HostGator is one of the most famous web hosting among website developers. With great features that it offers, HostGator has maintained its rapport among its users. It is an acclaimed web hosting company that has received multiple awards and accolades.
In this article, we’ll explore HostGator in all its entirety. We will cover its plans and other features that it provides. If you are planning to build your own website and are looking for a web hosting server then this HostGator Review by our experts will be of much help.
Why Choose HostGator?
Are you a new brand or want to start your own personal website? HostGator has got you covered either way. HostGator can be a one-stop solution to all your hosting needs.
With its own website builder, you can very easily build your own customized website and publish it for the world to see. The feature that can be very helpful for existing brands is that you can migrate to HostGator from your old server. If you are unhappy with your older website host you will love HostGator.
Heading on with the HostGator review, here is some of the general information related to the hosting.
- SPEED: 1,191ms
- UPTIME: 99.98%
- SUPPORT: 24/7 Live Chat
- APPS: Over 75 apps supported
- FEATURES: Unmetered bandwidth and storage, single email account, free domain 1st year
- HOSTING PLANS: Shared, Cloud, WordPress, VPS and Dedicated Servers
- SITE TRANSFER: Single Free Site Transfer
- PRICING: Starting at $2.75/mo (renews at $6.95/mo)
HostGator Pricing and Hosting Plans
HostGator has three shared hosting plan option to choose from:
Hatchling plan: This plan starts at $2.75 per month. You get one domain name, unlimited disk space and storage, SSL certificate, and unlimited subdomains.
Baby plan: This plan starts at $3.95 per month. It supports unlimited storage, bandwidth, and domain names.
Business plan: This plan starts at $5.95 per month. It supports unlimited storage, bandwidth, and domain names. It comes with a free dedicated IP, SSL, and a toll-free number.
Pros of using HostGator
We look at the upsides of HostGator web hosting in this section.
- Strong and Stable Uptime
HostGator comes with a smooth, strong, and very stable uptime. Not only this, but they are also very consistent with their claimed uptime of 99.98%. Moreover, some observations show that it has given an uptime of 99.98 to 100% over 24 months.
And you know what? The company claims to return one month’s credit to your account if the uptime drops below 99.90%. Not to forget, planned maintenance or impossible-to-predict hacks aren’t factored into this guarantee.
- Good Support
Stuck somewhere and can’t find a way out? Don’t worry HostGator provides a good knowledge base, phone, email, and live chat support.
If you wanna try just throw some random questions and you’ll see the results yourself. While all these support work well, the live chat feature is the fastest. It will connect you to a service representative within 15 seconds.
- 45-Day MoneyBack Guarantee
A 45-day refund guarantee is very different from the likes of HostGator. However, it is suggested that you should check the terms and conditions properly beforehand.
The other website hosting companies only give a 30-day guarantee. This is very exciting but bears in mind that refund is not in check, money order, Western Union payments, or bank transfers. Refunds are only obtainable for new plans or accounts that too you have to wait for at least 90 days.
The refund is applicable on shared, reseller, and VPS hosting packages. Lastly, the refunds are processed on the US dollar exchange rates.
- Site Security Features
HostGator offers you with security features like the ability to add SiteLock monitoring. Although it will help secure your website you have to pay for it.
This SiteLock feature will process daily and will inform you about any potential site breaches or hacks. Also, the price is posed as $1.67/mo, billed annually at $19.99.
Another thing that is worth mentioning here is that HostGator also offers Spam Assassin on their email plans that will prevent spam from hitting your inbox in the first place.
- Free Site & cPanel Migrations
HostGator is a convenient option for the businesses who already have a website but intend to change the hosting server. All you need to do is get in touch with them and within 30 days after signup, they will assist you.
You can move any site files, databases, scripts, and even a domain name with their assistance. This migration includes full cPanel transfer.
HostGator’s shared hosting plans come with a single site (or cPanel) migration but with different plans, this number can go up. This migration is one of the best features of this hosting provider.
- User-Friendly
As we have already mentioned, if you are new to all this website thingy, HostGator is a blessing for you. It will design, help and build everything at a fingers click.
It has an in-built website builder of its own known as Gator with free hosting and domain name. Just purchase a single account and you are ready to roll.
We can’t appreciate this feature enough. You also get site analytics and a free SSL certificate. The special eCommerce plan will help you create a full-fledged eCommerce website that’ll be up and running with least efforts and hassles.
Cons of Using HostGator
We look at the downsides of HostGator web hosting in this section.
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Slow Page Speed
The most major downside of HostGator’s server is that it is very slow. According to various stats, the average page loading time over the last 24 months has only been a 1191ms average.
Yes! This is more than a second and that too for basic content-based pages. Although there are ways to speed this up but you can’t take the risk. Not recommended if you are planning or have an extensive media based website.
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Pay extra for ‘extra’ stuff
HostGator is relatively cheap with its cheapest plan offering all the basic features that you’ll need for making a website. However, you have to pay for everything extra that you may need after you have made your website.
This includes everything from site backups to Gmail access, SiteLock Monitoring, and SEO tools. What is very misleading is that all these features are listed as “available” but the story is something else. It’s when you make the final payment you’ll see that you have to pay for the extras separately. And clearly, no one wants to pay that much.
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Smart Pricing
HostGator is a smart player when it comes to tricking the user. We see that they use two very popular tricks amongst many in the industry. The first one being that they pose advertising rates to be very cheap( $2.75/month)but you’ll soon realize that you have to pay for 3 years beforehand. Smart right?
The second trick that HostGator uses very smartly is with the renewal plan. Even if you got a great deal initially you’ll have to pay almost double when you go for renewal. Most hosting websites use this technique so choose wisely.
Wrapping Up
HostGator can be really beneficial if you are someone who is new to this industry. It’s easy and user-friendly plans are perfect for building a complete website that can be up and running within a few time.
The fast and stable uptime is one major upside. But you have to pay a lot for the extras which sometimes can be a little disturbing.
Nevertheless, HostGator is a promising website hosting company with a user base of more than 2 million people.
We hope that guided HostGator Review will be beneficial for you while you are confused in making a choice.
Choose wisely!