InMotion Hosting vs ScalaHosting: Complete 2026 Comparison
In-depth comparison of these two hosting providers across pricing, performance, features, and support.
Overall Winner
InMotion Hosting
- Wins in 3 of 7 categories
- Top in: Best Price, Best Performance, Best Support
- 3.9/5 overall rating
Category Winners
Best Price
InMotion Hosting
$2.62/mo vs $2.95/mo
Best Value
ScalaHosting
Lower renewal markup (136% vs 377%)
Best Performance
InMotion Hosting
99.99% uptime, 3.9/5 rating
Best Support
InMotion Hosting
Live chat, Phone, 24/7
Best for WordPress
ScalaHosting
Optimized, Staging, WooCommerce, LiteSpeed
Best for Developers
Tie
Similar developer features
Best for Beginners
Tie
Similar beginner-friendliness
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Essential Info | ||
| Hosting Type | Shared Hosting | Shared Hosting |
| Monthly Price | $2.62/mo | $2.95/mo |
| Renewal Price | $12.49 | $6.95 |
| Renewal Markup | 377% | 136% |
| Overall Rating | 3.9/5 | 4.3/5 |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.99% | 99.9% |
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.1/5 | 4.9/5 |
| Trustpilot Reviews | 2,513 | 2,137 |
| Free SSL | ||
| Free Domain | ||
| Free Migration | ||
| Pricing Details | ||
| First Year Cost | $31.44 | $35.40 |
| Second Year Cost | $149.88 | $83.40 |
| Money Back Guarantee | 90 days | 30 days |
| Setup Fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly Billing | — | |
| Minimum Contract | — | 1 months |
| Technical Specs | ||
| Storage | 100 GB | 50 GB |
| Storage Type | NVME SSD | SSD |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unmetered GB |
| Max Websites | 1 | 1 |
| Max Databases | — | Unlimited |
| PHP Versions | 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 | 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 |
| SSH Access | ||
| Git Deployment | ||
| Staging Environment | ||
| Cron Jobs | ||
| Redis Available | — | |
| Programming Languages | ||
| Node.js Support | ||
| Python Support | ||
| Ruby Support | ||
| WordPress Features | ||
| WordPress Optimized | ||
| WordPress Auto-Install | ||
| WordPress Auto-Updates | ||
| WordPress Staging | ||
| WooCommerce Optimized | ||
| LiteSpeed Cache | ||
| Object Caching | ||
| WP Multisite | — | |
| WP-CLI Access | ||
| Security | ||
| DDoS Protection | ||
| DDoS Protection Level | Advanced | Advanced DDoS protection on all plans |
| Malware Scanning | ||
| Malware Removal | ||
| Firewall Included | ||
| Backup Frequency | Daily (higher plans), Manual (basic plans) | Daily (7-day retention on shared; 30-day on VPS) |
| Backup Retention | — | 7 days |
| Backup Restore Fee | Free | Free |
| On-Demand Backup | ||
| Two-Factor Auth | ||
| Wildcard SSL | ||
| Dedicated IP | ||
| Support | ||
| Support Channels | Phone, Live Chat, Email/Ticket, Knowledge Base | Live Chat, Ticket, Phone, Knowledge Base |
| Live Chat | ||
| Live Chat Hours | 24/7 | 24/7/365 |
| Phone Support | ||
| Phone Support Hours | 9AM-9PM ET Monday-Friday (live chat/ticket 24/7) | 24/7/365 |
| Ticket Support | ||
| Priority Support | ||
| Support Languages | English | English |
| Knowledge Base Quality | 5.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Avg Support Wait | — | — |
| Email Accounts | ||
| Email Account Limit | — | Unlimited |
| Mailbox Size | — | — |
| Webmail Access | ||
| Spam Filter | ||
| Email Forwarding | ||
| Performance | ||
| CDN Included | ||
| CDN Provider | InMotion CDN | Free CDN included |
| Server Locations | Los Angeles, CA (US), Ashburn, VA (US), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Singapore | Dallas, TX (US), New York, NY (US), Sofia (Bulgaria), Bangalore (India), London (UK), Frankfurt (Germany), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Tokyo (Japan), Toronto (Canada), Sao Paulo (Brazil) |
| Server Location Count | 4 | 16 |
| Choose Server Location | ||
| HTTP/2 Support | — | |
| Brotli Compression | — | |
| Uptime SLA Credit | ||
| Platform Support | ||
| Drupal Support | ||
| Joomla Support | ||
| Magento Support | ||
| Laravel Support | ||
| Django Support | ||
| Next.js Support | ||
| Rails Support | ||
| Static Site Support | ||
| Control Panel | ||
| cPanel Included | ||
| Control Panel | cPanel | SPanel |
| Softaculous | ||
| Website Builder | ||
| Builder Name | BoldGrid Website Builder | SiteBuilder |
| Migration | ||
| Migration Websites Limit | 1 | Unlimited |
| Migration Turnaround | — | 2 days |
| Paid Migration Cost | — | Free |
| Migration Quality | 5.0/10 | 5.0/10 |
| Compliance | ||
| GDPR Compliant | ||
| PCI Compliant | ||
| HIPAA Compliant | ||
| Data Center Certs | — | SOC 2 (via AWS) |
| Ratings | ||
| Value for Money | 3.5/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Performance Rating | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Support Quality | 4.5/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Security Rating | 4.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Features Rating | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Ease of Use | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| Transparency Rating | 3.0/10 | 4.5/10 |
| Suitability Scores | ||
| For Bloggers | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For E-commerce | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Agencies | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Developers | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Beginners | 4.0/10 | 4.0/10 |
| For Enterprise | 4.0/10 | 3.0/10 |
| Policies | ||
| Bandwidth Overage | Unlimited within fair use; excessive use may require upgrade | Unmetered within fair use; excessive use may require upgrade |
| Storage Overage | Hard limits apply; must upgrade plan | Must upgrade plan |
| Adult Content Allowed | ||
| Gambling Sites Allowed | ||
| Crypto Sites Allowed | ||
| Reseller Hosting | ||
| White Label | ||
| API Access | ||
| Company Info | ||
| Year Founded | 2001 | 2007 |
| Headquarters | United States | United States |
| Parent Company | Privately held (employee-owned, founded by Sunil Saxena and Todd Robinson) | Independent (privately held; founded in Bulgaria, HQ moved to Dallas, TX) |
| Green Hosting | — | — |
| Instant Activation | — | |
| Managed WordPress | ||
| Managed WP Available | ||
| Pricing Model | — | — |
| Monthly Visit Limit | — | — |
| Visit Overage Cost | — | — |
| PHP Workers | — | — |
| Plugin Restrictions | — | — |
| Dev Environment | — | — |
| Dev Env Name | — | — |
| Regional Info | ||
| Best Countries | United States, Netherlands, Singapore | United States, United Kingdom, Germany, India, Bulgaria |
| Local Currencies | USD | USD, EUR, GBP |
| Support Languages | English | English |
| Data Sovereignty | GDPR, PCI DSS | GDPR |
| External Ratings | ||
| G2 Rating | 4.1/5 | 4.6/5 |
| BBB Rating | A+ | NR (A+ claimed on third-party sites) |
| Advanced Technical | ||
| Inode Limit | 50,000 | — |
| Max DB Size | — | — |
| Max Upload Size | — | — |
| Database Type | — | MySQL/MariaDB |
| Elasticsearch | — | |
| Image Optimization | — | — |
| PHP Switching | ||
| Subdomains | — | Unlimited |
| FTP Accounts | — | Unlimited |
| Additional Pricing | ||
| Free Domain Duration | 12 months | 12 months |
| Money Back Exclusions | Month-to-month VPS/Dedicated plans only get 30 days; Domain registrations non-refundable; SSL certificates non-refundable; Add-on services non-refundable | 30-day full refund; Domain fees non-refundable; VPS/cloud services eligible for prorated refund |
| Payment Methods | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal | Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal |
| Auto Renewal Default | ||
| Domain Privacy Included | — | |
| Domain Privacy Cost | — | — |
| SSL Provider | Let's Encrypt (auto-renewed every 3 months) | Let's Encrypt (auto-renewed) |
| Dedicated IP Cost | — | $3/mo |
| Additional Support | ||
| Phone Support Countries | United States | United States |
| Priority Support Cost | — | — |
| Community Forum | ||
| Support Outsourced | — | |
| Object Cache Type | NGINX proxy cache | Memcached/OPcache |
| Business & Affiliate | ||
| Affiliate Program | ||
| Commission Type | Tiered (based on product and volume) | Per sale (tiered) |
| Commission Amount | Tiered commission based on hosting product and sales volume; 90-day cookie duration | $50-$500 per sale based on performance; 60-day cookie; Monthly PayPal payments |
| Additional Policies | ||
| File Hosting Allowed | ||
| Proxy/VPN Allowed | ||
| Bandwidth Overage Cost | — | $0.00 |
| Account Suspension Policy | AUP violations may result in content deletion, suspension, or termination; InMotion reserves right to delete material deemed inappropriate | Violation of ToS; non-payment; resource abuse |
| Malware Removal Cost | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Downloadable Backups | ||
| Additional Platforms | ||
| PrestaShop | ||
| Ghost | ||
| Shopify Migration | ||
| Wix Migration | ||
| Squarespace Migration | ||
| Webflow Export | ||
| Editorial Info | ||
| Best For | Business users needing US-based support; Users wanting 90-day money-back guarantee; WordPress users (optimized with staging); cPanel users; Users needing 4 global data center locations; Users wanting employee-owned company | Users wanting cPanel alternative without license fees; Managed VPS hosting at affordable prices; WordPress users needing staging and optimization; Small businesses wanting reliable support; Users who value security features (SShield) |
| Avoid If | Budget-conscious at renewal time (5x markup); Need 24/7 phone support; Need low inode limits; Adult or adult-adjacent content; Need cheap monthly VPS plans | Need dedicated server hosting; Prefer traditional cPanel interface; Need HIPAA/PCI compliance; Want largest provider brand recognition; Need extensive data center choices |
| Known Issues | Renewal prices ~5x higher than promo ($2.62 → $12.49); Phone support limited to business hours (9AM-9PM ET M-F); Automated backups only on higher plans; Low inode limit (50,000) compared to competitors; 21% of Trustpilot reviews are 1-star; Domain renewal $19.99/yr is higher than competitors; Month-to-month VPS/dedicated only get 30-day refund | Smaller company compared to major hosts; SPanel learning curve for cPanel users; No dedicated servers offered; Some advanced features only on higher tiers; Limited phone support availability reported by some users |
| Unique Selling Point | Employee-owned US host with 90-day money-back, US-based support, and 99.99% uptime | Free SPanel control panel eliminating cPanel licensing costs plus SShield AI security |
| Ideal Customer | US business wanting American support, long refund period, and BBB A+ rated company | User wanting managed VPS performance without cPanel licensing costs and strong security |
| Best Alternative To | GoDaddy | SiteGround |
| Primary Competitors | DreamHost, Bluehost, A2 Hosting | SiteGround, A2 Hosting, InMotion Hosting |
We strive for accuracy, but pricing and features change frequently. Some data may be outdated. Report an error and we'll update it promptly.
Our Verdict
Choose InMotion Hosting if you...
- Want to save money ($2.62/mo vs $2.95/mo)
- Require 24/7 live chat support
- Need enterprise-grade features
Choose ScalaHosting if you...
- Prefer more predictable renewal pricing
- Want higher-rated hosting (4.3/5)
- Want LiteSpeed caching for WordPress
- Want more server locations (16 available)