1and1 offers Linux and Windows hosting options with shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated server hosting, domain name registration, a proprietary website builder, and managed WordPress hosting. Founded in 1998 in Germany, 1&1 has grown into one of the world’s largest providers with branches in 10 countries with over 7,000 employees. The U.S. branch opened in late 2003. Read our 1and1 review below.
Overview1&1 is aimed at the budget minded individual and small businesses. 1&1 is best known for its low-priced shared hosting, but it also offers VPS, dedicated server, and Cloud server options, as well as managed WordPress plans.
Scalability is also an essential feature of 1&1, providing one-click upgrading or downgrading of plans. 1&1 is also a domain registrar, offers a template-based eCommerce store, and provides search engine marketing plans. For those who wish only to be concerned with content, after a free consultation, 1&1 will ultimately design and manage your website for a fee determined by the size and features you require.
1&1 offers a lot of features in their plans. Shared hosting offers unlimited Webspace (which means storage and bandwidth), free domain for a year, unlimited email accounts, and an unlimited number of websites in all three of the plans. Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Pro allow unlimited MySQL databases on Linux plans and 5 to 25 databases on Windows plans.
Bandwidth and the number of email accounts are unlimited for WordPress, Cloud, VPS, and dedicated server plans. The 1&1 App Center makes installing apps a one-click process, and grouping the apps available by category makes finding the app you want easier than it is through some other hosting companies. All 1&1 plans come with 24/7 support. 1&1 does have a referral program through which you can receive commissions.
An industry standard 30-day, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee for hosting is provided by 1&1 (domain registrations are not part of the guarantee and are not refunded). Additionally, many of the extra paid features, such as the website builder and ListLocal, have 30-day free trials. With the free trial, you can check out the different hosting plans and features to see if they are right for you.
1&1 has won numerous awards over the years. It was recently named the top cloud solution by Cloud Spectator for having the best price/performance ratio. Other awards have been won for customer service, budget offerings, and design. Like most budget web host providers, 1&1 has its fans and its detractors. Overall, 1&1 has a good reputation.
With its extremely low pricing for the first year and its many 30-day free trial offers for its premium features, 1&1 has well suited for the first time webmaster who may not know if having a website is something they want to do long term or not.
After the first year, 1&1 pricing is the same, or slightly higher than other budget hosting companies. But they are not overpriced for the features provided. The plans have the scalability to fit most needs, so if after the first year you decide to continue, 1&1 can grow with you at an affordable price.
Key FeaturesOne expert referred to 1&1 as “Hit and Miss”. The consensus is that because they’re such a famous brand, they’re less likely to rip customers off blatantly but their basic offerings aren’t quite as shiny as advertised. So, you can’t really go wrong but it’s unlikely you’re going to be as happy as customers portrayed in 1&1’s TV advertisements. (There are experts who give Hit and Miss an “excellent” rating but these experts are thin on the ground.)
Cons
Pros
Satisfied 1&1 customers are few and far between. Ironically, the number one feature satisfied customers praise is support. Interestingly, one customer commented that after reading a number of negative reviews about cancellation and billing issues, he noticed that they all seemed to have been written by the same person … food for thought.Happy users also like these features:
User reviews are overwhelmingly negative for 1&1 and the number one issue is their outsourced support. On most of the review sites researched, 1&1, specifically Joshua Polite-and- Patient, has responded to many complaints but clearly 1&1’s technical department, on the other side of the world,is not supporting him. Maybe half the problem with 1&1 is actually the underlying infrastructure.
Let’s take a look at the most common of the bad reviews. Some of these issues are clearly not caused by support:
Ghost domain name deposits
Ghost cancellations
Ghost company
Ghost site
Ghost manuals
Reliability & Uptime1&1 has a 99.9% uptime guarantee, with credit proportional to the amount of downtime during a month applied to future 1&1 services. The burden of proof falls on you to show when and how much downtime was incurred.
There is a list of downtime causes that are exempt. Most customers give favorable reviews for uptime, but users who have usually complained refer to the time it takes to resolve the downtime as the central issue.
All shared hosting sites on 1&1 are stored in two separate data centers for geo-redundancy. Customers can make backups of their site using the control panel, or in the case of WordPress, through the 1&1 App Center. Webspace Recovery allows you to save up to six days of data by setting restore points. 1&1 has daily backups of its servers.
They have over 70,000 servers in seven data centers around the world, with the main U.S. server being in Lenexa, Kansas (with a mirrored location in Kansas City).
Multiple connection points, redundant power supplies, and diesel backup generators ensure reliability. Servers are monitored 24/7 by on-site staff to stay on top of issues, and fix problems as quickly as possible.
Features & Tools Here is a list of features found at 1&1.
| Feature | Overview |
|---|---|
| Control Panel | 1&1 uses a proprietary control panel to access website info, data, billing information, manage domains, and more. It is not as robust as cPanel, and it takes more clicks to get the same tasks done. The VPS, Cloud, and Virtual server plans come with Plesk for administrative control |
| Disk Space | 1&1 has a plan sized for nearly every need.
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| Bandwidth | For shared hosting, the bandwidth is unlimited, and the managed WordPress, Cloud, Dedicated, and VPS plans allow for countless visitors. |
| Database Support | All 1&1 hosting plans come with unlimited MySQL databases, except for the starter (Unlimited) shared plan which allows up to 20 databases. |
| Free Domain | 1&1 plans feature one free domain registration for one year when the term is 12 months or longer when the domain is obtained from 1&1. The following years are charged the registration fee (which are on sale at the time of this article from .99 per year). Transferring a domain from another registrar is free, but the free domain for one year does not apply. |
| Multiple Domains | Multiple domains are permitted – the specifics depend on the hosting obtained. Subdomains in the VPS plans are either unlimited or limited to 1000, with additional domains starting at .99 per year. Dedicated server plans have unlimited subdomains, with other domains an option. Shared hosting plans offer unlimited domains, and subdomains are unlimited for the top two plans while limited to 100 in the starter plan. |
| Data Backups | 1&1 backs up its servers daily. WordPress backup can be done automatically when set up by the user through the 1&1 App Center. 1&1 Professional Backup can be used once for free; continued use requires a $29.99 per month fee. Backups can be done to the file or server level with unlimited backup space available. Dedicated and Cloud plans have an FTP-based backup available starting at $19.99 per month. |
| Website Builder | 1&1 offers several different website builder options for monthly fees. The 1&1 website advertises a free website builder, but it is a 30-day free trial of their paid builder apps. However, if you only need a few sites and can build them within the 30 days, it would be free. |
| One-Click App Installer | Hundreds of applications, which are organized by category, can be installed with one click through the 1&1 App Center. |
| Email Accounts | 1&1 plans have unlimited email accounts. Additionally, 1&1 has stand-alone email hosting options for monthly fees. The Business plan offers encrypted email and premium security features, and online document management. |
| Hosting Security | 1&1 provides SSH and a shared SSL free of charge. SSL Certificates are available from 1&1, or you can install one from other SSL providers. SiteLock Basic is free on all, but the starter plans (.99 per domain per month for the starter plans) and scans 25 pages per month. A more robust SiteLock Premium is offered at a $4.95 per domain per month fee. Proactive security is in place for DDoS protection. |
| Malware and SPAM Protection | Basic SPAM filtering, with four levels from off to high, are available on 1&1 email accounts. SiteLock is either free or available for a monthly fee, depending on your plan, and whether you want Basic or Premium |
| Shopping Carts | 3rd party shopping carts can be installed through the 1&1 App Center. WordPress sites can use any compatible shopping cart, including the popular WooCommerce. 1&1 offers its eCommerce website builder starting at $9.99 per month, which features template-based drag and drop design and mobile compatibility. |
| Programming Languages Support | 1&1 supports the conventional programming languages that run on Linux and Windows, including PHP, Perl, Python, Javascript, C, and Ruby. |
| Site Statistics | 1&1 has its SiteAnalytics package with a configurable dashboard that provides graphical statistics, including time and page impressions, visitor stats, search terms used, and more. Users can also install and use Google Analytics. |
| Additional Features and Tools | 1&1 Online Store, a template based e-commerce builder with Facebook integration, is available for $9.99 per month. ListLocal, starting at $9.99 per month, puts your site in online directories, apps, and navigation systems. Search Engine Marketing will customize SEM campaigns for you (cost based on marketing budget). |
A free Website Checker on the 1&1 site will check performance and user-friendliness of your site. 1&1 Website Builder, starting at .99 per month, provides templates and a drag-and-drop interface for easy website creation.
There are marketing promotions with ad credits of $50 to $75 with qualifying purchases. CDN (content delivery network), which serves up graphics and media from servers closest to your visitor’s location for faster page loading, is available for most plans.
Plans & Pricing 1&1 does not require contracts through features such as the free domain for a year are dependent on the purchase of 12 months (or higher) terms. 1&1 is known for its aggressive promotions so that prices will vary, but the prices below reflect what 1&1 offers at the time of this review for the first 12 months of hosting.
There are three shared hosting plans – Unlimited, Unlimited Plus, and Unlimited Pro. All three offer unlimited storage and bandwidth and come with a free domain included for a year. The Plus and Pro plans have extra features such as unlimited databases, SiteLock Basic, and CDN. Pricing right now for the first year is .99 per month for Unlimited, $4.99 per month for Unlimited Plus, and $9.99 per month for Unlimited Pro. 1&1 recommends the Unlimited Plus, and it does offer the most for the money in the shared plans.
For those needing dedicated servers, there are four plans offered, ranging in price from the first year from $34.99 per month for the Performance S plan to $104.99 per month for the highest level Performance XL plan. There is an option for SSD storage for an additional fee. The dedicated plans vary on the amount of RAM and Webspace provided, but they all have unlimited databases, email, and bandwidth.
There are three managed WordPress plans, ranging from .99 per month for the first 12 months to $9.99 the first year. The Basic comes with 50 GB of SSD storage; the Plus has 250 GB, and the Unlimited has unlimited SSD storage. They all come with one free domain and allow unlimited visitors.
Virtual server plans are Windows-based and start at $4.99 and go up to $29.99 a month for the first year, depending on the RAM and storage space requested. All the VPS plans allow for an unlimited number of visitors.
The Cloud server plans for 1&1 are billed by the hour or by the month and can be increased up or down at any time. There is no minimum contract, and they provide 24/7 support, unlimited traffic, private IPs, load balancer, and SSD storage. The set storage plans range from .07 an hour (or $4.99 a month) to $4.86 an hour (or $349.99 a month). At the time of this article, all the plans come with one month free.
Customer Support 1&1 is one of the largest hosting companies in the world. But biggest doesn’t necessarily equate to best. For the most part, customers find the support to be on par with other budget hosting companies.
However, when customers complain about 1&1 support, they are extremely negative. The number of negative reviews can be partially attributed to the fact that 1&1 has so many more customers than other companies.
However, the sheer number of the complaints does raise a flag. Few complaint about response time but the time taken to solve the issue is the reported concern. They have phone and email available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
1&1 has offices around the globe, and it is unclear where support is physically located though support personnel speak English. The U.S. based data center is located in Lenexa, Kansas.
You can contact 1&1 by phone at 866-991-2631 in the U.S. International customers can call 1-816-621-4797.
For email, you can use support@1and1.com. There are also links on the contact page for Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Live chat is available if you have MyWebsite through the MyWebsite main menu. There is a help center on the 1&1 site to answer many of your questions. 1&1 has a blog that has frequent posts. There is also a very basic status page for monitoring issues.
Ease of Use The control panel and 1&1 App Center interfaces are proprietary and not industry standard. In some ways, they make tasks easier, but for many, it means extra clicks and extensive searching to find what you need.
If you use 1&1 features such as MyWebsite, the paid Website Builder, or one of the many managed solutions, 1&1 is very easy to use.
The 1&1 website is huge but somewhat confusing to navigate. If you take your time (and use a search engine), you will be able to find just about any information you need about hosting on 1&1.
Conclusion 1&1 is a leader in budget hosting while offering scalability and plans that can grow with you as your needs grow.
1&1 is an excellent choice for the beginner due to its many trial offers, low prices, money-back guarantee, one-click app install, and many managed hosting options.
Keeping in mind that it is possible that there will be a trade-off in customer service for cheap pricing, the reliability, price, and feature list make 1&1 an excellent choice for the budget-minded and the small business owner.
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