InterServer Review – Outstanding Choice for Value
by Abhigyan
Quick Look
Uptime
Official uptime guarantee is 99.9% and stats show that above 99.95% is consistently maintained.
Perfomance
Server speed tests show that InterServer is one of the fastest budget hosting services around
Support
Access to 24/7/365 customer support via live chat, emails, phone calls with free site migration.
Price
Affordable plans with “Price-Lock Guarantee” that means no price hikes ever.
InterServer is a New Jersey company that was founded by Michael Lavrik and John Quaglieribeen in 1999.
Initially, they focused on reselling web hosting plans. Over the last two decades, they’ve grown to the point where they have four data centers with primary focus on web hosting.
InterServer does everything related to their hosting business in-house. They build their own servers and customize their Linux kernels. They have even developed their own nationwide fiber-optic network.
No matter which web hosting plan you choose, InterServer pride themselves on their redundancy and under-utilizing resources to ensure that you get optimal performance and uptime.
In this review, we’ll take a closer look at their performance, hosting packages, including WordPress plans, customer support, and much more. Let’s dive in!
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links where I may receive a small commission for at no cost to you if you choose to purchase a plan from a link on this page. You can read my full affiliate disclosure in my disclaimer page.
Pros: Why I Like InterServer Hosting
1. Price Lock Guarantee
Usually most of the hosting providers introduces very low prices for new customers which are later increased significantly during renewal.
InterServer stands out in this respect as they avoid this practice. Their price lock guarantee ensures that the starting price will continue to remain so as long as you maintain your InterServer hosting account.
In short, it means that you will never have to worry about a rise in plan’s price ever again.
2. Excellent Server Performance: Guaranteed 99.9% Uptime Supported by SLA
InterServer service is supported by SLA write prompt; which means that if they fail on their guarantee in a month, then they will have to credit customers on a case-by-case basis.
In addition to the uptime guarantee, InterServer also gives a guarantee of 100% uninterrupted electricity.
As a matter of fact, you can get up to 50% off the month’s cost of your hosting plan if they fail to deliver on their guarantee.
InterServer has consistently shown excellent uptime statistics over the years.
You can see from the stats below that they take uptime very seriously and have been able to keep their promise without any violation.
However, Interserver doesn’t offer a way to monitor their uptime unlike other web hosts like Hostinger (read review).
But you can easily use a service like Uptime Robot to keep tabs on your site’s availability.
3. Spectacular Speed Test Results
Controlled by a 10Gbps Ethernet network link and connecting to Tier 1 IP backbone networks, InterServer utilizes the latest Cisco’s routing and switching hardware, Extreme Networks and Riverstone for optimum performance.
InterServer uses smart BGPv4 routing protocol to have the quickest, most effective routing. They use the following Tier 1 IP backbone providers:
- Cogent, which favors European nodes;
- NTT Communications, a global provider with great Asia coverage; and
- Zayo, which is heavily networked on the US East Coast.
The use of latest technology by them is well reflected during the speed test. As you can see from the results below, Interserver has passed the bitcaptcha test and webpage speed tests with flying colors.
4. Awesome 24/7 In-House Support Team
InterServer provides access to 24/7/365 in-house customer support via numerous platforms, including:
- Live Chat
- Phone Calls
- Emails
There is no biasing for accessing support help for different plans. Everyone gets the same access to phone, ticket or chat support, regardless of their plan.
They also have a comprehensive knowledgebase as well as an educational blog.
Personally, I found their support material to be outstanding. The tutorials and instructions were clear with explanatory screenshots.
5. Just $1.00 for Three Months
Usually, their plans start from $5/month but you can try InterServer for the first month at $0.01 if you use the promo code “TRYINTERSERVER“.
InterServer acknowledges that for new bloggers, college students with low budget and small businesses, the hosting budget might be limited.
So they have offered an awesome introductory deal for which you only pay $1.00 for three months.
For someone who is just starting out or who just want to test InterServer before committing full time, it would be a smart move to go for this deal.
6. Free Site Migration Services
InterServer offers free site migration with all of its plans. The migration service is usually carried out within 24 to 48 hours. Rest assured, they do this without any downtime during the process.
They also provide assistance with changing nameservers and domain registration transfer.
However, you can only migrate as many sites as your shared hosting plan supports. For example, the WordPress plan allows one site — so you can migrate only one site.
7. Plenty of Room for Growth
InterServer has plans for every type of business, small and large. Down the line, when your business starts growing, you may require to go for a VPS plan.
InterServer’s VPS plans offer top-notch performance, highest levels of reliability, and support heavy traffic.
Also, you will have full control of the software running on your server. You can choose any flavor of Linux, Unix, or Windows for your operating system.
8. Free Cloudfare CDN + Free SSL + Unlimited Bandwith
You can integrate Cloudflare’s content delivery network (CDN) with InterServer’s shared hosting plans for free.
Cloudflare CDN uses caching and delivery optimization to make your website load faster. It also protects your site from security threats.
Unlike some other web hosts which offer free SSL certificate only on their higher-end plans, InterServer offers them free on all their shared hosting plans.
Although unlimited bandwith for everyone is not really unlimited, InterServer tackles this issue in a unique way.
They limit all their servers to run at 50% of the hardware’s capacity.
This way if someone is on the verge of maxing it out, they beef up the server with more resources.
9. Free Weekly Backups + Softaculous 1-Click Installs
InterServer’s every shared hosting plan comes with free weekly backups. They use OpenStack to create redundancy on their systems. They keep backup for 60 days.
You can access Softaculous right from the cPanel dashboard, and install various apps including e-commerce apps like OpenCart.
Cons of InterServer Hosting:
1. Datacenters Present in North America only
InterServer owns and operates four datacenters: three centers are located in Secaucus, NJ and one is in Los Angeles, CA.
While this may not be a con for those whose target audience resides in the US, but for those websites that targets traffic in Asia, your website might perform slower.
If your target traffic is not from the United States, you can use Cloudfare CDN to ensure that they can access your website quickly.
2. Additional Charges in VPS
InterServer charges for things like a GUI-based control panel, backing up, and taking snapshots of VPS.
Their Windows VPS plans do not come with panels come and cPanel doesn’t come standard with Linux plans.
However, if your plan includes at least four slices and a control panel, InterServer will fully manage your account.
3. Daily Signup Limit
InterServer typically restricts the number of daily subscriptions to 100. This limit helps them to meet the needs of existing customers and new users.
Keep this in mind if you are going for a project launch and want to get your site up and running right away.
If 100 customers have already signed up for the plan you’re looking for, you’ll have to wait another day.
4. Service Limitation
In its terms of service, InterServer discloses that no shared hosting account may use more than 20% of the server resources at a time.
Clients who use the “unlimited” SSD shared hosting platform will be automatically moved to lower-performing SATA if they use more than 1 GB of space.
More Features of InterServer:
1. Quick Servers
InterServer offers “Quick Servers” under the dedicated hosting plan umbrella. Quick Servers are fully dedicated servers that run KVM virtualization and offer a twenty-minute setup time.
With this, you get access to the server to reboot, console access and software reinstallation. Meanwhile, InterServer manages the required hardware for you.
In terms of functionality, this is more like a VPS plan but with the power and functionality of a dedicated hosting plan.
2. cPanel Control Panel
InterServer provides different control panels for separate hosting environment:
- cPanel for shared and Linux hosting.
- Bread Basket proprietary panel for VPS hosting.
- Plesk for Windows hosting.
You can also launch InterServer’s website builder from this panel, SitePad or perform Softaculous 1-click installs.
3. Dedicated Hosting Features
InterServer’s dedicated plans offer highest levels of performance, reliability, and support heavy traffic.
You get full control of the software running on your server, you can choose any flavor of Linux, Unix, or Windows for your operating system.
All dedicated plans comes with:
- 5 IP addresses
- 10 TB transfer rate
- 100 MB or 1 GB port
- 24/7 uptime monitoring
- Managed support for operating system-related issues
- Data migration assistance
4. Programming & Software Development
To further provide you with more freedom regarding your site management, InterServer also supports programming and software development that can help you meet your goals.
You can use these features even if you are on their shared web hosting plans. At present, InterServer supports the following:
- PHP
- Python
- Ruby/Ruby on Rails
- CGI/FastCGI
- SSI.
InterServer supports SSH and Cron jobs as well. Moreover, you’ll be able to run an unlimited number of MySQL databases.
5. Reseller Hosting
InterServer’s Reseller Hosting comes with five different reseller web hosting packages. You can set up your account instantly and InterServer takes care of all backups for you on a daily basis.
The main difference between the packages is the amount of disk space allotted, number of cPanel accounts and the maximum amount of bandwidth you and your clients can use.
However, with every plan you get unlimited domains, Web Host Manager for client management, access to one-click scripts, and MySQL databases running on solid-state drives.
6. E-Commerce Web Hosting
InterServer’s E-Commerce Hosting comes with free SSL certificates, SEO optimized and ready to install scripts like WooCommerce, AbanteCart, OpenCart and others.
You get a dedicated SEO option for your products and pages in the admin panel where you can modify the meta title and description.
The product images are automatically renamed and compressed which helps your product pages to rank better in search engine.
Furthermore, InterServer e-commerce web hosting allows you to accept various payment methods.
You can accept payment from Paypal, Stripe, Worldpay, Securepay, Braintree, and all other major credit and debit cards.
7. ASP.NET and Macintosh Web Hosting
If you a web developer and want to develop a website or applications using .net language, then InterServer’s ASP.NET hosting is for you.
For Windows-based system, their plans starts from $4.00 per month.
With this plan, you get unlimited storage, unlimited email, free SSL certificates, Intershield protection and free website migration. They support all versions of ASP.NET frameworks, PHP and .NET core.
Similarly, for OS X and iOS platforms, you get benefits like Jenkins and Xcode server integration, remote rendering, sync mail from iPhone mail client, OS X software automated testing, Filemaker database hosting, Daylite CRM hosting and much more.
The plans start from $5.00 per month and you get free daily backup.
8. Free Student Web Hosting
InterServer offers “Free Student Web Hosting” to anyone with a .edu email address for an entire year. This web hosting can be used to house any type of personal or business website that they would like.
However, to qualify for free hosting, your school must first be approved by InterSerer and the EDU domain name must be whitelisted. If you face any trouble while signing up, you can reach out to their support team.
Final Verdict
I believe InterServer is ideal for someone who is looking for a fast and reliable service and who does not want to invest a lot in web hosting, initially.
Most of the web hosts increase their prices during renewal and because of this, sometimes existing customers start to look for other cheaper but reliable web host.
With a price lock guarantee, InterServer may be a good alternative for them.
Moreover, if you are a student or a teacher witn an .edu email address, you get all the features free for a year. For others, you can grab the deal of $1 for three months to figure out if this is an ideal host for you.
For tech-savvy people, webmasters and bloggers who target US region, InterServer is ideal for you in every aspect.
Have you tried InterServer? How was your experience with it? Let us know in the comments.
Quick InterServer FAQs
Does InterServer have a money-back guarantee?
Yes. Yes, all shared hosting plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. But VPS hosting is not eligible.
However, since VPS is billed month to month, you can cancel at any time. Domains, dedicated servers, colocation space, VPS, licensing, or IP transit are not eligible for their money-back guarantee.
Do Any InterServer Plans Offer Free Domains?
No, InterServer plans don’t offer free domains. However, all InterServer shared plans offer one discounted domain for $1.99.
Additional domains are charged at their standard rate. InterServer supports TLDS, GTLDS, and CCTLDS.
What is ‘Price-Lock’ feature?
The Price Lock guarantee means your hosting prices are locked in for life. Meaning your hosting prices will never increase if you stay on the same plan.
What programming languages does its shared hosting plans support?
Shared hosting supports CGI, PHP, Fast CGI, Ruby on Rails, Python and SSI.
Does Interserver supports Magento?
Yes. Interserver offers Magento hosting plans. Magento is available as a one-click install. Free migration is available too.
How to pay for my hosting?
You can pay via a major credit card, debit card, PayPal, check, or money order. Dedicated services can be paid for via wire transfer.
Can I pay monthly?
Yes, monthly payments are available, as well as quarterly, semiannual, annual, biennial and 3-year billing cycles.
Does InterServer has a coupon code?
Yes, you can use InterServer for the first month at $0.01 if you use the promo code “TRYINTERSERVER“.