A pioneer in the online world, IONOS was founded in Germany in 1988. It offers services to various nations, including Canada, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The web hosting company employs over 7,000 people and hosts over 12 million websites.
It’s got a broad selection of services. You can buy domain names, web builders, web developers, servers with dedicated servers, and many more. This review will concentrate specifically on WordPress hosting, one of its most popular offerings.
IONOS affirms its web hosting service is quick, reliable, and reliable. However, is it accurate? Let’s look.
Screenshots of the IONOS Hosting Service
Find out the way IONOS backend functions by taking these screenshots:




IONOS Hosting Prices
This review concentrates specifically on IONOS WordPress hosting service, and the costs below are for the hosting plans.
Essential Cost: 4 EUR/month for 25GB of storage and 2 databases.
Business 7 EUR/month for 100 GB of storage and as many databases.
Unlimited $ 18/month for unlimited databases and storage.
Note that these rates are based on the cost per month of annual plans. Be aware that the total amount must be paid for in advance.
Pros & Cons
+Unlimited traffic: IONOS doesn't limit the volume of traffic or visits to your site each month. +Many Webspace gives you plenty of space to host your website, beginning at 25GB. You can also have unlimited space if you go for the Unlimited plan. +Affordable: IONOS WordPress hosting is highly affordable. One of the most affordable WordPress hosting providers available, even for renewals. +Excellent performance: IONOS hosting scored fairly, very well during our speed tests (read the full report below). | -Aggressive marketing Its policy on marketing is somewhat aggressive, always offering enhancements to your product. You must contact them if you wish to end your relationship with them. -Not the most user-friendly. This isn't the most straightforward system to operate. IONOS comes with its control panel for hosting and a handful of its options that are hidden or do not exist. -SSL encryption You will receive the option of a gratis SSL certificate (Wildcard) to your hosting account. However, If you have several domains (or subdomains) that they offer, it is necessary to purchase additional certificates. -Backups They claim to have backups from the past 20 days. However, you'll only view backups for the past 6 days (see an example in the above screenshot). -Accessibility could be better. The latest results suggest plenty of room for improvements in terms of accessibility. |
What is IONOS best suited for?
It’s worth looking into IONOS if you’re looking to manage a medium or small website but don’t anticipate getting a large number of users. In terms of performance, it’s not likely to impress even the most demanding web admins, as its uptime leaves much to be desired.
It’s ideal for traditional websites (e.g., restaurants or bakeries) and portfolio websites, and other personal web-based projects (not professional ones).
In what circumstances is IONOS not the right option?
If you’re working on an expert, moderately large web-based project that requires the most efficient performance – e.g., to compete organically with Google and other search engines, I don’t believe IONOS is the most appropriate option.
If you run an e-commerce website, blog, or similar site that receives lots of traffic, look at other options such as SiteGround, Cloudways, and GreenGeeks.
IONOS Hosting Specifications
Criterion | Rating | Comments |
Easy of Use | IONOS has its own controls panel to manage to host management; however, it's not intuitive. It's also missing specific options that experts would miss (e.g., the database options are limited). We also had issues installing WordPress, and the installation did not complete, and we needed to call support to resolve the issue. | |
Domain Names | It comes with a domain name free during the initial year. You will have to pay for it later. You can also add additional Domains as well as subdomains. Subdomains are nearly limitless since you could be able to have as many as 10,000 subdomains. | |
Email Rating | All IONOS packages let you only create one email account that can't exceed 2GB of storage space. | |
Databases | The IONOS Crucial package allows you to create two databases. Using the Unlimited package, you can build as many as 10 databases with the Business package and the number you need. The databases can't be more extensive than 2GB in size. | |
Applications | N/A. This is a WordPress-specific hosting service which means that it is the only option for WordPress could be installed or utilized. If you want to use other CMS, IONOS provides hosting plans you can choose to use (e.g., IONOS Web Hosting). | |
Webspace Limit | IONOS hosting packages include a very generous web space. The Essential package includes 25GB of space, while the Business package comes with 100GB of space, while unlimited space when you purchase the Unlimited package. The policy states you cannot have more than 262,144 f ile files in your hosting account; however, it should be sufficient for most people. | |
Monthly Limit on Data Transfer | IONOS hosting does not have a monthly traffic limitation. | |
FTP Accounts, Secure FTP | You can set up any number of SFTP (secure FTP) logins as you'd like. It is also possible to set up SSH access and a GIT repository to control versions for your IONOS hosting system. | |
Server Location | The servers are within the United States for customers in the Americas However. You could also get the server located in Europe should you wish to. | |
Security Features | All packages come with the SSL certificate for one one-time domain or subdomain. The Unlimited package also includes a feature for scanning and eliminating malware from your site. The other packages don't offer a scan of your site. Therefore, you'll need to address the malware issue yourself if you find it. | |
Server Speed | Through our testing, IONOS has proved quite fast but not the most reliable. | |
Uptime | Unfortunately, IONOS hosting scored poorly in our availability test (see further below). | |
Backups | IONOS hosting offers daily backups. They claim that they can preserve them for up to 20 days. However, when you attempt to access your files through the Control Panel, it shows the past 6 days. There doesn't appear to be any system to create online backups. | |
CDN | IONOS comes with the CDN within the Unlimited package. | |
Server Features | On Linux servers, you can avail of PHP 7.3, 7.4, and 8 and MySQL five databases. If you buy a hosting package that is not designed for WordPress, you can choose either the Linux or Windows server. There are other options to utilize Perl, Python, or Ruby. | |
Guarantees and Refunds | It is possible to try its services at no cost up to 30 days. | |
Assistance and Support | They offer support 24 hours a day, via chat, email, or phone, but it isn't easy to contact them. | |
Overall Rating | 3.3/5 | Our evaluation of IONOS isn't very positive. We enjoyed its speed and ample webspace. However, the system isn't intuitive, and its availability is low. Also, it'd be nice to have more options for making backups. |
Conclusion
Our last impression of the IONOS Webhosting (for WordPress) service is mixed. We were pleasantly surprised by certain aspects, and we were not as impressed with other aspects.
One of the most substantial advantages is that they have no monthly limit on data transfer, and they are incredibly generous with space on the web. Its speed is also pretty good, and the prices are affordable.
There is the potential for improvement in certain areas. The hosting management system it uses can be easy to use, user-friendly, and has a few outdated options. It could also be improved in terms of availability as the tools to manage and create backups could be improved.
IONOS Performance Test
Below are the results of all the tests that we ran with IONOS hosting to give you an idea of the performance of the hosting service.
Loading Speed
Based on the tests we conducted, IONOS hosting is relatively quick and is a reliable hosting provider.
Provider | GTmetrix | Pingdom | Webpage test | Pagespeed insights | Total |
SiteGround |
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GreenGeeks |
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Namecheap |
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Hostinger |
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WP Engine |
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Cloudways |
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Kinsta |
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DreamHost |
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GoDaddy |
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IONOS |
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A2 Hosting |
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InMotion |
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iPage |
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HostGator |
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Bluehost |
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The results are displayed in seconds.
To confirm the validity of our findings ensure the validity of our results, we ran a test with GTmetrix, Webpagetest.org, Pingdom, and PageSpeed Insights (by Google).
We suggest SiteGround and GreenGeeks (among other services) to get the fastest speed.
Uptime
As you can see from our tests for availability, IONOS has a lot of work to be done in this field, and they came out with the lowest performance among all hosting companies. Ideally, uptime should be 99.95 percent or greater of severe projects online.
Provider | 2019 Uptime | 2020 Uptime | 2021 Uptime | Starts at |
Kinsta |
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Cloudways |
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SiteGround |
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Namecheap |
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WP Engine |
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Bluehost |
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HostGator |
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A2 Hosting |
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GreenGeeks |
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DreamHost |
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GoDaddy |
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InMotion |
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IONOS |
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Hostinger |
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| 99.92% |
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iPage |
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To track websites’ uptime, I use StatusCake, an application that monitors every site every 5 minutes.
If you’re working on an idea that requires an unbeatable availability rate and you require a high availability rate, then IONOS hosting isn’t the ideal choice. Other hosting providers like Kinsta, Cloudways, and SiteGround provide better results.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best time to use IONOS web hosting appropriately?
IONOS web hosting plans provide plenty of web space to your venture. Be aware that the availability of these packages isn't excellent, so ensure you research before you make your choice. IONOS also provides hosting services compatible with Windows servers, which makes it specifically suited to .NET web-based development. If you're contemplating the use of Python, Perl, or Ruby and you're thinking about using them, IONOS is among your top alternatives.
What is the reason IONOS web hosting is insufficient?
It's only suitable for small web projects where your site isn't the top priority for your company. Additionally, we weren't satisfied with its customer service. If you think you'll need assistance frequently, then you're better off exploring other options like SiteGround or Dreamhost. There are also other affordable web hosting services on this page.
Do they have a CDN?
The Unlimited package provides access to IONOS CDN. If your package does not include one, there's also the possibility of purchasing additional CDNs (including entirely free).
IONOS Review Updates:
- 25 Jan 2022 – A new app ratings
- 10 Oct 2021 – Initial IONOS review