IONOS Reviews

Scammers terrible people! They charged me for services I don’t using. After I cancelled all my contracts they still charging me. I will To submit a complaint with customer protection services. They never send you email for renewals!

The company has a business model of not sending you a reminder on upcoming annual renewal. I was lucky and remembered that I didn't want to be charged $249 that I can get served up via wordpress and cheaper hosting elsewhere and had my contract for hosting, domain, and domain guard cancelled same day as renewal. The customer service rep verbally advised that, "I would not be charged for any contract renewal and all my agreements have been cancelled". The next day I was charged the full $259. IONOS finally indemnified me for the 179 for my hosting but regretfully did not budge on my 80. Just now I got a bill for $15 after all this because of "system glitch" as confirmed by the service representative.

Absolutely awful company, predatory contracts, predatory behavior, confusing, just a very awful company. Do not use them if you’re looking for a web host which most people are, if they’re individuals then use somebody else. These people are awful. They will swindle you. They coerce you into contracts that you didn’t actually sign and are very, very awful.

I signed up for web hosting but after being charged, saw that I was signed up for Web Hosting Grow and an E-Commerce contract as well. I called immediately to cancel since I didn't intend on buying these additional services (it was hidden and vague so many people have made this mistake). The guy over the phone told me he would cancel them. The next month, I got a $5.32 for the E-Commerce. I called to see why I was still being charged, and they told me it was because I only asked for the Web Hoisting Grow to be canceled.

Scam!! Be advised!! I signed up for a one year plan and the service was terrible so I canceled. One year later I have debt collectors coming after me for 50 dollars! Stay away. I will be investigating taking legal action against this company.

Horrible company, customer service in the Philippines. A lot of back and forth, playing games. Received charge on my bank, they try to renew at crazy $35 a year. Scam. I ASK FOR REFUND AND STILL WANT TO PLAY GAMES. Refusing after verifying and been 1.5 hours on phone. BEWARE. DO NOT USE THEM. Ever. Foreign call center. Rep asked for my credit card number and another rep said they never ask for that. FRAUD.

IONOS presents an appealing, streamlined sign-up process that quickly turns deceptive once payment is processed. After purchasing two domains with the clear understanding that email and SSL would be included, I was confronted by hidden paywalls just to activate basic services that were advertised as part of the package. The system becomes intentionally convoluted after checkout, masking upsells as “necessary activations” and leaving customers trapped in an endless cycle of surprise fees. This practice is misleading, unethical, and damaging to trust.

I purchased a 1-year plan, and they wrote saying to verify who I was, they needed either a photo of a utility bill, my government ID, or my passport. I sent them a photo of my electric bill since it has minimal personal info on it. They write back saying they want a photo of my idea. I told them I would not do so because of the risk of their server being hacked and info stolen (it happens a lot to companies these days), and for other reasons like selling private info even if they say they won't (Like Meta did). They did not even talk with me about it or try to convince me of their security; they just canceled my order. It honestly makes me wonder what they are doing with your info.

Was cheap to start but $395 to review I told them to cancel, they kept offering me "cheaper plans" finally got them to cancel, they said I'd owe zero, still took $48 from my checking and I couldn't get it back, said I "agreed" to it...I "agreed" to zero and cancel.

Refusing to cancel and contract and continue charging me for a year even though I have requested a cancellation multiple times. The customer service team is simply rude and condescending - yes should have known that I would be locked into a 12 month contract because of opting into a free trial.

They ignored repeated cancellation requests for months and kept charging me. Then they flat out refused to honor my cancellation, so I stopped their payments. I just received an honest to goodness debt collection letter for seven dollars.

IONOS ===>>>> CROOKS. Ionos is holding my domain hostage for a fraudulent fabricated contract. This is not a legitimate charge. It is not authorized. No agreement was made. The business fabricated this charge and fabricated the contract. The business is holding my domain hostage for this fraudulent claim. Ionos fabricated this contract. Contract number **. Ionos is a fraudulent operator. I have had a domain with them for five plus years which I can no longer access because they have trapped and locked my domain in a contract that I never created. This contract was created without my authorization. They have repeatedly resurrected this contract though I never authorized it or asked for it. I have made repeated phone calls to them over more than a year to stop this to no avail.

The absolute worst customer service. Canceled my account and they kept charging me and said they forget to cancel it. When I asked them HOW you think it's ok to just "forget" something like that, they said it was a computer glitch. I said that is an unacceptable response and he replied "Are you not following me?" "Do you think we are trying to take your money?" Yes that's exactly what you're doing after I called in and canceled it, with confirmation receipt and they kept pulling money from my account. Complete scam of a company. Letting my bank know that it is a scam company in case they "forget" to cancel my account again. Would give no stars if I could.

The worst decision I had ever made regarding my business was to go with Ionos. After a year of them trying to migrate my website I had enough and had to cancel all my services. They charged me for a full year and said they will not issue a refund. I wish I found this website before and saw the reviews. DO NOT USE IONOS.

Horrible horrible platform, do not use this platform once you encounter a minor problem that should be fixed immediately it takes them days. How hard is it to process my payment right now so I can have access to my gmail? Shouldn’t be more than 2 minutes but for them 3-5 business days. Save yourself and do not use this platform, Good luck getting your stuff back if you already started working with them. They practically lock you in, if you cancel contract with them your domain and gmail will be locked for 30 days.

Totally fraudulent scammers. Don’t trust this IONOS website, you will regret paying for scammers. 😡😡😡 They will keep adding payments without any subscription sucks and they must cancel their business license ASAP.

Totally fraudulent. Hidden fees. Misinformation and misleading marketing and package options. Impossible to cancel. Charged a yearly fee then a yearly fee the next month. Now they’re trying to charge me again! Talked to three agents who won’t escalate my case to some imaginary higher department. Total scam.

They make you jump through hoops to cancel and they keep charging even after you cancel. When you sign up they quietly book you for a three-year term so if you cancel early, they can keep charging you for the remaining years. Rip off company. Avoid!

I do not recommend using this platform. I have many years experience with using site builders all the way around. I thought I would try this AI thing out and customize whatever I wanted to change. They give you a free trial. I used the site builders, everything seemed fine. I decided to upgrade to a paid account. Once I did, it didn't give me access to the Website I had already built. I had to start all over and it created a separate account. Then, when I wanted to set up my services and use the app that came with the account I have, it had no payment gateway or anything connected except for PayPal. There is no way to add apps or anything. I had to go through a 3rd party completely and imbed that into the site. Also there is no blog available. Again, you would have to use a 3rd party.

If I could give it zero stars I would. In the beginning they are very helpful, 6 months in they no longer care about you. I have never had a company that I felt initially tried to irritate me at every turn, but this one does. If you use wordpress, this is not the hosting for you. Every time you call they will tell you that you need to buy another product of theirs to fix whatever you need fixed, or find a web developer. You are warned if you choose this company, you will lose every bit of patience you ever have had. Every person you speak to is fluent in gaslighting. After the 6 month mark you are redirected and will only get people who's first language is not English and very hard to understand, and if you tell them you cannot understand them those are really great times.

They have to be the absolute worst hosting provider out there. I've used several different services over the last 25 years and I have not experienced the level of shady practices like I have with Ionos.

Company offers nothing competitive and when comes to cancellation, they say you're cancelled but continue charging low key. I’d say they are borderline scammers. I’ve tried canceling on multiple occasions and yet they continue charging. I had to resort to having my bank block them.

Extremely Disappointed with IONOS Hosting – Avoid if You Value Your Time and Data. I’ve had one of the worst experiences with IONOS Hosting. My server was abruptly taken offline without any prior notice or a reasonable opportunity to respond or take action. This irresponsible move not only disrupted my services but also blocked me from backing up critical data or resolving the supposed issue myself.

I purchased the cheapest plan offered by Ionos because I'm a college student looking to make a portfolio website which doesn't require anything fancy. I found that this website was not very user-friendly for me. I was lost every time I visited the site. It would take me 10 minutes just to find where to get to my website so I could start creating it and I somehow accidentally made like 5 new projects just trying to find where to edit my site. I never figured out how to delete those projects, which made finding my website harder because it would be in the shuffle somewhere.

Do not fall for IONOS scam, they will advertise a very cheap service like 1$ hosting and when you subscribe they say you signed a contact and will have to renew and pay full price and you can't cancel and end up paying hundreds of dollars and no way out.

IONOS keeps increasing hosting and domain name prices every 6 months to a year. Since 2024, and now again in 06/2025 they have increased prices for email, hosting and domain names between 40-60%. This is ridiculous. They used to be the least expensive for the services offered. Now since changing from 1&1 to IONOS a few years ago, they just keep getting more and more expensive. Needless to say, I will be leaving along with all my clients. I no longer recommend IONOS.

Somehow I got signed up during my girlfriend's schooling in 2023. Haven't even logged into my account or dashboard even once (They confirmed that with me) and they have been charging me the whole time and they say they can't cancel the account unless I pay. It's so messed up. Be very careful guys. Use another service. Until this gets resolved I will make sure no one else falls into this trap. Customer ID: **

Sent to a collections agency for not auto-renewing after my year. That's absolutely ridiculous. If you can't bill me for the *next* year, then just cancel my services for the *next* year. The collections company at least had the courtesy to call me and explain what happened. Ionos could not be bothered, and only sent two e-mails which I unfortunately missed. TWO!!! Both titled "Payment Reminder" not "We're about to cancel your account and send you to collections".

With other domain provider if you don’t renew your domain it just expires. This company will invoice you after your year is up and send you to a collection agency if you don’t pay for the renewal. No other domain company does that. It’s insane.

Tried Ionos and was disappointed. It says free, but it's just for 1 month website then it will become more expensive than other places. Then there is weird contract thing popup with pages and pages long to read. Difficult to navigate. The icons clicked may lie. I cancelled my contracts multiple times and they were still there. You have to call to solidify the cancellation. Only good thing is that they answer the phone quickly with actual human and solved my problems.

My review is going to be very similar to all the others, DO NOT USE IONOS, they have very deceptive business practices, was charged $120 for a service that was not ordered, they agree to credit me back, that of course never happened, and customer service can't do anything they just say they will escalate but it goes nowhere..

After paying the 1 dollar I almost checked the 3 or 4 boxes and thank god I didn’t. Wow!!! Anyways I read the reviews on the better business bureau website and got really scared. I canceled the service online and also called to make sure I had canceled. The lady asked how long I had the service and I said 30 minutes. She told me I had canceled correctly and I would have no further obligations with Ionos. Well just like the reviews say they ignored my cancellation and kept billing me. I just called again and they said they have no record of my canceling or any record of my calling them. This time they sent me a e email confirmation that I canceled. DO NOT USE IONOS. You will end up paying 4 times the amount of any other good website builder and this one isn’t even decent! Whatever you do don’t read the reviews in the BBB, especially if you already signed ooof!

This company is a fraudulent operation. I have procured services and have not received the products ordered. This was a substantial financial and time investment that was wasted. As an entrepreneur, I am not fond of my investment being jeopardized or misused. This company is highly unreliable and could potentially jeopardize your business. This was a costly endeavor. WIX is urging new customers to be vigilant.

Never never never use them. They will try every legal loophole to scam you and destroy your credit just for buying the 1 dollar domain. That 1 dollar domain will ruin your life. Please use Godaddy even if it’s more expensive upfront.

I do not recommend this company. It is a scam. They charged me twice from my card and then tried again. They never gave me my money back. They also have no contact in the collection area. Only normal support. I tried to contact them and explained about the charges. I repeat, they do not contract this service.

Where do I even begin? My experience with IONOS has been a nightmare from start to finish. Initially, their sales pitch lacked clarity, which should have been a warning. But the real trouble started when IONOS found a so-called "malicious file" on ONE of my domains. This file, an image with a slight permission change (something entirely normal within a WordPress setup), was flagged as a major issue. Rather than handling this appropriately, IONOS took down my entire web space—every domain, every file, and every folder—resulting in error 403 across the all 5 websites. This catastrophic action not only tanked my Google rankings but also caused immense stress and disruption to my business. Their response? A vague directive to "follow the instructions to get your information back." Unsurprisingly, this process led nowhere.

I had my account transferred to me in late Aug by my tech guy. I had no idea until Sept when I get a threading email saying I will lose my domain if I don’t pay $2.80. For domains I have had for 25 years so I paid. Today they charged me for hosting without my permission as it wasn’t and my account was locked. I had no site for 3 months. I spoke to at least 6 people. And one supervisor. They are condescending and rude. They talk in circles and no one could explain why my refund is $10.25 instead of the $15.55 US they charged me while my account was locked.

Absolutely disgraceful! After being a customer for 15 years, I had $100 fraudulently debited from my account. When I caught it and reported the issue within 30 days, I was passed from one useless representative to another—six in total—each giving me the same runaround about needing approval from the “security team” for a refund. Five days later, no refund. So I called again, only to be told the refund was approved but not processed because the “security team” hadn’t unblocked my account. Are you kidding me? I wasted more time speaking to yet another clueless rep, who had no solution other than pushing the issue back to the same incompetent “security team.”

All I wanted was a server to host some PHP pages from for experimental purposes. I ordered the service and immediately realized the documentation on how to use Plesk and get one's domain pointed correctly was outdated. Tech support helped get me sorted out. Then 48 hours in, the whole thing stopped responding. This is where the madness started.

I have been trying to cancel my contract and all I get is the run around. They have been taking my money since February and have NOT fulfilled the work promised. Called my credit card company to actually stop them from taking my money. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.