Is iPage the Best Web Hosting Provider? – Review From Personal Experience

Growing up, I used to write a diary almost every day about the things that happened in school, my family, and my reaction to the popular anime at that time, Sailor Moon.

Then came the growing popularity of having online blogs. WordPress.com and Blogger were the most popular blog platforms during that time.

I started a personal blog in Blogspot until I really wanted my own .com name. I looked around where I can get the best web hosting and domain between GoDaddy, Bluehost, FatCow, GreenGeeks and JustHost.

Still not sure which top web hosting providers to sign up with, a good friend recommended iPage WordPress essential plan since he used it on his domain at STUDIyo Photo.

What convinced me in the end was that if I signed up using his iPage web hosting coupon codes, we could share the bonus payout and save on hosting.

Another tip he shared was to sign up halfway and close the page to receive an iPage secret offer and get better deals.

Note: I am writing this iPage review from the perspective of an average user and not a Tech professional. Forgive me for my confusion.

What is iPage?

iPage is one of the best web hosting provider since the year 1998. They have one of the best web hosting plans mainly because of their price.

Who owns iPage?

iPage is a web hosting and domain registration company owned by the Endurance International Group which is also the owner of other web hosting companies like BlueHost and HostGator.

iPage sells:

1. One of the best web hosting plans and pricing to fit almost any website or budget.
2. VPS Hosting – High-Performance Hosting.
3. Dedicated Hosting – Cloud-Based Flexibility
4. WordPress Hosting – dedicated hosting for WordPress websites.
5. Domains – 325 domains to choose from
6. Web professional services – Website Management, Domain Services, Email Services, E-Commerce Services, Marketing Services

In this iPage Review Comparison table, you will see an overview how iPage is the cheapest compared to other top web hosting providers.

What can you build with iPage?

Even without technical knowledge, iPage’s one click installs can help you build the type of website you like whether you want a simple blog, website, or sell your products online.

Blogs and website builders

1. WordPress
2. Joomla 2
3. Joomla 3
4. Anchor CMS
5. b2evolution
6. Backdrop CMS
7. Concrete5.7
8. Croogo
9. Drupal 6
10. Drupal 7
11. Drupal 8
12. e107
13. Geeklog
14. MODx
15. ocPortal
16. PHP-Nuke
17. phpwcms
18. PyroCMS
19. seotoaster
20. Textpattern
21. XOOPS

Classifieds, Client Management, eCommerce

1. Noah’s Classifieds
2. EspoCRM
3. Front Accounting
4. vtigerCRM
5. AgoraCart
6. OpenCart
7. OSCommerce
8. PrestaShop
9. seotoaster e-commerce
10. TomatoCart
11. Zen Cart

Forms & Surveys, Forums, Guestbooks

1. LimeSurvey
2. MyBB
3. phpBB
4. PunBB
5. Simple Machines Forum
6. Vanilla Forums
7. GBook
8. Lazarus

Mailing Lists, Photo Galleries, Project Management, Social Networking

1. Dada Mail
2. phpList
3. 4images
4. Coppermine
5. Gallery
6. Piwigo
7. Zenphoto
8. Mantis
9. elgg
10. Pligg

Statistics, Support & Live Chat, Utilities, Wiki

1. Piwik
2. Crafty Syntax Live Help
3. osTicket
4. phpFreeChat 1
5. phpFreeChat 2
6. X7Chat
7. PhpGedView
8. phpMyFAQ
9. ProjectSend
10. Prosper202
11. webtrees
12. DokuWiki
13. MediaWiki
14. PmWiki
15. Tiki Wiki 9 LTS
16. Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware
17. WikkaWiki

In my iPage control panel, I chose to install the WordPress script and got started with building my WordPress blog right away.

Advantages of iPage

• iPage has the best web hosting plans if you want to start with the cheapest option for self-hosted WordPress websites.
• My concerns were mostly resolved when I contacted iPage tech support and iPage live chat. Response is good and acceptable. Wait times are somewhat tolerable.
• I like the iPage One-click script installs that helps me step by step to install WordPress easily.
• It has iPage webmail included so you can easily setup your email address with your own .com. I have setup mine with Google suite so I just go to Inbox by Google to access my email.

My iPage complaints

• Website loads a little more sluggish compared to the other top web hosting providers.
• I think that adding the SiteLock subscription is a scam. They did not deliver what they claim the service does.
  SiteLock – patent-pending 360 Scanning Technology to probe your website and the server it resides on for critical security vulnerabilities. We will perform a similar set of scans each day to make sure that your website is 100% secure and alert you immediately if any problems are discovered.

After three years hosting my website with iPage, my website was unexpectedly shut down telling me I had malicious files in my website. It happened during the Holy Week here in the Philippines in 2015.

I find it strange and suspicious from iPage that they are deliberately trying to sell me their SiteLock Fix service to help me restore the infected website.

Message received from iPage Tech Support on April 1, 2015

Hello,

A routine scan of your account has found malicious or infected files. As a result, we have suspended your website, to avoid problems for website visitors or other customers. We have uploaded a file named < Name of scan log > within the stats directory of your account which contains the full list of files.

Please remove the malicious code, through FTP or the file manager. I would recommend deleting and republishing your entire website from a clean copy; this should then erase any other code which may have been injected into your pages to allow back-door access by unauthorized people.

You should immediately change your password through the control panel for the account, and most importantly, you need to make sure any applications in your account are completely up-to-date as far as versions, security patches, etc. are concerned. This applies not just to the core application, but also plugins, themes, modules, etc. If this is not done, your account will remain vulnerable to future attacks of this kind.

In order to secure your web application, you can use SiteLock Fix product which scans your website daily and removes any infected files. To learn more about SiteLock, please go to: https://www.ipage.com/product/sitelock

Please take appropriate actions and reply back to us so that we can enable your website.

Sincerely,

Rashmi P
Support Specialist

Since I was out of town and had no access to my computer, I could not take care of the website problem immediately. As a result, all my automatic backups of 14 days had malicious files in them. I cannot help but think if it was a deliberate attempt by iPage to upsell their other services.

Not wanting to troubleshoot an urgent matter myself, I subscribed to their SiteLock Fix for one month as advised for them to clean the malicious files to get my website back up immediately.

Order details:
SiteLock Fix – 9.99 per month (billed 9.99 for 1 month)

Thinking that my website problem is soon going to be over with the purchase, to my horror, The SiteLock Fix I subscribed to could not even do this and they are trying to sell me another upgraded service so they can manually clean the files.

Frustrated, I thought of starting from scratch with a fresh install of WordPress. I learned the hard way of always having backups of your website for this kind of problem.

I lost some of my articles and restored what I could find in Google cache and wayback machine.

• Continuing my list of iPage complaints, iPage does not let you get Free SSL from Let’s Encrypt and you need to buy Comodo SSL through them.
• Recently, February 6, 2017 6:56 PM they shut down my website again claiming that my website is using a large amount of server resources. As a result, when I open my website, it just says Access denied.

Is iPage deliberately sabotaging my website trying to sell me an upgrade again?

Hello,

We have found one of your website scripts/application hosted on your hosting account to be using a large amount of server resources. The following script/application has been disabled in order to protect server stability.

/index.php

We recommend reviewing your websites’ traffic via the raw logs located in your stats folder.

If you find that the traffic is genuine, it is advisable to upgrade your account to a VPS hosting solution. You can find information about VPS hosting at: http://www.ipage.com/advanced-hosting/vps.bml .

I replied to iPage tech support to fix my website and it got ignored. I made website work again by changing the index.php permission. I hope this is not a temporary fix.

On the good side, I have not experienced the malicious files problem again since I did a fresh install from scratch.

Should I transfer domain from iPage to GoDaddy?

I am still deciding between

1. Dreamhost – I hear they support Let’s Encrypt
2. SiteGround
3. wordpress.com premium
4. Wix.com – It is one of the website builders promoted by Think with Google Page Speed Report.

Criteria for best web hosting provider I am looking for:

1. Has speeds that get a good Google Page speed score
2. Reliable uptime
3. Reasonable price per month.
4. Capable and responsive tech support
5. Trustworthy and does not make me think that they deliberately sabotage websites to sell more products
6. Lets me install Let’s Encrypt SSL so that my domains can get https and boost my page rankings.

Should you still sign up with iPage?

iPage web hosting is for you if you want

• The cheapest web hosting provider with acceptable services. Probably a good starting point to test your website.
  They have a wide variety of hosting plans depending on what type of website you need whether it be a personal blog or portfolio, business or an online shop.
• All the tools you need to build and to advertise your site.
  They provide you with One-click script installs to their own built-in website builder. Just choose and click. If you use WordPress, install your own plugins to protect your website from malicious files and avoid what happened to me.
• 24/7 access to iPage tech support or iPage live chat
  Someone to help you resolve issues with your account, domains, email, website, and hire them as your in-house website design and marketing team.

I hope this honest iPage review has helped you in your decision when getting the best web hosting and domain.

I am still with iPage as of this writing and still shopping around for possibly better web hosts.

If you still want to test iPage yourself, Use this iPage deal.

iPage Web Hosting coupon codes