Nowadays, there is no dearth of hosting providers that claim to offer affordable plans, robust features, and top-notch customer support. However, in reality, not all stand up for their claims. Therefore, it’s crucial that you deeply analyze the features like scalability, server performance, customer support, etc. before choosing a hosting partner.
Today, we’re going to review Hostgator, a top-rated hosting company that is known for its low-cost plans, stable servers, quick customer support, and excellent server-speed.
If you’re planning to switch to Hostgator, but unable to decide whether or not it is going to be the right choice for you, read this review until the end.
HostGator Background
HostGator is one of the oldest and biggest hosting companies in the industry. It was founded in the year 2002 by Brent Oxley who was a student at Florida Atlantic University at that time.
In 2006, HostGator moved from its original place, Boca Raton, Florida to a new 20,000 square foot building in Houston, Texas.
The same year in July, HostGator started its first overseas branch in Canada.
Today, HostGator hosts more than 10 million domains and offers a wide range of hosting services that include shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and more.
HostGator Plans & Pricing
As mentioned above, HostGator has lined up a wide range of hosting services. You can choose any hosting type and plan, depending on your requirements and budget. Let’s see the pricing and features of each service one by one.
HostGator Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is an ideal web host to start a new website with low traffic volume. As the name indicates, in shared hosting, you share hosting resources with other sites hosted on the same server. Therefore, it is a cheap hosting comparatively.
HostGator shared hosting costs you $2.75 to $5.95 per month. Though it is a primary hosting type, you get unlimited domains, private SSL, dedicated IP, and free VoIP phone service in HostGator Business shared hosting plan.
Cloud Hosting
Unlike shared hosting, this type of hosting utilizes multiple servers. If your website gets frequent traffic spikes, you can go for cloud hosting.
The pricing for their cloud hosting starts at $4.95/mo and goes up to $9.95/mo. With the premium cloud hosting, called Business Cloud, you get 6 GB RAM, 6 Core CPU, unlimited domains, private SSL, and dedicated IP.
WordPress Hosting
WordPress hosting is specially optimized for WordPress sites. The basic introductory plan starts at $5.95/mo while the most expensive plan costs you $9.95/mo. They also have a mediocre plan starting at $7.95 for a month that can accommodate 200K visits per month.
HostGator all WordPress hosting plans come with features like Global CDN, 99.9% uptime guarantee, automatic backups, unlimited email, custom dashboard, and more.
VPS Hosting
The virtual private server enables you to manage your virtual resources on a cloud hosting platform. If you have a growing website, the VPS server can fulfill your requirements.
HostGator VPS hosting will charge you between $19.95/mo to $39.95/mo depending on the plan you select. With all VPS plans, you get free migration, full root access, unlimited MySQL databases, unlimited domains, unlimited FTP users, weekly backups, and private name servers.
Dedicated Hosting
If you’re looking for a server that is solely for your site, invest in dedicated hosting. HostGator dedicated hosting gives you access to unlimited databases, 3D dedicated IPv4 IPs, RAID-1 Configuration, and full root access. The pricing for dedicated hosting is $118.99/mo to $148.98 per month.
Uptime
HostGator promises 99.9% uptime. When we personally tested it, we found that the company actually has excellent uptime. During our testing, the company was consistent with 99.98 – 100% uptime.
HostGator is quite confident about their uptime. Their uptime guarantee says, if their shared or reseller server fails to offer 99.9% uptime, you can get one month of credit on your account.
Server Response Time
HostGator does not disappoint us in terms of server response time as well. If you see Bitcatcha’s server response test for one of their sites hosted with HostGator, you find that HostGator has an excellent server response. The quickest response time was 32 ms for the US server while the slowest response time was recorded 717ms for the Bangalore server.
Advanced Control Panel
HostGator uses the most modern control panel software to strengthen customers’ administration consoles. With their control panel, users can easily perform tasks like arranging and deploying shopping carts for eCommerce.
Customer Support
It’s essential to have reliable customer service. After all, a technical glitch may appear at any time. Fortunately, HostGator offers customer support 24/7 via Phone (0824 661 4102), Live Chat, and Email. So, no matter even if you need technical assistance at midnight, you can get in touch with their support staff.
Besides this, HostGator also has an extensive knowledge base where you can find articles, tutorials, and how-to guides on the most common topics related to hosting, cPanel, domains, DNS, and more.
HostGator Pros & Cons
The Pros
- HostGator offers a 45-day money-back guarantee.
- You get a user-friendly website builder that lets you set up a website without using a single code.
- You get 24/7 support via Live Chat, Email Support, and Phone Support.
- The company offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
- Free migration service.
- You get the option to choose between Linux or Windows-based hosting plans for both shared and dedicated servers.
- Plesk & cPanel Controls
The Cons
- Though HostGator provides low-cost hosting, like most hosting providers, HostGator also has expensive renewal fees that could be a reason to worry for businesses running on a tight budget.
- You get discounted rates only if you commit to the company for a few years.
- No free domain registration
Is HostGator the Right Choice?
HostGator has a wide range of hosting plans that suit all budgets and needs. Whether you’re an internet expert or just starting out your first site, HostGator can offer you the resources you need.
More than 800,000 customers from more than 200 countries have already trusted HostGator. Since they are offering a 45-day money-back guarantee, you shouldn’t hesitate to give it a try.
