HostGator Review: Pros, Cons, & Features

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As one of the most popular and reputable web hosting service providers in the world, HostGator offers shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and managed WordPress hosting. Therefore, HostGator has a wide range of web hosting services suitable for any individual or small business.

Our comprehensive HostGator review discusses everything you need to know about this web host to make an informed purchasing decision.

HostGator Review: Summary

This HostGator review provides an in-depth explanation of HostGator’s pros, cons, pricing, and features. We also discuss a few alternative options and answer some related questions later on in this guide. In essence, HostGator is a reliable web host with excellent performance and customer support. Some notable features include unmetered storage and bandwidth, as well as 24/7 live chat customer support.

Pros

• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Round-the-clock customer support
• Unmetered bandwidth and storage

Cons

• Relatively higher monthly pricing
• Aggressive marketing
• Limited free security tools

HostGator Review – At a Glance

Founded in 2002, HostGator experienced meteoric growth to rise into one of the largest hosting companies worldwide. You can attribute this substantial growth to HostGator’s excellent shared hosting plans, reliable uptime, and helpful customer service. This company is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and hosts more than 2 million domains.

Who HostGator is Best For

Since HostGator offers hosting services for all types of websites, this hosting company is suitable for every individual and business. HostGator even offers a website builder plan that provides an all-in-one solution to build eCommerce websites. However, HostGator’s servers are located in Utah and Texas. Therefore, HostGator is ideal for websites that want to attract primarily US traffic.

HostGator Pricing

In general, you receive discounted rates if you choose a longer subscription period. Here’s an in-depth breakdown of HostGator’s shared hosting pricing plans:

Hatchling Plan:

• Monthly: $11.95
• 3 Months: $35.85
• 6 Months: $71.70
• 1 Year: $107.40
• 2 Years: $190.80
• 3 Years: $250.20

Baby Plan:

• Monthly: $12.95
• 3 Months: $38.85
• 6 Months: $77.70
• 1 Year: $143.40
• 2 Years: $262.80
• 3 Years: $358.20

Business Plan:

• Monthly: $17.95
• 3 Months: $53.85
• 6 Months: $107.70
• 1 Year: $203.40
• 2 Years: $382.8
• 3 Years: $582.20

Keep in mind that HostGator also offers plans for Website Builder Hosting, Optimized WordPress Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting, Windows Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, and Cloud Web Hosting.

HostGator Features

Now that you have a clear overview of HostGator and what it offers, let’s dive into each core feature. This way, you can see how HostGator compares to other top web hosting providers. In summary, each HostGator plan is packed with useful and intuitive features.

Website Speeds and Uptime

The most important feature of any web hosting provider is its speed and uptime rates. This is because you need fast website load times to have a competitive website. According to a study, almost 32% of mobile users will leave your site if it takes too long to load.

Fortunately, HostGator’s average page loading time is 234ms, which is one of the fastest web hosts we’ve tested this year. Best of all, HostGator continuously improves its page loading times and offers constant updates.

In terms of uptime, HostGator posted an average of 99.98% uptime over the past six months. This is the industry standard since none of the top website hosting companies tends ever to go down abruptly. Furthermore, HostGator has an uptime guarantee. This guarantee provides a free month of credit into your account if the uptime drops below 99.90%.

Storage and Bandwidth

One of the best features HostGator offers is unmetered bandwidth and storage on each hosting plan. This means that you have unlimited bandwidth and storage space with HostGator. You can store as many files as you want, which is crucial for companies with lots of assets to upload onto the cloud.

However, although you get unmetered bandwidth, you can’t use more than 25% of HostGator’s system resources for more than 90 seconds. Luckily, this won’t be possible for nearly every business or individual.

Server Network

HostGator has two different data centers, and both of them are in the United States. One is located in Provo, Utah and the other is in Houston, Texas. This means HostGator doesn’t have any servers or data centers outside of the United States.

More importantly, HostGator’s data servers feature top-notch infrastructure and security protocols. You can rely on HostGator servers to keep your website up and data safe. Furthermore, HostGator servers sustain their performance even if you have lots of users on your website simultaneously.

Site Migration

If you need to transfer an existing website, HostGator makes the process incredibly easy. Once you sign up, you have 30 days to contact HostGator and have them move your site files, domain, scripts, and databases to your new hosting center. This includes a complete cPanel transfer as well. Each HostGator shared plan offers single-site migration. Other plans can migrate up to 30 sites for free.

Ease of Use

HostGator is ideal for any skill level, from beginner bloggers to expert webmasters. This is because HostGator provides dozens of walkthroughs, tutorials, and useful resources to help you navigate the world of domains and data centers. HostGator also provides additional beginner features if you want to build and design a new website.

Furthermore, HostGator uses cPanel as the control panel. Since cPanel is one of the most popular panels in the hosting industry, it’s also easy to use and navigate. An additional helpful feature is a one-click WordPress installation.

Security Protocols

You receive basic website security with the Hatchling or Baby plan. Both plans offer a free SSL certificate and a server-level firewall. However, that’s all you expect out of the two basic plans, which is more than enough for most websites. An SSL certificate encrypted communication between your visitors and the server, protecting your website domain.

If you want to spend a bit more, you can get advanced security protocols, including SiteLock, automatic backups, and a positive SSL upgrade.

HostGator Customer Support

HostGator provides a knowledge base, email, phone, and live chat support. The live chat is available 24/7/365, so you can get the help you need anytime. Furthermore, HostGator’s phone support is available between 11 am and 9 pm Eastern time. You can send an email to support@gator.com, but we recommend using the live chat Hostgator customer support for the fastest response.

Alternatives to HostGator

Before you make an affirmative decision, it may help to learn about a few alternatives to HostGator. Even though HostGator is one of the best hosting companies in the world, you may be able to find the same features at more affordable rates from alternative hosting providers.

So, here are three other options worth taking a close look at:

1. Bluehost

Founded in 2003, Bluehost is another long-standing member of the upper echelon of web hosting providers. This web host is known for its flexible pricing and additional features such as a website builder and eCommerce tools. Furthermore, Bluehost offers hosting plans for any small businesses or startups to large enterprises.

Some of Bluehost’s key features include unmetered bandwidth, SSL certificates, free data backups, and a global Content Delivery Network (CDN). In addition, Bluehost offers some of the fastest server response times and page load times we’ve ever recorded. Overall, Bluehost is just as good as HostGator, with affordable pricing packages and excellent features.

Pricing:

Bluehost offers four different pricing packages for its shared hosting plans:

• Basic: Starts at $2.95 per month
• Plus: Starts at $5.45 per month
• Choice Plus: Starts at $5.45 per month
• Pro: Starts at $13.95 per month

However, Bluehost also offers VPN hosting and Dedicated hosting plans.

Pros:

• Ultra-fast page load speeds
• Discounted rates for first-time customers
• Excellent security protocols

Cons:

• May experience lengthy customer support wait times
• Site migration costs extra
• Aggressive upsells

2. WP Engine

WP Engine is a dedicated web hosting service for WordPress websites. Therefore, if you don’t have an existing website on WordPress or don’t plan on building your website on WordPress, you can’t use WP Engine. Instead, HostGator and Bluehost are your best options.

Many top companies such as Yelp, AMD, and Petco use WP Engine to host their websites. Therefore, you can count on WP Engine for reliability and performance. This web hosting service provider offers fast load times, advanced security tools, and responsive customer support reps.

Pricing:

There are five different Managed WordPress hosting plans from WP Engine:

• Startup: Starts at $20 per month
• Professional: Starts at $39 per month
• Growth: Starts at $113 per month
• Scale: Starts at $275 per month
• Customer: Contact WP Engine for inquiry

Pros:

• Excellent WordPress host
• Expert customer support staff
• Innovative front-end system to handle traffic and maintain uptime

Cons:

• Backups and caching plugins may create conflict
• Relatively more expensive than other options
• No domain registration offered

3. Namecheap

Although Namecheap is known for its affordable domain names, it also provides comprehensive hosting services. Therefore, Namecheap is an excellent choice if you’re on a budget and want to go with a low-cost web hosting company. Managing over 10 million domains around the world, Namecheap is one of the most trustworthy hosting providers available.

In addition, Namecheap uses Lightspeed technology in a few of its server networks to offer rapid speeds and page load times. NameCheap also has a 99.82% uptime rate, which is among the industry standard. Overall, Namecheap provides cost-effective web hosting and domain name registrar services.

Pricing:

Namecheap carries three unique shared hosting pricing packages.

• Stellar: Starts at $1.48 per month
• Stellar Plus: Starts at $2.18 per month
• Stellar Business: Starts at $4.98 per month

Pros:

• Known for its affordability
• Free website migrations
• Automated data backups twice a day

Cons:

• No phone customer service
• Tricky to setup SSL certificates
• Beginners may find it difficult to navigate at first

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Before we conclude our HostGator review, we want to answer a few common questions we receive about HostGator. This will help clear up any confusion you may still have surrounding this web hosting provider.

Is HostGator trustworthy?

HostGator has been in business for over two decades and has built an excellent reputation for reliability and legitimacy. Therefore, HostGator is an incredibly trustworthy web host provider. In addition, HostGator customer support is always available to answer your questions or guide you through a setup process.

Is HostGator good for beginners?

HostGator is an excellent beginner-friendly web hosting provider with a low barrier to entry. This is because HostGator offers a comprehensive knowledge base with hundreds of helpful tutorials and guides. If you need further assistance, you can contact a live chat support agent. These agents are available 24/7, so you can get the help you need no matter where you’re located.

Which one is better: HostGator or GoDaddy?

Although GoDaddy is slightly more affordable, HostGator offers better features and ease of use. Furthermore, HostGator has a better uptime score, page speeds, and customer support response times. Therefore, you can’t go wrong with HostGator if you need a top-notch hosting service with excellent reliability.

Bottom Line on HostGator Review

There’s a reason why millions of businesses host their websites on HostGator. This high-quality web host provider offers an excellent uptime guarantee and 24/7 HostGator customer support. With ultra-quick speeds and unmetered bandwidth and storage space, HostGator is an excellent option for any business, startup, or individual looking to build a website.