With eye-catchingly low prices and unlimited storage, bandwidth and page view allowances, the shared hosting plans from HostGator are very tempting.
However, as this review will show, there’s more to consider than low prices, seemingly generous allowances, and brand name recognition when it comes to choosing a web host.
Below, we not only explore the features you get access to with their shared hosting, but also what kind of loading times and other types of performance levels you can expect when paying just a few dollars a month for one of their entry-level plans.
By the time you’ve read our evaluation of their features, checked the data from our Pingdom site speed monitoring and seen the performance results from our Load Impact tests, you’ll have all of the information you’ll need to decide whether or not HostGator is the right host for your website.
Let’s dive in…
About HostGator
According to their marketing materials, HostGator are one of the world’s ten largest web hosting companies.
They’ve hosted more than 8 million domains, and have more than 850 employees to support their customers around the clock. In fact, as their shared plans include 24/7/365 access to their support staff — via live chat, email and telephone — if support is a top priority, then HostGator could be the company for you.
However, HostGator won’t be for everyone. For starters, they’re now owned by the sometimes controversial Endurance International Group (EIG), along with many other hosts, including Bluehost. Therefore, if you’re looking for a small boutique or independently owned web host, HostGator may not be the right choice.
That being said, when it comes to value for money, HostGator, on paper at least, are hard to beat. So, with that in mind, let’s start by looking at how much the shared hosting plans from HostGator cost.
- Hatchling: Starting at $2.75 (and up to $10.95) a month for one website.
- Baby: Starting at $3.95 (and up to $11.95) a month for unlimited websites.
- Business: Starting at $5.95 (and up to $16.95) a month for unlimited websites and access to additional tools.
All plans include a free SSL certificate that you can easily apply to your website via the account dashboard. There’s a 45-day money-back guarantee in place, too, giving you time to try this service without financial risk.
You can also get a free transfer of a WordPress website and/or a cPanel website and account to HostGator, and if you pay for 12 months or longer upfront you’ll get a free domain name registration — something that could save you around $10. If you want domain privacy, though, you’ll have to pay $14.95 a year for that, so it may make more financial sense to purchase your domain separately.