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InMotion Hosting is a weird one. A few years ago, I would’ve said, “Definitely try it out.” With excellent features backed by a 90-day money-back guarantee, you couldn’t have gone wrong.
Nowadays, InMotion Hosting is not a terrible host, but there are much better options out there.
InMotion Hosting has been alive for a couple of decades. It has a fairly wide, if somewhat generic, array of services – including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated servers, and even private cloud hosting.
With that range of products, plus the fairly affordable pricing, InMotion Hosting is targeting everyone from the hobbyist web designer to the medium-sized business. In theory, as long as you don’t actually need your own data center, the plans here should be enough for you.
Well, that’s the promise, anyway. The question, as always, is whether or not InMotion Hosting can match the expectations set on its homepage.
I ran a WordPress-based test website over the course of a few months to answer just that question. In the end, I can certainly say that InMotion Hosting is… a company. That does web hosting. It’s alright.
But is it alright for you, specifically? Let’s find out.
4.5
Features
InMotion Hosting Looks Great on Paper (So to Speak)
InMotion Hosting’s features are (mostly) pretty standard, but I can say that the hosting plans are pretty solid. Where many hosts will lock all of the best features behind more expensive plans, InMotion Hosting maintains a pretty decent balance of features across the board.
All InMotion Hosting’s plans come with cPanel, unlimited bandwidth, 24/7 support, and free advertising credits. You can choose to have WordPress, PrestaShop, or Joomla preinstalled. Every plan also comes with free website transfers and a free domain name for the first year.
Also, and rather importantly, every plan gets free SSL certificates via LetsEncrypt. For the non-nerds, that means your website’s back-and-forth traffic is all encrypted, providing an extra layer of security against hacking and data leaks. Search engines can give your site a small boost for having SSL enabled, too.
The main differences in the plans come in the form of resource allocation: if you pay more money, you get more storage space, more databases, more addon domains, email accounts, and so on. (Yeah, email accounts are limited for some reason. The Lite plan gets one, the Launch plan gets 10, the Power plan gets 50, and the pro plan gets an unlimited amount.
Also, both WordPress and regular shared hosting plans are available, and unlike with some hosts, they’re actually a bit different. The WordPress plans seem to be a better fit for WordPress websites (as they darned well should be), as they supposedly include some special server configurations. Unfortunately, I can’t back that up with facts, because no specifics are given by InMotion Hosting.
What I can attest to is that I went with the Launch Shared hosting plan, and that it runs on Apache, the old web server technology that just can’t keep up with the speed of the newer players in town.
The Launch plan comes with 50GB of SSD storage and the aforementioned unlimited bandwidth, and it can support 2 websites. The two more expensive plans each double the allocated storage, and can support 50 and 100 websites, respectively.
The weird thing is that InMotion Hosting brags that the basic plan has “2x performance and speed,” the second one has 3x, and the third one 4x and the biggest package has 6x performance. 3x of what, exactly? We may never know. It’s a mystery, like “What happened to my other sock?” or “Why doesn’t Brandon Fraser return my calls?”
My point is, there seems to be no real metric used here, and I would take all these promises with a grain of salt. Is more RAM and CPU available with the advanced plans? Maybe. Maybe not.
The BoldGrid Builder
A while back, InMotion Hosting developed a revolutionary WordPress drag-and-drop builder that was all the rage back when it first came out. It was an easy-to-use but super powerful way to get a professional-looking website in no time, and with no coding knowledge.
It’s still available today, and isn’t a bad feature by any means, but there are better alternatives now. Elementor, for example, is a plugin that offers more even in its free version, and it’s easier to customize. Its premium (and not very expensive) version is just worlds apart in terms of options and features.
This is offered at an extra cost, but you can purchase automatic daily full website backups. This is the kind of premium feature that hosts like Kinsta, Liquid Web, and SiteGround offer (sometimes by default), but many basic shared hosts don’t have it.
It’s good to see that InMotion Hosting has it, even if it’s a paid add-on.
InMotion Hosting Can Build Your Site for You
InMotion Hosting is one of the few hosts that actually provide a website building service. That is, you can specify what you want your website to be, and they will go ahead and build it for you in just two days.
If you’re really looking to offload your whole website to someone else, this isn’t a bad choice at all. It’s offered at an extra cost, for sure, but it’s much cheaper than hiring a web developer or agency separately.
It’s also probably not on the same level, so there’s that to keep in mind. In web design, you really do get what you pay for.
Overall, InMotion Hosting isn’t going to make you jump through too many hoops just to get your site up and running. The signup process itself was simple and only took a few minutes.
The overall interface is mostly well-organized, but there are a couple of potential hiccups along the way. Let’s get into specifics:
Kind of Bad: Choosing Your Plan Can Be Difficult
When I was ready to choose an InMotion Hosting plan, I couldn’t really understand if I needed a Web Hosting plan or a WordPress Hosting plan. When I tried to consult with support, the agent said it didn’t really matter. I thought that was very weird, as these are different plans, or at least the marketing says they are.
Looks like it’s just another one of those mysteries, like “What exactly is Christopher Nolan taking, and do I need it to understand his movies?”
Also Kind of Bad: The Admin Interface Can Be Confusing
InMotion Hosting also made the choice – a foolish one, in my opinion – to design its account area (“AMP,” as they call it) to look fairly similar to cPanel. I sometimes had trouble figuring out which one was which.
The uses for these two control panels are very different: one is for managing your account – billing, support, and the like – and the other for managing your actual hosting. As a result, I wasted lots of time scrolling up and down just to realize that again, I was on the wrong page.
Is it cPanel? Is it InMotion’s Hosting account area? It’s hard to tell.
Good: At Least Getting Started Was Easy
Upon signing up for InMotion Hosting, I got plenty of emails and instructions as to exactly what to do next. I also had WordPress automatically installed. Connecting my domain was easy peasy, as nameserver addresses were included with the information I was sent.
Every host should do that. Sometimes they don’t, but they should.
4.3
Performance
InMotion’s Hosting Inconsistent Performance Could Hurt Your Site
Did you ever take a car for a test drive, and hear the salesman say, “Oh, that noise is totally normal”? Well, that’s why I run rather extensive tests when I’m reviewing web hosts. Specifically, I set up a test site with all the usual WordPress bells and whistles, as well as animation, big image files, and more.
I also usually ask the support team if they can recommend any optimizations for my test site, to allow the host to make a good first impression. This time, I didn’t even make it as far as asking the question, because the wait times for support were too long.
The end result of all my testing came down to this: The average complete page loading time was 1.97 seconds, global loading tests couldn’t actually be completed, but at least the server uptime was 99.964%. These results would be more encouraging if the loading times were consistent, but they weren’t.
If you want to know just how inconsistent my test results were, you’re in luck. I’ll be discussing that in detail below. If you’d rather just jump ahead to the Support section and see if InMotion’s Hosting support was worth waiting for, that’s okay, too.
I typically use GTmetrix to test average complete page load time, Sucuri to test international load times, and UptimeRobot to make sure the site actually stays up. Here are the details:
GTmetrix
The fastest complete loading time was a fantastic 0.8 seconds, with the slowest being 5s. Again, that’s an average of 1.97 seconds of load time.
As a general rule, you should aim to have your page load in under 2 seconds. If it takes too long for your page to load, people might become impatient and switch to other activities. If your load times consistently reach 5 seconds, potential customers may be lost as they find themselves staring at a blank screen and pondering their life decisions.
Sucuri
Sucuri could not, for the love of God, test InMotion Hosting. There seems to be a firewall issue, which is alright, because that means InMotion Hosting runs some kind of traffic filtering or server security. The agents seemed not to know the exact reason, or the way to solve the problem.
Attempts to whitelist the Sucuri IP addresses were not successful, so no data has been gathered.
UptimeRobot
In better news, my test site managed 99.964% uptime over three and a half months. That’s not the best, but it’s not bad.
There’s no uptime guarantee of any kind with InMotion Hosting, which is a bit worrying in itself. If the server’s performance was only a bit worse than this, you’d be dealing with site unavailability for your visitors and no accountability from InMotion Hosting.
The uptime results are just satisfactory enough.
4.5
Support
Support Is Just Fine… When You Can Reach It
My support experience started out well, with the service looking like true 24/7/365 U.S.-based support available through live chat, phone, and tickets.
The pre-sales chat was great, with the agent answering every little question in detail and being very honest. He also gave me a special discount and immediately activated my account, making my life a whole lot easier. (Compare that to a host like A2 Hosting, which had me sending identification for two whole days, waiting and begging to be activated because I was suspected of web hosting fraud… whatever that is.)
After signing up, the situation got worse. Waiting times for support were no longer immediate. 30-40 minutes waiting was the average, making it so that I usually just skipped support altogether.
In the few times where I did wait and get connected to an agent, they were good. The agent knew how to check my domain propagation situation when I wanted to connect my domain registered with a third party, and could definitely aid you in doing the same.
An agent also reset my WordPress password when I couldn’t log in (guess I forgot it), solving that issue on the spot.
When I wanted some help with enforcing HTTPS traffic, I was feeling that the agent took way too long to answer. Like long, long minutes, after I already waited an hour to start the chat. I complained, and was amazed that the agent not only agreed with me – but asked me to tell InMotion Hosting to hire more people. Well, InMotion Hosting – please hire more people.
What InMotion Hosting does have is an excellent knowledge base, complete with detailed step-by-step tutorials on every aspect of the hosting experience. You can use it to do everything yourself and really become a hosting pro, but I would have preferred the live chat to be more available.
4.8
Pricing
InMotion Hosting isn’t expensive. It’s not as cheap as Hostinger, but it’s definitely cheaper than other hosts I’ve tested.
They offer payment periods of 1 month, 1 year, 2 year and 3 year, and the money-back guarantee is for a whole 90 days, which is 3 times the industry average. You’ll really have a ton of time to decide if you like the service.
You can pay through major credit cards, PayPal, or money transfers, and there are no hidden setup fees. There were some pre-checked items on my cart that I never asked for, so be careful and choose exactly what you need. Those automatic upsells can cost a lot.
A free domain is available with all plans, as is customary with one-year plans and longer (with every host almost), but the renewal price is steep: double what a domain costs with Namecheap, and without the WHOIS protection.
If you had asked me a few years ago, I definitely would have recommended InMotion Hosting.Nowadays, I’d say you can still try out an InMotion Hosting plan without worry – the company still has the same 90-day money-back guarantee – but I’m not sure there is much reason to do so. Maybe, just maybe, if your main audience is on the US West Coast, where not many hosts have data centers, it could be a good choice.But InterServer has a data center on the West Coast as well, and is also more powerful. The same goes for Kinsta. InMotion Hosting is not a bad host, but there are far better ones. You can see some other options on our list of the best web hosting services in 2023.
FAQ
Is shared hosting from InMotion Hosting good for e-commerce?
InMotion Hosting isn’t a bad choice for a new or growing store. Every plan includes $150 in free advertising credits and access to customer analytics. However, you’ll find more powerful options for e-commerce on our list of the best web hosting for 2023.
Does InMotion Hosting cost more when you renew?
Upon renewal, you will no longer be eligible for the new customer discount, and the price of your plan will rise significantly. Be sure to consider this before making your final decision.
What is the cheapest way to host a website?
InMotion Hosting is an affordable option, but there are cheaper hosts. For example, Hostinger costs considerably less than InMotion Hosting but still provides excellent performance and reliability. For the best deals in hosting, check out our coupon page.
Does InMotion Hosting offer free trials?
InMotion Hosting does not offer a free trial with any plan. Instead, it offers a 90-day money-back guarantee. If you cancel within this 90-day period, you will receive a full refund.
Brent is a freelance web developer who loves experimenting with new technology and sharing his experiences with others. While his career life can get hectic sometimes, he always makes time for the important things in life: good coffee, good wine, and quality time with his twin boys, Aiden and Sean.
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The best I’ve used and I’ve used many
As a customer since October 2013, I have had nothing but positive experiences from the very first day until now.
No downtime, great features and functionality with no surprises sprung on you after committing, and excellent customer service.
I've used them for all my websites and would gladly recommend them to anyone.
We've been with InMotion Hosting since 2015. We currently use 9 different hosts and they were always the best as far as having very few problems and great support. Now they are the worst of all of the ones we use. The last issue took two weeks before they got back to me.
Hello Al,
We are sorry to learn that you have not been pleased with your latest experience. Our Customer Loyalty team would love to follow up with you regarding options for your account. Please email us directly at [email protected] with your primary domain name.
JP Brand Ambassador
,
USA February 02, 2023
Great even for the tech-stupid (that would be me)
I've remained happily with InMotion Hosting for several years now. I get confused easily, but that's because I can't find a four-year-old to explain the tech to me. Their customer service has always been patient and helpful. I recently recommended them to my partner, who is another writer who is clueless about tech.
Hi S Smith. Thank you for your positive feedback. As InMotion Hosting continues to grow, we look to our customers for ways we can improve. Your feedback assures us that we are on the right path. We are glad to have had you for so many years and are looking forward to our continued partnership for more years to come!
JP Brand Ambassador
,
USA January 30, 2023
They used to be good, but not anymore
I've been with InMotion Hosting since they were a tiny company, Nowadays, I've had more email issues than ever, costing me tons of money. Getting a response to tickets has occasionally taken over a week. When I do get a ticket, I get a canned response on how to alter my settings -all of which has been done. They are on a UCEPROTECT spam list, and my emails get bounced or held up for days at the receiver's end. They've refused to do anything - and when I finally had time to try to reach them by telephone, the tech told me they were experiencing this a lot, but could not fix it so far. He suggested going to a separate email hoster!
I used to recommend them a lot, but now I suggest looking elsewhere - I am!
Hello, I greatly appreciate your feedback and your willingness to share your experience. I understand your frustrations and I apologize that we did not meet your response expectations. Our goal at InMotion Hosting is to provide quick and helpful information to our Customers at all times and I see that we did not meet this standard with your experience. Please email us directly at [email protected] with your primary domain name for further assistance.
JP Brand Ambassador
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USA November 28, 2022
Brilliant Uptime!
Inmotion is brilliant for my needs. Uptime is almost always guaranteed. Each time I visit my websites, I am assured that they will be online almost all of the time.Furthermore, my websites load appreciably fast. I have never really had an issues with Inmotion and I would recommend then any time.
Hi Michael. It's always a pleasure assisting our customers. Thanks so much for your positive feedback and good vibes. We look forward to working with you for years to come!
JP Brand Ambassador
,
USA August 08, 2022
InMotionHosting has best support team I’ve encountered since 1999
They are friendly, helpful and go the extra mile to explain things and help me learn something. They are patient with me and I always learn something with their useful explanations.
They couldn't be more helpful. I really like them and appreciate them. Thanks!
Hi Richard. Thank you for the stellar feedback! We really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to share your experience with us and look forward to assisting you in the future.
JP Brand Ambassador
,
USA August 08, 2022
InMotion Is Great
I’ve had InMotion for years now (VPS 4GB Plan). Back when I did my best of breed review on hosting sites InMotion came up tops. They have not let me down. Support has been excellent. They have run every problem (and there was not many) to the ground finding a solution quickly. You cannot go wrong with InMotion.
Hi Paul, Thank you for the stellar feedback! We really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to share your experience with us and look forward to assisting you in the future. JP - Brand Ambassador
JP Royal
,
USA July 13, 2022
Great Support and 99+% up-time
I have trusted Inmotion Hosting for more than six years to help us provide our clients reliable hosting. I have more than 20 years experience providing proprietary coding services and long-term support to our valued clients and I am well satisfied with Inmotion Hosting as a partner I can rely on.
Hi Phillip,
It's always a pleasure assisting our customers. Thanks so much for your positive feedback and good vibes. We look forward to working with you for years to come!
JP - Brand Ambassador
JP Real
,
USA June 20, 2022
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