Hostgator - How Do You Know if You Need a Business Hosting or Hatchling One
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HostGator was founded in Florida in 2002. Past 2012 their success had exploded. EIG (Endurance International Group)picked on that and acquired them for $225 million.
EIG is a massive corporation that owns brands like Bluehost, Constant Contact, iPage and HostGator. Existence 100% honest, I am normally not too excited to examination their products, they all seem to follow a discouraging design:
- Overpriced
- Disappointing support
- Missing features
- Aggressive marketing
- Hidden fees and expensive add-ons
However, I am excited to review HostGator as their online reputation seems meliorate than sister company iPage and their prices don't seem as well bad. I could not expect to get my hands on HostGator.
Let's check out what HostGator has to offer and when (and when non) to use it. For a quick overview, check out HostGator's video-review below:
What Products Does HostGator Offer?
Nearly everything hosting related, that'southward why their itemize can be disruptive at times.
- Domain names can exist purchased at HostGator, although they aren't a leading domain name registrar. For the outset yr a .com domain costs $12.95, simply upon renewal you lot'll be charged $17.99 – there are indeed cheaper options like Namecheap.
- Their shared hosting plans are meant for small-scale and medium projects that don't get hundreds of thousands of visitors per month. This type of service hosts different clients (websites) nether the same server, like to living in a shared house. Most likely the 1 you should get, at to the lowest degree to kickoff with. Their prices go from $eight.95 to $sixteen.95.
- WordPress hosting: For those looking for a shared hosting that'south optimized for WordPress. These go from $12.95 for one site, all the style upwardly to $81.95 per calendar month. Personally, I recollect at that place are better alternatives for WordPress users (due east.chiliad. SiteGround). There are certainly cheaper WordPress hosting options.
- VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. You can think of this as a shared hosting server that has been divided into smaller sub-servers using a specific software configuration. These are great for smaller and medium sites that need a item server configuration (east.chiliad. demand to utilise a different programming language). VPS plans at HostGator starting time at $80 per month.
- If your project gets tens of thousands of visitors per month or needs a powerful server, you'd probably be improve off with a dedicated server. Y'all'll have your own server and won't share its resources with anyone else. At HostGator you can get your own dedicated server starting at around $190 per month.
- You lot can think of cloud hosting equally a network of connected servers, meaning your website won't only be hosted on ane server but several. Resource (due east.g. more retentivity or CPU) tin can exist added or removed co-ordinate to your needs. At HostGator cloud hosting starts (too inexpensive?) at $x.95 a month.
- On meridian of these, they also offering a website builder called Gator for users looking to create their own website easily – no technical cognition required. Although it's not a bad production, it's still under development and other site builders offering more than at like prices.
This HostGator review focuses on their shared hosting plans, so from at present on I'll be referring to those.
HostGator Pricing: What Practice Their Shared Plans Include?
The starting time affair to notice almost HostGator pricing is that they come up with big discounts for the beginning term. A complimentary domain proper noun is likewise included in the first yr (for yearly or longer plans) Be aware that the costs at renewal are much higher. I always mention both prices so y'all don't go any nasty surprises.
| Hatchling | Babe | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allowed sites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Support | 24 hours | 24 hours | 24 hours |
| Max. number of Inodes (similar to number of files) | 200,000 inodes | 200,000 inodes | 200,000 inodes |
| Storage | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Database | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Backup * | Weekly (simply 1 available) | Weekly (only i available) | Weekly (just 1 available) |
| Backup restore cost | $25 per restoration | $25 per restoration | $25 per restoration |
| Defended IP | No | No | Yes |
| Beginning-term prices for i-yr deals | $3.95 a month | $5.00 a calendar month | $7.25 a month |
| Renewal price for 1-year deals | $viii.95 a month | $11.95 a calendar month | $xvi.95 a month |
* If your inodes count goes over 100,000, your account won't be backed up. They only keep 1 daily, 1 weekly and i monthly backup.
If y'all go for longer deals (e.g. 36 months), the first term prices drop even further. Only look a high increment when the renewal time comes effectually.
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The Hatchling Programme is interesting for those who have only 1 website, as even if its storage is unlimited you lot can only have 1 domain name (website) per hosting plan.
With the Babe package, y'all can host unlimited websites. And the Business tier is recommended for those looking to have a dedicated IP accost.
Be aware that HostGator'southward purchase procedure always tries to sign y'all up for the longer deals (eastward.g. 36 months), and pushes you to get extra add-ons (east.g. SiteLock) that you may not need.
Sadly, their default backup features are nearly not-existent, they only keep a 1 weekly, daily and monthly copy of your site. If that wasn't bad enough, they'll besides charge yous $25 extra each time y'all enquire them to restore from 1 of their backups – I see these as an unacceptable hidden fee. However, they offer an extra fill-in improver at effectually $25 actress per yr – sneaky.
HostGator Pros & Cons
Let me apace tell you what I think are the most important advantages and disadvantages of HostGator shared hosting:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
|
When to Apply HostGator Hosting?
HostGator'south shared hosting is for those looking for a provider that doesn't measure the bandwidth and is generous with the storage.
Information technology'southward also a bang-up fit if y'all are looking to use other programming languages to PHP. Using Perl, Python and Ruby On Rails is allowed.
Personally, I think HostGator offers the best EIG hosting service I've tried. Notwithstanding, I practice retrieve there are ameliorate alternatives you could be using at similar prices (e.g. SiteGround or DreamHost).
When Not to Use HostGator?
Despite having an easy-to-use interface, I'1000 afraid it's not suitable for larger projects. Neither for hosting-dependant projects similar online stores nor avid bloggers.
Their low uptime levels and slowish speed can punish your SEO efforts and back up tin can be, at times, frustrating. But for me, the virtually worrying fact is that they don't include a backup system – sorry, but one weekly backup does not cut it for most.
HostGator Shared Hosting Details
Permit's at present explore HostGator'south specifications in detail:
| criterion | rating | comments |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Every bit customary with EIG products, their registration procedure is disruptive and packed with expensive add-ons yous most likely don't need. Their backend is modern-looking and intuitive. If you've used a cPanel hosting service earlier, y'all'll find HostGator'south organisation familiar. At that place are many ads for their add-ons and programme upsells. Be enlightened that if you cancel your account, it will have an immediate effect and your hosting package (and website) will exist gone even if you accept some months left on your contract. | |
| Domain Names | HostGator includes the domain proper name free only the commencement year. A .com domain name costs $12.95 the kickoff year and a whopping $17.99 subsequently the renewal date. You are allowed 1 domain name (i website) with the Hatchling plan, and unlimited domain names with the Infant and Business plan. Subdomains are unlimited with whatever of the 3 plans. | |
| Email Rating | All of HostGator's plans come with unlimited email accounts and e-mail storage. * Withal, it's not suitable for sending majority emails as you lot'll be restricted to 500 emails per hour. | |
| Databases | You lot can take as many databases equally you need. The size of your databases isn't limited either. * | |
| Applications | You'll be able to install the well-nigh pop content management systems like WordPress, Magento, Drupal or Joomla with their piece of cake-to-use installer. | |
| Webspace Limit | The storage is another aspect that HostGator doesn't limit. Even so, exist enlightened that y'all can't just store anything, y'all are only allowed web files, emails and user-generated content. For example, forget about using HostGator every bit your cloud storage for your thousands of Hard disk drive holiday pics. * | |
| Monthly Data Transfer Limit | Bandwidth isn't express either. | |
| FTP Accounts and Secure FTP | Unlimited FTP accounts are immune, FTPS (secure) is also possible. Having SSH access is possible also. | |
| Server Location | HostGator has all its information centers in the US: Texas and Utah. This isn't ideal for projects with a not-US audience. | |
| Security Features | HostGator has a custom firewall to protect you lot from hacker attacks (e.g. DDoS). But they don't disembalm too much near what they do, I gauge they don't want to give it away. They provide SSL certificates for gratis and SSH access. If you want extra security, an external paid app (SiteLock), tin be added. This tool volition browse and monitor your files to find security issues. | |
| Server Speed | At HostGator, they apply PHP 7, it'southward a faster solution than the old and clunky PHP five, simply having PHP eight wold exist meliorate. They as well have SSD drives for their shared hosting. However, HostGator's shared hosting doesn't seem to apply HTTP/2 or a custom caching system – all very important to meliorate speed. As y'all tin come across below, the speed results in our tests were pretty disappointing. | |
| Uptime | Afterward months of monitoring their uptime, I recollect HostGator offers reliable uptime. They have averaged an uptime of 99.99% during the last 12 months. | |
| Backups | HostGator will backup your site one time a calendar week, but simply if your account is less than xx GB (and 100,000 inodes). Sadly, they only proceed i backup – crazy. Near other providers offering a smarter arroyo to backups. With HostGator, yous'll need to purchase a 3rd-party solution (CodeGuard based). Via cPanel you tin create and download your own backup, just this solution is cluncky. | |
| CDN | HostGator doesn't provide a CDN. All the same, you tin can connect an external solution like Couldflare. | |
| Server Features | With their server, you'll exist allowed to use PHP seven.1, seven.ii and 7.three, and have MySQL databases. Perl, Blood-red On Rail and Python are immune too. Notwithstanding, some other features like staging areas or server-side caching systems are missing. More advanced features like staging areas or Git-prepare servers aren't bachelor. Windows hosting plans are likewise available. | |
| Refunds and Guarantees | HostGator comes with a 45-mean solar day money dorsum policy. Be aware that this volition only utilize for hosting services, you won't get your money back for domain names. They likewise ensure that your uptime won't be lower than 99.9% and if it goes beneath, you'll be compensated. | |
| Assistance and Back up | Support is bachelor 24h by live conversation, email and phone. In my experience, the waiting times were long and they didn't always solve my effect/questions – not even sales questions were solved at times. | |
| Overall Rating | iii.9/5 | HostGator comes with almost no limitations and their speed is good. On summit of that, they have an intuitive organisation. Nevertheless, their low uptime results, iffy back up, lack of backups and constant upsell pitches brand information technology not a top pick. |
* Fifty-fifty if HostGator doesn't have specific limitations (e.thousand. for storage), all your combined files from your apps, emails and databases should be under 250,000 files (inodes).
HostGator Functioning Tests
In order to know if HostGator's performance is proficient, I've done a couple of interesting tests: speed and uptime.
Permit'due south check the results out.
HostGator Speed Test
Everyone wants (or should desire) their website to load as fast as possible, and a reliable hosting provider is crucial for this. A faster website will provide amend user experiences and give you lot extra SEO points.
HostGator turned out to be OKish in my tests. I replicated the same test webpage for several providers so measured their speed using 3 different tools and different worldwide locations.
| Provider | GTmetrix | Pingdom | Webpage test | PageSpeed Insights | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SiteGround | 0.71 | 0.71 | i.78 | two.94 | 1.54 |
| GreenGeeks | 0.81 | 1.49 | i.79 | 2.2 | 1.56 |
| Namecheap | 0.99 | 1.40 | 1.92 | two.08 | 1.6 |
| Hostinger | 0.97 | 2.07 | ane.77 | 1.62 | 1.61 |
| WP Engine | ane | 1.99 | one.46 | 2.2 | one.65 |
| Cloudways | 0.80 | one.39 | i.89 | 2.84 | i.73 |
| Kinsta | 0.78 | 2.18 | 2.17 | 1.98 | ane.77 |
| DreamHost | 1.sixteen | one.72 | 2.56 | 1.92 | i.84 |
| GoDaddy | 1.14 | 2.27 | 2.23 | two.i | i.94 |
| IONOS | 1.21 | ii.08 | one.74 | 2.78 | 1.95 |
| A2 Hosting | 0.96 | ane.40 | 3.78 | 1.ix | 2.01 |
| InMotion | 2.02 | two.86 | 2.61 | 3.52 | 2.75 |
| iPage | 1.76 | two.82 | 2.73 | 3.74 | 2.76 |
| HostGator | 2.four | 5.21 | 1.87 | 1.65 | 2.78 |
| Bluehost | 1.74 | 4.5 | 2.42 | 2.82 | 2.87 |
Results in seconds 2021
As you tin see, HostGator didn't practice pretty well, it boilerplate a loading fourth dimension of 2.78 seconds when the exam winner (SiteGround) loaded in i.54 seconds.
Is HostGator's Uptime Good?
Hosting providers take some service interruptions, for case, when they demand to restart the servers to complete an update.
If those service interruptions are not often and short, no trouble. Just, if your hosting provider is constantly downward and they take forever to be back up, you will be negatively affected – bad user experiences mean lower conversion rates and downtime also disappoints search engines.
Your uptime should be 99.95% or higher. In other words, your hosting provider should be downward less than 0.05% of the time – effectually four hours per year.
| Provider | 2019 Uptime | 2020 Uptime | 2021 Uptime | Starts at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinsta | No data | 100% | 100% | $25/month |
| Cloudways | No data | 100% | 100% | $x/month |
| SiteGround | 99.98% | 99.97% | 100% | $14.99/month |
| Namecheap | No data | No data | 100% | $2.twoscore/month |
| WP Engine | No data | 99.99% | 99.99% | $25/month |
| Bluehost | 99.98% | 99.96% | 99.99% | $9.99/calendar month |
| HostGator | 99.94% | 99.91% | 99.99% | $eight.95/month |
| A2 Hosting | 99.93% | 99.99% | 99.98% | $eight.99/month |
| GreenGeeks | No information | 99.98% | 99.98% | $10.95/month |
| DreamHost | 100% | 99.99% | 99.96% | $6.99/calendar month |
| GoDaddy | 99.97% | 99.9% | 99.96% | $8.99/calendar month |
| InMotion | 99.97% | 99.73% | 99.95% | $17.99/month |
| IONOS – Uptime examination 2 months | No data | No data | 99.93% | $4/month |
| Hostinger | 99.62% | 99.48% | 99.92% | $5.99/calendar month |
| iPage | 99.66% | 98.45% | 99.85% | $8.99/month |
To monitor uptime I use StatusCake, a tool that checks each website every v minutes.
HostGator's uptime, as you tin come across in the tabular array to a higher place, was impressive and had good results.
HostGator Review: Do I Recommend Information technology?
Your website volition exist prophylactic being hosted at HostGator, their uptime is good, simply the speed should be better. Good plenty if yous aren't hosting a super serious projection with them. If you do have a more professional project, I'd encourage you to check out SiteGround, GreenGeeks and DreamHost.
Fifty-fifty if HostGator restricts the number of files that you lot can accept, they are pretty generous with their storage, electronic mail, bandwidth and database limitations. Probably a adept option for those valuing quantity over quality.
Just, and this i is big, be enlightened that their backup features are extremely poor, in my opinion, as bad as it gets. Personally, having a proper fill-in system has saved me hours of work and loads of money. Their $25 extra fee for each fill-in restore that you asking makes me very angry.
Another downside is their support. At times, I had to wait over thirty minutes to be connected with a back up agent and I ever have the feeling they merely half-read my questions.
However, y'all tin can try HostGator 45 days for free and run into for yourself. Who knows, perhaps is a great option for you lot.
HostGator Alternatives
Past now you've probably realized that HostGator isn't my favorite provider. Nevertheless, I think their functioning isn't too bad – peculiarly their speed. But permit me proper noun several alternatives yous could use for several scenarios:
- A2 Hosting or DreamHost provide reliable, low cost web hosting.
- The best support is offered by DreamHost, SiteGround and InMotion.
- GreenGeeks and SiteGround performed good in my tests.
- One of my favorite shared hosting providers for WordPress is SiteGround. They just accept more than features than the rest: staging, built-in caching organisation and avant-garde speed optimization options.
But, if you yet want to use HostGator, retrieve that yous tin can try HostGator for complimentary for 45 days.
Note: If you lot are looking to see how HostGator measures upwardly against the other EIG hosting brands, read our Bluehost vs HostGator comparison or our complete Bluehost review.
Review Updates
17 Sep 2021: Performance and full general update. New rating.
5 February 2021: Discount cupon added
9 Oct 2020: General update – worse uptime and speed than in 2019
2 Jul 2019: First review
Most Josep Garcia, M.A. Multimedia Applications (UOC)
Hi there, I am Josep Garcia. Since 2014 I've been testing and writing about website builders and hosting services, and I share all my learnings at Tooltester.com. I hope you enjoyed this article, merely of course, if you have any questions, please get out me a annotate below.
Source: https://www.tooltester.com/en/hosting/hostgator-review/
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