Super-Detailed InMotion Hosting for WordPress Review

Generally, in business, being old is considered a positive attribute and many times, a synonym for reliability. To some extent, the same can be said for InMotion Hosting.

This US-based web hosting has been in the business for almost 2 decades. During this tenure, they have made their name not only as a cheap web host but also as a web hosting provider for some businesses and enterprises.

Although they offer a wide range of products and services but keeping in view the theme of The Usual Stuff, I’ll discuss just the WordPress-based hosting that InMotion Hosting provides.

However, before doing that, please read this important disclaimer:

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InMotion Hosting – WordPress Hosting Review

History

Started back in 2001, InMotion Hosting has offices in Los Angeles and Virginia Beach.

With almost 20 years of history under its belt, InMotion Hosting now boasts around 200 locally employed teams of experts working day in and day out 24/7, on their toes to help you out with your web hosting issues.

Although InMotion Hosting provides a plethora of web hosting servers. From shared to VPS and dedicated servers but keeping in mind the scope of this article, I’ll restrict myself to just WordPress Optimized hosting.

InMotion Hosting – WordPress Hosting Pricing

InMotion Hosting provides WordPress Optimized hosting. This is a fancy name given to the popular, Managed WordPress Hosting service that other WordPress hosts provide.

There are 4 distinct plans the InMotion Hosting offers when it comes to the optimized WordPress hosting and these 4 plans charge you differently based on the number of years you’ve subscribed for.

The maximum number of years that you can subscribe for is 2 years after which you have to renew your subscription.

Needless to say that the more years you subscribe for the lower per month you’ll have to pay. Below, I’ll mention the subscription per month you’ll end up paying if you subscribe for 2 years.

2 Years Pricing Plan

1. WP-1000S: $6.99/month. Renewal: $8.99/month
2. WP-2000S: $6.99/month. Renewal: $12.99/month
3. WP-3000S: $9.99/month. Renewal: $16.99/month
4. WP-4000S: $14.99/month. Renewal: $32.99/month

Furthermore, here are the prices for different periods:

1-Year Pricing Plan

1. WP-1000S: $7.99/month. Renewal: $10.99/month
2. WP-2000S: $7.99/month. Renewal: $14.99/month
3. WP-3000S: $10.99/month. Renewal: $19.99/month
4. WP-4000S: $15.99/month. Renewal: $36.99/month

1 Month Pricing Plan

1. WP-1000S: Not Available
2. WP-2000S: Not Available
3. WP-3000S: Not Available
4. WP-4000S: $19.99/month. Renewal: $44.99/month

InMotion Hosting – Features

1. 99.9% Up Time Guarantee

InMotion Hosting itself provides a guarantee of 99.9% server uptime. However, there’s a bittersweet factor that you need to keep in mind.

99.9% uptime sure sounds significant. However, of all the other WordPress Hosting reviews that I’ve done on The Usual Stuff is that most of them provide an uptime guarantee north of 99.95%.

InMotion’s own guarantee is 99.9% which though is not significant but it’s the little things that can make a huge difference.

Furthermore, my own investigation of the last 6 months reveals that InMotion Hosting’s servers’ uptime has been 99.98%.

Here’s a useful image to see the data distributed on dates

2. Decent Server Response Time

Over the last 5-6 months, the average server response time of InMotion Hosting’s shared servers has been 128.16 ms. Given that there’s a general belief that anything below 200 ms is a good server response time, we can say that InMotion Hosting has done a decent job.

Moreover, as expected for any US-based web hosting company, InMotion Hosting’s fastest servers can be found on West Coast (10.67 ms), Whereas the Bangalore servers are the slowest (239.57 ms).

Now, let’s see why InMotion Hosting is able to provide its users with such a swift response time. Here’s why:

• SSD Storage: Every account comes with SSD (Solid-State-Drive) Storage. Instead of the traditional disk-rotating hard drives, SSD enables quick data transfer, therefore, improves speed.
• UltraStack Servers: Server configuration based on Nginx, Apache, PHP-FPM, and optionally Redis and a stats aggregator provide you speed 12x more than the competitors.
• Dedicated OpCode Caching Pool: Available only to WP-3000S and WP-4000S packages, this caching capability stores the most recently visited pages in server memory.
• JetPack Powered Image CDN: to render your image using the image CDN offered by the free JetPack account (see below).
• WordPress Optimized Stack: Equipped with best-of-the-class WordPress-optimized-stack, you get an ecosystem powered with NGinx, advanced caching by Varnish and FastCGI protocols.
• Brotli Compression: A compression algorithm developed by Google, Brotli compresses your webpages before rendering it to the user, therefore, improving your overall website performance.

3. Free SSL Certificate

Although a cliché now, but still we need to appreciate the positive features. InMotion Hosting provides free SSL certificates to your website from Sectigo.

For those who are not aware of Sectigo, this company has been providing online security solutions for 20 years and has served more than 700,000 customers to date.

4. 24/7/365 US-Based Support

Although some say that the support has dwindled a bit, I would categorize it as a personal experience because for me, the best thing about the support, besides being 24/7/365 at your disposal, is that it’s totally US-based.

This means that you don’t have to deal with an outsourced resource consulting his seniors for every technical query. The support is rapid and solves your issue at the earliest.

5. Free Site Migration

We know migrating your website from one web host to another could be quite daunting. In fact, I know a few WordPress users who are putting up with sub-standard web hosting services just because they don’t feel comfortable transferring their website assets to another web host.

InMotion Hosting offers free website migration.

All you need is to hand over the necessary information to their experts and they will take care of the rest. This is what we call White-Glove service.

6. Free Domain

You get a free domain with every new account. However, this free-of-cost feature is only available for the first term as you may need to refresh it from the second term and beyond.

7. Unlimited Emails

InMotion Hosting gives you unlimited email addresses with every WordPress hosting subscription.

To me, this is quite a relief as I can provide as many email addresses to my team members as I want without the constant stress of running out of the quota.

8. Enhanced Security Suite

InMotion Hosting provides an enhanced security suite for your WordPress websites thus ensuring that your assets are secure 24/7. Very quickly, here are the security “patches” you’ll have with InMotion Hosting:

• Automated Backups
• Free SSL
• DDoS Protection
• Malware & Hack Protection

9. Free Advertising Credit

It’s always great to have support right when you’re starting out on a venture. InMotion Hosting provides free advertising credits (up to $150) with every subscription so that you can promote your business straightaway.

10. Free Drag-And-Drop WordPress Builder

Although WordPress has made the website design and development process a lot easier but there are certain limitations that the “vanilla” WordPress has. There are many WordPress builders that try to fill this gap by making sure that even the most non-technical user can design attractive websites. One such WordPress builder is BoldGrid which allows its users to design eye-catching WordPress websites using just the drag-and-drop features.

With every InMotion Hosting subscription, you get free BoldGrid access so designing custom WordPress layouts is no more an issue for you.

11. Free Website Staging

Instead of pushing erroneous tweaks and updates and causing disruption, with the website staging platform you can first push your design updates here and then update the whole website permanently once you feel everything is ok. This ensures that your visitors don’t face disruptions just in case any erroneous update is pushed.

InMotion Hosting provides you with a staging platform with every subscription to avoid any such hiccups.

12. 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee

A generous 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee to ensure that you’re not swindled and robbed of your precious savings. Give InMotion Hosting a test for about 90 days and reclaim your money back just in case something is not up to your expectations.

Pros & Cons of InMotion Hosting

Pros

1. Reliable WordPress Hosting with a history of almost two decades.
2. Fast servers with overall commendable server response time and high up-time history of 99.9%
3. 24/7/365 telephone, email, chat, and ticket-based support. Even better, the support is totally US-based
4. Free website migrations. Totally white glove without any strings attached whatsoever.
5. Free SSL, free domain, and free advertising credits with every WordPress hosting subscription.
6. Unlimited email addresses.
7. Free drag-and-drop WordPress website builder

Cons

1. The prices are not the lowest. Many competitors provide hosting at a lower price.
2. Although the up-time is quite healthy but comparatively speaking, the competitors offer slightly better up-time
3. The customer has to go through a security check before getting approved for web hosting. However, I did try to confirm this from their staff and they said that they don’t have this restriction but still, just to be on the safe side, I’ll keep the downside in the list.

Who Should & Should Not Use InMotion Hosting?

Let’s cut right to the chase.

If you’ve read my other WordPress Webhosting reviews you must have noticed this section in all of them as I feel that sometimes jotting down features and all further details are not that helpful as compared to when someone directly mentions if any web host is suitable for him.

This is what I’m going to do here again. If you’re still puzzled that whether InMotion Hosting is the right choice for you then let me help you decide:

InMotion Hosting’s WordPress Hosting is Best for…

1. If you value reliability and are more comfortable with businesses with a history in their domain
2. Although you’re not “rich” but can still afford slightly higher prices. There are certainly other web hosts that charge you way more than InMotion Hosting but when it comes to Cheap WordPress web hosting, InMotion Hosting surely falls on the higher end.
3. If you’re fed up with outsourced support. I’ve seen people complaining about the lower quality of support outsourced to Asia. If you’re looking for purely US-based support then you should be thinking about InMotion Hosting.
4. Security buffs as InMotion Hosting provide a great security stack to its users.

Who Should Be Looking for InMotion Hosting Alternatives…?

1. Amateur bloggers just starting out and don’t have deep pockets
2. Or professional WordPress bloggers and webmasters looking for some high-end performance and service.

However, if you’re looking for rather cheaper alternatives or some high-end solutions then you can certainly try the alternatives I’ve mentioned below.

User Reviews

Quite interestingly, InMotion Hosting’s user reviews are not that “stellar” on TrustPilot as I was expecting it be. Especially given this company’s long history.

To date, 58% of users (out of 283 total reviews) have rated InMotion Hosting quite positively as compared to the 42% who have either rated it poor or bad. Although, the majority of the users are happy with its services but still, I’d say that 42% negative reviews is a high ratio especially when compared to its competitors.

Moreover, I’ve observed that InMotion Hosting hasn’t responded and followed up to the negative reviews like its competitors just like its competitors did. That’s quite surprising to me especially when someone tells me that they have a dedicated team of local support staff.

Clearly, this can be the area that needs a lot of improvement.

However, lots of these flakings belong to a service that does not relate to the WordPress Hosting, therefore, I’ll omit them and will only mention those reviews that can be linked to the WordPress Hosting service.

Negative Reviews

Below is a technical issue that I first want to raise. I’ve done some transfers as well and yes, there are some restrictions imposed by ICANN and I guess this is something that resulted in a confusion

I’m not defending InMotion Hosting here but the issue of Auto Renew is something not limited to just this web hosting. I’ve seen far too many users complaining about getting charged for services they never asked for.

What actually happens is that when it comes to renewal, the web hosts leave many options/services “checked” by default and the users just press the okay button without scrutinizing.

So a lesson for readers here to verify what you’re paying for.

And here are some user reviews not happy with InMotion Hosting’s support.

Positive Reviews

Let’s talk about some positive reviews and see what the users liked most about InMotion Hosting.

Mixed Reviews

Time for some mixed reviews which I think provide much better insights than those touching the extremes.

Although the user gave 5-star ratings but after reading the comments I’d count it as a mixed opinion. However, I’d say that the user has shared some valuable information.

How Do Other Web Hosting Review Websites Rate InMotion Hosting?

In addition to Trustpilot above, before making a decision, let’s have a look at how other prominent and top web hosting review websites rate InMotion Hosting. I hope this will give you a better idea.

For the sake of consistency, some ratings have been calibrated to a scale of 5.0

Website Name	Score
HostingAdvice.com	4.9 / 5.0
HostingFacts.com	2.8 / 5.0
PCMag.com	4.0 / 5.0
TrustPilot.com	2.5 / 5.0
HostingManual.net	4.5 / 5.0
TechRadar.com	4.0 / 5.0
WebsiteHostingRating.com	3.2 / 5.0
HostScore.net	4.0 / 5.0

InMotion Hosting – Sentiment Analysis

To add an additional layer of credibility, I performed a sentiment analysis of InMotion Hosting just to gauge the general perception of people all over the internet.

Overall, the general perception is positive with a few negative sentiments as well.

Have a look at it yourself.

Platform	Positive	Negative	Neutral
Twitter	33.3%	3.9%	62.7%
Facebook	77.8%	0.00%	22.2%
Reddit	46%	11%	43%
DailyMotion	49%	5%	46%
Flickr	23.7%	0.00%	76.3%
Vk.com	33.7%	4.2%	62.1%
Vimeo	45%	0.00%	55%

So What’s The Verdict? Do I Recommend InMotion Hosting for WordPress?

Again, the answer is relative and contains quite a few “IFs”.

If you’re from the US and do not have a high budget and your requirements are simple and by simple I mean you’re not looking for some really high-speed servers then you can surely try out InMotion Hosting.

Similarly, if you’re fed up with the outsourced support team then InMotion Hosting’s US-based support is something that you’re going to truly appreciate.

Interested in InMotion Hosting Alternatives…?

Just in case you happen to fall in the category above who should be looking for InMotion Hosting alternatives then you’re in luck as I’ve mentioned alternatives that offer similar or even better service and performance.

Alternatives Similar to InMotion Hosting

1. A2 Hosting
2. InterServer
3. Dreamhost
4. Blue Host
5. GoDaddy
6. HostGator
7. iPage
8. FatCow

Premium WordPress Hosting Better than InMotion Hosting

The below web hosting services offer much better features and performance than InMotion Hosting but obviously, they will cost you more.

1. Kinsta
2. CloudWays
3. WPX Hosting
4. Pressidium
5. FlyWheel
6. WP Engine
7. Media Temple
8. Liquid Web

Final Words

InMotion Hosting, no doubt is a decent web hosting company that provides quality WordPress Hosting services. They have a rich history to boast that claim.

However, recently, their quality has faltered a bit as we can see in some user reviews above.

Let’s hope this is not permanent as I’ve seen quite a few web host companies tumbling due to the lockdown pressures as a result of Covid-19.

Before signing out, just in case you’re still perplexed as to which WordPress Web Host would be suitable for you here’s a suggestion.

Why not ring me up. Send me your situation, requirements, budget, and technical know-how and I’ll recommend a hosting service based on your background.

You can do so through my contact page.