InMotion Hosting is one of our favorite brands. Yet while there’s so much to love about this great hosting company, it may not always be the most suitable for your needs. No brand is perfect for everyone; that’s a simple reality.
Some things that make InMotion Hosting great are its excellent performance, a broad range of services, and the extended 90-day money-back guarantee. If that works for you, I highly recommend them. Yet, it may be better to seek a solution elsewhere in a few scenarios.
1. Most of Your Traffic is From Outside the United States
InMotion Hosting offers a choice of two data centers located in the continental United States. They cover the East (Ashburn, Virginia) and West coasts (Los Angeles, California), with anyone in between doing fine on either option.
These data centers are part of what makes InMotion a formidable web hosting service provider. They’re state-of-the-art and located within American borders. That helps anyone with a US-centric visitor base run an extremely low-latency website.
Unfortunately, regardless of how powerful their servers are, these US-only data centers can be cripply if you need to serve visitors outside the country. While a good CDN can work wonders, there is no substitution for a solid regional data center nearby your visitor locations.
Alternatives for More Data Center Choices
Cloudways
There are few better choices than Cloudways if you need a specific data center location. It offers a selection of four Cloud infrastructure providers, each offering their own set of worldwide data centers. The catch is that Cloudways is a pure Cloud hosting service provider.
Visit Cloudways for more details.
ScalaHosting
Scala Hosting is, in some ways, an even better choice than Cloudways. Thanks to a partnership with Digital Ocean, it offers an impressive spread of data centers. However, the data center choices apply across the board, not just to its Cloud hosting plans.
Visit ScalaHosting for more details.
A2 Hosting
One of the strong brands in the industry, A2 Hosting offers many premium services. For all of those services, you can choose a data center in a regional data center. These regions include the US (East and West Coast), Europe (Amsterdam), and Asia (Singapore).
Visit A2 Hosting for more details.
2. You Just Want to Run a Simple Static Website
As much as we love InMotion, there’s no denying that even with massive price cuts for new users, there are better options than this. The shared hosting plans here cost a mere $2.49/mo on introductory pricing, but even that adds up over time (note that your plan renews at $9.49/mo after the initial term).
Additionally, you need to sign up for their three-year plan to get the best prices. Remember, this is all money that needs to be paid upfront. It can be a bit painful to bear for those who aren’t going to run commercial websites and just need something simple.
InMotion also notably charges extra for some features. If these were “extras,” there’s no problem, but considering backup and restoring a paid extra is going slightly too far.
Cheaper Alternatives for Simple Static Sites
000Webhost / Hostinger Free
While I usually frown on free service providers, 000Webhost is a brand run by Hostinger. It’s a playground that you can use to test hosting services and see if that’s what you need. Once you’re happy, move on to one of Hostinger’s ultra-low-cost plans and save a ton of money.
Visit Hostinger to learn more.
Github Pages
GitHub Pages is a fantastic option for anyone already using GitHub. It comes with free SSL, built-in support for Jekyll, and direct integration with GitHub repositories.
Visit Github Pages to learn more.
Cloudflare Pages
Introduced on April 2021, Cloudflare Pages is a powerful platform that offers an excellent solution for hosting static websites. Known for its speed and reliability, it is a top choice for web developers looking for a free and easy-to-use hosting service.
Cloudflare Pages is perfect for personal blogs, portfolio sites, and small business websites – especially if you are planning to use their free CDN services together. Its combination of free hosting, fast performance, and ease of use makes it an excellent choice for anyone looking to get a static site online quickly with zero hosting cost.
Visit Cloudflare Pages to learn more.
3. You Need Windows Hosting
Sometimes you simply have no choice (or just want to) to use Windows hosting. That’s getting increasingly rare since the default choice now seems to be Linux. The problem is that InMotion is a Linux-only host. Unless you plan to get a dedicated server from them and set up a Windows server, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Many big brands today have gone Linux-only in their shared hosting plans, so you may need to find the right host. Of the hundreds of hosts we’ve reviewed, only a handful offer Windows hosting and are worth considering.
Alternatives for Windows Hosting
LiquidWeb
If you need a powerful Windows-based hosting service, there are few better than LiquidWeb. This service provider is known for its robust hosting plans that are faster than Speedy Gonzales. Here you can find Managed Windows Hosting highly customizable plans.
Visit LiquidWeb to learn more.
HostGator
HostGator is known for its well-priced plans, and this extends to its Windows Hosting options. You can get a Windows Server-based shared hosting plan from the gator for less than $5/mo. That includes unmetered resources, a domain name, and free SSL.
Visit Hostgator to learn more.
Kamatera
Kamatera is another brand that focuses on the best of the best. It’s a performance Cloud service provider that can support almost any OS you want – including Windows. You can either self-manage your hosting plan or use their fully managed services.
4. You’re a Hardcore WordPress User
Like most other web hosting companies, InMotion offers a broad range of plans and services. While that’s great for most of the world, hardcore WordPress users may find things lacking. That’s especially true for those looking forward to specialized WordPress support.
While we have no doubt InMotion offers good (or even excellent technical support), they need to dilute resources to support their entire product scope. Because of this, there will always be a gap between InMotion Hosting and other WordPress-centric services.
If WordPress is your top priority, consider these hosting providers instead:
Alternatives for Managed WordPress Hosting
Cloudways Autonomous
Cloudways Autonomous is a managed WordPress hosting option that automatically adjusts its resources to meet your website’s traffic needs in real time. It uses advanced Kubernetes technology to ensure that your hosting capacity fits your traffic, whether it spikes or drops unexpectedly.
Visit Cloudways Autonomous to learn more.
WP Engine
WP Engine is a newer web hosting service compared to many industry stalwarts. Yet it’s one of the few that are brave enough to place their entire business behind a single application – WordPress. You can be sure their customer support team is well-versed in WordPress-related matters.
Visit WP Engine to learn more.
Kinsta
One of the earliest WordPress-only hosts, Kinsta is known for its excellent performance. Part of this is due to their use of Google Cloud. Kinsta is also famous for the in-depth WordPress support that comes with each account.
5. You Need Developer Features in Basic Environment
Developers are a strange breed of users (no offense intended). They need a fair niche set of tools that most users don’t. Additionally, extra features like unlimited resources are optional to them.
Because of that, Inmotion is seldom considered an ideal web host for developers. Dev essentials like Git, Python, Ruby, and more aren’t available at InMotion unless you’re on one of their more expensive plans.
The problem is that InMotion forces devs onto plans with features that might mean little to them – just to get access to essential tools. The point I’ll concede is that many other hosts have this attitude as well.
Instead, developers can consider the following web hosts.
Alternatives for Advanced Developers
A2 Hosting
Not usually thought of as the cheapest, A2 Hosting still offers several advantages. Among them, notably, are extensive dev-centric features even on their most affordable shared hosting plan. That gives devs the flexibility they need at reasonable prices.
Visit A2 Hosting for more details.
Digital Ocean
DigitalOcean provides developers with powerful features like easy scalability, extensive API access, and flexible infrastructure. It’s perfect for efficient deployment and management of applications, offering performance, reliability, and customization.
Visit Digital Ocean for more details.
Final Thoughts: Opportunities Abound
It’s crucial to understand that InMotion Hosting is a good choice for many users. It’s one of the best hosts in the business, with clear advantages over many other brands. The crux here is finding the best fit for your website.
Choosing the ideal host isn’t just a matter of one or two features. If you focus enough on the details, you can build a website on a perfect host. This advantage can make or break your digital presence.
While performance is a top factor, carefully consider what other things you need. Some are pretty basic, like the domain name or free SSL. Read between the lines and identify areas of concern that most marketing materials will try to avoid.
