InterServer review
We read its pages and its terms, corrected its first payment, and went looking for the price lock. Here is what we found.
- ByMohamed Al-Shehri · edited by Nora Al-Mutairi
- Read on
- Score6.8 / 10
Built from what InterServer publishes about itself — its hosting page, its terms of service and its front page — read without an account and without buying. Read on .
InterServer sells one plan at one price across every term, which is itself a clarity not many here manage. And we corrected a figure our record had wrong before writing this page.
All three terms carry the same monthly price: Our record carried a first payment of 42.99 dollars on a twelve-month term at two dollars fifty a month, while the page says longer terms are available at fifteen dollars for six months, $30.00 for twelve and sixty for twenty-four. So the monthly price holds at two dollars fifty across all three, and the first payment is thirty rather than forty-two
What that price renews at, though, is not published: InterServer advertises a first month at two dollars fifty and states beside it that the renewal is $7 a month, explicitly limiting that to the monthly plan. What a prepaid term renews at we did not find published on any page we read, and our record carries the only renewal figure the company prints And the price lock this company was known for is no longer on its pages, which has a chapter at the foot of this one.
How this review was built
We bought nothing from InterServer. We read its hosting page, its terms of service and its front page, and created no account and typed no personal detail.
Every figure on this page is printed on a page we name, rather than inferred from another.
Speed and uptime sit outside the score, here and at every company on this list, because measuring them needs a bought plan.
Buying and price
7.2
Basis: the company’s own pages · weight 33%
One price across three terms, and a figure we had wrong.
We corrected the first payment before writing: Our record carried a first payment of 42.99 dollars on a twelve-month term at two dollars fifty a month, while the page says longer terms are available at fifteen dollars for six months, $30.00 for twelve and sixty for twenty-four. So the monthly price holds at two dollars fifty across all three, and the first payment is thirty rather than forty-two We could not work out where the figure we had came from; it appears on no page we read today.
What counts in their favour is that the price does not change with the term: someone paying for six months and someone paying for twenty-four pay the same month. That inverts the habit of this list, where a longer commitment is usually either rewarded or punished.
The uncertainty is the renewal: InterServer advertises a first month at two dollars fifty and states beside it that the renewal is $7 a month, explicitly limiting that to the monthly plan. What a prepaid term renews at we did not find published on any page we read, and our record carries the only renewal figure the company prints We score on the figure they publish because it is the only figure they publish, and we tell the reader it is published about a different term from the one we measure.
| Value | Points |
|---|---|
| Renewal jumps to 2.8× the opening price | 4.60 |
| a 12-month term is available | 8.17 |
| The renewal price is on the pricing page | 10.00 |
| $30.00 today | 8.50 |
Support availability
7.0
Basis: the company’s own pages · weight 27%
Three channels around the clock, and that is what this score measures.
InterServer advertises support at all hours by chat, phone and ticket, and three channels is what puts the support score where it is. We measure published availability and how many routes there are, not the quality of the answer, which would need an account.
And where this score fails our reader: InterServer publishes no entries in the alternate-language set on its hosting page, and we found no occurrence of the word Arabic and no Arabic text on any page we read, nor any statement about support languages in either direction. It is one English site, as Verpex, Namecheap and FastComet are
| Value | Points |
|---|---|
| support around the clock | 10.00 |
| Contact by chat, tickets, phone | 10.00 |
| Publishes no Arabic support | 0.00 |
Published features
4.5
Basis: the company’s own pages · weight 20%
Four items of seven, and the backups are weekly.
We read what the plan advertises: The plan carries 4 of the seven items we count: an SSL certificate, email, a Cloudflare network and free site migration. There is no free domain and no staging, and the backups the page names are weekly rather than daily, so they do not enter our count That puts InterServer at the foot of this table on features, which is an honest place to be: the plan sells capacity and space rather than extras.
| Value | Points |
|---|---|
| The plan names no daily backups, free domain year or staging site | 4.50 |
Refund and billing
8.0
Basis: the company’s own pages · weight 20%
Thirty days, and then the whole payment goes.
The score looks at three things: is the window written down, are the exclusions published, and does the billing show the renewal price. InterServer writes the first two: InterServer’s terms provide that a client may request a refund within 30 days of signing up, and then say that once that period has passed the client may cancel the service but forfeits the money paid. Renewal is automatic for a period equal to the previous one, so the sentence lands differently on someone who prepaid twenty-four months
We found that same clause at GreenGeeks, Verpex, IONOS and Namecheap, so it is the rule on this list rather than an aberration in it. Only SiteGround and ScalaHosting depart from it.
| Value | Points |
|---|---|
| a refund window of 30 days | 10.00 |
| The refund exclusions are written down | 10.00 |
| Billing does not state the renewal and its price | 0.00 |
Speed and uptime: we did not measure them
Speed and uptime sit outside this score because measuring them needs a bought plan.
And the renewal price on a prepaid term is not published, which is a limit in what we know rather than in our model: we score on the figure published for the monthly plan, and we do not know whether it applies to the annual one.
Arabic: where it reaches and where it does not
One English site, and nothing said about language.
We found no statement about support languages in either direction: InterServer publishes no entries in the alternate-language set on its hosting page, and we found no occurrence of the word Arabic and no Arabic text on any page we read, nor any statement about support languages in either direction. It is one English site, as Verpex, Namecheap and FastComet are This has repeated on our list until it became the rule: five of the last six companies we have reviewed publish no localisation for anybody, so the absence is general rather than aimed at us. The result for a reader in Riyadh is the same either way.
The price lock: we went looking
The price lock: we went looking, and did not find it.
InterServer was known for years for promising that your price does not rise after you sign up — the promise that put its name in front of people looking for a way out of renewal jumps. So we went to look for it: InterServer was known for a price lock guarantee — that what you pay never rises after you sign up. We looked for it on its front page, its hosting page and its terms of service and found no mention of it at all, and the addresses that used to carry it no longer resolve. What the page says today is that the monthly plan renews at seven dollars
We do not say the promise was withdrawn, or when, or why, because we know none of those things. We say what we found today: the words are not there, the addresses that carried them do not resolve, and the terms do not mention it. Anyone who remembers the promise is exactly who needs to know this.
The full calculation
| Sub-score | Value | Weight | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 7.2 | 33% | 2.376 |
| Support | 7.0 | 27% | 1.890 |
| Features | 4.5 | 20% | 0.900 |
| Refund | 8.0 | 20% | 1.600 |
| Total | 6.766 → 6.8 |
If not this one, then what
Both picks are computed from the scores rather than written by hand: the first is the one directly above it in the ranking, the second the one that beats it by the widest margin on the criterion it loses on.
SiteGround
6.9The service directly above it in the ranking.
$2.99/mo on a 12-month prepayment: $35.88 today, then $17.99/mo
Read the reviewGreenGeeks
7.2What this page offers instead on the criterion it loses on — Published features.
$2.95/mo on a 12-month prepayment: $35.40 today, then $13.95/mo
Read the review
Bottom line
Buy from InterServer if you want one price that does not change with the term, you read English, and you keep your own copy of your site, because theirs is weekly. Stay away if you are building on the price-lock promise, which is not on its pages today, or if you need to be answered in Arabic.
Questions
Did you buy this plan?
No. We read InterServer’s pages and its terms of service, created no account and bought nothing. That is why speed and uptime are outside the score.
What will I pay on day one?
Thirty dollars for twelve months, which is what the page says in so many words. We corrected that figure: our record carried forty-two dollars ninety-nine, and we could find no source for it on any page.
What does my subscription renew at?
The page publishes seven dollars a month and limits that to the monthly plan. What a twelve-month term renews at we did not find published, so we score on the only figure available and tell you it is published about a different term.
What about the price lock guarantee?
We did not find it. We looked on the front page, the hosting page and the terms of service and the words do not appear once, and the addresses that used to carry it do not resolve. We do not know when that changed or why.
Do I get backups?
Weekly ones, as the page says, not daily. That is why we do not count them among the features, and why we suggest you keep your own copy.
What we know, and where from
Every figure on this page, where it came from and when we read it.
| What we say | How we know | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our record carried a first payment of 42.99 dollars on a twelve-month term at two dollars fifty a month, while the page says longer terms are available at fifteen dollars for six months, $30.00 for twelve and sixty for twenty-four. So the monthly price holds at two dollars fifty across all three, and the first payment is thirty rather than forty-two | we measured it | InterServer Standard Web Hosting — longer terms | |
| InterServer advertises a first month at two dollars fifty and states beside it that the renewal is $7 a month, explicitly limiting that to the monthly plan. What a prepaid term renews at we did not find published on any page we read, and our record carries the only renewal figure the company prints | the company states it | InterServer Standard Web Hosting — renewal wording | |
| InterServer publishes no entries in the alternate-language set on its hosting page, and we found no occurrence of the word Arabic and no Arabic text on any page we read, nor any statement about support languages in either direction. It is one English site, as Verpex, Namecheap and FastComet are | we could not find it | InterServer — no locales and no Arabic found | |
| The plan carries 4 of the seven items we count: an SSL certificate, email, a Cloudflare network and free site migration. There is no free domain and no staging, and the backups the page names are weekly rather than daily, so they do not enter our count | the company states it | InterServer Standard Web Hosting — included features | |
| InterServer’s terms provide that a client may request a refund within 30 days of signing up, and then say that once that period has passed the client may cancel the service but forfeits the money paid. Renewal is automatic for a period equal to the previous one, so the sentence lands differently on someone who prepaid twenty-four months | the company states it | InterServer Terms of Service — refunds and renewal | |
| InterServer was known for a price lock guarantee — that what you pay never rises after you sign up. We looked for it on its front page, its hosting page and its terms of service and found no mention of it at all, and the addresses that used to carry it no longer resolve. What the page says today is that the monthly plan renews at seven dollars | we could not find it | InterServer — no price-lock language found |