HostGator Review: Why We Love Their Web Hosting (+ User Reviews)
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Our Verdict: Outstanding Choice for Overall Value
HostGator strives to make web hosting easy and affordable, and if you’re looking for a plan that allows you to get a site up and running quickly and economically, look no further.
Those creating new websites can utilize the included website builder, while those with existing websites will get free migration assistance.
When you use our exclusive HostGator discount links on this page, you can get up to 75% off your monthly hosting fee.
Pros:
- Free website transfer assistance
- Longer 45-day money back guarantee
- Search engine advertising credits
Cons:
- Best pricing only on longer contracts
- Some users complain of long support wait times
HostGator scores 3.5 stars out of 5 with 500+ actual customers who rank it highest for quality and features.
Are There Any Coupons Or Discounts?
Yes – you can currently save 70% on HostGator with this exclusive coupon.
70% OFF
Get 70% off HostGator plans
Verified working: 18 Sep 2020
Limited Deal
Applied automatically at checkout
HostGator: Value Priced Hosting for Smaller Websites
Looking for something specific? Jump to our most popular sections:
- Expert Review – read our analysis by our hosting specialists
- Best Reviews – see what hundreds of HostGator customers have to say.
- Hosting Plans – compare the best HostGator plans and their prices.
- FAQs – quick answers to common questions about HostGator!
HostGator specializes in hosting small business websites with cheap hosting packages, WordPress cloud plans, great customer support, and speedy technology. They’ve even got their own website builder, called Gator.
Read on for our expert and user reviews that answer the most important question: Is HostGator right for your website?
HostGator is one of the best options for hosting smaller websites. Specializing in hosting for individuals and small business, HostGator provides what you need without a lot of the frills.
HostGator generally offers lower prices than its competitors, but that doesn’t mean that their plans are bare-bones. They offer more than enough features for most users and provide powerful hosting infrastructure.
Their hosting plans range from user-friendly shared and cloud hosting to virtual private servers (VPSs) for more advanced users.
HostGator Quick Overview
Here we’ve put together the most important information about hosting with HostGator so you can use it to compare with other hosts.
Specializations
| 24/7 Customer Support | HostGator is focused on providing highly-available customer support at all hours of the day via phone, live chat, and email. |
| Long Guarantee Period | With a, 45-day money-back guarantee, they are confident you’ll be happy with their services. (Most companies offer 30-day guarantees.) |
| Fast WordPress | Offering super-fast WordPress cloud hosting that is 2.5x faster than traditional shared web hosting. |
Good Uptime and Response Time
Let’s look at the last 6 months of uptime and response time, as measured by Pingdom.com. Although this represents one test site, it should provide a good idea of how robust HostGator servers are.
- Downtime: 9 minutes
- Outages: 2
- Uptime: 99.996%.
HostGator guarantees a 99.9% uptime. From your dashboard, you will be able to monitor your own uptime, so you know that the company is delivering what they promise.
If they fail to meet this guarantee, they will give you one month of hosting credit to your account.
Migration Policy
Within 30 days of opening a shared hosting account, HostGator will transfer one website for free to your new domain.
They will also transfer one full cPanel which includes all domains, email accounts, and settings. VPS plans are eligible for unlimited transfers.
Control Panel
HostGator provides the latest cPanel Control Panel. They have customized it to make it more user-friendly. (More in-depth coverage of HostGator’s cPanel implementation below.)
Available Datacenters
HostGator has datacenters in Houston, Texas and Provo, Utah. They do not allow you to choose which datacenter houses your servers.
Money-Back Guarantee or Trial Period
Cancel your plan for a full refund within your first 45 days by contacting HostGator. HostGator beats many other hosting companies’ 30-day satisfaction guarantees.
How to Get HostGator’s Money-Back Guarantee
Although no hosting company wants to lose business, HostGator is more transparent than most about the process of getting your money back.
If you’re not satisfied before the promised 45 days are up, here is how to claim it:
- Use their online cancellation form (noted in your Terms of Service) to request cancellation.
- After about 48 hours, you’ll get a confirmation email that you must reply back to.
- Your refund can take up to 15 days to process.
You can also find this information by doing a search for “guarantee” on their Support page.
Lowest Price
$2.75/month when you sign up for 36 months.
Website Builder Included?
The HostGator website builder, called Gator, is available for free on all plans, and can also be purchased as a stand-alone hosting package.
PCI Compliant?
Is HostGator secure? HostGator’s servers support PCI compliance but they are not compliant by default.
The company can assist with some PCI compliance settings but this will generally be your responsibility.
Pros and Cons of HostGator
There are good and bad points with every hosting company. Here are the main ones to consider for HostGator.
| Pros | Cons |
| Unmetered hosting resources at an affordable price for all shared web hosting plans. | Websites are not automatically PCI compliant. |
| Fast cloud hosting optimized for running WordPress sites at high speed. | HostGator’s knowledgebase is difficult to navigate. |
| Fantastic customer support available around the clock. | Their unmetered hosting will still limit larger businesses. |
| Unlike many other hosts, HostGator doesn’t offer free domain registration. |
Background
HostGator is a leading hosting provider with headquarters in Houston and Austin, Texas. They also have international offices to spread their reach globally.
The company was founded back in 2002. Now, more than a decade later, they host websites for over 400,000 customers. That kind of experience and trust is indicative of the company’s reliability.
HostGator Reviews by Our Community
Overall Rating from 611 Reviews by HostGator Customers
| Support | |
|---|---|
| Quality | |
| Features | |
| Value |
Most Helpful Reviews
Rene Leyva
Mar 28, 2018
I like hostgator. I am new to making websites so I was looking for an easy solution for my business. He went to hostgator because he had an easy constructor for those who are not graphic designers like me.
I love the templates they gave me, easy and with ideas for my business. I would recommend this hosting service to anyone who wants something easy and economical. An effective way to have your business online. In just 15 minutes you can have a professional website and a good hosting service.
Gigi Fazikas wildcardmediamarketing.com
May 10, 2016
I switched to Host Gator after having issues with my old host. I chose Host Gator because one of my clients has all of his websites hosted there and since I am in charge of web site maintenance I’ve dealt with them one and one without any issues. During my first month, I had my website go down for two hours and didn’t receive a reply from support until 4 days later, long after the issue resolved itself.
This is drastically different from the treatment I receive when contacting support on behalf of my client, though he is on a much larger plan than I am (16 websites compared to my single site). Aside from this small issue, I’ve been happy with the features they have. My old host gave me no control over which version of php I was running (and was also running a very old version of it that some of my wordpress plugins had a conflict with) and my website is running much faster now.
My old host couldn’t handle the load of one WordPress theme I used and Host Gator loaded it without any issues. The interface is very easy to get around and has all the popular features like one-click software installations, unlimited mail accounts, unlimited domain hosting and more. The price is great also.
As a web designer, I’ve worked with more hosts than I can name and believe me, they all have their quirks but host gator has been my favorite so far. I recommend using live chat for support issues as you’ll get a quicker reply but otherwise definitely give this host a shot, especially since they allow you to pay month to month instead of annual so you can really test them out before you commit to an entire year.
sohail ahmed onlinemoneymania.in
May 16, 2014
I have experience of buying Hostgator‘s WordPress shared hosting plan for two years. I will deliberately call it as premier web hosting company of world due to following reason.
1: affordable price
2: extensive promotions and discounts
3: maximum features offered
4: very impressive uptime
5: 24/7 available support team
6: attractive cpanel
7: 1click script installing
8: fast server speed
when i bought web hosting i was advised to go for other premier web hosting companies but i bought plan from host gator due to impressive discount of 60% off on first month. I was offered this discount twice during my relation of customer with hostgator.
their customer support team reply to every query and also many times video support is available. My page speed was higher than many other sites, server up time was very satisfactory. It offered hosting on their Texas based server and i did not experienced any technical flaw and interruption in their servers.
I ended off my contract with host gator due to some business reasons but it was great journey of excellency which give me immense professional pleasure due to professional excellency achieved by this company. I would also like to mention that some times hostgator created problems due to cache running plugins of WordPress on my website but when support desk was contacted problem was resolved. It was my experience with hostgator which was enough good to encourage other people to go for hostgator webhosting
Sheri Spain nr2g.com
Sep 17, 2018
I have used Hostgator for about 7 years and have enjoyed using their service because it is easy to use and has all the features I am looking for at the cost. There is more downtime than I would like in some cases but overall it has consistency. I have contact support several times and they are not very helpful unless you have add-on features. Fortunately, I am able to handle most situations on my own.
Mukesh Patel actualpost.com
Mar 13, 2018
It provides the best hosting. I am using it from last year and I never get any problem. It’s supports is too good.
I recommend you to use it. Its support is amazing. It is giving 99.9% uptime.
It provides unlimited resources, email account, FTP account, and disk. Lots of script for install in 1 click.
Tejashwa Tiwari cryphub.co
Oct 01, 2018
I’ve been a customer of Hostgator for the last 9 months. I’ve monitored their performance, uptime and performance during that time. I took the Hostgator Shared Hosting plan and my experience was pretty good.
Hostgator seems to be the ideal option for a serious business requirement. Some of the best features are like they always provide updated cPanel to manage my websites, I can park unlimited domain as well can redirect them to any of my website. Pros:
– Uptime – 99.98% (In my case)
– Ping – 998ms
– Great Contact Support
– Easy-to-use control panel
– Free Weebly site builder
– No contract required and 45-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
– The ping was really inconsistent most of the times.
– Extra fee for True Backups
– Shared basic plan can’t handle more than 5,000 realtime users.
Conclusion:
If you’re looking for a basic hosting to start with, go for it. If you’re having business and you work with clients, don’t go for it. Though the server uptime is good, but the ping is inconsistent which makes the website really slow. Thanks!
Gustavo Carvalho treinasaude.com
Sep 11, 2018
I’ve been hosting my site with Hostgator for almost a year now. I’m not an IT expert, so I rely on external providers to manage the necessary configurations. The service so far had been ok.
No service interruptions, relatively responsive support (and almost always knowledgeable). When I needed access to an error log on the site, I had to request it to the advanced support since it was not directly available for me, and that took some time to get (and even when I got, I was only able to get it for specific dates, not for entire weeks/months). Today I decided to abandon Hostgator.
They took my site offline without prior notice saying that it was using more resources than allowed by contract. They did not provide me with tools to monitor resource usage (so I could take measures to avoid such overusage) nor they notified me of such problem prior to taking my site offline. Apart from technical qualities of their service, I judge this attitude totally inadequate and demonstrates a lack of care for the consequences it might generate for their clients.
adrian pasigna lostinvestor.com
May 12, 2018
Hostgator has powerful servers and level of convenience hostgator as the service provider has a clear record of powerful servers situated in superb data centers all over the world. Most of users have a positive opinion towards the performance of Hostgator servers, and Hostgator powered websites as well as blogs have an enviable Page Speed in different measures. This is one of important point to consider about Hostgator’s services would be able to satisfy every internet marketers who are concerned about seamless working of them websites sI i recommended using hostgator because it is awesome and it surely rocks.
Who Should Consider HostGator?
HostGator is best suited to host individual websites and small businesses. It’s great if you’re starting a blog on WordPress or building a simple portfolio website. In fact, their cloud-based WordPress hosting makes them perfect for this.
On the other hand, bigger businesses will want to check out HostGator’s VPS plans to get the resources they need to run websites smoothly. Just make sure you grab a HostGator coupon from our website before signing up.
Shared Hosting
Most of HostGator’s web hosting plans are meant to serve low-maintenance websites — like individuals running their own blog or e-commerce store.
Here’s a look at their shared plans.
The Hatchling Plan
Their cheapest shared hosting plan also has the most adorable name, the Hatchling.
The Hatchling plan is perfectly suited to people who are brand new to web hosting. Cheaper than starter plans from both GoDaddy and Squarespace, HostGator should be considered by anyone on a budget.
The Hatchling plan allows people to host a single domain and unlimited subdomains.
However, HostGator doesn’t provide domain name registration, like many other hosts do. You’ll have to purchase your domain name from a domain registrar like GoDaddy.
One-Click Installs and Resources
With one-click installs of a variety of applications, you can easily get started on WordPress and other applications.
If you’re like me and shudder in the face of following complex instructions to install applications, then one-click installs will be your best friend.
Even with the Hatchling plan you will be allotted unmetered disk space and bandwidth. But remember: this does not mean that you can host a high-traffic e-commerce site on HostGator for $2.75 per month.
What Does “Unmetered” Mean?
Unmetered resources can be deceiving. Though this means HostGator doesn’t place strict limits on your bandwidth and disk space, you’ll still be required to keep your usage within the range that doesn’t put too big a strain on the server’s resources.
Just the same, most users will never have to worry about their resource use. And if you do: great! It means your website is doing well. You should be able to upgrade to a VPS plan instead.
But here’s something cool: you’ll get $100 in AdWords and $100 in Bing Ads credit with any plan so you can start marketing your brand-new website right away.
The Business Plan
HostGator’s Business plan has even more excellent features to offer. With an included private SSL certificate and dedicated IP address, you will be ready to start accepting payments on an e-commerce store immediately.
This is a rare inclusion for hosting companies, as many only give you shared SSL certificates. These can still trigger security warnings to your store customers.
With many other hosts, you’d need to purchase private SSL certificates separately. An affordable business plan like HostGator’s with a private certificate is a wonderful find.
Cloud Hosting vs. Shared Hosting
One of the best reasons to consider HostGator is their cheap cloud hosting options.
For each of their basic web hosting plans, you can pay a small amount more for cloud hosting. This will give you twice the speed and four times the resources over a shared plan.
Cloud hosting reaches this kind of speed due to:
- Low-density servers
- Premium hardware
- Multiple caching layers
- Data-mirroring that distributes 3 copies of your data across multiple devices.
Who Is Cloud Hosting For?
Cloud hosting is great for people on shared plans who find they’re reaching usage limits. You can easily upgrade to cloud hosting at any time from the control panel.
Cloud plans manage your website efficiently so dynamic content is processed super-fast.
With unmetered resources, your websites can be scalable to respond to visitor spikes. You can scale up your resources from your dashboard with one click, without experiencing downtime or requiring reboots.
VPS Plans
A virtual private server (VPS) gives users full control over their hosting environment. It’s meant for people who want root access to the server and need to install their own software or scripts.
But VPSs can be challenging to maintain. HostGator offers fully-managed VPS plans which include access to their customized cPanel.
However, semi-managed servers do not include the control panel. You will need advanced technical knowledge to run websites smoothly on these semi-managed plans.
Fully Scalable Hosting
HostGator’s VPS hosting will provide you with a scalable hosting environment.
Your virtual server will be fully allocated to your own site. Forget about sharing resources with other people. Instead, scale resources with one click. Your site will be able to handle more complexity and higher numbers of visitors.
Much Cheaper Than Dedicated Options
Due to the VPS server’s virtual nature, HostGator can offer them at cheaper prices than dedicated servers would cost you.
Don’t assume that VPSs will always lead to higher performance, though. HostGator’s lower-level VPS plans will not necessarily outperform the company’s shared hosting plans.
But they will give you more flexibility in your hosting. For better performance, I advise you to opt for their higher-level VPS plans.
Looking for a great deal?
Save big on HostGator plans by using our special discount link. Includes a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Intuitive Dashboard
The ease of using a hosting provider’s control panel is an important thing to consider, especially because many people using HostGator will be starting a website for the first time.
cPanel Control Panel
HostGator uses the industry-standard cPanel control panel for all of its plans. As cPanel can be confusing if you’ve never used it before, HostGator has customized it to make it more user-friendly.
Upon logging into your HostGator account, you’re presented with many options. Tabs in the control panel point you to your account settings, billing information, hosting specifics, and a support page. Notice that you will be presented with HostGator advertisements in the sidebar.
HostGator’s customized control panel is more user-friendly than the default version of cPanel that other hosting companies might offer. You can see all of your options nicely organized in tabs. This makes it easy to find what you need.
The control panel also makes it extremely easy to get support. A knowledgebase search in the sidebar gives you quick access to articles. A support tab at the top lets you reach live chat support with no problem.
Other cPanel Features
You’ll be able to perform many other actions through the control panel:
- Create and manage an email account
- View website traffic by integrating Google Analytics
- Add domains and subdomains
- View your SSL certificate or purchase one
- Get Google Apps to streamline your business
- Set up HostGator email marketing.
Feature Packages
From the control panel, you can easily add packages of bundled features to your plan based on what you want to do.
HostGator offers a wizard-like tool that allows you to enter what you want your site to do and then recommends a package to add to your plan.
HostGator’s Website Builder: Gator
All of HostGator’s plans now come with their free website builder, called Gator. (Until recently, you had to pay an extra fee to add on the Gator builder.) You also have the option of purchasing a Gator-only plan for a very low monthly fee.
The Gator builder uses drag-and-drop functionality, includes a full image library, and allows for complete customization.
Website builders can be useful but often result in messy code on the back end — which can make it difficult if you want to transfer your site or abandon the builder.
It’s often easier for developers to build you a brand new site than customize one you have built on a drag and drop platform. Just keep this in mind before you use it.
Check out our in-depth review of the Gator builder.
Email Marketing
HostGator’s email marketing is free to use for your first 3 months with up to 500 contacts. This feature includes tools for building your email list.
- You can add contact information from your Facebook page or existing website.
- Segment email lists to target specific audience groups.
- Create email messages with their mobile-friendly templates.
Never underestimate the power of email marketing. It has some of the highest ROI (Return On Investment) for marketing techniques. And when you’re trying it for free, you can’t lose.
Live Support and Helpful Resources
Speaking of tutorials, this is a good time to mention what kind of support you can expect from HostGator.
I would have liked to see a better-organized support page on HostGator for finding articles and resources. Their knowledgebase is a little difficult to navigate so people may find it hard to find the answers they’re looking for.
Support Directly From Your Control Panel
However, you can contact customer support directly from your control panel. In fact, your support tickets are the first thing you see when you log in.
As you sift through the options for narrowing your particular issue, you will be presented with links to helpful articles.
Since the HostGator knowledgebase is not organized intuitively, this is a helpful way to find articles in it. If these fail to answer your question, you can continue on to contact 24/7 live chat support.
Always Available Support
With a team ready to help you 24/7, you won’t have to worry about your website problems for long.
If you prefer to talk to someone on the phone, as many do, you can get a hold of a support assistant via HostGator’s toll-free customer number:
1 (866) 964-2867
People are available to answer calls at all hours.
You can even send postal mail to one of their offices in the US or Brazil if that’s your style. However, this is the slowest possible way you can get support from them and I cannot recommend it.
Restore Points vs. Backups
Although HostGator doesn’t do automated backups more than weekly, you can manually backup your site whenever you like.
Additionally, HostGator saves a number of “restore points” that let you roll back your site to a previous version of its contents.
HostGator Alternatives
HostGator has a lot to offer. But if it doesn’t seem quite right for you, there are many alternatives. Here are three of the best.
Bluehost vs. HostGator
Is Bluehost better than HostGator? As with most answers, it depends. Bluehost is a good alternative to HostGator, but HostGator has many advantages that might be good for your purposes.
| HostGator | Bluehost | |
|---|---|---|
| SSL Certificates | Free for shared hosting but not included on WordPress plans | Purchased separately for shared hosting but provided free on WordPress plans |
| Features | Many included | Fewer features |
| SiteLock CDN | Included | Included |
| Free Domain Name | Included with all shared plans | Included with all plans |
| Site Migration | Free | Extra fee |
HostGator added managed WordPress hosting to their plans in 2015. These plans also run on the company’s cloud architecture, giving users lightning-fast speeds.
These WordPress plans are cheaper than those found at both WP Engine and Media Temple. In addition, they come with unlimited email accounts, something that is hard to find with cheap plans from other hosting companies.
HostGator’s WordPress Plans Are Cheaper, But…
HostGator’s most expensive WordPress plan is still half the price of Bluehost’s cheapest managed WordPress plan. It also provides more than double the storage space.
However, HostGator’s WordPress plans do not include SSL certificates, which are important to e-commerce webmasters.
These can be purchased separately, but Bluehost gives them to you for free with all plans. Bluehost and Hostgator both provide a free domain for a year.
Bluehost Doesn’t Offer Free Site Transfers
Bluehost does not include site migration. Instead, they charge a hefty fee to migrate your websites. This makes HostGator stand out as an exceptional option for people with existing websites because they transfer domains for free.
Both Bluehost and HostGator include SiteLock CDN with their WordPress plans. What does this mean? That website content is stored globally, leading to fast load speeds for people all over the planet. SiteLock also protects websites from hackers, malware, and viruses.
HostGator appears to be the cheaper host because they cut out the least popular features from their plans. This makes them a great budget option for people who just need the basics.
InMotion Hosting vs. HostGator
If it’s cheap, optimized WordPress hosting you like, look into InMotion Hosting. Their plans come with solid disk space limits. This is good for people who dislike the vagueness of unmetered resources.
SiteGround vs. HostGator
SiteGround is one of the best all-around hosting companies. They provide hosting at all levels — from basic shared to dedicated servers. With them, you can depend upon top-level performance and unparalleled customer service.
Ready to try HostGator?
Remember: HostGator offers a 45-day money-back guarantee. Use our special discount link to get the best possible deal on hosting plans.
Final Thoughts
HostGator is a good choice for those who want a cheap hosting option. Its best feature is the unmetered hosting, which is perfect for a smaller website. The support is also excellent, even if their knowledgebase is a little difficult to navigate.
For larger businesses or those who run higher-traffic sites, there are better options for hosting like InMotion that have been mentioned earlier.
HostGator is a good, solid, easy-to-work-with host nonetheless. Its user-friendliness and good support make it a good choice for smaller sites.
Contributing Editor: Natalie Mootz
Most Popular HostGator Hosting Plans
| Linux Hatchling | Gator Website Builder | Windows Personal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disk Space | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Price | $2.75 / mo (Billed as $2.75 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! | $3.84 / mo (Billed as $2.75 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! | $4.76 / mo (Billed as $2.75 Per Month) ⓘPrices in are approximate, based on current exchange rates. The host will likely charge you in USD, or at a different exchange rate. Usual price: – Get % off! |
| Visit HostGator Now | Visit HostGator Now | Visit HostGator Now |
| Plan | Disk Space | Bandwidth | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux Baby Shared | Unlimited | Unlimited | $4.95 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Hatchling Cloud Cloud | Unlimited | Unlimited | $4.95 / mo Visit Host Now |
| WordPress Starter Shared | Unlimited | $5.97 / mo Visit Host Now | |
| Linux Business Shared | Unlimited | Unlimited | $6.78 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Baby Cloud Cloud | Unlimited | Unlimited | $7.95 / mo Visit Host Now |
| WordPress Standard Shared | Unlimited | $8.77 / mo Visit Host Now | |
| Snappy VPS 500 VPS | 25GB | 5000GB | $8.95 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Aluminium Reseller Reseller | 50GB | 500GB | $9.98 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Copper Reseller Reseller | 80GB | 700GB | $13.98 / mo Visit Host Now |
| WordPress Business Shared | Unlimited | $13.98 / mo Visit Host Now | |
| Windows Enterprise Shared | Unlimited | Unlimited | $14.36 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Silver Reseller Reseller | 120GB | 1000GB | $19.98 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Snappy VPS 1000 VPS | 60GB | 1TB | $25.98 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Diamond Reseller Reseller | 200GB | 1400GB | $39.98 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Snappy VPS 2000 VPS | 120GB | 1.5TB | $41.98 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Snappy VPS 4000 VPS | 165GB | 2TB | $57.98 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Snappy VPS 8000 VPS | 240GB | 3TB | $69.98 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Basic Dedicated Dedicated | 500GB | 10TB | $70 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Gold Reseller Reseller | 160GB | 1200GB | $73.70 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Standard Dedicater Dedicated | 1000GB | 15TB | $88 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Elite Dedicated Dedicated | 1000GB | 20TB | $112 / mo Visit Host Now |
| Pro Dedicated Dedicated | 1000GB | 25TB | $150 / mo Visit Host Now |
HostGator Frequently Asked Questions
- What does it mean when disk space and bandwidth is unmetered?
Unmetered or unlimited resources can be misleading as companies often still place some kind of restrictions on your usage of them. HostGator defines what they consider acceptable use in their terms of service.
Their unmetered disk space and bandwidth is really only enough to run personal websites and small businesses. They state that customers using more than 25% of system resources for more than 90 seconds will be asked to reduce their usage. HostGator may even terminate your access to services if you continue to violate this. - Does HostGator offer dedicated hosting?
Yes. All HostGator offers dedicated hosting plans. They have semi-managed and managed plans with either Linux or Windows operating systems.
- Does HostGator offer VPS hosting?
Yes. HostGator offers three VPS plans starting at $29.95 per month.
- Where is HostGator’s office?
HostGator is headquartered in Houston, TX in the USA.
- Does HostGator offer a reseller hosting plan?
Yes. HostGator offers Linux reseller plans with cPanel and WHM.
- What control panel does HostGator provide?
All Linux plans are set up with cPanel. If you purchase a reseller, VPS, or dedicated hosting plan, you will also be able to use WHM. Windows plans comes with the Plesk control panel.
- Does HostGator offer a free CDN?
No. HostGator used to provide CloudFlare with most plans, but it has discontinued the feature. Linux hosting customers may optionally purchase SiteLock and use its CDN.
- Will HostGator back up my data?
HostGator takes backups once a week, but does not guarantee that they will be made available to customers. For proper coverage, HostGator customers should make their own backup arrangements.
- How many email addresses can I create?
All shared hosting plans come with unlimited email accounts and unlimited disk space. VPS and dedicated servers offer unlimited email accounts, but storage space is limited by the disk size of the chosen plan.
- Does HostGator provide unlimited storage and bandwidth?
Yes. Unlimited storage and bandwidth are provided on shared hosting, including both Linux and Windows plans.
HostGator says that it will only charge overage fees for abnormal usage, which is defined in its Terms of Service document.
- Where are HostGator’s datacenters located?
The company’s datacenters are located in Houston, Texas and Provo, Utah. It uses the CyrusOne Houston West facility and the Ace Data Centers facility, respectively.
- Is there an uptime guarantee at HostGator?
HostGator guarantees 99.9% uptime for shared and reseller plans only. If uptime falls below that figure, HostGator will provide one month’s hosting as a credit on your account.
Dedicated and VPS hosting plans are subject to a separate Network Guarantee, which offers a pro rata credit for eligible downtime.
- Is there a money-back guarantee?
Shared, reseller and VPS plans come with a 45-day money back guarantee. However, HostGator does not provide refunds for all payment types.
Dedicated servers, administrative fees, install fees for custom software, and domain name purchases do not qualify.
Outside of the 45-day guarantee, you may be able to claim a refund for unused months when you cancel, providing you have not violated HostGator’s terms of service.
- Can I pay for my hosting via PayPal?
In addition to major credit cards, customers can also pay via PayPal.
- What is the minimum contract term?
You can pay for your hosting month by month, or pre-pay for one or more years. Some prices are discounted when you pre-pay for one year or longer.
- Do HostGator’s prices increase upon renewal of a contract?
Yes, this is a common thing for hosting companies to do. HostGator offers their cheapest rates for people signing up for longer lengths of time. They give you their most affordable options when you sign up for 36 months. In fact, this is their advertised price. Once your initial term is over, you will be charged at these higher rates. - What kind of security protections are in place?
HostGator offers DDoS protection, custom firewall rules, and mod_security rulesets to prevent network disruption. It has the option of enabling security at the datacenter level to contain the impact of an attack.
- What support options are provided?
Support is provided 24/7. All hosting customers can access email support, live chat and telephone support.
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Sherrie
August 23, 2019
I’ve used HostGator before and found it performed well for my purposes, namely testing sites quickly.
Bronwynne
September 23, 2019
HostGator migrated my site from StudioPress. The migration was free and didn’t come with any major hassles. Support was helpful and knowledgeable throughout. I wasn’t sure which plan was best for my site. I like that the support rep listened to my needs and provided advice on the right plan for me. StudioPress didn’t offer live chat. I never really needed it, but since experiencing live chat with HostGator, I don’t think I’ll consider a host that doesn’t provide support via live chat.
Sherrie
October 12, 2019
That’s good to know. I haven’t used HostGator to migrate a site yet.