If their 2012 collision course with the news is any indication, HostGator is one of the best companies in the world when it comes to web hosting. Every single HostGator review will probably confirm that. The fact is that nowadays there are very few services that can hold up to HostGator in terms of quality, professionalism, and security.
Nothing says diversity like HostGator’s web hosting line-up. They offer a wide range of hosting options from budget-friendly shared servers to fully custom dedicated servers. They have business options on multiple levels that include SSL certificates and private IP addresses. This is perfect for eCommerce sites. We’re going to discuss the main features and services in detail in this HostGator review. We will also provide several recommendations that are relevant to HostGator.
HostGator Overview
HostGator was founded in October 2002 from the Florida dorm room of Brent Oxley. Their services include shared web hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS, reseller accounts, and dedicated servers. Here is a little bit about each of these services:
- Web hosting plans are small, unmetered web hosting accounts for smaller sites.
- Cloud hosting plans are twice as fast with four times the resources than their regular shared hosting.
- WordPress hosting plans reduce the complexities of normal web hosting for those that just want to focus on their WordPress site.
- Reseller hosting plans are for aspiring hosting agencies and designers that wish to offer hosting to their own customers.
- VPS hosting plans are for small to medium enterprises that need more control over their web presence.
- Dedicated Server hosting plans are perfect for those who have a high-traffic enterprise website or for agencies that need the strength and customization of a more robust, private server.
In 2012, disaster struck the servers of HostGator as they got a synchronized DDoS attack from hacking group UGNazi. It seemed like the attack had been planned months in advance, going to the point when the whole team popularized #TheHolocaust on several social media websites. However, HostGator was only scratched by the attack. Managing to aptly weather the storm, HostGator reviews and news articles say they brought back their servers within 4 hours.
Pricing Information
HostGator usually has some sort of sale going on for their hosting, specifically their shared hosting. You must pay for a full year in order to get this introductory price. After that promotional period, the price increases to their regular price, from 40-60% more than the first price.
Another thing to note is that the dedicated servers have the choice of Linux or Windows operating systems. HostGator is one of the very few hosting companies that do not charge a higher rate for their Windows Servers. Still, the plan that stands out when you talk about HostGator is their shared business package. Simply put, there’s no better offer for this service than what HostGator is offering its customers.
Package Name |
Dedicated to | Price | Disk Space | Bandwidth | Websites |
Hosting Type |
Hatchling – Shared |
Small Blogs/Startups | $3.95/mo | Unmetered | Unmetered | 1 |
cPanel |
Business – Shared |
Growing Sites with eCommerce | $5.95/mo | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unlimited |
cPanel |
Starter – WordPress |
Small-Medium Blog | $5.95/mo | 50GB | 25,000 Monthly Visitors | 1 | WordPress Cloud |
Business – WordPress | Medium-Large Blog | $9.95/mo | Unlimited | 300,000 Monthly Visitors | 3 |
WordPress Cloud |
Aluminum – Reseller |
Small Agencies | $19.95/mo | 60GB | 600GB | Unlimited | cPanel/WHM |
Silver – Reseller | Small Agencies | $24.95/mo | 140GB | 1400GB | Unlimited |
cPanel/WHM |
Snappy 2000 – VPS |
Medium-Large Enterprise Sites | $19.95/mo | 120GB | 1.5TB | Unlimited | Custom |
Snappy 8000 – VPS | Medium-Large Enterprise Sites | $39.95/mo | 240GB | 3TB | Unlimited |
Custom |
Dedicated Servers |
Enterprise/Agency High-Traffic Sites | $79.00-$128.99/mo | 0.5TB-1TB (RAID-1) | 10TB-25TB | Unlimited |
Custom |
HostGator also have their servers equipped with Virtuozzo. What this is, is a control panel which functions as a separate settings manager for the server, not the websites that are based on it.
Just like all companies in the web hosting domain, HostGator do offer a money back guarantee. Most noteworthy, for new customers, this guarantee extends to up to 45 days. This is about half of what the best companies give you, but still considerably more than what most web hosting providers offer.
Security & Risk
If the incident in 2012 is any indication, HostGator should be the master of web hosting security. And they are! Every single HostGator review says so: they’re the absolute best at what they do! For their dedicated is any indication, HostGator should be the master of web hosting security. And they are! Every single HostGator review says so: they’re the absolute best at what they do! For their dedicated servers, they offer fully redundant servers with two backup generators and multiple layers of security on their network. Their shared, cloud and WordPress web hosting does have some of this protection, however, it his scaled down a bit.
There are not as many levels of security, but they do provide optimized security for their WordPress clients. For anti-spam measures, HostGator includes Spam Assassin. For other threats, HostGator also offer a dedicated IP in their Business and Baby plans (the latter will cost you 2 extra dollars per month). The shared SSL is also a great way to secure your data, although Baby and Business packages both offer private SSLs.
Usability & User Friendliness
HostGator in incredibly user-friendly. They offer a drag-and-drop site builder for those do-it-yourselfers that want a custom look for themselves. For those that wish to use pre-made scripts, content management systems (CMS), and other web applications there are 52 free one-click installation apps including WordPress.
In addition to that, they provide free migration for cPanel websites. This includes the website, domain, MySQL databases, and script transfers that come with moving a site to a new host.
The standard Control Panel for HostGator websites is the Cpanel version 11. For this panel, you have multiple themes you can choose from. On the VPS plans and most of the other Linux packages, you can also get WHM. However, if you don’t want Cpanel or WHM and would prefer your own control panel HostGator allows you to do that.
Customer Support & Additional Info
They have 24/7 customer support that can be reached by phone, live chat, and an email ticket system. HostGator also offers a knowledge base with more than 500 tutorial videos and 680+ help articles.
In addition, they have a 45-day money back guarantee and they offer online advertising credits with the top search engines. New customers receive a voucher for $100 Google AdWords credit and $100 for Bing/Yahoo. HostGator also guarantees a 99.99% uptime, which is comforting.
HostGator Overall Rating
Now that we have discussed all the major features, here are some we wanted to highlight again for you.
What we like:
- $200 Ad Credits – Free advertising money is always a plus.
- Outstanding Uptime Guarantee – The industry standard is a safe 99.9% which lets them get away with quite a lot of outages. HostGator doesn’t allow for that to happen.
What we don’t like:
- Huge Price Jump – Not as much as some other companies, but it would be nice to have a lower standard rate.
Rating
Web Hosting Plans & Prices: 5/5
Security & Risk: 4/5
Usability: 5/5
Customer Support: 4/5
HostGator Top Alternatives
Still looking? Check these out.
- Bluehost – Bluehost provides a similar price and hosting plan structure to HostGator. Their uptime guarantee is not nearly as confident though.
- TMDHosting – TMDHosting is an amazingly fast hosting company that offers shared, cloud, VPS, and Bare-metal servers at reasonable, flat-rate prices.
- GoDaddy – Another top name in the industry, GoDaddy has similar offerings as Bluehost and HostGator. They are also #1 in domain registration.
Our Verdict
HostGator is an amazing company that offers top-of-the-line services. However, the responsible customer will first look at HostGator reviews – seeing as most of them are positive, you should really be in for a treat. Based on our extensive research, we approve of HostGator and highly recommend them for every kind of hosting need. They also have the widest variety of hosting available and their shared plans are all unmetered.
Have any thoughts or comments regarding this HostGator review? We would love to hear from you! Please share in the comment section below!
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