Since 1988, IONOS has built itself a reputation for providing web hosting services, including 250GB of storage, at a competitive price. Its second-tier ‘Plus’ package comes with an initial offer of £1 a month – one of the cheapest on the market.
Pros
- Competitively priced
- Fast website loading
- Unlimited storage for basic plan
Cons
- No cloud hosting
- No e-commerce hosting
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Table of Contents
IONOS at a glance
IONOS is a popular web hosting and cloud services solutions partner, specialising in serving small and medium-sized businesses. The company, originally named 1&1, was established in 1988 in Europe and launched its US presence in 2003. In 2020, the company changed its name to IONOS.
If you’re looking to set up a website for little outlay, IONOS is worth considering. The service hosts over 12 million domains, and has contracts with eight million customers around the world.
IONOS has a relatively simple pricing system for its plans, compared to some other web hosts:
- Standard: £3 a month for 6 months, then £5 a month
- Plus: £1 a month for 6 months, then £9 a month
- Premium: £8 a month for 6 months, then £16 a month
- Ultimate: £12 a month for 6 months, then £24 a month
Note that 20% VAT will be charged on top of the prices stated.
All of the plans include unmetered bandwidth, ‘1-click’ WordPress installation, a free domain, professional email and 24/7 customer support.
Here are a few facts about IONOS:
- Operates 40 facilities in 15 countries, including ten geo-redundant ISO 27001 certified data centres that deliver 99.9% website uptime
- Custom support is available 24/7/365 via phone, email and chat
- Every hosting plan is backed with a 30-day money-back guarantee
- The IONOS Hosting Manager mobile app lets you manage your account from anywhere
- In addition to shared hosting services, IONOS also offers VPS, dedicated, cloud and enterprise hosting
- The company offers a wide variety of domain, hosting and cloud computing solutions.
How does website hosting work?
When building a website, you need a place to house it along with your data files. Web hosting is a service that provides the storage and resources you need to make your website visible and accessible on the internet.
A website hosting provider offers storage space on a server or group of servers that is designed explicitly for the purpose of housing websites. Customers pay the provider for their storage space, essentially renting it for their website’s needs.
IONOS offers all types of hosting services, including shared, VPS (virtual private server) and dedicated hosting services.
Shared hosting – which is when your website is hosted on the same server as others – is ideal for startups and small businesses with limited traffic and modest storage needs. Because you’re sharing resources, hosting fees are considerably lower than you’d pay for VPS or dedicated hosting services, which are better options for those with more advanced website hosting needs.
We’re focusing on IONOS’ shared hosting services in this review but you can refer to our list of best VPS hosting services and best dedicated hosting providers if your hosting needs are more advanced.
IONOS shared website hosting
IONOS offers three levels of shared hosting plans, each designed for various levels of resource requirements. You can use the IONOS builder to create your custom website in a matter of minutes, even if you don’t have any technical or coding skills. IONOS supports popular web hosting applications, including TYPO3, Drupal, PrestaShop and Joomla.
You can also build and host a website with WordPress via IONOS. In fact, IONOS is ranked best overall provider on Forbes’ list of best WordPress hosting services.
IONOS offers both self-managed and managed WordPress hosting plans. Self-managed hosting plans are ideal for those with technical backgrounds and who want more customisation and greater control over their sites. Managed plans are perfect for less tech-savvy users who need a user-friendly setup and prefer to have routine updates managed for them.
Website domain
You’ll need a domain for your website, and IONOS offers one free domain for the first year with its hosting plans. If you intend to host more than one website, you can register additional domains with IONOS.
Should you need multiple domains, you can register a new domain with IONOS for as low as £1 for the first year. Domain renewal fees average under £20 for most .com domains.
Benefits of IONOS
Website creation
IONOS’ MyWebsite Design Service provides assistance with building a site, for those who do not have the time. This includes help with planning and creating the site, maintaining it once it is up and running, as well as with search engine optimisation (SEO), to help improve its ranking.
Website Design Service S is the cheapest version of the service at £45 a month, with a setup fee of £199. It is designed for small websites and minimal edits. It includes the option of three customised pages a month and one website edit per quarter.
The next level up is Website Design Service M for medium-sized websites and regular edits (one a month). It allows for five customised pages. It costs £65 a month and has a £299 setup fee*.
For large websites and unlimited edits, there’s Website Design Service L for £85 a month, with a setup fee of £399*. Seven customised pages are included.
*IONOS is currently running a promotional discount and there are no setup fees for Website Design Service M and Website Design Service L. (Last checked April 2024.)
RAM, storage and bandwidth
IONOS’ Standard plan comes with 6GB RAM, 640MB PHP memory limit and 100 GB of storage.
Its Plus plan includes 9GB RAM, has a 640MB PHP memory limit and comes with 250 GB of storage.
The Premium plan offers 15GB RAM, 768MB PHP memory limit and 350 GB of storage.
All plans allow unlimited traffic and FTP accounts.
Ease of use
IONOS makes creating and managing your website easy; you can launch a simple website in minutes.
IONOS has its own drag-and-drop website builder that comes with hundreds of customisable design templates. WordPress hosting plans are also available, which allows for more customisation options.
IONOS offers one-click installation for a selection of popular third-party applications.
Each IONOS shared hosting plan comes with one free business email and up to 2GB of email storage.
You can also purchase additional emails for an add-on fee. Email forwarding, webmail 2.0 and anti-phishing and anti-spam measures are included in all plans.
Marketing
IONOS offers a few marketing features with its plans. SiteAnalytics, Google Sitemaps and multiple mailing lists are included with each shared hosting plan.
Security
Every website hosting plan comes with a free SSL certificate with 256-bit encryption. IONOS server facilities are ISO 27001 certified, and geo-redundant hosting means your data is mirrored in two data centres.
Geo-redundancy ensures that a website remains live even if one server is down for maintenance or an unexpected outage. IONOS also includes malware and DDoS protection with its hosting services.
Other features
Elsewhere, IONOS offers fast loading times, unlimited traffic, website security best practices, easy app installation, generous storage, extensive customer support options and business email and marketing functionality.
Fine print
It’s worth bearing in mind that IONOS’ prices rise after six months or a year, depending on the plan chosen.
How Ionos stacks up (shared hosting)
IONOS offers some of the most affordable introductory offers on the market. Note that its Plus plan works out £12 cheaper than its Standard plan over a six-month period, at £1 a month.
Customers can opt to pay month-to-month for a plan, at the checkout stage, but this will cost more. The Standard plan is charged at £7 a month, Plus at £10 a month, Premium at £18 a month and Ultimate at £26 a month.
As typical with most web hosts, IONOS offers a 30-day money-back guarantee policy, for customers who are not satisfied with its service, and a 14-day cooling off period.
Customer service and support
IONOS offers extensive customer support options; you can contact the company 24/7 via telephone, email or live chat. Forbes used both phone and online chat support when writing this review and found the experience in both instances to be helpful, prompt and courteous.
The company hosts an extensive online help centre and an online community where you can connect with other users. The online resources are ideal if you want quick answers and prefer to seek them yourself rather than reach out for personalised help.
Customer feedback
Feedback on IONOS customer reviews is mixed. Positive reviews mention unbeatable pricing, responsive support and platform stability and reliability. The less favourable reviews comment on website glitches, billing misunderstandings, pushy upselling and complications with launching websites.
Additional features worth noting
IONOS offers website development and design solutions through its MyWebsite Design Service. The IONOS team of designers and copywriters will create a website with up to seven pages for you; they’ll even develop a logo for your business. Choose from three levels of website and design maintenance services.
The IONOS Design Service S is perfect for businesses that require a relatively small website and anticipate minimal changes. This plan includes a website design with up to three custom pages and edits once a quarter. The fee is £45 per month, plus a one-time setup fee of £199.
The IONOS Design Service M is ideal for medium-size websites that require more frequent updating. This plan includes a website design with up to five custom pages and one website edit per month. The fee is £65 per month, plus a one-time setup fee of £299*.
Those with more significant website needs may want to go with IONOS’ Design Service L. For £85 per month, plus a one-time setup fee of £399*, you’ll receive a website with up to seven custom pages and unlimited website edits.
IONOS also offers e-commerce design services. For £85 per month, plus a one-time setup fee of £999 , the IONOS e-commerce site developers will create an online store with three pages, 10 products and 10 product detail pages. Your website will come complete with payment and shipping setup, Facebook and Instagram Shop integration, and unlimited maintenance, edits and updates.
All website design plans require a minimum 12-month commitment and renew month-to-month after the first year. Each website is optimised for search. IONOS offers a free consultation to see if this service is a fit for you.
*IONOS is currently running a promotional discount and there are no setup fees for Website Design Service M and Website Design Service L. (Last checked April 2024.)
IONOS shared hosting alternatives and how they compare
IONOS compares favourably to many other popular shared web hosting service providers. In fact, with a score of 4.6, IONOS ranks highest on Forbes’ list of best hosting service providers.
At only £1 per month for six months, IONOS has the best introductory price we’ve seen. With IONOS, you can only lock into that £1 per month deal for six months which is a benefit and disadvantage. On the one hand, you don’t have to pay much upfront; on the other hand, you’re hit with the higher £9 per month renewal fee sooner than with providers that let you lock in the lower introductory price for three years, which TMDHosting, HostGator and InMotion all allow.
IONOS vs. TMDHosting
Both IONOS and TMDHosting offer unlimited storage and bandwidth and 24/7 support via phone, email and chat. With a starting price of £1 versus $2.99 (around £2.39) per month, IONOS delivers a far better upfront value than TMDHosting. TMD scores higher in terms of guarantee—60 days compared to IONOS’ 30 days—and number of business emails allowed—unlimited compared to IONOS’ paltry one email per plan.
IONOS vs. HostGator
HostGator only provides 10GB of storage on its lowest-priced starter plan, compared to unlimited storage with IONOS. Both providers offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, unlimited bandwidth, a free domain and an SSL certificate. HostGator offers unlimited emails, whereas IONOS limits each plan to just one free business email.
IONOS vs. InMotion
While IONOS offers a better starting price, there are a few areas where InMotion shines. InMotion’s 90-day guarantee is certainly better than IONOS’ 30-day guarantee. InMotion allows 10 business emails per plan, compared to IONOS’ one.
IONOS has an advantage over InMotion in terms of storage capacity, offering unlimited storage compared to InMotion’s 100GB storage cap on its core plan. Also, InMotion does not include a free domain on its starter plan; IONOS offers a free domain on every plan.
Is IONOS the right choice?
IONOS may be useful for those who need a web host that is easy to navigate, and offers technical support, for a highly competitive price.
The option to customise a website, may also be useful for those who don’t mind paying the additional fee.
IONOS could also be a good choice if you’re building a relatively simple website, but may not be the best option if you require a great deal of customisation for your website or anticipate building a large, content-heavy site that can support extensive website traffic.
How do I cancel my IONOS contract?
Under its standard cooling off period, customers can cancel their IONOS contract within the first 14 days of ordering the service with no questions asked.
Separately, IONOS offers a 30-day money-back guarantee which allows customers to cancel within the first month if they are unhappy with their plan for a full refund.
It’s still possible to cancel a plan outside of the cooling off period and money-back guarantee window. You will then receive a final invoice but there will be no additional charges.
Customers can cancel their contract online by logging into their IONOS and selecting ‘contracts & subscriptions’ or by telephone on 0800 021 1693.
Has IONOS rebranded?
The company renamed itself IONOS by 1&1 in January 2020. It was first established in 1988 as 1&1. In 2018, it partnered with ProfitBricks’ cloud infrastructure solutions, and rebranded as 1&1 IONOS.
Is IONOS easy to use?
Beginners are likely to find IONOS’ modern interface easy to use. In-depth support is offered in the form of a help center with articles detailing everything from how to configure security options to how to set up an e-commerce storefront.
If human assistance is required, customers can call or email the support team. The range of support on offer allows for customers with ranging technical ability to get their website up and running.
Can I transfer my domain to IONOS?
Yes. IONOS’ technical support team will take customers through the process. It is available 24/7, 365 days a year.
What should I look for in a web hosting service?
Whether a web host is suitable will depend on the needs of the customer and the type of business they are running.
For example, a brand-building service is likely to require different features to an e-commerce website. Still, when comparing web hosts, it can be useful to keep in mind the amount of storage needed, how much traffic is expected on the website, and whether the web host has reliable uptimes – in other words, regularly functions well.
IONOS pricing and plans
Frequently Asked Questions
Which payment types does IONOS support?
IONOS currently accepts payments via direct debit, credit or debit card, or PayPal.
Can you cancel IONOS at any time?
Yes, you can cancel your IONOS contract at any time. However, you’ll only qualify for a refund under certain circumstances.
Under the 14-day cooling off period, you can get your money back with no questions asked.
For customers unhappy with the service, there’s IONOS also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with each plan.
It’s possible to cancel your plan outside these periods through your online account under ‘contracts and subscriptions’.
Alternatively, you can contact customer service via telephone on 0800 021 1693. You will then receive a final invoice but there will be no additional charges.
Does IONOS offer an uptime guarantee?
IONOS offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee which ensures that your website is accessible most of the time.
What are the nameservers for IONOS?
A nameserver allows you to connect a domain name (or URL) such as “123.com” to the server which hosts your website.
You’ll need to use a nameserver if you purchase a URL from a separate provider to IONOS.
Currently, IONOS uses the following four nameservers:
ns1ZZZ.ui-dns.de
ns1ZZZ.ui-dns.biz
ns1ZZZ.ui-dns.org
ns1ZZZ.ui-dns.com