InMotion Hosting Review – Pros & Cons [2023]

With so many options, InMotion Hosting appears to cater to all types of users. While they offer solid shared hosting, we recommend switching to InMotion Hosting if it’s time to upgrade to a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or Dedicated Server. They really shine with those higher-end products which include top-of-the-line hardware and expert support. Other web-hosting providers, like Bluehost, offer a more simplified backend that beginners and small businesses tend to appreciate.

InMotion Hosting has two data centers, located in LA and Ashburn, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. These data centers are connected to peering partners like Level 3, nLayer, and Hurricane Electric which ensure your website is always globally connected to the internet.

Fun fact: InMotion Hosting offers some of the best connections in the business. Their LA data center is connected through One Wilshire, one of the most connected buildings in the world, and their East Coast data center is in close proximity to the new transatlantic connection cable, which can transmit up to 160 terabits of data per second across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.

Pros of InMotion Hosting

Server specs & performance

InMotion Hosting uses some of the best hardware in the hosting business. All of their servers are powered by Solid State Drives (SSDs). SSDs are up to 20x faster than standard spinning drives because there are no moving parts. Yes, that means your website can be faster, too.

In 2021, InMotion Hosting took their shared hosting a step further and introduced unlimited specs and NVMe SSDs for select plans. NVMe SSDs are even faster than traditional SSDs and with unlimited storage and bandwidth, you won’t run into limitations imposed by other hosting companies.

Their VPS plans are really unique. Most web hosting companies lock you down to a set number of cores. InMotion doesn’t. That means your website can use up to 48 CPU cores! All of their VPS plans also feature built-in redundancy. This means that multiple copies of your website are live at all times. If one container crashes, the other seamlessly takes over.

Pro tip: If you need something more than a VPS, but can’t quite afford their dedicated servers, contact their sales team and ask if they have any Legacy Servers available. This is a cheap option that starts as low as $79.99/mo, but is subject to availability since it uses older hardware.

Expert customer support

Another pro of InMotion is their customer service, especially if you go with one of their higher-tier plans. VPS and Dedicated Server customers get to work directly with their expert support teams — yes, teams as in more than one —  which really makes InMotion shine in our eyes.

The first is their Managed Hosting team. Two to four hours are included for free with your server set up. This team is able to migrate your website and online applications, optimize your server, and provide general web hosting consulting. Additional hours can be purchased at any time, but the free setup time is usually adequate for most users.

Once Managed Hosting has gotten you up and running, their Advanced Product Support reps will be able to handle day-to-day requests. These reps go through months of training before getting promoted to this level and therefore are much more knowledgeable than most front-level support reps at other hosting companies. 

90 day money-back guarantee 

All shared, WordPress, reseller, and VPS hosting plans come with a 90-day money-back guarantee. This is one of the longest periods in the industry. For some reason, though, dedicated server purchases are only eligible for a 30-day guarantee period. While we’re not quite sure why this is, we assume it is due to the hands-on support that you’re offered during the initial setup.

Unlike other providers, InMotion doesn’t resist offering you a refund on your purchase. Yes, they’ll ask why you’re leaving and offer to help if there was an issue, but if you decline, expect to promptly see a refund back to your original form of payment. 

Cons of InMotion Hosting

Confusing starter plans

If you’re not an expert user going for a VPS or Dedicated Server, expect some confusion trying to select the best plan for your needs. There are seven plans that are for “starter” users in our opinion – three “business class” hosting plans, three “WordPress optimized” plans, and a product called Website Creator. The kicker? They all run pre-installed WordPress.

Because of this, we recommend going with a provider that offers a simplified experience for beginners, like Bluehost. It’ll just be easier.

If you’re set on InMotion, though, their Power Plan is likely best. It supports up to 6 websites and offers unlimited storage and bandwidth. And yes, it runs WordPress just fine even though it’s not technically optimized for it.

Expert support costs money

While expert support is what we consider a pro of InMotion, it’s not offered with their lower-tiered plans. You’ll certainly still receive support, but don’t be surprised if the answer to your question is simply a link to their support center. This is common with most web-hosting providers, unfortunately.

InMotion Hosting somewhat makes up for this with their support center. It’s likely the best resource of do-it-yourself web hosting information on the web — there are nearly 20,000 step-by-step articles. You’ll find everything there from guides to installing WordPress to creating email accounts and MySQL databases.

InMotion Hosting Plans & Pricing

Shared hosting

Three shared hosting plans are offered, each offering unlimited storage and bandwidth:

• Core (2 websites) – starting at $2.29/mo when you use this link
• Launch (Unlimited websites) – starting at $5.99/mo
• Power (Unlimited websites) – starting at $5.99/mo
• Pro (Unlimited websites) – starting at $13.99/mo

While you may think their Lite Plan is sufficient, we recommend going with the Power Plan. Why? It is 12X faster. This allows you to have a staging site, subdomain websites, and more without having to worry about exceeding any hardware limits.

WordPress hosting

InMotion launched WordPress-optimized hosting a few years ago. They use NGINX (instead of Apache) with built-in server caching. These plans can be faster than their shared hosting plans… but not always. If your website doesn’t get heavy traffic, it’s okay to go with their shared hosting.

• WP Core (1 website) – starting at $3.49/mo
• WP Launch (2 websites) – starting at $6.99/mo
• WP Power (3 websites) – starting at $6.99/mo
• WP Pro (6 websites) – starting at $14.99/mo

VPS hosting

If you’re in the market for a VPS, we highly recommend InMotion. Why? Well, remember what we discussed earlier. They offer unlocked CPU cores and you’ll get support from their team of hosting experts. Plus, every VPS now uses NVMe SSDs for storage.

• 4GB RAM – starting at $17.99/mo
• 8GB RAM – starting at $32.99/mo
• 12GB RAM – starting at $52.99/mo
• 16GB RAM – starting at $72.99/mo

InMotion states that their 8GB RAM VPS is the best value option. Given the price and specs, we agree.

Dedicated Server hosting

InMotion Hosting updated their Dedicated Server line a year ago and boy, look at those specs… Just like what we said about VPS, we highly recommend InMotion if you’re looking for a dedicated server. With DDR4 RAM and Intel Xeon CPUs, you’re going to get powerful performance.

• Essential – starting at $139.99/mo
  • Intel Xeon E3-1246 v3 – 3.50GHz Turbo 4C/8T
  • 16GB DDR3 RAM
  • 1TB SSD
  • 6TB bandwidth
• Advanced – starting at $189.99/mo
  • Intel Xeon E-2134 – 3.50GHz Turbo 4C/8T
  • 32GB DDR4 RAM
  • 1TB SSD
  • 10TB bandwidth
• Elite – starting at $259.99/mo
  • Intel Xeon E-2136 – 3.30GHz Turbo 6C/12T
  • 64GB DDR4 RAM
  • 2x1TB SSD + 1TB OS Drive
  • 12TB bandwidth

If you’re an enterprise user, InMotion also offers “Commercial Class” servers that offer Dual CPUs and up to 64GB of RAM. Those servers start at $439.99/mo.

Summary & Our Recommendation

There’s no doubt that InMotion Hosting offers great hardware on a fast network, especially if you’re in North America. They provide some of the best support in the industry but keep in mind their higher tier VPS and Dedicated Server customers will truly get the best. Given the average support options and disorganized backend for shared hosting, we recommend InMotion Hosting if you are a moderate to pro-level user.

InMotion Hosting Alternatives

If you’re a beginner and worried that InMotion will be too advanced for you, we recommend looking at the following hosting providers:

• Bluehost
• HostGator
• Dreamhost

If you’re a moderate to a pro-level user, and InMotion Hosting doesn’t fit your needs, we recommend taking a look at these alternatives:

• Liquid Web
• WP Engine
• Rocket.net