Are you looking for a reliable web hosting provider? It can be a tough task - there are many different aspects to consider, and even more hosting companies to sort through! Online, however, you will find multiple user HostGator reviews that will tell you that this specific brand might be just what you’re looking for.
What is HostGator, you might ask? Well, if you’ve spent any time researching the best hosting platforms on the current market, this name has surely come up, quite a few times. HostGator is an industry veteran - one of the oldest website hosting providers out there!
Being a veteran, the company has surely earned a reputation of being a reliable option, both for professional website developers, and also beginners in the field. However, who is this hosting service going to be best for? Furthermore, some users talk about HostGator reviews complaints, too - what are they, and should you be worried?
We’ll discuss all of that in the article ahead - stick around!
TL;DR: HostGator is mostly known for providing its users with great uptime statistics, being very beginner-friendly, and also having a long refund period, as a guarantee of user satisfaction with their services. On the flip side, though, many important features are locked behind pricier plans, and HostGator pricing can get pretty expensive, too.
Pros
- Great uptime stats
- Decent site speeds
- Easy to use
- An integrated website builder
- Good customer support
- 45-day refund
Cons
- Pricey
- Many features locked behind a paywall
Table of Contents
- 1. HostGator Reviews: PROS
- 1.1. Great Uptime Statistics
- 1.2. Easy to Use
- 1.3. Praiseworthy Customer Support
- 1.4. 45-Day Refund Policy
- 1.5. Free Site Migration Feature
- 1.6. WordPress and Gator
- 1.7. Good (but Not the Best) Site Speed
- 2. HostGator Review: CONS
- 2.1. Many Things Locked Behind a Paywall
- 3. Pricing
- 4. Conclusions
HostGator Reviews: PROS
As per usual, we’ll start off our HostGator review by discussing the main benefits and features that the hosting provider is known for. Once that’s done, I’ll also tell you about some of the shortcomings that you should be keeping in mind if you decide to use this service, and also the available pricing options, too.
Out of all the benefits that HostGator provides its users, great uptime stats are likely to shine through the most - thus, let’s discuss this first.
Great Uptime Statistics
Without a doubt, uptime is one of the most crucial stats that you should look into before choosing your preferred hosting provider - this is true in this HostGator review, and also with any other similar service, too.
What is “uptime”, you may ask? It’s pretty simple, really - the term refers to the period of time that your website is available to be reached by any visitors that would choose to do so. As opposed to that, downtime would be the stat that showcases the periods of time when your site is down.
Truth be told, the reason why uptime is so important is probably quite self-evident. If your website is down and unable to be reached by anyone, it doesn’t really matter what sort of “cool features” the web hosting provider may offer - it all becomes obsolete, pretty quick.
Evidently, all hosting service providers know this. That’s why, with time, the uptime that these companies boast is becoming more and more consistent, and there’s a sort of an industry standard that is being followed.
Is this also the case with HostGator web hosting, too? Well, yes - the company in question is rather well known for providing its users with some amazing uptime stats.
Thanks to this uptime monitor, below, you can see the estimated uptime of HostGator throughout the year 2020. Turned into numbers, it comes out to be around 99,95% - that's awesome!
The standalone number itself doesn’t really tell us much, though. This is why we have developed an uptime calculator, in order for you to have a better idea of what to expect with each of the different website hosting providers that we discuss. Running the above-given number through our calculator, this is the result:
As you can see, per day, your site may be down for around 40 seconds. Throughout the year, this comes out to be around 4 hours and 20 minutes. While it may sound like much, I urge you to understand that no server out there is perfect - there are malfunctions, maintenance times, and similar circumstances that may lead to such downtimes.
Whatever the case might be, though, as far as this HostGator review is considered, the idea remains the same - the company can definitely boast some great uptime numbers!
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Easy to Use
If you’re a professional webmaster and have dozens or hundreds of websites under your belt, this probably isn’t as important of a feature to you. However, when it comes to beginner web developers and site creators, it’s definitely much-appreciated.
The world of website hosting is a pretty tricky one to figure out, when you’re just starting off - this isn’t really all that much of a secret, either. If you’ve never created a website before, you’ll need to make a lot of important decisions - while picking a website builder and creating a site this way is the simplest method of going about it, there are plenty of alternatives, too.
One of these alternatives involves working with WordPress - the world’s most-popular content management system. In a scenario like this, though, you will not only need to figure WP out (which can be a pretty tricky task, in of itself), but also manually set up the hosting service for your future website, too.
Reading through some user HostGator reviews, it’s clear that this is quite intimidating, for a lot of beginners out there.
Similar to most other high-end hosting platforms, HostGator does try to provide its users with the most enjoyable, straightforward experience possible. In other words, whether you’d like to access HostGator cloud hosting, upgrade your plan, check your Cpanel, or do any other hosting-related activity on your account, you can expect the experience to be very user-friendly.
The platform does also have a significant knowledge base, too. Here, you will find vast amounts of information, ranging through all of the different topics that you might require to get yourself a good head-start.
All in all, most user HostGator reviews are unanimous in this regard - the hosting site is very easy to get started with, and if you’re a complete beginner, you can be sure that there won’t be any struggles with setting up your very first hosting plan for the site that you’re planning to create.
Praiseworthy Customer Support
Whenever discussing hosting - whether it be HostGator web hosting, or any other -, customer support is often considered to be among the “less important” features. Truth be told, this is the same with many other industries, too. I would argue, however, that this should not be the case, and that this feature alone can tell you quite a bit about the brand.
When it comes to web hosting, more often than not, customer support gets overshadowed by things such as uptime and site speed. While the latter two features are obviously crucial for a good hosting platform, they shouldn’t make you forget about other important features, either.
User HostGator reviews are rather positive in regards to the customer support of the site. No matter if you were to purchase HostGator cloud hosting services, or the most-popular option of shared hosting, you would be able to contact the company 24/7, at any given time during the year.
The support agents can be reached via live chat - that’s great! This means that you won’t need to wait for hours or even days on end, just to receive an answer to an important question that you may have.
That’s the other thing, too - the same aforementioned user HostGator reviews also point out that HostGator’s support is very knowledgeable in regards to all things web hosting, and will be able to answer any questions that you may have about their services.
That is, obviously, awesome! Believe it or not, but competent support isn’t as simple to find as you might think - there are quite a few hosting sites out there that employ less-than-informed individuals, and whenever you need some sort of help that even slightly involves the technical side of things, you’ll basically get stuck.
In any case, user HostGator reviews agree on this point pretty unanimously - the support of the platform isn’t only available to be reached at any given point in time, but will also surely be able to help you with any and all inquiries that you might have.
45-Day Refund Policy
Admittedly, this isn’t something that is directly associated with any of the HostGator plans, or is even related to the HostGator web hosting, in general. However, it’s still something that you will find mentioned rather often among other user reviews, and thus, it’s worth addressing, nonetheless.
So - many user HostGator reviews will tell you that the company offers a 45-day money-back guarantee. Essentially, if you’re not satisfied with the services that you will receive, you will be able to get your money back, no questions asked.
Why is this significant, you may wonder? Well, if anything, it just goes to show how confident the company is about its services.
Indeed - while prolonged money-back guarantees are something that you can expect with most high-end web hosting providers, reading through user HostGator reviews, it would seem that there aren’t many brands that would offer you 45 whole days, simply to try things out and “get a feel” for the service.
That’s truly an awesome feature, and the customer wins, either way! Meaning, you will either like the HostGator plans, and will continue to use the service in question, or will simply be able to cancel your subscription, and receive a refund.
Free Site Migration Feature
This is a feature that is probably going to be most useful to anyone who’s already created websites before, and is now simply trying to change their hosting provider.
Making a mistake with a hosting service isn’t unheard of - there are quite a few brands out there that will reel you in with some dazzling offers, only to come up with hidden fees later on. Even worse, user HostGator reviews will tell you that you might also come across services that fake their statistics, and start taking things downhill once when you make your initial payments.
Naturally, you would want to get away from these brands as soon as possible. However, what if you’ve already invested a lot of time and energy into building a fully-fledged website on their hosting service?
Well, this is where HostGator plans come in to save the day. While the situation might be different with the HostGator cloud hosting plans, with the shared hosting service (the most popular option, basically), you will be able to transfer one website in the first 30 days of purchase, from some other platform straight to HostGator’s servers.
If you’re not a tech-savvy individual, don’t worry - HostGator’s got your back here, too. The company’s earlier discussed support personnel will help you with all of the site transferring wants and needs - you’ll be able to sort things out in no time, and continue building, shaping, and maintaining your website with HostGator.
WordPress and Gator
Finding a reliable website hosting service is all fine and dandy, sure, but what about the process of actually building the site that you’d like?
Well, in most cases, people choose to go the website builder route. Reading through user HostGator reviews, you will quickly learn that this is the most-appreciated way of going about it if you’re a complete beginner in the field, and have never created any websites prior.
Why is that the case? Well, simply because of the fact that, if you choose to find a high-end website builder, you won’t need to worry about hosting - it’s usually integrated into the builder’s plans, and thus, the company behind the site creation tool takes care of this aspect for you.
Having said that, though, what if you want to have a bit more control over the way that your site functions, and would like to choose a reliable and trustworthy hosting provider for yourself? Well, you could simply read through some HostGator plans comparisons, pick it as your hosting service of choice, and utilize the features of WordPress.
As mentioned already, WordPress is the most popular website building tool in the world. It has a pretty steep learning curve, but is very rewarding to learn how to use, at the same time. User HostGator reviews will tell you that the content management system in question is available with the hosting provider.
Once again, what if you’re not really interested in learning how to use WordPress, and don’t even know the first thing about programming, in general, HostGator does have an alternative - the Gator website builder!
That’s right - HostGator has a native website builder service that it offers to all of its users. The builder is very simple to use, and provides users with all of the core features that they might need in order to get their site up and running smoothly. If you’re interested, you can read more about it here.
In any case, both WordPress and the Gator website builder are available with the different HostGator plans. Definitely worth keeping in mind!
Good (but Not the Best) Site Speed
Site speed is one of the most important features of a reliable website hosting service. To be completely frank with you, this is also a feature that confidently put in the pro section of this HostGator review, granted that the company does actually do a pretty good job at it.
So, then… Why is it “not the best”, if that’s the case?
Well, simply due to the fact that there have been hosting providers that offer better site speed stats.
Site speed measures multiple different factors, but in very simple terms, it simply refers to the period of time of just how fast your website loads for the visitor to be able to fully interact with it. It’s an absolutely important factor both when it comes to retaining visitors, and also optimizing your website for Google and other search engines, from an SEO perspective.
Admittedly, it is a bit of a double-edged sword. While your hosting provider is going to be one of the core, determining factors when it comes to site speed, there’s a lot of responsibility involved on your end of the deal, too! If you don’t work to optimize your website according to all of the proper recommendations of webmasters and SEO specialists, well… No hosting service out there is going to help you, then.
Reading through various user HostGator reviews, it would seem that, in the last year, HostGator could boast an average site speed of about 750 - 850ms. In the grand scheme of things, that’s very impressive!
At the same time, though, there are hosting services out there that offer sub-400ms site loading speeds, too. Sure, it’s an intricate point to discuss, but the general idea still stands true!
It’s worth mentioning, though, that if you’re just planning to create a simple, non-complicated website, HostGator site speed statistics are definitely going to be enough, so don’t sweat it!
HostGator Review: CONS
Now that we’ve discussed all of the main benefits and features of the hosting service in question, you should have a pretty good idea of what you’d receive if you were to choose it as your go-to hosting provider.
That said, though, there are still some HostGator reviews complaints that need to be addressed, too. While the complaints that users have concerning the platform aren’t necessarily game-breaking, they are still notable, and should be considered before you make a decision.
Many Things Locked Behind a Paywall
If you were to read through some HostGator plans comparisons, you would find that all of the plans available with this hosting provider come with the essential features that you might need in order to get your site up and running.
These features include things like WordPress installation, domain name registration, unlimited bandwidth, free SSL certificate, and free site transfer, if you need it.
That’s all great, sure - however, one of the biggest HostGator reviews complaints that individuals seem to point out online is the fact that the hosting service has actually locked a lot of important features under additional paywalls.
These features would include things such as SiteLock, a business email address, backups, and even SEO tools.
Evidently, this might not be too big of an issue… If there wouldn’t be other hosting providers that offer all of these things for free, with either of their plans that you would purchase.
That is, admittedly, not ideal. If you’re just planning to play around and build your first or second website, the above-mentioned features might not be as important. However, if you’re serious about creating websites, are doing so for a living, or are planning to start a business, evidently, HostGator is going to tap into your budget more than you’d initially think.
On top of that, the other pricing-related issue that multiple HostGator reviews express is the fact that the plans seem to become quite a bit pricier after your first year of using HostGator’s services.
This is, admittedly, nothing out of the ordinary - many hosting providers do this “trick”, since they bet on the fact that you won’t be too willing to change your service provider, granted that you’ve been using them for around a year at this point. The fact that it’s common practice, though, doesn’t mean that you should be happy about it.
In short, anyone looking into HostGator plans comparisons should be aware that there are a lot of additional fees included with the hosting service in question, if you want to have and run a fully-functional website (business). Evidently, the additional fees aren’t necessarily all that high, but they do add up, nonetheless.
Pricing
Finally, let’s take a look at the pricing options of this HostGator review. While this is a separate section of the review, altogether, it’s worth mentioning that it does kind of fall into the CON part of the article, too. Let’s see why that’s the case.
If you were to check out some HostGator plan comparisons, and would concentrate on the shared hosting plans, you would quickly find out that the pricing options for these plans are, as follows:
The Hatchling plan is mostly aimed at individuals who are just starting out, and want to check out what is web hosting, in general. If you’ve never created a site before, and would like to try out working with WordPress, this is going to be the plan for you! It includes a free SSL certificate, free domain name, a simple WordPress installation, and so on.
The Baby plan has all of the same features as the Hatchling plan, but it allows you to create an unlimited number of websites. Evidently, this makes it a viable option for anyone who’s doing it professionally, or even a more-experienced user who might need multiple sites for some specific purpose that they might have.
Finally, the Business plan is aimed at individuals who want to do just that - create an online business! The plan includes all features of the Hatchling and Baby plans, and also some free SEO tools, a dedicated IP address, and more.
So… What’s the general sentiment among user HostGator reviews concerning the pricing options of these three shared hosting plans? Well, truth be told - the plans are actually quite pricey!
It does, admittedly, depend on your point of reference. If you were to take the industry average, and compare HostGator pricing with that, then the plans are somewhere in the middle.
However, if you were to compare that same HostGator pricing with that of, say, Hostinger (likely the most affordable hosting service on the current market), then, well, ya - HostGator suddenly doesn't seem all that affordable.
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Conclusions
To finish things off, but a single question is left to answer - is HostGator web hosting a service that’s worth checking out, or even using, long-term?
Yes - as far as this HostGator review is concerned, the hosting provider in question is definitely one of the top-rated services on the current market!
Sure, HostGator does have some quirks - there are a lot of important features that need to be purchased separately from the main plans, and the HostGator pricing isn’t on the low end, in general.
That being said, though, the company does truly offer great value for your money - the uptime stats are great, it’s simple to use, has a built-in website builder that you can use instead of WordPress, and has very decent site speeds statistics, too!
Table: Comparison between the Hostgator, Squarespace, and Zyro website builders
If you’re interested in creating a website, but aren’t sure that going the hosting-building path is the right way for you, do check out some of the best website builders on the market - most of them have built-in hosting services, so you’ll be able to skip through all of the hassle and get straight to the good part!
With that, I thank you for reading this HostGator review, and wish you good luck in all of your site creation ventures to come!