InterServer is a web hosting provider that seeks to create an all-in-one experience for its users. It has been providing hosting services for 21 years, since 1999. Not only does InterServer offer shared hosting, but also dedicated servers, quick servers, and cloud hosting.
On top of hosting, InterServer also features email, domain names, and a website builder.
We personally test every web hosting service that we review — judging the effectiveness of its customer service department, its uptime, speed, and overall usability to help determine which one is right for you and your business.
General Info & Hosting Overview
Benefit of Using InterServer Hosting
InterServer has quite many pros going for them. Let’s have a more detailed look at each of them.
1| Free Email Accounts
InterServer provides email accounts for free. What’s more, these accounts are unlimited, with no cap imposed on the end-user.
This is not just great for the branding of your business, but it’s also one less monthly expense that you have to pay. This way you don’t have to use a third-party service like Google Workspace (formerly known as G-Suite) to have a branded email account that matches your domain.
2| Free Site Migration
Not every business that signs up with InterServer is going to be building an all-new website. Some of them have established sites on other platforms and will need to transfer those over to InterServer.
That’s another service that InterServer includes for free.
Free migration is something that we always like to see in a web host provider. It helps to ease the burden of transitioning your site.
3| Solid Speed of 322 ms
Among uptime, speed is also an important factor while choosing a host. Not only does Google penalize sites that load too slow, but also visitors are more likely to leave your website if it takes too much time to respond.
It seems that their claims are true. InterServer has delivered a solid average speed of 322 ms for the last 12 months.
This is a huge improvement, especially compared to 2018 and 2019 data, where their speed was a lot slower. For example, in January 2019 it took an average of 1.0 seconds to load our test site.
4| 24/7 Live Chat Support
Live chat is an essential communication option on any business’ website. Not only is it the fastest way to contact customer support but it also plays a huge role in customer satisfaction – live chat has the highest consumer satisfaction rate at 92%.
We went hands-on with InterServer’s 24/7 live chat support and were happy with what we encountered.
It took InterServer about one minute to respond. Even though the customer rep was a bit laconic and grammatically incorrect, we still got all the information we were looking for. So, overall it was a pleasant experience.
On top of live chat, InterServer also has a vast knowledge base, phone support, ticketing, and email option.
5| 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
We always like to see a web host that is willing to stand by its service and provide a no-risk situation for new subscribers.
InterServer gives new subscribers a 30-day money-back guarantee – plenty of time to test InterServer out and make sure that their customer service, uptime, and speed are to your liking.
6| Free SSL Security and Intershield
All of InterServer’s hosting plans come with a free SSL certificate. This is an added security boost at no cost that goes a long way toward establishing trust with your potential customers.
If you don’t have an SSL certificate, Google could list your site as being unsecured, which is a great way to drive off customers before you even get started.
7| Unlimited SSD Storage Space
More expensive services like LiquidWeb tend to limit the space that you can have on every plan. You’re paying more, but you are also limited to how much information you can put on your site.
InterServer places no such limits on subscribers.
All shared hosting plans come with unlimited SSD storage space.
8| Free Website Builder
Another bonus to using InterServer is that the website builder SitePad is included with your subscription at no additional charge.
This is perfect for newer businesses that are not migrating a site onto the service. If they’re just starting up and looking to build a website, they can build and host it all through the same platform.
9| Easy to Use Dashboard and cPanel
InterServer’s client area is modern and easy to navigate. From there you can have an overview of your domains, servers, hosting plans, and more.
InterServer uses cPanel for a dashboard interface, which is popular with a lot of hosting services and you can log in there via client area.
The first thing you’ll notice is that cPanel’s main page is very busy. It can even feel overwhelming at first.
However, you don’t need to search through endless items to find what you’re looking for. The search bar at the top makes it easy to find a specific function. Just type what you’re looking for into the search bar and cPanel will immediately pull it up for you.
There’s a reason why so many services use cPanel. It’s simple to use and can be picked up by anyone thanks to its layout and search function.
InterServer Pricing and Plans
InterServer offers different hosting to suit different businesses
1| Standard Web Hosting Plans
InterServer offers one shared hosting plan that starts at $2.5 a month. This plan doesn’t have limitations on the number of domains one can host, and everything offered here is unlimited.
In other words, this plan offers you unlimited email accounts, unlimited SSD storage, 1-click app installer, global content caching, a free SSL certificate, and also free website migration. The plan is affordable for everyone, and you can host unlimited websites. It is great for those starting an online business or those with existing websites and want to migrate to InterServer.
2| Boost Web Hosting Plans
For those who find shared hosting limiting, InterServer offers Boost Web Hosting that gives you more resources for your site.
The cheapest boost plan (Boost 2) starts at $9.95 per month, while the other plan (Boost 4) goes for $19.95 per month. The Boost 2 plan offers 4GB memory and much more. The Boost 4 plan offers four times the resources offered in standard website hosting. This plan suits high-traffic websites that need more resources and more space.
3| Reseller Hosting Plans
InterServer began as a reseller hosting provider, and they still excel in this field. They offer five reseller plans with the base plan starting at $19.95/month, and you get 500GB bandwidth and 80GB disc space, and 20 cPanel, among others.
The higher plans offer more bandwidth, more space, and more cPanel. Shared hosting works very simply by hosting multiple sites on one physical server. Some have compared shared hosting to an internet-bus system, as it’s cheap to use, and usually involves sharing resources with others.
With dedicated hosting, your site has its own server dedicated to it alone. There are no shared resources. When you visit a site hosted on a shared server, you will not be sharing any resources with anyone else.
4| Cloud VPS Hosting Plans
This hosting are great for websites that need dedicated resources. With Cloud VPS hosting, you can get your own virtual server with all the configuration you need. You can choose from 16 configuration options, and their hosting are differentiated by storage, CPU cores, monthly bandwidth, and RAM.
Their base cloud VPS hosting start at $6 a month. The plan is great for people who would like to be a fixed rate.
5| WordPress VPS Hosting Plan
There are also VPS hosting plans dedicated to WordPress websites. The advantage you will get from choosing these WordPress-dedicated hosting is that you will get specific optimization and resources as well as free migration. VPS hosting may not be right for you. Shared servers don’t offer much flexibility.
With one website, you can’t install more than one application. You also have to share the same server with every other website. In this case, you’ll be better off going with dedicated server plans. Another advantage of VPS hosting is cost.
You can buy your own server, or you can use one that is shared by several others for a lower cost. The best of both worlds, then, is VPS hosting and shared hosting.
Cons of Using InterServer
- No free domain registration. InterServer doesn’t offer free domains, which means you have to purchase a domain when you are getting started online. This means additional cost
- Confined data centers. The location of data centers can have an effect on your site speed and uptime. InterServer has confined its four data centers in the US. If your website is outside of the US or most of your web traffic comprises of non-US resident, then you may want to rethink hosting with InterServer
Final Thoughts- Is InterServer Right For You?
InterServer offers not only affordable plans but also good reliability and page load speeds. They have great uptime and speeds and have got plenty of in-house security features as well as customer support. What’s more? All their website hosting packages are backed by a solid 30-days money-back guarantee.
So, if you are looking for a reliable hosting provider with affordable plans, then InterServer is definitely worth consideration!
