There’s a good reason why we’ve voted the iPage dedicated server at the top of our discount dedicated server leaderboard. Simply put: They deliver everything they promise to, and then some. Sadly, this isn’t something we can say for all of their competitors. However there are cheaper options such as hostingsource which deliver similar performance but for 25% of the cost – worth checking out also!
Choosing the right dedicated server for your business is never the easiest task in the world, especially when so many top hosting companies seem to offer similar products at competitive pricing. Yet in our experience of bringing website owners like you the best discounts on dedicated servers, we’ve learned that even if packages look the same on the surface, once you get down to actually using them, they rarely ever are.
If the performance is lacking, if your hosting company doesn’t quite deliver all the features it promises, or if the customer service is somewhat lacking, then what may at first seem to be a great deal often turns out to be anything but.
The good news, is that such things are never an issue with iPage’s dedicated hosting solutions. In the following review, our web experts take an in-depth look at all the things our readers tell us they value the most in a good dedicated server, helping you to make an informed decision the next time you come to make that big investment.
iPage Dedicated Server Pricing
At first glance, the cost of a dedicated hosting server from iPage does seem pretty expensive, especially when compared to some of the budget first-term rates offered by rival hosting companies, but look a little closer, and it soon becomes apparent their three payment tiers represent solid value for money.
Even at the lower-end of the spectrum with the iPage starter plan, the amount of resources involved dwarfs most competing services, with only HostGator offering anything close. For that $119.99 per month first term fee, you’ll
Have an impressive 5TB of bandwidth and 500GB of disk space.
Your server will be powered by 2 Intel Xeon E3 servers, with 4GB of RAM thrown into the bargain. To help you manage multiple high-powered sites, you’ll also have access to 3 IP addresses.
Whilst this is a solid deal for those making their first forays into online enterprise, the Professional Plan does increase those limits even further, making it a good choice if you’re concerned about eating up all of your bandwidth or storage space on the lower-end tier.
For an additional $32 per month, you can increase those limits to 1000GB of storage, 10TB of bandwidth, 4 IP addresses and 8GB of ram.
For really large online companies, or perhaps big companies offering web development services to their customers, the Enterprise Plan, at $191.99 per month may work out better.
With this one, most of the limits are again increased, though you still only get the same 1000GB of storage that comes with the Pro plan. The good news, is that you’ll get an additional 5TB of bandwidth (making for 15TB in total), 16GB of ram, and five IP addresses.
It’s worth pointing out too that one thing iPage certainly has working in its favour is the company’s refusal to whack extra charges onto your bill if you go over your allotted resources, meaning you can always be sure that you know exactly what you’re paying for each month.
Features
Regardless as to which type of web hosting you buy these days, it’s rare to find a provider that doesn’t bundle a free one-year’s domain registration into the bargain.
With their dedicated servers, iPage are certainly no exception. The free .com domain is present and correct, with with the ability to use as many additional domain names and subdomains as you like.
All plans are powered by CentOS 6.4 and come with the reliable cPanel dashboard included as standard.
From here, you can manage the entire server, install websites and even take care of your included email. Speaking of which, unlimited POP3 accounts, email aliases and forwarding accounts are all part of the price.
What we really like is that none of these features are necessarily based on which plan you by. All the domain names, email accounts, the option to create unlimited MySQL databases and other features are all the same no matter which plan you opt for. The only difference with the pricing is the amount of resources you have access too, meaning you can run a site just as well on the smaller starter plan as you can on the large-scale Enterprise platform.
Performance & Reliability
Fueled 100% by wind-energy, we’ve found iPage’s dedicated servers to be some of the most stable and reliable on the market. Whether that’s as a result of their eco-friendly approach to hosting, or simply that they’re more on the ball than other companies we couldn’t say.
What we could -and will- say, is that we’ve never yet experienced a blip of downtime in using iPage, and that our sites have continued to perform as well as expected with very little to complain about.
Customer Service
Phone, email and live chart support are available any time, day or night, seven days a week, so no matter where you are in the world, you can get almost instant access to the support you need without waiting for US-based operators to get into the office in a morning.
When you get through, you should find that iPage’s support staff are friendly, helpful, and neither talk down to their customers nor expect you to know all the technical ins-and-outs of your service. They speak simply, communicate clearly, and usually get the job done first time.
If you’re the type that would rather have a go at fixing problems yourself, a huge knowledge base and ample amount of tutorials are available to help you with some of the more common problems encountered by dedicated server owners.
Our Verdict
Offering some of the best value for money discount servers on the market, iPage’s dedicated hosting solutions are ideal for anyone from small businesses looking to expand their online presence to thriving Internet empires who need a more reliable platform for their websites.
With fully managed support taking most of the hard work out of setting up and managing your server on a daily basis, they’re also one of the easiest platforms we’ve found, especially for those who need all the power and flexibility of a dedicated host with none of the technical complications that come with managing one.
What’s more, with a money-back guarantee available at any time, you’ve nothing to lose by giving them a shot.