iPage Review

Is iPage The Best Host or Plain Overrated?

Selling at $4.50/ month $1.99, iPage falls in the cheap hosting category but are the host features equally cheap? iPage has been recognized by many reviewer, for example WebHostingSecretRevealed.com, WebHostingDeals.org, WebHostingBreak.com etc. as the Best Web Hosting. Is that by coincidence?

As an independent reviewer ourselves, we have actually looked into the host, both hosting features and their after sale service. Well a quick conclusion, I can’t say they are perfect. The server is sometimes slow and they make mistake sometime. They are also not the cheapest host around. But still, based on a few other facts I would say they are the host that is the nearest to perfect!

Let’s look at their general hosting features below:

Platform	Linux	Disk Storage	Unlimited
Control Panel	vDeck 4.0	Data Transfer	Unlimited
100% Green Hosting	Wind Powered	Add-on Domains	Unlimited
MySQL		MySQL Database	Unlimited
NetApp Data Backups		Load Balanced Server
Server Side Includes		PHP5/ Perl
Audio & Video Support		FrontPage Extensions

It’s not difficult to notice their features are rather complete. Unlimited storage and bandwidth, a feature that everyone wants and needs; 100% wind-powered company; Linux platform with the latest vDeck 4.0 control panel. It looks perfect at the first glance.

It’s also worth noting that they allow unlimited add-on domains. Add-on domain is the extra domain that is to be hosted in the same account with your primary domain. By allowing unlimited add-on domains, you can host as many domains as you like in just 1 iPage account. This is in fact a feature that is rarely being offered at this price.

FYI, there is a free domain comes along with your hosting subscriptions. Unfortunately it’s only free for the first year and you will need to pay for it the second. The table below is the highlights of the domain features.

Free Domain of Choice	1	Subdomain	Unlimited
Parked Domains	Unlimited	Domain Transfer
Host Unlimited Domains

Sync Emails with Your Smartphone

If email is one of your frequent communication mediums, iPage has just given you another reason to choose them. You can create as many email address as you like on your own domain (example: findme@yourdomain.com). And you can easily synchronize the email with your smartphone, be it POP3 or IMAP. It allows you to check and reply email on the go without hassle. Here are some other email benefits you will enjoy with this host.

Email Addresses	Unlimited	POP3/IMAP	Unlimited
Smartphone Compatible		Email Forwarding
Webmail Client		Spam Filters
Autoresponders		Virus Checking

iPage Security Features

One of the reasons why we like iPage so much is because of the security suite they provide. iPage is the first one to embed such system in their hosting server. With this Sitelock Security suit, your websites will be protected from both malware and spam. However, you still need to do the scanning manually. What you need to do is to run a full security scan (a feature under Sitelock) on your hosting account once per year. On top of that, Sitelock can help to verify your domain and proves the legitimacy of your site. Those who are in Business find this feature especially useful in gaining customer’s trust.

Sitelock Suit Included		Malware Protection
Domain Verification		Spam Protection
Full Acc. Security Scan	Once/year	Security Badge

1 Click is Really All You Need to Install WordPress!

10 out of 10 users who signed up iPage love their Install Central! It’s a script library where you can install different software like WordPress, Joomla, Mambo etc. There are over 50 scripts you can choose from! That includes shopping cart too! Let’s take WordPress as an example, since most of the people uses it. And no bull! 1 click is really all you need to install WordPress into your website. Reason being is that iPage has already arranged and customized their control panel so much so that it give the least hassle to the users. Perhaps the video below speaks better than I do.

Other than WordPress, all software share the same easiness in installing. Check out the list of available software below!

Install Central		Free Software	30+
WordPress/ b2evolution		Joomla/ Mambo/ Drupal
Gallery2/ Coppermine		Gbook/ phpBB/ SMF
ShopSite/ osCommerce		Online Store
Shared SSL		PayPal Integration

iPage Hosted! Read Interview with Current iPage User

Before concluding the review, I would like to disclose that I myself have an account with iPage since 2011. However we love the concept of getting the opinion from a third party about the performance of a host. Therefore we’ve gone out and looked for an existing user and interviewed them. Thus to learn the first-hand experience of iPage, do check out our interview with Steve Davis, who have been hosting with iPage for over 18 months (and counting). You can see the full iPage interview here.

Editor’s Comment on iPage Hosting

iPage is indeed a host who’ve successfully achieved the balance between profit and quality. Unlimited storage, bandwith, PHP5, WordPress ready, PayPal Integration ready and etc, you can easily build anything decent online. A nice blog? An online resume? A simple company website showcasing your products? An online store? Yes you can do all of them!

Also not to forget about their customer support. Having 100% North American support will not guarantee your website uptime, but they will have you backed up in a language that you understand whenever you have a situation. iPage is one of those host who do not outsource their support to foreign country where English is not the first language. Table below is the support highlight.

Anytime Money Back		Web Hosting Support	North Americans
Chat & Email Support	24×7	Online Help Center
Phone Support (24×7)	1-877-472-4399	Ticketing System

There are many more plus points in iPage but let’s talk about what’s the bad thing now. Do bear in mind that iPage offers only 1 plan – Essential Plan, which is a shared hosting plan. With that said, you will not have the luxury to scale up your hosting account when your website grows big. There is neither dedicated server nor virtual private server. By then you can either switch to another host provider, or try your luck with special arrangement with iPage. However if you’re planning to have 1 small-medium-sized website or, a few of them, and you do not want to pay much, iPage hosting is definitely enough to cater for your needs!