Final verdict
Looking over InMotion Hosting vs. Hostwinds, InMotion takes the upper hand for a broader audience and specialized requirements, while Hostwinds shines in certain key areas with its versatility.
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InMotion Hosting (Overall grade: 8.4)
offers tailored hosting plans, particularly excelling in WordPress and eCommerce hosting. Its performance is commendable, boasting impressive uptime and speed metrics, thanks to NVMe SSDs and UltraStack Technology. On the security front, InMotion stands out with free SSL certificates, malware detection, and comprehensive GDPR compliance. However, its interface may be slightly challenging for beginners, and some users report slower server response on lower-tier plans.
Hostwinds (Overall grade: 7.1)
provides a range of hosting types including shared, business, and cloud, making it versatile for varied needs. Users praise its exceptional customer service and user-friendly Weebly Site Builder, suitable for those with limited technical skills. Hostwinds offers reliable uptime and site speed, aided by Cloudflare CDN and LiteSpeed Web Server. Despite its strengths, the service can be relatively pricier, and some users face issues during site migration and technical support.
 Overall grade:8.4 |
 Overall grade:7.1 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Uptime and Availability | 8.2 | 7.2 |
| Hosting Performance | 8.3 | 8.4 |
| Hosting Security | 8.7 | 8.0 |
| Price | 7.9 | 8.5 |
| Hosting Features | 8.2 | 7.7 |
| Ease Of Setup | 8.6 | 8.7 |
| User Management | 8.7 | 0.0 |
| Customer Support | 8.3 | 8.0 |
| User feedback | 3.9/5 | 4.9/5 |
Hosting types offered
Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.
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|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | ||
| Cloud hosting | ||
| WordPress hosting | ||
| Ecommerce hosting | ||
| VPS hosting | ||
| Dedicated hosting |
Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.
Detailed comparison
Uptime and availability
Evaluates the average uptime statistics, uptime guarantee and overall availability of the hosting
provider
Score Components:
- Uptime percentage (30%): evaluates the uptime statistics in given period of time
- Uptime guarantee (20%): Assesses if the platform offers an uptime guarantee and
whether the actual uptime matches the promised guarantee. - General performance (25%): Evaluates how fast is the average response time and overall
it’s stability. - Responsiveness (10%): Adaptability to different devices and screen sizes.
- Availability (25%): Reflects the total downtime and number of outages.
8.2
7.2
🏆 Winner: InMotion Hosting: Provides reliable uptime and strong performance
InMotion Hosting has demonstrated strong performance across its hosting plans. Its shared hosting showed a perfect 100% uptime in 2022, while VPS and managed WordPress hosting plans claim 99.99% uptime with high-performing features. Over a 14-day test period, InMotion Hosting achieved a 100% uptime rate, suggesting dependability. Historical data shows impressive uptime results improving from 99.73% in 2020 to 100% in 2022.
Hostwinds, while offering a 99.99% uptime guarantee, recorded an actual uptime of 99.89% over nearly two weeks of monitoring with a significant 19-minute outage. The average response time was 945ms, which is lower than the market average. However, their monitoring systems and 2N redundancy in their three data centers, located in Seattle, Dallas, and Amsterdam, help maintain service reliability. Despite good infrastructure, the occasional downtime and varied response times present challenges.
Hosting performance
Score Components:
- Hosting speed (30%): This includes SSD quality, Load times, PageSpeed score ranges,
additional information on website speed, built-in plugins for performance enhancement, available caching
methods, and CPU/RAM options - CDN (20%): Considers whether CDN is available or not, whether it’s free or paid, and
the quality of the CDN service - Available data centers (30%): Evaluates the number of data centers and their locations
globally. - Scalibility (20%): Looks at whether elastic scaling is available, the process required
to scale (manual upgrade vs. automatic scaling), the presence of dedicated servers, and the costs
associated with scaling.
8.3
8.4
🏆 Winner Hostwinds: Provides fast, reliable hosting with superior scalability options.
Comparing general performance between InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds, both providers offer SSD storage which significantly boosts website speed. InMotion utilizes NVMe SSDs and UltraStack Technology for a potential 20x speed improvement along with advanced caching methods, while Hostwinds employs standard SSDs. Hostwinds complements its SSD with Litespeed web server for faster content delivery and Cloudflare CDN, which is a major advantage for rapid load times globally. Both services offer multiple data centers, but InMotion provides a more diverse geographic spread with locations in the USA and Europe.
Website speed
When it comes to website speed, both hosting providers ensure rapid performance, but InMotion’s UltraStack Technology and NVMe SSDs can provide up to 20x faster website speeds. Hostwinds relies heavily on Litespeed web servers and Cloudflare CDN for faster content delivery. InMotion also boasts a 99.99% uptime guarantee and advanced caching, while Hostwinds claims an impressive 99.9999% uptime. Both include free SSL certificates for security, ensuring data encryption does not slow down performance.
Scalability
InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds both offer flexible scalability options. InMotion allows for easy upgrading from shared hosting to dedicated servers, providing managed or unmanaged options starting at $35.00/mo. Hostwinds offers instant scalability, making it easy to adjust server resources as needed without manual upgrades. Both services provide dedicated servers, ensuring resources can grow with the demands of the website, but the specific costs for scaling on Hostwinds were not detailed.
Hosting security
and regulatory requirements
Score Components:
- Technical security measures (40%): This includes encryption, firewalls, DDoS
protection, secure configurations, server monitoring, access control and availability of security addons
(e.g Sitelock security). - Operational security measures (30%): Encompasses data privacy, backups and data
redundancy. - Compliance and certifications (20%): Adherence to legal and regulatory requirements
(e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) and possession of certifications (e.g., ISO 27001, SOC 2). - Business and reliability (10%): Factors in the provider’s reputation, uptime
guarantees, and customer support.
8.7
8.0
🏆 Winner InMotion Hosting: InMotion Hosting offers a comprehensive range of security and compliance features, making it a reliable choice for website hosting.
Both InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.
Technical security measures:
InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds both offer several robust technical security measures. InMotion provides free SSL certificates with all plans and supports advanced firewall software like Modsec, along with automated malware detection. Hostwinds also offers SSL certificates and boasts a Litespeed Web Server for faster content delivery. Both providers support the latest PHP versions, aiding in faster and securer website performance. However, InMotion’s DDoS protection and SSH access grant additional layers of technical security.
Operational security measures:
InMotion excels in operational security, providing tools like a Backup Manager for automatic backups and Spam Experts for enhanced email security. For Hostwinds, operational security measures include nightly backups and 24/7 monitoring of websites, which triggers automatic tickets for issue resolution. Hostwinds also ensures fast site speeds through route-optimized networking and Cloudflare CDN integration. Despite these strong features, InMotion’s hack and malware protection and additional SSH access make it slightly more comprehensive.
Compliance and certifications:
When it comes to compliance, InMotion stands out with its GDPR and CCPA compliance, ensuring user data protection and privacy for European and California residents, respectively. They also guide users toward PCI compliance but do not offer explicit scans. Hostwinds, on the other hand, does not specify their compliance with GDPR or PCI, leaving some ambiguity in their regulatory adherence.
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|---|---|---|
SSL certificate |
Free SSL |
Free AutoSSL, RapidSSL, WildCard SSL |
Additional security features |
DDoS protection, malware detection, spam protection |
Website monitoring, nightly backups, full management |
PHP versions |
PHP 7 and PHP 8 |
Latest PHP versions |
GDPR compliance |
Yes |
Not specified |
HIPAA compliance |
Not specified |
Not specified |
PCI compliance |
Guidance provided |
Not specified |
Hosting features
Score Components:
- Domains (20%): Assesses the availability of a free domain, domain purchase options, and
pricing - Email (15%): Considers if the provider offers full email hosting, or is reselling
third-party service, and if the email is only transactional or not - Website builder (15%): Checks if website builder is available, and it’s user
friendliness and overall the level of customization allowed. - Staging environment (20%): Determines if a staging environment is available, allowing
for testing changes before going live. - FTP & SFTP accounts (10%): Evaluates if and how easily users can access FTP and
SFTP accounts - Git and SSH access (20%): Assess whether Git is integrated into the hosting service and
if SSH access is provided
8.2
7.7
🏆 Winner: InMotion Hosting: A well-rounded hosting provider with robust features and excellent performance.
When comparing InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds, both providers offer a wide array of features tailored to meet various needs, from personal websites to business applications. InMotion Hosting distinguishes itself with its inclusion of NVMe SSD storage, ensuring significantly faster website speeds. The integration of the Softaculous Application Installer allows users to effortlessly install over 400 applications. InMotion also excels in providing developer tools such as support for Python, Node.JS, Ruby, and GIT version control, making it an invaluable choice for developers and tech-savvy users. The security suite safeguards your website against potential threats, ensuring peace of mind. Another significant advantage is its automatic backup feature, which prevents data loss and allows for easy restoration of your website.
Hostwinds, however, offers various types of hosting such as Business Hosting, Reseller Hosting, VPS, and Cloud Servers, providing flexibility depending on your specific needs. The platform comes equipped with Weebly Site Builder, which is user-friendly and perfect for beginners looking to create a website without extensive technical skills. Hostwinds also highlights its unlimited service features such as unlimited subdomains, FTP accounts, databases, and email accounts, making it a versatile choice for expansive projects. Unique selling points include a free dedicated IP, Cloudflare CDN for faster content delivery, and nightly backups to keep your data secure. The availability of a LiteSpeed Web Server and Route Optimized Networking ensures minimal downtime and speedy performance.
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|---|---|---|
Free domain |
No |
No |
Free SSL |
Yes |
Yes |
Email hosting |
Yes |
Yes |
Website builder |
No |
Yes (Weebly) |
Staging environment |
Yes |
No |
FTP & SFTP accounts |
Yes |
Yes |
Git and SSH access |
Yes |
Yes |
Free backup |
Yes |
Yes (Nightly) |
Money back guarantee |
Yes |
Yes |
a location.
As a result in rare cases the features mentioned here can differ from the ones you see on their websites.
Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.
Email services:
InMotion Hosting offers a comprehensive email hosting service, allowing users to create and manage professional email addresses seamlessly. This service is integrated directly into their cPanel and includes capabilities for setting up email campaigns. Hostwinds also provides robust email hosting, enabling the creation of unlimited email accounts. Both providers support transactional emails triggered by actions like form submissions. Neither offers specific integrations with third-party email services like Google Workspace or Outlook, making them suitable for users looking for a more self-contained email solution.
Price
Score Components:
- Plan value (40%): What each pricing tier offers.
- Transparency and clarity (30%): Clearness of pricing structures.
- Flexibility of plans (20%): Range of options to suit different budgets.
- Hidden costs (10%): Additional expenses not included in the plan.
7.9
8.5
🏆 Winner
Hostwinds: Hostwinds scores slightly higher overall, mainly due to the robust features included in their plans and the transparency of what’s included.
Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.
When comparing the pricing plans of InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds, Hostwinds emerges as a more versatile option with a broader range of affordable and feature-rich plans. InMotion Hosting offers competitive WordPress and shared hosting plans with various performance enhancements and features like free domains, SSL, and advanced caching. However, Hostwinds has a stronger array of options across different hosting types, including shared, business, and cloud hosting. Their plans provide unlimited bandwidth, disk space, and often come with additional features such as dedicated IPs, Cloudflare CDN, and nightly backups, making their offerings slightly more valuable for diverse web hosting needs.
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Plan $3.49 /mo
– Free Domain & SSL Value for price:9.0
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N/A
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|---|---|
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Web Hosting $12.99 /mo
– Fast, Secure & Reliable Value for price:7.0
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Basic $5.24/mo
– Unlimited Bandwidth Value for price:8.0
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|---|---|
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N/A
|
1 CPU, 1 GB RAM $0.006931/hr
– 30 GB Storage Value for price:9.0
|
As a result in rare cases the prices displayed here can differ from the ones you see on their websites.
Enterprise plans
For larger enterprises, Hostwinds offers robust VPS hosting plans with scalable resources and extensive support. Their plans include managed and unmanaged options, with up to 16 CPU cores and 96 GB RAM. InMotion Hosting also provides VPS and dedicated hosting plans, emphasizing performance and security, but with less flexibility and higher starting prices compared to Hostwinds. Both providers offer a range of customizable and managed options, but Hostwinds stands out for its cost efficiency and feature set tailored to enterprise needs.
Ease of setup
platform.
Score Components:
- Site migration (25%): Assesses whether the provider offers tools for site migration,
either automated or manual, and whether these services are free or require a fee. - Admin panel usability (35%): Evaluates the type of admin panel provided, such as the
standard cPanel or a custom solution, focusing on its accessibility and user-friendliness for both
technical and non-technical users. - Setup features (20%): Examines the availability and ease of use of various setup
features, including FTP accounts, file managers, email account setup, PHPMyAdmin, and easy CDN
configuration. - Help center quality (20%): Measures the quality and accessibility of the provider’s
help center resources, including articles and tutorials.
8.6
8.7
🏆 Winner Hostwinds: Offers seamless setup and extensive support services tailored for all users without requiring technical expertise.
Both InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds utilize standard cPanel, making their control panels familiar and accessible for users. InMotion facilitates an easy setup with one-click installs and a demo version of cPanel to help users get accustomed to the interface. Hostwinds, on the other hand, enhances user experience with the Weebly drag-and-drop website builder, removing the need for any coding skills. This feature, coupled with cPanel, offers a balanced approach for managing websites intuitively, appealing to both technical and non-technical users.
From the perspective of ease of use, both providers score well with their admin panels, but their approaches differ slightly. InMotion’s focus on standard functionality with one-click installs makes it a reliable choice for those already familiar with web hosting environments. Meanwhile, Hostwinds leverages the simplicity of Weebly alongside cPanel, offering a more beginner-friendly solution while still catering to advanced users through cPanel and Softaculous installations. Therefore, their admin panels strike a balance between accessibility and advanced control.
Regarding migration tools, both InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds offer free website migration. InMotion provides free migration tools and an additional Launch Assist service for more complex requirements, ensuring a seamless transition. Hostwinds also offers free website migration for all plans, supported by their experts who handle the process for you. Both providers make migration straightforward and cost-effective, catering to varied levels of technical expertise without additional fees.
The platforms provide extensive knowledge bases filled with guides, how-to articles, and instructional content. InMotion Hosting offers a wide range of resources alongside 24/7 chat and phone support. Hostwinds also boasts a detailed help center with an intuitive search function and around-the-clock support via live chat, phone, and ticketing, ensuring comprehensive user support.
User management
accessibility.
Score Components:
- Role customization (40%): Flexibility in creating and defining user roles and
permissions. - Ease of management (30%): User interface and tools for managing users.
- Access control (20%): Effectiveness of access control measures for different user
levels. - Scalability (10%): Ability to manage a growing number of users efficiently.
8.7
0.0
🏆 Winner InMotion Hosting: Offers extensive user management capabilities that allow for detailed control over user roles and permissions.
InMotion Hosting excels in managing user roles, permissions, and accessibility compared to Hostwinds. InMotion allows for the creation and management of various WordPress user roles such as Administrators, Editors, Authors, Contributors, and Subscribers. These roles facilitate varied levels of user engagement, from administration to content creation and subscriber management. On the other hand, Hostwinds does not provide specific details or tools for managing user roles and permissions, making it less flexible in this regard.
InMotion Hosting provides user-friendly interfaces and robust tools for managing users. It supports the use of the User Role Editor Plugin, which allows administrators to customize roles based on their specific needs. Additionally, users can manage roles through WP-CLI, a command-line interface for WordPress, which offers advanced role management capabilities including creating custom roles and adding role capabilities. Hostwinds lacks equivalent tools and interfaces, making it less intuitive and user-friendly for managing user roles.
Access control measures on InMotion Hosting are quite effective. The platform offers multiple predefined user roles, ensuring that users have only the necessary permissions for their tasks. This minimizes the risk of unauthorized access and streamlines site management. InMotion’s support for WP-CLI and role customization further enhances its ability to manage a growing number of users efficiently. In contrast, Hostwinds does not offer detailed user management capabilities, which could limit its effectiveness in handling larger user bases.
InMotion User Roles Table:
| Role | Description | Access highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Access to all administration features within a single site. | Full control over site configuration, user management, and content publication. |
| Editor | Can publish and manage posts of all users. | Able to manage and publish posts, including those by other users. |
| Author | Can publish and manage their own posts. | Ability to write, edit, and publish their own posts. |
| Contributor | Write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them. | Can draft posts but need administrator or editor approval to publish. |
| Subscriber | Can manage their own profile. | Limited to viewing content and managing their own profile. |
Customer support
hosting provider.
Score Components:
- Support communication channels (30%): Measures the variety of customer support types
provided (live chat, chatbot, email, phone, etc.) - Availability (20%): Assesses the availability hours for each channel, including 24/7
support options. - Technical support quality (30%): Assesses whether the provider offers comprehensive
technical support, including hardware upgrades (e.g., HDD to SSD), software installations, and web
server configuration changes. - Enterprise support (20%): Checks if there are dedicated or priority support services
for enterprise-level customers.
8.3
8.0
🏆 Winner
InMotion Hosting: Extensive customer service options and a strong focus on customer satisfaction.
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Phone support |
||
Live chat support |
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Chatbot |
||
Email/ticket support |
||
Enterprise support (dedicated agent, priority support) |
When comparing InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds, their customer service and support features stand out. InMotion Hosting offers a broader range of support channels, including 24/7 phone support, live chat, email, and a comprehensive support center with community forums and a knowledge base. Their customer service team is U.S.-based and known for being fast and reliable, providing immediate assistance via live chat. They emphasize customer satisfaction through their extensive education channels and managed hosting services.
On the other hand, Hostwinds ensures 24/7/365 availability through live chat, support tickets, email, and phone. They also offer an extensive tutorial section and detailed product documentation. While Hostwinds performs well with quick response times, especially through email and live chat, they also provide website monitoring with automatic ticket creation for issues. Despite these strong features, InMotion’s broader range of contact methods and customer service highlights make it the preferred choice, as reflected in their slightly higher score.
User feedback
InMotion Hosting receives mixed reviews from users, highlighting several strengths and weaknesses. Customers appreciate the variety of hosting plans, transparent pricing, robust uptime, and exceptional customer support. On the downside, some users experience slow servers on lower-tier plans and encounter long waiting times for customer support. Additionally, the platform’s user interface has received criticism for being somewhat difficult to navigate, and there are concerns about service outages and higher prices for premium features.
Hostwinds hosting provider receives high praise for its exceptional customer service, prompt support, and reliable performance, with many users reporting significant improvements in site speed and uptime. Customers especially value the knowledgeable and responsive support team, finding them instrumental in resolving issues quickly. The user-friendly control panel and fair pricing further enhance their experience, though some note that the service can be pricier compared to competitors. However, a couple of reviews highlight issues with site migration and technical support, advising caution for WordPress users. Overall, the positive feedback significantly outweighs the negative, making Hostwinds a highly recommended choice for web hosting.
FAQ
Which platform is better suited for hosting WordPress websites?
InMotion Hosting is better suited for hosting WordPress websites. It offers specialized tools and optimizations specifically for WordPress, making it a more dedicated option for WordPress hosting. Hostwinds does not provide specialized WordPress hosting plans, focusing instead on general-purpose hosting solutions.
Which hosting service offers better security features?
InMotion Hosting offers better security features compared to Hostwinds. It provides free SSL certificates with all plans, advanced firewall software, automated malware detection, DDoS protection, spam protection, and SSH access. While Hostwinds also offers SSL certificates and a Litespeed Web Server for security, InMotion’s comprehensive security suite gives it an edge.
What are the major differences in pricing and value between InMotion and Hostwinds?
Hostwinds generally offers a wider range of affordable and versatile plans across various hosting types, including shared, business, and cloud hosting, often with unlimited resources. InMotion Hosting, while competitive, focuses on performance enhancements and includes additional features like free domains and advanced caching but can be pricier. Hostwinds’ inclusion of various features like dedicated IPs and nightly backups at lower costs provides more value for diverse hosting needs.
Which platform offers better customer support?
InMotion Hosting offers slightly better customer support with 24/7 U.S.-based support via phone, live chat, and email, along with comprehensive documentation and community forums. Hostwinds also provides 24/7/365 support through similar channels and an extensive tutorial section but receives mixed reviews regarding response times and migration assistance. InMotion’s broader support options make it a preferred choice for customer service.
Which hosting service offers more scalability options for growing websites?
Both InMotion Hosting and Hostwinds offer substantial scalability options, though they cater differently. InMotion supports easy upgrades from shared to dedicated servers, with managed or unmanaged options. Hostwinds provides instant scalability, allowing for resource adjustments without manual upgrades. Both platforms include dedicated servers, but InMotion’s detailed scalability costs and features make it slightly more reliable for growing websites.
The making of this blog
We followed a clear, step-by-step process to write and research this article.
