Format vs iPage: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

Format vs iPage: Both platforms offer unique strengths tailored to different user needs, but iPage edges out Format with a slightly higher overall score.

• 
  Format (Overall Grade: 5.8/10)
  
  is a specialized website builder designed for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, and designers. It excels in providing visually appealing, customizable templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Format is ideal for users looking to showcase their portfolios and manage their online presence without needing technical expertise. However, its ecommerce capabilities and user management features are somewhat limited compared to iPage.
• 
  iPage (Overall Grade: 6.1/10)
  
  offers a more comprehensive solution with its web hosting and site builder platform. It provides a wide range of templates, robust ecommerce features, and extensive marketing tools, making it suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. iPage’s partnership with Bluehost enhances its hosting capabilities, offering improved performance and scalability. While it may not have the same level of design focus as Format, iPage’s broader feature set and better user management make it a more versatile option.

Best for ecommerce

Verdict

: Format is ideal for creative professionals with basic ecommerce needs, while iPage offers more comprehensive ecommerce solutions for small to medium-sized businesses.

• 
  Format
  
  : Designed for creative professionals, Format provides essential ecommerce functionalities for selling physical and digital products. It includes features like inventory management, discounts, and multiple currency options. However, it lacks ecommerce-specific templates, which may limit its appeal for dedicated online stores. When comparing Format vs iPage, Format is more suited for showcasing portfolios with integrated online store capabilities.
• 
  iPage
  
  : iPage offers a range of ecommerce features suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. It includes inventory management, coupon codes, SEO tools, and PayPal integration. iPage also provides ecommerce-specific templates and more extensive product page customization options. This makes iPage a better choice for those looking to establish a comprehensive online store.

Best for informational & business websites

Verdict

: When it comes to creating informational and business websites, both Format and iPage have their strengths, but they cater to slightly different audiences. Format is ideal for creative professionals looking to showcase their portfolios, while iPage is more suited for small businesses and personal projects needing a comprehensive hosting solution.

• 
  Format
  
  : Format is specifically designed for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, and designers. It offers nearly 100 customizable templates tailored for showcasing portfolios in a visually appealing manner. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, users can easily create and manage their online presence without any coding knowledge. Format also includes features like an integrated online store, client proofing, and blogging tools, making it a comprehensive platform for creatives to share their work and connect with potential clients. However, its limited plugin support and lack of detailed hosting information may be a drawback for some users.
• 
  iPage
  
  : iPage is a user-friendly web hosting and site builder platform that offers a variety of templates and a drag-and-drop builder to simplify website creation for those without technical expertise. It provides comprehensive services including hosting, domain registration, and e-commerce solutions, targeting small businesses and personal projects. iPage excels in offering a range of affordable hosting services and robust security measures, making it a reliable choice for users looking for a comprehensive solution. However, its design options and website editor may not be as advanced as those offered by Format.

Detailed comparison

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Winner: Tie.

Both Format and iPage offer a range of design functionalities and templates, catering to different user needs and preferences.

Format is a website builder specifically designed for creatives, offering nearly 100 customizable templates tailored for various artistic disciplines. It emphasizes high-quality imagery and mobile-friendly designs, ensuring portfolios look professional on any device.

Format Themes

On the other hand, iPage offers a wide variety of templates and designs, catering to users with diverse needs and preferences. With hundreds of options available, users can easily find a template that suits their specific project or business requirements. These templates are also customizable, allowing for a high degree of personalization in terms of layout, color schemes, and functionality.

🏆 Winner: Format

. With a score of 8.3, Format offers an intuitive and user-friendly platform tailored for creatives, making it easier for users to create and manage their online presence. iPage, scoring 7.6, provides a user-friendly experience but with somewhat limited design options compared to more advanced website builders.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: iPage

. Both platforms offer solid learning resources, but iPage goes a step further with its comprehensive knowledge base, video tutorials, and step-by-step guides that cover a wide range of topics from basic website setup to more advanced features.

When it comes to ecommerce, both Format and iPage offer features that cater to different audiences. Format, designed for creative professionals, provides basic ecommerce functionalities for selling physical and digital products. On the other hand, iPage offers a range of ecommerce features suitable for small to medium-sized businesses looking to establish an online store.

Format ecommerce features:

• Inventory management and tracking
• Discounts
• Multiple currency options

iPage ecommerce features:

• Inventory Management and Tracking
• Coupon Codes and Promotions
• SEO Tools
• PayPal Integration

Ecommerce themes & templates

Format does not have ecommerce specific templates, which may limit its appeal for those looking for a dedicated ecommerce platform. iPage, however, offers a variety of ecommerce-specific templates designed to cater to online stores and businesses. These templates are integrated with features such as shopping carts, product catalogs, and payment processing options to facilitate online transactions.

Product page customization

When it comes to product page customization, Format offers limited specific details but focuses on showcasing products through high-quality imagery and detailed descriptions. iPage’s website builder offers a range of ecommerce product page customization options, allowing users to design their storefronts with various templates, adjust layouts, and incorporate multimedia elements like images and videos to showcase products.

Payment processing

In terms of payment processing, Format offers integration with major payment gateways, including Paypal and Stripe, but charges a commission on its plans. iPage supports several payment options for eCommerce, including major gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and others, catering to a wide range of currencies and countries. iPage does not charge commissions for transactions, commissions are charged by the gateways themselves.

Considering the features, availability, cost, and flexibility, both Format and iPage offer viable ecommerce solutions for their respective target audiences. However, for more extensive ecommerce features or a broader range of website types, users may need to consider other specialized ecommerce platforms.

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Winner: Format

. With a score of 7.5, Format’s website editor offers a variety of features for creating online portfolios. It provides nearly 100 professionally designed templates and thousands of design variations without requiring any coding. Users can express creativity with custom pages, incorporating unique gallery layouts, colors, text formatting, and custom code embeds. The templates and pages are fully responsive, ensuring a mobile-first experience. Format also supports direct video hosting, high-quality image rendering, and easy template switching to give sites a new look. Additionally, it includes studio management tools, e-commerce capabilities, and SEO tools.

iPage’s website builder editor, scoring 6.8, is designed for ease of use, catering to both beginners and those with some web design experience. It offers a drag-and-drop interface, allowing users to easily add, remove, and customize elements on their web pages without needing to code. Users can choose from a variety of templates that are responsive and customizable to fit their brand or personal style. Additionally, the editor includes features for adding social media links, integrating e-commerce functionalities, and optimizing for search engines, making it a versatile tool for creating a wide range of websites.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: iPage

. Both Format and iPage do not offer a dedicated mobile app for editing. However, they allow users to edit their websites using a mobile browser. Format’s mobile browser interface is the same as the desktop version, which can be difficult to use on a smartphone.

iPage, on the other hand, also allows editing on a mobile browser, but with some limitations. Despite these limitations, iPage scores slightly higher than Format in the mobile editor category, indicating a slightly better mobile editing experience.

In summary, iPage receives a higher rating due to its slightly better mobile editing experience, while Format’s mobile browser interface is the same as the desktop version, which can be difficult to use on a smartphone.

Overall Result

:

Format wins

. Format scores 8.3 in product testing options, significantly higher than iPage’s 2.5. Format offers a 14-day free trial, during which users can test all premium features. iPage, on the other hand, does not offer a free trial but allows users to test all features during a 30-day refundable period. Both platforms offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

Format and iPage offer a range of price plans, with iPage offering more comprehensive services including hosting. However, Format offers more tailored features for creative professionals.

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Winner: iPage

iPage offers a range of affordable hosting services including shared, WordPress, and VPS hosting, with unlimited storage and bandwidth for various website needs. However, its performance speed and scalability features may not meet the expectations of all users, particularly those with high-traffic sites. Additional costs for backups, security features, and significant price increases upon renewal are potential downsides. On the other hand, Format does not disclose any information about its hosting types, uptime statistics, or data centers, which makes it difficult to evaluate its hosting quality.

🏆 Winner: iPage

Both Format and iPage prioritize website performance and page speed, but iPage outperforms Format in terms of website speed optimization.

iPage, a web hosting and site builder platform, prioritizes website performance and page speed. It employs strategies such as web server optimizations, caching, CDN, database optimization, and SEO optimization to enhance website speed. iPage has an average load time of 2.6 seconds and an average PageSpeed score of 72/100. It also focuses on improving Core Web Vitals, including Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

On the other hand, Format, a website builder designed for creative professionals, focuses on image and video optimization for speed enhancement. However, the load times and PageSpeed scores vary depending on the optimization and complexity of the website. Format does not disclose any information on their Core Web Vitals improvements.

🏆 Winner: iPage.

iPage scores 6.3, offering a variety of plugins and extensions that enhance website functionality beyond the base features provided by the website builder. This includes adding advanced SEO tools, integrating e-commerce capabilities, and incorporating social media feeds directly into the site. Format, with a score of 4.9, offers support for a limited selection of plugins/integrations, including Adobe Lightroom, Mailchimp, and Google Analytics. However, its overall capabilities for expansion through plugins and integrations are notably limited.

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Overall Winner: iPage

. iPage stands out for its more comprehensive marketing tools, especially in SEO, email marketing, and ads and promotions. Format, while offering basic marketing features, lacks in advanced capabilities.

🏆 Winner: Format

. Comparing Format vs iPage, Format edges out iPage in this category with a slightly higher customer support score. Format offers 24/7 customer support through email and live chat, ensuring users can get help at any time. The support team is distributed globally, which helps maintain round-the-clock availability.

iPage also provides 24/7 customer support through phone, email, and live chat, making it accessible for users at any time. However, despite its comprehensive support channels, iPage falls just short of Format in terms of overall user satisfaction. Both platforms offer robust support, but Format’s slightly higher score indicates a marginally better user experience.

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Winner: iPage

. iPage edges out Format with a slightly higher security score. iPage offers robust security measures such as SiteLock, a comprehensive security suite that scans websites for vulnerabilities and threats, and automatically removes malware. It also provides SSL certificates for secure data transmission. An additional feature is Domain Privacy Protection, which shields personal information from being publicly accessible, adding an extra layer of privacy and security.

Format, on the other hand, emphasizes user data security through encrypted data storage and strict access controls. It also complies with data protection regulations like GDPR and provides resources to help users secure their accounts. However, specific details about Format’s security measures were not directly mentioned, which might have contributed to its slightly lower security score.

🏆 Winner: iPage

. iPage, with a score of 3.0, offers a basic AI-powered website builder, making it easier for users to create and customize their websites. However, it does not offer advanced AI features such as AI content generation or AI ecommerce features.

Format, with a score of 0.0, does not have any AI capabilities. It is a website builder specifically designed for creative professionals and does not incorporate AI in its features.

🏆 Winner: iPage

. Both Format and iPage have limited user management capabilities, but iPage slightly outperforms Format in this area.

• Format allows only one user to manage and edit websites, which can be a limitation for teams or projects that require collaboration.
• iPage’s website builder offers very limited multi-user functionality and access levels compared to more sophisticated website builder platforms.

User management scores:

• Format: 2.8
• iPage: 3.2

Additional Features

User Feedback

Users highly praise Format for its user-friendly website builder, particularly noting the ease of adding images and the effectiveness of customer service. Many reviewers appreciate the variety of modern templates and the platform’s suitability for users without technical expertise, especially photographers. Format’s mobile app and proofing section receive special mentions for their convenience and functionality. However, some users desire more customization options, particularly for mobile views, and mention minor limitations in template flexibility and SEO functionality. Overall, Format is celebrated for its ability to provide a professional online presence easily and efficiently, solving users’ needs for showcasing work and attracting new clients.

In contrast, iPage does not have a user feedback summary available, making it challenging to provide a direct comparison in terms of user satisfaction. However, iPage’s focus on offering comprehensive services including hosting, domain registration, and e-commerce solutions targets small businesses and personal projects, which may appeal to users looking for an all-in-one platform. The recent partnership with Bluehost aims to enhance their hosting capabilities and pricing plans, potentially improving user experience in the future.

FAQ