IONOS vs Krystal (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, IONOS grades higher than Krystal: 1.8 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
IONOS grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
IONOS
Shared and WordPress hosting with a domain, wildcard SSL and email
Which one is for you
Pick IONOS if
- Fits if you run several small sites and want them on one plan
- Works for SSH, git and WP-CLI on hosting that's $4 a month in year one
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you need several mailboxes, as Essential has 1 and Ultimate 5, each with 2 GB
- Pricey if you pick Plus for the $1 year, since it renews at $14 a month
- Skip it if you want malware removed for you on a low plan, as that's Ultimate or WordPress Boost only
- Watch out: Essential goes from $4 to $8 a month after year one, and monthly no-minimum hosting shows no price
- Not for you if you want to try first, as there's no free plan or trial on record
Pick Krystal if
- Fits if you are in the UK and want a host you can phone
- Makes sense if you want hosting on renewable power
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free trial, as none is listed
- Tight if you have several sites, because Amethyst has 1 and Ruby 5
- Pricey if you cannot commit, since the discounts need annual or two-year terms
- Watch out: domain costs are not refunded under the 60-day guarantee, and prices are in pounds
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAIONOSWeak | 1.6GPAKrystalWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BEssential is $4 a month for the first year, then $8, so two years cost $144, about $6 a month, inside the cheaper quarter of hosts and just over the A line. Plus looks cheaper at $1, but it renews at $14, so two years come to $180. | CAmethyst is £7 a month billed monthly, about $9, above the $5.28 cheaper-quarter line for web hosts. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing free: there's no free plan and no trial on record, so you pay from day one. | FNo free plan or trial. A 60-day money-back guarantee is not a trial. |
| Features | CUnlimited websites, NVMe storage, a domain, wildcard SSL, daily backups and malware scanning on every plan. The gaps the listing names: Essential has 1 mailbox, and malware removal waits for Ultimate. | CcPanel, backups, free SSL and migration, and phone, chat and ticket support. Amethyst hosts one site with no free domain. |
| Ease of use | CNo app store rating to go on. There's a personal consultant and 24/7 phone support, but there's still a site and email to set up. | CNo store rating on record. cPanel, DNS and migration are yours to run. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA web dashboard only. Its integrations are the apps it installs, WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Jetpack, plus SSH and git, with no API on record. | CWeb only, with WordPress, Drupal, OpenCart and LiteSpeed support. |
| Best for | several small sites on one plan | UK cPanel hosting with phone support |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: IONOS and Krystal. How we grade
Price against what you get
IONOS starts at $4 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Krystal starts at about $9.38 a month and scores 2.0.
They score the same, and IONOS starts $5.38 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 8 score higher than IONOS for less, and 17 score higher than Krystal for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| IONOS | Krystal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | $8 per month at renewal (Essential), after a first year at $4 a month | £7 per month, billed monthly (Amethyst) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | IONOS Inc. | Krystal Hosting Ltd |
| Price read from | ionos.com | krystal.io |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
IONOS
- Intro prices last the first year of a 1-year term: Plus goes from $1 to $14 a month and Essential from $4 to $8.
- Mailboxes are few: Essential includes 1 and Ultimate 5, each with 2 GB of storage.
- Automatic malware removal and unlimited SSL certificates need Ultimate on web hosting, or Boost ($17 a month after a first year at $12) on WordPress.
- IONOS also offers hosting with no minimum term, billed monthly with one month's notice, but the plan tables do not show its price.
Krystal
- Prices are in pounds sterling. Annual and two-year billing save 16% and 25%, but the page shows only the monthly figures.
- Amethyst hosts one site and has no free domain; the free domain starts at Ruby.
- Emergency phone support is listed from Sapphire up; the cheaper plans have standard phone support.
- Domain costs are not refunded under the 60-day money-back guarantee, though the domain can be transferred away.
Key features
IONOS
- Unlimited websites and NVMe storage
- Web hosting plans host any number of sites with unlimited traffic, on 100 GB to 500 GB of NVMe storage with more CPU priority on each tier.
- Domain, wildcard SSL and email
- Every plan includes a domain free for the first year, a wildcard DV certificate and 2 GB email accounts, from 1 on Essential to 5 on Ultimate.
- Backups and malware scanning
- Plans run daily backups, malware scanning and DDoS protection on geo-redundant servers. Ultimate adds advanced scanning with automatic removal.
- Developer access
- SSH, SFTP, WP-CLI, git version control, cron jobs and a choice of PHP 8.2 to 8.4 are included, with one-click installs for WordPress, Joomla and Drupal.
- AI tools for WordPress
- Every WordPress plan includes an AI Website Builder, and Grow and Boost add an AI assistant that writes text, images, pages and blog posts.
- Personal consultant
- Customers get a personal consultant to guide them, alongside 24/7 support by phone, chat and email.
Krystal
- cPanel control panel
- Plans come with cPanel, one-click installs of more than 380 applications including WordPress, Drupal and OpenCart, and a drag-and-drop site builder.
- Own cloud servers
- Hosting runs on Krystal's own Dell cloud servers with LiteSpeed caching and NVMe storage. Plans state their CPU and RAM allowance.
- Security and backups
- Servers are scanned for malware and protected by firewalls, CloudLinux and DDoS protection. Backups run daily on the smaller plans and as often as every 4 hours on the larger ones.
- Free migration
- The team moves a site from another host, whether it uses cPanel, Plesk or its own system, at no charge.
- Phone, chat and ticket support
- UK-based support answers by ticket, live chat and phone. Sapphire and the plans above it add emergency phone support.
- Other hosting lines
- Krystal also sells business hosting from £19 a month, managed WordPress from £15 a month, VPS from £10 a month, reseller hosting and a public cloud.
Plans
IONOS
Essential$8
per month at renewal, after a first year at $4 a month
Web hosting with unlimited websites, 100 GB NVMe and 1 mailbox. $4 a month for the first year of a 1-year term, shown against a crossed-out $10.
Starter$10
per month at renewal, after a first year at $6 a month
200 GB NVMe, 3x server resources, 2 mailboxes and a CDN. $6 a month for the first year, against a crossed-out $12.
Plus$14
per month at renewal, after a first year at $1 a month
350 GB NVMe, 5x server resources and 4 mailboxes. $1 a month for the first year, against a crossed-out $16.
Ultimate$18
per month at renewal, after a first year at $10 a month
500 GB NVMe, 10x resources, 5 mailboxes, unlimited wildcard SSL and automatic malware removal. $10 a month for the first year.
WordPress Start$8
per month at renewal, after a first year at $5 a month
One managed WordPress site, 25 GB, automatic backups and the AI Website Builder. $5 a month for the first year, against a crossed-out $9.
WordPress Grow$12
per month at renewal, after a first year at $1 a month
50 GB, 5 mailboxes, a year of Jetpack Vault and the AI Assistant for text, images and posts. $1 a month for the first year.
Krystal
Amethyst£7
per month, billed monthly
1 site, 1 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 10 GB NVMe, unlimited mailboxes and bandwidth, daily backups and free SSL.
Ruby£11
per month, billed monthly
5 sites, 2 CPU, 4 GB RAM and 25 GB NVMe, with a free domain.
Emerald£19
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited sites and NVMe storage, 3 CPU, 6 GB RAM, 12-hourly backups and PCI DSS scan compliance.
Sapphire£37
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited sites, 4 CPU, 8 GB RAM, 4-hourly backups and emergency phone support.
Diamond£67
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited sites, 6 CPU, 12 GB RAM, 4-hourly backups and emergency phone support.
Tanzanite£97
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited sites, 9 CPU, 18 GB RAM, 4-hourly backups and emergency phone support.
Ways to pay less
IONOS
- Other savings
First year of web hosting Plus at $1 a month
On a 1-year term the first year costs $1 a month for Plus, $4 for Essential, $6 for Starter and $10 for Ultimate, before $14, $8, $10 and $18 a month.
- Other savings
First year of WordPress Grow at $1 a month
On a 1-year term the first year costs $1 a month for Grow, $5 for Start and $12 for Boost, before $12, $8 and $17 a month.
Krystal
- Annual discount
Save 16% on annual, 25% on two-year billing
The hosting page offers Annually and Biennially billing options that it says save 16% and 25% against paying monthly. The page shows the monthly price only.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, IONOS or Krystal?
As of Nov 12, 2026, IONOS is cheaper to start with: $4 a month, against about $9.38 a month for Krystal. IONOS starts at $8 per month at renewal (Essential), after a first year at $4 a month, and Krystal starts at £7 per month, billed monthly (Amethyst).
Which has a free plan, IONOS or Krystal?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither IONOS nor Krystal has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.