1and1 Review – Web Hosting Services

1and1 Hosting has been around for the past 26 years. However, it was back in 2003 when they developed their distinctive array of web hosting assets. Fast forward to 2018, and the 1&1 web hosting firm delivers its services towards many corners of the world. 1and1 Hosting provides professional web hosting, cloud hosting and Word Press hosting, and domain names at relatively affordable prices. Their services, which we will describe in this 1&1 hosting review, are reliable, secure, and generally user-friendly. On the other hand, the company’s customer support seems to be not on par with that of others on the market. This 1and1 hosting review details the features, services, and costs of this provider.

1and1 Overview

As you will discover below in our 1&1 hosting review, 1and1 provide three subscription plans for their web hosting service. All of their web hosting solutions include top performance features such as PHP 7, OPcache, 512 MB memory limit, and their signature hybrid technology. The availability and security of their service are secured through continuous DDoS attack protection and a highly efficient site locking option.

Their web hosting service also comes 100% customizable, meaning that all websites you create have a quick start option, a special app corner, recovery options in case you need to rollback to a previous version, as well as 24/7 customer support.

1and1 Hosting also offers the following services within their bundle: domain hosting, website building packages, email platforms, cloud storage services, eCommerce website designer, online marketing solutions, and SSL certification. They offer both Linux and Windows compatibility for all of their web hosting packages.

Pricing Information

Below you can see an overview of the 1and1 plans and prices. Please note that all the packages offer these rates only for the first year. After that time, the Unlimited Plus package will cost $9.99/month, the Pro package will rise to $14.99/month while the Basic package will cost users a $7.99 monthly fee. Check out the features they offer for every plan below in our 1&1 review:

Like all respectable web hosting services, 1and1 Hosting offer users a money-back guarantee policy. Customers of 1and1 can cancel their subscription within two months (60 days) and receive their money back. This does not apply to the fees, but only to the service tax itself.

1and1 reviews mention that it is awfully difficult, however, to receive that refund. Some 1and1 review writers even say that the 1and1 Hosting service continued to charge their credit cards and PayPal accounts even after they had canceled their subscription within the money back guarantee limit of 60 days.

Security and Risk

Our 1&1 hosting review would be incomplete without discussing the security aspect. In order to secure user data on their web hosting platform, 1&1 split it between two servers, each having its own comprehensive security system. 1and1 also make use of multiple connections to the internet so that, if one of these connections fails, one of the other connections will immediately take its place. All 1and1 packages include Symantec SSL certificates, guaranteeing the maximum protection of websites. DDoS protection is also provided in all the 1and1 plans, securing websites against cybercrime and hacker attacks. With one of the most modern and safest data centers in the U.S, 1&1 indeed provides customers with top security.

Usability and User Friendliness

1&1 Hosting offers several types of control panels, depending on the type of service that a customer chooses to subscribe to. If clients get a VPS or dedicated hosting plan, they will be using the Parallels Plesk panel to customize the service. A 1and1 hosting review says that the panel is intuitive and user-friendly, allowing customers to employ most of the basic options. 1&1 also offers a website builder with a variety of templates and a layout that is automatically optimized for mobile display. An App center is also available with lots of useful extensions (plugins) that customers can download in just a few clicks.

Customer Support and Additional Information

1and1 Web Hosting offer 24/7 support in English. There are several options to reach their customer complaints team, including the following:

• 1and1 Help Center: here.
• 1and1 Support Number: 1-866-991-2631
• Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn
• Contact Page

1&1 Overall Service Rating:

Below in our 1and1 review, you can check out the pros and cons that we identified for this provider:

What we like: 1and1 Hosting features a bundle of services, all of which are pretty decent and offer good quality assistance. SSD optimized server computers secure impressive speeds. The pricing of all the basic services is very attractive.

What we don’t like: Customers thoroughly criticize the company’s customer support assistants. There are many complaints regarding the security of the customers’ accounts, the downtime of their websites (for which they paid), as well as the steps needed to effectively close an account. Another noteworthy downside is the fact that customers require WebsiteBuilder Plus in order to add code to site templates.

Rating:
Web Hosting Package: 2/5
Security and Risk: 3/5
Usability & User Friendliness: 2/5
Pricing: 4/5
Customer Support: 1/5

1and1 Hosting Alternatives

Good alternatives to 1and1 Hosting include InMotion hosting, IxWeb Hosting, Arvixe Hosting, Hostgator, 000WebHosting, Homestead, or Rackspace Hosting. For details on any of these, read our full reviews.

Despite its low customer satisfaction and disastrous reviews, 1&1 Hosting still manages to hold a total of 15 million users, which means they must be doing something right. For comparative views of web hosting services, users should review details of several companies before settling for a subscription offer.

1and1 Reviews and Complaints

Here are some important 1&1 reviews and complaints that say much about how 1and1 Hosting chooses to conduct its business:

Anj Ahmetaj says in a 1&1 hosting review:

I would recommend you to get hosting from 1and1 if you are making a small or medium website, and I would also recommend the 100GB package over the others. Also, note that they don’t use cpanel. So if you want to take all your stats from, let’s say awstats, and transferred them to them, you can’t (or if you are a hostgator customer and want to transfer your website thought backups). They have their own panel that is good if you start a new website, but that is not cPanel.

Alex Khainson says in a 1and1 review:

1and1 have one and only one advantage – pricing. That’s how they draw their customers. At the same time all the other aspects of domain&hosting management are disgraceful, to say the least.

Ben R says in a 1&1 review:

These guys manage billing unlike any other registrar that I worked with. Instead of paying for the domain when you purchase it, they make you open a billing agreement and then charge you unreasonable renewal charges. Even if you cancel the ‘auto renew’ (which is a story by itself), and delete the domain!! I was changed hundreds of dollars for domains that I already deleted from my account. Couldn’t get those charges reversed for over 2 months. Still kept receiving renewal emails, then collection emails. They over drafted my checking account in several occasions. Brought PayPal to a negative balance (which I didn’t even think was possible).

Our Verdict

1and1 Hosting provides decent services and good security, and their packages offer a great lot for not that much money. The downsides of 1and1 Hosting seem to be its inconsistent customer support, the difficulty of canceling a subscription, and the inefficiency of the money back guaranteed policy.

Thank you for reading our 1&1 hosting review! Let us know what you think of 1&1! Have you had experience with them? How did it go? Were you ever wronged, cheated, or unnecessarily billed by the company? Leave your 1and1 hosting review in the comments and you may potentially help other users in their decision.