HostGator is a solid web hosting service with multiple hosting options to cater to anyone from beginners to experts. Besides being one of the oldest hosting providers, HostGator is arguably the biggest hosting provider in the industry as it hosts over 10 million domains.
As you would expect, HostGator offers decent features, including unlimited storage, one free domain for one year, state-of-the-art data centers, and a user-friendly panel with a point of offering what fits your needs.
In addition, their hosting flexibility and excellence in hosting aspects make them a perfect choice for many website owners.
But, is it perfect for you?
HostGator features a lot of beginner-friendly tools that may appeal to anyone building a website for the first time.
If you are in the market for a web hosting provider and are considering HostGator, this review will discuss everything about this host to help you make an informed decision. Read on to discover more!
HostGator Overview
What is HostGator? What makes them stand out?
HostGator is one of the biggest web hosting companies founded in 2002 by Brend Oxley, then at Florida Atlantic University.
Since its inception, the company has grown enormously, thanks to its great shared hosting, reliable web hosting solutions, and superb customer service.
As of now, approximately 2 million users trust HostGator for their hosting needs.
Notably, HostGator was acquired by Endurance International Group (EIG) in 2012, and it is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
While HostGator offers many of the same things as its rivals, they are specific with their host offerings.
Theyallow users to really personalize what they want in their hosting package. Probably that’s why they have a massive global customer base.
Another interesting thing about HostGator is that you can start your website at a shoestring budget and still reap all its benefits.
HostGator Features
HostGator is one of the most trusted and recognized web hosts across the globe. Although it supplies other decent hosting plans, it’s famous for its shared hosting service.
Beginners can build their new sites using the in-house Gator builder, a fully hosted drag-and-drop website builder. For those at the other end of the spectrum, HostGator support staff will help you move your site over to their service at no cost.
Whether you’re a pro or just starting out, here are some things you might like about HostGator.
Excellent uptime
Honestly, not all hosting providers are bold enough to include an uptime guarantee in their hosting plans. The good news is that HostGator guarantees an uptime of 99.99%. So if they host your website, you can rest assured that visitors will find your site.
Their reliable uptime will cover most of your needs, including ensuring your site is accessible to your audience at all times and ranks pretty well on search engines. It also promised a good online reputation.
Another exciting part about HostGator’s uptime guarantee is that you will get back one month of credit if you experience downtime.
Decent page loading speeds
Page loading speed is arguably the most important website performance indicator, and, of course, everyone wants their website to load as fast as possible. A faster website will not only give you extra SEO points but also will provide a better user experience.
So, what about HostGator’s server speed? HostGator delivers, on average, a page loading time of 22ms – 1.03 seconds, with many customers experiencing a speed of about 730 ms. Overall, they have satisfying page loading speeds.
All in all, your page can load a bit slower, depending on a few factors like distance from the servers.
1-click WordPress installs
Like other most famous hosting providers, HostGator makes it easy to install the world’s largest CMS. It offers a 1-click WordPress installation which even lets you pick essential plugins and templates during setup.
The one-click installations or transfers plus an assortment of customization options make it easy for you to start and manage your WordPress website.
Interestingly, HostGator provides WordPress hosting plans, where each plan includes optimized cloud architecture, CDNs, low-density servers, and multiple caching layers.
These technologies ultimately help your HostGator-hosted WordPress site load up to 2.5 times faster than if it were hosted by competitors.
Stellar customer support
HostGator takes customer support seriously and indeed offers one of the best around-the-clock customer services in the industry. You can reach out to the support team 24/7/365 using the live chat feature, phone, or ticket-based email support.
To cater to every customer, they also offer social media support on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.
The company also provides an extensive knowledge base loaded with FAQs, helpful articles, and even video tutorials to walk you through some of the controls.
Unmetered Bandwidth
Looking for a hosting provider that doesn’t measure bandwidth? HostGator offers an unmetered bandwidth policy in all its hosting plans, meaning they don’t limit the traffic your site can get.
So, what is exactly unmetered bandwidth?
Well, unmetered bandwidth means that you can use your set bandwidth as much as you would like without necessarily paying more for the volume of traffic that comes to your site.
In other words, HostGator allows you to pay your preferred hosting plan based on the speed rather than the volume of traffic you get – the maximum server speed is usually limited, but the amount of data you transfer is not. (bandwidth may be capped in extreme situations).
Unmetered bandwidth can be very beneficial if your website gets heavy traffic or spikes in usage. It is also important if you expect to scale up for future growth.
Free SSL certificate and advanced security features
HostGator is at the forefront to ensure that your account and website are secure. In this regard, they offer a free SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate, which is one of the most essential security features you need for your website.
You can get a shared or private free SSL, which immensely depends on the plan you’re purchasing.
SSL certification, which is easily noticeable from the URL, ensures that all data exchanged by the server and your website visitor is encrypted.
The guaranteed encryption ensures that people with ill motives cannot intercept or read the information sent back and forth between your site and the user’s device.
Important: If you’re building a business website where visitors will be sharing personal information like credit card numbers, make sure to invest in a premium SSL certificate.
Besides the SSL certificate, HostGator offers Sitelock monitoring capabilities for your site. This service runs daily, checking for any potential hacks or site breaches, and notifies you immediately threats are found. If you go ahead to purchase the email plans, you will get Spam Assassin, which prevents spam from hitting your inbox.
Free domain
HostGator knows how to welcome their costumes. Much like in Bluehost, HostGator customers receive a free domain for a year.
Considering that a domain name is one of the MOST important things you need to create a website, HostGator is an inexpensive option.
45-day money-back guarantee
HostGator is so confident in their service that they offer a generous refund policy. Unlike the industry average 30-day refund policy, they offer a 45 days money-back guarantee.
This means you can use their service for over one full month and still be eligible for a refund should an issue pop up within 15 days of the second month of joining.
Notably, this policy only applies to hosting services, not any other package or plan. For example, if your hosting plan included a free domain, HostGator will also deduct $15.00 for the domain from the refund amount.
HostGator is beginner-friendly
It is worth noting that this hosting provider is tailor-made for beginners and pros alike. You will find tons of tutorials and articles to help you navigate the complicated Domain Name System and data centers.
Their website builder tool is also easy to use, which makes the entire process simple.
If you are just beginning and had your website hosted elsewhere, their experts will help you transfer your website from the previous host for free.
HostGator hosting plans and features
HostGator is a subsidiary of EIG and offers a wide range of hosting solutions. Although they are synonymous with shared WordPress hosting, which is also the starting point of many, here are the plans they offer.
- Shared hosting: Plans under this offer are meant for small businesses and blogs that do not anticipate heavy traffic. As the name suggests, your websites will be hosted on the same server as other websites, just like you shared a room in college. HostGator’s shared hosting plans come in three levels: Hatching, Baby, and Business. The main difference is the number of websites you can host; they all have unlimited storage and unmetered bandwidth.
- WordPress hosting: Essentially, this is an optimized shared hosting plan for WordPress websites. The plan is not the cheapest for WordPress sites. You may want to look at alternatives like SiteGround and Bluehost.
- VPS (virtuals Private Server) hosting: This is an advanced plan where your website gets virtual dedicated resources in a shared server. It is ideal for businesses that need a specific configuration.
- Dedicated hosting: As the name suggests, you get a dedicated server, meaning you won’t share its resources. This plan is ideal for businesses or blogs that get massive traffic.
- Cloud hosting: This is a hosting plan where your website is hosted in a network of servers. Cloud hosting is a great choice if you want faster loading speeds.
Conclusion
Now that you have read HostGator’s review, you are probably thinking of it. They offer a variety of hosting plans that fit all budgets and are already trusted by over 2 million users. Overall, it is a great hosting service that anyone may consider.