Founded in 1999, InterServer.net has 23+ years of hosting experience. It’s the premier hosting provider for individuals, startups, and eCommerce platforms that want to use WordPress to launch a website or application. InterServer WordPress hosting features MySQL databases, free website-building tools, e-mails, unlimited bandwidth, and disk space. It comes with an easy-to-use cPanel and is highly recommended for both beginners and experienced web developers.
Many in the hosting niche know it for its sophisticated cheap WordPress hosting plans, making it the best in the field. It offers its clients unlimited resources that include 24/7 customer support, among others. In this article, you’ll learn why InterServer is the best web hosting for WordPress websites. You’ll find out about its WordPress hosting plans, why you may need a specialized hosting plan, and much more. Read on to keep learning.
Interserver WordPress Hosting Overall
John Quaglieri and Mike Lavrik started the company the world today knows as InterServer back in their teenage years when dial-up internet ruled this space. Their efforts seem to have succeeded, as the company is now the best WordPress hosting platform.
Mike and John got the idea to create InterServer after becoming fed up with the hosting options that were available at the time. As tech-savvy teenagers, they relied on their strong foundation of tech expertise and customer support to begin offering hosting plans.
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WordPress Hosting 4.6 |
InterServer has grown to become a refreshing and increasingly independent managed WordPress hosting platform. It’s a platform built on state-of-the-art infrastructure that’s assembled, implemented, and supported at its New Jersey-based data center.
Its cheap WordPress hosting plans come with all the bells and whistles you would expect to find at a top-tier hosting provider. In a nutshell, some of the features that InterServer provides to its WordPress clients include:
- $7.99 domains
- Free migrations
- Power-packed SSDs that are faster than traditional SATA hard drives
- SSL certificates
- And more
A rookie site owner may feel intimidated by its long list of features. But each feature will assist all customers to succeed in their hosting endeavors. When it comes to WordPress hosting costs, you can rest assured that InterServer can duke it out with the best of the best.
Its plans become even more affordable as your application or WordPress website grows to dedicated or VPS hosting plans. And this is more so when you look at benefits such as the presence of IT-minded co-founders.
The co-founders typically reply to customer tickets and man its data center, ensuring around-the-clock customer service availability. InterServer will provide you with a price-lock guarantee regardless of the type of hosting you need.
What does this mean? Well, it means that the price you pay when you first sign up is the same price you’ll continue to pay for the duration of your membership. However, this will change if you decide to add new features or upgrade your account.
All these features and the fact that InterServer will never surprise you with a rate increase are what make it the best web hosting for WordPress websites. Truth be told, not many hosting providers can offer such a guarantee!
When you combine this with its average setup time of 4 minutes, 30-day money-back guarantee, and unlimited disk space, it becomes hard to resist its offerings.
Pricing
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Pricing 4.9 |
Starting at $6.00 per month, InterServer WordPress hosting services are among the cheapest in the market today. At this rate, the platform guarantees you an optimized WordPress installation process taking no longer than 20 minutes from start to finish.
The company is on record stating that it has gone out of its way to way to offer the best WordPress plans you can hope to find online. Its pricing is dependent on several factors, e.g., the number of CPU cores, desired memory size, disk space, and transfer rate.
On this basis, you’ll find that the cheapest plan is $6.00 per month. It will come with: 1 CPU core, 2048MB (RAM), 30GB SSD storage, and 2TB transfer. If you opt for its most expensive version, you’ll need to part with $96.00 per month.
For this premium rate, you can expect to receive access to 16 CPU cores, 32768MB(RAM), 480GB SSD storage, and 32 TB transfer. As you can see, the InterServer-managed WordPress hosting plans are many and diverse, with each having something unique to offer.
Regardless of the pricing plan you choose, InterServer will provide the following:
- OPcache PHP accelerator
- Supercharged with Nginx and fast CGI
- The fastest cache plugin preconfigured
- Optimized heartbeat control
- Preconfigured with FastCGI, Nginx
- Optimized WordPress cron
WordPress Hosting Plans
WordPress was initially released as a blogging platform in 2003. With time it has evolved into a multi-purpose content management system with tens of thousands of themes and plugins. One interesting factor to note is that as it grows, so does its user base!
Initially, the platform was primarily used by bloggers. It has, however, evolved to become a home for news organizations, ecommerce businesses, and other site owners. And to prove just how popular it is, statistics show that every two out of five websites available online use WordPress.
The following is a look at the most popular WordPress hosting plans in use today.
Standard Web Hosting
InterServer WordPress hosting offers 65% off standard web hosting starting at $2.50 per month. According to InterServer, standard hosting is the package you’ll want to purchase if your desire is to blog about the latest memes or put your business online.
The platform describes it as a one-size-fits-all package having straightforward pricing and 24/7 managed support. Some of the standard features provided under standard-managed WordPress hosting include the following:
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Standard Hosting 4.3 |
- Free SSL certificates
- Unlimited ULTRA SSD Storage
- Free Website Migration
- 450+ Cloud Apps (it offers 461 scripts, all of which are available for one-click installations)
- Intershield Protection (helps in blocking web attacks through the use of an in-house malware database, machine learning firewall, and automatic virus scanner)
- SitePad Website Builder
- Global Content Caching
- Unlimited E-Mail Accounts
WordPress VPS
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Standard Hosting 4.3 |
Starting at only $6.00 a month, InterServer uses its WordPress VPS solution to provide WordPress dedicated resources. The design of its VPS is dedicated to optimizing your WordPress website.
Compared to the standard VPS, the WordPress VPS hosting plan helps in maximizing website efficiency and functionality. All this is aimed at enabling you to enjoy a whole new level of WordPress experience.
Features of the WordPress VPS hosting plan includes the following:
- 99.9% uptime guarantee. The guarantee covers infrastructure, network, and hardware, and assures you that you’ll receive your money back if the platform ever falls short on its promises.
- Instant provision: It’s a feature that allows you to complete the WordPress installation process and have the site operational in no time.
- High performance storage using SSDs that are up to 20x times faster than normal SATA disk drives.
- Flexible software options having full root access. With this access, you’ll get to install and make changes to the different applications needed to manage a website.
- Multiple language servers
- Easy control panel
Managed WordPress Hosting
InterServer provides a managed WordPress hosting service which sees it handle everything related to your site, leaving you to focus on running your business or blog.
Here, InterServer handles everything from updating WordPress to performing backups and ongoing security checks and only costs you an affordable price of $8.00 per month.
This is really suitable for complete beginners as it takes a massive load off your shoulders.
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Managed WordPress 4.5 |
Its features include the following:
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- 24/7 customer support
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Unlimited storage space
- Unlimited FTP accounts
- Price lock guarantee
WordPress Hosting Features
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Features 4.9 |
InterServer WordPress hosting is one of the top choices for both beginner and experienced web developers. We like it because it offers its clients affordable pricing plans, as seen earlier, advanced programming and development tools, unlimited e-mails, and 24/7 customer support.
Its hosting plans offer high-speed data transfer backed by solid routers programmed to help maintain a consistent user experience by decreasing the overall load time. It uses a BGPv4 routing protocol to enable you to retrieve files from any pathway.
While InterServer doesn’t provide its users with supplementary marketing tools, features, and SEO, it makes up for this with unlimited resource allotment and affordable pricing. Additionally, its customer support can be reached via phone or live chat at any time.
Custom Domains
Most WordPress hosting solution providers will place a limit on the number of isolated websites that a developer can create on their plans. Even if you have enough space to onboard a small project, the hosting provider will typically limit you to using subdomains.
You may also lack access to the databases you need to complete a WordPress install.
With InterServer, things are different because you can open and operate as many databases as you want. Furthermore, you have the option to add extra domains that are all running entirely separate websites.
It’s what makes InterServer the best WordPress hosting solutions provider, as it allows you to make the most out of your WordPress hosting plan. This feature is particularly important if you’re not expecting to receive too much traffic on your websites.
Unfortunately, InterServer doesn’t offer free e-mail in any of its WordPress plans. What it does have in place of this is an affordably priced private e-mail hosting plan, which retails at $2.50 per month for one year.
With affordable e-mail hosting, you get access to the following top features:
- Brute-Force Protection: InterServer will take care of all attacks executed against your e-mail inboxes and will ensure that it blocks all forms of malicious activities.
- Website Included: Besides the affordable e-mail, you’ll also enjoy all the features InterServer’s Cloud Web Hosting package provides. You can use it to install WordPress or build a custom website.
- Anonymous Email: Get a chance to protect your privacy as no personal information is needed for you to get a secure e-mail account. InterServer doesn’t maintain an IP log, allowing your privacy needs to come first.
Support
If you ever need customer support, you’ll be glad to note that InterServer-managed WordPress hosting provides it via four channels. These are Messenger, 24/7 live chat, e-mail, and phone.
For users who like to take matters into their own hands, we recommend making your way into its extensive knowledge base that’s filled with tutorials, guides, and other informative articles. The epic support team is the number one reason to join this hosting provider.
Customers using the live chat option will typically have a wait time of ten minutes or less. And the best part about it is that you’ll get to chat with a real human instead of a bot! Remember, the customer service department is managed by one of the co-founders.
Overall, the support offered by InterServer is above average. However, its knowledge base can do with some better management. It’s currently messy, making it challenging to determine which tutorial to use for a given problem.
Security
InterServer WordPress Hosting doesn’t leave anything to chance when it comes to the security of its platform. The cheap WordPress hosting provider includes an SSL certificate with every WordPress hosting plan you buy from it today.
It additionally performs weekly backups to shore up its security. All its clients are provided with Inter-Insurance and InterShield protection, which are security solutions developed by its team of in-house developers.
Intershield, its native security suite, comes with four tools designed to help detect and prevent all attacks on your website. These tools include the following:
- An in-house malware database
- Automatic virus scanner programmed to perform regular scans
- Web attack blocking
- Machine-learning firewall
While there’s not much information available on Inter-Insurance, InterServer states that this security package works for those whose websites are hacked or infected. It promises to get to the bottom of the issue, restore the site, and ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
Migration Tools
WordPress hosting costs are notoriously high, causing many website owners to frown upon any other additional services that the host may offer. Luckily, this is something that you don’t have to worry about when using InterServer WordPress hosting solutions.
The free migration service enables customers to seamlessly transfer a website they have hosted elsewhere onto their new InterServer account. InterServer guarantees that this gets to happen with little to no downtime.
As a developer, you can trust the InterServer team of developers to transfer the website with great care and precision, regardless of the hosting solution or control panel you’re using. The platform is proud of what it does and shows this off by offering great service to its clients.
What’s included in the free migration service?
- Assistance with domain registration transfer
- Full communication throughout the website migration process
- Complete migration of all types of all e-mails, databases, and site files
- Assistance with changing nameservers
- Migrations completed within 1-2 days
Free Trial
InterServer doesn’t offer a free trial, but it provides a package that’s close to a free trial. The company understands that consumers need to test out a service before paying for it, but they are afraid that making the service available for all will lead to abuse.
As such, clients interested in trying out the InterServer WordPress hosting services are advised to try out its nearly free trial, which goes for only $0.01. Yes, you read that right. If you do sign up, this is the only amount that InterServer will charge for the first thirty days of use.
During this period, you’ll have access to all the features that come with your account. Based on your experiences, you have the option to set the InterServer account not to re-bill automatically once the trial period ends.
Money-Back Guarantee
Although InterServer is one of the best WordPress hosting solutions available today, there are various reasons why you may want to cancel your account after signing up. For example, it may be due to poor services or because you have found a better offer elsewhere.
As such, it’s always important to know that you can opt out of your subscription if the need arises. To this end, the InterServer terms of service state that a client can request a refund provided the request meets the terms spelled out in the agreement.
Clients who want to take advantage of this money-back guarantee are encouraged to reach out to InterServer via [email protected]. In their e-mail, they should include the last four digits of their credit card number and the domain name in question.
Performance
As with everything else we have seen in this review up to this point, InterServer’s performance is pretty much standard. The cheap hosting provider shows a reliable uptime of 99.99%, impressive website loading times, and above-average server speeds when put under pressure.
It goes to show that affordable pricing is not its only strong point, as it can walk the talk when it comes to web loading and server loading times. Below is a breakdown of what to expect when looking at InterServer performance.
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Performance 4.8 |
Speed
Its numbers when loading an empty WordPress website are more than impressive. When testing its performance, we tested it from the United States, where we have our website hosted. During this test, it loaded in precisely 0.9 seconds.
Information provided by Google indicates that your website needs to fit into the 2.5 seconds window to be considered reasonable. In our case, 0.9 seconds is well within this timeframe, meaning InterServer does meet the set speed minimums.
We performed additional tests using other locations to see whether this speed would hold and noted that the speeds were all below 2.5 seconds. Some of the locations we used are much farther from the New-Jersey datacenter.
After setting up a WordPress website that could work in an eCommerce environment, we ran the same GTMetrix test from a U.S. location and recorded a speed of 2.3 seconds. While this speed may not be exceptional, the truth is that it’s still fast.
Uptime
Service delivery is the most crucial component of any managed WordPress hosting provider. When it comes to web hosts such as InterServer, delivery implies site availability, with everything else coming after it.
InterServer has provided a service level agreement (SLA) on its website, which promises its users a 99.99% uptime guarantee. To this end, we can attest that InterServer does, indeed, deliver on its promises.
We regularly test its uptime guarantee, and for the last 12 months, the cheap WordPress hosting has continued to deliver nearly impeccable results. Over this period, InterServer has managed an average of 99.96%, which is within the range promised.
As a result, we can confidently state that InterServer is a reliable WordPress host that averages an uptime of 99.9% within a span of 12 months.
Response Time
You’ll notice that the results may fluctuate slightly when you run speed tests on our domain. The same holds even when running two separate tests from one platform. For this test, we made sure to disable all server-side cashing and WordPress plugins.
One thing we noticed was that the front-end speed tests were relatively fast and were below 0.20 seconds. Typically, the time needed to load a page fully is around 0.72 seconds, which means that the response time we received was insanely fast.
Looking at these results, we can conclude that InterServer appears capable of handling moderate traffic at insane speeds. It’s a factor that helps make it the best choice for developers keen on running small to medium websites.
Verdict: InterServer has a lightning backend and front-end response time.
Load Time
Ask any website owner, and they will tell you they only care about server uptime and page loading speed. InterServer has data centers on both U.S. coasts, with three on the east coast and one situated in Los Angeles.
When performing this test, we chose three locations to see how these locations would influence the loading times. The first location was in the U.S. (the fastest), the second one was in India (the average time for slow loading areas), and the third one was the global average.
The results we obtained were as follows:
- Average loading time for the fastest location: 0.282s
- Average loading time for the slowest location: 4.275s
- Average global loading time: 1.513s
These averages mean that InterServer fares relatively well in America, where it has its central data centers. Users who want to use it in faraway locations may wish to consider using a CDN to see whether these results will change.
Ease of Use
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Ease of Use 4.6 |
InterServer WordPress hosting is among the most user-friendly hosts you can ever hope to use. For example, its SSL certificates come pre-installed, and your domain will be activated as soon as you have completed the payment process.
What’s more, installing WordPress is a breeze, even for an amateur developer. All you have to do is use the installer found in your control panel to complete the installation process. However, it’s not all rosy, as it does come with some strings attached.
From the moment you start using this cheap WordPress hosting solution, you’ll notice that user experience and design aren’t the company’s primary focus. For instance, the top menu bar of the first window you encounter during login doesn’t have any use.
The menu provides a list of all the services that you can purchase. Here, some of the buttons you’d typically use are the Billing, Settings, and Support buttons. Luckily, the remaining areas, i.e., the ones you need to use to navigate to your hosting services, do actually work.
What Does the InterServer Control Panel Look Like?
The InterServer cPanel is organized and features an interface containing all the tools you need to install WordPress and manage it. Examples of tools you’ll find here include WordPress installation, webmail accounts, and domain registration and setup.
We love that its control panel is beginner friendly, and a majority of the tools we have mentioned above all come with prompts and other valuable explanations. Likewise, you can use the knowledge base to get yourself out of any jam you find yourself in.
Why Do I Need a Specialized WordPress Hosting Plan?
The chances are that you have just finished creating your WordPress website and are now looking to launch it. But before you can get it online and out to the masses, you must first decide whether to work with a cheap WordPress hosting platform or host it on your own.
Traditionally, the likelihood of your website succeeding and ranking higher in search engines increases tenfold when you work with InterServer WordPress hosting. Such a decision will allow you to focus on the aspects of your website that truly matter to your business.
Once you settle on a WordPress host, the next step is to decide between managed WordPress hosting and shared hosting. If you’re working with a small budget, you may want to go with shared hosting.
So, what are the reasons for choosing specialized WordPress hosting instead of going it alone?
The following are four reasons to consider specialized WordPress hosting:
Support
InterServer will provide support on an ongoing basis. Thus, ensuring you never feel alone or ever have to worry about your website going offline.
Ease of Use
The best WordPress hosting solutions are easy to use. The platform will take care of its technical aspects, leaving you to worry about other things.
Staging
Choosing specialized WordPress hosting allows you to create a custom staging environment that you can use to play around with the website.
Enhanced Security
As mentioned in this review, one of the top benefits of working with InterServer WordPress hosting lies in its wide range of security services, e.g., InterShield and Inter-Insurance.
Final Verdict
All things considered, InterServer does offer a refreshing selection of WordPress plans. Its small, dedicated team has proven that it’s passionate about WordPress hosting speed, customer support, and overall site security.
Hosting customers and developers looking for a cheap WordPress hosting solution will love its ultra-affordable plans and features. Its uptime guarantees and page loading speeds are second to none, making it even more appealing.
Therefore, though it remains an unpopular choice – for reasons unknown to us – InterServer is more than capable of delivering above-average speeds. We consider it an all-rounder that can support startup websites and blogs on its basic WordPress plans.
You can choose to upgrade your plan as the site grows and its traffic spikes.
