InMotion Hosting, also called just InMotion, is among the biggest hosting options, so you have likely heard them mentioned at some point.
To put the size of the company into perspective, consider that it began in 2001 and has more than 300,000 domains. It uses two data centers, one in Virginia Beach and one in Los Angeles. The company also owns Web Hosting Hub, but that is geared more for beginners.
InMotion is an older, more established host, which also lets the company boast about its support, industry guarantee, and transfers. But does InMotion really live up to those claims? Or does it coast along with its brand recognition without providing value to its customers?
To get a fair, unbiased opinion, we bought the “Launch Plan” from InMotion in June 2015. We then used that account to create a WordPress test website and record statistics like page loading speed and uptime, as well as gather information about customer service and policies.
Advantages of InMotion Hosting
In our experience, InMotion Hosting did very well in terms of customer support, speed, and uptime. Factor in a few other advantages, and this is definitely a web host worthy of your consideration.
Uptime of 99.95%
In our testing, InMotion’s uptime was well above average. We found an average of 99.95% in the past 24 months, easily earning the company a spot in our top 20 rankings for uptime.
Because of its nature, an average does not show you the highs and the lows, so we are also sharing the following average uptime ratings for each individual month. This way, you can see that even in the worst months, the uptime was still reasonable – and that those “bad” months were rare. You will also notice multiple months with 100% uptime, something few competitors can say.
- February 2019 – 99.98%
- March 2019 – 99.98%
- April 2019 – 99.99%
- May 2019 – 100%
- June 2019 – 99.95%
- July 2019 – 99.99%
- August 2019 – 99.74%
- September 2019 – 100%
- October 2019 – 99.99%
- November 2019 – 99.75%
- December 2019 – 100%
- January 2020 – 100%
Money-back Guarantee for 90 Days
While many web hosts offer a money-back guarantee, most of them only offer this for up to 30 days. InMotion offers three times this, with a guarantee that lasts as long as 90 days on reseller, VPS, and business hosting plans.
It is worth noting, however, that if you have a shared hosting plan, you will still get the industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee. Even that, however, is reasonable, as not all competitors offer something similar.
Free Migration
While some web hosts charge for website migration, InMotion offers this service for free. This can save you about $100 to $150 instantly, although InMotion is not the only host to offer free migrations.
You should also keep in mind that while the migration is free, you get no guarantee of zero downtime during the process. That is something that most web hosts regularly guarantee.
Amazing Customer Support
InMotion prides itself on being one of the customer service leaders in the web hosting industry, and we can confirm this claim is at least mostly true. The industry is unfortunately well known for poor customer service that can easily require weeks to solve problems that seem pretty straightforward.
Even with such low expectations for the industry, InMotion Hosting does well above average in terms of customer service. We not only interacted with its customer service team, but we also talked to other real customers to see how their experiences compare to our own.
From our experiences and those of real customers, customer support gained positive marks. We connected with a live support agent within just two minutes. Plus, they were able to professionally answer all of our questions in a timely manner, demonstrating a high level of knowledge.
Great Security and TDS
Anyone with a website should take cybersecurity seriously, especially given the recent major breaches, like that from Equifax. As DDoS, DoS, and brute force attacks increase, it is even more important than it used to be that you understand security protocols and know that your website is safe.
This is one of the high points for InMotion, thanks to its Smartwall Threat Defense System, known as TDS. TDS is a partnership between InMotion and Corero Network Security.
Corero’s TDS features provide protection against DDoS by detecting, mitigating, and eliminating any potential DDoS attacks, doing so in real-time.
The Corero TDS that you get as an InMotion client includes SmartWall, which is a slimline DDoS protection appliance with a ¼-wide, 1 RU form factor, and either 10 Gbps of full-duplex or 20 Gbps of unidirectional performance. The 1 RU can provide as much as 80 Gbps, while the 4 RU can deliver as much as 320 Gbps.
To put that in simple terms that everyone can understand, the TDS that InMotion uses is among the best-rounded and impressive systems you will find. This should give you peace of mind, thanks to its aggressive protection against DDoS and brute force attacks.
Numerous Integrations
It is common for web hosts to claim that they stand out in terms of integrations and applications. But based on our experience, InMotion is the web host that is best poised to make this claim. It claims to be a leader in terms of support for Open Source projects, and this shows.
There are more than 310 applications that you can easily integrate into your web hosting. This includes the ones you expect to find, like Drupal and WordPress, as well as e-commerce systems and shopping carts such as Magento and Prestashop.
By offering at least several times as many application integrations as most competitors, InMotion almost certainly has the one that you are looking for.
WordPress Users Get Sucuri Plugin
Speaking of WordPress, if you opt for the WordPress Hosting plan from InMotion, you will get the Sucuri plugin. This security plugin scans your site regularly in search of security risks and exploits. It also takes care of anti-virus and anti-spam protection and remote backups on an ongoing basis. This is a value-added feature that you will appreciate.
Leading E-commerce Support
Going back to the plugins and application integrations available from InMotion Hosting, those with e-commerce sites will appreciate the extensive support for these integrations. Prestashop, for example, is known for not integrating with most web hosts, with InMotion and SiteGround being among the only ones.
The range of e-commerce integrations makes it much easier to build and maintain an e-commerce experience. The integrations include payment processing as well, so you have less to worry about.
Integration With Google Apps
If the integration of more than 310 applications is somehow not enough for you, then InMotion also has seamless integration with Google Apps. You can connect your site with Google Apps in just three steps, all the while conveniently using a wizard that delivers step-by-step instructions for you.
This is a very important point, especially considering that setting up the connections to Drive, Docs, Gmail, and other Google Apps can be annoying if you are not experienced with the process, but the wizard makes it easy. To make this advantage even stronger, others like GoDaddy, make you use a different email client that is subpar and pay for the use. That really makes you appreciate the ease of integrating the actually-useful Google Apps.
Disadvantages of InMotion Hosting
Even with all of those advantages to InMotion Hosting, no web host is perfect. The following are some downsides of the web host that you should keep in mind as you make a decision.
Less than Stellar Server Speed
Perhaps the most important disadvantage to consider is InMotion’s server speed. Remember that having a quicker loading time helps you drop your bounce rate and increases your search engine rankings. After all, people do not want to have to wait for your page to load. As a rule of thumb, about half your traffic will bounce if the page does not load in two seconds or less.
While InMotion does load your page in less time than that, the average load time is 824 ms, which is far from impressive when compared to other companies. The following shows the average load times over a 12-month period:
- February 2019 – 950 ms
- March 2019 – 915 ms
- April 2019 – 944 ms
- May 2019 – 1,096 ms
- June 2019 – 760 ms
- July 2019 – 674 ms
- August 2019 – 665 ms
- September 2019 – 658 ms
- October 2019 – 706 ms
- November 2019 – 729 ms
- December 2019 – 676 ms
- January 2020 – 662 ms
Limitations in the Plans
While some of the features included in the InMotion plans, like free site restoration, help it stand out in a positive way, there are also some limitations worth mentioning.
One of these is that you do not get automated data backups unless you pay for them. This will cost you $2 per month for the first 10 GB and then an additional $1 per month for every extra 10 GB.
That may not seem like much, but it can quickly add up, especially if you have a large site. In fact, these fees may be enough to double the cost of your plan in cases of very large pages.
Best Deals When You Sign up for 24 Months
It is very common for web hosts to advertise a certain price but only offer it on long-term plans. Unfortunately, InMotion is no exception to this rule. Its advertised low rate requires you to sign up for a full 24 months. The cost per month will increase slightly if you want any term shorter than this.
While this is definitely not good news, it is a common tactic among web hosts. Additionally, a 24-month term is far from the worst as many hosts only offer their lowest rate if you sign up for 36 months, or sometimes more.
Verification Is Not Instant
Speaking of speed, if you want a speedy signup process, then InMotion may not be for you. While you can sign up online, InMotion requires phone verification of all new customers, which is a security measure. The result is that when you sign up, you do not instantly get access to your account.
This is particularly true for those outside of the United States. In some cases, you may also need to submit a photo of your ID.
These measures are certainly good from a security standpoint, but it is something worth considering, especially if you want your website up and running as quickly as possible.
InMotion Hosting Pricing and Plans
The following chart gives you a quick overview of what you can expect from the Launch, Power, and Pro plans, which are the options for shared or “business” hosting.
Launch | Power | Pro |
Ideal for: All skill levels | Ideal for: Small businesses | Ideal for: Growing businesses and developers |
$3.99 per month ($4.99/month if one-year contract) | $5.99 per month | $13.99 per month |
2 websites 6 parked domains25 subdomains2 MySQL databasesFree domainUnlimited disk spaceUnlimited emailUnlimited bandwidthSecurity suiteFree SSLMarketing tools | 6 websites 26 parked domains100 subdomains50 MySQL databases2x performanceFree domainUnlimited disk spaceUnlimited emailUnlimited bandwidthSecurity suiteFree SSLMarketing tools | Unlimited websites Unlimited parked domainsUnlimited subdomainsUnlimited MySQL databases4x performancePro-level supportFree domainUnlimited disk spaceUnlimited emailUnlimited bandwidthSecurity suiteFree SSLMarketing tools |
In other words, all of the plans give you a free domain, unlimited disk space, unlimited email, unlimited bandwidth, marketing tools, free SSL, and security suite. They build on each other by offering improved performance and support for more websites, parked domains, subdomains, and MySQL databases. They also all have a 90-day money-back guarantee.
It is also worth noting that there is a WordPress Hosting plan available, which is similar but has WordPress-oriented features.
Some Quick Takeaways
- Free domain
- ● Easy signup but verification takes extra time
- Payments include check, credit card, and purchase order
- cPanel is supported
- One-click access for hundreds of integrations
- 50,000 file limit per account
Our Recommendation
We do recommend InMotion, but we caution you to consider the negatives and positives before making a decision. The host has good support and uptime, but uptime and speed have been dropping in recent months. The good news is that you can try it out yourself with the 90-day money-back guarantee.