# host monster or ipage?



## joby (Oct 19, 2009)

Hi

I've been reading the past posts for web hosting and I decided to settle on hostmonster.

But recently I came across ipage. I tried to search it here, but nothing came up.

ipage is a lot cheaper than host monster, but it seems to offer a lot more. I know pretty much nothing about websites, and it's hard to find reliable information about hosting.

One great feature that ipage advertises is backend support 

Does anybody here have experience with either of these sites?


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## lindsayanng (Oct 3, 2008)

Hostmonster is a hosting account and nothing more. Through hostmonster you can use their one click installs to INSTALL a shopping cart script. They are about $5 a month and a really great company.. I know from experience because I am a web developer and hosted about 10 websites on them. Their customer service is WONDERFUL for newbies and open 24/7 with agents in the US and not outsourced tech support. 

There is nothing on ipage that hostmonster doesnt have.. but don't get confused.. THIS IS NOT A WEBSITE.. these are both hosting accounts. 

As far as ipage's customer service, i have no experience but I can tell you that local customer support via PHONE is the most valuable thing you can get.. 

The thing is, using their "drag and drop" site builder will not build you a shopping cart UNLESS you plan on using paypal buttons, which does not equate to a real e-commerce store

Shopping cart scripts are server side coding. they aren't just HTML, they are php based which means there is code in it that requires connection to a database in order to display properly. That means that you can not possibly use a drag and drop editor. Those drag and drop editors are only useful for a basic HTML website. 

Like i said, this is what I do for a living - build websites. I have had just about every type of client come to me in utter confusion.. but the fact of the matter is, website design IS hard and it is a skill that requires a lot of knowledge about what you are doing.. If you are just starting out and you really intend on making your own cart, expect for it to take you a year to get up and running entirely with a look and design that you like.. and thats only if oyu take learning this stuff seriously.

Most of the time i suggest people to hire their own web developer because business owner's time is money. If you are spending more time learning website design, you are loosing money working on your business. 

OR you can go with something simple like big cartel if you really dont want to pay someone .. but realize that with ANY ready made shopping cart, you are going to be making sacrifices of flexibility and functionality


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