In this HostGator review, we’ll list the best features of their web hosting services, so, you get a clear idea of whether the web hosting is good or bad for your website. Of course, we’ll list the HostGator pros and cons with all the details you need to know about such a popular web host.
HostGator is one of the most popular web hosting companies in the world, so, you can use it to start a blog or site. But when it comes to quality and features, HostGator has many advantages and drawbacks as any other web host.
That way, you’ll have an idea about the tools you’ll find in cPanel and the problems that you may find using the web host.
Pros and cons of HostGator: overall review
After reviewing HostGator, we can recommend their hosting to bloggers and website owners who want the best in the shared web hosting industry. There is no better customer support than what HostGator offers by phone and live chat, and there are no problems with managing your website like other web hosts. We found some issues with other web hosting providers including accessing the site via FTP and even managing the database, but that does not happen with HostGator’s cloud infrastructure.
That being said, HostGator hosting prices are not cheap, but it is worth it; after all, it’s a good quality hosting that you can use for WordPress or any other CMS.
HostGator has good eCommerce hosting plans that come with premium SSL for free, a professional email account, and free domain registration for the first year.
If you prefer website builders, then, choose the HostGator website builder tool that comes with free hosting and hundreds of premium quality designs to choose from and customize your site.
HostGator Pros
Perfection does not exist, and each service has advantages and drawbacks. Even if you find the server super fast and you get the best options, there should be problems with that hosting provider, and it’s better to identify the weaknesses of the hosting plan before even thinking of using it. So, let’s get started with the best features.
No hosting activation fees
This is one of the best features of HostGator. Unlike other web hosts when you choose to pay per month, you’ll be charged around $10 only, and that’s great.
Other web hosts charge $30 or more just for letting you pay monthly, and of course, they add extra charges; luckily, it’s not the case with HostGator.
HostGator has a One-month trial
If you have doubts about web hosting, then, trying the service for one month will help you a lot. HostGator offers a one-month trial hosting for $0.01 which means a better way to learn more about the tools and cPanel.
You don’t have to add your credit card to get eh trial period, you can use PayPal, and if you’re happy with their services, you can choose to pay monthly or once a year to save money.
The best cPanel
No other web host offers a better version of cPanel that’s faster than HostGator. You’ll find lots of tools and options to manage your site and domain from one place. The cPanel control panel comes with more tools including the following ones:
- File Manager
- FTP with user management
- A website compression tool that saves up to 80% of the disk space
- Database aces through PHPMyAdmin
- Software installer app for WordPress and hundreds of software
- Email forwarder and access online
- Backup Wizard
- Disk usage
- Domain manager, forward, DNS, etc…
- The error log file
- Database backup and restore with a few clicks
- File compression, upload, and download
Free SSL
Not all the site hosting providers offer a premium quality SSL certificate for your blog completely for free. HostGator provides Comodo SSL for all users and their hosted domains, so there is no need to worry about encryption between the website and the web browser the user uses.
Keep in mind that this is a one-domain SSL which means, it’s not for subdomains if you use them, so, if you need SSL for eCommerce for all your subdomains and with business verification, you’ll need a paid version of the SSL but, it’s better and professional with a green bar.
Money-back guarantee
This is a good feature that every web host should offer. HostGator has a money-back guarantee policy for 45 days. If you’re not happy with their services, you can cancel within that period and get a full refund.
Some other web hosts offer just one month of trial, however, this one lets you extend that period and let you test things more.
Free website migration
When it comes to moving a blog from one host to another, it can be a pain for beginners who know nothing about FTP, and WordPress directories.
The same thing applies to all the other CMS and apps. It can take hours to transfer files, and hope that everything works properly. However, if you choose HostGator, their technicians will move all your site files to their servers for free.
You just need to contact their customer support using the phone number or live chat if you’re in a hurry and let them know your old host logins for assistance.
Premium cloud hosting
When you browse the hosting plans, you’ll find the cloud ones; they come with dedicated RAM, and CPU and work for one domain or more.
The servers are faster than regular shared hosting, and they’re based on premium-quality hardware and multiple server caching layers.
This kind of hosting is a little more expensive than shared plans, however, it’s a real power for small business websites and blogs that need guaranteed resources, unlimited disk space and bandwidth, and of course a good uptime.
The cloud hosting plans have a good uptime unlike the share accounts; there are fewer accounts per server, and that includes accelerated CPU and SSD.
Lots of themes and site templates
HostGator is one of the best static web hosting services with a drag-and-drop builder tool. The site builder comes with hundreds of pre-made designs and well-optimized layouts.
Instead of starting from scratch, you can build a static site with the best theme and then, customize it the way you want. This cheap kind of host is recommended for business and corporate sites that need no updates or maintenance.
Managed WordPress hosting with email
The majority of optimized and fully managed WordPress web hosts do not offer email. So, you need to have the email hosting service separately. With HostGator, you get an email and hosting for your blog without using any additional service.
There is a dedicated tool in cPanel for email forwarding, and you can access your email from your preferred services like Gmail, Yahoo, and others.
Good customer support
The company has the resources to hire hundreds of customer assistance engineers, so, they do that without issues. You can contact their department 24/7 and get help with any problem you may face with web hosting.
Moreover, the live chat works well, and we get a response in minutes. However, if you think that your problem is urgent, then, use phone support for faster access.
Cons of HostGator
Now, it’s time to talk about complaints and problems of using HostGator as a blog hosting or a provider of VPS, and dedicated servers. There are hidden things that not all the users notice, and here, we’ll show you some of them.
There is no free domain
Like any web host, HostGator has many drawbacks that we should talk about and not only mention. The first thing that attracts the intention, is that HostGator does not offer a free domain like other companies.
You need to purchase the domain from them, and unfortunately, that will cost $12.95, and that’s not all. The renewal cost will be $15, and that’s so high and expensive.
So, for domains, we recommend buying one from GoDaddy instead; they have cheaper prices and better DNS for any records. Even better, there is an email hosting that you can just enable with a few clicks.
Lots of marketing emails
We don’t like these types of marketing, and you may also find that somehow annoying. HostGator sends regular emails to share the latest discounts and the best web hosting deals for customers.
That may look good for many, but also, that’s not a good thing for those who don’t want to see a long list of emails because they don’t open their inbox often.
So, you can unsubscribe from their marketing emails if you want and that will fix the problem. Many of us purchase a web hosting plan and build the site, then, we focus on content and neglect these emails.
Server downtime
We noticed lots of downtime with EIG companies, and HostGator is one of them. In terms of server response time, there are many problems and with shared hosting expect more than a second for a server’s response time which tool slow.
In addition, if you monitor the site uptime with popular tools like Pingdom, you’ll find lots of Redline which represents the total downtime of the domain.
The problem with the server’s downtime on shared hosting is that you can fix it.
It depends on the number of domains hated there and many other factors. If there is a domain that uses excessive CPU and RAM, it can make the servers overloaded and down for a minute or more. So, if you really care about site uptime and you want to control everything, then, choose a VPS instead.
No free daily backups
This is what every blog should have; daily backup is a must-have feature in today’s web hosting and security industry. But if you host with HostGator, you’ll find no guarantee on backups as they have one backup per week, but, you won’t be able to restore the site unless you pay for that.
If you want to have a daily, backup, make sure you install a plugin that does that for you. There are many WordPress tools that create a copy of your entire site and send it to Google Drive, Amazon, or even Dropbox.
The company offers a premium backup and restore tool called CodeGuard that costs $24 per year in one payment. So, if you can pay for that, you can add it to the checkout page and have a premium quality backup and restore blog hosting.
Expensive hosting prices
The shared hosting is somehow cost-effective, however, the VPS and reseller plans cost a lot of money compared to other companies. We found that HostGator offers good RAM and resources, but that does not mean the prices are higher than what a small website owner affords.
For that reason, we recommend their hosting for all, but if we talk about prices, you can find cheaper alternatives to HostGator.
Is HostGator a good web host that is worth it?
HostGator is not a cheap web hosting provider, but it offers exceptional quality hosting for blogs and websites. In fact, even if there are a few downtimes like any other web host, the site loading time is faster than its competitors, and even better, HostGator offers better support and more features like cPanel and all the website building tools.
HostGator web hosting is worth it, and you can host any type of website like WordPress or even build your own site using their Gator site builder tool that works better than Wix and other platforms.
These are the most important cons and the pros of using HostGator services. Do, you think we missed one more thing? So, let us know and use the comment section to share your feedback or add something else.
