--- title: "SiteGround vs IONOS: which is better in 2026?" url: "https://hostidea.com/compare/ionos-vs-siteground" canonical: "https://hostidea.com/compare/ionos-vs-siteground" author: "Jennifer T." generated: "2026-10-15" note: "Markdown twin generated at build time from the same content as the HTML page. The HTML page is canonical." --- # SiteGround vs IONOS SiteGround and IONOS compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. SiteGround scores higher overall. By [Jennifer T.](https://hostidea.com/authors/jennifer-t) ยท Updated Oct 14, 2026 We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. Rankings come from the published methodology and sourced data, not from commissions. [Disclosure](https://hostidea.com/disclosure). ## Verdict [8.0 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [SiteGround](https://hostidea.com/reviews/siteground)Wins overall Managed-feel shared hosting on Google Cloud with daily backups and staging; the renewals are the price [7.1 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) The former 1&1: unlimited sites and traffic from $8 a month at renewal, with a free domain and wildcard SSL SiteGround wins 5 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (8.0 vs 7.1). ## How do the scores compare? SiteGround leads on 5 sub-scores, IONOS on 1. Higher is better. | | [SiteGround](https://hostidea.com/reviews/siteground) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Performance | 8.0 | 6.5 | | Uptime | 8.5 | 7.5 | | Support | 8.5 | 6.5 | | Features | 8.5 | 7.5 | | Value | 6.5 | 7.5 | | Ease of use | 8.0 | 7.0 | ## Which one is faster and more reliable? | | [SiteGround](https://hostidea.com/reviews/siteground) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall score | 8.0 | 7.1 | | Uptime (published)HostingStep 243 d vs Cybernews 14 d; methods differ | 99.97% | 100.00% | | Response time (published)HostingStep vs Cybernews; methods differ | 745 ms | 1749 ms | ## Which one costs less? On renewal, IONOS is cheaper ($14.00/mo vs $17.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term. Prices verified Oct 13, 2026 (SiteGround) and Oct 14, 2026 (IONOS). USD. | | [SiteGround](https://hostidea.com/reviews/siteground) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cheapest plan | StartUp | Plus | | Intro price | $2.99/mo | $1.00/mo | | Renewal price | $17.99/mo | $14.00/mo | | Required term | 12 months | 12 months | | Websites | 1 | unlimited | | Storage | 10 GB | 350 GB | | Money back | 30 days | 30 days | ## What does each include? | | [SiteGround](https://hostidea.com/reviews/siteground) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Free domain | First year only; regular renewal fee after that | One domain free for the first year on every plan: .us, .ca, .com, .net, .org, .info, .me, .biz or .online | | Free SSL | Yes | One DV wildcard certificate on Essential, Starter and Plus; unlimited wildcard certificates on Ultimate | | Daily backups | Kept for 30 days; on-demand backups on GrowBig and GoGeek | Not stated | | CDN | SiteGround CDN on Google Cloud, 170+ edge locations | Not stated | | Email hosting | Unlimited accounts with webmail and spam protection | Not stated | | Staging | GrowBig and GoGeek; GoGeek adds Git | No | | Free migration | Automatic WordPress migrator on every plan; expert transfer by staff | No | | Caching | Multilevel caching with the Speed Optimizer plugin | Server compression and HTTP/2 listed; no caching layer named on the plan page | | WP-CLI and SSH | Yes | Not stated | | Fair-use limits | CPU seconds per hour 1,000 / 2,000 / 4,000; inodes 200k / 400k / 600k; 768 MB RAM per process; databases up to 1 GB | Not stated | | Uptime guarantee | 99.9% per month; 5% of that month's fee as a service-extension credit | 99.99% in the general terms, with a credit for the month proportional to the downtime, on request and at IONOS's discretion | | Choice of data center | 11 locations on Google Cloud, chosen at signup | Not stated | | Phone support | No | 24/7, with a personal consultant | | Windows hosting | No | No | | Backups | Not stated | Daily backup of storage and databases with data recovery, every plan | | Free CDN | Not stated | Starter, Plus and Ultimate; not on Essential | | 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 | | Resource limits | Not stated | CPU priority 1x, 3x, 5x and 10x by plan; 262,144 inodes on every plan; cron jobs 10, 25, 50 and 100 | | Websites and traffic | Not stated | Unlimited websites and unlimited traffic on every plan; 5,000 subdomains | | Email | Not stated | 1, 2, 4 or 5 accounts of 2 GB by plan, with forwarding, webmail and anti-spam | | Data center choice | Not stated | No | | Security | Not stated | Daily malware scanning (basic, or advanced with automatic removal on Ultimate), DDoS protection, geo-redundancy | ## Company facts | | [SiteGround](https://hostidea.com/reviews/siteground) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Control panel | Site Tools (SiteGround's own panel) | IONOS's own control panel (no cPanel) | | Data centers | 11 | 2 | | Support channels | chat, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, phone, email, knowledge-base | | Founded | 2004 | 2018 | Visit SiteGround (affiliate link: /go/siteground)Visit IONOS (affiliate link: /go/ionos)