HostGator Review for 2022: The Best Shared Web Hosting
Hostgator Review
HostGator offers affordable hosting plans starting at just $2.75 per month where you will get all the necessary features to build a website.
A free domain name, free site transfers, unlimited storage space & bandwidth, free SSL, free site builder, and 24/7 customer support, makes HostGator a top pick for shared hosting and novice webmasters.
A domain name and web hosting are two primary things needed to start a blog or website. But finding a reliable web host within budget could be a tedious job for novice webmasters. That’s why we came up with a thought to review HostGator hosting so that you can easily decide whether HostGator is a good pick for you or not? So without much ado, let’s get started.
Hostgator is one of the most oldest and reliable web hosting companies.
It was founded back in 2002 in a dorm room, now became the leading provider of Shared, Reseller, VPS, and Dedicated web hosting with having several international offices throughout the globe.
In 2012, HostGator was acquired by Endurance International Group.
Their unparalleled speed, reliability, technical support, and customer service made them win several prestigious awards from some big brands like Hosting Advice, PCMAG.COM, and wpbeginner.
Whether you are looking for web hosting services for a small business or an established big enterprise, they have got you covered!
Their every plan is a fully-featured pack plan which is available at very affordable prices.
So now let’s get started knowing about HostGator’s web hosting services in detail.
HostGator Overview
Hostgator is one of the most oldest and reliable web hosting companies.
It was founded back in 2002 in a dorm room, now became the leading provider of Shared, Reseller, VPS, and Dedicated web hosting with having several international offices throughout the globe.
In 2012, HostGator was acquired by Endurance International Group.
Their unparalleled speed, reliability, technical support, and customer service made them win several prestigious awards from some big brands like Hosting Advice, PCMAG.COM, and wpbeginner.
Whether you are looking for web hosting services for a small business or an established big enterprise, they have got you covered!
Their every plan is a fully-featured pack plan which is available at very affordable prices.
So now let’s get started knowing about HostGator’s web hosting services in detail.
An Honest Review of Their Hosting Services
Features that you get with HostGator shared hosting.
Features List of HostGator
Free domain name
Free domain transfer
Free SSL certificates
Unlimited disk space in all hosting plans even with their basic plan (Hatchling Plan)
Offers unlimited bandwidth
Access to cPanel
24×7 support via Phone, Chat and Email
99.9% Uptime guarantee
Free Site Builder
Thousands of ready to use templates
45 Days Anytime Complete Money Back Guarantee
Free $100 Google Adwords Voucher and $100 Yahoo!/Bing Credit
Unlimited sub-domains and FTP account
One Click WordPress Installer
All these features make HostGator a perfect package for beginners to start a blog or website.
Do you want to give it a try?
Click on this exclusive link to start your blog on HostGator straight away.
HostGator Pricing Plans (Starts At $2.75/mo)
HostGator shared hosting offers you 3 pricing plans which are listed below.
Hatchling plan
Baby plan
Business plan
Baby plan
Business plan
1. Hatchling plan:
This is the cheapest hosting plan from HostGator where you can install 1 WordPress website which costs you $2.75 per month and this is the hosting plan that’s great for starters and entry-level websites.
2. Baby plan:
This is the most recommended and widely popular shared hosting plan from HostGator where you can install unlimited sites which costs you $3.95 per month and offers you features like unlimited domains, one-click installs, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL certificates, and so on.
This is the advanced shared hosting plan from HostGator which costs you $5.95 per month and you will get access to all the features from the baby plan along with exclusive features like a free upgrade to positive SSL, free dedicated IP, free SEO tools worth $50/year and so on.
You’ll be getting 60% off on all the shared hosting plans from HostGator and you don’t have to enter any promo code to avail of this offer while using our affiliate link to sign up.
So what are you waiting for? Use the below link to get started with HostGator.
Click to get 60% off on HostGator
Apart from shared hosting, HostGator also offers a variety of hosting plans that fit all budgets and requirements. Here are a few of the other web hosting options offered by HostGator.
What about the discount on HostGator hosting plans?
You’ll be getting 60% off on all the shared hosting plans from HostGator and you don’t have to enter any promo code to avail of this offer while using our affiliate link to sign up.
So what are you waiting for? Use the below link to get started with HostGator.
Click to get 60% off on HostGator
Are there any other hosting choices available from HostGator?
Apart from shared hosting, HostGator also offers a variety of hosting plans that fit all budgets and requirements. Here are a few of the other web hosting options offered by HostGator.
Cloud hosting:
Cloud hosting is both affordable and faster which is most suitable if your website gets frequent traffic spikes. Their pricing plans include Hatchling Cloud, Baby Cloud, and Business Cloud and they start at the pricing of $4.95 per month
WordPress hosting:
This is also another shared hosting plan which is exclusively optimized for WordPress powered websites. It optimizes performance and protects your website from some common WordPress attacks and also performs automatic WordPress updates. The pricing starts at $5.95 per month
VPS hosting:
Virtual Private Server allows you to manage your virtual resources on a cloud hosting platform and also offers you the fastest website speeds and the pricing plans start at just around $30 per month
Dedicated hosting:
With dedicated hosting, you get a server solely for hosting your websites and the pricing plans start at around $120 per month
Apart from the above hosting choices, HostGator also offers you reseller hosting, Application hosting, Windows hosting, etc so you can literally host any type of website ranging from a small website to portfolio site to big eCommerce site.
Apart from the above hosting choices, HostGator also offers you reseller hosting, Application hosting, Windows hosting, etc so you can literally host any type of website ranging from a small website to portfolio site to big eCommerce site.
3 Reasons You Might Want to Consider HostGator
If you’re thinking about whether HostGator is a good choice for you or not, then you can consider the following 3 reasons and make a choice.
1. Lots of new features added to HostGator (at no extra cost!)
The good news is that HostGator is improving with time and introducing incredible hosting features at no extra cost. If you’re curious to know what those features are, here you go.
Free SSL certificates: SSL certificates assure your website visitors and customers that any data including credit cards, passwords etc they enter on your website is fully secure and protected.
HostGator is now offering SSL certificates to all the hosting plans (including basic plan) at free of cost. Previously it used to charge extra for providing SSL certificates but now it’s offering them for free to provide better security to the users.
Free website transfer: Previously HostGator used to charge extra money for website transfers but it is now providing this service free of cost.
So if you want to migrate your website from an existing web host to HostGator, you can avail their website transfer feature completely for free. Note that, HostGator provides free transfers for new accounts within 30 days of signing up, (along with newly upgraded accounts), so make sure to avail this feature within 30 days.
Free domain transfer: Is your domain registered elsewhere? Want to host your domain and move to HostGator for free? HostGator provides you 1 free domain transfer per billing account of any domain that may be transferred to HostGator through Launchpad.
You can request the free domain registration transfer any time while you have an active hosting package on your billing account by contacting them via phone or Live Chat.
Free dedicated IP (with free SEO tools): Although this feature is limited ONLY to HostGator Business shared hosting plan users (costs you $5.95 per month) but you’ll get a free dedicated IP address along with SEO tools for free which are worth of $50/year.
HostGator also includes SEO Tools “start” package providing you the tools to increase your website search rankings including a personalized step-by-step SEO plan.
2. A ton of useful hosting features
Here are a few more useful features offered by HostGator.
Unlimited everything: HostGator is mostly popular because it offers you unlimited everything which includes the following.Unlimited domains (except Hatchling plan)
Unmetered bandwidth
Unmetered storage
Unlimited SSL certificates (this applies automatically to every domain hosted on your account)
Unlimited subdomains
Unlimited FTP accounts
Unlimited MySQL databases
Unlimited email accounts
As you can see above, you’ll literally get everything you need to host and manage a website with HostGator shared hosting features.
One click installs: HostGator offers you easy to use cPanel along with easy 1-click installs where you can choose from all the best hosting applications including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, phpBB, Wiki and so on.
In case if you’re launching an eCommerce store, you can easily grow your online business by using eCommerce specific platforms such as Magento, PrestaShop, ZenCart, etc.
3. Affordable hosting plans (plus monthly plans)
Another reason to consider hosting from HostGator is that it offers you really affordable hosting plans as their basic shared hosting plans start at just $2.75 per month .
Not only that, HostGator also offers you monthly hosting plans which most of the other web hosts such as Bluehost don’t offer. So if you’re not comfortable paying for 1 or 2 years hosting fee at once, monthly plans from HostGator can come handy for you.
Above all, you’ll also get $200 worth of marketing credits for both Bing and Google to display paid ads to promote your website or online business.$100 Bing Ads Credit
$100 Google AdWords
As you can see above, millions of people opt for a web host like HostGator simply because it offers you incredible hosting features at really affordable prices.
1 Reason You May Avoid HostGator
The only drawback of using HostGator hosting is that they do not offer automatic backups with their shared hosting plans.
When it comes to choosing the right web host, website security should be given top choice because literally thousands of websites get hacked every single day. Your web hosting plays a key role when it comes to securing your WordPress website from hackers.
But HostGator really lacks in providing superior security features to secure your WordPress sites. In fact, you’ll need to pay extra money for a few security features such as;Site backup
SiteLock monitoring etc
Both the above features are premium add-on services in HostGator (as they should be provided for free and that definitely makes HostGator better).
If you’re curious here are the details about the above tools.
Site backup: This is a premium backup add-on from HostGator powered by CodeGuard which costs you $2 per month (billed annually at $23.95) which helps you with daily automated website backup for all website files and databases with a 1-click restore.
SiteLock monitoring: This is a premium add-on from HostGator which costs you $1.67 per month (billed annually at $19.99) which checks your website daily and immediately notifies you if your website has been hacked or injected with malicious code.
So there you go. If you still have any doubt or confusion regarding Hostgator, you should look for other hosting alternatives before signing up for HostGator.
Pros And Cons of HostGator
Let’s now talk about the
Offers you 45 days money back guarantee which is way better than most of the other web hosts including Bluehost, iPage, A2 Hosting and so on (they provide only 30 days money back guarantee)
Offers you unlimited everything including unlimited sites, bandwidth, storage, emails, databases and what not
Offers you monthly hosting plans (although they are expensive when compared to yearly or 3 year term plans but for beginners with limited budgets, monthly options might be suitable)
Offers you cPanel so you can easily manage files, databases, emails etc at one place (installing WordPress is also so simple with 1 click installs)
Offers you SSL certificates for free
Offers you drag and drop website builder
Offers you free domain name for one year
Offers you website transfers at no additional cost (limited to 1 site transfer per account though)
Offers you 99.9% uptime which is great
Gives you access to 24/7/365 to assist you via Telephone or LiveChat with any hosting related questions
Cons:
Backups are not provided (although you can purchase their “Site Backup” addon which costs you $2 per month extra to get daily automated website backups for all website files and databases with a 1-click restore)What about the speed and uptime?
What about the speed and uptime provided by HostGator?
Let’s talk about both these things so you can decide whether or not to use HostGator for hosting purposes.
So let’s talk about the uptime and speed offered by HostGator.
Let’s start with its uptime first.
Although HostGator claims 99.9% uptime guarantee but we’ll find their “true uptime” by visiting the Hrank website as they track millions of websites regularly to check the uptime and response times of over 300 web hosts worldwide.
the uptime of HostGator for the last 30 days is over 99.9% (which is higher than what actually is claimed by HostGator). So the overall uptime is great.
What about the speed?
As you can see above, the response time for the last 30 days is “1173 ms” which is 1.73 seconds. That means, the average speed of websites hosted on HostGator is almost close to 2 seconds.
Not too bad considering the affordable pricing plans offered by HostGator.
Now, you can decide whether HostGator is great in terms of uptime and speed or not. Then, you can use our HostGator promo code if you’re happy with them.
So, this is our unbiased review of Hostgator.
For us, Hostgator is one of the best hosting service providers and one can go with it without thinking twice.
If you want to start a WordPress site on Hostgator right away, here is a step by step guide for doing the same with ease.
How to Set up a WordPress Blog on HostGator (Step by Step)
So let’s now talk about how you can set up a WordPress site on Hostgator.
Step 1: Click on this SPECIAL link to visit HostGator website..
Choose any of the hosting plans from the above as you’re provided with 3 plans including;
Hatchling Plan (if you want to host only one website on HostGator)
Baby Plan (if you want to host unlimited websites)
Business Plan (can host unlimited sites along with free private SSL, Free Dedicated IP etc)
Quick tip: We highly recommend Hatchling Plan to beginners as it is the most affordable plan inlcuded with all the necessary features required to build a site from scratch.
Step 2: Choose an easy to remember domain name
Once you’ve chosen your preferred hosting plan from HostGator, you’ll be taken to their billing page where you need to register a new domain or you can also enter any domain that you already own.
Step 3: Select a Hosting plan and Billing cycle
Quick tip: We highly recommend you choose 36 months plan to save maximum.
Step 4: Create your Hostgator Account
Step 5: Enter your Billing Information
Step 6: Remove Additional Services
Uncheck all the additional services, as a beginner, you will not require them.
Step 7: Enter a Coupon Code
This coupon code will be applied automatically. So you don’t need to enter any promo code from your end.
Step 8: Review Order Details
Review your order details and click on the Checkout Now button.
That’s it, you’re done. Upon successful payment, you’ll get a welcome email from HostGator with all the details so you can install WordPress easily.
Quick note: In case if you are not happy with HostGator web hosting, you can cancel your account within 45 days of your hosting purchase and you’ll get a full refund!
Hostgator Customer Reviews
If you are still not satisfied with the features that HostGator offers, have a quick look at the HostGator reviews given by its renowned customers.
Here’s a list of few important questions you might want to know about HostGator and their hosting plans in general.
1. What type of web hosting do I need from HostGator?
It completely depends on your website’s needs (along with your budget). If you’re a beginner who wants to get access to an affordable hosting plan from HostGator, we highly recommend you to check out Baby shared hosting plan as it costs you just $3.95 per month and you can install unlimited sites with free SSL certificates, unlimited storage, bandwidth, etc.
But if you’re looking for an exclusive WordPress hosting, you should definitely consider HostGator managed WordPress hosting choice where the pricing plans start at $5.95 per month (basic plan). You’ll get excellent speed, superior support along with automatic WordPress updates.
2. Will I get a free domain name with HostGator?
Yes. HostGator offers a free domain name while signing up for their hosting plans. Generally it costs you around $15 per year, but if you go with HostGator you will get a free domain name (.com included) for complete one year.
4. What’s the money-back guarantee offered by HostGator? What payment methods does HostGator accept?
HostGator provides you a 45 days money-back guarantee which means, if you are not happy with their hosting or features within the first 45 days of your service, you can ask for a full refund by contacting their customer support through phone, live chat, or ticket system.
Coming to the payment options, HostGator accepts all major credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. They also accept Paypal, personal checks, money orders, and bank transfers.
5. Does HostGator offer site backups?
No, Hostgator does not offer automatic backups with its shared hosting plans. It is recommended to have some other backup method such as Updraftplus or you can even consider HostGator premium CodeGuard service (which costs you a bit extra).
Final Thoughts
We have tried our level best to cover each and every aspect of HostGator.
At last, after reviewing all the features and pricing of HostGator, we can conclude that it is one of the best web hosts for beginners.
If you’re looking for a full-fledged web host that is affordable, HostGator can be a great choice for you.
All in all, HostGator is a better hosting choice for those who are running small blogs with limited traffic and looking for affordable hosting plans.
Baby Plan (if you want to host unlimited websites)
Business Plan (can host unlimited sites along with free private SSL, Free Dedicated IP etc)
Quick tip: We highly recommend Hatchling Plan to beginners as it is the most affordable plan inlcuded with all the necessary features required to build a site from scratch.
Step 2: Choose an easy to remember domain name
Once you’ve chosen your preferred hosting plan from HostGator, you’ll be taken to their billing page where you need to register a new domain or you can also enter any domain that you already own.
Step 3: Select a Hosting plan and Billing cycle
Quick tip: We highly recommend you choose 36 months plan to save maximum.
Step 4: Create your Hostgator Account
Step 5: Enter your Billing Information
Step 6: Remove Additional Services
Uncheck all the additional services, as a beginner, you will not require them.
Step 7: Enter a Coupon Code
This coupon code will be applied automatically. So you don’t need to enter any promo code from your end.
Step 8: Review Order Details
Review your order details and click on the Checkout Now button.
That’s it, you’re done. Upon successful payment, you’ll get a welcome email from HostGator with all the details so you can install WordPress easily.
Quick note: In case if you are not happy with HostGator web hosting, you can cancel your account within 45 days of your hosting purchase and you’ll get a full refund!
Hostgator Customer Reviews
If you are still not satisfied with the features that HostGator offers, have a quick look at the HostGator reviews given by its renowned customers.
FAQs
Here’s a list of few important questions you might want to know about HostGator and their hosting plans in general.
1. What type of web hosting do I need from HostGator?
It completely depends on your website’s needs (along with your budget). If you’re a beginner who wants to get access to an affordable hosting plan from HostGator, we highly recommend you to check out Baby shared hosting plan as it costs you just $3.95 per month and you can install unlimited sites with free SSL certificates, unlimited storage, bandwidth, etc.
But if you’re looking for an exclusive WordPress hosting, you should definitely consider HostGator managed WordPress hosting choice where the pricing plans start at $5.95 per month (basic plan). You’ll get excellent speed, superior support along with automatic WordPress updates.
2. Will I get a free domain name with HostGator?
Yes. HostGator offers a free domain name while signing up for their hosting plans. Generally it costs you around $15 per year, but if you go with HostGator you will get a free domain name (.com included) for complete one year.
4. What’s the money-back guarantee offered by HostGator? What payment methods does HostGator accept?
HostGator provides you a 45 days money-back guarantee which means, if you are not happy with their hosting or features within the first 45 days of your service, you can ask for a full refund by contacting their customer support through phone, live chat, or ticket system.
Coming to the payment options, HostGator accepts all major credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. They also accept Paypal, personal checks, money orders, and bank transfers.
5. Does HostGator offer site backups?
No, Hostgator does not offer automatic backups with its shared hosting plans. It is recommended to have some other backup method such as Updraftplus or you can even consider HostGator premium CodeGuard service (which costs you a bit extra).
Final Thoughts
We have tried our level best to cover each and every aspect of HostGator.
At last, after reviewing all the features and pricing of HostGator, we can conclude that it is one of the best web hosts for beginners.
If you’re looking for a full-fledged web host that is affordable, HostGator can be a great choice for you.
All in all, HostGator is a better hosting choice for those who are running small blogs with limited traffic and looking for affordable hosting plans.
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