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iPage Review: Web Hosting |
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| Inexpensive one-year plan and fast server response time; uptime not the best; exclusive discount | ||||||||||||||||
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[Editor's note: iPage is currently offering NextAdvisor visitors an exclusive 55% discount that brings the price down to $3.50 per month for three years of hosting. There's no coupon necessary, just follow any of the links to iPage from NextAdvisor.com]
iPage is a new web host in the low-priced hosting business. Its offering is very similar to FatCow's, carrying many of the same components such as the ShopSite ecommerce program and the CM4all WebsiteCreator. Pricing It does have one of the cheapest single-year plans of the web hosts we've reviewed. Domain registration is free for life, though you must be sure to activate iPage's Domain Guard; it's not automatic. If you want to keep your registration info out of the public record, domain privacy will cost you $8.99 per year. Still, at only $3.50 per month for basic hosting it's good price, though the bargain comes at some hits to performance. If you're not satisfied with the service, there's a 30-day money back guarantee for your hosting fees. If you do cancel in that period, you'll pay $15, mostly for the domain, which you will keep. If you cancel after 30 days, you'll get a refund for the remaining unused months, minus the above-mentioned fee. Features iPage uses the popular cPanel for site management, but also allows you to manage basic site functionality through a nice custom control panel. Add-ons, such as blogs, galleries, and forums are implemented through InstallCentral. It offers a lot of what the ubiquitous Fantastico script manager does, but it's much easier on the eyes. We were able to install Wordpress, the popular blogging platform, with ease. iPage also incorporates Google's Webmaster tools into the control panel. This helps you manage your Google site map and spend the included Google ad credits. Beginning web designers will love the Weebly Drag and Drop Builder. It's actually very fun to use, with animated WYSIWYG simplicity. The free version included with iPage limits you to 6 pages, and doesn't have built-in ecommerce capabilities. Still, it will have you up-and-running quickly with a nice-looking, feature-rich web site that can hold a blog, youtube videos, audio, and a flickr slideshow. There's also the capable but somewhat kludgy CM4all WebsiteCreator that you can use, but we like Weebly better. Alternately, of course, you can upload your own site. If you need to sell goods online, the included ShopSite program is extremely easy to use, and is great for novice web merchants. Security iPage's most distinguishing feature is the incorporation of a basic SiteLock Security Suite. SiteLock bills itself as "Security for Small Business" and provides a badge indicating site trustworthiness (somewhat similar to TRUSTe or Verisign). SiteLock provides very basic verification of your credentials (via your phone number) and performs a daily scan for malware and one complimentary scan for SQL Injections and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities 90 days after activation. If your site is safe, you get to display the SiteLock badge. It's good piece of mind, though complete protection from these threats would probably require more frequent scanning (which is why they encourage you to upgrade to the $199 per year plan). Still, it's hard to complain as it's a free service not provided by other web hosts. Performance IPage is a mixed bag in the performance department. Its response time is great, but, rather paradoxically, its download speeds are disappointing. Worse still are its uptime numbers, the lowest of our whole test set. See the chart below for details. For uptime, higher percentages are better. For all others, lower numbers indicate better performance. iPage Web Hosting test data:
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| Cheapest Price: | $3.50/mo |
| Storage/Data Transfer: | Unlimited |
| Money-Back Guarantee: | 30 days |
| Domain: | Free for life |
| Support: | Email, Phone, Chat |
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