. Fortunately, iPower relies on this platform to keep your site safe by constantly scanning malware and preventing your site from being blacklisted. For WordPress sites, this tool is particularly crucial as it protects sites from vulnerabilities and helps prevent automated attacks.

Having a Sitelock on your site can significantly increase your conversions as it adds a security badge to increase user confidence. The tool is a recognized symbol of trust and is seen as the green light of succeeding in e-commerce.

-          Secured Socket Layer (SSL) certificate

Need additional protection for clients and website information? Move to iPower platform which offers a secure environment for your online business. Installing an SSL certificate on iPower is quite affordable and easy.

The main reason you need an SSL certificate is to create an encrypted path between your browser and server. Today, Google puts a “Not Secure” warning on sites without SSL certificates and may even warn users against visiting your website. As a result, an SSL can help to build trust among your clients and ultimately enable your business generate more leads.

-          Website backups

iPower offers daily backups for websites and databases and offers this service at an affordable cost of $1.14/mo. This way, you’re sure to stay safe in case the unexpected happens. All you need is to go to any point in save history and select a single file or restore the whole website. Your files are backed up each night and made available on the server.

Customer support

Small and medium business owners may fall into some issues that require access to a round-the-clock support. As a result, you need to assess the support of a web host before choosing them.

iPower lacks a YouTube channel but offers several options to reach their support such as phone, forums, live chat, and emails.

For toll-free support, you can call 888-511-HOST (4678) to talk to their representatives for free. If you are outside of USA/Canada, you can call them via 1-310-314-1608 instead. Note that iPower also offers other telephone numbers for different countries. Their waiting times vary with some clients reporting quick replies while some reported slower response times.

The live chat was introduced in 2014 allowing you to talk to their support from the official website. If you need to access this feature, just click below the iPower Web Logo located on the top left corner. However, you may need to wait for a while to get a response using this channel.

The email support is the last option to reach their support directly. Here, replies occur fast, but you may not get an agent that helps you right away. They may direct you to other representatives as EIG is known to outsource most of their customer support.

-          Knowledgebase

This section should be your first place to look for solutions as it outlines answers to common questions about hosting with this company. Here, you’ll find a large searchable database that looks simple yet properly compiled. Unlike other normal FAQs sections that offer a screen to scroll for answers, iPower lets you search for keywords to get relevant questions.

To get the right keywords to search, just use the troubleshooter on the platform to know what to search. The knowledgebase has information on almost everything from security, website building database specifics, and professional services among others. Their guides are very easy to follow with information and solutions to different hosting questions. There are also numerous video tutorials, but if you don’t get an answer, you can reach their 24/7 support.

iPower Control Panel

Just like any other hosting company, iPower has invested in a custom control panel which acts as the hosting interface. The firm settled on vDeck which is one of the most prolific control panel programs in the market. Besides, the platform is hugely accepted in the web development community due to its tabbed view as well as advanced features and settings. With it, you will easily configure your site from scratch and quickly accomplish your tasks, thanks to a host of features and third-party add-ons.

Let’s take a look at some of the notable features of iPower’s vDeck panel:

-          Mail Control

Take charge of your site’s communication with the dedicated inbox option that’s included in vDeck. The tool can be used to create mailing orders as well as launch mass mailing campaigns. If you need to view the most important messages first, be sure to configure the filter to your liking on the go. You can also access all your email accounts and set the spam settings from the mail panel.

-          Billing Management

vDeck includes an account information tab that comes in handy when you want to update your billing information. The same tab provides for options to make payments and renew accounts.

-          Site Management

Upon logging into your vDeck control panel, you will be presented with a step by step site management tab. The entire process is well documented so you can expect to have an easy time while at it.

-          Domain Management

Use this tab to configure your site’s DNS and subdomains so that they point to the right address. The tool can also be used to customize regional access.

30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

iPower is focused on offering satisfaction to every of their customers. But for any person looking for a good web host, it can be hard to trust them based on mere promises alone.

As a result, they let every potential client to try their offers risk-free. In the event the web host doesn’t meet your expectations, you can choose to cancel your contact with them within the first month of subscriptions. iPower refunds all your subscription fee with no questions asked.

The 30-day money back policy is available for all plans except when you seek add-on services such as domain names. They charge $15 for the domain name and this is non-refundable.

E-commerce features

Running a site with iPower is a breeze as they offer a bunch of building tools to make your online experience fun and productive. On signing up with them, the firm provides you with the ShopSite starter at no extra cost to ensure that you can run an ecommerce site. Besides, you get a variety of free shopping cart software and other e-commerce tools to make the whole process successful.

iPower offers access to various ecommerce services such as:

-          Credit card processing

Here, they offer PayPal payment services which is a good way to securely receive credit card payments online. PayPal is arguably the most trusted way of making payments by a majority of customers.

-          SSL Certificates

Most customers feel comfortable doing business on sites with SSL certificates. Google also uses them for rankings and discourages customers from buying from sites without them. SSL offers iron-clad security to confidential information about your site. iPower sells Extended Validation SSL certificates to help you achieve more trust from visitors.

-          Mojo Marketplace

iPower integrates Mojo marketplace to their marketplace which acts a source of applications that you can add to your site and brand it as you wish. Some of the notable apps available in the marketplace include plugins, website themes, and professional services.

-          Doba

Wholesalers and suppliers prefer this dropshipping marketplace for connecting them to their clients. The site enables successful order delivery regardless of where the customer lives. You get access to over a million products that you can place on your online shop for sale without inventory.

To set up your shop and be able to sell products and services, you need to install Weebly’s which costs $2.99/mo payable for 12 months in advance. The shop has the same drag-and-drop interface as the builder which means there’s very little learning involved to get a nice shop running.

The first time you add a product to the site, you will need to choose your preferred option between Google Checkout and PayPal Business. iPower keeps your site secure by offering security add-ons such as Sitelock basic to perform daily checks for threats.

iPower Extras

-          Adwords Credits

iPower includes search engine bonuses with every account so as to give you that competing edge when it’s time to take your site online. With $100 in Google credits and $100 Bing/Yahoo! Credits, your site will hit the ground running.

-          Free Drag and Drop Website Builder

This web host includes a custom website builder that is easy to use and is also well equipped. The builder does not require any prior coding experience to use; all you have to do is drag different items and place them where you want them to be. It also includes various professionally designed templates which you can work and experiment with.

-          G-Suite MX records

iPower has partnered with Google to provide its users with professional support for G Suite MX. This tool allows you to set up Gmail business email and link other Google services with your domain name. It’s important to note that this process will require you to confirm domain ownership.

-          Reseller Plans

iPower has a rewarding reseller program that deals with Linux and Windows hosting plans. The company however only offers support to the initial buyer and not the third parties.

-          Mojo Market Place

To add more functionality to your website you will require third-party apps. This is where Mojo Marketplace comes in; with thousands of website themes, plugins and professional services, you will have no trouble picking the right add-ons for your site.

Strengths & Weaknesses of iPower Hosting

Now that you have learned about this web host’s plans and features, it’s time we discussed about its pros and cons.

Strengths

We begin with the things we thought they were quite neat about iPower in our review.

-          They offer cheap web hosting

Are you wondering why iPower has over 1 million customers? It’s mainly because their plans won’t leave you broke. They offer cheap prices for their plans with the best part being that you can pay month-to-month for some plans.

For instance, their starter plans starts at $5.95 and has a one-year commitment. The plan offers 5GB of space and 250 GB monthly transfers. As you upgrade, plans do become cheaper compared to rates of other hosts. Like most hosts, they offer discounted prices for plans particularly when you purchase their 3-year plan. iPowe is an excellent choice if you need to own a small site or need to maintain your site before you can upgrade.

-          Reliable hosting

Getting an awesome deal in hosting is a great thing but the provider needs to be reliable. Fortunately, iPower ensures that you don’t have many interruptions with uptime. The company owns over 800 highly reliable Dell servers which are further protected by M71 routers and firewall. It also features a highly specialized software to reduce downtime and improve reliability.

As if that’s not enough, the hosting provider ensures that servers are backed up regularly, and the data centers are protected around the clock by guards. Their network undergoes 24/7 monitoring and fire suppression systems keep the servers even more protected. All data is backed up every night and made available to you in case you need it.

-          Decent customer support

Navigating the platform is easy, same was as using its builder and control panel. However, from time to time, you may still require help from iPower’s support.

The right way is to begin at the knowledgebase and see if you can get help for your issue on your own. The knowledgebase has numerous articles and video tutorials to offer detailed answers. What’s more, this section is easy to use with a search button which takes you directly to relevant answers.

There’s a chance that you won’t find the answers that you’re looking; that’s when you can seek iPower’s customer representatives for detailed solutions. Contact them on live chat, toll-free phone number, or via email tickets. The team is generally friendly and willing to listen to you and give you polite feedback. However, you may be transferred to other representatives because iPower uses outsourced customer support. While there is still room for improvement, it’s not the worst support around.

-          Easy to Install WordPress

iPower makes it hassle-free to install WordPress to your site. Better yet, you can install WordPress on the managed WordPress or on the standard Linux-based server. Plans begin at $3.75/mo and come with a control panel, free URL, plugins, and themes.

This host also offers daily backups, sufficient data transfers, email accounts, and storage. If you go for the highest plan which starts at $6.95/mo, you have less work to do as you’re assigned specialized customer support.

iPower has everything you need to create a WordPress site, pages, and posts. This is a good place to begin for aspiring web owners who want to put a site together with little hassles involved.

-          Numerous features

As mentioned earlier, iPower does a lot to please its clients. Apart from being a reliable, cheap web hosting company, you get other cool things when you work with the firm. For example, they will help you understand how to design a website and give you invaluable tips on internet marketing. They also offer a free domain name which is valuable for beginners.

Weaknesses

iPower is certainly not perfect, but it’s serviceable. In case you have decided to use the company for your hosting, it’s better to have an idea of the areas they might come short.

-          Setting up a Website

One of the major drawbacks with iPower is difficulty when setting up a website. First, they include an optional $10 fee for domain privacy which may catch you off-guard. Additionally, the confirmation page has 2 add-ons that are unchecked – these are daily backup and security tool. Then, you will be prompted whether you need other options like domain privacy, SSL certificate, etc.

Put simply, you tend to pass through a lot of pain to get your website complete. An SSL certificate goes for $49.99/yr which may appear cheap but the setup process can be daunting for first-timers. The good news is that once you get past the payment information stage, everything else gets easier. Nevertheless, you may have to read a lot to get past the complex sign up process.

-          Linux Bias

iPower is designed to offer Linux-based hosting which makes windows hosting quite difficult to set up. While windows hosting is available, you need to dig deeper into your pocket compared to Linux. However, if this bias doesn’t bother you, you can rest assured that iPower is a reliable hosting for windows.

iPower Frequently Asked Questions

-          Who created iPower?

iPower was founded in 2001 by Tomas Gorny. The company currently powers over 1,000,000 sites in more than 100 countries. They have 2 data centers in Massachusetts and Arizona (headquarter). The company was bought by EIG in 2015.

-          Does iPower offer a money-back guarantee?

Yes, iPower offers a 30-day money back guarantee in case you need to change or cancel your plan.

-          How is their customer service?

Well, iPower’s support receives mixed reactions as thus reviews vary from client to client. The company strives to bring a personal touch to its clients and help them get over issues. They even offer dedicated customer support with a team that carries out monthly surveys to know where users need more help. What’s more, the web host offers tools that require little or no prior knowledge to use for their web hosting.

You can reach them any time of the day but the response time may vary depending on the time you contact them. Some of the most common options for support include live chat, phone, and tickets. You can also consult their expansive knowledgebase for common issues you face on your site.

-          Can I reach iPower on social media?

Sure, you can reach them on Facebook and Twitter. However, the company doesn’t seem to put much effort in keeping their accounts active which perhaps signifies that you cannot rely on them through social media.

-          Do they offer a free domain?

Yes, iPower avails a domain name if you need one for your site. All their plans offer a free domain except for the Starter plan.

-          Does iPower host offer free SSL certificates?

None of their hosting packages comes with a free SSL. As a result, you need to purchase a dedicated SSL certificate to ensure security to your site’s information.  You can get SSL certificates on the “Products” section on iPower.

-          Is uptime reliable?

iPower does not provide guarantees on uptime, but they offer a reliable service. Since the company was bought by Endurance International Group, it has seen tremendous improvements in uptime but still needs improvement.

-          Do they offer reseller hosting?

Yes, you can choose reseller plans for Linux and Windows. The plans offer a great way to get passive income through the iPower reseller interface program. You can even brand your sites with personalized fonts, colors and have your own logo. The web host monitors the networks regularly to ensure you have a smooth running network.

-          Does this host have a site builder?

Like most web hosts, iPower offers Weebly site builder which you can use to set up your site easily. The builder has the drag-and-drop interface and other site building tools that you might need to have a complete site. They also offer numerous features, themes, plugins, free scripts, and add-ons to make the process a breeze.

-          Is iPower good for e-commerce?

Apart from offering cheap plans for e-commerce sites, this company ensures that you have all the services to succeed in online marketing. First, you get to enjoy credit/debit card processing, PayPal and online banking. Additionally, they ensure that your customer information is safe by offering SSL certificates which secure transactions.

You also get access to Mojo marketplace which comes with thousands of apps to enhance your shop. Most of the apps you get here are categorized under plugins, professional services, or themes. For small businesses, you can integrate Doba which ensures smooth delivery of orders regardless of the customer location.

-          Do they give any bonuses?

Yes, iPower offers the following bonuses to their customers:

·         $100 Google credits

·         $100 Yahoo/Bing credits

·         Free listing in Yellow pages.com

·         Access to free marketing guides

·         Free toll-free number for US residents

-          Do they have a control panel?

iPower uses vDeck which most customers are familiar with. This tool offers access to loads of functions to ensure improved performance. vDeck is fairly easy to use with useful shortcuts to help you in navigating each section quite seamlessly. With it, you can add email accounts, find support ticket, install CMS and install chat.

-          What makes iPower hosting different?

One major thing that sets out this hosting provider from the rest is their eco-friendly approach. iPower acquires its power primarily from wind energy which reduces their carbon footprint significantly. Another commendable aspect is that they offer shared, VPS and dedicated hosting packages at cheap prices which enables you to upgrade without breaking the bank.

-          Why use iPower for my WordPress site?

WordPress users will enjoy the many free and customizable elements for WP blogging at iPower. For starters, this host offers users with a website builder in case you need more control over the site design. Additionally, they help you market your site by offering email marketing tools and search engine marketing tips. WordPress bloggers will also enjoy free search Google AdWords credits to market their blog.

Their WordPress hosting plan meets the needs of a new site and includes all the essential features that most bloggers require to have their sites running. Some of the notable features you get here include a wide variety of themes, customized control panel, unlimited email accounts, bandwidth, and space.