# IONOS > Shared and WordPress hosting with a domain, wildcard SSL and email IONOS sells shared web hosting for unlimited websites and separate managed WordPress plans, alongside VPS, dedicated and cloud servers. Every plan includes a first-year domain, a wildcard SSL certificate, email accounts, daily backups and malware scanning, and the WordPress plans add an AI website builder and writing assistant. - **Category:** Web Hosting - **Made by:** IONOS Inc. - **Website:** https://www.ionos.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026 ## Pricing IONOS is a paid product, starting at $8 per month at renewal (Essential), after a first year at $4 a month. - **Pricing model:** Paid - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | 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. | Read from https://www.ionos.com/hosting/web-hosting on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with IONOS before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **First year of web hosting Plus at $1 a month** (Other savings): 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. Source: https://www.ionos.com/hosting/web-hosting - **First year of WordPress Grow at $1 a month** (Other savings): 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. Source: https://www.ionos.com/hosting/wordpress-hosting ## Key features - **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. ## Good for - Small businesses running several sites on one shared plan - WordPress beginners who want AI help building the first site - Developers who want SSH, git and WP-CLI on cheap hosting ## Worth knowing - 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. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 1.8 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. IONOS gives you a lot of room for little money: unlimited websites, 100 GB, a wildcard SSL and daily backups on the entry plan, plus SSH and git if you code. Mailboxes are the weak spot, with just one on Essential. And first-year prices really are first-year: Plus goes from $1 to $14 a month. - **Value for money: B.** Essential 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. - **Free plan and trial: F.** Nothing free: there's no free plan and no trial on record, so you pay from day one. - **Features: C.** Unlimited 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. - **Ease of use: C.** No 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. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** A web dashboard only. Its integrations are the apps it installs, WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Jetpack, plus SSH and git, with no API on record. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from IONOS's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among web hosts - IONOS's GPA of 1.8 is higher than 4 of the 21 other web hosts we grade, and level with 2. - It stands best on value for money (B, above 11 of 21) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $4 a month, against a middle price of $10.99 for the category: 6 of the 16 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 5 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/web-hosting ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace IONOS you would be making an engine that recognises new malware as it appears. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 15 of the 21 other web hosts grade higher. It costs $48 a year. - You could not: An engine that recognises new malware as it appears. - You could not: Servers kept running, patched and backed up for you. - You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Jetpack **Tags:** AI features, Malware protection, Managed WordPress ## Alternatives - [Hostinger](https://toolgpa.com/tools/hostinger): Shared, WordPress and cloud hosting run from its own hPanel dashboard. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hostinger-vs-ionos) - [Bluehost](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bluehost): WordPress-focused shared hosting sold on multi-year terms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bluehost-vs-ionos) - [Namecheap](https://toolgpa.com/tools/namecheap): Domain registrar's cPanel shared hosting, billed monthly or yearly. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ionos-vs-namecheap) - [HostGator](https://toolgpa.com/tools/hostgator): Shared and WordPress hosting with malware scanning and a free domain. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hostgator-vs-ionos) - [SiteGround](https://toolgpa.com/tools/siteground): Shared and WordPress hosting on Google Cloud with its own Site Tools. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ionos-vs-siteground) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026: - https://www.ionos.com/hosting/web-hosting - https://www.ionos.com/hosting/wordpress-hosting Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/ionos Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).