IONOS domain registration service review

IONOS is a German web hosting company founded over three decades ago. It maintains dual headquarters in Germany and the U.S. Altogether, it employs over 2,000 people across 40 countries and serves millions of customers.

You can register a wide variety of domain names on IONOS for relatively low prices and the platform supports dozens of TLDs. 

We tested IONOS' to give you a detailed, impartial review. We evaluated it based on specific criteria, including customer support, ease of use, pricing, features, etc..

Plans and pricing

There’s no one price that fits them all for IONOS’ domain names. The platform charges different fees for different TLDs, but they generally cost $10 to $100 yearly.

Widely-used domain extensions like .COM, .NET, and .INFO cost between $10 and $20 annually on IONOS. On the other hand, uncommon extensions (e.g., .CASINO, .CEO) go for up to $200 per year. 

IONOS provides significant discounts for domain names in the first year. If you pay for multiple years in one stretch, the company charges as low as $1 for the first year. It’s a promotional strategy that seems to work well for the platform. 

You may see additional charges from state and local taxes depending on your country of residence. These charges are mostly less than 10% of the original purchase fee and therefore not a cause for alarm. 

IONOS offers some of the most competitive prices you’ll ever find for domain names. The company has a 30-day money-back guarantee for every purchase.

Features

A domain name is the most critical part of any website. It’s how customers will find you, and you’ll be at a grave disadvantage if you don’t choose a proper domain. However, don’t be anxious. IONOS lets you purchase a broad range of domain names. 

Buying a domain name on IONOS is easy. The first step is to head to its Domains page. This page contains a search bar where you can check to see if your desired domain is available. If it’s available, you can add it to your shopping cart straight away. You must create a customer account before buying any domain name on IONOS, and the process is straightforward. The company accepts payments through PayPal or credit/debit cards.

You can also transfer domain names you registered elsewhere to IONOS. Any domain you want to transfer must be registered for at least 60 days. Don't forget to disable domain transfer lock on the registrar holding the domain you want to transfer.

Transferring a domain to IONOS is a simple process. The primary thing you need is a unique authorization code from the registrar you’re moving from. Remember that your domain name’s settings don't automatically transfer to a new registrar, so you must implement them afresh on IONOS.

You can use as many subdomains as you wish for any domain registered on IONOS. Subdomains are an additional part of your domain name that you can adopt to organize your website. For example, you can host a separate online store with a subdomain tied to your website’s domain name  (store.mywebsite.com).

One great thing about IONOS is that it lets you assign a free email to any domain you register on it. However, this email is limited to 2 GB of storage. You’d have to pay if you require more than that.

IONOS also assigns free SSL certificates for all its domains. An SSL certificate is a digital certificate authenticating a website's identity and enabling an encrypted connection between a web server and the end user's browser. Any website without an SSL certificate is marked as "not secure" by major browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. But, you don’t need to worry, as IONOS gives you one at no cost. 

You also get free privacy protection for any domain name you purchase on IONOS. This protection prevents your contact information from being accessible through the WHOIS database. This way, spammers or online marketers can’t fetch your contact information and bombard you with solicitations.

Interface and in use

Signing up on IONOS is pretty straightforward and is a required step to purchase any of the company's services. You must pick a service before signing up. You'll also need to provide basic details like your name and email to create an account.

However, IONOS' backend user interface is quite complex. It isn't as modern as what you'll see in other competitors. 

Customer support

IONOS offers customer support through telephone and live chat. You can contact the company 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which is commendable. But, when researching for this review, we noticed a trend of complaints about IONOS’ customer support staff being slow to respond and inexperienced in dealing with complex issues.

The competition

IONOS' main competitors include Bluehost, GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Dynadot. IONOS beats most of its competitors in pricing. However, it isn't as user-friendly as many rivals.

Final verdict

IONOS is an ideal domain registrar. It's affordable and offers free extras like SSL certificates and privacy protection. However, it isn't the best in user-friendliness. We also noticed aggressive upselling from the company, which can be distasteful. 

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