If you are an aspiring digital entrepreneur looking for a hosting service to kickstart your biz, InMotion Hosting would be good leverage.
If you heard it from someone—most probably the reason why you are reading my InMotion review now—yet you are not aware of how it is as a hosting provider, InMotion Hosting is known for its cheap plans which, also, at the same time, promises premium hosting services. It is recognized for its advanced technologies as well as impressive customer support too.
But is that all that it could offer?
What is InMotion Hosting?
Established way back in the year 2001, InMotion Hosting started as a small-scale business that eventually grew into what it is now. It has successfully positioned itself as one of the many trusted web hosting companies with top-tier services in the industry. The hosting provider’s more than 15 years of expertise had also paved a way for it to become one of the most popular hosting web hosting firms in the US.
Now, InMotion Hosting has over 170, 000 customers worldwide and employs more than 300 workers across different countries. It now hosts more than 300, 000 domains as well, with two data centres located in Virginia, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
In terms of its employees, InMotion guarantees that its team of web hosting experts are all experienced and actively learning technical subjects to keep up with the latest technologies too. Its customer support is US-based as well.
What Does It Offer?
Given its purpose as a web hosting solution, InMotion Hosting essentially gives aspiring entrepreneurs, freelancers, and established companies a leverage to market their brand, services, or products by placing them on the world wide web through websites.
InMotion Hosting then offers a variety of hosting solutions—including WordPress, dedicated, shared, VPS, and reseller hosting—so that users can choose precisely what they need for their site. It has a suite of all the basic requirements one needs in creating and maintaining a website too, which includes a site builder, security features like SSL certificates, SSDs, and website backups. Additionally, it has extremely impressive and sophisticated technical support too that many web enthusiasts commend.
How Does It Differ from Other Providers?
It is already a given that all web hosting providers offer almost the same services and tools. But just like its competitors, InMotion Hosting has a set of features and tools that makes it stand out among the rest.
That being said, three features caught my attention and interest: its customer support, budget-friendly hosting plans, and Max Speed Zone technology.
- Max Speed Zone. Essentially, it enables subscribers to choose which data center they prefer. Web pages supported with data centers that are near to their target audience are much faster compared to those that are not.
- Cheap hosting programs. As mentioned, InMotion Hosting is suitable for folks who are looking to dip their toes into the realm of digital marketing and selling. It is because its hosting plans are affordable if compared to others. Its basic hosting solution, for instance, costs approximately $6 a month while its WordPress hosting costs around $7 a month only.
- Technical support. InMotion Hosting’s customer service is quite different from its competitors (which I will explain in detail in the next sections). It is because aside from its 24/7 availability and several ways to reach out to a representative, the agents are purely US-based. In other words, it guarantees that customers in the western part of the world can easily reach out to any representative.
The Pros and Cons
To help you weigh things further, here some of web hosting’s pros and cons.
The Pros
- Intuitive interface and beginner-oriented tools
- Free premium website builder
- Budget-friendly hosting plans
- Tights security features
- Uses SDDs instead of HDDs
- Reliable customer service
- Offers speed technologies
The Cons
- It does not offer CDN
- Limited data centres (North America)
- No free domain
All about InMotion Hosting
While there are a number of web hosting providers up in the market today that guarantees top-tier hosting services and, at the same time, are cheap, knowing your needs as a digital entrepreneur should be your foundation in deciding which provider can supply the requirements you need.
Not know what you need, yet?
Good thing because the following sections tackle each of InMotion Hosting’s features, tools, as well as disadvantages.
InMotion Hosting’s Best Features
InMotion Hosting offers a large suite of tools and features required for developing and maintaining a website, and each of them equally serves a purpose. However, there are a few that I—and also based on other web enthusiasts’ feedback—believe make who the hosting firm is today.
In other words, these are InMotion hosting features.
1. The BoldGrid website builder. Among the many good features that I found in InMotion Hosting is its company-developed site builder called BoldGrid. Basically, it is a plugin that enables users to build a webpage without the need to code. It instead allows users to build and customize their websites using the drag-and-drop system.
The drag-and-drop system enables customers to simply drag web elements like buttons, widgets, and images into the canvas with no coding involved. The web editor comes with beginner-friendly tools and intuitive interface as well, giving users with least to zero knowledge about web creation to develop their own.
That said, below are some of BoldGrid’s perks.
- A suite of web themes. The premium web builder comes with a collection of more than 200 web templates professionally designed according to a specific niche’s nature of business. The themes are categorized neatly too, making it easier for users to find the designs they need in an instant.
The templates also allow you to switch from one design to another without ruining the overall design of the page. But most importantly, all themes are mobile responsive. - Easy and quick page customization. With BoldGrid, users will not only get a collection of templates, but they will also experience fast and easy page customization.
Users can easily control their site’s content by providing all types of content, including images. In fact, it comes with image filters to further enhance a photo’s quality. Editing web pages has become easier too thanks to its floating menu. - SEO-oriented. Last but not least is its search engine optimized web templates. The templates are built with SEO-oriented elements and plugins such as canonical URLs. XML sitemaps, and even above average coding practices.
2. Max speed zone technology. Another unique feature of InMotion Hosting is its Max Speed Zone technology. Essentially, this feature allows VPS subscribers to choose which data center they prefer to use.
If you are not aware yet, web pages supported by a data center that is near its target audience are faster compared to those that are not. Thus, selecting the right data center for your website is crucial to provide an optimal web experience to your customers, viewers, or readers.
That being said, the company owns two data centers; one is located on the east coast of America and the other on the west coast. They even also offer a file download test to see which data center works best for your site.
3. Free SSD. In terms of the speed and quality of its servers, the web host company promises up to par performance. And that is because InMotion Hosting uses SSD (Solid State Drives) instead of the traditional HDD to support their servers.
SSDs are essentially faster than HDDs when it comes to retrieving stored data since they are chip-based rather than disk-based. It helps servers manage requests in a much more reliable and quicker approach. In fact, web enthusiasts recommend it for sites with a large amount of web traffic.
To give you much more accurate data, here’s how SSD performs according to InMotion Hosting:
- SSDs are 20% faster compared to HDDs.
- SSDs make data numbers soar to approximately 95% during high I/O requests compared to HDDs.
- SSDs could push through around 65% more data from the server.
4. Free site migration. For folks who have an existing website(s) and wishes to switch to InMotion Hosting, the web host offers site migration for free. The freebie is available in all its hosting plans, including its shared hosting.
Essentially, it comes with the following:
- Up to three full cPanel site transfer (total of 10GB)
- Setup for domains, emails, FTP, and many more
During the site migration, InMotion Hosting promises zero downtime. The process may take 1-4 days as well before your site gets fully transferred. On a good note, you can opt for a priority transfer if you are in a hurry. This could ask you for extra charges, however.
5. cPanel dashboard. InMotion hosting utilizes cPanel—also known as the standard control panel most web hosting service use—for its dashboard too. It is popular among web hosting companies and is notorious for being beginner-friendly and easy to use.
That being said, is it a good fit for amateurs like you?
Of course, it is. As mentioned, the interface was developed mainly to help beginners like you. And the simple and easy to understand design makes it an excellent choice as a control panel.
On one hand, the cPanel contains several functionalities that, of course, you will use to manage your page. To give you a picture of how it looks like, below are some of the functions you will find in the dashboard.
- Cron jobs. It is a feature that enables users to write scripts to create a function that makes repetitive tasks. It may not be as useful as it is for web developers. But if you plan or are learning how to code, then this tool might come in handy.
- Softaculous installer. Softaculous is a plugin that lets users install up to 400 applications, including Content Management Systems like WordPress and Magento.
- SSH access. A feature that only a few web host providers offer, SSH access is a tool wherein you can manage your website files through a command line.
- Multiple database options. This gives you access to both PostgreSQL and MySQL.
- Custom error pages. As its name suggests, this lets you customize the look of error page notification, which your viewers see every time they encounter a technical problem while navigating your website.
6. Automatic website backups. Aside from its reliable servers and user-friendly tools, the hosting firm provides website backups for free as well. It is not surprising for such a company to offer the said feature as almost all web hosts offer it.
However, not everyone gives it for free.
But do take note that your free site backups could be limited depending on the hosting program you purchased. For example, retrieving your site’s data is only free for every four months. Once consumed and the four-month cap has not passed yet, you will be charged for additional $49 if you made another data backup.
InMotion Hosting does not do automatic backups for web pages that have larger than 10GB worth of data too.
7. Tight security. Apart from your site’s speed, another common aspect many web owners pay attention to is the web page’s security. It is particularly true for those who manage e-commerce sites and online stores. Such incidents are inevitable but, on a good note, preventable—thanks to web security features.
InMotion Hosting’s plans come with a suite of security tools to keep your website protected from various online incidents such as phishing and data theft. And among these tools is the infamous SSL Certificates.
SSL Certificates are apps that allow your page to transact (send and receive) data securely. Google’s algorithm favors sites with SSL Certificates too. Hence, it is crucial for your page’s overall status.
That being said, here are the features included in InMotion Hosting’s SSL:
- 256-bit encryption
- Domain validated SSL
- Supported by cPanel and Comodo
- Free auto SSL renewal
But not only that!
InMotion partnered with Corero Network Security too to further heighten its security features by adding the Smartwall Threat Defense System or TDS. It is an application that detects, mitigates, and eliminates DDoS attacks in real-time. The specifications of the said plugin are quite impressive as well, given that it can deliver 10Gbps full-duplex or 20Gbps unidirectional in a 1 RU form factor, ¼ wide.
8. Green hosting. Finally, InMotion Hosting was recognized as an eco-friendly web hosting solution. It has started its own initiatives as an effort to fight climate change—mainly about carbon reduction.
InMotion Hosting has invested in building environmentally-friendly infrastructure as well and is, in fact, one of the few companies in the industry to do so. Its data center in Los Angeles, for example, is the first green data center. It claims to reduce its usual cooling cost to about 70% while it also lowered its carbon footprint by thousands of tons a year.
It might not be a technical aspect that can help to optimize your page. But for folks looking to kickstart their online venture in an eco-friendly way, InMotion Hosting would be a great choice.
Performance
When it comes to websites, the first thing that owners should prioritize is speed. And a web hosting that offers optimal uptime and page loading performance like InMotion Hosting would be a great business partner.
InMotion Hosting claims to provide high uptime results and fast page loading speed just like its competitors. But as what the motto “to see is to believe” says, it is difficult to trust such a promise unless you witness it with your own eyes.
Having that said, I ran several site tests to see (and perhaps, prove) whether the hosting provider’s claim is accurate or not. Below is the data I gathered.
Uptime
InMotion Hosting, when it comes to uptime performance, is unfortunately lacking and quite disappointing. And it is not simply an experience only but accurate data results.
As mentioned, I ran several tests and one of them is using the test application called UptimeRobot. And based on the result I gathered, a web page supported by Inmotion hosting has an average uptime score of 99.96% (only).
Is it enough to support your site?
It could, generally. But keep in mind that the possibility of experiencing downtime is “high” and could be frequent. It could potentially hurt your business—particularly if you manage an e-commerce site—given that a low uptime translates to “low online availability.” And if you wish to keep your page online 24/7, you must aim for an uptime score of 99.99% or a perfect 100%.
Keep also in mind that aside from InMotion Hosting’s low uptime score, events like server upgrades and server maintenance could also hinder your website’s availability. It is also true for outages and other circumstances that are beyond the web host’s control.
All in all, InMotion Hosting’s uptime performance is not quite as good as other hosting providers.
Page Loading Speed
The web host’s page loading time, on the one hand, is quite similar to its uptime performance, unfortunately. Based on the test results I collected using three different apps, InMotion Hosting is a bit slow
That said, here is the score for each test application:
- Per GTmetrix, the average loading speed score is 3.1 seconds.
- Per Pingdom, the average loading speed is 1.38 seconds.
- Per Google’s Pagespeed Insight, the average loading speed is 6.67 seconds.
All in all, InMotion Hosting’s speed is not as competitive as its competitors such as A2 Hosting and SiteGround.
Customer support
If there is one more remarkable aspect about InMotion Hosting, it would be its customer support. And such an aspect—I believe—is crucial for web owners, particularly for beginners who, from time to time, need guidance.
Having that said, below are the four perks you will find from its customer service support:
- US-based agents. If you are from America, good news because the web host’s team of customer representatives are all based in the same country. Essentially, this means that the response time is guaranteed fast as you and the agent are both in the same time zone.
Rest assured that all representatives are knowledgeable too. The company requires them to undergo at least worth 160 hours of internal training before they start. - Impressive onboarding process. To help new customers start their venture, the web host grants them a free 25-minute consultation with one of their representatives. The customer has the freedom to select which topic s/he wanted to be oriented about, instead of following one format.
That said, the options include transferring domains, cPanel, WordPress, account management panel, and many more. - Multiple channels with 24/7 support. InMotion hosting provides not just one or two but multiple communication channels. It means subscribers can contact any of the web host’s agents through email, live chat, phone call, and ticketing.
All channels are open 24/7 as well. Thus, if a customer encounters a technical problem in the middle of the night, s/he can reach out for help right away. - Knowledgebase. The web host has a good size of knowledgebase as well. It contains articles about web management as well as technical-related topics such as guides on how to use Joomla and WordPress.
InMotion Hosting plans and pricing
InMotion Hosting offers a variety of hosting plans for customers to choose from. To put things in perspective, below are some of the plans it offers.
- Shared hosting’s price starts at $2.49 per month.
- Dedicated hosting’s price starts at $57.50 per month.
- WordPress hosting’s price starts at $4.99 per month.
- VPS hosting’s starts at $17.99 per month.
The web hosting firm gives a 90-day money-back guarantee policy too. Essentially, if a customer decides to cancel their subscription before the 90 days limit, they will automatically receive a refund. It accepts payments on almost all digital platforms including PayPal, Skrill, Visa, and Mastercard.
Things to Take Note Of
InMotion Hosting lacks a few aspects too, just like any other web hosting solutions up in the market today. So, to put things into perspective, I enumerated a couple of disadvantages below.
- It does not have CDN. Perhaps, one of the reasons why InMotion Hosting’s speed performance is poor is due to the absence of a feature called Content Delivery Network or CDN. Essentially, such a tool helps boost a site’s speed and reduces delay while loading the page.
In other words, there is a high chance that your site’s speed performance is low without it. And that is a no-no.
But don’t fret. The web host lets you connect a CDN provider like Cloudflare if you wish to install one. It will, of course, cost you extra charges. - The free domain is limited. For folks who are looking for a free domain, InMotion Hosting, unfortunately, offers it along with its premium plans only. Thus, if you want to avail of its year-long free domain, you will have to purchase higher-tier plans.
For beginners who want to try out its shared hosting only, it is your call. Although it is quite disappointing because many hosting providers today offer free domain in all their plans, including the cheapest ones. - Limited data centers. Is your target audience Americans only? If yes, then the hosting solution could work for you. On the other hand, if your target audience encompasses those who are living outside the United States too, then it won’t be a good choice.
It is because InMotion Hosting has data centers in the US only. And as mentioned, the nearer the data center is to the viewer, the faster the website is. On the contrary, if the data center is far, then your webpage’s speed performance is poor.
The Verdict
Do I recommend InMotion Hosting?
For general usage, my answer would be “yes.” However, it still depends heavily on the nature of business you have as the web host provider is not an all-in-one solution.
If, say, you are planning to launch an online store, InMotion Hosting would not be that useful due to its poor speed performance. Worst, it might only hurt your biz. On the one hand, if you are a freelancer and you are only looking to put your services on the world wide web, then the web host would be enough.
That said, if you think its tool and features—along with its overall performance—is what you need or prefer, then why not consider Liquid Web as your web host.