IONOS Shared Hosting vs HostMonster
A detailed comparison to help you choose between IONOS Shared Hosting and HostMonster.
Quick Verdict
3.5/5
IONOS Shared Hosting
0 reviews
2.5/5
HostMonster
0 reviews
IONOS Shared Hosting is rated higher (3.5 vs 2.5). IONOS (1&1) offers shared hosting from €1/month with German/EU servers and a free domain. cPanel-like control panel, WordPress one-click install, and GDPR-compliant EU hosting. HostMonster no longer sells hosting; hostmonster.com is a transition page into Bluehost. Existing accounts keep their servers and terms but log in at Bluehost. Founded 1996 in Provo, Utah.
IONOS Shared Hosting German shared hosting from €1/month | HostMonster Legacy brand merged into Bluehost — no longer sold independently | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.5 (0 reviews)✓ | 2.5 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | paid | paid |
| Starting price | From $1/mo | Free tier available |
| Best for | European buyers wanting GDPR-aligned shared hosting on owned German infrastructure with generous included features — personal sites, local businesses, and WordPress beginners who will pick a tier by its renewal price | Existing HostMonster account holders deciding whether to stay through the Bluehost transition; not a viable choice for new signups |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | — |
| RAM | — | — |
| Storage | 100 GB | — |
| Bandwidth | — | — |
| SLA uptime | 99.99% | — |
| Data-center count | 10 | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | Frankfurt x2, Berlin (DE), Paris (FR), London, Worcester (UK), Logrono (ES), Las Vegas (NV), Newark (NJ), Lenexa (KS) (US) | Provo, Utah, US |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | eu datacentergdpr compliant | us datacenter |
| Visit IONOS Shared Hosting → | Visit HostMonster → | |
IONOS Shared Hosting
Pros
- + Very low entry pricing ($1/mo Plus intro) on owned German infrastructure with 10 ISO 27001 data centres
- + NVMe storage on all tiers, unmetered traffic, geo-redundancy, daily backups and DDoS protection included
- + Free domain, wildcard SSL, and professional email bundled with every plan
- + Better developer surface than most shared hosts: SSH, SFTP, WP-CLI, git, cron, selectable PHP versions
- + 24/7 support plus a free personal consultant; 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- - Renewal jumps are brutal (Plus $1 -> $14/mo; up to ~1,300%), with a 2026 price adjustment on some tiers
- - Custom IONOS control panel instead of cPanel/Plesk — workflow and plugin ecosystem don't transfer
- - Shared-resource ceilings (CPU priority ladder, 512MB-class RAM on lower tiers) limit busy sites
- - Free domain is year one only; monthly billing without a term costs 2-3x the annual promo rate
- - Beginner-scoped product: no root, no staging; growth means moving to IONOS VPS or cloud
HostMonster
Pros
- + Existing accounts are untouched: same servers, renewal dates, and billing cycles through the Bluehost transition
- + Long track record — the brand dates to 1996 in Provo, Utah
- + Classic budget feature set for legacy plans: cPanel, one-click WordPress, free domain and SSL
- + Backed by Newfold/Bluehost infrastructure and 24/7 support apparatus
Cons
- - No longer purchasable — hostmonster.com is a transition page into Bluehost
- - Consolidation risk: support, roadmap, and pricing decisions move to a portfolio owner
- - Legacy criticisms stand: renewal pricing above intro rates and bounded 'unlimited' claims
- - No published HostMonster SLA or spec sheets to verify claims today
- - New development and AI tooling land on Bluehost's product, not this brand
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