Hostgator Review 2024. Genuine & Unbiased Review
Today we would like to write an article about Hostgator review.
As Hostgator is one of the well-known name in the hosting industry so we would like to review their features for those who are clueless and thinking whether is it worth of spending money with hostgator or not.
Let us start with the review.
Note: This post contains affiliate links but it won’t cost you even a single penny extra. We have worked with the relevant company and providing you a link with a maximum discount so that you able to save your hard earned money and will become happy for that :). You may read our detailed disclosure here for more details.
Hostgator Review 2019 – Genuine & Unbiased Detailed Review :
Before we get into the main review of Hostgator which is of 4000+ words long, here are a few details and the History of Hostgator which you might be interested to know about.
The company now called Hostgator which is one of the household names in the web hosting industry was founded in 2002 in a dorm room in college by Brent Oxley.
It was a one-man show at first but later grew and has grown to have over hundreds of employees as of today.
It was also ranked as one of the fastest-growing company in the INC 5000 with a ranking position such as 21st in the year 2008 and 239th in the year 2009.
However, Hostgator was acquired by Endurance International Group (EIG) in 2012 from Brent for an unofficial figure, $225 million.
If you don’t already know EIG is a company which owns a majority of the biggest web hosting companies on the market with some of the few namable such as BlueHost, iPage, FatCow, HostMonster, Pow Web, Easy CGI, Arvixe, eHost, A Small Orange, and so on.
To sum it up it is the largest website hosting company as of now writing this article.
About Hostgator, The company
⦁ It was Founded in 2002 by a college student name Brent Oxley.
⦁ Services: Shared, VPS, dedicated, WordPress, and cloud hosting
⦁ Offices in 4 locations: Texas; Florianopolis and Sao Paulo, Houston and Austin Brazil.
⦁ Data centers: TX, Houston, and Provo, UT, America (U.S.).
Now that you know that Bluehost and Hostgator are owned by a single parent company which is the Endurance International Group (EIG). You might be wondering whether the services or the products they offer are the same and that they would offer identical or nearly identical products and services, but turns out the majority of their features are different from each other.
Yes, we cannot deny that they do have some similar features but most of the time they are entirely different from each other and they are not am exact carbon copies of each other.
As a matter of fact, sometimes or in many times HostGator proves to be the better choice rather than Bluehost.
If you look at first glance, it seems like all the web hosting companies look and feels the same. They have the same promises, shared server, High uptime, customer support, money back guarantee.
Also, their pricing style is also in the same range. They are pretty much like a doppelganger to each other. But once you try to peek your head a little bit deeper, you will start seeing some important distinction.
Some of them include such as User interface(UI) and also perks and offer like a Free domain, free SSL certificate, SEO tools, marketing tools to grow your site, and other stuff.
HostGator has in the past and still proven to be one of the best and one of the strongest in the web hosting niche compared to its competitors.
Like Bluehost, Hostgator is also one of the recommended and top choices signed up by many veterans webmasters and beginners.
HostGator also have an excellent pricing table in the market, with a fantastic uptime and a guarantee, and they also give a wide option and choices of hosting packages which may suit your different needs and style.
HostGator is currently as of now hosting over 8 million websites.
That number is outrageous. The fact that people are still using HostGator shows that it is a reliable company.
We will break down and discuss in details below but in a quick nutshell, here are some of the few features of Hostgator.
Hostgator Pros
⦁ It has an excellent uptime with a guarantee of having over 99.99% Uptime
⦁ It includes a number of features even for shared hosts and one of them being email marketing
⦁ Their 24/7 customer support is among the best in the market.
⦁ It is also reliable and has a customer friendly hosting service.
⦁ It emerges as one of the best all-rounders in many studies and reviews given by industry experts.
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Hostgator Cons
⦁ A little modernization in the Administration interfaces would be nice. cPanel is a little bit dated and we still hear or see newbies to Hostgator complain and express their frustration on the densely packed User interface.
⦁ Unlike Bluehost, they don’t offer free Domains.
⦁ Hostgator is also known for it’s Aggressive upselling which is also the same case in Bluehost.
So, make sure you review the additional services pre-selected during your sign up process. But if you aren’t that unsure if you need them or not, I recommend you uncheck them anyways. If you want it, later on, you can always get them when you need them.
Reliability & Performance
Note for also in the future, before you dive straight into the details about the web hosting company such as their special features or offers or unique features. It is worth finding out first how reliable the web hosting company you choose is and their service.
HostGator has proudly stated in the past with their uptime guarantee of up to about 99.99 percent uptime or simply in other words, if you host your site in HostGator server, on an average basis your site will have an uptime of about nearly all the time.
If we do the math, a 99.99 percent uptime when compared to a year, it is less than an hour of downtime per annum. That’s really good and fantastic and that is exactly what you need and want especially if you’re planning to sell through your store or in other words a commercial storefront website.
If your site is down when a Potential customer visits your site, you not only lose money but trust, value and brand image. Your site will look like a scam. So with that said Time is money, after all.
Hostgator Features
Unlike Bluehost which we have discussed before in the past, HostGator, unfortunately, doesn’t offer a free domain but not to worry because it makes up to it by providing other features and starts other web services doesn’t provide.
Let’s name a few of them. First of all, we can start by saying that they offer you an unlimited email account, sub-domains, and also FTP accounts. If you don’t already know what an FTP is. In case you wanna transfer files from your computer to a network, It basically allows you to do that in an easy method.
Other cool features are that they offer both unlimited bandwidth and storage.
You might have seen this offer called Unlimited Bandwith in quite a few other webs hosting companies.
On the other hand, unlimited storage isn’t something that you usually find it commonly used in their sales page or features. Because it isn’t especially in the basic shared hosting plans.
HostGator also offers their own version of website builder of drag-and-drop to assist you in creating your own website.
They also have a number of amazing templates which are already being ready made to use from and divided into different categories according to your own choice and needs.
Some namable categories include such as Movie reviews, Restaurant, photography, and portfolios.
Although they are available for you to use freely, it’s not entirely sure that it will be easy to use as some of these templates are not that easy to edit and mess around with. Yes, they are 100% customizable and editable but according to some users, it’s not that easy to use especially if you are a beginner with no knowledge of it whatsoever.
Let’s say you wanna create your own blog. I would suggest going for the WordPress. HostGator have their offers on WordPress which you can get and set up the site with just one click with their one-click install.
In case you wanna go for the Joomla and Drupal, it also offers support for it too. Hostgator provide content management systems for Joomla and Drupal and also for Magento as well. You can use this if you wanna create your own e-commerce platform. It is free to use by the way.
As you may all know that, the majority of the add-ons and features they offered as Offers and special features are pretty much the same as It offers Other web hosting companies such as Bluehost, ipage, Dreamhost, etc. Some few namable special features and offers include such as the added site security from SiteLock and the cloud backup from CodeGuard.
You may not get a free email marketing tools offered by Hosting company especially in the basic plan, however, HostGator offers free email marketing tools which will help you to collect emails, connect and grow and build up your relationship with your readers or viewers and customers
Another cool feature is that you can keep track of your email data and see how well or bad your campaign is doing.
HostGator Performance
Let’s imagine you have signed up for a web hosting site and find out that your website loads incredibly and super painfully slow and not only that the worse is that it often disappears at times?
If your site has started to gain traction and started producing income, your business will suck, right?
So what will you do?
You will obviously like to and have to switch your web hosting company or providers.
And What does that mean?
It means that you will spend money on migration or upgrade your plans if they manage to talk you into a better service. Which at the end of the day still cost you money.
That is the reason for choosing a web hosting provider that is reliable, knows your needs and also fast with stable uptime performance record is needed which Hostgator all have.
But still, let us try to check and verify that information yourself and not only rely on what others say. Let’s find out how well it performed.
Out of many indicators of a good performance in a web hosting. Speed is one of them.
The faster a website is the better it is for your business, website and Good experience for your visitors or customers.
It also helps in your SEO game to rank higher in Google as Speed is one factor taken into consideration in ranking a site in Google.
As a matter of fact, even studies suggest and shows that a 1 second delay in the page load of your website will cost you about 7% less in conversions, 11% fewer page views, and it will accumulate to a whopping 16% decrease in the user satisfaction rate.
HostGator Server Response Time
If you didn’t already know, the page load time of your site is also affected by the content of your website. For example, let’s say that your website contains a number of images. Now compare that with websites with lesser images. The website with more images will definitely increase the page load time.
Therefore, it affects your server’s speed test results. Let’s try out and see how fast the HostGator server actually responds to it.
In order to test this out, let us use an awesome tool called the Bitcatcha. There are many website speed testing tools out there but personally, for me I like Bitcatcha and it seems to work differently than others.
Why Bitcatcha is better?
Because they load and tests the response time of the server rather than loading the whole content.
Another cool thing about Bitcatcha is that It runs the test three times from multiple locations which are spread all over the world and that is amazing because it gives you the average response time for each location.
This is a chart of how HostGator performed in these 3 location tests:
As you can see from the chart, our test went really well. The server response time remained almost less than a second which is really good and In the United States, it was just a merely 37 millisecond.
I would say Overall, according to the chart above, your site will load fast at an average rate around the world unless you dd heavy files into it.
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HostGator Hosting Plans
Like all other web hosting company, HostGator also offers a number and a variety of hosting plans with specific reasons for specific customers.
The hosting plans can be divided from shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated servers, cloud hosting, and WordPress hosting plans.
All of these plans have their own features, needs and fulfill specific demands of and they are suitable for different budget and according to different hosting requirements.
Let’s discuss some of the plans offered by HostGator.
Shared hosting
Shared hosting is literally the best way to start and get your website running. It’s like staying in rent rather than you owning the house because you are sharing the website shares resources with other websites hosted on that same server.
Cloud hosting
On a cloud hosting rather than limited to a single server like shared hosting, it utilizes multiple servers. If you are just a newbie and your website isn’t that getting much traffic, I wouldn’t recommend using it.
I would suggest you stick to shared hosting but I would recommend you to go for this plan if your website gets a frequent traffic spike.
WordPress hosting
This is the shared hosting plan version just for WordPress powered websites and it is optimized for it too.
It helps optimizes the performance of your WordPress websites and it also protects your website from common WordPress attacks.
VPS (Virtual Private Server)
With Virtual Private Server, you can manage your virtual resources on a cloud hosting platform. I would recommend you go for this if your website has frequent traffic spikes.
Dedicated server
If you opt for dedicated hosting, you will get a server just solely for hosting your website. It is like owning the whole house. Great for big websites and business But with great power comes great responsibility because you are the one to keep a watch and maintain it by yourself.
Breakdown of HostGator’s Shared Hosting Plans
If you are a newbie webmaster and owns a new website, I recommend you opt for a Shared hosting plan.
If you want, You can, later on, upgrade your hosting plan as your website grows and according to its needs.
HostGator’s shared hosting plans are sub-divided into another three tiers. The best thing about Hostgator is that no matter what plans you choose from, it will give you unlimited storage and also bandwidth as well. The only main difference is how much websites you can host in.
Hatchling: With the Hatchling plan, you can host just one website and one only. It has the 1-click WordPress installer and also has the normal set of standards features with it.
Baby: With the Baby plan, you can host unlimited websites. All the features of the Hatchling plan are included in it. But with the Baby plan. you can use addons like SSL Certificate.
Business: With the Business plan, everything from Baby plan is included into it and along with it you get free SSL certificate and free dedicated IP which you will need in case if you wanna start an eCommerce store.
It is best suited for small and about to grow business websites.
As you know already that Getting up and running with a HostGator account is simple.
After you have finished selecting your plan whatever it may be. Now if you already own a domain. you can input into it or if you haven’t got a domain yet, you can register on the next page.
Next, choose how long you want to host your website or in other words your hosting tenure.
If you want to get the lowest price, HostGator gives you a third o the price but it comes with a catch. You have to opt for a 3 Year commitment.
However, if you can’t pay up front for a 3year price, you can pay just for a single month but with a higher price.
Also, one thing I recommend you pay close attention is to check what is in your cart. Like we have mentioned before, they are good at aggressive upselling. So there might be some few features that they might have added on auto.
So make sure to scroll down and see if you opt anything extra in the additional services section at the checkout.
When compared with Bluehost, they necessarily don’t offer as much as options as Bluehost, but the last time I check they added SiteLock protection and CodeGuard backups by default. If your website is just a blog or doesn’t have that many sensitive information. You can just uncheck it or you can add them if you want.
Not only HostGator but all the hosting service, when you host your site, you work within two different user interfaces:
The site administration side which is your HostGator customer account and The site interface itself.
Compared with others, for For site administration side, I would say HostGator’s customer portal is a little bit outdated and it needs to be updated to a new one.
You will find all the menus or tabs for all the various components you need for website hostingsuch as My Account, Billing, Hosting, Domains, Support, and Marketing at the top of the window.
By saying this it doesn’t mean they are not functional at all. don’t get me wrong they are still functional but it’s not as intuitive as some of its competitors.
Yes, the tabs are still self-explanatory by itself. It isn’t that confusing but when we compared with the clean and incredibly simplified customer portal of Bluehost. HostGator’sone looks like it feels crowded and also cluttered by comparison.
Like Bluehost and all the other big players out there, HostGator uses the cPanel interface and I like it because on an overall look it’s looks and feels much cleaner than the customer portal.
The customer portal is absolutely chock full of features and add-ons. This might be a little overwhelming for some beginners which will be much better with a simpler interface.
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Customer Support & Knowledge Base
Even if you are a complete beginner or an immediate or pro level.HostGator have a ton of features and support according to your level.
I would recommend you to go through the Hostgator knowledgebase, FAQ and other informative post and article on Hostgator if you have the time for it.
In that way, if you have a problem in the future, you can solve it easily rather than going straight to a live chat or email or the phone.
Yes, I know It seems like it’s counterintuitive, but think about it. Rather than waiting for a solution in a phone or a live chat. It’s better and faster to find the solution to your problem from the Knowledge database which they did have the solution for almost all the problem.
By saying this I mean you need to dive into Hostgator knowledge base and find a solution for all your Issues and Problem.
Sometimes you may not even find it. Or maybe you need to solve this problem ASAP, In that case, diving into the knowledge base isn’t practical, You can contact them through live chat, 24/7 phone support, email, and even social media.
You can find hundreds of Tutorials on a video format on their Official youtube channel covering numerous topics.
Since, Every HostGator account is fully guaranteed by its CEO, Adam Farrar.
So in case, you don’t get the help to your ticket or issues, then you can also ask your ticket to be specifically assigned to Adam. Trust me He does and will respond to your query or ticket assigned to him personally.
So if you don’t get the help you needed, no need to panic about it. They have enough system to take care of each and every problem.
It may sound like this all seem messy but quite surprisingly their knowledge base is relatively well organized.
You will find all the links for phone, chat, and email support at the top and the common knowledge base and video tutorial categories on the below.
But like we have discussed before, the UI for the support site also need an update of modernization, but not to worry since it is still quite functional and navigable.
To get the 45-day money-back guarantee for your shared, reseller, or VPS hosting, please cancel your account within the first 45 days of purchase. We cannot refund you until the cancellation request is complete.
45 Money Back Guarantee
Hostgator is confident enough that they not only offer 30 days but a 45 money back guarantee in case you wanna get a refund. But some terms and conditions apply and here are some of them.
There are nor refund for dedicated servers, administrative fees, install fees for custom software, or domain name purchases.
⦁ 45 Money Back guarantee is only valid for the first time you buy a plan.
⦁ if you want a Refunds for $0.01 worth of orders. It isn’t eligible
⦁ Refunds are not eligible in case you pay your plan by check, money order, or bank wire transfers
⦁ Let’s say your plan includes a free domain name and you cancel within 1 year, the standard fee of $15.00 for the domain name along with any applicable taxes and with the “Domain Name Fee” will be deducted from your refund.
Pricing & Value for Money
Unlike other webhost, you can start small and With HostGator, you can spend a small amount and for some, it’s just simply almost nothing to get your site up and running.
Hostgator pricing range is one of the cheapest in the market.
You can start your hosting with as little as $2.75 per month on shared hosting.
if you wanna get that price, you will have to pay upfront for an entire 3 years. But since not may afford for that, you can still go for the 3 months or 1-month plan.
The robust form of Shared hosting is Cloud hosting. This plan starts at just a $5 per month, but only if you pay for an entire 3 years upfront. This plan and the offering is a great option and I recommend you to get it if your site has traffic spikes. If you have a traffic spike, the shared hosting can’t handle that so if you have it, go for this plan.
Same as Bluehost, HostGator also got a dedicated WordPress hosting plan. It starts at just $6 per month. the benefits of this plan are that it offers a faster load time compared to just a regular shared hosting plan based on how many site visitors you get per month.
You will also get a free backup from 1GB to 3GB depending on your plan.
This one is a little bit expensive and it starts at $20 per month based on a 3-year contract. Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting offers a dual-core CPU,120 GB of disk space, 2 GB of RAM, and 1.5 TB of bandwidth. Does that sound too techy?
That means you probably shouldn’t even consider it and think about purchasing the plan.
Lastly, it is the dedicated servers.
With this plan, you will get all the hardware to yourself but the cost is skyrocketing with a whopping $119 per month. So unless you own big websites or a business, you really don’t need it. Especially if you have huge traffic.
A quick recap-
1: An affordable pricing range
2: They offer extensive promotions and discounts
3: maximum features offered
4: Good and to be honest very very impressive uptime
5: 24/7 available support team
6: attractive cpanel
7: 1click script installing
8: fast server speed
Conclusion: Is HostGator Right for You?
Now that you have finished reading our HostGator review, you might be thinking, whether you should choose it or not and if HostGator is right for you or not?
As we’ve said discussed before already, the pricing feature of Hostgator isn’t that bad compared to what you are getting with that price range.
And even if it is compared with Bluehost, it is quite a little bit cheaper. The uptime isn’t that bad too and you shouldn’t run into many issues on that topic. Your site will do fine and even if it did have a problem, you can get help right away with lost of support options. You are not left alone in the dark.
HostGator is an all-rounder web hosting company.
Overall it would give it at least 97% Recommendation because it delivers on everything that actually really matters to get a site set up and running.
It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner looking to host one website or a pro wanting to host hundreds of site. Hostgator got the plan for you at a very affordable price range.