Many of the Web hosts today brag about their data centers, specifications, uptime and speed, talking about their very first data center and how they’ve grown. If anyone has any growth to brag about, though, it’s IX Web Hosting.
Before go to details, Let’s see their pricing list first:
Their very humble beginnings started in 1999, when their first data center was a server in someone’s living room. Now, they talk about their abilities as a global hosting company with international clients and a solid track record.
I decided to check out just how solid their track record really is, though, so that when you’re trying to make decision for a Web host for your niche Web site, you know where to turn next. Check out what I found out about this Columbus, Ohio-based company.
IX Web Hosting Plans and Pricing [Low Introductory Pricing] – Discuss all the hosting types, and their packages
Web Hosting: IX Web Hosting has three different shared Web hosting plans, all of which come with unlimited disk space, bandwidth and hosted domains. These Linux plans also include unlimited e-mail, spam filtering and malware monitoring, a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee, money-back guarantee and free Web site transfer. You get one included dedicated IP and can purchase additional IPs for a small fee. All of the plans come with a free seven-day trial.
Expert Plan ($3.95/month, normally $7.95/month): In addition to the unlimited features listed above, you get up to two total dedicated IPs — the free one, and you can add one more for $2 each month. You als get one free domain registration.
Unlimited Pro ($7.95/month, normally $14.95/month): You can access up to 15 IPs — one for free, and $1/month each for up to 14 more. You also get three free domain registrations.
Business Plus ($7.95/month;, normally $14.95/month): This comes with up to three total IPs, with one free and $1.50/month for each of up to two more, and you also get two free domain registrations.
VPS: Virtual Private Server hosting is available on both Linux and Windows, offering full root access, control panel, guaranteed uptime and system resources.
Linux and Windows plans include two dedicated IPs, your choice of cPanel or Plesk, unlimited hosting domains, burstable RAM, and complete admin/root access. You can choose your Linux-based operating system, from either CentOS and Debian. Windows users have the option of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008.
X4 (Linux: 54.95/month, normally $74.95/month or Windows: $69..95/month, normally $89.95/month) includes 4x CPU cores, 768 MB guaranteed RAM, 1500 GB data transfer and 50 GB storage.
X8 (Linux: $89.95/month, normally $97.95/month or Windows: $104.95/month, normally $112.95/month) includes 8x CPU cores, 2048 MB guaranteed RAM, 2000 GB data transfer and 100 GB storage.
Cloud Hosting
IX Web Hosting says their Cloud hosting is “hands-off and worry-free.” Fully-managed plans are fault-tolerant, with a 99.999 percent uptime. Plans include Web site migration, and their specialists guarantee to make sure every application and detail is moved exactly as you want. Cloud-based hosts are scanned regularly for malware, threats, and hacks.
Cloud customers are not charged for creating or stopping servers, only for used resources, like additional IP addresses, software, storage and CPU or RAM. If you only need the server for a few hours, you can create and destroy the server and only be charged for three hours of use.
Uptime of 99.92%
IX Web Hosting promises a 99.9 percent uptime, the same as industry standard, which puts your site down for about 43 minutes each month. While there are some that are faster, these are still excellent, considering the temperamental nature of technology; the more your site is up and running, the greater the chance you have of seeing Web visitors convert to customers.
Their averages show an uptime of 99.92 percent — above industry, and means your is down on average about 34 minutes each month. Their guarantee covers network, server, Web server, and service uptime, and you can request a service credit for uptime problems, as long as the uptime was affected by one of these conditions and not something outside of IX Web Hosting’s control.
Dedicated IP
Typically, when you are a customer of a Web hosting company, especially if you’re on a shared hosting plan, you, along with the other accounts hosted on the same server, will share an IP address, or an Internet Protocol address.
A dedicated IP let someone access your Web site without the domain name, helps to improve your reputation and business legitimacy, especially if you’ll be handling payments.
I love that every plan at IX Web Hosting includes a free dedicated IP, and allows you purchase additional IPs. Since most other hosts require you to pay an additional fee for an IP, the fact that the company has included this makes it a fantastic offer.
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
IX Web Hosting offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for customers within the first 30 days of their initial sign-up, and they’ll get all of their fees paid returned to them — the only fees not refundable are those paid for over-usage and domain costs, or for accounts that have been terminated.
In addition, the company’s terms of service also describe their 90-day money-back guarantee, where you can get a full refund for the current fees and and any future fees that have already been paid.
Again, you don’t get the money back for over-usage, set-up fees, and the domain registration, and you can’t use this if your account is terminated, but if you’ve followed their terms of service and still aren’t happy, this 90-day guarantee is one of the longest in the industry,
7 Day Free Trial
In case the money-back guarantee isn’t enough, IX Web Hosting lets you check out their company for free for seven days. You have a full week to learn more about them and see if their services are a fit for your Web hosting needs, and they won’t charge your credit card until the trial period is over.
I haven’t heard of many hosting companies giving you one full week, absolutely free, to see if you like their services, so I appreciate that IX Web Hosting wants to meet that need.
Free Website Transfer
This isn’t unique to IX Web Hosting, but it is important to note that they offer free site migration. Their specialists will work with you get every component of your site transferred over and ready to go, at no additional fee, which is quite refreshing when you compare them to the other companies who start tacking on upsells during the checkout process.
Customer Support
Their customer support, which is available by live chat, e-mail, and phone, isn’t supremely fast or detailed, which is disappointing. They have some knowledgeable representatives, but the overwhelming majority of customers talk about a slow and rather unhelpful process.
One click WordPress Install
I like their integration that makes WordPress extremely easy to install and lets you get started very quickly. They also make it easy to use other applications and content management software systems, whether open source options.
Some Negative Sides Too:
Control panel isn’t easy to use.
Shared hosting plans don’t include cPanel, which, for me, is getting started on the wrong foot right off the bat. If you are experienced or have been researching hosts, you’ve probably noticed that if you ever want to change hosts, you have a better chance of finding a free migration if you’ve got a site that uses cPanel.
Aside from that, IX Web Hosting uses its own control panel, which means you don’t have any chance of an easy site migration. It can be rather confusing, and unlike other hosts who use their own control panel, this one is not a favorite among most customers.
Pros and Cons in a while [Only short form of sentence, bullet points]
Pros:
- Extremely long and generous 30- and 90-day money-back guarantees that are easy to request and provide fantastic peace of mind.
- Seven-day trial to let you see if you like IX Web Hosting, absolutely free.
- Great uptime, decent page loading speeds, and unlimited components to plans that aren’t overwhelming to understand.
- Free IP for your account, and an option to add more for a slight fee.
Cons:
- The page load speeds, while they aren’t horrible, aren’t the greatest, either, which can be frustrating for your Web site visitors.
- No cPanel means you could experience short-term difficulty and long-term headaches.
- They push quite a few add-ons during checkout.
- There is an extra fee for monthly or quarterly contracts and a significant price increase upon renewal.
Final Verdict:
IX Web Hosting is doing many things right, with the free dedicated IP, the free trial, and two different money-back guarantees. Unfortunately, though, the mediocre speed, lack of customer support, and pushiness for add-ons can detract from their service.
I don’t recommend IX Web Hosting primarily, though, because they use their own control panel, which will keep you from a smooth migration when you choose to switch hosts.
IX Web Hosting is one of the earliest hosting companies to arrive on the scene. It began operations in 1999. Over time IX has become the leading hosting service provider all over the world. They claim and deliver top-quality security to your website. Also, the uptime of 99.99% is constant over time. Once in, you’ll not have to look for any other home for your website.
The company has 3n+1 data centers that keep your website running for the maximum time if by chance the principal mechanism fails.
They have step by step video tutorials that cover each aspect of their hosting brilliantly. You can easily reach them on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus for your problems. The community offers priority to the newest members while guiding the existing ones through different issues that you may encounter.
The customer service of IX is up close and personal. The company helps the customers through Email, the enriched knowledge base, phone, and even online chatting. The unique USP of IX Web Hosting is that they measure each client individually and by the length of their chat and phone calls. This allows users to get a hold of complicated issues in a better way.
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