GreenGeeks vs IONOS
GreenGeeks and IONOS compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. GreenGeeks scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
GreenGeeksWins overall
cPanel on LiteSpeed since 2008 with a 300% renewable energy match, four locations, a free domain and a 30-day refund
The former 1&1: unlimited sites and traffic from $8 a month at renewal, with a free domain and wildcard SSL
GreenGeeks wins 3 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.3 vs 7.1).
How do the scores compare?
GreenGeeks leads on 3 sub-scores, IONOS on 2. Higher is better.
| GreenGeeks | IONOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 7.5 (better) | 6.5 |
| Uptime | 7.0 | 7.5 (better) |
| Support | 7.5 (better) | 6.5 |
| Features | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Value | 6.5 | 7.5 (better) |
| Ease of use | 8.0 (better) | 7.0 |
Which one is faster and more reliable?
| GreenGeeks | IONOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 7.3 (better) | 7.1 |
| Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 361 d vs Cybernews 14 d; methods differ | 99.81% | 100.00% (better) |
| Response time (published)HostingStep vs Cybernews; methods differ | 411 ms (better) | 1749 ms |
Which one costs less?
On renewal, GreenGeeks is cheaper ($13.95/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
| GreenGeeks | IONOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | Lite | Plus |
| Intro price | $2.95/mo | $1.00/mo (better) |
| Renewal price | $13.95/mo (better) | $14.00/mo |
| Required term | 12 months | 12 months |
| Websites | 1 | unlimited |
| Storage | 25 GB | 350 GB |
| Money back | 30 days | 30 days |
What does each include?
| GreenGeeks | IONOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | Registration or transfer for the first year, per the plan page FAQ | One domain free for the first year on every plan: .us, .ca, .com, .net, .org, .info, .me, .biz or .online |
| Free SSL | Let's Encrypt, deployed and renewed automatically | One DV wildcard certificate on Essential, Starter and Plus; unlimited wildcard certificates on Ultimate |
| Backups | No | Daily backup of storage and databases with data recovery, every plan |
| Free migration | A courtesy transfer within 30 days of sign-up, per the terms; charged after that | No |
| Free CDN | Free CDN integration is listed; HostingStep says no CDN was integrated on its test account | Starter, Plus and Ultimate; not on Essential |
| Caching | LiteSpeed web server with LiteSpeed caching and HTTP/3 | Server compression and HTTP/2 listed; no caching layer named on the plan page |
| Staging | No | No |
| SSH and SFTP | Free on every plan, with the latest PHP and MySQL | Not stated |
| Resource limits | No | CPU priority 1x, 3x, 5x and 10x by plan; 262,144 inodes on every plan; cron jobs 10, 25, 50 and 100 |
| Data center choice | Chicago, Montreal, Amsterdam or Singapore | No |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.9% in the terms, limited to GreenGeeks' servers and primary connection, with no credit schedule | 99.99% in the general terms, with a credit for the month proportional to the downtime, on request and at IONOS's discretion |
| Security | Advanced security suite and free hacked-site cleanup with restrictions, per the plan page | Daily malware scanning (basic, or advanced with automatic removal on Ultimate), DDoS protection, geo-redundancy |
| Green hosting | Energy use matched three times over with renewable energy credits through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation; EPA Green Power Partner since 2009 | Not stated |
| Phone support | 24/7 by phone, chat and ticket | 24/7, with a personal consultant |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| SSH, SFTP, WP-CLI and Git | Not stated | Every plan, with 200 SFTP accounts, Perl and Python |
| PHP versions | Not stated | 8.4, 8.3 and 8.2, with paid extended support for 5.6 and later |
| Websites and traffic | Not stated | Unlimited websites and unlimited traffic on every plan; 5,000 subdomains |
| Not stated | 1, 2, 4 or 5 accounts of 2 GB by plan, with forwarding, webmail and anti-spam |
Company facts
| GreenGeeks | IONOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | cPanel | IONOS's own control panel (no cPanel) |
| Data centers | 4 (better) | 2 |
| Support channels | chat, phone, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, phone, email, knowledge-base |
| Founded | 2008 | 2018 |