IONOS is a web hosting service that was formerly known as 1&1 and offers a variety of website tools in its package.
They provide almost all of the different kinds of hosting that are out now, including shared hosting, VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting, and plenty more.
IONOS has been a leading contender in the market for hosting services as a result of this, in addition to offering reasonable prices.
However, how reliable is IONOS Hosting?
For the most part, this review is going to concentrate on the shared hosting options that IONOS offers.
In order to provide you with the most comprehensive evaluation possible, we put a variety of aspects through rigorous testing, including customer service, general usability, service uptime, and many more.
Let’s dive in.
General Info & Hosting Overview
Pros of Using IONOS Hosting
IONOS had a solid beginning, as shown by its excellent uptime and much improved speed performance.
But other from that, do they have any other skills?
Let’s take a closer look at this, shall we?
1. Strong Uptime – 99.97%
When it comes to web hosting companies, one of the most essential criteria that we analyse is the uptime of their servers.
You are responsible for the costs associated with maintaining your website. If your website has a low percentage of uptime and frequent outages, then the hosting provider you use has let you down in the most important way possible.
The uptime that IONOS claims to have is 99.9%. Their customer support staff asserts that the only reason they do not declare that they have a 100% uptime is because they are unable to take into consideration the possibility of natural catastrophes.
And thus far, according to the statistics that we have obtained over the course of the previous 6 months, their uptime has been an impressive 99.97%, with over an hour and a half of downtime.
Here’s the last 6-month average uptime data:
- August 2022: 99.99%
- July 2022:100%
- June 2022: 99.99%
- May 2022: 100%
- April 2022: 99.96%
- March 2022: 99.88%
2. OK Loading Speed 713 ms
When a page takes too long to load, many of your prospective visitors will already be looking elsewhere. This is because a sluggish website is more than simply frustrating.
Why is it the case?
Google places a significant amount of weight on how well your website performs. Your all-important SEO score, which helps to define where you appear on the most widely used search engine in the world, is significantly dependent on it.
After a website’s crawlability, site security, and mobile-friendliness, the speed of a site is the fourth most significant criteria in the SEO ranking algorithm.
Therefore, a sluggish website is an instant turnoff for both Google and the people that visit websites.
Today we live in an era when communication and information may be obtained instantly. If you’re falling behind the competition, there’s a good probability that users will locate an alternative website with comparable content that is more concerned about the quality of their experience.
The question now is, how did IONOS perform?
During the preceding half year, they offered a page loading time that averaged 713 milliseconds.
The good news is that they have increased their speed since last year (the loading time is now above 800 milliseconds), but the bad news is that they are displaying an increasing trend toward slower speeds. Despite this, we have decided to include them in our professionals area for the time being.
3. Free SSL Security
Another essential component of a hosting service is its emphasis on data safety. To our relief, IONOS performs quite well in this regard.
Both a dedicated SSL certificate issued by GeoTrust and a wildcard SSL certificate are used by the service. When you are doing business online, the fact that this encrypts your website for higher levels of security should allow you to exhale a sigh of comfort.
In order to have a website that uses HTTPS, you will need an SSL certificate. If the first part of your website’s address (URL) is “http,” Google will consider your site to be insecure. In addition, SSL certificates guard the data that is sent back and forth between users and the website they are using. Your consumers will have an easier time trusting you as a result of this, which is essential to the success of any commercial partnership.
The server, Developer Shared Hosting, and Developer eShop packages all come with the GeoTrust Dedicated SSL Certificate pre-installed for your convenience. The Wildcard SSL Certificate is included by default with each and every shared hosting plan for both Linux and Windows.
4. Free Domain and Email Account
Extras are always a welcome addition. When you subscribe to one of a hosting company’s paying plans, it’s always nice to check whether they provide any free or discounted extra features with the bundle.
IONOS is unique in that it provides two of the most often requested free features—domain registration and email account creation.
Shared hosting packages such as Essential, Business, and Expert come with a free domain name registration for a whole year.
When it comes to having a branded email account, which is another must if you want the people you do business with to take you seriously, both Linux and Windows come standard with an email account for every level of their respective packages.
5. Improved User Interface
IONOS does not make use of the traditional cPanel interface; rather, they have built their own backend from the ground up. In the beginning, it may be difficult and need some time to get used to for those who are used to the cPanel; but, once you get the hang of it, it is quite simple to use.
You may manage domains, SSL certificates, email addresses, check the statistics of your site, and do a variety of other tasks all from the dashboard.
IONOS has also included a more advanced search bar, which allows users to locate settings and move between products in a more expedient manner.
Other users have expressed a wide range of opinions on the UI of IONOS, with the most common complaint being that it is not particularly user-friendly in comparison to cPanel. On the other hand, it would seem that IONOS has made an attempt to improve the usability of the dashboard and has made it more rational to use.
Cons of Using IONOS Hosting
1. “Limited” Customer Support
A while back, IONOS provided customer service through phone, email, or a knowledge base around the clock for customers who were enrolled and those who were not registered.
We also tried out their live chat feature, which they just began providing somewhat lately.
In less than a minute, we were connected to the customer care professional and posed a straightforward query concerning site migrations. Even though the representative of the customer support team responded extremely quickly, they only provided replies that were one word long, so it seemed as like we had to coerce the information out of them.
The fact that IONOS now now provides a live chat option is definitely a plus, but we can’t help but believe that it has room for improvement.
2. Account Registration Only Possible in Limited Amount of Countries
One of the aspects of IONOS that you probably won’t even notice at first is the fact that you can only create an account with them in a certain number of countries at any one time. The vast majority of nations are covered, however if you’re in China and want to join IONOS, for instance, you won’t be able to since China isn’t on their list of supported nations.
The majority of nations in Europe are affected in the same way. Despite the fact that IONOS was founded in Germany and its headquarters are still situated there, only a select number of European nations are included on the list.
A few instances of situations in which you won’t be able to join up for IONOS:
- China
- Iran
- Egypt
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Europe (Poland, Romania, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Czech Republic, etc)
It is thus in your best interest to determine, before to registering, whether or not it is possible for you to continue the registration process in your nation.
3. No Free Website Transfers
If you are moving your website to a new web host, offering a free transfer is a terrific approach to get potential customers to switch over to your service.
It makes it possible for a new client to alleviate some of the anxiety and financial strain associated with the procedure.
If you wish to move your site to IONOS, you need be prepared to pay $70 per hour for the service.
IONOS Cost, Plans, and Payment Methods
IONOS offers two distinct sorts of shared hosting services, each of which comes in a total of three different web hosting plan configurations.
To begin, they provide Linux hosting, which is simply referred to as Web Hosting on the company’s official website.
Windows hosting is available with them as well. Evidently, these many forms of shared hosting are carried out on a variety of operating systems.
Both are offered at reasonable prices, but the Windows alternative provides access to a far larger number of functions. Every browser offers users the option to choose one of three distinct tiers.
Let’s start with Linux:
On the Microsoft Windows side of things, you have a variety of bigger plans available to you, each of which comes with a commitment time.
IONOS accepts PayPal and credit card payments.
Do We Recommend IONOS?
Yes, we do.
Their scalable plans for Linux and Windows are quite reasonably priced and provide a substantial number of features that users will find helpful. The use of SSL encryption makes this an extremely safe service, and the fact that a free domain is included was a major selling point for us.
In addition to this, IONOS has provided a faster loading time as well as a more consistent uptime.
However, there are drawbacks to this as well. You are unable to register with them in the majority of European countries, and the $0.50/month cost that is offered eventually renews at a significantly higher $10.00/month rate.
Additionally, we do not appreciate how restricted their assistance alternatives are.
Even if IONOS does not have as many successes as we would like, it is still a trustworthy hosting company that will accomplish what it sets out to achieve.
