In an increasingly competitive field, IONOS can claim to be one of the best email hosting providers on the market. This is primarily because of its support and customization options. The sheer number of payment plans and features also means this is one of the more flexible providers around.
There are some downside - especially when it comes to spam filtering - but this is certainly not an email hosting service to discount. It could be exactly what your business needs to enhance the credibility of its brand.
IONOS: Plans and pricing
(Image credit: IONOS)
The straight-up IONOS business email hosting is available in three flavors: Mail Basic 1, Mail Basic 1+, and Mail Business. They cost $1, $4, and $5 per account per month respectively. A domain extension is included, either .com, .us, .online, or .net with the cheaper two plans and .us, .ca, .com, .net, .org, .info, .me, .biz, .online for Mail Business customers. You also have the option of a 30-day free trial before you commit yourself financially.
However, these aren’t the only payment plans that IONOS offers. There are also three “Email & Office” plans that combine email hosting with the kind of collaboration apps used by modern office workers. If these plans look a better fit for your needs, there’s a Microsoft Exchange 2019 plan you can sign up to for $4.50 per month for the first six months of a one-year term. There’s also Microsoft 365 Business Basic for $1 a month for the first month of a one-year plan, and Microsoft 365 Business Standard for $1 a month for the first three months on a one-year term. And if you’re a hardcore Gmail fan, IONOS also offers Google Workspace Business Starter and Google Workspace Business Standard plans for
So, there are a lot of different pricing options available if you’ve decided to go with IONOS as your business email hosting provider. We see that as a good thing. While some other email hosting providers come with their own productivity suite that’s been developed in-house, like IceWarp, many users will already be familiar with alternatives developed by either Microsoft or Google, so it’s nice to have pricing plans that allow you to stay within your usual digital ecosystem.
Features
With the Mail Basic 1 plan, you get a single email account with 2GB of storage. Although this may not seem like a lot, it equates to roughly 10,000 ecan be mails and both the number of account and your cloud storage can be increasedat any time. Plus, in addition to the spam filter we mentioned earlier, the Mail Basic 1 plan also comes with ad-free email, webmail, and device synchronization.
Looking at the Mail Basic 1+ plan, here you see storage increased to 12GB (or roughly 60,000 email) but you still only receive a single email account. Mail Business ramps things up again. You can choose between a single email account or five and storage goes up to 50GB for each user. It also comes with various team collaboration tools, including a calendar, contacts and task management features.
If you select one of the Email & Office plans instead, you’ll find that there are further productivity tools included as well as the use of the popular video conferencing tools Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, depending on what plan you opt for.
Although IONOS’ email hosting plans don’t come with a huge range of features, selecting one of the plans that integrates with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 means you suddenly gain access to a large number of apps. Of course, if all you really are about is improving the credibility of your brand, then IONOS’ custom ad-free email address should be enough.
Support
(Image credit: IONOS)
In terms of customer support, it would be difficult to find an email hosting provider that does a better job than IONOS. This is because all IONOS customers, regardless of pricing tier, received direct access to their own personal consultant. This is a dedicated contact person for personalized advice and technical support that can be reached at any time via telephone, live chat and email, at no additional cost. If your personal consultant is unavailable when you reach out, a suitably informed colleagues will fill in.
In our experience, your personal customer support contact was helpful and well-informed, able to assist regarding much more than troubleshooting. In fact, our personal contact was happy to offer tips and guidelines on how we could get more from our email hosting. This advice wan’t just regurgitated generic tips that could be found in the IONOS help center either. On the contrary, performance reports were used to backup any advice given.
Security
The security around IONOS email hosting isn’t bad and the company champions its advanced mailbox security, alongside its ISO-certified data centers. All emails are also automatically protected with SSL/TLS encryption, .
The only real negative concerning IONOS’ email security is that we’ve noticed that its anti-spam filtering can be a bit hit or miss sometimes. Letting spam email through isn’t the only issue that businesses face when filtering fails either. False positives an also mean that important messages are more likely to be missed.
As with most facets of IONOS’ email hosting, there is some level of customization with the security provided, however. You can create your own blacklists and whitelists to give yourself a bit more control over what countries as spam and what doesn’t.
The competition
IONOS is another of those email hosting providers that also offers several other hosting services, including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, and a website builder. Compared to other providers in this space IONOS performs pretty well. It’s affordable and comes with an impressive range of features. The fact that you only receive a single email account with the shared hosting lan is disappointing, however, and represents a disappointing comparison with its rivals.
Looking at just its email hosting, however, IONOS score highly. There are a lot of different payment plans on offer - many more than, say, A2Hosting. This flexibility is on show throughout the service and means you can really create an email hosting plan that suits your needs.
IONOS: Final verdict
IONOS email hosting ticks a lot of boxes. It’s affordable and comes with a lot of customization options. And if customer support is deal-breaker for you, this service can’t really be topped.
This IONOS review examines one of the most budget-friendly website builders available in 2025. IONOS prides itself on offering a complete suite of solutions for professionals looking to establish an online presence, including shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, and their MyWebsite builder platform. You can also check out our guide to the best website builders for more options.
Techradar reviewers have spent thousands of hours testing 140+ website builders to bring you expert insights. Based on our tests, IONOS stands out with its AI-assisted design process and some of the lowest introductory prices in the industry, starting at just $1 per month. However, Wix remains our top pick for the best overall website building experience in 2025.
IONOS MyWebsite targets beginners without programming experience, especially with its "MyWebsite Now" builder launched in 2023. We found IONOS delivers on its promise of simplicity, though it won't satisfy users seeking extensive design control or advanced features.
IONOS MyWebsite: 2-minute review
IONOS MyWebsite represents a solid entry-level website builder that prioritizes ease of use over advanced functionality. The platform excels at helping complete beginners create functional websites quickly through its AI-assisted design process. Users simply answer a few questions about their business, and IONOS generates a website draft that can be manually adjusted.
The German internet service provider has built a reputation for affordable web services, and their website builder continues this tradition with introductory pricing as low as $1 per month. However, IONOS faces stiff competition from more feature-rich platforms like Wix and Hostinger. While it offers good value for simple business websites, its limited template selection and rigid design structure may frustrate users seeking creative freedom.
What is IONOS?
IONOS is a German internet service provider that offers a comprehensive suite of online services, including web hosting, domain registration, email hosting, and website building tools. Their MyWebsite builder is specifically designed for UX beginners who want to create professional-looking websites without any coding knowledge or design experience.
The platform uses artificial intelligence to simplify website creation. When you sign up, IONOS asks you questions about your business type, goals, and preferences, then automatically generates a website draft based on your responses. You can then customize this draft using their drag-and-drop editor, which features pre-built sections and layouts that you can modify to suit your needs.
Features
Though IONOS doesn’t compete with higher-end builders like Wix or Webflow on customization, it shines in simplicity and efficiency. (Image credit: IONOS)
Better known for its affordable web hosting, IONOS extends its expertise into site building, offering a user-friendly platform that can support everything from simple personal pages to ecommerce stores.
Though IONOS doesn’t compete with higher-end builders like Wix or Webflow on customization, it shines in simplicity and efficiency, making it an ideal choice for users seeking functionality with minimal hassle.
It's primary offering is an AI-assisted website generation experience, which comes with additional features like a template library, drag-and-drop customization, multichannel ecommerce, and a number of marketing and analytics tools.
Tools
With the AI-powered experience, you answer a few questions about your brand and preferences so IONOS generates up to four layout options. (Image credit: IONOS)
As we just discussed, IONOS is a beginner-friendly website builder with AI guidance for new users being its most important website building feature. But that said, there are other tools in its repository that add to the existing value.
AI tools
With the AI-powered experience, you answer a few questions about your brand and preferences so IONOS generates up to four layout options. If you don't like any of them, it can take another shot and rework the choices. Once you find a layout that fits, you get to personalize it by playing with colors, fonts, and shape themes. As expected, the editing options are a bit basic, so if you’re looking for intricate typography or color schemes, they’re not quite there.
IONOS’s AI also helps with content creation, from filling in text to generating images. You can tweak the tone of the text to feel more friendly, professional, or trustworthy, just by selecting the vibe you want. And the image generator is also pretty handy, even if the results can be hit-and-miss.
Templates
ONOS’s website template range is surprisingly modest, with around 30 options, but it leans toward professionalism and ease of use, keeping design decisions straightforward. These templates cater to all sorts of business, portfolio, and personal projects alike, giving you a polished and professional springboard for your site.
Once you pick a template in IONOS’s editor, customizing your site is simple, though it does lean toward structure over total freedom. Rather than full drag-and-drop flexibility, you’ll add pre-designed sections — like "About," "Galleries," or "Contact" - with only a few style choices for each. You can tweak colors, spacing, and fonts, though the font choices are quite limited.
Ecommerce toolkit
Ready to kickstart your online store? IONOS provides a solid set of ecommerce tools that make it easy to manage your inventory, set up tax and shipping options, and customize product variations - all the essentials you need to hit the ground running.
While it might not have the ultra-advanced features of bigger ecommerce platforms, IONOS has the essentials small-to-midsize businesses need to set up shop, handle orders, and keep customers engaged. Features like discount codes, abandoned cart emails, and social media integration are also part of the package.
Free domain and SSL
With IONOS, each plan comes with a free domain for the first year, which helps keep startup costs down. Plus, they include an SSL certificate right from the get-go, ensuring your site is secure and helping boost your search engine rankins. This built-in SSL support is a big plus for ecommerce sites, as it makes online transactions safer.
Email hosting
IONOS keeps things straightforward by bundling a professional email address that matches your domain — so, no need to set up with another provider. This built-in email feature makes it easy to stay connected with customers. If you need more storage as your business expands, IONOS offers scalable email plans to keep up with your growth.
SEO tools and rankingCoach
With IONOS, you can make your site pop in search results thanks to customizable SEO settings available for every page, giving you the tools to optimize your content and boost your visibility. For a more beginner-friendly SEO boost, you can integrate rankingCoach, a tool that walks users through visibility improvements step-by-step.
IONOS also includes a tool that checks for SEO improvements, making it simple to stay on top of rankings.
Localization features
If your business has global ambitions, IONOS has you covered with translation support for over 60 languages, making it easy to cater to different regions. You can customize content based on location, tailoring messages or promotions to resonate with specific audiences.
This mix of multilingual options and targeted content helps you engage with a whole variety of customers.
Site analytics
After your site goes live, you can dive into visitor stats that answer key questions about your audience: Who are they, and how can you reach them? This info lays the groundwork for successful marketing strategies tailored to your potential customers.
These tools make it easy to track key metrics like visitor counts, session lengths, and page impressions. You’ll also get a good look at your bounce rate, showing where you might want to make some tweaks.
Ease of use
While IONOS makes getting started super simple, there are limitations when it comes to advanced customization. (Image credit: IONOS)
With the IONOS AI site builder, all it takes is a few details about your business, and you’ll have a customizable site complete with tailored images and text. This hands-off method is a lifesaver for busy entrepreneurs who want to channel their energy into more meaningful tasks instead of stressing over design elements.
While IONOS makes getting started super simple, there are a few limitations when it comes to advanced customization. If you’re after a more intricate design, you might hit a few bumps in the road.
Still, if you’re looking for a fast and efficient way to establish your online presence, IONOS is a superb option that helps you get started without the steep learning curve.
Pricing
IONOS offers some of the most competitive introductory pricing in the market. (Image credit: IONOS)
Plan
Starting rate (paid annually)
Renewal rate (paid annually)
Starter
$6/month
$12/month
Plus
$1/month
$18/month
Pro
$17/month
$30/month
Starter (+ Store)
$6/month
$24/month
Plus (+ Store)
$1/month
$30/month
Pro (+ Store)
$34/month
$62/month
Expert (Store Only)
$44/month
$92/month
IONOS offers some of the most competitive introductory pricing in the website builder market, with plans starting as low as $1 per month for the first year. The Plus plan represents exceptional value during the promotional period, offering 50GB storage and up to 200 pages for just $1 monthly. All plans include a free domain name for the first year, free SSL certificates, and business email hosting.
However, you should be aware that prices increase significantly upon renewal, with the Plus plan jumping from $1 to $18 per month. Despite this, IONOS remains more affordable than many competitors even at renewal rates. The platform also offers specialized e-commerce plans for users wanting to build online stores, though these come at higher price points.
Security
(Image credit: IONOS)
IONOS provides solid security foundations with wildcard SSL certificates included on all plans, protecting both your main website and any subdomains you create. This comprehensive SSL coverage makes setting up multiple site sections much easier compared to platforms that require separate certificates for each subdomain.
The platform implements automatic cookie notices to ensure GDPR compliance, which is particularly important for European users. However, IONOS lacks some advanced security features like DDoS protection and automatic backups that you'll find with premium website builders. While this isn't problematic for small websites, it could become a concern as your site grows and requires more robust protection.
Support
(Image credit: IONOS)
IONOS is built to handle high traffic and keep your site running smoothly, even when visitors are pouring in from across the globe. For businesses looking to keep their audience engaged without slowdowns, IONOS’s infrastructure should deliver dependable speed and stability.
As for support, you’ve got plenty of resources to lean on. Their knowledge base is packed with how-tos on everything from tech tips to marketing advice. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to open it in a separate tab since it’s not right in the dashboard. Still, it's a solid spot for quick guidance.
For those times when you need immediate help, IONOS is one of the few that offer 24/7 phone support - something beginners will appreciate. The team is known for being kind and knowledgeable, too. There’s also live chat from 8 AM to 8 PM if you prefer a quick message over a phone call.
Alternatives
If you’re thinking about IONOS but curious about what else is out there, here’s a quick rundown on how it stacks up against Weebly, Squarespace, and Wix, its top competitors.
Weebly is a perfect choice for ecommerce newbies - it’s packed with tools to make selling easy, all for $12 per month. While Weebly’s free plan gives a nice starting point, its paid plans are a better fit for anyone who wants a polished, professional look.
Squarespace brings a lot of style to the table, with stunning templates that appeal to creatives. Starting at $16, it’s a bit pricier, but the 14-day free trial lets you explore everything it offers before diving in.
Wix is an awesome alternative if you’re all about creative freedom. With true drag-and-drop customization, you can place elements anywhere on the page. It offers tons of templates, but for total beginners, IONOS will still feel a little easier.
If you're a newcomer to site building, IONOS is a superb option. With its budget-friendly starting prices, swift AI setup, and useful SEO tools, getting your site up and running it has never been easier.
That said, its limited customization options and absence of a free trial might leave some aspiring designers wanting more. Still, if you're after a user-friendly platform that won't break the bank, IONOS is a great pick - just be prepared to work within its constraints.
FAQs
Is IONOS good for beginners?
Yes, IONOS excels as a beginner-friendly platform with its AI-assisted website creation process. The platform requires no coding knowledge and guides you through each step of building your site. However, beginners should be aware that customization options are limited compared to other builders.
Does IONOS offer e-commerce capabilities?
IONOS provides e-commerce functionality through dedicated store plans that support hundreds to thousands of products depending on your chosen tier. The platform includes basic features like payment processing through Mollie and social buy buttons, but lacks the advanced e-commerce tools found in specialized platforms like Shopify.
What happens to pricing after the first year?
IONOS uses promotional pricing for the first year, after which rates increase significantly. For example, the Plus plan jumps from $1 to $18 per month upon renewal. While still competitive, this price increase is substantial and should factor into your long-term budgeting.
Can I migrate my existing website to IONOS?
Yes, IONOS offers migration assistance to help transfer your existing website and content to their platform. They provide 24/7 support during the migration process and can help with domain transfers as well.
Founded in Germany in 1988, IONOS (formerly known as 1&1 Internet) is a web hosting giant with 2,000 employees, 10 data centers, more than 90,000 servers and 8 million customer contracts worldwide.
Putting that into perspective, Datanyze says IONOS has 6.86% share of the web hosting market: that's ahead of everyone but Google Cloud (7.82%), Amazon AWS (10.96%) and GoDaddy (14.99%).
There are products covering every area (Image credit: 1&1 IONOS)
What types of hosting does IONOS offer?
IONOS has plans covering a very wide range of hosting types and needs. Low cost shared hosting, a website builder and managed WordPress plans are ideal for personal and small business sites.
More powerful VPS and dedicated hosting have the resources to handle more demanding business and ecommerce sites (and if it's web stores you're after, there's managed WooCommerce hosting, too).
Windows ASP.NET hosting and the Github-friendly Deploy Now are value plans for developers and expert users.
Need even more power? IONOS' high-powered and ultra-reliable cloud servers have the resources to cope with even the most heavyweight, feature-packed and business-critical sites.
There isn't the space to cover every detail of what IONOS has to offer, but scroll down and we'll break down the company's key ranges, explore their pros and cons, and find out which products could work for you.
(Image credit: IONOS)
IONOS shared hosting
Shared hosting is a scheme where several websites are hosted on the same server. It's cheap, because server costs are shared between all the accounts. With many sites sharing the same CPU, RAM and network connection, performance may be poor. But a good shared hosting package has more than enough power for most low-traffic blogs, personal and small business sites.
IONOS has three shared hosting plans.
The highlights: every plan has free SSL, a free domain, free daily backups and easy WordPress installation.
The single site starter plan is reasonably priced at $4 a month in year one, $6 on renewal.
The mid-range Business plan ramps up speeds by adding more resources, supports unlimited websites, and - thanks to a spectacular introductory offer - is only $0.50 a month for year one, $10 a month after that.
The highest Expert plan adds even more resources, throws in SiteScan malware protection, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and analytics to monitor your website traffic, yet it's still only $8 a month in year one, $16 on renewal.
On the down side, IONOS doesn't offer free migration to help import your site from a previous host, and all the plans give you just one email account. It's a good one (2GB inbox, spam filtering), but that's no help if you need more.
Our tests found IONOS Business plan has below average performance, too (more on that, later). IONOS shared hosting could still be a decent choice if you can live with just one email account.
If the email is an issue but value is important, also consider Hostinger and HostGator for their low starter prices, extended email abilities and lengthy feature lists. Or if it's speed you're after, A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting go beyond the basics with plenty of advanced performance-boosting tech.
WordPress plans range from seriously cheap to very powerful (Image credit: IONOS)
IONOS WordPress hosting
WordPress is a hugely popular website creation tool which can be used to create anything from a simple personal site, to a huge and feature-packed international web store.
IONOS Managed WordPress hosting plans are priced almost identically to the shared range (special offer of $0.50 a month for the mid-range plan, $3 to $8 a month for the other plans, $6 to $8 on renewal), and the main features are similar: free domain, free SSL, still no free migration, but you do get daily backups.
There are important differences, too. Improved email support means the mid-range plan supports five email addresses, the top plan has ten. All plans include scanning for malware, and the top plan can remove any threats it finds. There's also one significant downgrade: the shared hosting plans support unlimited websites, but you can only have one managed WordPress project.
WordPress-specific additions include the WP Assistant to build a simple initial site for you, automated WordPress updates, and free themes (pre-built website designs), perhaps handy if you'd like to give your site a new look and feel.
There's nothing outstanding here, but these plans do give you fractionally more WordPress functionality for the same price, and that works for us. If you're looking to master WordPress, you're only building small or simple sites, and speeds really don't matter, getting a year of the Business plan for $6 is an amazing deal.
The IONOS WP Pro range is aimed at business users or anyone who needs more features and speed. IONOS says extra server resources deliver a 300% speed increase overall. There are automatic and manual backups, smarter automatic updates to reduce the chance of a buggy security patch breaking your site, and the ability to website changes before you put them live.
All this power comes at a cost. To begin to get the full speed benefits you'll need the Advanced WP Pro plan, priced from $40 a month on the annual plan ($48 billed monthly.) But this is fair value for what you're getting, and overall IONOS WP Pro is worth a look for business users or anyone with large or high-traffic sites.
If you're more interested in features than price, check out Bluehost's WP Pro plans (yes, they do have the same name). Speeds are good and they include more business-related tools, including SEO tools, and analytics to monitor website traffic.
But if cost is absolutely key, A2 Hosting's managed WordPress range offers top performance and lots of features from $23.99 billed monthly.
(Image credit: IONOS)
IONOS VPS hosting
VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting improves on shared hosting by giving you more resources and ensuring only you get to use them, hugely improving performance. While shared hosting accounts can sometimes handle only ten to twenty thousand visits a month, a good VPS can cope with hundreds of thousands, maybe more.
IONOS has an impressive 13 VPS hosting plans, giving your far more choice than most. All plans include unlimited traffic, unlimited email accounts (up to your plan storage limit), free SSL, 24/7 support, the ability to host your VPS in the USA, UK, Germany or Spain, and a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
The plans start with a 1 CPU core, 512MB RAM and 10GB storage system for a tiny $2 a month. That's cheap, but so underpowered you can do barely anything with it. The most powerful plan has 8 cores, 24GB RAM and 240GB RAM, and it's good value at $24 a month for the first six months, $45 afterwards.
Unusually, most VPS plans can come with Windows, though get ready for a big leap in price: it'll cost an extra $10 per core. (That's due to Microsoft's licensing rules, though, so don't blame IONOS). These are quality products, and could work for anyone with a demanding, high-traffic or business-critical site.
Consider Hostwinds, too. It has more powerful high-end plans for heavyweight projects (up to 16 cores); uptime is better at 99.9999%; there's a 1Gbps connection to the outside world, and it's cheaper in many configurations. Worth a look, especially for experienced users looking for more control.
Dedicated servers are cheap but a little short on power and configurability (Image credit: IONOS)
IONOS dedicated hosting
Dedicated hosting sits right at the top of the hosting tree. There's no sharing of RAM, network connection or anything else, because the entire server is yours. It's the perfect choice for serious high-traffic sites which not only need the best possible speeds, but they have to deliver all of the time (news sites, busy web stores, anywhere poor performance might hit your bottom line).
IONOS has only four dedicated server plans, far fewer than the specialist competition. All plans include a free domain, free SSL, malware scanning, Railgun CDN to accelerate speeds, and unlimited traffic.
Prices start cheap at $65 billed monthly for an Intel Atom C2750, 8GB RAM, 240GB SSD plan. At the top of the range, an Intel Xeon E3-1270 V6 CPU, 64GB RAM, 800GB SSD server is $160 billed monthly. You can equip each server with regular hard drives (HDD) rather than solid-state drives (SSD), reducing speed a little, but raising capacity to a maximum of 2TB.
These plans are good value, and a decent choice for experienced business users who need speedy and reliable hosting, but are also on a tight budget.
If you're looking for more choice or power at the top end of the range, though, check out Hostwinds. As with VPS, it also starts cheap, but has many more plans, and has more configuration options, including support for Windows hosting.
(Image credit: IONOS)
Does IONOS have a website builder?
If you don't have a website, or much idea of how to get one, then a website builder is the simplest solution. Most come with a range of pre-built site designs called templates, and all you have to do is choose one you like, drag and drop elements you need on a page (text, images, maps, videos, contact forms), then customize the site with your own content.
IONOS has a simple website builder with free templates, a 17,000+ royalty-free image library, a free domain, a single email account (yes, just one) and free SSL.
The Starter plan is cheap at just $1 a month for year one, $5 on renewal. The Plus plan adds blog support and many more design and page options (photo galleries, social media support, integrating business apps such as bookings and reviews.) It's $5 a month for 12 months, $10 on renewal.
You can add a web store to all plans from no initial cost at all on the Starter plan (it's still $1 a month for the first year, $12 on renewal), to an extra $15 on the highest plan ($25 a month for six months, then $35). All plans give you payment and shipping support, and allow selling via Facebook and Instagram.
This is a useful product, but not outstanding. There aren't many templates, they're not great quality, the editor is basic, the starter plan is missing some basic abilities (no image slider, can't integrate social media Like/Follow buttons), and these days we expect more than just one email address per plan. But you can't beat the price, and if you'd like to build a small site or web store, just learn the basics, and you can live with its limitations, $1 a month for the Starter account is an exceptional deal.
(Image credit: IONOS)
Can you build a web store with IONOS?
As we're discussed above, IONOS' website builder supports building a web store with up to 10,000 products. But it's short on features and based on IONOS' slower-than-average shared hosting, making it best suited to small or low-traffic sites.
A separate eCommerce Builder adds more professional features. It allows you to sell digital products, supports favorites and wish lists, adds volume discounts, enables selling on Amazon and eBay, and more. The top plan is priced at $35 a month for the first six months of the annual plan, $50 afterwards. That's a better choice for larger stores, or if you've real ecommerce ambitions.
Other options include using popular platforms such as WooCommerce, PrestaShop or OpenCart to build your store. IONOS has simple shared hosting plans for each, priced from $0.50 a month in year one, $8 a month afterwards, or you can buy a VPS or dedicated hosting plan to get faster and more reliable performance. This might take more work, as you'll have to master something like WooCommerce largely on your own. These platforms are hugely capable, though, and have the power to build and manage the largest ecommerce projects.
This is a decent set of plans covering just every type of user, but there are still other options worth considering. HostGator's Gator and Hostinger's website builder support building basic web stores at minimal cost; Wix has better store templates and many more features, and Bluehost's WooCommerce plans include an array of business-friendly marketing and SEO extras.
(Image credit: Uptime.com)
How fast is IONOS?
Every web host promises lightning speeds, but do they really deliver? To find out, we sign up for a shared hosting plan, set up a simple website using a standard WordPress template, then use some of the best testing and monitoring services around to see exactly how it performs.
Uptime.com checks our site's availability by accessing a test page every five minutes for fourteen days. IONOS scored a perfect 100% uptime, meaning our site was available for every visit.
(Image credit: GTMetrix)
Next, GTmetrix accessed a test page and calculated how long it took to display the main content, a value technically known as Largest Contentful Paint, or LCP. The lower the LCP, the quicker your pages are likely to appear in the browser, and the happier your visitors are likely to be.
IONOS' LCP was a disappointing 1.3 seconds, placing it 13th out of our last 15 tests (most providers scored between 0.6 to 0.8 seconds). That's not a disaster - 1.3 seconds is still an acceptable time - but it's noticeably slower than many competitors.
(Image credit: K6)
Measuring the best possible load times for a single user is important, but it's also useful to know how a site performs when it's really busy. We check for this by using the stress-testing service k6 to unleash 20 visitors simultaneously and monitor what happens.
IONOS scored poorly here, too, with our site averaging only 9.8 requests per second (most providers manage 14 to 16). If you've a low-traffic site and are unlikely to have 5 simultaneous users, let alone ten, that also might not matter very much. But again, it's a noticeably worse performance than many competitors.
(Please note, our results are based on the performance of the IONOS Business shared hosting plan. If you're opting for the Expert plan, VPS or dedicated hosting, you'll get far more system resources and may see very different speeds.)
IONOS web account dashboard (Image credit: IONOS)
How easy is IONOS to use?
Log into many web hosts and you'll find familiar industry-standard platforms: WHM to manage your accounts, cPanel for all your key website management tasks, Softaculous to reliably install and then manage WordPress. That's generally good news, partly because they're top quality tools (which is why they became industry standards), but also because if you've any experience of web hosting, you're likely to know how to use these already.
IONOS ditches all these in favor of its own custom control panels. That has some advantages (it probably saves a pile of cash in license fees, helping IONOS keep its prices low), but it also means even expert users will have to spend some time exploring the system to find the functions they need.
This isn't as easy as we'd like. Functions aren't always organized intuitively, and common tasks, such as logging into a WordPress site, took more time to locate than we expected.
IONOS' website search engine helps a little. Enter 'WordPress', say, and it doesn't just list top WordPress support articles. A 'Product and Actions' includes control panel tasks such as 'Install WordPress', and clicking these links takes you directly to that page. It's a good idea but doesn't quite work everywhere. We tried to find the right keywords to show a WordPress newbie how they could log into the dashboard, for instance, but never quite managed it.
If you're an experienced user who makes in-depth use of all kinds of low-level cPanel and other features, this could easily be an issue. Even once you've found the functions you need, there's no guarantee they'll deliver precisely the same results.
But if you're only after the hosting management basics - configure your domain, set up some email addresses, install WordPress - then this may not matter very much. Sure, it might take you a few extra minutes to master the control panel basics, but after that you'll use IONOS much like any other host.
Support is available via phone and live chat (Image credit: IONOS)
What is IONOS support like?
IONOS offers support via its website knowledgebase, phone, live chat and email.
The support site has a huge number of articles, sensibly organized into categories such as WordPress, Email, Domains and SSL Certificates. Some of these articles are a little short, but there's a lot of valuable information here.
Unusually, telephone support doesn't simply mean 'dial this international number and be left on hold wondering what this is going to cost.' You can book an appointment and have the company call you.
When we tried this at 12:10pm, the site offered us 15 minutes slots from only 1pm, so you probably won't have long to wait. But if that's not convenient, you can book up to four days ahead from 8am to 8pm.
We set up an appointment, and sure enough, a call arrived within 30 seconds of our starting slot time. The agent listened carefully to our query about installing WordPress on subdomains, clearly explained what we needed to do, and sent us links with more advice via email. Impressive.
If you prefer live chat or email, they also work well, with speedy and accurate replies quickly pointing us in the right direction.
Final verdict
IONOS cuts a few corners with its shared hosting (no free migration, only one email account, below-par performance), but they're still great value. And if you need more, there's a wide range of WordPress plans, and the company has the VPS, dedicated and cloud hosting products to cater for everyone from enthusiastic amateurs to SMB and enterprise users.
IONOS has a general 30-day money-back period covering most hosting products and a handful of other services (check the small print for the precise details).
Domains, SSL certificates, cloud and bare metal servers are not included.
Does IONOS have an uptime guarantee?
IONOS has a 99.99% uptime guarantee for its hosted web pages. If the company doesn't hit the target, you can claim an account credit to match the real downtime (90 minutes downtime, your account is credited with the cost of 90 minutes hosting).
At first glance, that looks better than most providers, who only offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee. But limiting compensation to the actual downtime isn't as generous. The top-of-the-range shared hosting plan is $8 a month in the first year, for instance, or $0.263 a day. If your site is down for eight hours, that could be a disaster for you, but even IONOS admits responsibility, you'll get just $0.09. It's not even worth your time asking.
ScalaHosting 'only' offers a 99.9% guarantee, but if its uptime is less than 99% (that's only seven hours, 18 minutes and 17 seconds in a month) you'll qualify for a whole month. That's still not a huge amount, and it's best to have no downtime at all, but we like the principle: if the service doesn't hit a certain standard, you effectively get it for free.
Host your site with a choice of data centers (Image credit: IONOS)
Where are IONOS's data centers?
IONOS has ten data centers located in the USA, Germany, UK and Spain.
The company allows you to choose your preferred data center for some of its more high-end products. You can't pick a data center if you're buying regular shared hosting, for instance, but you do get the option with VPS plans.
What is my IONOS IP address?
Log into your IONOS control panel.
Click Domains and SSL, then find and click your domain in the list.
Click the DNS tab.
Scroll down and look for a record with the type A, the host name @ (or www) and the service 'Webhosting.'
Your website server's IP address is displayed in the Value column for that A record.
What are IONOS's nameservers?
If you sign up for IONOS hosting but are using a domain managed elsewhere, you may need to find IONOS' nameservers to connect the domain to your hosting plan. Sounds complicated, but fortunately it only takes a few clicks.
Log into your IONOS control panel.
Click Domains and SSL, then find and click your domain in the list.
Click the Nameserver tab and the control panel displays the IONOS nameservers for your account.
(Image credit: IONOS)
How do I cancel an IONOS product?
Log into the IONOS control panel.
Click the Account icon top-right, and select Contracts & Subscriptions.
Find the plan you'd like to cancel, click the gear icon to its right and choose Manage Contract.
Click 'Show Cancellation Options' and decide what you'd like to cancel: an entire contract, or specific add-ons only.
If you got a free domain with your plan and don't need it, select the 'Change domain expiration dates' option to disable automatic renewal.
