IONOS Shared Hosting vs SiteGround
A detailed comparison to help you choose between IONOS Shared Hosting and SiteGround.
Quick Verdict
3.5/5
IONOS Shared Hosting
0 reviews
3.8/5
SiteGround
0 reviews
SiteGround is rated higher (3.8 vs 3.5). 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. SiteGround is a WordPress.org-recommended host with fast SSD storage, built-in CDN, free SSL, daily backups, and excellent support. One of the most popular managed WordPress options for SMBs.
IONOS Shared Hosting German shared hosting from €1/month | SiteGround The web host recommended by WordPress.org | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.5 (0 reviews) | 3.8 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | paid |
| Starting price | From $1/mo✓ | From $3/mo |
| 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 | Small businesses, bloggers and non-technical WordPress owners who want the WordPress.org-recommended host with strong support and global datacenter choice, and accept the renewal premium |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | — |
| RAM | — | — |
| Storage | 100 GB | — |
| Bandwidth | — | — |
| SLA uptime | 99.99%✓ | 99.9% |
| Data-center count | 10 | 11✓ |
| 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) | — |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | eu datacentergdpr compliant | managed optionddos protectionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit IONOS Shared Hosting → | Visit SiteGround → | |
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
SiteGround
Pros
- + 20+ years independent operation, WordPress.org-recommended, 3M+ domains — proven track record
- + Google Cloud infrastructure with 11 datacenter locations across US/EU/APAC and 170-point CDN
- + Support widely rated highly for shared hosting tiers; free expert migration included
- + 30 days of geo-distributed backup restore points, free SSL, daily backups on the lineup
- + Renewal rates are published openly in the KB rather than hidden
Cons
- - Renewals jump 4-5x from intro pricing (StartUp to $14.99-$17.99/mo standard)
- - StartUp plan limits: 1 site, 10 GB storage; daily backup coverage on StartUp is ambiguous
- - No root access or stack control — shared hosting economics at premium prices
- - Cores/RAM not published for shared plans; fair-use resource ceilings are opaque
- - Growing product surface (AI tools, email marketing) dilutes the hosting focus
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