InterServer Review 2025: How Does The Performance Measure Up?

Although we’ve previously recommended InterServer’s dedicated servers, the service as a whole has disappointed me this time around. While some aspects are good, the shared hosting, which is what we’re covering in this InterServer review, was just okay. The performance testing also hit more snags than any other host we’ve tried.

We do like that there are tons of different types of hosting to choose from, and that the shared hosting plans largely have the same feature set. But the performance leaves something to be desired. Let’s get into the details.

InterServer review at a glance

Price	$2.50-$69.95/mo
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days
Uptime guarantee	99.9%
Monthly visits	N/A
Number of websites	Unlimited
Storage	Unlimited up to a point
Free SSL certificate	On all plans
Free domain for a year	No
Backup frequency	Weekly
Migration assistance	On all plans
24/7 support	On all plans
Learn more	Get InterServer

Score summary

Here's how our star rating is calculated:

Decision factor	Weight	InterServer Verdict
Our experience	10%	5/5
Prices and capacity	18%	4.6/5
Performance	20%	3.5/5
Features	25%	5/5
Security	20%	5/5
Support and reputation	7%	4.7/5

We last tested InterServer on November 2nd, 2025.

Our experience

InterServer was perfectly all right, just not the most beginner-friendly. It offers two control panel types: cPanel and DirectAdmin. If you’re old school, you’ll be familiar with cPanel-style web hosting: a fair amount of control over your hosting and the ability to install dozens of CMS options. It’s not too complicated but not too beginner-friendly.

Be aware that there are two control panels. One is your account admin panel, where you can buy more hosting, and a website control panel, either cPanel or DirectAdmin.

We went with the DirectAdmin panel for our Standard hosting plan, which is what InterServer recommends.

We started testing with a simple WordPress site, using the Softaculous installer. We just put in our basic site and contact info.

Then we decided what kind of site we wanted to build and the plugins we wanted to install:

And then we picked a template. From here, the built-in theme framework set up a basic site for us.

It should be noted that the theme framework imports resources from third-party servers, and those felt quite slow. Also, the example content failed to import on the first try. We had to log in to WordPress and try again with a different theme, which yielded this website:

Overall, the process of setting up a site was perfectly okay. It’s not the most beginner-friendly system, like you’ll find on some other hosts, but the actual WordPress installer is easy enough to use once you know where to find it. InterServer offers a fair amount of control at the risk of complexity, where a lot of its competitors will offer a more streamlined website setup process.

InterServer prices and plans

InterServer’s prices are quite competitive. Starting at $2.50/mo, before renewal, when it increases to $7/mo, and going up to $69.95/mo for the high-end hosting plans. As web hosting costs go, that’s pretty good.

Features	Standard Web Hosting	Boost 2	Boost 4	Boost X
Price	$2.50/mo	$9.95/mo	$19.95/mo	$69.95/mo
CPU cores	1	2	4	10
Uptime guarantee	99.9%	99.9%	99.9%	99.9%
Monthly visits	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Number of websites	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Storage	Unlimited*	Unlimited*	Unlimited*	Unlimited*
Memory	2 GB	4 GB	8 GB	20 GB
Bandwidth	Unlimited*	Unlimited*	Unlimited*	Unlimited*
Free domain for a year
Backup frequency	Weekly	Weekly	Weekly	Weekly
Learn more	View plan	View plan	View plan	View plan

Overall, InterServer is par for the course in the pricing department. You’ll find very similar pricing schemes on most of the hosts that we’ve reviewed, once you take post-renewal prices into account.

However, while the Standard plan is actually even cheaper than Hostinger’s cheapest plan (at post-renewal prices), we wouldn’t recommend the Standard plan. You’ll see why in the Performance section down below.

We’d say the best value for money is the Boost 2 plan, and then you could always go up a tier if you need more server resources. We do like that all plans come with the same set of features, and what you’re paying for is (theoretically) dedicated hardware resources allocated to your website.

InterServer features

InterServer has really held on to the classic hosting formula, with third-party hosting control panel options, Softaculous, and a wealth of options. It’s not a bad formula by any means, and lends itself well to a hosting platform that can do a lot of things, such as:

• Multiple types of web hosting
• A simple site builder option
• Solid WordPress integration
• Assisted website migration
• Some developer-friendly features
• Unlimited email accounts

Types of web hosting available

We tested the shared hosting, but there are also options for ASP.NET hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, storage hosting, and dedicated servers. InterServer even offers a colocation space in New Jersey, allowing you to run your own physical data center if you don’t have a suitable location.

Web building features

The shared hosting plans include the SitePad site builder, a third-party option licensed by InterServer for your convenience. It’s perfectly fine as site builders go.

We were able to get a sample website up and running in minutes with no fuss.

WordPress integration

WordPress installation, as you’ve seen above, was quite easy with Softaculous. You can, of course, manage multiple WordPress installations and even set up WordPress site staging with relative ease on every plan.

Web migration

Website migration is pretty easy, because you can just ask InterServer to do it for you by filling out this form:

Bonus features

Developers will be happy to know that there’s SSH access, a web-based terminal, and some compatibility with git. We don’t know how much control you have (for example, we saw no evidence that Node apps would be supported), but you can at least use your usual workflows when building static and PHP sites.

InterServer performance

And this is where the problems started. A slow site is a site that’s not converting, so we tested the WordPress site with various online tools to gauge performance and were disappointed with the results.

Speed test

First up, we ran the page speed test from Dotcom-Tools. We ran the test from Montreal, Dallas, and Strasbourg to get an idea of how fast the site would load around the world. Now, you usually want a site to load in about 2 seconds for best results, and the test ran fine in Montreal.

Product	Performance score	FCP	LCP
InterServer average	80	1.43 s	2.53 s

But the Dallas and Strasbourg tests showed very slow times for First Contentful Paint (FCP), when your site first starts loading visible elements, and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) when the largest element finishes loading.

Uptime and response

We tested the site’s uptime with UptimeRobot, which also measures the response time of the servers. We left the test running for a little over 6 days and noticed some less-than-stellar results here, too.

Product	Uptime	Average response time	Minimum response time	Maximum response time
InterServer average	99.935%	1180 ms	440 ms	4808 ms

That wildly inconsistent (and sometimes very high) server response time reveals a certain instability in the servers. There were also a couple of service interruptions, though InterServer has lived up to its uptime guarantee.

Stress tests

• Stress test results: InterServer failed the stress test.

We used Loader.io to test whether the site could withstand the unbearable weight of massive popularity. The test threw 250 virtual users at the server in the space of a minute.

Most hosts handle this with few issues. This was the first time we’ve ever seen the test itself get aborted before it was finished, with only 37 virtual users sent, and only 13 getting a response. The average server response time also spiked to over 9 seconds, which is bad.

InterServer security features

InterServer does a decent enough job securing its servers from outside attack, with no real breaches having been recorded in recent years. The suite of security features includes, but is not limited to:

• DDoS protection
• Malware scanning
• Firewalls
• A traffic scanner to catch things people might try to upload to your site
• 2FA to keep your account secure
• Imunify 360: a third-party security suite with a reasonably solid reputation and a WordPress plugin.

InterServer customer support and reputation

Support type	InterServer
Email or live chat	24/7 live chat and an email/ticket system (support emails can only be accessed via the account admin panel)
Phone	Yes New Jersey, USA +1-201-605-1440 Toll-free, USA +1-877-NJCOLO-1contact London, England +44 20 3389 6982contact Tel Aviv, Israel +972 3 372 6407contact São Paulo, BR +55 19 4560 0392contact Mexico City, MX +52 55 5350 9459
Online guides or forums

We had a decent enough experience with the support team. The domain name wasn’t working when we signed up, so we contacted them, and it turned out the DNS servers were just taking a minute to update.

The support was efficient, and we had a response in a few minutes.

There is also a handy knowledge base full of guides to help you learn how to use the platform and how to host a website.

InterServer user reviews

• Trustpilot rating: 4.4

InterServer’s overall perception is actually fairly positive. Its VPS and dedicated hosting customers in particular seem to be happy enough with what they’ve got, and the server instability we noticed in the shared hosting doesn’t seem to affect them.

Top InterServer alternatives

If you don’t need a VPS or dedicated server and want affordable shared hosting that has performed very well in our reviews, consider the following three alternatives.

Bluehost

Bluehost offers pretty much all the features and types of hosting you could get with InterServer (except ASP.NET hosting) with competitive prices.

Learn more in our Bluehost review.

Hostinger

Hostinger offers great deals on hosting all the time, reasonable renewal prices, and a pretty beginner-friendly experience overall.

Learn more in our Hostinger review.

IONOS

IONOS is affordable, easy to use, and offers a fairly easy path to scaling your website from a small business site to an enterprise level, should you need it.

Learn more in our IONOS review.

Bottom line: Is InterServer good?

InterServer is good for people who want high-end hosting plans. At least, our own experience with its dedicated servers, and others’ experience with the VPS hosting, has me leaning in that direction.

And the shared hosting might be good too, if you don’t get the cheapest plan. But, if you want a more user-friendly experience at similar prices with better server performance, check out the alternatives we linked above.

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