InMotion Hosting Review

InMotion Hosting is a popular hosting company with more than 15 years of business track record.

In 2009, InMotion Hosting gave me a free shared hosting account (the “Launch” plan) for review purpose. I got hooked and became their loyal customer.

Today – almost a decade later, I pay InMotion Hosting a few hundreds dollars (on VPS plan) every year to host this site you are reading.

In this review, I am going to show you everything you need to know about this web host as a shopper – pros & cons, plans and pricing, server uptime data, etc. Let’s find out if they are the right web host that fits your needs.

About InMotion Hosting

• Head quarter: Los Angeles, California
• Established: 2001
• Services: Shared, VPS, dedicated, and reseller hosting

Reference: WHSR’s WhoIs Record

I pay InMotion Hosting $500+ every year to host this website.

Check WebHostingSecretRevealed.net WhoIs record to verify that this site is hosted on InMotion Hosting.

Table of Content / Quick link

Pros of InMotion Hosting

1. Solid Hosting Performance: Uptime > 99.95%, TTFB < 450ms

InMotion Hosting server performance is unparalleled in current budget hosting market.

Their server uptime is consistently well above industry standard 99.95%.

Server response times, tested from multiple locations using Bitcatcha and WebpageTest, are all below 450ms.

Below are the server performance data I have gathered through out the years (go back as far as 2013).

InMotion Hosting Speed Tests

Server Speed Test at Bitcatcha

Time-to-First-Byte (TTFB) Based on Webpage Test

InMotion Hosting Uptime

Jul/Aug 2018: 100%

Jun/Jul 2018: 100%

Old Records (2013 – early 2018)

* Click to enlarge image. 

2. Topnotch Live Chat Support

At the customer support ends, InMotion Hosting offers:

• 90-day money back guarantee, which is #1 in hosting industry (more about this later),
• Multiple support channels (ticket system, Skype, phone, live chat, emails), and
• Good billing practice – where users can refund or cancel account easily

InMotion Hosting is best known with its superior customer service (the company is BBB Accredited since 23/6/2003 and scores A+ with BBB Busines Review) and is rated as one of the top hosting providers by many well-known hosting review sites. As such, bloggers normally regard InMotion Hosting as the web host for businesses and corporate users – people who have high expectations on after-sales supports.

Their live chat support was one of the best in my undercover experiment in August 2017. The live chat support staff responded in less than 60 seconds and solved my questions quickly.

Recent live chat record

I did another field test in 2018 (when I was updating this review) – my experience was equally good.

* Click image to enlarge. 

Feedback from other users

I am not the only one who thinks InMotion Hosting is doing a good job in customer supports.

* Click image to enlarge. 

3. Free Site Migration Service for All New Customers

It doesn’t matter that you are subscribing to their cheapest shared hosting plans or VPS – InMotion Hosting provide free site migration request for all new customers.

How to file a site migration request

Why sweat on site migration? You can just let InMotion Hosting to do the heavy lifting.

Click here for more info from InMotionHosting.com (affiliate links).

4. One-stop Solution: All Hosting Features You Need in One Plan

InMotion’s shared hosting plans basically cover everything you need to start a blog or e-commerce site.

These features include:

• Full SSD storage,
• Free SSL certificates ready (Auto SSL),
• No hard limit for inodes (for Pro plan),
• Daily automated site backup,
• PHP 7 ready – that helps your sites load 50% faster,
• Email hosting and easy to use webmail system,
• SSH and SFTP access,
• Pre-configured CMS during order,
• Choice of server locations between U.S. East and West Coast, and
• Softaculous ready – which you can install up to 400 apps in a few clicks

Host and send your emails from InMotion Hosting 

InMotion Hosting email is easy to use. Users can create, manage, and login to their emails from Account Management Panel (AMP) or cPanel.

InMotion Hosting supports three webmail agents: RoundCube, SquirrelMail, and Horde.

Select Server Location and Pre-Configure CMS

You can select your server location (West or East Coast of United States) and pre-configure your CMS when you order InMotion Hosting.

* Update: Shown in the .GIF image are old prices. InMotion Hosting has increased their price to $3.99/mo in June 2018. 

No hard limit for inodes on Business Hosting plan

Note that InMotion Hosting does not set a hard limit on inodes count.

While most others (at similar price range) limit 100,000 – 250,000 inodes per account.

Free SSL (cPanel’s Default Auto SSL)

For most informational websites, the level of acceptance provided by InMotion Hosting’s free SSL is adequate.

For shared or reseller hosting users, follow the instructions given below to activate your free SSL. For VPS or dedicated hosting users, the “Manage Free SSL” is not available in your AMP dashboard; you will need to do it in your WHM instead.

Also – unlike SiteGround or A2 Hosting, you cannot auto install Let’s Encrypt at InMotion Hosting. You can, however, access to your server root and install Let’s Encrypt manually. You can find the detail instructions in this tutorial.

5. Plenty of room to grow

You don’t have to worry about your website outgrowing your host with InMotion Hosting.

The company offers a wide range of VPS and dedicated hosting plans – there are plenty of room to grow.

Feeling confused? Which InMotion Hosting plans to go with? 

Some times, there are too many choices with InMotion Hosting and users get confused and undecided.

In case you are one of them, here’s my advice.

First, you have to choose between InMotion’s Shared Hosting (aka. Business Hosting), VPS, and dedicated servers.

If you need server root access or special security features or custom software, then VPS or dedicated servers are your options.

Otherwise, (very) high chance that you would be alright with the lowest end package – the Business Class Hosting.

InMotion has three different packages with Business Class Hosting – Launch, Power, and Pro.

The main differences between these three packages are the limits on addon domains and mySQL databases. you can run on. Launch, Power and Pro supports 2/6/25 addon domain, 6/26/unlimited parked domain, and 2/50/200 MySQL databses respectively. So, if you are starting with one domain, go with Launch (remember, you can always upgrade your plan at later stage). If you are running with 3 or more different domains, then go with Power or Pro. Simple!

6. 90 days money back guarantee

InMotion Hosting offers the longest full refund trial period in the hosting market (see TOS quoted below).

When you signup to InMotion Hosting, you get a 90 days of trial period to cancel your account and ask for full refund.

InMotion Hosting’s Service Terms & Guarantees

All 6 month and longer term hosting plans for our Business, VPS and Reseller Hosting packages are covered by our unmatched 90-day money back guarantee. All Dedicated Severs and all monthly billed VPS and Reseller Hosting packages are eligible for a full refund for 30 days.

– Source

7.  Exclusive Discount (Save 57%) on InMotion Hosting

Click here to visit the special discount page at InMotionHosting.com*

* Affiliate link

Cons of InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting is one of the few that were rated 5-star at WHSR.

But this doesn’t mean they are all bells and whistles – here are a few drawbacks you need to know.

1. Increment on Renewal Price

New users get a special one-time discounts when they first signup to InMotion Hosting. However, you will need to pay a higher price during renewal. The standard renewal prices, for 24-months subscription, for Launch/Power/Pro are $7.99/9.99/15.99 per month.

While this is sort of the industry norms for hosting companies nowadays – I read quite a number of complaints due to this matter.

If this is an issue for you – I recommend sticking with hosting companies that do not jack up their renewal price (ie. Interserver).

2. No instant account activation

InMotion operates on some very tight fraud prevention policies where all new customers will need to verify their purchase via phone.

While this might sound nothing for those living in United States, it’s inconvenient for users who are living outside U. S.

I live in Malaysia and I do not like this feature personally, mainly because issues with long distance phone calls: time zone gap and bad reception.

However, the good thing about this is that InMotion users get to host in a safer environment with spammers and fraudsters as neighbors.

InMotion Hosting Plans

Shared Hosting Plans: Launch, Power, Pro

InMotion Hosting offers three shared web hosting plans: Launch, Power and Pro. Here are the main features that differentiate the three.

* Note: U/L = Unlimited. All shared hosting prices based on orders with our special promotion and three-year subscription.

VPS Hosting Plans: 1000HA, 2000HA, 3000HA

There are three plans for managed VPS hosting: 1000HA-S, 2000HA-s, and 3000HA-s (weird name, don’t ask me how they got the idea). Here are the main features for these VPS plans.

* Note: All VPS hosting prices based on one-year subscription.

(Affiliate links)

InMotion Hosting Alternatives & Comparison

For those who want something similar but NOT InMotion Hosting, I recommend A2 Hosting and SiteGround.

Both companies offer solid hosting services for different kind of users (shared, VPS, dedicated, WordPress managed) at reasonable prices.

Note – Also read Tim’s article SiteGround vs BlueHost vs InMotion Hosting.

InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting vs SiteGround

SiteGround is established in 2004 and has offices in Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States.

Both InMotion Hosting and SiteGround are well-known for its solid server performance and helpful technical supports. InMotion Hosting is cheaper and comes with 90 days money back guarantee. SiteGround, on the other hand, comes with better features (such as built-in cache, NGINX, etc) and choices of server locations in United States, Europe, and Asia.

Also read – My detail SiteGround review and test results here.

InMotion Hosting vs A2 Hosting

Also read – My detail A2 Hosting review and test results here.

InMotion Hosting vs BlueHost

BlueHost is another popular choice that shoppers like to compare with InMotion Hosting (which is why I am including them in this comparison section).

Our data suggests that InMotion Hosting is better in term of server performance and live chat support. BlueHost, however, is ~15% cheaper than InMotion Hosting in long term.

Also read – My detail BlueHost review and test results here.

* Note: Hosting prices checked and updated on July, 2018. For best accuracy please visit hosting companies’ websites (both are affiliate links):

• A2 Hosting: https://www.a2hosting.com/
• SiteGround: https://www.siteground.com/ 
• BlueHost: https://www.bluehost.com/ 

Verdict: InMotion Hosting – Yes or No?

To recap, here’s what I like and dislike of InMotion Hosting.

If you are looking for a hosting provider that offers scalability, top class server performance, and great after sales support – InMotion Hosting is your answer.

Who should host at InMotion Hosting?

InMotion Hosting has pretty much everything you need for a small to mid-size websites. The web host is highly recommended for:

• Small-to-medium size business websites
• Forums (SMF, vBulletin, phpBB can be installed at a few clicks)
• New-to-large size WordPress blog
• Joomla and Drupal sites.

Order InMotion Hosting 

Click: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/business-hosting/

* Affiliate link