InMotion Hosting Review: Is the Premium Price Actually Worth It?

InMotion Hosting costs $6.99-$12.99/month. Meanwhile, Hostinger is $2.99/month and Bluehost is $2.95/month.

So the obvious question: Why would anyone pay 3-4x more for InMotion?

I had the same question. So I moved one of my client sites to InMotion four months ago to find out if "premium hosting" is actually premium, or just expensive.

Here's what I learned.

What You Get with InMotion

Let's start with the specs. InMotion's cheapest WordPress plan (Power) includes:

• NVMe SSD storage (faster than regular SSDs)
• Free domain name (first year)
• Free SSL certificate
• Free automated backups
• Free website migration
• 90-day money-back guarantee (most hosts do 30 days)
• US-based 24/7 support (phone, chat, email)
• Pre-installed BoldGrid website builder

On paper, that's... fine? But honestly, you get most of that with cheaper hosts too.

The difference is in HOW WELL it's executed.

Performance: Where InMotion Actually Shines

I migrated a WordPress site with about 12,000 monthly visitors from Hostinger (where it was performing well) to InMotion.

Here's what changed:

Load Times

That's a legitimate improvement. The site feels snappier, especially during high-traffic periods.

Is it worth paying 3x more? That depends on your priorities.

Uptime

Over four months with InMotion:

• Uptime: 99.98%
• Downtime incidents: 1 (lasted 12 minutes, scheduled maintenance)
• Unplanned downtime: Zero

Compare that to Hostinger (which I also use for other sites):

• Uptime: 99.95%
• Downtime incidents: 3 over 6 months
• Longest outage: 47 minutes

Both are good. InMotion is slightly more reliable. For a business where downtime = lost revenue, that matters.

Support: The Real Differentiator

This is where InMotion earns its premium price.

I've contacted InMotion support six times in four months. Here's the breakdown:

Now compare that to my Hostinger support experiences (from my other review):

• Hit-or-miss quality (sometimes excellent, sometimes useless)
• Felt like a lottery which rep you got
• One incident took three different chat sessions to resolve

InMotion's support is consistently good. That's the difference.

Plus, they're US-based. Phone support is actually helpful. I called once at 11 PM on a Saturday and got through to a tech who knew what they were doing.

For that alone, some people will happily pay extra.

Migration: Actually Free (And Actually Good)

"Free migration" is common now, but execution varies wildly.

InMotion's migration:

• Submitted request Monday evening
• Got confirmation within 30 minutes
• Migration started Tuesday morning
• Completed Tuesday afternoon (18 hours total)
• Everything worked perfectly—no broken links, no database issues, no manual fixes needed

Compare that to Hostinger's migration (which took 7 days and required manual fixes), and you see where the premium price goes.

The Downsides (Because Nothing's Perfect)

InMotion isn't flawless. Here's what bothered me:

1. The Renewal Price Sting

Introductory price: $6.99/month (24-month commitment)

Renewal price: $11.99/month

That's a 71% increase. Not as bad as some hosts (Bluehost triples), but still significant.

At renewal, you're paying $144/year for hosting. That's premium pricing for what's still technically shared hosting.

2. Upsells During Checkout

InMotion tries to sell you add-ons you don't need:

• SiteLock Security ($40/year) - WordPress security plugins do this for free
• Premium Support ($15/month) - Regular support is already excellent
• Additional backups ($30/year) - They already include automated backups

Just uncheck everything except the hosting plan itself. You don't need these.

3. BoldGrid Feels Forced

InMotion pushes their BoldGrid website builder hard. It's pre-installed, and they keep suggesting you use it.

If you're using WordPress with a page builder you like (Elementor, Divi, etc.), BoldGrid just clutters your dashboard.

Minor annoyance, but worth mentioning.

InMotion vs Cheaper Alternatives

Let's be direct about the comparison:

InMotion wins on speed, support, and migration. But you pay for it.

Who Should Choose InMotion?

After four months, here's who I'd recommend InMotion for:

✅ InMotion is Worth It For:

• Business websites where downtime costs money - That extra 0.03% uptime and faster support response matters.
• Client sites - When you're managing sites for clients, you need reliable support you can count on. InMotion delivers.
• Sites with 10k-50k monthly visitors - The performance improvement is noticeable at this scale.
• Anyone who values premium support - If you'd rather pay more to get consistent help, InMotion is worth it.
• People migrating from another host - Their migration service is genuinely good.

❌ InMotion is Probably Overkill For:

• Personal blogs or hobby sites - Hostinger's performance is good enough, and you'll save $50-100/year.
• First-time website owners - Start cheaper. Upgrade to InMotion if you outgrow budget hosting.
• Sites under 5,000 monthly visitors - You won't notice the performance difference. Save your money.
• Tight budgets - If $7/month vs $3/month matters to you, stick with Hostinger and use the savings for better plugins or tools.

The Cashback Angle

Here's something that changes the math:

InMotion offers 60-65% cashback through HostCashback.

On a 24-month plan at $6.99/month ($167.76 total), you'd get $100-109 back.

Effective cost after cashback: $2.43-2.82/month

At that price? InMotion is an absolute steal.

You're getting premium performance, excellent support, and better uptime for basically the same price as budget hosts.

Final Verdict

Rating: 9/10

InMotion Hosting is legitimately premium.

It's faster than budget hosts. Support is consistently excellent. Uptime is rock-solid. Migration is painless.

At $6.99/month (before cashback), it's expensive relative to $2.99 alternatives.

But at $2.43/month (after cashback), it's the best value in web hosting.

My recommendation:

• If you're just starting, begin with Hostinger ($2.99/mo)
• Once you hit 10k+ visitors or need better support, upgrade to InMotion
• If you're buying InMotion, absolutely get the cashback—it makes premium hosting affordable

Would I choose InMotion again? Yes. Especially with cashback.

It's the host I recommend when people ask "what's the best option if I don't want to worry about hosting?"

That peace of mind is worth paying for.