HostGator has taken a bite out of the web hosting market since it was created in 2007. It is known as a premium web hosting provider offering quality services in several hosting types. Most consider HostGator as being dependable, fast, and with excellent customer service support, particularly through chat support. It has built a solid reputation in the industry. There are plenty of reasons to love this company.
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What are the pros and cons of HostGator?
HostGator has a lot going for it as far as advantages, but there are some disadvantages of using this web hosting service as well. Below is a list of pros and cons.
Pros:
- Offers .com, .net, .org, .site, .info and many more
- Also sells budget-friendly shared hosting plans
- Free domain name registration with any hosting plan
- Free migration of both the site and control panels
- “Gator” Site Builder service lets you build a website in minutes
- Stable uptime of 99.93 percent
- User-friendly
- Good customer support
- 45-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- Costs extra for things like malware security, Gmail, and real backups
- Low introductory rate and not clearly state that you must pay for an entire three-year contract to get that rate. Otherwise, you pay a much higher price
Who is HostGator best for?
HostGator is very beginner-friendly, from their budget pricing to their simple-to-navigate backend. Gator, the site builder available from HostGator, has drag-and-drop functionality to make it simple to build a new site.
HostGator is great for small businesses, bloggers, or those trying their hand at being a webmaster. That is because the system has tons of tutorials, navigation, and many walk-through instructions to get you through confusing systems like data centers and DNS. You can set up a site easily with HostGator without hiring others to design or manage it.
However, HostGator is big on signing onto a commitment to those who use it should be serious about keeping up their website for several years to get the most out of it.
What are the top features?
The number and type of features you get depends on the plan you purchase. The basic shared hosting plan includes unmetered bandwidth, free domain registration, and a free SSL certificate. A free website cPanel website transfer, one-click WordPress installs. However, only one site is allowed on this plan.
The Baby plan under shared hosting allows multiple websites. The business plan has the same features but also provides a free dedicated IP address and free SEO (search optimization tools) tools. Users get the benefits of a free upgrade to a positive SSL.
WordPress hosting has many additional features included advanced security and turbo speeds. Several plans are available under WordPress hosting.
Plans also include a website builder option that allows you to design and build a website to suit your needs. This includes templates and easy-to-publish tools, 24/7 support, free domain name, website analytics, and free hosting.
The Premium plan has all the same features as starter plans but those customers also receive priority support. E-Commerce plans have all the features available in the premium plan with e-Commerce functions.
What hosting types can users expect?
HostGator offers several types of hosting types including:
Cloud
Cloud hosting plans are a new offering that is great for sites with highs and lows in traffic. That would include online stores that are constantly selling online.
Shared
This is a hosting plan you share with others to cut costs. It works well for small, simple sites that don’t have a lot of traffic. This is a good choice for someone just getting into blogging or who wants an online site for their brick-and-more operation or other service business.
VPS (Virtual Private Server)
VPS plans are another good choice for standard websites, especially those in a shared hosting plan who want an upgrade. The VPS hosting service gives you the room and privacy of a dedicated server without the high price.
Dedicated hosting
This option is for those who have large websites or online stories with a lot of traffic. Those who get a dedicated hosting service need additional security and a lot of customization.
What is the performance and reliability like for HostGator?
The reliability of HostGator meets industry standards but isn’t as good as other web hosting companies. It isn’t bad either at 99.93 percent uptime. They have an uptime guarantee that will give you a month of credit to your account if they ever drop below 99.90 percent so you have a safe bet they are going to run well.
It is up to you to contact HostGator with a support ticket to get a credit. It has to be submitted within 30 days of the event.
Looking at each month for the past year, their uptimes are remarkably good with most at 99.99 percent. It was 100 percent in December of 2020.
HostGator has an excellent load time of 734 ms that puts it in the professional category. Granted, it isn’t the top time out there but it is solid and stable. HostGator has made substantial improvements to its load times which improves your site visitor’s experience.
One positive thing about HostGator speed. It will automatically move your site to another working site if one serving isn’t performing as it should. That means your site shouldn’t ever lose any significant downtime.
The guarantee doesn’t include planned maintenance or unexpected events like a hack.
What kind of security is in place?
Backup and security are important to website owners. HostGator has many features to keep your site safe from hackers and other problems. That is especially true for HostGator Cloud This includes:
Data mirroring where your site is replicated across three different servers to keep it available. The only negative is it is extra to get daily automatic backups and one-click restores.
HostGator servers are protected against denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and it has rules and settings that keep all data and sites safe. Customers can buy SiteLock to add to their hosting account. This adds vulnerability scans, bot blocking, and malware scans.
The navigation on HostGator is simple because you manage everything from the cPanel. This is where you set up your domain email accounts and get a view of statistics about your site within your dashboard.
It will show you the bandwidth your site is using on specific dates, the number of visitors, page load speed, and uptime.
What’s the cost of HostGator?
The lowest cost plan is the basic plan for $4.95 a month. This includes hosting one domain, two CPU cores, 2 GB of RAM, unmetered bandwidth, storage, and unlimited subdomains.
The next plan, called the “Baby Cloud Plan” is $6.57 a month has the same features but adds hosting for unlimited domains. It also includes 4 GB of RAM, unlimited parked domains, and four CPU cores.
The Business Cloud plan is $9.95 a month and includes a dedicated IP address, 6 GB of RAM, and six CPU cores.
However, these lower prices come with a catch. You must sign up for a 36-month hosting package to get them. Prices go up considerably if you choose a shorter term. For instance, the basic plan is $12.95 a month with a shorter plan. The Baby Cloud is $13.95 monthly and the Business Cloud plan is $19.95 monthly.
Prices also will go up when you renew.
One of the important things to know about all of HostGator’s plans is that disk space and bandwidth are unmetered in all of its three primary plans. The backup function and free SSL also come with all three plans, so you will have plenty of safety and security no matter which of the plans you choose.
What can users expect in terms of customer support?
All customers with HostGator get the same excellent customer support in live chat, self-help, and phone support.
Live chat and phone support are there all the time, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You are connected to a specialist within seconds of asking a question.
Self-help comes from the knowledge base content at HostGator. This is great for getting answers to common questions and taking care of some simpler struggles in getting to know the system.
FAQs
What is the drag-and-drop editor?
It is an easy-to-use way to build a website without needing to know how to code. You can simply move elements from your computer to sections on HostGator’s website building platform and it inserts it. Then, you can continue editing the content as you need to make it perfect.
Is signup easy?
Yes, signup is easy on HostGator. All you need to get started is your name, email and to create a password. It is that simple. Once you do that, you will be guided to the website builder so you can get started on your website.
Will HostGator work if I wanted to add a blog?
Yes, HostGator has designs for blog pages or you can add a blog later with a few clicks. You can have a blog post up in just a few minutes. Another option is to add a blog later. That can also be done with just a few clicks without dramatically changing your website’s format.
Can I have a store on HostGator?
Yes, HostGator has plans for e-commerce stores. It allows you to have a store with any site as long as you upgrade to an e-commerce-based plan. The plan allows you to add unlimited products and services. You can always start out with a basic plan and add a store later too by upgrading to an e-commerce plan.
How can I be sure my website will show up in searches with HostGator?
HostGator has built-in tools to optimize SEO (search engine optimization) for your site, so you can truly push your site into the search engine’s view. SEO practices are the best way to ensure your site gets seen. HostGator’s web builder also has tools to hide your site if you are making significant changes.
Will my site show up well on all devices?
HostGator’s website hosting is responsive, meaning your site will be user-friendly on all devices from computers, to tablets to smartphones. It will look beautiful on all of them as well.
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