These days, it's more app focused, hence the name change whilst its wide range of services now let you 'spend, send, store, and invest money'. However, this review looks at its online service for filing personal taxes. It's essentially up against the likes of TaxAct, TaxSlayer, Jackson Hewitt Online, and FreeTaxUSA.
One of the most appealing aspects of Cash App Taxes is that it’s free to use, although the trade-off to that is the fact you’ll need to sign up for an account. If you’ve already got an account with them though it’s even easier to get started with the step-by-step filing process.
You'll need to sign up for an account prior to being able to use Cash App Taxes (Image credit: Cash App Taxes)
Cash App Taxes: Pricing
As we pointed out, Cash App Taxes is a free-to-use online system, which on that basis alone makes it seem like a very good idea. That said, some might not like the idea of having to sign up for an account, which is a stipulation before you can use the system.
What’s more, Cash App Taxes can help you file both Federal and State taxes and if you’re just starting out down the tax filing highway, aren’t self-employed and don't have things like rent from property to factor in then it's a pretty sweet option.
The help areas of Cash App Taxes have seen some big improvements of late (Image credit: Cash App Taxes)
Cash App Taxes: Features
Cash App Taxes doesn’t do anything particularly innovative but much of that is down to the nature of the online filing service. Preparing to file your taxes is a dry subject at the best of times, so what you get with the Cash App Taxes interface is a by-numbers exercise in digital form filling. That’s not to talk down the user experience as it features all of the tools and functionality you’d expect.
You'll want to check which forms will work for you however as some are not supported (Image credit: Cash App Taxes)
Cash App Taxes: Performance
Cash App Taxes is much like any of the other online filing services in that it uses a series of progressive screens to take you though the different aspects of filing your states. Thankfully, Cash App Taxes keeps things minimalistic in terms of layouts, with not much in the way of graphics. This means that once you get into your stride you can pick through the pages in a quite erudite fashion.
The feel is similar to the way you work through your 1040, effectively allowing you to tick off things in a logical order. Performance, both your own and Cash App Taxes itself does falter a bit if you start trying to dart around as it’s not very forgiving in that respect. Cash App Taxes is therefore best tackled in page-by-page orderly fashion.
Cash App Taxes: Ease of use
As it’s a step-by-step design, the interface of Cash App Taxes is really pretty straightforward to work through, even if you’re less than confident at filing your taxes. Once you’ve selected the Start option you're on your way, plus there’s a handy search function within the pages that lets you track down answers to queries along the route.
As is the case with other products in this arena, Cash App Taxes can handle imported W-2 forms. There are one or two negatives though, with some forms not being supported, which is worth investigating before you sign up. And, if you’ve moved from one state to another in a tax year then you might be best looking farther afield.
Cash App Taxes: Support
Along with help from within the interface itself, including some natty information bubbles that offer quick tips, Cash App Taxes also benefits from the addition of support staff who are also on hand to help get you out of tricky tax spots. There’s a beefy tax support center too, which delves even more comprehensively into areas that might otherwise have you feeling a little stumped.
All in all, Cash App Taxes leaves you with the feeling that you’ve got a pretty good handle on things, which is always a bonus with such a crucial process as filing state and federal returns.
Cash App Taxes: Final verdict
Cash App Taxes is evolving nicely with each successive incarnation. If you have fairly simplistic tax affairs then the free-to-use aspect of this online service is very appealing. There have been improvements to the help side of things too, with plenty to assist you in steering a correct course come tax filing time.
There’s no dedicated app edition of this package, but you do get an optimized version of the site for your phone or tablet, which can be handy if you're not always ready or able to tackle your tax affairs on a desktop machine.
While it’s not got an exhaustive range of features, with some crucial tax forms not being supported for example, Cash App Taxes is great for anyone with less complex filing arrangements to prepare.
TaxSlayer has been designed with taking on everything your tax situation has to throw at you and it has been nicely adapted to suit changes in the law. With a portfolio of options tailored to suit a variety of filers, from the single and students through to those with tangled tax situations and the self-employed it’s got a lot to offer. There's also an edition aimed at accountancy professionals called TaxSlayer Pro.
TaxSlayer has also honed its options, therefore simplifying the completion of tax filing duties. What’s more, the software service is all online and, via the completion of step-by-step wizards, you can quickly and efficiently e-file your affairs within the context of a well-proven suite of products. Lookout for other options in this crowded marketplace though, including TaxAct, Jackson Hewitt Online, Credit Karma Tax and FreeTaxUSA.
TaxSlayer offers a wide range of plans to fit all of your specific tax needs (Image credit: TaxSlayer)
TaxSlayer: Pricing
TaxSlayer delivers a solid selection of product options, with one to suit pretty much any kind of individual. If you’re starting out, have relatively simple tax affairs and are single, married and filing a joint return or a student then the similarly basic Simply Free option is a good one. It allows you to file for no outlay with $0 state included to pay.
TaxSlayer’s stated ‘most popular’ package is the next one; Classic which is suited to all tax situations, can be started for free and costs $17 plus a per state cost of $32. Meanwhile, Premium offers up a swift way to prepare and e-file, with the added bonus of priority support as and when you need it. That costs $37 plus state additional of $32.
Finally, TaxSlayer’s Self-Employed product will set you back $47 and also has the state additional charge of $32.
TaxSlayer's suite of options means it's easy to cover most e-filing bases (Image credit: TaxSlayer)
TaxSlayer: Features
The latest incarnation of TaxSlayer certainly comes with an impressive list of features. And, as its creators like to remind you, they’ve engineered an experience specific to your tax filing needs.
Therefore, once you’ve signed up for an account you will be able to pay tax with your refund, enjoy personalized tax tips and reminders specific to you, get more ways to receive your refund as well as having access to new tools that enable faster more efficient filing. TaxSlayer is also adept at managing your financial situation year-round.
In it's most basic form, TaxSlayer's Simply Free is a basic, functional way to prepare, print and e-file taxes, though does add in new coverage for education deductions and credits.
Performance is pretty impressive thanks to an array of step-by-step windows to work through (Image credit: TaxSlayer)
Performance
TaxSlayer: Performance
Step on up to the Classic edition of TaxSlayer though and you enjoy everything Simply Free has along with timesaving options, such as being able to import your W-2. This edition also includes all deductions and credits.
Performance really steps it up a gear with the Premium edition, however, with IRS Audit Assistance (delivering a 3 full year $29 value no less). You’ll also be able to work smarter and a lot more quickly, thanks to the ability to speak to a ‘real’ tax professional.
Naturally, being an online service means it chunters away nicely enough with a dependable internet connection, while there’s a dedicated mobile edition for those who might be tempted to file via phones or tablets.
TaxSlayer has had continual improvements made in order to keep it relevant following changes in tax law (Image credit: TaxSlayer)
Ease of use
TaxSlayer: Ease of use
TaxSlayer takes you on a reasonably enjoyable journey through your e-filing duties and it is to be commended for its ease of use. The likes of basic 1040 filers and those with W-2 income will find it very accessible, with a series of relatively simple screens to fill in.
This process starts out with the familiar sign up and register screen and from there on in you work your way through the various tabbed sections, with a left-hand menu on screen to show where you are within the context of Federal, State and Health Insurance topics.
While TaxSlayer might not have quite the same level of finesse as witnessed within other online software filing solutions, it does reward the patient thanks to its methodical structure.
There are good levels of support within TaxSlayer, especially when it comes to the more premium options (Image credit: TaxSlayer)
TaxSlayer: Support
Though it has to be said there is less in the way of support for those starting out at the lower end of the TaxSlayer product portfolio things do take a turn for the better when you arrive at Premium. Within this option there is the aforementioned support from tax professionals, plus the ability to make the most of live support, both by phone and via email.
The live chat avenue also delivers more on the support front, so it soon justifies its price tag. Self-Employed types can also get support from tax professionals, particularly those with knowledge of this specific tax arena. That’s a definite boon, especially as this package also features a new personalized guide to self-employed taxes.
TaxSlayer: Final verdict
The latest version of TaxSlayer ticks a lot of the e-filing boxes, but there is still room for improvement. We like the overall look and feel of the online system, and layouts are solid, if a little idiosyncratic in places.
Help and support is at hand, though you’ll really need to invest in the more expensive editions if you’re to enjoy the benefits of wall-to-wall support including help from real tax professionals. Nevertheless, TaxSlayer also has plenty to offer the fledgling e-filer with its competent basic edition.
FreeTaxUSA is a great solution for anyone looking to reduce the costs involved with keeping accounts in order and filing tax returns. And, considering it is kind on your wallet the tax preparation service packs plenty of features that let you pick your way through the filing process with relative ease.
While FreeTaxUSA isn’t as sophisticated as other options such as TaxAct, TaxSlayer, Jackson Hewitt Online or Credit Karma Tax, it covers all bases in terms of working with relevant IRS forms and, ultimately, lets you file your federal taxes. For the state tax route though you’ll need to pay a fee, albeit a small one.
A downside, it has to be said, is the lack of ability to import your W-2 or 1099 forms, which something like TurboTax can do. Other than that, FreeTaxUSA impresses with its overall look and feel.
While the basic version is free a Deluxe edition requires minimal outlay (Image credit: FreeTaxUSA)
FreeTaxUSA: Pricing
Although FreeTaxUSA, as the name implies, is largely free to use there is cost involved, albeit nominal. So, the service will charge you $14.99 for a state return though federal filing costs zero dollars.
There’s also a Deluxe Return edition, that comes with a pretty trifling $6.99 price tag attached to it and for that you get the benefit of being able to submit unlimited returns if you’ve needed to make amendments. Better still, there is fast-lane access to live chat support, and these tax specialists can help guide you in the right direction if you’re getting stuck at any stage in the process.
Dig deeper into the service and you’ll find there’s also no charge for tax extensions, while prior year tax filing comes in at $14.99 for state and $0 for federal. It’s the same pattern for self-employed and small business owners too.
The filing solution covers a raft of financial areas and simplifies the process accordingly (Image credit: FreeTaxUSA)
FreeTaxUSA: Features
Considering that FreeTaxUSA is, by and large, free to use it still packs a decent punch. Once you get into it you find that it’ll handle all of the main areas required for filing those 1099 forms. That means retirement, government payments, debt cancellation, payment processing, sale of your home, tuition program distributions, social security as well as stocks and interest too.
The self-employed are also well catered for. Indeed, you’ll find that FreeTaxUSA ultimately has the ability to deal with each and every state and federal form, including common credits, which is quite something given its miserly charges.
Such is the versatility of the service you can also import your previous year's return from another one (Image credit: FreeTaxUSA)
FreeTaxUSA: Performance
FreeTaxUSA is an online service and, as such, works fine and dandy just as long as you have the obvious internet connection. There’s a mobile version too, for both iOS and Android, although in reality this is less of an app and more of a version of the same site you’d use on the desktop edition.
Nevertheless, FreeTaxUSA works nicely enough if you don't mind filing your tax details in the rather confined working area, especially on a phone. The tablet experience is rather better though, but we still tend to favour the desktop FreeTaxUSA experience over the mobile one.
The designers have worked hard to make both editions reasonably enjoyable and either version feels nicely optimized to work without trouble.
As you'd hope for there is a decent level of support on the FreeTaxUSA site with live help also available (Image credit: FreeTaxUSA)
FreeTaxUSA: Ease of use
There’s nothing too intimidating about the FreeTaxUSA interface, with a pretty basic though effective page layout. Before you deep dive into the step-by-step stages there’s also a neat primer screen, which highlights the features and functionality of the following site content. From there on in it’s much like the other filing packages, with text boxes to populate with all of your data.
Overall it's a nicely laid out affair that emulates all of the sections of the 1040. As mentioned earlier though, a weakness with FreeTaxUSA is the inability to import W-2s and 1099s, which is something that makes TurboTax such a handy option for its one-stop-shop feature set.
FreeTaxUSA lets you tackle your tax filing chores without the need for any outlay (Image credit: FreeTaxUSA)
FreeTaxUSA: Support
Much like the other aspects of FreeTaxUSA, customer support is certainly not overly complicated, but it is available as and when you need it. Customers can head along to a dedicated area on the FreeTaxUSA website and type in a basic query to search the help database. That’s okay and does a no-nonsense job of answering more obvious queries.
However, if you need additional assistance then that’s at hand while you’re signed in, or using an online form, plus there’s a dedicated email address to send messages to. Better still though is the Live Chat feature, which you get if you upgrade to the still good value Deluxe package, that hooks you up with real people, who can hopefully offer real answers to your questions.
FreeTaxUSA: Final verdict
FreeTaxUSA is a good bet if you want an uncomplicated and, crucially, free way of e-filing your taxes. While the Deluxe version beefs up what's on offer in terms of support, if you’re reasonably competent with your bookkeeping and have kept an organized pile of paperwork in the run up to file time then the basic incarnation is perfectly acceptable.
There are some drawbacks here, as we’ve outlined above, but if you’re keen to keep your overheads to an absolute minimum then FreeTaxUSA will get you to filing point without putting a dent in your finances.
Intuit’s TurboTax has been around in tax software circles for a long time, over a quarter of a century in fact, which sounds like an age. But, that’s helped it get better over the years too. It’s got a well-proven track history as being a solution for all kinds of business users, from those who have lone filing to do as well as those with more complex tax ground to cover.
While TurboTax is powerful, it’s not intimidating either, which will be reassuring to any filing newbies or people who aren’t confident using online filing systems. In fact, TurboTax is a real help because of its simple and almost chatty screen-by-screen interface. Other similar tax software options come in the shape of TaxAct, TaxSlayer, Jackson Hewitt Online, Credit Karma Tax and FreeTaxUSA.
TurboTax is available in various incarnations, depending on your requirements and, naturally, how much you want to spend. There’s a free edition(~37% of taxpayers qualify. Form 1040 + limited credits only) that’s suitable for simple tax returns. Next up, the Deluxe package is ideal for maximizing tax deductions and credits, and that allows you to start for free for simple tax returns only (you only pay when you file) and costs $39 plus $39 state additional. The more you spend with TurboTax the more features get added on. So if you want to spend $90 (plus state additional) for Premier you get everything that comes with the Free and Deluxe editions, plus more functionality. The TurboTax Self-Employed package costs $120 (plus the $50 each state additional once again) and that too can be started for free with payment only being necessary when you file.
However, if you’re not keen on doing things yourself then it is possible to get TurboTax Live, which gets real tax experts to review your return. Live Basic(~37% of taxpayers qualify. Form 1040 + limited credits only) is for simple tax returns and can be started for free. Live Deluxe costs $89 plus state additional, Live Premier is $169 and Live Self-Employed is $200. These packages emulate what’s on offer with the packages shown above, but you gain by having a tac expert on demand. The fact that you ultimately get a final review by a professional should give plenty of piece of mind, which also makes the pricing seem more than justified.
On top of that, TurboTax is available on a CD or as a download, with four different variations on the theme. There’s Basic, which at $49.99 plus state additional and 5 federal e-files included rates as very useful for its step-by-step guidance. Deluxe, meanwhile, is recommended for maximizing your deductions, costs $79.99 and offers 1 state download. Intuit explains that once you've completed your federal tax return, they'll automatically transfer your information and give you the option of completing your state taxes using TurboTax. The same goes for the Premier edition of TurboTax, which costs $109.99 and the Home & Business package, that’s suitable for personal and self-employed returns. That costs $119.99 and also features 1 state download and 5 federal e-files as part of the deal.
Features
Any software package can have its own unique idiosyncrasies but the good news is that TurboTax is reassuringly intuitive to use. In fact, even if you’re only a casual user it can be mastered with relative ease.
That’s mainly down to the way TurboTax has been designed, with in its most basic guise the need for inputting details of your tax year, what you do and have earned from that along with adding own or rent details, made charitable donations and so on.
You can even get a headstart by scanning in your W-2 form, which allows the system to work out much of the overall picture for your financial year affairs. The online help aspect is impressive too and works as your fast-responding and easy-to-navigate aid as you work through the various input screens.
Performance
TurboTax performs well and so it should as much of the work is done online, which means it's the wonderful world of the cloud that is doing most of the work. With support for importing your W-2 the system is able to handle much of the grind in the background and will also prepare your final account details.
Thanks to a fairly minimal interface – we won't say sparse as it’s got everything you’ll need without being fussy about it – it chunters along very nicely as you progress through the various stages. A practical toolbar allows you quick and easy access to core filing topics, such as your overall information as well as letting you drill down into Federal and State tax areas respectively.
Similarly, you can import any relevant 1099 forms to cover other earnings and all without disappearing into a convoluted accounting software hole.
Ease of use
As mentioned earlier, TurboTax shouldn't faze you too much and it has the added benefit of being able to be used across all of your devices. That’s perfect if you’re pushed for time and prefer to dip into your details as and when the moment arrives.
What’s more, once you’ve set yourself up with an account – you’ll need a username and password - the step-by-step process is sensible and organized, which is a bonus if you’re not the most organized of people when it comes to accounts. Indeed, the way TurboTax has been designed means that you’re always working in a common sense order; in other words, you’ll be asked to enter details into the system in a logical way.
When you reach the end of a section the system dips in, checks your data and highlights any issues. When you’re good to go it’s on to the next stage. It’s all pretty simple to be honest.
Support
TurboTax is big on assistance and for good reason as filing tax returns can be stressful for all of us, especially those of us with a less than comprehensive accounting background. The built-in Expert Help area of the interface holds your hand for much of the way, and is the go-to location for more obvious enquiries as you pick you way through the filing process.
Much more help is at hand, however, with TurboTax boasting a raft of online assistance tools. These include a powerful knowledge base along with video tutorials for excellent visual hand-holding. While the online community area is a boon, anyone needing help from a real person can enlist the assistance of the TurboTax Live option.
Final verdict
We like TurboTax a lot, especially in its welcoming desktop incarnation. Anyone keen to spend time on their mobile device using the app version will be happy too, though this is slightly trickier to use due to the obviously more condensed working area.
Nevertheless, you can get it for both iOS and Android, and TurboTax is one of the better options on the mobile accounting and tax software side of things. While there are costly aspects here, the core package is intuitive, dependable and good value.
Who wants a VPN with an OpenAI-powered chatbot? Yeah, me neither. But, as brands try to jump on the AI bandwagon and stand out in the crowded VPN space, that's what FlowVPN has given us
Needless to say, it's far from being one of the best VPN services on the market, but keep reading as I take a look at whether the AI chatbot offers any benefit to the VPN, how FlowVPN stacks up with the rest of the VPN market, and answer the all-important question—should you try FlowVPN for yourself?
FlowVPN isn't exactly a newcomer to the industry, rather its ultimate owner Portable LTD was formed in the UK in 2011. They're a medium-scale provider that operates "over 100 servers" in 60+ locations, but the exact number isn't publicly stated (which doesn't exactly inspire confidence).
The first real red flag for FlowVPN is the jurisdiction it's based in. The United Kingdom is part of the Five Eyes information-sharing pact, which means that it is one of the least suitable locations for a VPN provider. The relationship between GCHQ and the NSA is well documented, and both organizations are keen to undermine VPN privacy wherever possible. Combined with their lack of no-logs policy, FlowVPN isn’t a suitable choice when it comes to handling sensitive personal information.
FlowVPN pricing
FlowVPN is positioned as a cheap and cheerful budget VPN provider. There are three different plans on offer: monthly, quarterly, and annual. All of the plans offer the same functionality and features, and the only difference between them is the duration of the subscription and the prices.
FlowVPN’s monthly plan is priced at $6.99 per month. This is pretty cheap compared to most VPN providers, especially considering there are 60+ locations on offer. Unfortunately, the discounts don’t drop much lower from here.
Their quarterly plan is priced at $18, or $5.99 per month, which is roughly a 15% discount. Here’s another issue with FlowVPN: Their discount on the monthly plan is advertised at 30%. That’s not true. I'm not sure if this is just an issue in how their marketing is coded or outright deception, but either way, it's an odd claim.
Lastly, their annual plan is priced at $50.04, or $4.17 per month, which comes out to around a 40% discount. Unlike the previous plan, the website states this one correctly.
FlowVPN does not offer a free version and, while it does offer a five-day free trial, there's no money-back guarantee period. This is a real problem, and we've received a few reports of users being unable to cancel their free trial without contacting their payment provider, and being unable to get refunds if their trial expired and they began paying before they were able to cancel. You should therefore exercise caution when signing up for the free trial. At the bare minimum, you should use a virtual credit card that you can easily cancel.
For payments, FlowVPN accepts a wide variety of options, including the classic credit/debit cards such as American Express, MasterCard, and Visa. They also offer PayPal, various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and even gift cards as an option.
Privacy and encryption
FlowVPN uses AES-128 encryption to protect your data. While this can't be cracked with current supercomputer processing power, it’s surprising that FlowVPN doesn't offer an AES-256 option for added security. This more secure standard is supported by many of the leaders in the VPN space, and its absence speaks to how FlowVPN’s overall approach to security is lagging behind current industry practice.
FlowVPN offers access to the highly secure and widely trusted OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard protocols. The inclusion of WireGuard here is a major plus, however, it can only be used on certain platforms such as iOS and Mac. Unfortunately, FlowVPN also allows you to use several insecure protocols, such as PPTP and VPN over SSH.
In terms of features, FlowVPN doesn't seem to provide even the bare minimum. There is no mention of a killswitch anywhere, let alone anything more advanced such as split-tunneling or multi-hopping. Not having a killswitch is a major failing, it provides an extra layer of security and should be included with every VPN these days. FlowVPN should add a kill switch ASAP but there are far more pressing issues with this VPN.
A no-logs policy? Ha, forget it. FlowVPN's privacy policy explicitly states that the company actively monitors usage for a broad range of illegal activities, as well as some perfectly legal ones (like sending an email with an attachment over 20MB). Client information is handed over in response to any inquiry or warrant by law enforcement, so FlowVPN essentially tells you that your traffic is being monitored.
While it seems like this VPN works in China, the lack of technical competency and awful privacy policy means I cannot recommend this VPN for use inside China (in fact, it may be dangerous to do so). Instead, I'd suggest you check out NordVPN or ExpressVPN—especially if you’re looking for a P2P-friendly VPN, as none of FlowVPN’s servers support P2P traffic.
Streaming
The good news is that FlowVPN can unblock most major streaming services, including the likes of Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and BBC iPlayer. Well, sometimes. FlowVPN just cannot do this consistently and I had to try multiple servers in the hope that one would suddenly work. Even after my testing, there didn't seem to be any real pattern when it came to accessing geo-blocked content, it just randomly worked at some point. In short, FlowVPN can unblock geo-restricted content on these services, but it cannot do so smoothly or consistently.
If streaming geo-blocked content is one of your top priorities, I recommend you go for ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN will consistently and effortlessly unblock all the geo-blocked content on the major streaming services listed above, and its superb speeds mean you'll get the smoothest streaming experience possible.
Speed and experience
I tested out three different servers in various locations to get an idea of how fast FlowVPN is. All of my tests were conducted on the same 100 Mbps connection using Ookla Speedtest for consistency.
First off, I connected to the UK server. As this is the server that's closest to my actual location, you would expect to see the highest numbers here. After a few inconsistent results at the beginning of my connection, I came back an hour later and found that the best results I got were 61.40 Mbps download and 17.93 Mbps upload. Honestly, this is a pretty decent result. There are certainly faster VPNs out there, but this isn’t awful by a long shot.
I tested the server in Germany next. This connection was far more consistent, clocking in at 55.74 Mbps download and 12.84 Mbps upload. All in all, these results were roughly in line with what I expected based on the UK tests.
Finally, I tested FlowVPN's US Northeast server. This performed a little lower than expected, clocking in at 38.62 Mbps download and 7.99 Mbps upload. Like the German server, the results of all my tests were consistent, so I can surmise that their servers are working properly. All in all, these results are pretty middling, but nothing egregious.
Customer support
FlowVPN's customer support provides the bare minimum. There's no live-chat support system, which is a major downside in this category, just a basic support ticket system and an FAQ on their website.
That's not great, and it gets worse. When I tested the support ticket system, I did not receive a reply. As there's no other way of getting help, this essentially means that FlowVPN provides no customer support. The FAQ is also very barebones and does not seem to provide any valuable information whatsoever. I found it particularly disconcerting that there’s a section with no meaningful advice on which VPN protocol to use beyond recommending PPTP and L2TP over OpenVPN.
I’ve also heard reports of customers being unable to cancel their free trials because of this apparently nonexistent customer support. As the terms of service make it clear that no refund will be given once the free trial is over, this means that signing up for a trial locks you into a payment. That's a situation that's shady at best, and frankly malicious at worst.
Compatibility
FlowVPN has Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android apps. Check the fine print here, however, as these apps were not created equal. You can only use the WireGuard protocol on the Mac and iOS apps, making them vastly superior. It’s a rare case where the Apple apps are better than the Windows and Android equivalents, but it took me a few connection attempts to get the Windows app working at all. There is no mention of Linux whatsoever on the FlowVPN website.
FlowVPN allows you to use up to 10 devices at a time according to their website. This is roughly consistent with the industry standard, but this number is going up all the time and many top-tier VPN providers are switching to an unlimited subscription policy.
Alternatives
1. The best VPN overall: NordVPN
NordVPN tops our list as the best VPN overall thanks to its excellent privacy, high speeds, and integrated suite of security tools. With unbeatable content unblocking power, amazing speeds, and customizable pricing, you'll only pay for what you need. See for yourself with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and get the best VPN on the market.View Deal
2. The best VPN for beginners: ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN offers a simple one-click connect interface so you can set it and forget it. Plus, it consistently unblocks Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+. Unlike FlowVPN, ExpressVPN has a strict no-logs policy that has been independently audited by third parties on an ongoing basis. With a 30-day money-back guarantee you can even put it to the test risk-free, too.View Deal
3. The best cheap VPN: Surfshark
If you've got a lot of devices to protect, or you just don't want to spend too much money on a VPN, Surfshark is a great choice. One subscription covers unlimited devices, so you can use as many as you want simultaneously. On top of fast connection speeds, Surfshark also keeps you safe with a password protection system that evaluates if your details are easy to guess, reused, or have been leaked online. Plus, with a 30-day money-back guarantee, you can try it for yourself and see how it compares to the more expensive services.View Deal
Verdict
FlowVPN is a medium-scale VPN provider with some major issues. Their privacy policy is barely worthy of the name as it allows far too much leeway for data collection and essentially gives FlowVPN carte blanche to kick you off the platform for practically any infraction. However, it’s far more likely that you won’t be able to get the service working effectively and be left out of pocket with no chance of a refund.
Beyond the frankly abysmal customer service, the VPN is based in a Five-Eyes jurisdiction, does not support P2P, and lacks features that any decent VPN has had for years. Their VPN protocol support is also not up to industry standards, allowing for the use of several outdated and dangerous protocols
In conclusion, I simply can't recommend this VPN. The blatant logging and sharing of personal data is unacceptable, and the combo of terrible customer support and no money-back guarantee is downright predatory and leaves users unable to get their money back. In short, I’d advise you to avoid this VPN and use a top-tier VPN like ExpressVPN instead.
H&R Block has a very high profile in the USA and for good reason. It provides a range of personal tax preparation services that range from the zero outlay basic edition right on through to sophisticated paid-for variants for those with advanced filing needs.
All this is backed up with physical outlets for in-person help if you need it. Considering the base level edition costs nothing it’s very impressive and has all the features and functionality you could realistically want.
H&R Block offers a hugely flexible array of package options, which allow you to file online or work with a professional who can do a lot of the work for you. This is broken down even further, with options tailored to just how much of the work you want to do yourself.
If you do your own taxes then get started with Online, which allows you to file easily and securely from either a computer or a smartphone. Choose Free Online if you have a W-2, have kids and education costs and there’s a $0 charge per state filed too.
Deluxe Online is for maximizing credits and deductions, plus HSA contributions and currently costs $37.49 instead of the usual $49.99, plus $44.99 per state filed. You can initially start for free.
Premium Online is aimed at freelancers, contractors and investors and is currently $52.49 instead of the usual $69.99 plus $44.99 per state filed and also allows you to start for free.
Self-employed Online, meanwhile, normally costs $104.99 and is currently $78.74, plus $44.99 per state filed. It's aimed at small business owners as well as the self-employed. That too allows you to start for free.
H&R Block’s Online Assist packages on the other hand, allow you to file online with on-demand help from a tax expert, enrolled agent or CPA. Basic Online Assist costs $49.99 plus $0 per state filed and suits if you have a W-2, kids and education costs.
Deluxe Online Assist is $99.99 plus $44.99 per state filed and is for maximizing credits and deductions, plus HAS contributions. You can start for free. Premium Online Assist is aimed at freelancers, contractors and investors and is $139.99 plus $44.99 per state filed. That too allows you to start for free. Self-employed Online Assist, finally, is just that with help when you need it and costs $169.99 plus $44.99 per state filed, with a start for free option available.
H&R Block offers more however, including tax offices and virtual filing. Its Drop-Off service lets you drop off your documents at your local tax office and starts from $69 plus additional fees per state. Tax Pro Go, meanwhile, lets you get expert tax preparation remotely, from $49 plus additional fees per state. There’s a Student/Retired option for $129 plus $45 per state filed, a Family/Investor package for $199 plus $45 per state filed and a Business Owner option for $249 plus $45 per state filed package too.
Their In Office option, meanwhile, lets you work together with a tax pro and starts from $69 plus additional fees per state.
Finally, H&R Block does have downloadable software options. These include its Basic Tax Software for $29.95, for simple tax situations, Deluxe and State Tax Software, for homeowners or investors at $54.95, Premium Tax Software for self-employed/1099-MISC or rental property owners for $74.95 along with Premium and Business Tax Software for small business owners with 10 plus itemized expenses for $89.95. Additional fees may also apply for these however.
H&R Block has a reassuringly safe and secure interface that includes two-step verification (Image credit: H&R Block)
H&R Block: Features
Thankfully, whatever version of H&R Block you use you’ll find that it should have more than enough features to suit your requirements. The page layouts follow a familiar theme with a methodical series of steps to work through that, eventually, get you to the last stage in the process, the filing bit.
Prior to that you’ll work through basic overview screens and move on to Federal and State sections where you’ll be able to enter more personal information as well as details on your income, deductions, credits and everything else needed to produce a complete picture of your current position.
Of course, the bonus if you’ve used the service before is that much of the information gets held in the system, and you should get access to that one you’ve logged in using your username and password.
Simplistic screens with assistants along the way means this is a very straightforward tax filing system (Image credit: H&R Block)
H&R Block: Performance
Being an online service means that there’s not much to go wrong in terms of performance, just as long as your internet connection remains up that is. The wizard-style arrangement of the site design means that there’s very little you need to worry about, especially when it comes to complex IRS topics that might make your progress grind to a halt.
This is where the performance of H&R Block really impresses, as it has been honed to cover changes in legislation. This is particularly useful if you’ve used the service before and need to make sure the current year doesn't pull through the wrong information from previous years.
There are versions for all with the self-employed edition proving to be very capable (Image credit: H&R Block)
H&R Block: Ease of use
H&R Block’s online filing system is hardly intimidating as it follows a theme similar to others in the marketplace. After registering and doing all the foundation housekeeping you then progress through the various screens that help build up a picture of your finances.
Overall, the fit and finish of the interface is really pretty good, with not much in the way of areas that can trip you up. The experience is made all the better thanks to practical interface tweaks including the ability to import the details from your W-2, via either a PDF or a digital image of it from your phone, all of which is done securely so your prized personal information isn't compromised.
Help is always at hand if you find yourself getting bogged down with taxing questions (Image credit: H&R Block)
H&R Block: Support
H&R Block has also been well thought out when it comes to the amount of online help you can get. While some of this assistance becomes available as you progress through the series of screens, there are other areas that contain more advanced information that gets pulled in from a searchable knowledge base.
Thankfully the H&R Block user experience folks have been mindful to help you stay on track while you delve into these knowledge base articles, so it’s easy to emerge from the other side in the same place. Paid-for editions also come with help from live assistants, while the 24/7 chat support adds another level of reassurance for people who’ve got a little bogged down by the process.
Having the ability to share your screen with a live expert can be valuable and saves time, so if you’re in need of a helping hand then it’s worth the additional fees - $39.99 for Free and Deluxe users, or $49.99 for the Premium and Self-Employed editions.
H&R Block has dedicated areas that can help solve some of your most troubling tax filing issues (Image credit: H&R Block)
H&R Block: Final verdict
There’s a version of H&R Block tax software for everyone and, no matter which one you choose, all are very well put together. The user experience, even if you’re working with the free online model, is largely stress free too.
It's also good to know that there are plenty of help options available should you need it, even though you’ll need to spend some money if you want to get access to the best there is – a real person.
However, if you’re fairly organized and have your paperwork – digital or otherwise – to hand you can also make perfectly decent use of the built-in help sections of the H&R Block website. It's a package that sits nicely alongside the competition, including the likes of TurboTax, TaxAct, TaxSlayer, Jackson Hewitt Online, Credit Karma Tax and FreeTaxUSA.
Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 service is a private DNS that encrypts the site requests you make, hiding them from your ISP. It’s offered in conjunction with WARP, a VPN service built on top of 1.1.1.1 that also encrypts your traffic.
WARP is a free service, and while we’d usually warn against using free VPNs, we're fairly happy with WARP’s pedigree. Cloudflare is one of the largest network service providers on the internet, and it had 1.1.1.1 audited to demonstrate its no-logs policy.
However, WARP does not hide your IP address or offer the full range of features provided by traditional VPNs. While it's a good choice if you’re looking for a free service for basic privacy needs, it’s not going to compete with the best VPNs we’ve reviewed in the past, such as NordVPN or Surfshark.
Features
While the 1.1.1.1 DNS service offers a few different features, there’s significantly less available from WARP. In fact, several key features are missing.
There’s no kill switch, meaning you’ll be vulnerable to data leaks if your connection to Cloudflare’s servers goes down. Split tunnelling is available, but you can only specify which domains and IPs aren’t covered by the WARP VPN tunnel. Other than that, it’s a very bog-standard VPN client.
It was also surprising to see that there was no way to select a VPN server location. When you connect to WARP, you get access to your best local server. That’s it. Given that our top-rated VPNs allow you to pick and choose servers in individual cities, this is something we'd like to see WARP integrate into its own offering.
The DNS service is a little more interesting. 1.1.1.1 allows you to request DNS over both HTTPS and TLS, obfuscating your domain requests completely. There’s also Oblivious DNS available, which proxies your DNS requests through 1.1.1.1 without exposing the original IP requesting the domain.
You can optionally connect through “Family” 1.1.1.1 instead, a version of the domain resolver which also adds filtering for malware and inappropriate content. It’s not quite as granular as something like Windscribe’s ROBERT DNS, however, which provides several categories and allows you to add individual IPs to a custom blocklist.
There’s even the option to route your DNS requests through Tor for extra privacy. It’s still in the experimental stage, so don’t expect any official support if it doesn’t work, but it’s an interesting idea. Routing your DNS this way will definitely slow your domain requests down compared to using 1.1.1.1 directly, but if you need to be absolutely sure your requests aren’t being spied on, it’s worth a shot.
You might expect some of WARP’s features to be gated behind WARP+, the optional upgrade subscription. This is not the case. WARP+ is functionally identical to the normal WARP client, except you’re getting some extra-fast routing on the back end.
Server network
It’s a mixed bag. On the one hand, Cloudflare runs an incredibly powerful worldwide server network unparalleled by anything but other top-tier CDNs. On the other hand, you can’t choose which location you connect to through WARP.
All traffic is routed through Cloudflare's global network, but WARP+ uses Cloudflare’s Argo backbone, which is optimized for high-speed connectivity. We didn’t find any particular differences in performance between the two networks, unfortunately.
Apps
There’s not much to say about the WARP app. Install it, hit the “On” button, and you’re in business. That’s really it for most users. On Android and iOS, it’s perfectly functional. On the desktop, the client comes up as a pop-up from the system tray instead of a full window that you can drag around.
In practice, it’s a little annoying to use because you’ll probably end up referring to guides and accidentally closing the window if you’re doing anything more complex than just hitting connect.
On the surface, there are almost no extra settings or customization options, which makes it great if you need a “simple as” VPN that anyone can use. However, dig a little deeper, and there are expert-level settings relating to DNS that the average user will never need to touch.
It’s also not immediately obvious where you’re connected when you check the location on the app, as WARP uses co-location codes for specific regions (LHR for London Heathrow, for example) instead of telling you which country you’re connected to.
The WARP app is available on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux. There are no dedicated apps for smart TVs, streaming devices, or gaming consoles. However, you will be able to take advantage of 1.1.1.1’s improved DNS resolution speeds by entering the DNS address directly into most devices.
Ease of use
WARP with 1.1.1.1 doesn’t require any particularly difficult setup. The fact that it’s feature-light is actually a plus here: all you do is hit “On” and you’re connected.
It’s hard to see how WARP could be made any simpler. There’s no need to log in, no subscription to set up, no locations to choose, just a download and install process. You can get stuck into all of the complex options on the back-end or try implementing some of 1.1.1.1’s more esoteric features into your own app, but that’s not necessary to get the VPN working.
That said, you might hit a snag while looking for the app on the iOS store. Simply put: it’s not there, so you’ll have to download it from the Cloudflare site directly.
Speed and performance
WARP is not particularly quick, but keep in mind that it’s free. Our testing rig uses a 1 Gbit connection to stress test the full capabilities of each VPN we review. WARP didn’t even come close to maxing out our line at only 197 Mbps.
How we perform speed tests
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
We test from two different virtual PCs, one in the UK and one in the US. We’re expecting big things out of NordVPN, as both of these servers have a 1 Gbs connection. You can find out more in our VPN testing methodology.
We should point out that this is a free service, so you get what you pay for. It’s also more than fast enough to stream even 4K content, so you’re only really going to notice if you’re heavily into downloading.
You’d expect better from the paid WARP+ service, but unfortunately, our recorded speeds were… basically the same. Scarily so, clocking in at 198 Mbps. That definitely says something for Cloudflare’s consistency.
We can only assume that we’re already being connected to one of the best servers in the region by default, so don’t upgrade to WARP+ if you’re expecting an extreme jump in speeds. You’d be better off purchasing a subscription to Surfshark, instead, which reigns supreme as the fastest VPN on our books.
Unblocking
Don’t expect anything from WARP if you’re hunting for a streaming VPN. It’s not designed to bypass geo-restrictions and it doesn’t allow you to choose which server you’re connected to. At most, you’re going to have your traffic routed through a server geographically close to you. In our case, we found that we were still able to access ITV and Channel 4, but couldn’t access BBC iPlayer with WARP enabled.
Neither service blocks P2P connections, so if you’re looking to torrent on WARP it’s theoretically not a problem. In practice, the lack of port forwarding means you won’t get the same connectivity as using your home connection. Also, you’re not getting the IP masking protections afforded by most VPN providers. Together, this means that torrenting on WARP is an actively worse experience.
One plus side to WARP working differently from most VPN providers is that it’s not detected by nearly as many VPN scanners. We took WARP for a quick test-run and saw that nearly two-thirds of the sites we tested couldn’t tell we were using a VPN, which is significantly better than most of our top VPN providers. As a result, we’d expect you to run into fewer CAPTCHAs while using WARP, too.
Privacy and Security
There are some solid points here in favour of Cloudflare’s approach to privacy and security, but also a lot of areas where it could massively improve.
First, the positives. WARP uses BoringTUN to power the encrypted VPN tunnel you use to access the internet through its servers. It’s essentially another WireGuard implementation run inside the userspace, but instead of being written in the Go language, it uses Rust.
Cloudflare claims it’s a faster and potentially safer implementation of WireGuard, which is plausible, but it really remains to be seen whether this is the case.
Cloudflare has previously commissioned a no-logs audit of its 1.1.1.1 service by KPMG in 2019. KPMG indicated that Cloudflare handles data according to its privacy policy, essentially giving it a clean bill of health. However, there are still some issues here. For one, Cloudflare hasn’t commissioned another audit since then. There has also been no audit for the actual WARP service. Worst of all, by its own admission, Cloudflare does log some minor data about the use of WARP.
While WARP doesn’t require you to share an email address (or any personal information for that matter) to use the service, it does log an aggregated record of how much data you transfer and as well as your average connection speed. This isn’t a huge problem for WARP, but it is slightly more worrying if you add your personal information when you sign up via WARP+.
For 1.1.1.1, Cloudflare supports multiple encrypted and obfuscated methods of sending DNS requests. No problem here, these are great to see. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the actual WARP client. There are no obfuscation options, so it’ll be fairly obvious you’re using a VPN to access the internet.
If you’re worried about your network admin or ISP blocking your traffic, you need to look for another secure VPN – like ExpressVPN.
WARP also doesn’t hide your IP, which is a huge negative for a VPN. It’s one of the core selling points, but WARP isn’t really designed for privacy from the wider web. It’s just to stop your ISP from recording your traffic, but without a kill switch implemented, there’s no guarantee this will work 24/7.
The 1.1.1.1 DNS service gets a pass, but we cannot recommend WARP as a serious privacy tool.
Track record
Considering how large Cloudflare is, it isn’t surprising it's run into one or two security issues in the past.
As for the actual app, there have been several exploits discovered for WARP that would allow a local attacker to escalate privileges or otherwise interfere with the system running WARP. It’s not the best track record, and we expect better from an organisation with so many resources to dedicate to security.
From a privacy perspective, WARP performs better, although we have run into at least one case where a user on the local network would still be able to sniff DNS requests made through WARP. This is now fixed, but on the whole, it doesn’t build massive confidence in WARP as a tool that'll keep you safe online.
Customer support
Cloudflare has some very thorough documentation on offer for both 1.1.1.1 and WARP. However, it’s very much tailored towards developers who are using 1.1.1.1 as part of larger applications.
While you might find the answers you’re looking for, it’s not particularly accessible for new VPN users. This is a little disappointing, considering one of WARP’s benefits is supposed to be its simplicity.
Otherwise, you’ll need to check out the community support forum or its Discord. Cloudflare staff regularly check the forum, but you can’t rely on getting an answer if you’ve got a connection problem. Upgrading to WARP+ gets you access to a support portal, but this is strictly for solving billing issues.
Pricing and plans
Both 1.1.1.1 and WARP are free to use forever with no bandwidth limits. The only paid part of the package is WARP+, which is priced at $4.99 per month and is only available through the iOS and Google Play stores. WARP+ is literally just a speed and connectivity upgrade, there are no extra features on offer for the upgrade price.
In comparison, you could subscribe to Mullvad VPN for the same price and access a VPN with fleshed-out privacy features and the ability to connect to servers all over the world. There’s no money-back guarantee for WARP+, so if you find that it hasn’t significantly increased your speeds, you’re out of luck.
Should you use 1.1.1.1.?
As a free private DNS service, 1.1.1.1 ticks all the right boxes. As a free VPN, WARP leaves some key features out that leave much to be desired. The lack of a kill switch and IP masking are the most egregious problems. Proton VPN Free offers a free version with all the functionality of WARP and more, plus some marginally better location selection.
If you’re just looking to upgrade your DNS, giving 1.1.1.1 a shot isn’t the worst idea in the world. However, there are better free VPNs out there that do a better job of improving your privacy.
Furthermore, if you’re going to pay for WARP+, you may as well just pay for a VPN that actually protects your IP address instead, as the speed upgrades you’re getting are marginal at best.
1.1.1.1. alternatives
1. NordVPN – from $3.09 per month The best VPN overall One of the most well-rounded VPNs out there. NordVPN offers connection locations all over the world in 118+ countries, top-tier security features like Threat Protection, and consistently fast speeds. It's the total package, and you can take it for a risk-free test drive with its 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal
2. Surfshark – from $1.99 per month The best cheap VPN (and the fastest!) A fantastic choice if you’re concerned about value for money. Surfshark is one of the few providers that offers unlimited simultaneous device connections. There’s also some top-tier connectivity here, powered by the Nexus network, which allows you to create multi-hop connections between any two servers whenever you feel like it. Try it today with a 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal
3. ExpressVPN – from $4.99 per month The best VPN for beginners It’s a little pricier, but in return, you get best-in-class custom encryption protocols and a 24/7 support team ready to assist you whenever you have an issue with your VPN. ExpressVPN balances a powerful feature set with a streamlined, easy-to-use app that works on basically any platform you can think of. Best of all, you and try before commiting to a long-term subscription thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee.View Deal
GreenGeeks is an American web hosting provider with 55,000 customers, managing 600,000 websites, and has a lengthy 17 years of experience in green hosting.
The company goes well beyond simple energy-saving; it calculates its energy consumption each year, then pays for three times that in green energy and puts it back into the grid. That's not just carbon neutral, it's carbon reducing, with up to 615,000+ kWh/year replaced.
In addition, GreenGeeks has another simpler and more straightforward way to showcase its environmental credentials: for every hosting account set up on the platform, the company plants one tree.
What types of hosting does GreenGeeks offer?
(Image credit: Future)
GreenGeeks offers low cost shared hosting, ideal for personal users and simple business websites.
WordPress and WooCommerce hosting allows you to build anything from a personal blog to a small web store.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is a powerful technology which gives your site access to more CPU, RAM and other system resources. It's a smart choice for large or high-traffic sites, where top speeds are vital, and downtime could be a disaster.
While GreenGeeks does offer dedicated server hosting plans, these seem out of the norm for them. The plans are listed on their site, but you have to contact them to sign up.
Next, we'll break down GreenGeeks' various hosting types, find out what they have to offer, and which might be the best solution for you.
GreenGeeks shared hosting
Opt for shared hosting and your website is stored on a single web server along with several others. The benefit of this type of hosting is it's easy to use, and because everyone shares the server costs, it can be very cheap. But the disadvantage is all sites share the server's CPU, RAM, network connection and more, so you don't get the best stability or speeds.
GreenGeeks starter shared hosting plan, the Lite plan, more than covers the basics, with 25GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL, a free domain, a free migration to import your current site from another host, nightly backups, and top-quality industry-standard hosting tools, including Softaculous to automatically install WordPress and 150+ other apps, and cPanel for all your other hosting management needs. What’s more, it also offers 50 email accounts, which is much better than IONOS offering just one email account on all its shared hosting plans.
It's a decent package with enough power for personal users and small websites, and is priced low in the first year at $2.95. However, it’s well worth noting that costs jump to $12.95 on renewal, at little more than the best of the competition.
The mid-range ‘Pro’ plan adds 50 GB storage and support for unlimited websites (the Lite plan supports only a single website), along with on-demand backups (save a copy of your site whenever you like) and a WordPress repair tool. It's more capable, and at $4.95 a month in year one, $17.95 on renewal, it's also competitively priced.
The Premium plan is aimed at small businesses with high traffic sites or web stores. It adds extra resources and high-end business-friendly extras, including premium SSL and smart object caching (a clever technology which uses the Memcached and Redis tools to accelerate website speeds). It's a capable package worth considering for demanding sites, and looks fairly priced at $8.95 a month in year one, $29.95 on renewal.
GreenGeeks WordPress hosting
WordPress is one of the most popular website creators around, and it's easy to see why. Its huge range of add-ons can handle the most advanced of business and web store projects, yet it's also accessible enough for home users to build simple family sites.
GreenGeeks' WordPress hosting is essentially the shared hosting plan - same names, same prices - with a little extra focus on some helpful WordPress-related features.
The plans include free migration of your WordPress site from a previous host, for instance. You get on-demand WP backups, with automatic updates of WordPress and its plugins, and 99.9% uptime. GreenGeeks uses the LiteSpeed server and LS Cache plugin to optimize speed. Unusually, the company doesn't just offer to scan your website for malware: the website says it'll also help clean your site if anything malicious shows up.
The malware pledge is unusual for a budget hosting plan, but otherwise there are no real surprises here. If you're happy with GreenGeeks' shared hosting and only need the WordPress basics, these plans have you covered. But if not, take a look at DreamHost’s professionally managed WordPress hosting range. Here, you get a high-performance cloud server environment, support for up to one million visitors a month, specialist WordPress support, 1-click staging for easier website testing, and excellent security, too.
While it’s admittedly not as cheap as GreenGeeks (the starter DreamPress plan is $16.95 billed monthly on a yearly subscription), it’s very good value for money for accelerated performance and business-critical sites. Even better, DreamHost is recommended by WordPress.org - the makers of WordPress. This is because DreamHost has greatly contributed to WordPress’s development in the last 10 years.
GreenGeeks VPS hosting
A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is one physical server divided into several smaller private pieces. Each gets its own set of server resources, not shared with other users, making for a far more powerful setup. A good VPS can run a large blog with hundreds of thousands of visitors monthly.
GreenGeeks has only three VPS plans. All confusingly listed with 'special prices'. When I asked GreenGeeks they told me there is nothing special about these prices at all and they're not likely to change for a while.
The cheapest plan is $69.95 for 4 GB RAM, 4 vCPU, 75 GB SSD storage, and cPanel. The next plan up is $125.95 for 8 GB RAM, 6 vCPU, and 150 GB Storage. The highest tier plan is $179.95 for 16 RAM and 6 vCPU.
There are a lot of positives here. As I mentioned, these are managed plans, which means GreenGeeks maintains the server for you (updating the operating system, installing security patches, monitoring the service for issues). A strong set of features includes free SSL, a free migration, cPanel server management, and the excellent Softaculous to automatically install WordPress or 150+ other apps. All plans have a generous 10TB bandwidth allowance, and prices are low considering what you get. Security is fantastic, too, with DDoS protection, custom security rules, and real-time 24/7 monitoring.
If you're looking for a lower to mid-range VPS, or new to this type of hosting and unsure exactly what you need, GreenGeeks is well worth considering. But with only three plans, and no configuration options, there's not a lot of choice, and many users will be better off elsewhere.
InMotion Hosting which features on our list of the best VPS hosting services, has a far wider range of plans, and is fairly customizable, too. The cheapest ‘Essential’ VPS is priced at $20 a month on a 2-year term and comes with 2 vCPU, 2GB RAM, 40GB SSD storage, and 10TB bandwidth, as well as robust security features. What’s more, you also get support for unlimited websites, 24/7/365 support from knowledgeable professionals, and a class-leading 100% network uptime and power guarantee - this is significantly better than GreenGeeks’ 99.9% uptime.
GreenGeeks green hosting
GreenGeeks has been a ‘Green Power Partner' since 2009, recognized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A highlight of GreenGeeks is that regardless of which plan you choose - shared, dedicated, VPS, or reseller - you are going to get a 300% green energy match. This means that it puts 3 times the energy that it consumes back into the grid. For this, it has partnered with Poland’s Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF).
As the best green web hosting provider, GreenGeeks also plants one tree for every hosting account it provisions - this is thanks to its partnership with One Tree Planted. So, if you are environmentally-conscious and want to make a difference in the world by reducing carbon emissions, there’s hardly an option better for you than GreenGeeks.
Does GreenGeeks have a website builder?
GreenGeeks has followed the trend with its newly introduced AI-driven website builder. (Image credit: Future)
In the past, GreenGeeks included a free version of the Weebly website builder with its hosting packages. However, it has now followed the trend by introducing an AI-driven website builder.
It's easy to use, and aside from visual design, the AI website builder offers other useful features that add great value. For example, you won't need a separate AI writing tool since AI content creation is included.
GreenGeeks' AI website builder only requires you to enter your business information. From there, it will auto-generate a design, then let you put the finishing touches by personalizing colors, content, and placement of design elements.
You can also use AI to generate images, which is an added cost-saving measure. No more worries about credits and limits.
Can I build a web store with GreenGeeks?
(Image credit: Future)
GreenGeeks has a WooCommerce hosting range which is very capable of building a top-quality web store (WooCommerce is one of the best ecommerce platforms around). As with GreenGeeks' WordPress range, though, this is really just the shared hosting range underneath, with the same names, features, and prices.
This isn't necessarily a problem. The plans can automatically install WooCommerce for you within seconds, and it really does have the power to handle even the largest and most demanding stores. However, because these are general-purpose shared hosting plans, GreenGeeks doesn't offer you any helpful ecommerce extras or specialist WooCommerce support.
That makes these more suitable for experienced users with some ecommerce experience, who are happy to set up and learn WooCommerce largely on their own. Plus, you can also purchase a dedicated IP address for your eCommerce store through GreenGeeks - for as little as $48/year.
If that's not you at all, there are other options. As we discussed above, website builders are not only the easiest way to create a site, but many also support adding a web store. Most builders have only a fraction of the power of WooCommerce, but they're enough for many stores. HostGator's Gator website builder and Hostinger's website builder can build basic stores for a few dollars a month, while GoDaddy and Wix cost more but include many extra features.
How easy is GreenGeeks to use?
(Image credit: Future)
GreenGeeks starts with a basic but helpful onboarding process for all new users. There's also an option to simply close the window for the process if you've had some experience and already know what you're doing.
Your first point of entry is the GreenGeeks control panel, which is refreshingly simple. Technical language is kept to a minimum, and sensibly-named options in a left-hand sidebar (Websites, Hosting Plans, Domains, Affiliate Programs, Support) make it easy to find what you need.
Even when you drill down to more complicated areas, GreenGeeks does its best to keep life straightforward. Create an email account at DreamHost, for instance, and it prompts you with 12 options, including some you may never know existed (do you want to get daily warnings if your Inbox is nearly full?) GreenGeeks just asks you to enter an email address and password. You can still tweak more advanced settings; they're just not displayed up-front.
(Image credit: Future)
GreenGeeks provides users with top-quality, industry-standard tools to manage all the most complex tasks. With shared hosting plans, you get a custom dashboard that lets you install a variety of apps. WordPress installation is also available directly from the sidebar, which makes sense given its popularity.
For more advanced users, you can head directly into cPanel, which provides access to Softaculous, a handy app installer. cPanel also lets you perform tasks such as setting up email accounts, domain management, SEO tools configuration, and more.
This dual-management system can be a little confusing to some, but it can be very helpful for beginners to web hosting. The GreenGeeks dashboard is much simpler to use than cPanel and doesn't overcrowd you with a ton of options.
How fast is GreenGeeks?
WordPress benchmark testing
CPU & Memory
Operations with large text data
8.08
Random binary data operations
6.33
Recursive mathematical calculations
3.86
Iterative mathematical calculations
7.32
Floating point operations
1.99
Filesystem
Filesystem write ability
0
Small file IO test
0
Small file IO test
2.53
Database
Importing large amount of data to database
5.09
Simple queries on single table
8.05
Complex database queries on multiple tables
4.58
Object Cache
Persistent object cache enabled
0
WordPress Core
Shortcode processing
3.84
WordPress Hooks
6.02
WordPress option manipulation
8.08
REGEX string processing
0
Taxonomy benchmark
6.01
Object capability benchmark
5.2
Content filtering
7.23
JSON manipulations
5.47
Network
Network download speed test
6.86
Overall
Your server score
4.7
One of the things we do to assess performance is benchmark a host's core WordPress performance. This allows us to see its performance in key WordPress operations quickly.
Unfortunately, GreenGeeks didn't come out smelling like roses after this assessment. The scores were dragged down by performance in several critical areas, like file handling and network capability.
Siege test
Concurrent Users
5
9
15
Transactions
46
34
16
Availability
55.42
31.48
12.31
Elapsed time
299.63
299.24
299.21
Data transactions
0.31
0.3
0.15
Response time
6.96
8.57
48.41
Transaction rate
0.15
0.11
0.05
Throughput
0
0
0
Concurrency
1.07
0.97
2.59
Successful transactions
55
46
106
Failed transactions
37
74
114
Longest transaction
37.2
22.27
49.97
Shortest transaction
0.04
0.04
0.04
Aside from core WordPress benchmarks, we also run Siege tests to see how well a host can handle the traffic load. What came back on GreenGeeks had me initially surprised, and not in a good way.
From experience, most web hosts handle five or fewer concurrent users fairly well, with a higher failure rate as load increases. GreenGeeks seemed to struggle even with an initial five-user load, failing almost half of the time. That doesn't look very promising, even for a shared hosting plan.
Aside from speed, another aspect of a web host's performance is the ability of its servers to maintain consistent uptime. GreenGeeks officially offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which aligns with industry standards for shared hosting.
However, some rivals, such as InMotion Hosting offer a rock-solid 99.99% uptime guarantee; then there are Liquid Web and DreamHost, which knock it out of the park with 100% uptime guarantees.
What is GreenGeeks support like?
(Image credit: Future)
GreenGeeks offers 24/7 support via live chat, email tickets, telephone, and a website knowledgebase.
The support section of their site is quite remarkable, being better equipped than most others I've seen. Aside from general knowledge base questions, it also has sections for tutorials and webinars that you can sign up for.
For example, the Getting Started with GreenGeeks guide links to articles on registering and setting up domains and DNS, creating email accounts, building your website, and managing your bills and accounts. That's good to know and will point you in the right direction.
If the knowledge base doesn’t work for you, then you can always contact the support team. We raised some test questions to see how it performed, and the results were excellent.
Final verdict
GreenGeeks' performance in its shared hosting plans is less than awesome. The main positives here are the customer experience journey and their excellent green hosting credentials. At least prices are pretty decent if you're signing up as a new user.
If you must have an eco-friendly hosting provider for any reason, then this is hands down the best choice. It also has a robust support section and a great customer support team.
Their plans also come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so sign up for an account and try it on for size - all without risking a single penny.
GreenGeeks FAQs
What payment types does GreenGeeks support?
GreenGeeks accepts payment via card only.
Does GreenGeeks offer refunds?
GreenGeeks has a simple 30-day money-back guarantee for all its main hosting products, regardless of the length of subscription. Unlike some providers, there's no 30 days for this hosting product range, 15 days for that, something else again for monthly plans (GoDaddy only gives you 48 hours for subscriptions of less than a year). It's 30 days and that's that.
There are some restrictions for add-on products. You won't get your domain registration or SSL certificate fees back, for instance, but that's common to most hosts. (Although, as a plus this time, GoDaddy does offer refunds on some domain purchases.)
More significantly, renewal fees aren't included. At SiteGround, you can cancel 15 days after renewing, and the company will give you all but your first month's fees back. At GreenGeeks, the small print warns you must cancel your account at least five days before the renewal date 'to ensure the billing date can stop any renewal charges', and if you forget, and you're charged, you've no right to a refund.
Does GreenGeeks have an uptime guarantee?
GreenGeeks claims to offer a '99.9% uptime guarantee', but that's no more than a hope, or a goal. If your site is down for more than 0.1% (or 43.83 minutes a month), you won't get any form of compensation.
Some hosts do significantly better. SiteGround also has a 99.9% network uptime guarantee, for instance, but if your downtime is actually 99%, you'll get a month of free hosting, and there's another free month for every further 1%.
(Image credit: Future)
Where are GreenGeeks’ data centers?
Sign up with GreenGeeks and you can choose whether your site will be hosted in its US, Canadian, Netherlands or Singapore data centers.
That's better than many providers, and good news for performance. If your website has a mainly European audience, for instance, hosting your site in the Netherlands means visitors are closer to your server, automatically giving you a little extra speed.
(Image credit: GreenGeeks)
What is my GreenGeeks IP address?
Log into the GreenGeeks control panel.
Click Hosting, find your hosting account in the list and click Manage.
Your website server's IP address is displayed as 'IP' in the Server Information panel.
What are GreenGeeks' nameservers?
GreenGeeks shared hosting nameservers are chi-ns1.websitehostserver.net, chi-ns2.websitehostserver.net and ams-ns1.websitehostserver.net.
Choose the service you'd like to cancel, complete and submit the form. You'll receive an email from GreenGeeks, click the Confirmation link, and your request is processed within seven days.
Although this sounds simple enough, there are a couple of potential gotchas.
First, the company automatically renews your package 24 hours before the hosting date, so don't leave this until the last minute.
And second, when you're prompted to enter your email address in the cancellation form, you must enter the same address linked to your GreenGeeks account. If you don't, the cancellation won't be accepted, and if the renewal date is close, there's a chance you'll be billed again before you realize there's a problem.
SiteGround is now over 20 years old and is one of the world's largest independently owned hosting companies. They started off with a handful of staff and have grown to have 500 talented employees and data centers in six continents used by over 3,000,000 domains.
SiteGround are world leaders when it comes to hosting technologies. In 2009 they revolutionised shared hosting making it safer for businesses and have created numerous optimizations for WordPress. SiteGround have been using Google cloud servers for their infrastructure since 2020 which gives the added bonus of easier scalability and even more reliability. Plus, Google match 100% of their energy usage with renewable power. So, SiteGround are green too.
The support offered by SiteGround is also word leading. The top 2% of candidates for the team spend over 6 months in specialist training and on average over 90% of tickets get resolved at first contact.
SiteGround has traditionally been for WordPress sites. Even the cloud hosting plans which appear more like VPS plans are restricted are more focused towards WordPress. SiteGround are stepping out of this area though and also now offer their own website builder.
For speed, reliability, and service, SiteGround are up there as one of the best hosting services. You don't get as much storage as standard compared with competitors but if you don't require bottomless buckets you should find everything you need for a hosting provider in SiteGround.
(Image credit: Future)
What types of hosting does SiteGround offer?
SiteGround market their products in two main categories: Web Hosting and Cloud Hosting. They also provide reseller hosting, WordPress hosting, and email marketing plans. The reseller plans and WordPress hosting are very similar to the web hosting plans.
Web Hosting from SiteGround comes in three tiers: StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek. These plans don't state what resources you get but rather what they're capable of delivering. The main differences between the plans are storage, speed, support, and the number of websites you can host.
The lowest plan, StartUp, supports one website, 10GB of web space, 10,000 monthly visits, a free domain, free SSL, daily backups, free CDN, free email, and more. For new signups this costs $2.99/mo for 12 months and then renews at $17.99 a month.
GrowBig is essentially the same but supports unlimited websites, 100,000 monthly visits and 30% faster PHP. You also get an extra 10GB of space, on demand backups and staging. This comes at $4.99/mo for new signups and renews at $29.99/mo. For $44.99/mo after renewal, you can get up to 400,000 monthly visits, and priority support with the GoGeek plan.
SiteGround's Cloud hosting range has four tiers: Jumpstart, Business, Business Plus, and SuperPower with prices from $100/mo to $400/mo. CPU and memory start at 4 CPU cores and 8GB of RAM and both jump incrementally by four for each additional tier with SuperPower providing 16 CPU cores and 20GB RAM. Your resources are guaranteed and managed and you can scale your CPU and RAM with one click or automatically.
A migration tool, SG Migrate, is provided by SiteGround as a free WordPress plugin. The idea is straightforward: if you’re migrating data from an old WordPress site to a new one, you install the plugin on both, then link them up with an encryption token, provided in the app. Unfortunately, we found it didn’t work, so after multiple attempts (there is little to no support for the plugin) switched to a different plugin.
Significantly, SiteGround supports adding users – termed “collaborators” – to the hosting and admin screens. This could prove extremely useful for projects with multiple development personnel, or where a client or stakeholder needs some oversight over progress.
(Image credit: Future)
WordPress hosting
This is where SiteGround shines. SiteGround have been recommended by WordPress and are a big part of the community. This is where SiteGround seem to focus the training for support.
SiteGround's AutoUpdate system keeps your WordPress installation and plugins up-to-date with the latest security patches and experts and business users might appreciate WP-CLI, a command-line tool which allows automation of many common WordPress management tasks.
SiteGround is a bit more pricey than other options but the features make it worth it if you can make the most of them. You're also paying for two decades of experience providing hosting for WordPress sites and getting hosting from a provider recommended by WordPress themselves.
Cloud hosting
SiteGround call this cloud hosting but these plans are really VPS plans on cloud infrastructure. SiteGround's cloud technology is far more suited to high-traffic and feature-packed websites where response time is critical, and even 60 seconds of down time is a very big deal: a busy web store, say, or a regularly-updated news site.
As SiteGround uses Google Cloud servers the power used to host sites is 100% matched with renewable energy. So, if you want your business to have green credentials and the power too, SiteGround is a good choice.
If you have that kind of demanding website but SiteGround is a little out of budget you may find a good alternative on our best cloud hosting page.
eCommerce
SiteGround recommend their GoGeek plan for WooCommerce. WooCommerce is based on WordPress and is a very capable system which can handle most web store requirements. If you like SiteGround's hosting, you're already familiar with the ecommerce basics (or are happy to take the time to learn), opting for SiteGround's WooCommerce hosting could make sense. But if you're a novice, or just looking for more help getting started, alternatives like Bluehost's WooCommerce plan, or the online store side of GoDaddy's Website Builder have more tools, more features, and extra ecommerce support when you need it.
SiteGround's GTMetrix (Image credit: SIteGround)
Performance
Uptime.com accessed our site every five minutes over 14 days recording any failures and how quickly the server responds. SiteGround had no fails at all, giving it a perfect 100% uptime. Average response time was 0.207 seconds, the fastest in our last 15 tests (most hosts are in the range 0.3 to 0.8 seconds).
GTmetrix measures load speed by grabbing a test page on our site, and measuring how long it takes to display the main content (a figure known technically as Largest Contentful Paint, or LCP). A low LCP means a snappy and responsive website, and (hopefully) plenty of happy visitors.
SiteGround's LCP was fractionally below average at 0.735 seconds, ninth fastest in our last 15 tests. But that's not far behind the top providers (most score in the 0.6 to 0.8 second range), and an acceptable time overall.
SiteGround's response time (Image credit: SIteGround)
K6 goes beyond an individual load time by unleashing 20 simultaneous visitors and watching to see what happens. Our site managed an average of 14 requests per second, with a peak of 20. Again, that's fractionally behind the competition (most average in the 14 to 16 second range), but not enough that you're likely to notice.
(Please keep in mind that these tests are based on the performance of a shared hosting plan, and they can't tell us anything about the speeds we might see from VPS, dedicated or other hosting).
Host
LPC
Uptime
Response time
Requests per second
SiteGround
0.735
100%
0.207
14
Average across all hosts
0.72
99.98%
0.300
14
How easy is SiteGround to use?
Getting started with a web host can be intimidating, but SiteGround does a fair job of helping out. Log into its Control Panel for the first time and you'll find links to support pages covering several common setup tasks: how to import an existing WordPress site, launch WordPress, create email accounts at a new domain, point an existing domain to WordPress, and more.
This isn't quite as useful as it could be. We hoped the 'Access WordPress' link would launch the WordPress dashboard, for instance, but instead it opened a support page explaining how we could do this ourselves. That's still valuable, and better than we see with many hosts, but life would be even easier if the startup page gave us direct links to WordPress and other functions.
Skip past the walkthroughs, though, and SiteGround performs very well. A simple walkthrough makes it very easy to add a new site, for instance. Choose a domain, install a new application (WordPress, WooCommerce or Weebly Sitebuilder) and the site is ready to go in seconds.
It feels like there's real thought gone into the control panel design. Choose 'Create Subdomain' on most panels, they prompt you for the subdomain name, and that's it. SiteGround's control panel understands that you might want to install something there, and offers you an Install Application button to help.
(The installer is relatively basic compared to the likes of Softaculous, with only 13 applications and fewer installation options. But it's also simple, and we had WordPress ready to go within seconds.)
Even then, SiteGround's helpfulness keeps going. Launch WordPress and a wizard prompts you to choose a theme, then offers to install useful free plugins (contact forms, an image gallery, a calendar, Google Maps, WooCommerce, a contact manager, SEO advisor and more).
What is SiteGround's support like?
SiteGround offers 24/7 support via phone, live chat, ticket and its web knowledgebase.
A comprehensive set of tutorials provides lots of useful information on getting started with the service. There's general guidance on setting up your website, managing domains, creating email accounts and more.
The WordPress section begins with similar startup advice - how to install WordPress, create a post, install a plugin - but then adds a little more depth with articles on improving security and optimizing performance. They're a little on the short side, and sometimes too technical for newcomers, but the site still has more and better guidance than many competitors.
You can also contact the support team via phone, live chat and (apparently) ticket, although the website makes this more difficult than usual. There's a Contact Us button, but this walks you through a support wizard which works hard to direct you to a support site article or website tool. It won't even display a chat button, phone number or anything else unless it thinks you're 'deserving.'
This proved to be an unexpected hassle. We decided to ask a test question about our shared plan's automatic backups (could we set the backup time, or was it fixed?), but the wizard just directed us to the 'create a manual backup' button, without ever giving us a contact option to ask further questions.
So, we decided to cheat the system, and just chose alternative wizard options until eventually it offered us live chat or telephone options (no tickets, though). We chose live chat, an agent appeared within seconds, and gave us a clear answer immediately (automatic backup times are set when you sign up and can't be changed).
We tried the phone support later, with similar success. It's an impressive support service, but we'd like it even more if the website didn't try quite so hard to ration our access.
Can I easily migrate to SiteGround?
SiteGround advertises a migration tool, which is intended to make it easy for you to move a WordPress site from another host. It’s a straightforward plugin intended for installation on both sites, and linked with a unique encryption key generated in the destination site.
Unfortunately, our testing found that migrating an existing WordPress site with a small WooCommerce store attached simply failed on every attempt. SiteGround does not offer support for this tool, either, which might leave you feeling adrift if you end up in the same situation. Fortunately, there is an excellent substitute in a similar plugin called Backup Migration, which ironically works along the same lines.
Final verdict
While many hosts try to win you over with low headline prices, SiteGround is far more interested in power. Its shared and cloud hosting plans may look expensive, but they give you plenty of features and functionality for your money, and could be a high performance choice for demanding users with high traffic or business-critical sites.
FAQs
What payment types does SiteGround support?
SiteGround supports payments via card only.
Does SiteGround offer refunds?
SiteGround offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for its shared hosting plans and servers, dropping to 14 days for cloud hosting.
The policy has the same terms for monthly-billed plans, a welcome plus (GoDaddy only has a 48-hour refund period for subscriptions of less than a year). Renewal fees are mostly covered, too, good news when some providers exclude them entirely (GreenGeeks).
Some providers have longer refund periods - InMotion Hosting offers 90 days, HostGator 45 - but SiteGround's refund policy is more generous than many, and in the area we'd expect for a quality web host.
SiteGround data centers (Image credit: SiteGround)
Where are SiteGround's data centers?
SiteGround has data centers in the USA, UK, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore and Spain.
Sign up for a SiteGround plan and you're able to choose which country will host your site. If your audience is mostly in one country, that's good news; choose a data center near your visitors and they'll see better speeds by default.
If you don't get that quite right, or maybe your audience makeup changes, you can choose a new data center at any time. There's a one-off fee (£20 in the UK) but that's better than some: Hostwinds' best suggestion was we buy a new plan in the new location.
Does SiteGround have an uptime guarantee?
SiteGround has a network uptime guarantee of 99.9%, which means it shouldn't be down for any more than 43.83 minutes a month.
The company offers very generous compensation if the network is down for longer. If you only have 99.9% to 99% uptime, for instance - so maybe just 44 minutes over a month - then SiteGround promises an additional 10% of monthly hosting credits. And you get another month of free hosting for every 1% of uptime lost. 97% uptime, for example, or a total 21.92 of down time over a month, gets you three months free hosting.
There are lots of exceptions. Scheduled and emergency maintenance (when resolved in an hour) isn't covered, for instance. Fallout from hacker attacks isn't covered, either, and the company doesn't count downtime from 'events outside our control', either.
Still, this is a far better guarantee than we usually see. GoDaddy's uptime guarantee is capped at a maximum 5% of your hosting fees, for instance, so even if your site is down for 15 days in a month, you'll only be credited with 1.5 days hosting.
SiteGround IP Address (Image credit: SiteGround)
What is my SiteGround IP address?
If you sign up with SiteGround, but use an existing domain which is managed elsewhere, then you'll need to update the domain's DNS records to point at the IP address for SiteGround's server.
To find the information you need, first log into SiteGround's control panel (my.siteground.com).
Click the Websites tab.
Find the domain you need in the Website Details list, and click the More icon to the right (three vertical dots).
Click Server Details.
The control panel displays a pop-up window with your server IP address, its data center location and the SiteGround nameservers.
What are SiteGround's nameservers?
SiteGround's nameservers are NS1.SITEGROUND.NET and NS2.SITEGROUND.NET.
How do I cancel a SiteGround product?
Log into your SiteGround account (my.siteground.com) and click the Services tab.
Find your plan and click the More icon to the right.
Choose Cancel from the menu.
Choose when you'd like to cancel the service (immediately, or when it's due to expire), click Continue, and follow any remaining instructions carefully.
Want to know how SiteGround compares to another top European web hosting provider, check out Hostinger vs SiteGround
What types of hosting does InMotion Hosting offer?
InMotion Hosting offers everything from shared hosting for the most basic needs to dedicated servers.
Its managed WordPress hosting supports running anything from simple family blogs to heavy-duty business sites, while hosted WooCommerce and Prestashop plans can help you build a professional web store.
If it's raw server power you're after, VPS (Virtual Private Server), dedicated and cloud hosting plans cover everyone from expert personal users to international corporations.
Starting at the 8GB and higher plans, all VPS servers are using Gen 4 NVMe SSDs which can be 6x faster than SATA SSDs and up to 20x faster than traditional spinning drives.
There's a lot to consider, but next we'll look at some of these hosting types, find out what they offer, what they don't, and whether they could be a good choice for you.
Shared hosting
Shared hosting is a system where your website and many others are stored on the same web server. Sharing both resources and costs means shared hosting can be slow, but it's also very cheap, and can be a good choice for smaller sites.
InMotion Hosting's shared hosting starts with its Core plan (from $3.19/mo for first-time buyers on a 3-year term). This includes a free domain, supports one website, provides 100GB of SSD storage, and offers unlimited bandwidth. The plan only comes with 10 email addresses (most accounts have no limit). There's also free SSL, malware protection, and 1-click WordPress installation, while the excellent cPanel has everything you'll need to manage your site.
The Launch Plan only supports 2 websites, but the Power and Pro plans scale this up with 10 and 40 respectively. They handle as many email addresses as you need, and have some unusual speedup features, including ultra-fast NVMe storage, for instance, something we rarely see with shared hosting.
Unsure about signing up for long-term contracts? Us too, but InMotion Hosting offers more protection than most with a 90-day money-back guarantee (three times the industry standard 30 days), for all of its shared and WordPress hosting plans, plenty of time to be sure if this is the right package for you.
Prices before and after renewal for a three year plan
Plan
Starting price
Renewal price
Core
$3.19
$10.99
Launch
$4.99
$13.99
Power
$4.99
$17.99
Pro
$10.99
$24.99
WordPress hosting with In InMotion Hosting (Image credit: Future)
WordPress hosting
WordPress is the world's favorite website creator, a one-stop tool which can build anything from simple personal sites to busy web stores and the most heavy-duty business-critical projects.
InMotion Hosting's shared plans have an automatic WordPress installer, good news if you're just looking to learn the basics. But its specialist WordPress hosting range goes further, with server-level speed optimisations, extra security to keep hackers at bay, automatic WordPress updates and more.
Prices start at only $3.69 a month over three years ($11.49 on renewal) for the WP Core plan. It's limited to one website and ten email addresses, but InMotion Hosting suggests a WP Core site could handle 20k visitors a month, more than enough for many users.
The $ 5.49-a-month WP Launch plan lets you host one more website (for a total of two) and provides enough resources to support 50k visitors a month, making it our budget pick.
These are capable plans, reasonably priced, with the power to handle (at the top of the VPS range) perhaps a million visitors a month. But the WordPress-specific features are much the same as you'll find with other providers. If you're after real WordPress power, WP Engine offers genuinely Premium themes, intelligent updating, smart performance optimizations, page speed testing, and more.
InMotion Hosting also offers what it calls UltraStack ONE for WordPress. These are special plans built on their VPS platform, albeit fine-tuned for mission-critical WordPress sites. These start at $33.33/mo (same price on renewal) if you sign up for a one-year term. UltraStack ONE plans come with a minimum of 8 vCPU and 8GB RAM, alongside NVMe storage, W3 Total Cache, Redis cache, and a 99.99% uptime SLA.
Prices before and after renewal for a three year plan
Plan
Starting price
Renewal price
WP Core
$3.69
$11.49
WP Launch
$5.49
$14.49
WP Power
$5.49
$18.49
WP Pro
$11.49
$25.49
InMotion's plans have lots of features as standard (Image credit: Future)
VPS hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is a mid-range option which gives your website more server power, for a little extra cost. You're likely to see better and more consistent speeds, with fewer of the slowdowns that often happen with shared hosting.
InMotion Hosting has four VPS plans. These start at $9.99 a month over three years ($16.99 on renewal) for a plan with 8 GB RAM, 160 GB NVMe storage, and a 4 vCPU core server, and range up to $44.99 a month ($111.99 on renewal) for 32GB RAM, 460 GB NVMe SSD storage, and a 16-vCPU system.
Although these prices are higher than some, that's because they're stuffed with valuable features. Every plan gets a free migration, at least two dedicated IPs, and a choice of control panel. They're fully managed (InMotion Hosting support can help update your VPS and troubleshoot any server issues for you), and all plans come with Launch Assist, which includes two hours with their expert System Administrators to help you set up and optimize the server, migrate a previous site, or whatever else you need.
These are powerful products that could work for many levels of users. The 4 vCPU plan is ideal for mid-range sites that have outgrown shared hosting, or demanding projects that need more resources (a busy photography site where users can explore many image galleries, for instance). Upgrading to a more powerful VPS may help with sites where consistent performance is critical - a web store where just a brief slowdown might drive customers away - or if you need to host multiple sites on the same server.
Pricing before and after renewal for a three year plan
Plan
Starting Price
Renewal price
4 vCPU
$9.99
$16.99
8 vCPU
$19.99
$46.99
12 vCPU
$31.99
$76.99
16 vCPU
$44.99
$111.99
Minecraft server hosting
Like Hostinger, InMotion Hosting doesn’t promote its Minecraft Server Hosting offerings as much as it does its other services, but it’s worth checking out. Eight different plans are available from the minimal Grass server which is $6 per month and offers 2GB RAM, right up to its hefty Netherite server for $185 and providing 32GB RAM.
All server plans take less than five minutes to set up, include a dedicated IP address, full access to files, and 99.9% server uptime. There’s also DDoS protection and 24/7 server support. A 7-day money-back guarantee is a good way to try things out.
Its game control panel is reasonably intuitive to use and clearly laid out, so you can easily pick out different mods or types of server.
Opt for dedicated server hosting and your site gets the full power of a server all to itself. No more unexpected slowdowns because a neighboring site is suddenly really busy, because there are no neighboring sites: the server is entirely yours. If you're running a large business-critical site, where speed matters, even when you're really busy, dedicated hosting is a must-see.
InMotion Hosting has five dedicated hosting plans. These have been beefed up significantly over the past few months, not just in capability, but also price. They now begin at $124.99 a month for a managed 4-core/8-thread, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD system, and range up to a hugely powerful plan that provides Xeon E-2388G chips with 8 cores/ 16 threads, 128 GB DDR4 RAM, and 2x4TB NVMe RAID-1 storage. That'll cover most sites and requirements, but if you're unhappy, a 'Build your own' plan allows you to choose whatever CPU, RAM, storage, and other features work for you.
These aren't the lowest prices around, but as with other InMotion Hosting products, that's because the company isn't skimping on the server specs. There's a 1Gbps network connection, unmetered bandwidth, at least 50GB of free backup space, free cPanel and WHM licenses, free SSL, free website migrations, and more.
It's good to see that InMotion Hosting now offers a data center in the Netherlands, as well as the US, a welcome performance boost if your main audience is outside of North America.
Overall, InMotion Hosting's dedicated products offer a capable full-featured service which can handle some of the most demanding business and speed-critical tasks.
Pricing before and after renewal for a one year plan
InMotion Hosting includes the BoldGrid WordPress Website Builder for free with all its plans. Choose a prebuilt starter site from 200+ industry-specific designs, drag-and-drop blocks (text, pictures, videos, forms, more) onto the page, and you can customize them with your own text and photos just like any other editor.
BoldGrid is easy to use, and a handy site-creating alternative if regular WordPress feels a little too intimidating. But it doesn't have a lot of features, and is really only suitable for creating small-scale sites.
HostGator's Gatorwebsite builder is also simple and seriously cheap (from $3.84 a month), but even the most basic plan supports a tiny web store and email campaigns. At the top of the market, Wix has great templates, stacks of features, an intuitive editor, and the power to handle almost any web task.
Surplus control panel options (Image credit: Future)
How easy is InMotion Hosting to use?
InMotion Hosting's customer account panel looks more appealing than most, with the usual text links replaced by 30+ colorful cPanel-like icons. Unfortunately, many of these are for functions you'd use rarely, if ever. Add another credit card; buy or transfer in a new domain; buy a Sucuri website security package; read InMotion Hosting's GDPR statement. These should be tucked away in a menu, not permanently taking up valuable screen real estate as though you might need them every day.
There's a separate set of icons for each hosting package you have, but they share a similar problem. There are some useful shortcuts, for example to launch cPanel, or Softaculous to install WordPress or hundreds of other apps. But many of the others are less helpful. How often do you think you'd use functions like 'Request Email Limit Exemption' or 'Simple CSR Request for 3rd party SSL', for instance?
Fortunately, you don't have to spend long in the account panel. One click launches Softaculous, you can have WordPress ready to go within a minute or two, and the excellent cPanel has all the email, file, database and other management tools you need to get your site running smoothly.
How fast is InMotion Hosting?
We began our performance tests by signing up for an InMotion Hosting shared plan, then setting up a simple WordPress website based on a standard template.
Next, we measured our server's core WordPress performance. These are several segments of server performance vital to how well it can handle WordPress websites. Finally, we use the SIege testing tool to see how the website performs under increase loads of concurrent users.
WordPress benchmark testing (shared hosting)
CPU & Memory
Operations with large text data
10
Random binary data operations
6.93
Recursive mathematical calculations
6.16
Iterative mathematical calculations
8.34
Filesystem
Filesystem write ability
9.82
Local file copy and access speed
10
Small file IO test
9.8
Database
Importing large amount of data to database
10
Simple queries on single table
10
Complex database queries on multiple tables
7.08
Object Cache
Persistent object cache enabled
0
Network
Network download speed test
10
Overall
Your server score
8.5
WordPress benchmark testing (VPS)
CPU & Memory
Operations with large text data
4.9
Random binary data operations
6.38
Recursive mathematical calculations
4.07
Iterative mathematical calculations
6.01
Filesystem
Filesystem write ability
8.23
Local file copy and access speed
8.45
Small file IO test
9.92
Database
Importing large amount of data to database
7.12
Simple queries on single table
9.18
Complex database queries on multiple tables
3.14
Object Cache
Persistent object cache enabled
0
Network
Network download speed test
10
Overall
Your server score
6.1
In our core benchmark tests, InMotion Hosting's shared plans held up better than most others we've seen. Not only did it handle processing jobs quickly, but it also had robust database and filesystem performance.
What was a little unusual, though, was its benchmark results in the VPS space. This was primarily held down by mediocre performance in the CPU and memory space. However, the overall VPS benchmark score of 6.1 is still fairly decent and held its own against even cloud VPS providers like Cloudways.
Still, for four CPU cores running at 2.7 GHz, I expected a bit better performance.
Siege test
Concurrent users
5
9
15
Transactions
2311
4119
6756
Availability
96.25
96.15
96.31
Elapsed time
299.49
299.2
299.48
Data transactions
25.08
44.12
70.4
Response time
0.64
0.64
0.66
Transaction rate
7.72
13.77
22.56
Throughput
0.08
0.15
0.24
Concurrency
4.96
8.8
14.83
Successful transactions
2247
3966
6501
Failed transactions
90
165
259
Longest transaction
4.33
5.41
7.28
Shortest transaction
0.09
0.09
0.09
InMotion Hosting's performance under increasing user load was a bit surprising. Given the excellent core benchmark results, we expected it to handle user loads relatively well. However, we observed failing transactions even on a minimal 5-user load. Even stranger was the fact that the longest transaction times, even under heavy loads, weren't that high.
It's entirely possible that some of these failed transactions are due to the shared hosting servers' internal safeguards, rather than to specific performance issues.
What is InMotion Hosting's support like?
InMotion Hosting offers 24/7 US-based support via phone, email and live chat, a web Support Center, a customer exclusive Knowledge Base and community forums.
Their website has a 5,000+ articles, guides and tutorials on the full range of hosting topics, way more than you'll see with most providers. The search engine doesn't do a good job of sorting its results by relevance, so it might take some scrolling to find what you need, but there is a lot of detailed and helpful content to explore.
They also have a Customer Exclusive Knowledgebase which is constantly being updated with new guides. Customers must be logged into their AMP to access the knowledgebase.
Ticket support wasn't the fastest we've seen, with replies to even relatively basic product queries taking around four hours. These typically pointed us in the right direction, though sometimes didn't have all the details we'd expect.
Fortunately, live chat gave the best results. We found responses were speedy and helpful, and the agents were able to give us useful answers to any extra questions we asked.
Final verdict
Whether you're a total website newbie or a big business running a huge and high-traffic web store, InMotion Hosting has a fast and feature-packed product which can help. A must for your web hosting shortlist.
InMotion Hosting FAQs
What payment types does InMotion Hosting support?
InMotion Hosting accepts payment via credit or debit card, PayPal and U.S. purchase order or check.
Does InMotion Hosting offer refunds?
InMotion Hosting has a '100% satisfaction guarantee' which promises your money back if you ask for it within a very generous 90 days.
There are some exceptions. There's 90 days of protection for all shared hosting, 6 month and longer VPS and reseller hosting packages. But dedicated servers and monthly-billed VPS and reseller plans get 30 days.
Most hosts only give 30 days across the range, though, so even taking the small print into account, InMotion Hosting tramples over the rest.
Does InMotion Hosting have an uptime guarantee?
InMotion Hosting's website doesn't quote an uptime guarantee for shared hosting. Most hosts do a little more, typically claiming 99.9%, and with some explanation of how this is calculated and the compensation you might get if this isn't met.
The company looks to do better with VPS hosting, claiming each VPS is on a server 'with 99.99% uptime.' It doesn't use the word 'guarantee', though, and there's nothing in the small print to explain how this 99.99% is calculated or guaranteed.
Confusingly, the website quotes two figures for dedicated servers. At the top of the page it says servers are on a '99.99% uptime Tier 1 network'; at the bottom, it says current network uptime is 99.999%. Again, there's no mention of a guarantee.
We prefer hosts to offer more clarity, and offer compensation if expected uptime isn't met. For example, Scala Hosting's Uptime Guarantee says customers get all their monthly fees back if unscheduled downtime is greater than 1% (that's more than around 7 hours 18 minutes).
Where are InMotion Hosting's data centers?
InMotion Hosting has two US-based data centers in California and Virginia. It also provides another data center in Amsterdam. Even shared hosting users can choose which data center should host their website.
cPanel is included (Image credit: Future)
What is my InMotion Hosting IP address?
If you need to connect your InMotion Hosting site to a domain managed elsewhere, it can help to find your web server's IP address.
To locate it, first log into the InMotion Hosting account management panel.
Scroll down and find your hosting plan in the list (it'll appear under your domain name).
Find and click your plan's cPanel icon (probably top left in the list.)
Your server IP address appears in the General Information panel on the left, in the 'Shared IP Address' box.
If you can't see a General Information panel, click the Server Information link, and look for the 'Shared IP Address'.
What are InMotion Hosting's nameservers?
InMotion Hosting's nameservers are ns1.InMotionhosting.com and ns2.InMotionhosting.com.
Cancel plans from the account panel subscriptions area (Image credit: Future)
How do I cancel an InMotion Hosting product?
Point your browser at www.InMotionhosting.com, click Login top-right of the page, and log in using your regular InMotion Hosting credentials.
Click Billing, My Subscriptions.
If you see a red cross to the right of the subscription you'd like to cancel, click it and fill in the cancellation form. Your plan will remain active, but it won't renew and you won't be willed again.
If the Cancel column includes the text 'Set to Manual Renewal', the plan already has its 'auto-renew' setting turned off. You'll still receive email reminders just before the subscription is due to end, but if you're not interested, you can just ignore these and leave the account to expire.
