Hostwinds vs InMotion Hosting – Popular Doesn’t Mean Better [2020]

As both Hostwinds and InMotion Hosting are popular web hosts and offer a broad range of inexpensive hosting solutions, it’s natural to get overwhelmed when it comes to choosing a particular one of them. Additionally, both offer services that can be used by different types of users – from beginners to established businesses. So, how would you decide whether you should go with Hostwinds or InMotion Hosting?

To help you out, I thoroughly compared both of them based on the key parameters like performance, features, pricing, support, etc. The results revealed that both are equally good, despite slight differences in their offerings. In short, it’d entirely depend on your needs to choose one from them.

Interested in knowing how I compared Hostwinds and InMotion Hosting? Continue reading.

1. Plans and Pricing

Hostwinds offers cheaper packages – InMotion Hosting offers more diversified packages

Both Hostwinds and InMotion Hosting touch almost every category of web hosting – from shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated server to cloud hosting and reseller hosting. While packages from Hostwinds are significantly cheaper than those of InMotion Hosting, it doesn’t offer specialized WordPress hosting. On the other hand, InMotion Hosting offers specialized WordPress hosting. Also, with Hostwinds, you get to choose cloud hosting while InMotion Hosting offers cloud VPS packages.

If you’re looking for cloud hosting solutions only, Hostwinds with hourly pricing plans would be a good option. But in terms of overall features, InMotion hosting is what you should go with, it’ll cost you more though.

2. Features

Hostwinds wins – thanks to its versatility

You get a good number of similar features with both these web hosts – use of SSDs, 1-click installer, website transfers, website builder, free domain, among others. However, the biggest advantage of using Hostwinds is you can choose between Linux and Windows when it comes to VPS hosting while InMotion Hosting doesn’t support Windows hosting.

See this table to compare Hostwinds and InMotion Hosting yourself.

3. Performance

Hostwinds with a rare 99.9999% uptime guarantee wins

While both these providers use performance-enhancing features like SSDs, CDNs, etc, the biggest difference lies in their uptime guarantees.

In terms of data centers, Hostwinds has three of them and all are Tier IV which means they’ve got the most redundant components. On the contrary, InMotion Hosting has two Tier I data centers. Hostwinds offers a paid service namely Windspeed to improve your server’s speed and performance while InMotion Hosting lets you choose a data center based on your needs.

4. Security

Both take good care of the security aspects

InMotion Hosting’s complete security suite comes with lots of security features, both standard and advanced, including free SSL certificates, DDoS protection, malware protection, Web Application Firewalls, SSH access, access to HIDS security, etc. On the other hand, in addition to standard security features, Hostwinds lets you deploy a paid security service namely Windshield to improve server security. You can also maximize your site’s security by purchasing a paid SSL certificate from them. You should note that while both of these providers offer automatic backups, with Hostwinds, you need to pay for it additionally.

5. Support

Both offer a good range of support options, but may not be useful

You get 24/7 support from both Hostwinds and InMotion Hosting through a number of channels – from phone and email to live chat and support ticket. We tested their support services by trying different options including live chat, email, etc. As you can see in our Hostwinds review, we got an instant response on live chat, the agent failed to provide an appropriate answer though.

In the case of InMotion Hosting, we experienced a better than average response time but they also didn’t seem to be highly knowledgeable.

However, in terms of knowledgebase, InMotion Hosting with a massive collection of guides and articles is much more useful than Hostwinds.

Choose the One That Caters To Your Needs in the Best Possible Way

As it’s clear from the above Hostwinds vs InMotion Hosting battle, Hostwinds would be an ideal option if you’re looking to get a more affordable range of packages and the freedom of choosing the OS along with more reliability.

On the other hand, InMotion Hosting comes with a more diversified range of packages including specialized WordPress hosting, they cost more though. Both these providers offer the flexibility of scaling as your business needs grow. Therefore, choosing a particular one comes down to your specific requirements.

You may also note that while InMotion Hosting has made it into our list of top 10 web hosting services, it’s important to check that list out to see your other available options before signing up with a particular one.

Comparison Table

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