Company Overview
IONOS
Hosted Sites:
+10,000,000
Established:
1998
Location:
United States
The company provides service to more than 10 million customers' websites, deploying 65,000 servers and is financially stable, profitable, and thus secure.
Currently IONOS is the 5th largest web hosting provider in the US.
Uptime and Reliability
IONOS deploys 5 different locations, containing more than 65,000 servers and managing more than 10 million domains for their customers. Their data center in the US is located in Kansas. Due to their huge size, they operate with self-owned data centers, not as many other hosting providers, that only rent rack space at external facilities.IONOS employs more than 250 developers and thus has cutting-edge technology. Such a large company can not be ignored by other big market players, and so IONOS develops solutions in cooperation with experts from Google, Symantec, Plesk or Compaq. The IONOS data centers provide high security levels (both physical and network-security) and are connected to the internet through multiple optical fiber cables for redundancy.
Hosting Plans and Tech Features
| # | Hosting Type | Plan Name | Storage | Bandwidth | Price/mo | Renewal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shared | Essential | 10 GB | unlimited | $4.00 | $4.00 |
| 2 | Shared | Business | unlimited | unlimited | $8.00 | $8.00 |
| 3 | Shared | Expert | unlimited | unlimited | $14.00 | $14.00 |
| 4 | Shared Windows | Pro | 250 GB | unlimited | $1.00 | $10.00 |
| 5 | Shared Windows | Expert | 500 GB | unlimited | $1.00 | $14.00 |
| 6 | Shared Windows | Business | 100 GB | unlimited | $1.00 | $8.00 |
| 7 | Business | Agency Business | 50 GB | unlimited | $8.00 | $8.00 |
| 8 | Business | Agency Expert | 500 GB | unlimited | $16.00 | $16.00 |
| 9 | WordPress Managed | Essential WP | 25 GB SSD | unlimited | $1.00 | $9.00 |
| 10 | WordPress Managed | Business | 100 GB SSD | unlimited | $1.00 | $11.00 |
| 11 | WordPress Managed | Pro | 200 GB SSD | unlimited | $1.00 | $15.00 |
| 12 | WordPress Pro | One | 10 GB SSD | unlimited | $15.00 | $15.00 |
| 13 | WordPress Pro | Advanced | 40 GB SSD | unlimited | $40.00 | $40.00 |
| 14 | WordPress Pro | Agency | 100 GB SSD | unlimited | $100.00 | $100.00 |
| 15 | VPS | VPS S | 10 GB SSD | unlimited | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| 16 | VPS | VPS M | 80 GB SSD | unlimited | $10.00 | $10.00 |
| 17 | VPS | VPS L | 120 GB SSD | unlimited | $20.00 | $20.00 |
| 18 | VPS | VPS XL | 160 GB SSD | unlimited | $30.00 | $30.00 |
| 19 | VPS | VPS XXL | 240 GB SSD | unlimited | $40.00 | $40.00 |
| 20 | Dedicated Managed | A8i SSD | 240 GB SSD | unlimited | $45.00 | $65.00 |
| 21 | Dedicated Managed | L-16 SSD | 480 GB SSD | unlimited | $70.00 | $90.00 |
| 22 | Dedicated Managed | XL-32 SSD | 800 GB SSD | unlimited | $110.00 | $130.00 |
| 23 | Dedicated Managed | XL-64 SSD | 800 GB SSD | unlimited | $140.00 | $160.00 |
The entry level plan offers a free domain name, 10 GB of storage (wich is huge) and unlimited bandwidth.
The package includes $75 in marketing bonuses, e.g. for Google AdWords. It has a billing cycle of only 6 months, wich means the total cost to pay is only $23.94 (for 6 months), so very affordable. Additionally to virtual hosting, IONOS offers VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting as well.
US customers' websites are hosted by IONOS at their state-of-the-art data center in Lenexa, Kansas. Their customer service is available 24/7/365. IONOS gives a 90-day-money-back guarantee, wich is a high standard compared with most other providers, that only give 30 day-guarantees, if any at all.
We reviewed and tested IONOS to see, if they keep what they promise.
Control Panel and Software
IONOS developed their protrietary control panel software to empower customers to manage their web hosting account. We find it orderly and pretty complete in its functionality. Domain management, billing, email-management, databases - everything can be managed with ease. There is nothing special about it, however.1IONOS' control panel is not as great as cPanel, but it's ok and does what it should.
Support Performance
IONOS provides 24/7 customer support through a toll-free telephone number and by email. When we called support with a self-made issue, we were content with the response time, the friendliness, professionality and competence of the staff member.In addition to live support, IONOS offers a giant FAQ section to empower customers to help themselves.
We were content with IONOS' customer support. It fulfilled our high expectations.
Pricing, Value and Renewal Fees
IONOS' basic hosting package starts at $3.99 (if bought as a 6 months plan). That is a very good price and affordable, because the total cost per billing cycle (every 6 months) is less than $24. Many hosting providers take such low prices (if at all) only in connection with 36 months plans, so you need a lot more cash on hand to pre-finance this. This is especially important for individuals or small start-up-businesses, that need to take care of their cash flow.This price offer is even greater, when it comes to Windows hosting. Most other hosting providers take much more for Windows hosting plans, than for Linux hosting. IONOS offers all of their Linux and Windows hosting packages at the same prices.
The basic hosting plan for $3.99 /month includes a free domain, 10 GB of storage (that is more than enough for 95% of all websites today), unlimited bandwidth, 10 mySQL databases (100 MB each) and 600 email accounts. A website builder, a Blog application, an image gallery and a CGI Library are supported, as is PHP5. If more options, languages and applications are wanted (such as Perl, etc.) it is necessary to upgrade to a larger and more expensive hosting plan. However, most websites will come along well with the features included in the $3.99 plan.
Depending on the hosting plan customers choose, they can also obtain software bundles at a value of up to $900. A $75 marketing bonus is contained in the basic hosting plan, e.g. for Google advertising. Daily data backups are included for free. IONOS promises a 90-day-money-back-guarantee and strives for 99.9% uptime.
All this is an extraordinary high money value. The features are professional, the capacity of this plan is huge and it is very affordable - especially, when it comes to Windows hosting.
Conclusion: Do we recommend IONOS?
Their basic package has a high value and is very affordable. Especially the Windows hosting packages are even stronger in their price value in comparison to other Windows-hosting providers.
Due to their sheer size, IONOS operates in different ways than small web hosting companies could ever. They own their data centers and do not rent rack space at facilities, owned by other companies. Due to this, their own 5 state-of-the-art data centers and their 250+ development experts, they offer high performance and reliability.
IONOS' control panel is middle-class though. However, it does what it should. 24/7 toll-free telephone and email support was responsive, competent and helpful.
IONOS also provides VPS hosting and dedicated servers. To make their offer complete, they provide many additional services, like webdesign, domain-only hosting, eCommerce solutions and search engine visibility services.
We see IONOS as a professional and very affordable web hosting provider. When it comes to Windows hosting, their prices are hard to beat for the competition.
