Quick Facts & Checklist
| Speed | 400 ms (over the last 6 months, updated March 2021) |
| Uptime | 99.99% (over the last 6 months, updated March 2021) |
| Features | Unlimited bandwidth, Free Domain 1st Year, Free SSL Certificate, Free CDN, Custom Themes, 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee |
| Hosting Plans | Shared, WordPress, VPS, Cloud, and Dedicated Servers |
| Support | 24/7 Live Chat, Phone, Email, Knowledge Base |
| Pricing | Plans start from £1.00 per month |
IONOS Overview
What Is IONOS?
When it comes to web-hosting providers, IONOS has undoubtedly stood the test of time. After an impressive 30 year history, we’d be lying if we said we didn’t have high expectations going into this web hosting review. First founded in 1988 under the name 1&1, IONOS hit the ground running.
Committed to delivering robust, reliable and secure products, 1&1 engineered its data center architecture and network. This enables millions of clients to get online and set up their web presence.
Clearly, their thinking was ahead of their time. They set up their business for success and the next 30 years that followed were full of impressive milestones that lead into today.
Today, IONOS is the web hosting and cloud partner for small and medium-sized businesses. They are experts in IaaS and offer a portfolio of solutions for the digital space.
As the largest hosting company in Europe, they manage more than 8 million customer contracts and host over 12 million domains in their own regional data centers in the US and Europe.
Impressive right? Well, that isn’t the only thing they do. At IONOS, they focus on helping entrepreneurs take their first steps online, assisting established business owners in scaling up and demonstrating to large companies and their partners how to help them succeed in the online world.
Other IONOS Website Hosting
They have big claims that reliability and security are engineered into the core of their products. They rely on a solid mix of state-of-the-art technology, strong privacy policies, and airtight data security with headquarters in Germany.
So, in 2021 how does IONOS compete with other prominent players in the web hosting space? This comprehensive hosting review of IONOS will go into exactly how well they’ve performed across their over impressive 30-year history.
I’ll be using this IONOS review to cover all the essential elements of a good web hosting service. You’ll learn about what the company has to offer, including speed, reliability, features, price point & customer support. So let’s get to it.
Are you looking to build a website with WordPress?
Speed & Reliability
How Fast Is IONOS?
For the average business today, the speed test is becoming more critical to hosting providers than ever. The competition in this space is enormous.
We found some interesting facts when we put IONOS to the test by reviewing them across many independent review websites.
What we’ve learned through our hosting reviews is that no one likes slower websites. Across our research, a single second delay in page load can cause 11% less conversion and 7% fewer page views. Users don’t want to wait for a site to load when another site is just a few clicks away.
We’ve become a generation who want things now. We demand a fast and seamless experience when shopping online.
IONOS Speed Test
To give you an idea of how fast your website might load if you sign up with one of IONO’s shared plans, we used the Uptime Robot service to record the speed and uptime of our test site.
The average loading time of the blog post containing an image and some text on the test site using the lightweight Twenty Twenty-One theme was 400ms seconds. Not bad at all.
However, when measuring the speed of a hosting server, it’s essential to look at more than just its loading time. To test how IONS’ servers would respond with increased traffic, we used a testing tool called K6 (formerly Load Impact) to send virtual users to our test site.
Load Impact & Stress Test Results
IONOS K6 Stress Test Results
So we ran a load impact and stress test simulating 50 active visitors over 5 minutes. This tells us if our test site would load as quickly when multiple users are using the site.
Essentially, this chart shows that as the number of visitors increases (the grey line), the page load times stay pretty stable at around 90 ms (the blue line).
This means that when multiple users are using your website, there is no drop in performance.
Data Centers In Five Countries
Overall, IONOS has scored consistently well across their speed tests. It is essential to note that IONOS has 15 data centers. You’re usually given the one nearest to you unless you’re on a plan to choose your data center.
The performance will vary depending on which of the 15 data centers is being used. Still, the message here is clear – the more available data centers, the more you can rely on speed working as it should.
IONOS Shared Hosting Uptime
When assessing uptime, we looked at the overall availability of our test site on IONOS.
Its website claims to have ‘almost 100% uptime’, and from our research over the last six months, it came in at 99.99%—clearly an impressive feature.
Generally speaking, uptime is one of the most critical metrics to understand your users’ type of experience online. We do not doubt that IONOS has put a lot of effort into this feature with this impressive score.
Is Performance important to you?
Pricing & Plans
How Much Does IONOS Cost?
IONOS currently has three ‘plans’ or pricing structures available for their web hosting offering. The best part about this is that each plan is incredibly different to ensure the needs of their customers are met.
It ensures no matter where you are on your business journey. There is an option for a beginner right through to an advanced agency professional.
IONOS Shared Hosting Plans
Their four plans are named, Essential, Business, Pro and Expert.
The Essential Plan
The Essential plan is priced at £1 per month for six months and best described as ‘perfect for one website or project. Included in this plan is:
The Business Plan
The next jump up is Business. The Business plan is priced at £1 per month for six months and best described as ‘perfect for more significant web projects.’ Included in this plan is:
The Pro Plan
The next jump up is Pro. The Business plan is also priced at £1 per month for six months. Included in this plan is:
The Expert Plan
Finally, the third plan is named the Expert. The Expert plan is priced at £1 per month for six months and best described as ‘perfect for multiple large web projects. Included in this plan is:
So all plans cost £1..? Well, actually, no, they don’t. This is a clever marketing technique from IONOS. All these plans rise dramatically after the initial six months period.
So you end up spending considerably more than some other host providers like Hostinger, for example. But how do these prices stack up to its competitors?
IONOS vs Competitors Prices
Help & Support
So, How Good Is The Support?
Customer support levels can be the difference between a good web provider and a very poor one. Something every business cannot go without, and IONOS makes some unique promises in this space.
These promises are so unique that we have never seen them before across any other web hosting provider.
Award-Winning Customer Service
IONOS ensures you receive a ‘personal consultant’ tailored to help you with your business. Your consultant will support you with expert recommendations, easy-to-understand explanations, and uncomplicated advice on various topics.
This level of customer service is non-existent across other web hosting providers.
IONO offers tailored support to help you with your site
Your consultant is there to help you through each step of the way by providing advice on the first steps and strategies needed for online success. You will receive tailored advice on suitable solutions that will help you manage and expand your products.
Your consultant is available by phone, email, or chat, so there is an option to suit everyone—an impressive feature, which we’ve never seen before.
Does expert support matter to you?
Features & Products
What Features & Services Do IONOS Offer?
While we’ve touched on some of the critical features of IONOS, the most impressive is by far the personalised customer service. From the web hosting providers we’ve recently analysed, there is simply nothing like this on the market.
IONOS Shared Hosting Features & Comparison
| Main Features | Essential | Buisness | Pro | Expert |
| Storage | 50 GB | 100 GB | 250 GB | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain Name | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Free SSL Certificate | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Daily Backups | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| 24/7 customer service | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Money back guarantee | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
By working with your personalised consultant, you can access in-depth reports on how your website is performing and tips on how you can continue to improve.
You can gain individualised support for any problems or questions you have regarding contracts, invoices, and products.
IONOS customer dashboard is simple and easy to navigate
You can get access to the most up-to-date tips and guides on how to get the most out of your product.
Finally, for customers new to web hosting software, you can also get expert explanations for any technical jargon you may come across. This type of feature is simply unrivaled.
Security & Protection
Is My Website Secure With IONOS?
Across IONOS, it is clear; they have impressive customer service and a great list of features across their plans. However, the only disappointing element we’ve found from analysing IONOS is their lack of security across plans.
For both their ‘Essential’ and ‘Business’ plan, the security features are lacking. You only gain access to an appropriate level of security features when you step up to the ‘Expert’ plan.
IONOS offers DigiCert SSL certificates on all their plans
While IONOS has recognised the challenges faced by UK users and created a security system for the ‘Expert’ plan. It simply doesn’t add up as to why these features are not accessible across the two lower-paying plans.
For customers starting out with the ‘Essential’ or ‘Business’ plan, you may find yourself needing to upgrade quickly to ensure your website is adequately protected.
Pros & Cons
What We Like & Dislike About IONOS
IONOS Pros
Affordability – IONOS has a well-priced product for those who select the ‘Essential’ plan. A 30-day money-back guarantee provides more confidence to consumers in making their decisions.
Functionality and workflow – Clever features such as customisable dashboards and easy-to-follow site templates.
Uptime – IONOS consistently scored well on uptime and speed, making them a reliable choice.
Customer Service – After 30 years, IONOS has an excellent name in the industry. Their history makes their team experts, and this should fill their customers with confidence.
What Are The Alternatives To IONOS?
Hostinger Best Overall Cheap Host
Bluehost #2 Rated Cheap host
iPage Great Features
Namecheap Great For Domains
123-Reg Good For Beginners
Final Thoughts
Do We Recommend IONOS?
Yes, we do. Our overall experience with IONOS has been positive. The most basic features such as uptime, reliability, speed, and customer service perform well.
Their limited plans and security across each level are a disappointment, so you may see yourself upgrading your account quite quickly.
For me, the standout is the support options. This personalised feature needs to be at the forefront for business owners when choosing a web hosting service in today’s digital world.
Ready to give IONOS a try?
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