As a hosting expert/website owner, I’ve reviewed many hosting providers, so it made sense I evaluated IONOS Hosting – a provider that’s becoming popular. In the rest of this piece, I’ll give my honest thoughts on the host’s pricing plans, performance, and customer support. Whether you’re a total newbie or an expert developer, this review will help you make an informed decision before getting on board.
IONOS Hosting Review
Previously known as 1&1 or 1&1 IONOS, IONOS Hosting is constantly evolving to outperform its competitors. Widely known for its affordable pricing plans and reliable hosting services, this web host provider uses cutting-edge technology to serve over 12 million domains. As a result, IONOS emerged as the largest web hosting company in Europe.
IONOS offers a wide variety of pricing plans to cater to diverse audiences. These include shared VPS, dedicated, and even cloud hosting plans. They have data centers on three continents: Europe, the US, and the UK. This is perfect if your audience is located in the said regions.
IONOS Hosting is rated A+ on the BBB directory. They have a rating of 4.1 out of 5.0 from 16,587 customers on TrustPilot.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Modern and beginner-friendly control panel
- Access to multiple databases for all plans
- Affordable pricing plans
- Full-stack security features
- Reliable uptime
Cons:
- It has some hidden fees
- Customer support is unreliable
Unleash the potential of your website with high scalability and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. IONOS web hosting is a one-stop shop for everything you need to build and manage your website – lightning speed, reliable uptime, and out-of-the-box security features. Get started with IONOS Hosting today.
Rating Breakdown
Hosting providers come in all shapes and sizes… and offer a ton of varied features. To compare them fairly, it’s important we have a standardized comparison method that evaluates each host’s performance in an important area - speed, reliable uptime, accessibility to advanced developer tools, etc.
At HostAdvise, our expert team has created this standardized web hosting rating guide that scores each host and gives an overall ranking based on their performance. This way, it will be easier for you to make an informed decision that best fits your needs and budget.
| Parameter | Score | Why we gave this score |
| PRICES | 8.5 | IONOS Hosting has a modest pricing plan compared to other providers with similar features. The lowest plan comes with basic web management tools and you get more value for your investment when you opt for higher plans. However, I gave them a 8.5 because their renewal plans are expensive. |
| FEATURES | 9.0 | IONOS Hosting boasts all the functionalities for all business sizes, ranging from small to large. You can also access updated versions of web development software, server scripting languages, and databases as a developer. However, I gave them a 9.0 because they also offer website building and management as a service, which is not common with other providers. |
| PERFORMANCE | 9.0 | IONOS Hosting is highly scalable and reliable. They offer a 99.9% Uptime guarantee, scalable server, SSD and HDD storage drives, Marai DB and MySQL databases etc. I gave them a 9.0 because these features are available for the starter and pro plans. |
| USER FRIENDLINESS | 9.0 | IONOS uses a custom control panel, which is also the main dashboard. The platform has a steep learning curve, so you’ll find no trouble navigating the platform as a first-time user. I gave it a 9.0 because it’s user friendly and intuitive for beginners. |
| SUPPORT | 8.0 | IONOS offers three support options – phone, cloud support, and live chat. The live chat is sometimes unavailable. But they have a vast resource center where you’ll find actionable DIY solutions in the form of guides, tutorials, and articles. I gave them a 8.0 because their live support ticket is unaccessible and this can be an obstacle for first-time users. |
IONOS Hosting Prices & Plans – 2023
IONOS Hosting offers shared, VPS, dedicated, WordPress, and cloud hosting. In addition, you’ll find more niche-specific hosting plans such as Jamstack hosting, woo-commerce hosting, Joomla hosting, ASP.NET hosting for Windows OS, etc. In addition to these plans, IONOS offers email hosting and website-building services.
Each IONOS Hosting plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee which covers all fees except server usage fees and search engine marketing setup fees. However, before opting for any of the IONOS Hosting plans, consider your needs, goals, and budget.
Shared Hosting
| Plan name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| Essential | 10GB | Unmetered | Custom control panel | 1 | $4 |
| Business | Unlimited | Unmetered | Custom control panel | Unlimited | $0.50 |
| Expert | Unlimited | Unmetered | Custom control panel | Unlimited | $8 |
IONOS Hosting recommends the business plan which is a better option since it’s most affordable. You’ll have access to 1-click installations for over 70 apps, free wildcard SSL certificates, daily backups, free CDN, and many more. However, it returns to the initial price of $10/mo after one year
VPS Hosting
Standard
| Plan name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of vCores | Price |
| VPS S | 10GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom cPanel | 1 | $2 |
| VPS M | 80GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom cPanel | 2 | $4 |
| VPS L | 120GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom cPanel | 2 | $8 |
| VPS XL | 160GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom cPanel | 4 | $2 |
| VPS XXL | 240GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom cPanel | 6 | $18 |
IONOS recommends the VPS XL plan, and it’s not hard to see why. You get a whooping 160GB SSD storage space, 4vCores, Ubuntu 22.04, and other configuration features for just $2 per month.
Memory Optimized
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of vCores | Price |
| VPS M RAM | 80 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 2 | $8 |
| VPS L RAM | 120 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 4 | $12 |
| VPS XL RAM | 160 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 6 | $2 |
| VPS XXL RAM | 240 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 8 | $24 |
IONOS recommends the VPS XL RAM, which is the most affordable plan on the list for the six months. This price reverts to $25 per month after the grace period is maximized. The daily backup feature isn’t included in this plan and has to be purchased as an additional service.
VPU Optimized
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of vCores | Price |
| VPS vCore M | 80 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 4 | $6 |
| VPS vCore L | 120 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 4 | $10 |
| VPS vCore XL | 160 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 6 | $4 |
| VPS vCore XXL | 240 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 8 | $20 |
IONOS Hosting recommends the VPS vCore XL plan, starting at $4 monthly. After six months, it renews at $27 per month. Extra features like the Windows OS, Plesk management system, and backup attract extra cost.
Dedicated Hosting
SSD
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| A8i SSD | 240 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Root access + custom control panel | 4 | $45 |
| L-16 SSD | 480 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Root access + custom control panel | 4 | $70 |
| XL – 32 SSD | 800 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Root access + custom control panel | 6 | $110 |
| XL – 64 SSD | 800 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Root access + custom control panel | 8 | $140 |
The SSD dedicated hosting plan comes with SSD storage which is faster than the traditional hard drives. This means your website will load faster, boost performance and reduce latency. In addition, you’ll get SSH access, IPv6 support, unlimited FTP accounts, daily backups, and many more.
HDD
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of cores | Price |
| L4I HDD | 1000 GB | Unlimited | Custom control panel | 4 | $47 |
| L-16 HDD | 1000 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 4 | $60 |
| XL – 32 HDD | 2000 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control pan | 6 | $90 |
| XL – 64 HDD | 2000 GB | 400 Mbits/s | Custom control panel | 4 | $120 |
The HHD dedicated hosting plan has larger storage capacity but uses HHDs (hard disk drive) which is slower than the SSDs. Since they’re cheaper than SSD plans, it’s a perfect option for businesses that want access to dedicated resources but have a limited budget.
Windows Hosting
| Plan name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| Essential | 10GB | Unmetered | Custom control Panel | 1 | $5 |
| Business | 250GB | Unmetered | Custom control Panel | 5 | $6 |
| Expert | 500GB | Unmetered | Custom control Panel | 50 | $10 |
The IONOS Windows Hosting plan offers fully customizable options to customers including installation of custom software, adding free domain extensions, access to advanced and updated versions of developer tools such as MariaDB 10 and MySQL database, etc.
WordPress Hosting
| Plan name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | Number of sites | Price |
| Start | 25GB | Unmetered | Custom control panel | 1 | $2 |
| Grow | 50GB | Unmetered | Custom control panel | 1 | $1 |
| Boost | 75GB | Unmetered | Custom control panel | 1 | $6 |
IONOS Hosting offers two types of WordPress Hosting: Managed and unmanaged WordPress hosting. Both have similar pricing plans with a slight difference in the features. For the managed plan, the WordPress assistant manages your WordPress account. This AI can build your WordPress site and suggest and install themes, plugins, etc.
A2 Hosting Features
- Free SSL certificates and Cloudflare CDN
- Offers shared, WordPress, Dedicated, VPS, Windows hosting
- Sustainable data centers
- Reliable uptime
One of the features that stood out to me and made them unique from other providers is their ASP.NET hosting plans – specifically for Windows OS. This benefits Windows developers because they can easily access the requirements for building websites with .net and ASP.NET languages.
The IONOS Windows Hosting plan supports the latest version of the Windows server, ASP.NET, and .Net languages, respectively. Most importantly, each package in this plan comes with MS SQL, Cron manager, unlimited FTPS accounts, SSH access, free domains, and many other developer-friendly tools.
In addition, I love the IONOS custom-designed control panel, which looks more appealing than the regular cPanel. Here, you’ll find all the tools for setting up and managing your website.
Performance
IONOS boasts fast and scalable hosting services for all its users. To prove this, I tested the uptime, speed, and page load time. However, the proximity of your data center to your audience impacts the loading time and speed. Choose the nearest location to any IONOS Hosting data centers for better ranking and performance.
IONOS Hosting promises a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which is incredible considering the price. This proves IONOS Hosting is a reliable provider with only a few seconds of downtime annually for server maintenance.
Then, I tested for speed and response time using blinkforhome.com, a website hosted on IONOS Hosting. The overall performance showed 87%, which is also impressive.
Regarding speed, the results were slightly below my expectations and can be improved. The LCP took 780 ms, below the market average of 1.2 ms. This means your website can rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Lastly, I tested the page load time and the TTFB, and the results were reasonably good and can be improved. It took 1.7s to load the website fully:
Conclusively, IONOS Hosting performance is above average and surpasses many competitors offering similar packages at higher prices.
Level of Support
IONOS Hosting offers three kinds of support for all their customers:
Phone
IONOS provides a list of helplines for specific regions:
They have an additional customer support line available for US and non-US countries. Although this comes at a cost for countries outside the US:
Live chat
The live chat support is always faster, and I prefer using it when I encounter technical issues. But at the time of computing this review, IONOS Hosting live chat option was temporarily unavailable. So I couldn’t test that feature:
A vast knowledge base
The help center has a search engine feature where you can access almost all issues you’ll encounter while using IONOS Hosting:
Cloud support
Cloud support is specifically for users using or interested in IONOS cloud hosting. Opt for the free consultation if you are interested in using cloud hosting but need to figure out the right package that best fits your business. They have a team of experts ready to guide you and ease your decision-making process.
Secondly, IONOS Hosting has a rich library with guides, tutorials, FAQs, and other resources that give in-depth explanations of using the IONOS cloud hosting feature:
Lastly, they offer their special ‘Personal Consultant’ where you get a dedicated agent to attend to your needs:
User-Friendliness – Ease of use
Registration
Creating an account with Hosting is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is to purchase any of their plans from the homepage. You’ll find the list of hosting services they provide here:
Simply click on any of the services listed, and you’ll see a drop-down list of hosting packages available:
Once you’ve found the right package that fits your needs, click the ‘add to cart’ button:
Next, you’ll see a page to add your domain. If you don’t have a domain name yet, no worries! Simply click the ‘proceed without domain’ button at the bottom right corner of the page:
Once that’s sorted, IONOS Hosting automatically recommends add-ons that are beneficial to your web hosting plan. The add-ons are free for 30 days, and you won’t be charged until after this period. If you don’t want any, you can skip this page:
Lastly, you’ll be directed to the check-out page:
Congratulations! You’ll now have access to the IONOS account management dashboard.
IONOS Hosting Control Panel
IONOS Hosting has a neat and modern custom-made control panel that doubles as the main dashboard. Here, you can access your account and manage your website. The UI is interactive and intuitive, and you’ll find no trouble navigating the platform:
Overall, I love that the dashboard/control panel has a steep learning curve, well-organized, and is highly practical.
Installing WordPress on IONOS Hosting
Installing WordPress on IONOS is almost instant. They provide a 1-Click WordPress installation tool to create a WordPress account. You’ll also find a WordPress Setup Assistant plugin that automatically creates your account, suggests and installs design templates, installs various plugins, and many more.
IONOS provides a more detailed explanation to help you get started. Check it out here.
Add an email account with IONOS Hosting
To set up your email account(s) on IONOS Hosting, simply log into your account and click the email icon on the dashboard. Click the ‘add email address’ button.
Next, you’ll be directed to choose your desired IONOS email product. IONOS Hosting recommends the Mail Basic option, but two other options are available. Lastly, you’ll fill out a form where you can add your email and password and choose a domain.
Click ‘save,’ and your email account is ready.
Conclusion: Do We Recommend IONOS Hosting?
IONOS Hosting is a great host, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for reliable web hosting. The wide range of hosting options and fair pricing plans is alluring, especially to business owners with a minimal budget.
Another intriguing aspect is that their plans come with unmetered bandwidth, unlimited traffic, and advanced developer tools. Aside from the customer service, which needs improvements, I believe IONOS Hosting is a solid web provider and an excellent choice for anyone who wants to build and manage a website.
And lastly, IONO has incredible support features you get to enjoy, especially as a paid customer.b
