HostGator Review: Is It the Right Provider for You?

HostGator offers a pretty solid  99.90% uptime guarantee, which means your website will experience 8h 41m 38s of downtime per year. If you’re looking for reliability, HostGator is one of the best – that kind of consistency is good for any website but can be quite a loss if you’re looking to build an eCommerce store. After all, time is money!

There’s also DreamHost beating HostGator’s uptime with an astounding 100% uptime on shared plans. Among the VPS plans  Liquid Web also has an amazing 100% uptime. Otherwise, HostGator stands firmly in the middle with its uptime guarantee.

HostGator’s uptime means that if your shared or reseller server is down for more than nine hours per year, you’ll get a month’s credit on your chosen plan.

HostGator offers five different types of hosting: shared, managed WordPress, VPS, dedicated, and cloud. HostGator knocked it out with an overall score of 4.7 out of 5 for shared plans because of its price, 45-day money-back guarantee, tied top performance score, and unlimited storage and bandwidth.

The VPS plans come first with Bluehost and offer the best help and support of any provider we tested. While the dedicated plans offer unlimited bandwidth, HostGator ranks third with a dedicated hosting score of 4.4 out of 5.

Here are the details for each type of hosting offered by HostGator:

• Shared hosting is the easiest and most affordable hosting option, where you share a server and its resources with other sites. Prices start at $2.75 per month.
• Managed WordPress hosting is the fastest and most integrated way to host a WordPress website. This type comes with free migration, so if you have an existing WordPress site, you can transfer it to HostGator for free. Plan prices start at $5.95 per month.
• VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is more expensive, but you get what you pay for — or in this case, more server resources dedicated to your website. A VPS is worth considering for small businesses, while personal/non-e-commerce sites don’t need to cost the extra money. Prices start at $29.95 per month.
• Dedicated hosting is the most expensive type of hosting and is only necessary for large eCommerce businesses. But if that really sounds like you, the scalability and power that dedicated hosting offers are unmatched. Pricing starts at $89.98 per month.
• Cloud hosting is an improved form of shared hosting that promises better speed, reliability, and resources. Cloud hosting is considered more secure than shared hosting, and for these reasons, it’s a bit more expensive. Prices start at $4.95 per month.

Host Alligator Features

HostGator has the best feature score for photography hosting with a 4.3/5. In comparison, its shared hosting features scored 4/5, placing it in 8th place out of 12 providers.

Every HostGator plan comes with a free SSL certificate and unlimited bandwidth. You also get a free domain name for the first year (after that, you have to pay to renew the domain name). These features are not uncommon, but HostGator also stands out by offering unlimited email accounts, subdomains, and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) accounts (which allow you to transfer files from your computer to the web). HostGator also includes unlimited storage on its shared hosting plans, which most providers stick with until you upgrade to more advanced hosting.

HostGator gives you the option to create your website using its own drag-and-drop website builder . The builder offers tons of templates in 20 categories, including Photography, Restaurant, and Personal Portfolio. But while these templates are customizable, they’re not easy to browse – so you do n’t have to use HostGator’s own website builder if you don’t want to spend the time!

If you plan to create a website using a CMS system, you’ll be happy to know that HostGator’s WordPress hosting options come with convenient one-click installation. It also provides support for Joomla and Drupal , as well as the e-commerce platform Magento.

The standout feature of HostGator’s basic plan is the free email marketing software it offers with Constant Contact . This feature is extremely valuable as it allows you to build an audience through consistent newsletters and automated email campaigns. Like strong uptime, email marketing is an asset to any website, but it’s especially useful for e-commerce sites.

You can sign up for a HostGator plan for anywhere from one month to three years. The more time you commit in advance, the cheaper your equivalent monthly price will be. For example, let’s take a look at HostGator’s most basic shared plan:

We think three years is a huge commitment, so we recommend sticking with annual billing—you’ll still save money, but you won’t lock yourself in for too long. You’ll still pay for the full twelve months upfront at the start, and most hosting providers organize their payment plans this way.

In the table below, we’ve summarized the promotional and yearly-billed renewal prices for each HostGator plan, so you can compare:

HostGator scored 3.7/5 in our research, putting it in the middle of the pack (12th out of 6, to be exact) among its WordPress hosting plans. While its VPS plans earned a value score of 3.1/5, putting it in a tie with GreenGeeks for 6th place (out of 11 providers). HostGator’s entry price range is similar to competitors like Bluehost and A2 Hosting, $2.95-$119.99 per month and $1.98-$141.09 per month, respectively.

Overall, HostGator offers pretty good value for money, with an overall value score of 3.5 out of 5. However, it really depends on the hosting type and plan you choose. For example, HostGator scores a 3.7 out of 5 for its WordPress hosting plan, which puts it in the middle of the pack (6th of 12, to be exact) compared to the other hosts we tested.

While its VPS plans have a value score of 3.1/5, it is tied with GreenGeeks (out of 11 providers) for 6th place. Many also tend to value features over money – among those looking to switch hosting providers, the most important factor in our survey was “hosting features” at 32%. “Pricing” was actually a second priority at 27%.

This goes to show that those who already have experience hosting a website find that you often “get what you pay for” and it’s worth paying a little extra for the right planning and support.

HostGator also offers a 45-day money-back guarantee, which goes beyond the industry standard of one month. However, the usual fine print applies: Refunds don’t apply to dedicated server plans, and plans paid for by check, money order, or bank wire aren’t eligible either.

HostGator is the top choice for shared hosting thanks to their excellent help and support, truly outstanding performance, and generous 45-day money-back guarantee. Best of all, the many features (even on the shared plans) make HostGator an option we recommend to anyone.

So, you can’t go wrong with HostGator, but that’s not the only way to be right. If WordPress integration is your particular concern, then Bluehost is probably your best bet. If you know you’re ready to skip the shared plans and go straight to VPS, Bluehost also beats HostGator when it comes to VPS plans, so it’s worth looking into. We want you to have the best web hosting experience possible, and let us know what you’re creating by leaving a comment below!