Super-Detailed iPage WordPress Hosting Review

If you’re looking for web host companies that provide cheap WordPress hosting then you’re in luck. I’ve written about them lately and making sure not to disrupt the streak, in this review, I’ll tell you about iPage WordPress hosting and how it fares compared to its competitors.

Just to let you know that iPage is among the first “paid” web host companies where I started hosting my websites.

In order to follow the fair disclosure policy, please go through this very brief affiliate disclosure policy first.

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iPage- WordPress Hosting Review

Unlike the majority of the WordPress hosts, iPage does not provide Managed WordPress Hosting and all its WordPress hosting is self-managed on shared servers.

History

iPage came into existence back in 1998 as a web service provider but then pivoted to being a web hosting providers in 2009.

Therefore, although as an entity, iPage is 22 years old but as a web hosting company, they are 11 years old.

Offering highly affordable rates, iPage has hosted more than a million websites.

I’m sure this is going to raise some brows, iPage is a part of Endurance International Group’s family and if you don’t understand the stigma attached to this name then you’re definitely new in this web hosting world.

Although, my views are a bit different but let’s just say that most of the web hosting enthusiasts don’t really think well about this group.

However, just recently, in November 2020, EIG was acquired in a multibillion-dollar deal. Hopefully, this will help change the overall image of the brand.

Pricing

iPage offers highly affordable rates and easy-to-understand shared server packages for WordPress users. Hence, the prices are fairly straightforward divided into two packages and three time periods (12, 24, and 36 months ). These packages are:

1. WP Starter
2. WP Essential

Here are the complete pricing details of both packages.

	WP Starter	WP Essential
12 Months	$3.75/Month Renews at: $9.49	$6.95/Month Renews at: $12.49
24 Months	$3.75/Month Renews at: $8.49	$6.95/Month Renews at: $11.49
36 Months	$3.75/Month	$6.95/Month Renews at: $10.49

The introductory prices are for the first period only and after that iPage packages renew at the regular rates. Therefore, one trick to take maximum advantage of the introductory rates is to subscribe for the most number of periods which is 36 months.

iPage WordPress Hosting – Features

I would regard iPage as a simple web host. It competes on the basis of low rates and that is why, the features that it offers are not too fancy or extensive.

1. 100% Server Uptime

I performed a brief analysis and was quite astonished to see that iPage shared servers never went down in the last 5 months. So in a sense, iPage has a 100% server uptime record. At least if we consider the recent 5 months performance.

Quite amazing from a really “humble” web host that does not boast about its uptime at all.

2. Hi-Speed Servers

Another surprise that hit me was the iPage’s servers’ speed. Since I’ve been an iPage user myself a few years back, I never experienced such rapid response time as I saw while performing recent tests.

It seems like that they’ve recently upgraded their infrastructure as their aggregate server response time is around 3.37 ms.

That’s even better than many of its competitors that charge higher prices.

Again, as you may notice from the image above their best performing servers are in the North American region, however, the servers around the world are not that behind either.

3. Free Domain

The first time you sign up for iPage, you get yourself a free domain. However, this free-of-cost facility is only for the first year and after that, it’ll renew at the regular rate.

4. Unlimited Bandwidth & Storage

Once you sign up for iPage’s WordPress Hosting package, you won’t have to worry about running out of bandwidth or storage as both of them are unlimited.

5. Free SSL Certificate

In order to rank well, installing SSL certificates on your website have become mandatory or search engine will deem your site as not secure.

Obviously, this means extra cost.

However, iPage provides this certificate absolutely free of cost to its WordPress users.

6. 24/7 WordPress Support

The support is available 24/7 in the form of telephone, email and live chat.

7. SiteLock Security Bundle & Custom Firewall

In addition to the free SSL certificate above, iPage has teamed up with SiteLock to provide you with an online security bundle (SiteLock Professional Security).

Normally, SiteLock costs you at least $3.99/month but for WordPress hosting users, it’s free-of-cost.

Additionally, iPage has its own firewall designed to help save your website from different hacking attempts.

8. Customized Control Panel

iPage offers its own custom-made control panel called vDeck.

Although the majority of the web hosting geeks out there drool over cPanel (and in most cases, for the right reasons) but there are some areas where vDeck outperforms cPanel. Such as vDeck is originally made to handle eCommerce websites and offers drag-and-drop feature, etc.

9. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

iPage provides 30-day money back guarantee. This means that you’ll get a full refund if you cancel before the end of the first 30 days of subscription. However, this guarantee does not apply to the domain and it’s non-refundable.

iPage WordPress Hosting – Pros & Cons

Pros

1. Surprisingly, above-average server uptime and response time. For me, it’s surprising because the last time I used iPage it was not known for its high-speed servers. Good to see they’ve changed for the better.
2. Simple & Affordable Pricing. iPage neither offers diversified offers nor too extensive features. Although, this is a downside but the upside is that this enables them to keep their prices low and simple thus making it one of the best web hosts for total beginners with very little knowledge of web hosting. Which I’m afraid, are in majority.
3. 30-Day Money-Back guarantee. That’s a cliché to be honest as more or less all the web hosts provide money-back guarantee. Although this is the minimum days of guarantee that iPage provides as there are many other competitors that offer even more generous term but still, it’s a pro.
4. Free SSL Certificate
5. Free domain for 1 year.
6. Unmetered bandwidth & Traffic means you can entertain unlimited downloads and users without having to worry about running out of “steam” no matter which hosting package you use.
7. Solid-State-Drive (SSD) infrastructure ensures high-speed data transfer.
8. 24/7 chat and email support. Additionally, for the WP Essential package users, iPage employs WordPress Experts to deal with any hassles. Moreover, they also offer a dedicated support-based system called WP Live where the users get to access the services of a dedicated WordPress Expert who helps you not only in troubleshooting issues but also in the development of your WordPress website. However, this service costs you money starting from $29/month.

Cons

1. There’s no monthly billing system so the users have to commit for longer periods where the minimum period is 1 year.
2. No telephone support
3. Although one of the cheapest web hosts out there but you should expect frequent upsells down the line.
4. No cPanel as iPage offers its own control panel called vDeck which is heart-breaking for the cPanel fans who are in majority.
5. No free email. You need to pay at least $5/month to integrate email

Who Should & Should Not Use iPage?

Since every product addresses the needs of a particular niche, so does iPage. Below, you’ll see who should subscribe for iPage and who should better seek alternatives.

iPage is best for…!

1. Complete beginners. Those who are just starting out and have no interest in fancy features and just want a simple, plain WordPress hosting to get the hang of it.
2. Students, hobbyists with an extremely tight budget.
3. Small businesses that want to create a website to mark their online presence to appear professional.

Who Should Seek iPage Alternatives?

1. If you want to up your game as a WordPress blogger or website owner.
2. If you need more features such as email, server-level caching, etc.
3. Just in case you’re expecting to receive high traffic.
4. Since iPage does not provide Managed WordPress hosting, if you’re interested in this form of WordPress hosting then you may need to seek alternatives.

User Reviews

For some obvious reasons, iPage does not enjoy a great “fan-base” all over the internet.

Overall, the reviews are appalling and if you try to make your decision based on them, I’m sure you will surely start looking for alternatives.

For instance, let’s have a look at TrustPilot. The famous product review website. Out of 124 user reviews, there are only 7% users who have had a positive experience with iPage as compared to the 92% negative reviews.

Due to this awful feedback, iPage has a meager rating of just 1.4 on TrustPilot.

Let’s see what issues most of the users have to face and also have a look at the positive feedback as well.

I’ll start with the negative ones first:

Negative Reviews

Again, a common trend that I’ve noticed in my other WordPress Hosting reviews as well is that there are few areas about which the users are most critical.

And the support tops that list.

In case of iPage, the story is not so different as most of the users are found complaining about the support. However, as far as my personal experience is concerned, to me, the support was decent. Yes, they have a central support staff to address the queries of all the other sister web host companies that come under the EIG umbrella but overall, I wasn’t dissatisfied with their support.

Anyways, let’s have a look at the negative reviews below:

Positive Reviews

Mixed Reviews

As I always say, if you need insightful information, instead of stellar 5-star or poor 1-star ratings, you need to check out the reviews with 2-4 star ratings. Here are a few of them for you.

How Do Other Web Hosting Review Websites Rate iPage?

Below, you’ll find the ratings given by the famous web hosting review websites to iPage. I’m sure this will give you a better idea about iPage that if it’s really worth your money.

Please note that on some occasions, the ratings have been calibrated to the scale of 5.

Website Name	Score
WHTOP.com	1.0 / 5.0
HostingAdvice.com	4.9 / 5.0
HostAdvice.com	3.2 / 5.0
HostingFacts.com	1.7 / 5.0
PCMag.com	3.5 / 5.0
WPBeginner.com	4.7 / 5.0
TrustPilot.com	1.4 / 5.0
HostingManual.net	3.5 / 5.0
TechRadar.com	3.5 / 5.0
WebsiteHostingRating.com	N/A
HostScore.net	3.9 / 5.0
G2.com	3.9 / 5.0
Average Rating	3.4 / 5.0

iPage – Sentiments Analysis

I performed very basic sentiment analysis of iPage to gauge what emotions are attached to it.

The analysis reveals that around 33% of the internet users over different social media platforms, who mentioned iPage, did so in a positive light.

And when we compare the negative sentiments, they amount to just 2.4%.

So you can say that people are generally happy with iPage, however, the result of this sentiment analysis is in stark contrast with the user reviews that we’ve discussed above.

Here are the numbers:

Platform	Positive	Negative	Neutral
Twitter	11.9%	6.9%	81.2%
Facebook	57.1%	0.0%	42.9%
Reddit	45.0%	4.0%	51.0%
YouTube	48.0%	0.0%	52.0%
DailyMotion	78.0%	1.0%	21.0%
Flickr	16.2%	2.0%	81.8%
Vk.com	8.1%	3.0%	88.9%
Vimeo.com	5.0%	0.0%	95.0%
Tumblr	25.0%	5.0%	70.0%
Average	32.7%	2.4%	64.9%

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

The strongest point of iPage is its highly affordable cost. However, the catch is that you’ll have to sacrifice some essential features like email, that many web hosts provide absolutely free of cost.

Similarly, iPage provides a strong security suite and have improved their server performance lately Making them stand neck to neck with many top-of-the-line WordPress hosting, at least when it comes to speed and uptime.

Keeping all this in view, I’d RECOMMEND iPage to WordPress users only if they’re complete beginners with a very very tight budget.

Interested in iPage Alternatives…?

Not convinced yet?

Just in case you happen to fall in the category of those people who like to keep their options open then you can have a look at the below alternatives that offer similar or even better service and performance than iPage.

Alternatives Similar to iPage

1. A2 Hosting
2. InterServer
3. Scala Hosting
4. DreamHost
5. InMotion Hosting
6. Blue Host
7. GoDaddy
8. HostGator

Premium WordPress Hosting Better than iPage

1. Convesio (Read our Convesio Review)
2. Kinsta
3. CloudWays (Read our CloudWays Review)
4. WPX Hosting
5. Pressidium
6. FlyWheel
7. WP Engine (Read our WP Engine Review)
8. Media Temple
9. Liquid Web

Final Thoughts

No doubt, iPage is a bit controversial web host and the reason is its association with the notorious EIG.

As far as my personal experience is concerned I did not find iPage terrible at all. In fact, they gave me my refunds as well without any qualms when I forgot to “uncheck” some of the options.

However, since my requirements were not too extensive and I did not know about the technicalities of web hosting back then, one can say that I never pushed iPage to its limit to truly check its effectiveness.

Another question one can ask is that if everything was so hunky-dory then why did I even switch in the first place?

Well, the reason was that I did not know about the “renewal rates” at that time. So decide to sign up for a new web host as soon as my first year ended and since I was not aware of the EIG family, I signed up for FatCow, which is a sister company of iPage.

Anyway, to conclude my review, you can definitely give iPage a chance as it seems like they’ve really worked on their servers and infrastructure. However, just don’t expect too much from them.

Now, coming back to you guys, just in case you find all these details too overwhelming and you want me to recommend any web host straight away then you can contact me!

Let me know your details, requirements and I’ll help you figure out the best WordPress web hosting company.