With literally thousands of web hosting options out there, you would probably expect the newer ones to offer more innovative and better hosting features.
It may come as a surprise, then, to learn that one of the fastest growing, most respected and most reliable hosting services is also one of the oldest, and that is: InMotion Hosting.
Founded in 2001, InMotion Hosting has positioned itself as a trusted web hosting company that experienced webmasters trust and move to every day.
Their customer support, Max Speed Zone technology and $3.99/month price are the 3 main things people like the most about them.
In this InMotion Hosting review I’ll tell you if that is really the case.
Here I am going to take a close look at the pros and cons of this hosting service to see how it lives up to its reputation as a reliable web host that can handle all your web hosting needs for your growing online business.
Give me 10 minutes of your time, and I will give you all the must-know information about InMotion and I answer questions like.
- How much does InMotion Hosting cost?
- What’s the difference between the different plans?
- Do you get to choose a server location?
- What are the pros and cons of using them?
- Do they give me automatic backups of my site?
- Does it come with SSD drives?
- Do they help transfer my website over to them?
- Which is the best hosting plan for a WordPress site?
When you have finished reading this you will know if this is the right web hosting service for you to use, and if you should sign up with them or not.
This is what you’ll learn in this review
- List of pros and cons
Here I’ll go into more detail about the pros and cons (or jump straight to the pros or cons).
- Hosting plans & prices
Here I’ll cover the plans and prices and what you get and what the features are for each plan.
- FAQ
Here I’ll answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
- Do I Recommend InMotion?
Here I’ll tell you if I recommend them or if I think you are better off signing up with a competitor.
There are many web hosting services out there, and it can be difficult to sift through them and find one with a plan and features that work best for you.
InMotion Hosting is a good option because it caters to just about everyone. Their web hosting service offers several affordable hosting plans.
They also provides really good uptime and helpful customer service to help answer any questions you may have along the way.
Below, I’ll outline the hosting plans offered in my inMotion review and delve deeper into what I find useful about their service as well as what I think could be better.
InMotion Hosting Pros & Cons
If you’re wondering about the pros and cons are then I got you covered.
The Pros of InMotion Hosting
Let’s start by taking a look at what the pros are.
Customer Support
If you have had any previous experience with a web host, you know how easy it is to initially ignore the customer service factor. But undoubtedly, you will have some issues, and when they crop up, you need reliable and fast support.
Your business quite literally depends on it, since even a brief glitch in your website could mean the loss of numerous customers. At InMotion, they have many strengths where customer support is concerned:
U.S. based support
One of the biggest perks about using them is that you are guaranteed to get support that is based in the United States. This means faster response time as well as higher quality customer care.
Additionally, the customer reps that you will speak with are actually knowledgeable. All support staff is required to have at least 160 hours of internal training before being allowed to interact with customers.
I have found that they actual have the expertise required to properly handle your unique issues and are not just relying on a troubleshooting script.
Great onboarding process
They also have a fantastic process for getting you started using their hosting services. Especially if this is your first time getting your own website up and running, this is a major bonus.
They send a series of helpful onboarding emails to help you with each phase of setting up your website on their server. What is particularly helpful is that these emails are tailored to your specific type of website and its main purpose, so you get relevant setup instructions.
The end result is that this process preemptively avoids a lot of potential support problems down the road after you set up, because it takes care of them at the very start.
Multiple communication channels
They also offer numerous avenues through which to get customer support. You can do a live chat through their website, send an email, use the traditional ticket system, call in using Skype, or you can phone in on 888.321.HOST(4678).
I have found the response time for each to be fast. You can expect to get the support you need in a timely manner, which is important since every minute counts.
24/7 support
Like every good hosting service, their support team will take care of all the challenges you come across, no matter how difficult they might be – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Hosting Performance & Speed
Their customer support is not the only thing InMotion Hosting excels at. The speed and performance of their servers are also very impressive.
To date, they have never had a major outage and they have an average uptime of 99.97%, which is pretty darn good for a service of their size. In fact they have a 99.9% uptime guarantee in place.
Furthermore, unlike many other shared web hosting services out there, they do not oversell their servers. In other words, they do not allow too many sites to be hosted on the same server.
Instead, they keep each server limited to what it can legitimately handle, meaning that even if multiple sites hit peak traffic at the same time, the server can handle it better.
Besides the above there are a number of more unique features that IMH employs to ensure uptime, speed and security for their hosting customers:
SSD drives for all of their servers
First off, every single server is supported by SSD (Solid-State Drive) drives, instead of a traditional HDD (hard disk drive) drive.
Because SSD drives are chip based (non-mechanical), instead of disk based, it is significantly faster at retrieving the stored data.
This means faster loading times and faster data retrieval for those utilizing your website, which means fewer people leaving your site because it takes too long.
According to InMotion, and internal testing they performed:
- SSDs perform about 20 times faster than HDDs
- SSDs were able to push through about 65% more data from the server
- During times of high I/O requests, these data numbers rose to approximately 95% when compared to HDDs
Multiple data centers and Max Speed Zones
Another unique element of InMotion is that instead of having one data center that serves the entire country, they have multiple data centers.
When purchasing their services, you get to choose a location that best serves you (based on where the bulk of your customers or visitors are from).
To see which data center works best for your location, they even have a file download test you can use on their website to compare which center gives you faster service!
Because they have multiple data centers, they also have what they dub Max Speed Zones that refer to geographical locations within a certain range of their centers. If you are within their Max Speed Zone, they promise that your website and email can run up to 6 times faster.
Strong focus on security
They take security seriously as they will monitor server security 24/7. Your websites are covered by DDoS protection, advanced firewall systems like ModSecurity as well as custom firewall rules.
Solid WordPress features
They offer managed WordPress hosting on all plans, in terms of core WordPress auto-installer updates and patching of common security holes.
- All WordPress sites runs on a CloudLinux platform with OptimumCache enabled.
- You can choose to have WordPress pre-installed when you sign up, or you can submit a website transfer request afterwards.
- All WordPress sites come with WP-CLI integration (a command-line tool for managing WordPress installation, meaning you can update plugins, configure installation and much more, without using a web browser).
- PHP 7 is available on InMotion WordPress hosting. PHP 7 helps WordPress sites perform as much as 2 to 3 times faster versus prior PHP versions.
InMotion Hosting offers FREE private SSL certificates on all Shared Business Hosting, VPS Hosting, and Dedicated Server plans. IMH customers can now easily secure their websites for safe browsing with a single click.
Features:
- Domain Validated SSL
- 256-bit Encryption
- Powered by Comodo and cPanel
- Free Automatic SSL Renewal
Offering free private SSL certificates is a great move, and perfect must-have for ecommerce sites, as a free SSL certificate allows you to accept payments and complete online transactions worry-free.
Free Website Backups
Besides strong customer service and high-quality hosting performance, I have found that they have a few other serious advantages to consider.
One of these is that they offer free website backups. It is not uncommon for hosting services to regularly perform backups, but it is unusual that they offer backup retrieval for free.
Most hosting services charge a fee when you need an emergency backup, but InMotion does not.
There are couple of limits that apply to the backups included with your account. Restoring your account is free, but limited to once every 4 months. A fee of $49 will apply for any additional restores. Also if your site is larger than 10GB then it will not be backed up automatically.
Free Site Migration
Another pro is that if you are moving your website from one hosting service to theirs, they offer a free website transfer service. Their website also promises that your website will experience zero downtime when they perform this transfer.
There are a couple of caveats you should be aware of. Migration of email accounts are only included with cPanel migrations. Non-cPanel migrations may require email to be manually migrated. Costs may apply to website transfers consisting of greater than 3 sites and/or databases or more than 5GB data.
Flexibility
Finally, for a web hosting service that is, frankly, so old for its industry, it certainly isn’t lagging behind the times. They offer many options that mean you have quite a bit of flexibility with your website(s).
When you host through them, you get excellent Google App integration and because of their numerous partnerships with ecommerce services, you can get a lot of ecommerce support and application integration as well.
They also offer a unique service for WordPress integration, including a pre-Installation of WordPress as an option when you purchase hosting through them.
They also provide you with $250 worth of free advertising. You get $100 of Google AdWords credits, $75 of Bing advertising credits and $75 of Yahoo advertising credits, to help you drive quality traffic to your website.
Powerful website builder
BoldGrid is the name of their premium website-builder that comes included with every hosting plan. BoldGrid is an easy drag-and-drop editor allows you to quickly build stunning, responsive websites that are powered by WordPress.
BoldGrid is intuitive and simple to use thanks to features like drag and drop design, free pre-built and responsive themes. Plus it comes with features like built-in SEO and site staging.
And unlike other website builders, it’s completely free and you have 100% ownership and complete control of your own site.
The Cons of InMotion Hosting
So, now I have reviewed the pros, let’s take a look at some of the disadvantages of using them.
Price Point
Probably the biggest con is that its price point is higher than most other shared hosting services offering similar services.
However, you do get what you pay for, and with the customer service options, and free backup & restore, free migration services, and a number of other free applications, I believe they make up for it in other areas.
Year Long Contract
Another downside is that when you do purchase their services, you are locked into a year long contract. This does mean you take a little bit of a gamble that you will be satisfied with it and it will be worth the money.
However, they do offer a very generous 90-day money back guarantee, so ultimately, the risk isn’t too bad. Industry standard is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The guarantee is especially re-assuring if you are prepaying for an entire year to get better pricing. However be aware that the money-back guarantee does not include any add-on purchases such as SSL certificates or domain name registrations.
Limit for Number of Sites
Another negative that I found is that customers are typically limited to the number of websites that they can host on one single account. However this is only the case for the Launch and Power packages (the Pro package allows for unlimited addon websites).
So, if your plan is to run a significant number of websites, you may have to consider a different host, or just be prepared to pay a bit more for the Pro package. But if you just need a couple of sites, this shouldn’t really impact you at all.
Slow account setup
They have a strict fraud prevention policies in place (which is a good thing) and all new customers need to verify their hosting purchase by going through a phone verification process.
But your hosting account will be activated the very same business day.
Verifying your account is hassle and worry free, but this means that you won’t be able to instantly access your hosting account, and it can be inconvenient for some users, especially for non-US residents.
InMotion Hosting Plans & Prices
InMotion Hosting offers a range hosting services from VPS and dedicated servers, to cloud and WordPress hosting. But here I’m only going to cover their shared web hosting packages.
They offer 3 shared web hosting plans: Launch, Power and Pro.
Here are the main features of each hosting plan:
Launch plan
- Host up to 2 websites
- Unlimited diskspace and bandwidth
- 2 MySQL & PostgreSQL databases
- Free website transfer and setup
- Free daily website backups
- Max Speed Zone technology
- Basic US based support
- Malware and email spam protection
- 90-day money-back guarantee
Power plan
- Host up to 6 websites
- Unlimited disk space and bandwidth
- 50 MySQL & PostgreSQL databases
- Free website transfer and setup
- Free daily website backups
- Ecommerce ready 1-click shopping carts
- Max Speed Zone technology
- Basic US based support
- Shared SSL certificate is included
- Malware and email spam protection
- 90-day money-back guarantee
Pro plan
- Host unlimited websites
- Unlimited disk space and bandwidth
- Unlimited MySQL & PostgreSQL databases
- Free website transfer and setup
- Free daily website backups
- Ecommerce ready 1-click shopping carts
- Max Speed Zone technology
- Pro-level US based support
- Shared SSL certificate is included
- Malware and email spam protection
- 90-day money-back guarantee
Hosting Plan Comparison
Which hosting plan should I get?
Here is a comparison of InMotion Hosting’s Launch vs. Power, and Power vs. Pro, where I outline what the key differences are between the Launch, Power and Pro shared business hosting packages.
InMotion Hosting Launch vs. Power Review
The obvious difference between the Launch and Power plan is of course the price. The Launch plan is InMotion’s entry level and therefore its cheapest shared hosting plan.
With the Power plan you can host up to 6 websites and the plan comes ecommerce ready with one-click shopping cart installations for WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Magento, OpenCart, osCommerce and DrupalCommerce. The Power plan also gives you a shared SSL certificate.
You should consider choosing the Power plan if:
- You want to be able to host 6, instead of 2, websites
- You ecommerce and shopping carts installed
- You want a free shared SSL certificate
InMotion Hosting Power vs. Pro Review
There are a couple of differences between the Power and Pro plan. The Pro plan offers almost unlimited everything (websites, domains, databases etc and the Pro Plan gives you about 4x more resources as well as additional features such as pro-level support.
If you’re looking to expand and host more websites (more than 6 websites which the Power plan allows) then the Pro plan would be a better option for you.
You should consider choosing the Pro plan if:
- You want “unlimited” everything
- You want a server with more resources
- You want pro-level support
Which InMotion Hosting plan is best for you?
Now you are hopefully in a better position to choose the right shared hosting plan from InMotion. Remember you can always go up a level and upgrade to a higher hosting plan if you require more resources and features.
Based on my personal experience, here is my recommendation for you:
- I recommend that you sign up with the Launch plan if you are starting out and intend to run a basic website.
- I recommend that you sign up with the Power plan if you intend to run a WordPress, other CMS or ecommerce powered site.
- I recommend that you sign up with the Pro plan if you intend to run a WordPress, other CMS or ecommerce site but need more resources and features.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here you will find answers to some of the most common questions about IMH.
What is InMotionHosting.com?
What payment methods does InMotion Hosting accept?
What technical support do they provide?
What are InMotion Hosting nameservers?
How long does it take to activate my hosting account?
Does InMotion Hosting offer a free domain?
Does they have a money-back guarantee?
Will InMotion Hosting transfer my website from another web host?
Does InMotion Hosting offer automatic backups?
Does InMotion Hosting offer free SSL certificates?
Are InMotion Hosting reviews on Reddit and Quora any good?
Are there any good InMotion Hosting alternatives?
Where can I find InMotion Hosting coupon codes?
Do I recommend InMotion Hosting?
Yes I do recommend them.
The times I have used them I have found it to be a solid web host. They provide excellent customer care, solid uptime and high performance and feature rich shared hosting, in large part due to the fact that it is U.S. based and has multiple data centers that enables fast loading websites.
InMotion Hosting also goes above and beyond expectations with a good deal of their free services and added features. Finally, with a variety of packages and abilities to add-on, they are prepared to serve a wide variety of website types and purposes.
This is the end of this InMotion Hosting review and if you are still sitting on the fence about signing up, remember they offer each and every customer a no-questions-asked 90-day money back guarantee.
FTC disclosure: To get you the cheapest price possible, I’ll earn a commission if you decide to sign up through my links.
Worst Hold Times EVER!!! No matter when you call you will face a extremely LONG hold time. I am on hold right now, it has been 32 minutes and no one has came to the phone yet. Stupid Music that is way to loud. For 2 years they tell me how its going to get better. LIES
This is a very good article for those who are fresh to the WordPress. Your selection of topic is very good and also well written. Thanks for sharing moreover their service is dedicated to giving its users great services. That is why a lot of manpower is invested in customer support. While other companies put less effort into customer experience, InMotion spares no dime to give you exceptional services. I recommend everyone try it for the first-hand experience.
Their West Coast Server gets unplanned maintenance every 3 days in a week with no explanation when the servers would be back up. Lots of down time nowadays.
I’m on their VPS and I had extremely terrible experience with them. I would rate their hosting pathetic.
Planning to switch to DO.
Sorry to hear that Preetam. Yeah DigitalOcean is a great option and their only downside (as I see it but more from a beginner’s perspective) is unmanaged servers and no email hosting.
Hi Lisa,
Great review site you have here. Wished I’d have found you earlier, my decision would have come easier and even simpler to pull the plug with my previous loyal hosting companies.
I’m absolutely loving my move from Hostgator and another respectful SSD company I joined years ago, to my latest VPS with InmotionHosting.
William at support was fantastic today and you can definitely see one heck of a difference when you talk with their live agents over the phone. Such a difference!
Competent, clear and absolutely great their specialty, just as it looks with you Lisa. Congrats on the blog here, was checking a WP Rocket review on your end and had to see/read your thoughts on these guys…”tremendo!”
Cheers from The Atlantic 🙂
Francis
Hi Lisa,
Will you know the hostname for their data center in Los Angeles and Washington DC. It’s weird that every server location checkup that I tried online (whether using my domain name, hostname, or IP address), all points to Los Angeles, but they insisted that my website is in Washington DC.
Thanks.
Hi Bnee, to me that would indicate that you are in fact on the LA datacenter. You should reach out to their support and find out for sure, and move across if need be. Good luck.
Hello,
I am planning to host 9 wordpress blogs and 1 WordPress based WooCommerce Ecommerce site, will the pro plan take the load. Or frequently i will get resource reached errors.
Hi Vjay, if/when your WP/WooCommerce sites start to get traction I think you might run into trouble hosting that many sites on one hosting account, even on the Pro plan that comes with 4x resources. If I were you I would signup and give it a go, but I would ready to move up to a VPS plan, or scale down the number of sites on one account. Best of luck, and let me know how you go as I would be interested to know if IMH can handle that many sites on one account. / Matt
Just my 2 cents here but I find this company to be a very solid hosting service. They have powerful features and like most others hosts they have a WordPress installer that will get your site up running quickly. The only thing I don’t like is that a free CDN isn’t included. Thx!
HI, thank you for your detailed review. While most hostings boast about money back guarantee, will you know how’s their refund method – direct credit to the earlier payment card, or cheques? I am a non-US resident so I am concerned with the refund method.
Secondly, the $250 worth of free advertising credit is non usable by non-US resident (as with my experience with Bluehost) or is there any other way to use them?
Thanks.
Thanks Nee. The method of refund depends on how you purchased your hosting with IMH. Refunds that are for credit card purchases are very easy and can be done within 24 hours usually. If you pay via check or PayPal, the process is different and getting the refund takes more time. As for your second question, you are probably best off contacting IMH support and ask them.