WordPress vs IONOS: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

WordPress and IONOS both offer unique advantages, but they cater to different user needs and preferences.

• 
  WordPress (Overall Grade: 7.1/10)
  
  is a versatile open-source CMS that excels in customization and flexibility. It is ideal for users who need extensive design control and a wide range of plugins for various functionalities. When comparing WordPress vs IONOS, WordPress stands out for its robust ecommerce capabilities, comprehensive learning resources, and superior plugin ecosystem. However, it requires a steeper learning curve and separate purchases for hosting and other services.
• 
  IONOS (Overall Grade: 6.9/10)
  
  is a user-friendly website builder and hosting platform that simplifies the website creation process with its drag-and-drop functionality and AI capabilities. In the WordPress vs IONOS comparison, IONOS is better suited for beginners and small to medium-sized businesses looking for an all-in-one solution with integrated hosting. It offers reliable customer support, straightforward pricing, and effective website speed optimization, though it lacks the extensive customization options available with WordPress.

	Overall grade: 7.1	Overall grade: 6.9
Design functionalities & templates	9.0	7.2
Ease of use	7.2	7.8
Ecommerce	8.4	7.1
Website Editors	8.5	7.8
Product testing options	8.1	6.5
Price	5.9	7.8
Hosting quality	0	8.8
Website speed optimization	6.5	7.2
Plugins and integrations	8.8	6.5
Marketing features	8.0	7.5
Customer support	5.0	7.3
Security	6.7	7.5
AI capabilities	6.1	7.2
User Management	8.8	3.1

Best for ecommerce

8.4

7.1

Verdict

: WordPress offers extensive customization and scalability for ecommerce, making it a strong choice for businesses looking to grow. IONOS, while user-friendly and integrated, may not match the depth of features provided by WordPress.

• 
  WordPress
  
  : With its open-source nature and extensive plugin ecosystem, WordPress is highly customizable for ecommerce. Plugins like WooCommerce provide robust ecommerce functionalities, including multiple payment gateways, abandoned cart recovery, and detailed analytics. This makes WordPress ideal for businesses that need flexibility and scalability. However, the extensive customization options may require a steeper learning curve compared to IONOS.
• 
  IONOS
  
  : IONOS offers a more straightforward approach to ecommerce with integrated features that allow users to manage their online store directly from their website. It provides essential ecommerce tools such as store management, marketing tools, and various payment and shipping options. While it is user-friendly and suitable for those who prefer an all-in-one solution, it may lack the advanced customization and scalability that WordPress offers.

Best for informational & business websites

9.2

7.4

• 
  WordPress
  
  : WordPress excels in providing a highly customizable platform with a wide range of themes and plugins, making it ideal for creating diverse informational and business websites. Its open-source nature allows for extensive creative control, and it offers a vast array of learning resources to help users get the most out of the platform. With a score of 9.2, WordPress is the preferred choice for those looking to build a robust and versatile website.
• 
  IONOS
  
  : IONOS offers a straightforward and intuitive website builder with a variety of customizable templates, making it easy for users to create professional-looking websites without coding knowledge. It provides reliable hosting services and ensures that websites are optimized for search engines. However, with a score of 7.4, IONOS lacks the extensive customization options and plugin variety that WordPress offers, making it less suitable for users who need more advanced functionalities.

Detailed comparison

9.0

7.2

🏆

Winner: WordPress.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers more creative control and a wide array of design features, WordPress is the preferred choice.

WordPress offers an extensive variety of templates and designs, catering to a wide range of website types beyond just blogs or ecommerce. Its open-source nature allows for high customization and creative freedom, appealing to diverse user needs. While WordPress itself doesn’t sell premium templates, numerous third-party theme shops offer sophisticated and specialized design choices, expanding the possibilities for users.

WordPress Themes

Compared to WordPress, IONOS offers a wide variety of templates and designs for their website builder. With over 200 templates to choose from, users can find a design that suits their needs and preferences. The templates are categorized into different industries and styles, making it easy for users to find the perfect design for their website. Additionally, IONOS regularly updates their template library, ensuring that users have access to the latest design trends. Whether you’re creating a personal blog or an ecommerce website, IONOS has a template for every type of website.

IONOS Themes

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7.2

7.8

🏆 Winner: IONOS

. With a score of 7.8, IONOS edges out WordPress, which scored 7.2. IONOS is known for its straightforward and intuitive interface, making it suitable for users ranging from beginners to small and medium-sized businesses. WordPress, while offering great flexibility and power, can be less intuitive for beginners and requires some learning to fully utilize its extensive customization options.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: WordPress

. Both platforms offer solid learning resources, but WordPress stands out with its vast array of resources, including detailed documentation, community forums, online tutorials, and courses. IONOS also offers guidance on setting up websites, utilizing custom layouts, starting blogs, and incorporating web apps, but it doesn’t match the breadth and depth of resources provided by WordPress.

8.4

7.1

WordPress, with its open-source nature, offers extensive customization options for ecommerce through plugins like WooCommerce. It supports multiple payment gateways, provides abandoned cart recovery, ecommerce analytics, SEO optimization tools, and has an extensive plugin ecosystem. On the other hand, IONOS, a website builder and hosting platform, provides integrated ecommerce features, allowing users to manage their online store directly from their website. It offers store management, marketing tools, and various payment and shipping options.

Ecommerce themes and templates	9.2	6.5
Product page customization	9.0	6.8
Payment processing and commissions	7.5	7.0
POS capabilities	6.5	5.5
Payment gateways	8.5	7.2
Product numbers	7.0	6.0
Additional ecommerce features	8.0	6.3

WordPress ecommerce features:

• WooCommerce Integration
• Multiple Payment Gateway Support
• Abandoned Cart Recovery
• Ecommerce Analytics
• SEO Optimization Tools
• Extensive Plugin Ecosystem

IONOS ecommerce features:

• Store Management
• Marketing Tools
• Payment and Shipping options
• Products and Inventory management

Ecommerce themes & templates

WordPress offers hundreds to potentially thousands of ecommerce and WooCommerce specific themes and templates, both free and premium. IONOS, on the other hand, offers a variety of ecommerce themes and templates designed to help businesses set up their online stores efficiently and effectively. Their online store builder is tailored to support a range of ecommerce needs, from selling on social media platforms to managing a scalable ecommerce website without any coding or design skills required.

Product page customization

WooCommerce on WordPress offers extensive customization for eCommerce product pages, balancing plugins, page builders, and custom coding. Essential elements include quality product images, detailed descriptions, and effective add-to-cart buttons. Advanced features like product tabs, upsells, and related products are customizable. Tools like Elementor and the Ultimate Product Catalog plugin enhance functionality, but heavy plugin use may affect site performance.

IONOS provides users with the ability to extensively customize product pages. This includes the flexibility to adjust the design and layout, ensuring that product images, descriptions, and specifications are displayed according to individual preferences. Additionally, Ionos allows for the setup and management of product options and variations, such as size and color, enabling customers to select their preferred version of a product.

Payment processing

WordPress doesn’t handle payments directly but offers plugin options for payment processing. Popular gateways include PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, and Square. Choose a gateway based on transaction volume, currencies, fees, and security. Plugins integrate gateways with WooCommerce for a user-friendly setup. Consider options for recurring payments, offline payments, and fraud prevention. Research, read reviews, and start small, scaling as needed.

IONOS supports a wide variety of third-party payment processors for its website builder, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square, without charging direct fees for payment processing. Users can choose from an extensive list of payment options to suit their business needs and customer preferences, enhancing the flexibility and security of online transactions. The platform offers detailed guidance on integrating these payment methods into online stores, allowing for customization in terms of fees, order value thresholds, and geographical availability.

8.5

7.8

🏆

Winner: WordPress

. WordPress, with a score of 8.5, offers a user-friendly interface with block-based editing, extensive styles customization, template management, page editing/creation, distraction-free modes, versatile saving options, and accessibility for users of varying skill levels. It also provides a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface, allowing users to see the end result while editing the website.

IONOS, scoring 7.8, provides an intuitive website builder equipped with AI assistance, designed for users to quickly create professional-looking websites without needing coding skills. This platform offers customizable templates, AI-generated content, and is optimized for mobile use, ensuring a responsive design across all devices.

Mobile editor/app

8.1

4.5

🏆

Winner: WordPress

. Both WordPress and IONOS offer mobile editing capabilities, but they cater to different needs and skill levels. WordPress has a dedicated mobile app that allows users to manage their website on the go. You can create and edit posts, manage comments, schedule content, and analyze website traffic from your phone or tablet. However, it has some limitations compared to the web-based editor, including fewer advanced options, restricted code access, and limited design customization.

IONOS, on the other hand, does not have a dedicated mobile editor app. Users have access to limited editing abilities on a mobile browser. This lack of a dedicated mobile app and limited editing capabilities on mobile devices result in a lower mobile editor score for IONOS compared to WordPress.

In summary, WordPress receives a higher rating due to its dedicated mobile app and comprehensive mobile editing capabilities, while IONOS falls short due to its lack of a dedicated mobile app and limited mobile editing capabilities.

8.1

6.5

Overall Result

:

WordPress scores higher with 8.1 compared to IONOS’s 6.5

. WordPress, being an open-source CMS, is free to use and offers extensive customization options. However, it does not provide a trial version or the possibility to test premium features. IONOS, on the other hand, does not offer a free or trial version but allows users to test premium features during a 30-day refundable period.

Free Plan	Yes (open source software)	No
Trial Duration	No	No (30-day money back guarantee)
Testing Premium Features	No	Yes, during the 30-day refundable period

5.9

7.8

IONOS offers a more straightforward pricing structure with clear plans and features, while WordPress is free but requires separate purchases for hosting and other services.

	Offerings	Offerings
Free	Free Plan ($0/month): WordPress is open source software that is free. WordPress does not provide hosting services; so, it is necessary to purchase a domain, web hosting, and website builder subscriptions separately. While WordPress lacks built-in ecommerce, plugins like WooCommerce offer a solution. WordPress offers an extensive variety of templates and designs. WordPress lacks a built-in AI-assisted builder, but its open-source nature allows for an ecosystem of plugins and themes incorporating AI for website building.	No offering at this amount.
$10-$15	No offering at this amount.	Starter ($12/month): Basic for newcomers with 10GB space, 10 pages, 2GB email, free domain first year. Value for price: 5.0
$15-$20	No offering at this amount.	Plus ($18/month): Enhanced with 50GB space, 200 pages, custom HTML, SiteAnalytics, online booking, AI Text Generator & AI Text Improver, AI SEO Text Generator Value for price: 7.5
$30+	No offering at this amount.	Pro ($30/month): Advanced for scaling, unlimited space/pages, 50GB email, SEO tools, comprehensive marketing tools. Value for Price: 9.0

0

8.8

Winner: IONOS

. IONOS offers a diverse range of hosting services including shared, VPS, dedicated, and WordPress hosting, with features like daily backups, and unlimited traffic. However, it faces criticism for its VPS and WordPress hosting performance, a less intuitive custom control panel instead of cPanel. On the other hand, WordPress itself does not directly provide hosting services, which gives IONOS an advantage in this category.

Do they offer hosting?	No, WordPress itself does not directly provide hosting services.	Yes, IONOS offers a diverse range of hosting services including shared, VPS, dedicated, and WordPress hosting, with features like daily backups, and unlimited traffic. However, it faces criticism for its VPS and WordPress hosting performance, a less intuitive custom control panel instead of cPanel.
Data Centers:	Data centers depend on hosting providers	Total of 7 data centers in EU(Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Logroño) and USA(Las Vegas, NV; Newark, NJ; Lenexa, KS)
Type of hosting:	WordPress itself isn’t a hosting platform, there are various options when choosing the type of hosting for websites built with WordPress, such as: Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting, Managed WordPress Hosting, Cloud Hosting	Shared, Dedicated, VPS, WordPress Hosting
Uptime:	Uptime & uptime guarantee depends on hosting provider.	99.99%
Uptime Guarantee:	Uptime & uptime guarantee depends on hosting provider.	Yes, 99.99%

6.5

7.2

🏆 Winner: IONOS

Both WordPress and IONOS prioritize website performance and page speed, but IONOS has a more comprehensive strategy for website speed optimization, giving it an edge over WordPress.

Focus	Plugin optimization, CDN	HTML, CSS, JavaScript Optimization, CDN
Performance Tools	Core Web Vitals, WP Rocket, Hummingbird	Google PageSpeed Insights Integration
Key Strategies	No specific strategy, relies on resources	HTML, CSS, JavaScript Optimization, Caching
Load Times	Varies widely, dependent on optimization	Varies widely, dependent on optimization
Page Speed Scores Range	Scores vary; influenced by apps, images	Varies widely, dependent on optimization
Core Web Vitals Improvement	Analyze CWV, optimize images, use CDN	Emphasis on LCP, FID, CLS improvements

IONOS has a comprehensive strategy for website speed optimization, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript optimization, image and multimedia optimization, caching, WordPress optimization, and the use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN). This approach, combined with an emphasis on improving Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) scores, gives IONOS an edge in website speed optimization. However, both load times and PageSpeed scores can vary widely, depending on the level of optimization and the user’s location.

On the other hand, WordPress does not have a specific strategy for website speed optimization. Instead, it provides numerous learning resources on how to optimize your website. These resources include tools like Core Web Vitals, WP Rocket, and Hummingbird, and strategies such as choosing a reliable host, optimizing images, minimizing plugins, using lazy loading, and employing a CDN. Despite these resources, the load times and PageSpeed scores for WordPress websites can vary widely, depending on the level of optimization.

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8.8

6.5

🏆 Winner: WordPress.

With a score of 8.8, WordPress outperforms IONOS, which scores 6.5. WordPress offers over 60,000 free plugins, significantly more than the 100 plugins offered by IONOS. This vast array of plugins allows WordPress users to extend functionalities across various domains, including advanced ecommerce tools, SEO optimization, social media integration, email marketing, website analytics, appointment scheduling, customer support, enhanced media galleries, blogging features, custom forms and surveys, diverse payment processing options, website localization, improved security measures, and the addition of custom widgets. The top integrations for WordPress include RankMath for SEO, WP Rocket for caching, WPForms for form creation, UpdraftPlus for backups, EWWW Image Optimizer for image optimization, and WooCommerce for ecommerce. On the other hand, IONOS offers plugins for ecommerce capabilities, social media integration, SEO optimization, contact forms, design customization, galleries or sliders, and third-party tool integration.

WordPress Applications

8.0

7.5

🏆

Overall Winner: WordPress

. WordPress edges out IONOS with a slightly higher score, thanks to its extensive customization options through plugins. However, IONOS also offers a robust set of marketing tools, making it a strong contender.

SEO Tools
Email Marketing
Blogging
Social Media Integration	Plugins for direct linking, automatic posting, and social feeds display	Direct sales on Facebook and Instagram, offering extensive reach and mobile management capabilities
Analytics and Reporting	In-depth analysis via plugins like Google Analytics for WordPress	Provides detailed insights through built-in metrics and SiteAnalytics, with support for Google Analytics integration
Ads and Promotions	Support for Google Ads and ad management through various plugins	Features sophisticated ad campaign management with Google Ads, and promotional tools like coupons and special offers

5.0

7.3

🏆 Winner: IONOS

. In the comparison of WordPress vs IONOS, IONOS takes the lead with its comprehensive 24/7 customer support. Users can reach out to IONOS support at any time via phone, ensuring immediate assistance. This round-the-clock availability is a significant advantage for users who may encounter issues at any time of the day.

WordPress, on the other hand, lacks direct customer support due to its open-source nature. Users must rely on community forums, the WordPress codex, and support from hosting providers or plugin and theme developers. While these resources can be helpful, they do not offer the immediacy and direct assistance that IONOS provides.

6.7

7.5

🏆

Winner: IONOS

. IONOS takes the lead in security with a score of 7.5, compared to WordPress’s 6.7. IONOS provides robust data storage and protection measures across its various services, including HiDrive Cloud Storage and secure email solutions. It integrates various security measures to safeguard websites created on its platform, focusing on preventing malware spread, spamming, and data breaches.

WordPress, on the other hand, provides numerous functionalities and resources to enhance website security effectively. You can utilize multiple plugins to bolster security, such as those for site backups, monitoring, malware scanning, user activity tracking, permission control, and spam protection tools. However, its approach to private data storage and protection can vary depending on the hosting provider, which may not provide the same level of security as IONOS.

6.1

7.2

Personalized Design		IONOS AI offers tailored design suggestions based on user inputs
SEO Optimization	AI-driven recommendations for better search engine visibility	AI-guided SEO advice for optimal content placement and structure
Customer Behavior Analysis
Sales Predictions
Inventory Management
Content Generation	AI assistance in creating and optimizing site content	AI assistance in creating and optimizing site content

🏆 Winner: IONOS

. IONOS’s AI capabilities, particularly through its AI website builder, are highly user-friendly and innovative. It excels in offering personalized website design suggestions, content optimization, and streamlined site setup processes. IONOS’s AI also assists in providing SEO recommendations and layout adjustments based on user behavior.

WordPress, with a score of 6.1, utilizes AI mainly through plugins. Its AI features focus on content generation and SEO optimization. While WordPress’s AI is powerful, it is more plugin-dependent compared to IONOS’s built-in AI.

8.8

3.1

🏆 Winner: WordPress

. WordPress offers a more comprehensive user management system compared to IONOS.

• WordPress allows for extensive user role management, with roles ranging from Super Admin to Subscriber. Additional controls such as role management plugins and revision control offer further customization for specific editing rights and collaboration.
• IONOS permits multiple users for website editing. However, there is no mention of user roles and permissions, nor is there information about limitations on the number of users allowed to edit a website.

WordPress User Roles and Access Levels:

IONOS does not provide information about user roles and access levels.

Additional Features

SSL Certificate
Custom Domain
Free Custom Domain Included
International Domains
Mobile Responsive
Page Speed
Website Builder Mobile App
Convert a Website To An App
Website Analytics
Multilingual Sites
Multiple Users

User Feedback

Wordpress

8655 reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars

IONOS

20 reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

WordPress receives praise for its user-friendliness, cost-effectiveness, extensive themes and plugins, customization options, and supportive community. However, users mention technical challenges, security concerns, a learning curve, and a lack of direct support. Overall, it remains a widely used and versatile platform, especially beneficial for startups and small businesses.

As IONOS is primarily a hosting provider with a website builder as a product, most reviews focus on its hosting services. Users have mixed experiences with IONOS 1&1 Websites & Shops. While praised for its great packages, personalized support, and streamlined interface for IT professionals, some encounter issues with backend functionality and find customer service representatives too pushy. Despite occasional short outages, the overall reliability and responsiveness of the service are appreciated by users.

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