InMotion Hosting Review

 Harper Wilson | Updated on March 22, 2023

As a prominent name in the web hosting sphere, InMotion Hosting has been consistently delivering robust and reliable hosting solutions since its inception in 2001. With a strong focus on performance, security, and customer satisfaction, InMotion Hosting has carved out a niche for itself among businesses and individuals seeking a dependable hosting partner.

In this review, we will explore the key aspects of InMotion Hosting, such as their range of hosting plans, commitment to cutting-edge technology, and exceptional customer service, to help you determine if they are the right choice for your website's hosting needs.

InMotion Hosting Overview

InMotion Hosting has been around since 2001; it started off as a Southern California company dedicated to helpìng small business owners get online. These days, InMotion has more than 300 employees at three offices in the United States; the company's data centers are located in Southern California and Northern Virginia. In 2018, InMotion reported that it had set an internal hosting records with more than 300,000 registered domains.

About InMotion Hosting

The company made headlines in 2010 by opening the first Green Data Center in North America; this was accomplished by implementing Outside Air Cooling technology in order to reduce the carbon footprint generated by cooling systems. In addition to standard web hosting packages, InMotion also offers shared solutions, virtual private servers, hosting reseller packages, dedicated solutions, WordPress optimization, Cloudflare CDN, custom server deployments, and even website design.

Who Uses InMotion Hosting?

InMotion Hosting has been able to amass a nice portfolio of business clients, most of them owners of small and mid-sized businesses across many industries. The reseller option has attracted many freelancers, self-employed web developers, and e-commerce specialists.

This company also operates Web Hosting Hub, an affordable provider of web hosting services geared towards sole owners of companies, artists, bloggers, and micro e-commerce operators. Whereas Web Hosting Hub limits its services to shared packages and WordPress, InMotion Hosting offers more comprehensive hosting options with greater flexibility.

InMotion Hosting Servers

The technology used by InMotion runs on stacks of Dell servers connected by routers, switches, and controllers manufactured by Cisco and Brocade. The InMotion backbone (concentrated in the United States) is housed in two large data centers; one in California and the other in Virginia, but CloudFlare CDN is available for clients with specific geolocation requirements.

InMotion Hosting Data Centers

60+ cities spread out in five continents

All servers run Linux instances powered by Intel processors on solid state drives for maximum performance. InMotion stands out as being one of the first to switch to all-SSD data centers. InMotion Hosting SSL security and automated data backups are provided for free.

inmotion hosting peering exchanges
InMotion Peering Exchanges

The InMotion Hosting nameservers are operated separately for shared, virtual, and dedicated accounts; clients who are registered as resellers use separate IP addresses that can be customized based on business needs.

InMotion Hosting Uptime vs Downtime

The network uptime marketed by InMotion is 99.9%, and this claim historically holds up on benchmark tests conducted by trusted sources such as Pingdom.com. In March 2019,  example, the recorded uptime was 100% with a single downtime period of just two minutes the following month. "InMotion Hosting down" status messages and outages are not very common and generally last under a minute.

Inmotion hosting Average Uptime for 6 months
Average Uptime for 6 months

Ping response times for InMotion Hosting status are fantastic across North America and Europe, particularly for clients who subscribe to the VPS and Business Class packages that feature Max Speed Zone options. With all this in mind, the chances of seeing an "InMotion Hosting down" message are slim.

Speed and Page Loading Performance

Even though uptime should be the most important hosting factor for prospective clients to consider, quite a few will focus on page loading speed. The average InMotion Hosting review places this provider near the top in terms of speed, and this can be attributed to the peering arrangements that the company has in place with ISPs from around the world to support direct data connections; this results in average page loading times of 755 milliseconds, which is about 6% faster than the competition.

InMotion Hosting Load time from January to March
Load time from January to March

You can test Inmotion speeds from their Max Speed Zone page, which allows you to download 5MB and 10MB files from their two data centers. It should be noted that Max Speed Zones are made available to Business Class hosting clients.

Bandwidth Capacity

Unlimited bandwidth and disk space are major selling points of InMotion shared hosting plans; however, users should pay close attention to their terms of service. While there is no metering of bandwidth in the shared plans, this refers to website files. If you plan on using InMotion as a digital storage solution for your personal files, you will notice that the quality of service no longer applies.

Inmotion hosting Unlimited Bandiwdth terms and conditions
Unlimited Bandiwdth terms and conditions

In the case of VPS plans, the bandwidth will be limited by the terms of your contract; should you exceed it, you will see an InMotion Hosting cPanel screen alerting you of the situation, and your pages will not be served until the contract rolls over to the next month. Users who expect significant traffic spikes should consider implementing a CloudFlare CDN solution within their InMotion Hosting plans.

InMotion Hosting Solutions

There are different types of hosting plans that each have their own pros and cons. For someone just starting out, the hosting types available is of crucial consideration, since this largely determines infrastructure scalability. Thankfully, InMotion Hosting offers a wide array of options that cater to both small businesses and large enterprises.

Different InMotion Hosting Solutions
Different InMotion Hosting Solutions

The most popular option for the average website owner, shared web hosting, can be augmented to Business Class for a speedier performance. Additional options include optimized WordPress Hosting, allocated InMotion Hosting webmail, customized server solutions, dedicated servers and reseller programs.

InMotion Hosting Pricing Plans and Fees

From the types of hosting above, the most affordable InMotion Hosting plan is Business Hosting. It starts at $6.39 per month. This includes multiple email accounts plus free domain registration and SSL certificates. WordPress hosting is also very popular, and it starts at $6.99 per month.

business hosting plans of inmotion
inmotion hosting business hosting plans

Launch Assist is a special feature ideal for beginners and seasoned webmasters alike; this shared hosting plan allows you to publish and manage two websites, but you can always upgrade to six websites with the Power Plan, which include extras such as hosting on servers that offer more CPU power and RAM.

At the higher end of the InMotion shared hosting spectrum, the Pro Plan gives you unlimited websites, a suite of security tool, marketing and SEO features, and greater server performance for just $10.49 per month; this plan provides the best value for clients because they can host unlimited websites including landing pages

InMotion Hosting Unique Features

A big consideration when choosing the right host for you lie on the features included in packages. While many hosting providers have their own perks, in the highly competitive hosting market, InMotion Hosting stands out thanks to the following extras:

Inmotion hosting features

Free domain registration

This is a $15 savings right off the bat, and it is not offered by many competitors.

Free Data backup systems

You have the choice of backing up all your website data with just one click or through automated scheduling.

Drag-and-drop website builder

The InMotion proprietary website builder allows you to design stylish websites with ease. The intuitive user interface follows a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get philosophy, and you also have numerous add-ons such as eShop, image galleries, themes, message boards, advanced templates with JavaScript elements, and more.

Secure InMotion Hosting login module

The Account Management Panel (AMP) offers two-factor authentication (2FA) functionality. If you opt for a VPS or dedicated server plan, you can set up root access and authorization. If you choose cPanel (Read more: cPanel Guide) to manage your websites, the InMotion Hosting login module can be accessed from AMP or from specific URLs.

Free SSL certificates

The savings provided by this option range between $7 and $100 per year. InMotion is compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), but if your websites host databases that contain personal financial information, you may want to look into purchasing your own SSL certificates.

Further security is provided by Patchman, a free software agent that scans websites for issues and provides automatic fixes as well as updates whenever they are needed.

Enhanced WordPress hosting

InMotion is a leading hosting provider for WordPress applications. The starter $6.99 WP plan is hosted on an optimized stack, which means that it runs on servers configured specifically to run WP. When it comes to designing a WP site, you can do it on your own by using BoldGrid, a special InMotion builder that offers a staging environment where you can conduct various tests before going live. A more comprehensive WP design solution involves professional design by InMotion specialists; this costs $99 and takes just a couple of days.

Your options for supercharging your WP projects can be enhanced with the WP-2000S plan, which at just $7.99 per month gives will cover two websites and enough bandwidth to handle 50,000 monthly visitors. The WP-3000S plan allows management of three WP sites to welcome 125,000 monthly visitors, and it only costs $10.99 per month.

Google Apps integration

Dedicated hosting plans allow you to use Gmail and Google Docs

MySQL, Ruby, and PHP support

If you intend to code your own websites, you will find that InMotion Hosting supports various programming platforms and updates.

InMotion Hosting Customer Support

When it comes to customer service, the first thing to notice about InMotion Hosting is that their testimonials page features dozens of positive comments from clients who have agreed to be contacted about their opinions. The preferred method of handling technical and billing issues is through online chat, and initial contact messages tend to be responded in minutes.

InMotion Hosting support is considered to be among the best in the industry, and the company goes as far as offering a 90-day money back guarantee on their VPS, business, and reseller hosting plans.

Telephone support is also provided, but it is limited for the starter shared hosting plans; once you get into Business Class plans, you can expect a higher level of customer service from telephone support channels. InMotion agents who provide technical, billing, and sales support are based in the U.S., and they are available around the clock.

InMotion Hosting office address and support hotlines
InMotion Hosting office address and support hotlines

While upselling does take place from time to time, it is always provided within context; for example, if you exceeded your allotted bandwidth within your VPS plan, you will be reminded that other plans can handle more web traffic, but you will not be pushed into them.

Inmotion hosting main customer support

Questions related to InMotion Hosting nameservers, MX records, SSL certificates, domain registration, WP plugins, and other technical issues are usually responded within minutes by knowledgeable staff.

Final Thoughts About InMotion Hosting

Users who prefer making web hosting decisions based on the known pros and cons of providers will be happy to know that InMotion Hosting offers more advantages than disadvantages:

PROS

  • Friendly and knowledgeable U.S.-based support personnel available 24 hours a day. In recent years, the company has been able to expand its customer service centers to better serve their growing client base, and this has resulted in short waiting times when tickets are submitted.
  • InMotion offers numerous self-support options on their website. The tutorials are easy to learn, and they have step-by-step instructions.
  • The uptime alone makes InMotion a market leader. Not many hosting providers are able to consistently maintain a 99.9% uptime. Page loading times are on par and even faster than competitors, but reliability will always be more important.
  • Truly dedicated WordPress hosting is a nice touch, and it is provided at very reasonable pricing. While some purists will actually prefer setting up WP on their own, they should strongly consider the WP-specific plans offered by InMotion because they really make a difference; furthermore, the BoldGrid builder for WP websites gets very positive reviews.
  • When you take into consideration all the freebies that InMotion gives you even with starter accounts, it is easy to see that this is a company that wants to become a market leader. The free domain registration and SSL certificates alone are worth the monthly price of all plans, and the free data backup is not something that only a handful of competitors offer.

CONS

  • When you dig into the terms of service of InMotion plans, you will notice some limitations. The aforementioned feature of unlimited disk space and bandwidth, for example, only applies to shared hosting business plans, and it does not extend to files that are not on the main web server account; this means that FTP directories packed with large files could slow things down.
  • The starter WP plans run very fast; however, once you start getting a lot of visitor traffic, you will likely have to upgrade. The advantage in this regard is that InMotion pricing is very reasonable, but you may experience an operational hiccup before the upgrade arrangement.

In the end, choosing InMotion Hosting in 2019 is a smart idea. The uptime and money-back guarantee make InMotion hosting very attractive for both individuals and business owners, and the value-added features as well as the solid customer service cannot be ignored.

The InMotion Hosting status as a quality provider of website hosting services has improved in recent years, and it looks as if it will continue to do so in 2020. Accordingly, The Nomad Intel highly recommends this hosting provider. If you need another recommendation, then check out our Siteground review.

Frequently Asked Questions

The easiest way to access cPanel is to do so from the InMotion Hosting login of your Account Management Panel; simply click or tap on the orange cPanel logo, which usually appears on the upper left corner. Another option is to access from the URL, like this: yourdomain.com/cpanel or cpanel.yourdomain.com. If you are on a dedicated plan, you will have to create a cPanel account from the Web Host Manager, which you can find in your AMP next to the Reset Password icon; you will have to click on Create a New Account, complete the Domain Information window, select a package, and configure the DNS settings.