HostGator Review: How Dependable Is This Web Hosting Provider?

There are presently 269 web hosting service providers in the world. That’s a lot to choose from. Remember that a web host will be the one to house, power up, and keep your website running 24/7. Hence, you must give due consideration in choosing the best web hosting provider. While most of them will have quite similar offerings, some will have an edge over others.

The top web hosting companies are distinguished by the service they provide including guaranteed uptime, customer support, scalability, and reliability, among others. One such company that’s always mentioned among the cream of the crop is HostGator. We’ll examine its features and highlights and determine how dependable this web hosting provider is.

What is HostGator?

HostGator was launched in 2002 and is based in Texas, USA. Since then, it has hosted more than 2.5 million websites from all over the world. Its platform offers WordPress site hosting as well as shared hosting, virtual private servers (VPS), and dedicated hosting.

The provider is likewise known for its website builder called Gator which can be subscribed to separately or as part of the hosting plans.

HostGator is an ideal web hosting solution for individuals, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. With the service and its platform, you’ll find several hosting plans to fit your budget and requirements – from low-cost shared servers to high-performance but still affordable VPS. Of course, if you want all the computing power and resources, there are dedicated servers for top-of-the-line hosting.

You can run HostGator on either a Linux or Windows platform with no change in price, making it cost-effective. The service also offers plans targeted at those who operate commercial websites which require more extensive resources.

Those who utilize WordPress as a CMS will find everything they need with HostGator to keep their websites running 24/7. The hosting platform is engineered to optimize websites running on WP. Lots of freebies come with HostGator plans such as SSL certification, email, dedicated IP, etc.

Check if you can get any special discount with our HostGator coupon code article.

Key Features

• Free 1 year domain registration
• Free Dedicated IP
• Free HostGator Website Builder
• Free MySQL transfer & script transfer
• Free SSL certification
• Free website & domain transfers
• One-click WordPress Installs
• Unmetered bandwidth & disk space
• Web hosting (Shared, VPS, Dedicated, and WP Hosting)
• 24/7 technical support
• 30-day money-back guarantee
• 9% uptime guarantee

Pricing

Shared Hosting

• Hatchling Plan – $2.75/month for a single website
• Baby Plan – $3.50/month for unlimited websites
• Business Plan – $5.25/month for unlimited websites

WordPress Hosting

• Starter Plan – $5/95/month for 1 site
• Standard Plan – $7.95/month for 2 sites
• Business Plan – $9.95/month for 3 sites

VPS Hosting

• Snappy 2000 – $23.95/month
• Snappy 4000 – $34/95/month
• Snappy 8000 – $59.95/month

Dedicated Hosting

• Value Server – $89.98/month
• Power Server – $119.89/month

Enterprise Server – $139.99/month

Highlights

* All images in this article are from hostgator.com

Excellent uptime

HostGator provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee as well as an RSS feed for updates on service status. It rents four data centers in Texas complete with power back-ups, system monitoring, and fire detection to ensure the security and safety of its more than 12,000 servers. Nearly a dozen fiber optic companies including AT&T and Time Warner supply the necessary hardware and connection facilities.

Backup option

All plans and accounts come with automated backups. However, VPS and dedicated server packages don’t include off-site automated backup. HostGator can provide these for you for an additional fee but if you have your own backup plan, then you don’t have to pay anything. This is an option that gives you more leeway and control over your backup choices.

Several freebies

HostGator plans, even the most affordable ones, come with ample freebies to give you value for your money. These include free one-year domain registration, access to the website builder platform, website and domain transfers, email, SSL certification, dedicated IP, positive SSL upgrade, script transfer, and MySQL transfer. These are on top of unmetered bandwidth and disk space.

Plans for every budget

Over a dozen plans and packages are offered to fit every budget and requirement. From $2.75/month for the base plan to $139.99/month for an enterprise server, HostGator got your needs covered. The scalability and flexibility of the platform make it easy to upgrade to the next higher plan if you need more CPU, RAM, disk space, and other server resources. A 30-day, money-back guarantee is available.

Anytime, anywhere support

A robust, all-around customer support is provided by HostGator through its 24/7 hotline and online Live chat. You don’t have to wait for office hours to call or reach the company’s support team. Also available is a comprehensive knowledge base of everything you need to know about the platform, the plans, your account, etc.

Low Points

Hidden fees    

While there are many different pricing plans you can choose from, you might find that there are also add-on features such as security, backups, and SEO tools that need to be purchased separately. HostGator has one of the most affordable web hosting services available, but you might end up paying more than you initially intended to. It’s wise to comb through the packages and ask what would entail added costs.

Limited backups

As mentioned earlier, backup is an option but that shouldn’t be the case. It is of such importance that it should have been a default feature. They do offer a monthly or weekly copy of your site but you have to pay for backup add-ons if you need more extensive backup features.

Top Alternatives

There are many web hosting services so you should be on the lookout for the ones that can truly address your requirements. If you’re not inclined to go for HostGator, here are other well-known alternatives.

• SiteGround – Web, WP, and WooCommerce hosting that start at $3.99/month.
• InMotion Hosting – High-powered, multiple hosting services; plans start at $2.99/month.
• Liquid Web – Managed hosting and custom solutions; plans start at $13.30/month.
• Bluehost – All-in-one hosting and website platform; plans start at $2.95/month.
• GoDaddy – Domain, website, and hosting services provider; starter plan is offered at $3.99/month.

Time to answer our question – is HostGator a dependable web hosting service provider?

The Verdict

It is or else more than two million websites will not rely on it to host and power their sites. There are many compelling factors for you to choose HostGator. It has several budget-friendly plans and offers lots of freebies. It provides excellent uptime, has numerous on-site safeguards, and has one of the most reliable customer support systems. No wonder a cursory internet search of the best web hosting companies almost always has HostGator on the list. It deserves its lofty rankings and good reviews.
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