Is Ipage WordPress Hosting? WordPress.org
Ipage is one of the most popular blogging platforms, especially among small businesses. Its name comes from the initials of its co-founders: Israel, Paris, and Angela. The service offers plans for startups, with pricing as low as $2.95 per month. It’s been around since 2010 and currently supports WordPress, Blogger, and Typepad. You can read our full review of Ipage here. If you’re looking for a simple, no-frills WordPress hosting option, then you might want to consider their entry-level plan, which we’ll discuss further down below.
Key Features
Ipage provides a simple dashboard, which you can access by going to my.ipage.com and clicking on the Hosting tab. From here, you can administer your WordPress site (including installing additional plugins), view analytics, and change your site’s content. The pricing is very affordable, as you’ll see below, and provides a lot of features for a low cost.
Pricing & Plans
Ipage offers two plans, namely:
- Basic (at $2.95 per month), which provides a free domain, free backing store, and free content delivery via their cloud servers.
- Pro (at $5.45 per month), which adds the ability to install WordPress on your own dedicated server, as well as the above features from the Basic plan.
Both plans include additional perks, like free backups, free domain privacy, and free content delivery via their cloud servers.
For a limited time, you can get the Pro plan at the special price of $4.30 per month.
Accounts & Security
You can create an account on Ipage with either a Google or Facebook login. If you already have an account on one of these platforms, then you can easily log in and use Ipage. You can also choose to use your GitHub account to log in, but you’ll have to create an account first.
After you log in, you’ll be greeted with a safety warning. This is because the hosting provider uses cookies, which are small files that track your activity while on the site. You can choose to enable Google or Facebook to access these files or turn off cookies entirely. If you opt out of the cookies, then you won’t be able to fully utilize the functionality of the site; particularly, you won’t be able to login using Google or Facebook.
Dashboard
The dashboard of Ipage is very simple and straightforward. On the left, you’ll see a listing of the sites you have hosted on the platform. A site can be any blog or website you have created using WordPress. (You can use their “My Sites” feature to view your various sites).
Below this, you’ll see a menu with the different areas of the service.
The dashboard does not provide a great deal of information, but it does allow you to manage your site without leaving the platform. For example, you can change the appearance of your blog or website by editing the theme’s CSS files or editing the site’s HTML code.
User Interface (UI)
Ipage’s user interface is very clean and uncluttered, which makes it easy for website visitors to explore the service. There are no frills, no useless options — only what you need to manage your website.
From the home page, you can click on the Hosting tab to reveal more information about the plan you selected. Additional options include:
- Sign up – Create an account and begin using the service, or if you already have an account, login and click this button to continue.
- Hosting – This is where you can manage all your sites. From here, you can install WordPress, Blogger, or Typepad, or you can use the Manager to create and edit sites using one of their supported platforms.
- Add Media – Upload and manage photos, videos, and other files associated with your site.
- Analytics – View detailed analytics for your site.
- SSL – Start the process of securing your site with a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate for free.
The interface is easy to use, making even novice users able to launch and manage their own website or blog in a matter of minutes.
Backups
Ipage offers daily backups, which can be accessed via the Hotspot link at the top of the dashboard. Daily backups ensure your site is always available, even if something goes wrong.
Performance
Ipage’s performance is very good, especially for such a low price. As a general rule, you should be able to upload and download files to and from your site without problems. This is especially beneficial given the service’s affordable price.
Security
Ipage takes security very seriously, especially considering the sensitive data their customers provide them with. So far, they claim to have implemented all the major security protocols, like Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) — the latter of which is a more secure and efficient version of SSL.
Additional Benefits
Ipage provides several other perks, depending on the plan you choose. The Basic plan gives you a free domain name, free backing store, and free content delivery via their servers. The Pro plan provides you with the ability to install WordPress on your own dedicated server, as well as the above features from the Basic plan.
These are just a few of the areas you can cover in your review of Ipage. For more information, be sure to check out our in-depth review, which covers a variety of aspects, including pricing, features, support, and more.
What Could Be Improved
There are a couple of things Ipage could improve upon. The first is the dashboard’s response time. Although it’s good enough for the average user, those dealing with extreme loads may experience slow load times.
Another thing is the lack of documentation on the website. Although they provide helpful links on their Hosting page, it would be nice if they had more detailed information in regards to what each button and link did.
Last but not least, none of the plans feature free private SSL certificates, which some security experts recommend for securing your site. However, this option is offered at a discounted rate by their enterprise plan, which starts at $13.95 per month.
This plan provides you with the ability to purchase an SSL certificate for your site, as well as the aforementioned features from the Pro plan.