IONOS

What Is IONOS?

The European hosting market has a strange blind spot. Ask a developer to name European hosting providers and you will hear Hetzner, OVHcloud, maybe Scaleway. Ask a small business owner in Germany, Spain, or the UK, and the answer is almost always IONOS. With over 8.5 million customer contracts and data centres across Europe, IONOS is one of the largest web hosting companies in the world — and one of the least discussed in developer circles.

That disconnect tells you everything about IONOS's market position. This is not a developer-first cloud platform. It is a full-service hosting provider that has been helping European businesses get online since 1988, when it launched as 1&1 in Montabaur, Germany. The company has survived the dot-com boom, the rise of cloud computing, and the consolidation of the hosting industry by doing one thing consistently: offering reliable, affordable hosting with German engineering and a personal consultant on every plan.

IONOS is part of United Internet AG, a publicly traded German internet services conglomerate that also owns mail.com, GMX, and several other digital brands. In 2018, 1&1 merged with ProfitBricks (a German IaaS provider) and rebranded to IONOS, adding cloud infrastructure to its traditional hosting portfolio. Today, the company employs over 4,000 people and offers shared hosting, VPS, cloud servers, dedicated servers, managed WordPress hosting, domain registration, email hosting, and a website builder.

For European businesses, IONOS provides something that is harder to find than you might think: a large-scale hosting provider headquartered in the EU, with TÜV-certified data centres in Germany, operating under German data protection law. The infrastructure is not flashy. The documentation is not developer-cool. But it is reliable, affordable, and unambiguously European.

Key Features

Shared Hosting

IONOS's shared hosting is the bread and butter of the operation, and it is priced to undercut practically everyone. Plans start at EUR 4/month for 100 GB of SSD storage, 10 databases, a free domain, and a wildcard SSL certificate. The Business plan at EUR 8/month removes storage limits and adds daily backups and staging environments.

Performance is solid for small to mid-size websites. IONOS uses SSD storage across all plans, and their servers are located in TÜV-certified German data centres. The control panel is a custom-built interface that is functional but not intuitive — new users accustomed to cPanel or Plesk will need time to adjust. Importantly, all shared hosting plans include a personal consultant — a real person assigned to your account who you can call for support.

VPS Hosting

IONOS VPS plans are among the cheapest in Europe. The Linux S plan starts at EUR 2/month for 1 vCPU, 512 MB RAM, and 10 GB SSD — useful for small applications, development environments, or testing. Plans scale up to 24 vCPU, 48 GB RAM, and 640 GB SSD for production workloads.

All VPS plans include a dedicated IPv4 address, SSD storage, and your choice of Linux distribution or Windows Server. The setup is straightforward, and IONOS provides a cloud panel for basic management, though power users will SSH in directly. The value proposition is clear: for the price of a large coffee per month, you get a virtual server in a German data centre.

Cloud Servers

Following the ProfitBricks merger, IONOS offers cloud servers with pay-per-minute billing — you pay only for the compute time you use. This is comparable to AWS EC2 or DigitalOcean Droplets but with EU data residency built in. Cloud servers can be provisioned in minutes, scaled vertically on demand, and managed through a web console or API.

The cloud platform is competent but not as feature-rich as Hetzner Cloud or OVHcloud's Public Cloud. The API is functional but the documentation is less comprehensive than developer-focused competitors. For teams that need straightforward cloud compute with EU data residency and do not require Kubernetes-native tooling, IONOS cloud servers deliver at a competitive price.

Managed WordPress Hosting

IONOS's WordPress hosting includes automatic core and plugin updates, daily backups, a staging environment, SSD storage, and a free SSL certificate. An optional site scan checks for malware and vulnerabilities. The WordPress-specific dashboard simplifies common management tasks.

Performance is adequate for most WordPress sites, though high-traffic sites or complex WooCommerce stores may need to move to VPS or cloud hosting for more resources. The managed service removes the maintenance burden that makes WordPress hosting stressful for non-technical users.

Domain Registration and Email

IONOS is one of Europe's largest domain registrars, with competitive pricing across hundreds of TLDs. Domain registration includes DNS management, domain privacy (WHOIS protection), and email forwarding. Professional email hosting with custom domains is available separately, with plans starting at EUR 1/month per mailbox.

Pricing

IONOS's pricing strategy is volume and accessibility. Shared hosting from EUR 4/month, VPS from EUR 2/month, cloud servers from EUR 6/month — these are some of the lowest prices in the European hosting market. The company can afford this because of scale: with millions of customers and the United Internet AG infrastructure behind it, IONOS operates at margins that smaller providers cannot match.

The Essential shared hosting plan (EUR 4/month) is sufficient for most small business websites. The Business plan (EUR 8/month) adds unlimited storage and daily backups, making it the sweet spot for growing sites.

VPS plans scale from EUR 2/month to EUR 30/month+, covering everything from hobby projects to production applications. The value at the low end is remarkable — EUR 2/month for a dedicated server environment in a German data centre is nearly unbeatable.

Cloud servers use pay-per-minute billing, so costs depend on usage. A typical small instance runs approximately EUR 6/month. This model suits development and testing environments where servers are not running 24/7.

One note of caution: IONOS's promotional pricing (often displayed prominently) resets to standard rates after the initial term. Always check the renewal price before committing to a multi-year plan. Also, the checkout process includes upsells for additional services — read carefully before clicking through.

EU Compliance & Data Privacy

IONOS SE is a German company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (part of United Internet AG). Its data centres in Germany are TÜV-certified for quality and security, and hold ISO 27001 certification. The company has received C5 attestation from the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), a cloud security standard required for public sector cloud contracts in Germany.

All core data processing happens in German data centres, with additional EU locations in Spain, France, and the UK. For customers who require it, IONOS can guarantee that data remains within German data centres exclusively.

GDPR compliance is built into the platform at the infrastructure level. Data processing agreements are available, and IONOS operates as a processor under German data protection law. For German and EU public sector organisations, IONOS's C5 attestation provides a compliance baseline that most competitors lack.

Who It's Best For

European small businesses that need reliable, affordable hosting with a domain, email, and SSL certificate — and want a personal consultant they can call when something goes wrong.

WordPress site owners who want managed hosting without the premium pricing of WP Engine or Kinsta, and value EU data residency over developer-oriented features.

Budget-conscious developers who need a cheap VPS or cloud server in an EU data centre for projects, prototyping, or small production workloads.

German and EU public sector organisations that require C5-attested, ISO 27001-certified hosting from a German provider operating under German jurisdiction.

The Verdict

IONOS is not glamorous. Its control panel will not win design awards, its developer documentation is adequate rather than excellent, and its brand recognition in tech circles is disproportionately low for a company of its scale. But IONOS is what most European businesses actually need: reliable hosting at aggressive prices, from a German company, in German data centres, with a human being you can call. It has been doing this since 1988 — longer than most cloud providers have existed. For the developer crowd, Hetzner is still the darling. For everyone else, IONOS is the hosting provider that quietly powers a significant chunk of the European internet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is IONOS the same as 1&1?

Yes. 1&1 rebranded to IONOS in 2018 and later merged with ProfitBricks (a German cloud infrastructure provider) to become IONOS by 1&1. The company is part of United Internet AG, a publicly traded German internet services group. The same infrastructure, team, and German headquarters remain.

Where are IONOS data centres located?

IONOS operates data centres primarily in Germany (multiple locations), with additional facilities in Spain, France, the UK, and the US. European customers can choose EU-only data centre locations, ensuring data remains within the EU for GDPR compliance.

Is IONOS good for WordPress?

IONOS offers managed WordPress hosting with automatic updates, daily backups, staging environments, and SSD storage. Performance is solid for small to mid-size WordPress sites. For high-traffic or complex WordPress sites, their VPS or cloud options provide more resources and control.

How does IONOS compare to Hetzner?

IONOS offers a broader product range (shared hosting, domains, email, WordPress) while Hetzner focuses on cloud and dedicated servers. Hetzner is typically cheaper for raw compute and popular with developers. IONOS provides more hand-holding with personal consultants and managed services, making it better suited for less technical users.

Does IONOS offer a VPS?

Yes. IONOS VPS plans start at EUR 2/month for 1 vCPU and 512 MB RAM, scaling up to high-performance configurations. All VPS plans include a dedicated IP, SSD storage, and the choice of Linux or Windows. Data centre locations include Germany and other EU countries.