If you have landed on the IONOS website and seen hosting advertised at $1/month, your first instinct is probably to look for the catch. That is a fair reaction. At that price, something has to give.
Here is the honest answer: the deal is real, and the catch is not hidden. The $1/month is an introductory rate that applies to your first 12 months. After that, the price jumps to the standard renewal rate. IONOS is upfront about this on the pricing page, showing both the intro and renewal price side by side.
What most people do not do before signing up is work out what that renewal actually costs them and whether the value still holds at that number. That is what this article covers.
What the $1/Month Deal Actually Is
The $1/month price is an introductory offer for new IONOS customers. It applies when you sign up on a 12-month term. No coupon code is needed. The discount is applied automatically at checkout.
It is not a free trial, and it is not a monthly rolling price. You are committing to a 12-month contract at $1/month, which means you pay $12 upfront for the first year. At the end of that year, the plan renews at the standard rate unless you cancel before the renewal date.
Auto-renewal is on by default across all IONOS plans. If you do not want to continue at the renewal price, you need to cancel before your contract end date.
Which Plans Qualify for $1/Month
The $1/month rate applies across more IONOS products than most people realize. It is not just one hosting plan.
Hosting
On the hosting side, three products carry the $1/month introductory rate, each on their respective bestselling or most popular mid-tier plan. All three require a 1-year term to unlock the price.
| Product | Plan | Intro Price | Renewal Price |
| Web Hosting | Plus (Bestseller) | $1/month | $14/month |
| WordPress Hosting | Grow (Bestseller) | $1/month | $12/month |
| PrestaShop Hosting | Plus | $1/month | $14/month |
Email and Productivity
The $1/month rate also extends into IONOS’s email and productivity lineup. These are not hosting plans, but if you are comparing the full cost of getting online with IONOS, they are worth knowing about. Note that only one plan in this group includes a free domain.
| Product | Plan | Intro Price | Free Domain |
| Outlook and Office | Microsoft 365 | $1/month | No |
| Outlook and Office | Microsoft 365 Business Standard | $1/month | 1 year |
| Business Gmail | Google Workspace Business Starter | $1/month | No |
| Business Gmail | Google Workspace Business Standard | $1/month | No |
One plan worth noting separately is Microsoft Exchange 2019 at $4.50/month. It is not part of the $1/month category, but it is the only IONOS email plan that includes a lifetime free domain, which puts it in a different value conversation.
What the Price Becomes After Year One
This is the section that matters most. The $1/month is $12 for the year. Here is what you pay from year two onward on the hosting plans:
| Plan | Year One Total | Year Two Monthly | Year Two Total |
| Web Hosting Plus | $12 | $14/month | $168 |
| WordPress Grow | $12 | $12/month | $144 |
| PrestaShop Plus | $12 | $14/month | $168 |
The jump on the Plus shared hosting and PrestaShop plans is the most significant, from $12 in year one to $168 in year two. That is a 14x increase. The WordPress Grow plan is a softer landing at $144 in year two.
For the Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace plans, the regular prices are displayed on the product page alongside the introductory rate. Microsoft 365 renews at $7.20/month, Microsoft 365 Business Standard at $15/month, Google Workspace Business Starter at $8.40/month, and Google Workspace Business Standard at $16.80/month. These are the rates you will pay once the $1/month introductory period ends.
A few things to keep in mind on renewal:
- The introductory price is for new customers only. You cannot access it again on an existing account.
- IONOS introduced a price adjustment in 2026 that affected some existing customer renewal rates. If you are already an IONOS customer, check your account notifications.
- You can cancel before the renewal date to avoid the charge. The 30-day money-back guarantee covers you in the first month if you change your mind early.
What You Actually Get at $1/Month
At $1/month on the Plus shared hosting plan, you are not getting a stripped-down entry product.
The Plus plan is IONOS’s bestselling plan, sitting above Essential and Starter in the lineup. What it includes for that first-year price:
- Unlimited websites, storage, and databases
- Enhanced CPU and up to 6 GB RAM
- Free domain for the first year
- Free Wildcard SSL certificate
- One professional email account
- Daily backups and DDoS protection
- One-click installs for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and 70+ apps including PrestaShop
- SSH, SFTP, and WP-CLI access
- 24/7 support and a personal consultant
On the WordPress Grow plan at $1/month, you get a managed WordPress environment with 50 GB SSD storage, 5 email addresses, AI site building tools, automatic updates, vulnerability scans, and 12 months of Jetpack Vault for backups.
Neither of these is a limited or hobbled plan. The resources are genuinely competitive at the intro price.
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How Does It Compare to Competitors?
At $1/month for year one, IONOS undercuts both Hostinger (from $1.99/month on a 48-month term) and Bluehost (from $3.99/month on a 36-month term) on entry price. That price gap is meaningful, especially for anyone who wants to test a hosting provider before committing to a long contract.
| Provider | Intro Price | Contract Term | Renewal Price |
| IONOS Plus | $1/month | 12 months | $14/month |
| Hostinger Premium | $1.99/month | 48 months | $10.99/month |
| Bluehost Starter | $3.99/month | 36 months | $9.99/month |
The more revealing comparison is at renewal. Hostinger’s Premium plan renews at $10.99/month and Bluehost’s Starter plan renews at $9.99/month. IONOS Plus renews at $14/month, which is higher than both at the renewal stage.
However, the key difference is the contract length. Both Hostinger and Bluehost lock you into 36 to 48-month terms to access their lowest introductory prices. IONOS only requires 12 months. You get a lower entry price with a shorter commitment, but you pay a higher renewal rate when that year is up.
Whether that trade-off works in your favor depends on how long you plan to stay. If you are testing an idea or launching a first site, the 12-month IONOS commitment with the $1 entry price is easier to justify. If you are building something long-term and want lower renewal costs, Hostinger or Bluehost may work out cheaper over a three to four-year period.
Is It Worth It Even at the Renewal Price?
For the right user, yes. At $14/month on renewal, the Plus plan gives you unlimited websites, unlimited storage, and unlimited databases with geo-redundant infrastructure. That is a package that holds real value for small businesses, bloggers running multiple sites, or developers managing several client projects.
The WordPress Grow plan at $12/month renewal is a fair price for a fully managed WordPress setup with AI tools, daily backups, Jetpack Vault, and automatic updates all included. You would pay more for equivalent managed WordPress features at most competitors.
Where the renewal price becomes harder to justify is if your site is small and static. If you only need one website with modest storage, the Essential plan at $4/month intro and $8/month renewal is a more consistent price curve without the dramatic year-two jump.
How to Sign Up
The process takes a few minutes and no coupon code is required:
- Visit the IONOS website and go to Web Hosting, WordPress Hosting, or PrestaShop Hosting.
- Select your plan: Plus for web or PrestaShop hosting, Grow for WordPress hosting.
- Choose a domain or skip and add one later.
- Select the 1-year term. The $1/month rate only applies on the annual billing cycle.
- Create your account and complete payment.
- Your personal consultant is assigned automatically after signup.
Bottom Line
The IONOS $1/month deal is genuine. It is also introductory pricing. IONOS does not hide either of these facts: both the intro price and the renewal rate are shown on the plans page before you add anything to your cart.
The deal makes most sense if you go in with a clear picture of the renewal cost and decide it works for your budget. For most small sites and WordPress projects, it does. The year-one saving is real, the resources are competitive, and the 12-month contract gives you a shorter commitment window than most comparable deals in the market.
For more on what IONOS delivers day to day, see our IONOS review and IONOS WordPress hosting review. If the free domain bundled with these plans caught your attention, our IONOS free domain guide covers exactly what you get and what happens when the free year ends.
