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IONOS charges $1 a month for twelve months. Hostinger charges $2.99 for forty-eight.
Across the first year that gap is worth $23.88 in IONOS’s favor. By month 15 it has disappeared entirely, and by month 36 Hostinger is ahead by $240.36.
The Crossover Arrives in Three Months
In fact, this is the fastest reversal in any pairing we have published, and the arithmetic is not subtle.
After twelve months IONOS has taken $12.00 and Hostinger $35.88. By month fourteen the two totals sit $1.86 apart. One month later Hostinger is ahead by $9.15, and never trails again.
⚠️ Three months of IONOS renewal cost $42.00. Three months of Hostinger cost $8.97. That ratio is what closes a year’s advantage in a quarter. The same IONOS figures against a Cloudways server are in our Cloudways and IONOS comparison.
The Short Answer
Hostinger, 4.2 against 3.1, unless you will genuinely leave within a year.
IONOS answers a telephone line, assigns a personal consultant, runs 31 data centers and offers a GDPR data processing agreement. Those are real and none of them appears in the price arithmetic. The same IONOS figures against Kinsta are in our Kinsta and IONOS comparison.
Head to Head
| Hostinger Premium | IONOS Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Advertised | $2.99/mo | $1.00/mo |
| Intro term | 48 months | 12 months |
| Renews at | $10.99/mo | $14.00/mo |
| Multiplier | 3.68 | 14.00 |
| Twelve months | $35.88 | $12.00 |
| Three years | $107.64 | $348.00 |
| Six years | $407.28 | $852.00 |
| Phone support | No | Yes, plus a consultant |
| Data centers | European core | 31, with EU terms |
| In our benchmark | 5th of 34 | not covered |
| Our score | 4.2 | 3.1 |
Why the Multiplier Matters More Here
In practice, renewal multipliers across the fifteen plans we have priced run from 1.00 to 14.00. IONOS holds the top of that range. The same IONOS figures set against SiteGround are in our SiteGround and IONOS comparison.
A multiplier of fourteen means the second year costs fourteen times the first per month. At $1 to $14, the second year alone comes to $168.00 against a first year of $12.00 — the full field is here.
Hostinger’s multiplier is 3.68, which is mid-field, and its promotion runs four times longer. Both facts push the same direction.
The Numbers at Four Horizons
For instance, twelve months costs $35.88 at Hostinger against $12.00 at IONOS.
Three years costs $107.64 against $348.00. Four years costs $143.52 against $516.00. Six years costs $407.28 against $852.00.
The gap widens at every step because Hostinger’s promotion outlasts IONOS’s by three years and its renewal is lower when it finally arrives. The same IONOS figures set against Newfold Digital’s Bluehost are in our Bluehost and IONOS comparison.
Where IONOS Is Genuinely Ahead
Three places, and none of them is price.
First, it answers the phone and assigns a named consultant to each account, which several reviews describe as the reason to choose it. Hostinger has no telephone line at any tier.
It runs 31 data centers with European sites in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain under EU data protection law, and provides a data processing agreement under Article 28 of the GDPR. That is rare at entry pricing and it matters for European businesses.
Besides, its Frankfurt facility opened in 2025 specifically for data sovereignty, certified under ISO 27001 and powered by renewable energy.
Speed, and Why the Figures Disagree
Meanwhile, published measurements for IONOS span a factor of nine, which is wider than for any other host we have reviewed.
A UK test recorded 168 milliseconds and a laboratory comparison 181. A detailed multi-week study recorded a 479 millisecond baseline, 685 in its third week, and a single day at 1,512 milliseconds corresponding to a confirmed connection timeout.
Hostinger’s own figures include a 246 millisecond server response and a 707 millisecond time to first byte from the same test window, which measure different things about one visit.
⚠️ Neither set decides this comparison. Both hosts perform adequately for European visitors and neither is fast enough to justify a price difference of this size.
What Sources Disagree About at IONOS
One benchmarking site describes uptime falling short of 99.95 percent, support criticized as unresponsive, and complaints about unauthorized charges and difficulty canceling.
Several others describe 99.99 percent uptime backed by service credits, real phone support, and the consultant model working as advertised.
⚠️ We are not choosing between those accounts. A buyer should read the favorable ones knowing the unfavorable one exists.
Winners by Category
First-year cost: IONOS, by $23.88.
Cost from month 15 onward: Hostinger, permanently.
Three-year cost: Hostinger, by $240.36.
Six-year cost: Hostinger, by $444.72.
Renewal multiplier: Hostinger, at 3.68 against 14.00.
Phone support: IONOS.
European data terms: IONOS, by a wide margin.
Benchmark coverage: Hostinger.
Included email: both, though IONOS bundles one account per plan.
When to Choose IONOS Instead
You need a GDPR data processing agreement and European data residency, and you have priced what that is worth to you.
A telephone line and a named contact matter more to you than a chat window.
You are certain you will leave inside twelve months, which is the only window where the price works in its favor.
How We Research
Every figure comes from the two underlying reviews, where each is attributed to a named source with its window. The crossover month is arithmetic on published rates, computed month by month rather than estimated. Where sources contradict each other on service quality we print both.
We run no tests of our own. Our criteria are on our About page. The long versions are in our Hostinger review and our IONOS review.
Frequently Asked Questions
IONOS for the first fourteen months, Hostinger from month fifteen onward. The first-year saving is $23.88 and it disappears within three months of the IONOS renewal starting. Across three years Hostinger costs $107.64 against $348.00.
Its Plus plan advertises at $1 a month and renews at $14, a multiplier of fourteen and the steepest across the fifteen plans we have priced. The promotion also runs twelve months against Hostinger’s forty-eight.
IONOS, which also assigns a personal consultant to each account at no extra charge. Hostinger runs chat and email only, opening with an AI assistant that transfers you on request.
On data terms, clearly. It runs 31 data centers with European locations under EU data protection law and provides a data processing agreement under Article 28 of the GDPR, which few hosts at this price offer.
Neither decisively. IONOS measurements span 168 to 1,512 milliseconds across different tests and regions, and Hostinger’s own figures include 246 and 707 milliseconds from one window. Both are adequate for European visitors.
The Verdict
Hostinger, 4.2 against 3.1, and the margin is almost entirely the multiplier.
Of course, a dollar a month is a real offer and the first year is genuinely cheaper. The problem is what follows: fourteen dollars a month, arriving on a schedule you agreed to at checkout without seeing the second number.
Choose IONOS for the European data position, which nothing else here matches. Do not choose it on price unless you have written the leaving date in a calendar.