When it comes to web hosting, HostGator is right up there with the biggest and best. They provide many different types of hosting, including shared, VPS, dedicated, and managed WordPress servers.
Find out if HostGator is the best option for you by reading our in-depth review.
In this comprehensive HostGator review, we’ll be putting their claims to the test. Specifically, we will investigate the following:
Performance: When hosted by HostGator, how quickly will your website load?
Reliability: Will your website be available 24/7 or there is chance of downtime in the middle of the night or on the weekend?
Features: Do they provide everything you need to create a website?
Customer Support: Is HostGator reliable when you need immediate assistance with your website?
Pricing: Do they offer competitive prices? If there are any discounts available for HostGator?
Here’s a quick summary of our HostGator review score and our conclusion if you don’t have time to read the whole thing.
HostGator Review Summary:
Performance grade A+
Average load time 1.03 s
Average response time 143.4 ms
Free domain Yes
Free SSL Yes
1-click WordPress Yes
Support Phone / Live Chat / Knowledge base
About HostGator
Since its inception in 2002, HostGator has expanded rapidly to become a leading global provider of Internet hosting services. Their fantastic shared hosting plans, dependable web hosting, and top-notch customer service are directly responsible for their meteoric rise in popularity.
With a current headquarters in Houston, Texas, it hosts over 10 million domains. With over eight hundred and fifty workers on staff, they provide 24/7 service to companies of all sizes.
A division of Endurance International Group, it provides hosting services to a large and diverse clientele around the world.
The advantages and disadvantages of each hosting provider are similar to those of any other service or product. We’ve compiled our research on HostGator’s benefits and drawbacks below.
Pros of HostGator:
- Reliable Hosting: HostGator promises its customers a 99.99% uptime. If your outage lasts less than that, we’ll refund your account for a full month.
- Moneyback Guarantee: There is a 45-day money-back guarantee with HostGator. Most web hosts only guarantee your money back for the first 30 days.
- Flexible Billing Time: Both monthly and annual billing cycles are available. The best savings come from signing up for a longer billing cycle.
- Free Migration: HostGator’s migration service is included at no cost with all new accounts. During the first 30 days of signing up, their skilled staff will transfer your site at no extra cost from your previous host.
Cons of HostGator:
- Higher Monthly Pricing: The monthly fee is significantly higher than the yearly one. Choose the annual plans to get lower pricing as they offer a 45 dyas moneyback guarantee.
- Aggressive Upselling: New features and services, such as routine backups, may be on the horizon. Don’t forget to uncheck them if you won’t be using them right away. You can always include them if necessary.
HostGator Performance
If you sign up with a host and then notice that your website is painfully slow and frequently disappears, what would you do? Changing service providers will be expensive and inconvenient.
That’s why it’s so important to go with a web host that has a track record of consistent speed and performance. However, I am curious as to where you might find such details.
Since we were interested in HostGator, we decided to conduct our own tests to see how well it performed.
HostGator Speed Test Results:
Quickness is the primary measure of efficiency. A faster website is good for your users, and it also helps your SEO rankings.
A delay of just one second in page load time has been shown to result in a loss of 6% in conversions, 10% in page views, and 15% in user satisfaction.
we used Pingdom website speed testing tool to run the tests. The findings are as follows:
HostGator Response Time:
The content of your website significantly affects the page load time. Your page load time will increase, for instance, if your website has a lot of images.
This affects your server’s speed test results. We wanted to see how fast the HostGator server actually responds.
To test this, we used a tool called Bitcatcha. It’s not like any other tool out there for gauging how quickly a website loads. Testing the server’s response time without actually loading any content.
Here is how HostGator performed in these tests:
Excellent results were seen on our HostGator review site. The server never took more than a second to respond.
This result suggests that your site will load quickly no matter where in the world your visitors are located.
HostGator Hosting Plans and Features:
HostGator’s many hosting packages allow for customization to meet your needs. They offer various hosting options, such as shared, VPS, cloud, reseller, and dedicated servers. Not only do they host sites made with their own website builder, but also those made with Joomla and Magento.
However, their main offering is shared WordPress hosting and this is where most users begin their journey.
Okay, let’s check out what HostGator has to offer in terms of packages.
HostGator’s Shared Hosting Plans:
There are three tiers of shared hosting available from HostGator. In accordance with their terms of service, all plans offer unlimited backup space and transfer capacity.
The ability to host a greater or lesser quantity of websites is the key differentiator.
- Hatchling: The Hatchling plan is to host only one website. It includes one-click WordPress installer and comes with standard set of features.
- Baby: You can host an unlimited number of domains and subdomains with the Baby plan. You get everything from the Hatchling plan, plus access to premium features like private SSL.
- Business: Excellent for sites representing local businesses. This package is ideal for launching an online store, as it provides unlimited domains, emails, a dedicated IP address, and search engine optimization (SEO) tools.
They also provide a fully hosted website builder called Gator Website Builder in addition to their shared web hosting services. They also have Virtual Private Server hosting and Dedicated hosting on both Linux and Windows servers.
In contrast to the excellent value of their VPS plans, the shared cloud hosting plan is overpriced for what it offers.
HostGator Hosting Plan Features
Also, compare the features that come standard with each hosting service. HostGator’s hosting packages include the following features and benefits.
- Install WordPress with 1-Click Installer
- Free SSL Certificate
- Easy to use control panel cPanel dashboard to manage hosting services
- Free email accounts
- 24/7 customer support
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
With Baby and Business hosting options you can host multiple websites and domain names under the same hosting account.
Protect your WordPress site from malicious software and intrusion attempts by activating the free Cloudflare CDN caching. Additionally, your site’s performance will be improved by Cloudflare’s no-cost content delivery network.
HostGator Customer Support Service
In terms of customer service, HostGator is among the best. The help desk is available around the clock via phone, chat, and email tickets, so customers can get in touch whenever they need to.
You can access their help desk right from your hosting control panel. There are hundreds of articles and video guides available on this portal that can be quickly accessed for answers.
It’s safe to say that the majority of HostGator users are pleased with the service they’ve received from customer care.
Bottom Line
After reading this in-depth review of HostGator, you’re probably wondering if it’s the right choice for you.
The hosting plans made available by HostGator can accommodate virtually any customer’s needs and price range. You’ll find everything you need to make a website with them, including tools that are easy to use.
HostGator has been trusted by over 2 million users so far. Here you will find every resource you need to take your website to the next level, whether you are an experienced Internet pro or just starting out with your first website.
Have you made up your mind to use HostGator? In order to choose a HostGator plan at this time, please click here.