IX Web Hosting Review
IXWebHosting Review: IX Web Hosting is a much down to earth, eco conscious and award winning hosting company with its services being perfectly customer centric.
IX Web Hosting:
We don’t blame you for being curious. There are many hosting companies out there and all of them are trying to convince you that they are “number one”. Well, we won’t claim that we’re number one or run a string of shiny, fancy features before your eyes and expect you to pounce on them. We’d rather earn your money and then ultimately, your respect. Our 30-day, unconditional money-back guarantee is just one of the ways we try and make that possible. At IX Web Hosting, we are humbled by our customers and are fully aware that we exist to complement your internet-journey with uncomplicated, affordable service.
When businesses first seek a web host, they seldom think about their future. They don’t anticipate the need for their website to grow just as the amount of customers they might have grows.
IX hosting is designed to meet the needs of businesses and individuals both at the present and in the future. They specialize in working with customers who need to scale their web servers up in terms of resources without having to pay expensive fees.
IX’s ability to closely monitor resource usage to keep web hosting viable for every customer on a machine makes their shared hosting plans just as financially viable for small businesses as their larger plans are for big corporations.
Pros/Cons
IX web hosting offers numerous plans. Each one is designed to meet the needs of the different types of customers that they provide web hosting to.
While these plans are different, they each have different attributes that make IX web hosting unique from any other web host.
It’s important to keep in mind that these pros and cons may not apply to a specific plan, which is why it’s important to review any plan before you purchase a contract with IX hosting. This will ensure you receive exactly what you want.
Pros
- Add-Ons and Extras – Web hosting requires more than just web hosting. IX can supply you with everything from SSL certificates to website transfers for a cost that is reasonable.
- Cutting-Edge Technology – IX web hosting utilizes cutting-edge components in their web servers. Powerful components, redundant power backups and robust server architectures are used in every from their shared hosting servers to their custom-fit cloud hosting solutions.
- Generous Resource Allocation – Starting with unlimited storage and RAM for shared plans and ending with a large amount of resource allocation per dollar with IX’s dedicated cloud hosting plans, you’ll receive more resources with IX web hosting than many other web hosting providers will allocate.
- Plenty of Free Extras – IX hosting offers extra tools that can facilitate running your website. They offer email services, website transfers, website building tools and more.
- Scalable Plans – Businesses tend to grow when they are successful. Few web hosts make accommodations for businesses that need slightly more, which is where IX web hosting shines.
Cons
- A Lack of Dedicated Hosting Solutions – Unlike other web hosts, IX hosting does not offer a dedicated hosting solution. They have instead opted to provide cloud hosting, which can be just as robust and secure as a dedicated hosting solution. Cloud hosting can also be more costly than paying to set up your own bare metal hosting solution.
- Unclear Shared Hardware Terms – Many of the complaints left about IX web hosting deals with shared hosting accounts being suspended for using too many resources. This tends to come from the term “unlimited” being thrown around as one of the most prominent features of IX’s web hosting.
Packages
IX web hosting offers a plethora of different hosting packages designed to meet the needs of businesses ranging from solo entrepreneurs to large corporations. These plans focus on using technology that is the most efficient to use for small and medium businesses.
Let’s explore each plan offered by IX hosting to best understand how these plans might work for you.
Shared Web Hosting
The most basic of IX’s web hosting plans are the shared hosting plans. These are designed for people and groups who will likely use just a small amount of server resources but still need some sort of web presence.
Each plan offers unlimited disk space, bandwidth and hosted domains with the choice of a Windows or Linux operating system. The different plans offer additional dedicated IP addresses, which must be purchased for an additional cost, and free domains.
The thing to understand about these plans is that they are designed to only be basic hosting plans. They will not support website with hundreds of thousands of visitors. Some users have even stated that it is very easy to go over their allocated resources, which in turn resulted in their websites being suspended.
These plans are best suited for website with under 5,000 visitors a month.
VPS Hosting
Virtual private servers (VPSs) offer an intermediate level between shared and cloud or dedicated hosting. They can allow you to have many of the advantages associated with dedicated hosting without the cumbersome price tags or IT headaches.
IX web hosting offers four VPS hosting plans:
- X4 Linux with 4 CPU cores, 768MB of RAM, 1.5TB of bandwidth transfer, 50GB of storage and 2 dedicated IPs.
- X8 Linux with 8 CPU cores, 2GB of RAM, 2TB of bandwidth transfer, 100GB of storage and 2 dedicated IPs.
- X4 Windows with 4 CPU cores, 768MB of RAM, 1.5TB of bandwidth transfer, 50GB of storage and 2 dedicated IPs.
- X8 Windows with 8 CPU cores, 2GB of RAM, 2TB of bandwidth transfer, 100GB of storage and 2 dedicated IPs.
The Linux plans come with a choice of cPanel or Plesk, and the Windows plans come with Plesk 10 provided upon request.
While not the cheapest VPS plans available, these plans do offer a significant amount of resources per dollar. This makes them attractive to small and medium businesses requiring something more than what is provided with the shared hosting plans.
Cloud Hosting
IX hosting offers cloud hosting instead of dedicated servers. The unique difference in this is that you will only need to pay for the resources you require, which in turn can make this type of hosting far more efficient and reliable than some types of dedicated hosting.
The other advantage is that cloud hosting by IX maintains a managed environment. This results in a 99.999 percent guaranteed uptime without the hassles associated with trying to regulate your own server.
The drawback of cloud hosting is that it can potentially cost more than a traditional dedicated server might. You may also run into situations where there aren’t enough available resources for every client to use, which in turn can result in performance drops.
The best way to think of IX’s cloud hosting is to imagine it like shared hosting on steroids. It’s great if your business plans to expand rapidly or experience large fluctuations in visitors, but it may not be the solution you’re looking for if you’re a large business that is comfortable with unmanaged dedicated hosting solutions.
Features
While there are many features to IX web hosting’s services, below are the most important ones for individuals, small businesses and medium businesses.
- High Reliability – 99.9% Uptime for Shared and VPS, and 99.999% Uptime for Cloud Hosting.
- Extra Services and Features in One Place
- Friendly Customer Support
- Hosting that Accommodates Your Needs
- Scalable Hosting Plans
Additional Services
IX web hosting offers additional services designed to complement their web hosting services. They are designed to add additional layers of security, to promote e-commerce and to make other components associated with web hosting possible.
The services offered by IX web hosting are:
- Domain Registration
- Merchant Accounts
- SiteLock Security
- SSL Certificates
- Website Moving Services
Specialties
IX web hosting provides the right environment for small and medium businesses to succeed digitally. They provide reasonable starting plans that have enough features to serve as a starting point for small businesses.
They have additional services designed for businesses between the small and medium sizes. This makes them perfect for e-commerce sites, sites with moderate amounts of traffic and websites looking to find worry-free hosting.
The most prominent of IX’s specialties has to be their built-to-scale plans. They will readily work with customers who wish to purchase slightly larger plans at a rate that coincides with how much they plan to grow in the near future without having to spend exorbitant amounts on hosting that far exceeds their needs.
Data Centers
IX web hosting currently runs only one data centers in Ohio. This data center is strategically located to serve visitors residing in North America best.
This data center is maintained by IX’s parent company, which is Ecommerce, Inc. It retains a power electrical distribution grid, redundant backup systems and on-site technicians capable of solving problems before they cause stability issues.
Company
IX web hosting began in 1999 as a small start-up web hosting company. It has grown from servicing local clients to clients around the entire United States.
IX’s attention to technology has been one of the key reasons why they have grown to become such a prominent web host. Their attention to the customer is the other major reason they have succeed.
User Experience
There are mixed reviews with IX web hosting. Some users state that they have had an excellent hosting experience while others state that they believe IX web hosting employs shady business practices.
The negative reviews center mostly around the suspension of shared hosting accounts. If you have a website that may use more than just a basic amount of resources, then you may wish to order a more robust plan or seek another web host to avoid problems.
Customer Support
IX web hosting offers three main ways to contact support. You can:
- Email [email protected].
- Use IX’s online chat, which is available on their website.
- Call 1 (614) 534-1961.
Support from IX hosting is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Guarantee + Cancellation
IX hosting offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. You may cancel your service at any time by contacting customer support and verifying a few details about your hosting.
Depending upon the package you purchased, IX web hosting may deduct a fee from your refund. The most common reason for this is to cover the cost of domain registration, as you are allowed to keep the domains after requesting a refund.