In this era of the digital world, every other person wants to take his brand on the internet. When it comes to having a website, hosting is all you need.
The word ‘hosting’ may remind you of many ads you see about Hostgator.com, with a fun alligator logo, while working on the internet.
For many people, Hostgator is the most valuable hosting platform, whereas some would review it as quite a waste of time. Today, let’s figure out if it is a fantastic platform or just a not-so-good one.
Hostgator Review
Hostgator is renowned amongst a few of the best web hosting providers worldwide.
It has been around for more than 17 years and, since then, has made its mark in the market of hosting service providers.
However, before digging deeper into Hostgator review, let me tell you one thing, it isn’t easy but once you get to know how it works, it would become your favorite.
What is HostGator?
As aforementioned, HostGator is one of the leading companies renowned for web hosting and other related services. This company was founded in the year 2002 at Florida Atlantic University by Brent Oxley with a view of providing every web-related service to the people who were finding it difficult to enter the cyber world.
It became famous for its services, including Shared Hosting, Reseller, VPS, and Dedicated web hosting. At present, HostGator has its headquarters in Houston, Austin, Texas, and other international destinations.
In 2012, it expanded its international reach and inaugurated its office in Mumbai and Bangalore. Furthermore, it became an honest Host-in-India brand by the year 2016 due to its global performance and excellent grip in its services.
Since the commencement of HostGator, the company has been awarded for its expertise. Some of its great achievements include Editor’s Choice (2016), Best Web Hosting for Business (2016) by WPBeginner, and Best Host to Grow With (2016) by Hosting Advice.
By looking at its achievements and more than 8 million users worldwide, it is clear how outstanding this platform is for finding solutions to web-related issues.
What services does HostGator offer?
HostGator has obtained the reputation of the world-leading web-hosting provider, increasing its services and goodwill year by year. All this is possible because of its brilliant services. Hence, in this HostGator review let’s spot what services it provides that have made it a favorite place for millions of users.
- Linux Shared hosting
- Window Shared Hosting
- Open Source Web Hosting
- WordPress Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- Linux Reseller Hosting
- Window Reseller Hosting
- VPS Server Hosting
- Linux Dedicated Server
- Window Dedicated Server
- Managed Dedicated Server
- Domain services like transfer, registration, and lookups.
- Website security such as SSL Certificate, CodeGuard, and Sitelock.
- Email Services, including Business email and G Suite Google cloud.
With the help of these excellent services, HostGator helps you to take your business online with ease. From affordable hosting plans, reasonable domain names, and security, HostGator has everything you need to have a safe and active company.
Pricing
One of the best things about HostGator is its cost. Yes, the plans provided by this platform are very pocket-friendly and cost-effective. Within $2.75 per month, you can get access to the starter plan with HostGator.
In case you do not have a domain name, you can register it for free with HostGator with any annual plan.
Users will get discount offers according to the time they are purchasing the hosting plan. For instance, if you are buying the plan for five years, you will get 50% off, whereas if you are willing to host with Hostgator for 2 or 3 years, you get 30% off and so on.
Performance
There are millions of users, like me, who have hosted their websites with HostGator just because of its remarkable performance.
Well, after all, it is renowned as one of the leading hosting providers with excellent performance.
Without any detailed optimization, the server was pre-configured to offer amazing performance grade on GTmetrix.
Going into the depth of HostGator’s performance, I have found that it has a great page loading time. Besides, it offers 99.98% uptime that determines the time hosting takes to keep the site running.
Control Panel
Along with the HostGator package, you will get access to two different sections. One is the Customer portal, and the other one is C-Panel. Both the areas have various login details, and anyone who has access to just c-panel cannot log in to the customer portal where all your personal information and billing details are mentioned.
On the other hand, if someone has customer portal details, they can simply use the c-panel of your website.
The customer portal provided by HostGator is super amazing. It is always up-to-date with a pretty design, user-friendly options, and navigate performance. Everything you want to see about your website will be found in this one place.
You can simply manage your hosting plans, domain name, track your billing information, and upgrade anytime you want. In the dashboard, you will come across a new option called ‘Emails and office’ where you can purchase your professional email and other business tools for a better market image.
The c-panel of HostGator will allow you to manage files, domains, emails, databases, offers, security software, and even advanced settings. Moreover, it will enable you to install apps with one-click installations and beautiful themes, designs, and other professional services.
Overall, the C-panel and a customer portal work marvelously without compromising with the personality and the design of the website.
How to use it?
Working with HostGator is not as difficult as most of you might think. Within a few clicks, you can start working on your website and create your own internet space. To know how it works, let’s dig a little deeper into the process.
- Visit HostGator website and on the home screen, click on the login button on the top right corner. Register your account with the platform via Google and Facebook. Once it is done, come back to the home page and click on the ‘get started now’ button that will take you straight to the plans.
- The plans are based on the regional traffic one wants to attract. If you want more audience from the Indian Market, then click on the Indian flag. If you are a bit confused about selecting the most suitable plan, I suggest that you go for the starter plan because you can upgrade it anytime you want.
- Later, an option will pop-up that asks you about your domain name. If you already have a domain name, click on yes and mention it. Otherwise, click on No, and it will take you to the domain registration page.
- Mention your desired domain name, find the most suitable one, and proceed further with the payment.
- After you submit your billing details, you can add additional services from HostGator, which include protection from hackers, professional email, and backup maintenance.
- Once payment is completed, you will be directed to the thank you page. Then, HostGator will email you your login credentials to get access to your c-panel.
- Click on the login link shared on your email and use the ID and password to log in. As you log in, you enter the customer portal of HostGator.
- Now click on ‘create a website.’ On the next page, click on the ‘get started’ button that will take you to the frontend page. If you want your website to work with WordPress, install it, and start working on your c-panel.
Security/SSL
HostGator is a renowned web hosting platform, and one of the major reasons behind a huge fan following is the security for your website and personal information.
As aforementioned, there are two different sections in your hosting plans, i.e., your customer portal and the other C-panel.
You can install an SSL certificate on your website right from the customer portal, without logging into the cPanel.
As far as the website’s security is concerned, HostGator provides several ways to protect your work from harmful activities of the internet. There are options like SSL certificate, protection from hackers, and website prevention from ethical hacking.
Customer support system
Right at the Hostgator website’s homepage, you can see a note that says 24/7 support available. Yes, like everybody else, I also faced some issues and problems while operating the website. However, when I referred to this issue with the company’s support system, I got an instant response.
I clicked on the chatbox and started talking about the issues I was facing. Within a few seconds, I got connected with a member of the customer care department. The team offered me to rectify the problem, and in about a few minutes, I received my answer.
Nonetheless, if HostGator does not match your expectations and requirements, you can ask for your money back within 45 days of making the payment.
In a nutshell, even though there are various options to contact the team, such as email and phone calls, you might not also use them because their chat option is speedy and surprisingly comfortable.
Pros
- Low price and no overcharging of services.
- Excellent privacy as you can get access to the customer portal and website C-panel separately.
- Easy to set up the website.
- Incredible security for the site because with an extra cost, you can simply make your website as secure as you
- want it to be.
- Magnificent performance with page loading time and uptime.
- Fantastic support system with 24/7 customer care facilities with a fast response.
- A fantastic option to keep your website away from hacking.
- Forty-five days money-back guarantee.
- Excellent platform for starter websites.
- Free site migration
- Multiple payment methods.
Cons
- A newbie or person with the least technical knowledge might have to go through some tutorials to set up a HostGator website.
- You need to optimize the website functions and evaluate things because there are many pre-installed things that you might not need.
- No free domain with any plan
- Restoration of backups requires extra charges.
- Asks for additional pay for extra services such as professional email, backups, and security.
- Not the best option for big business websites.
- No free SSL certificate for the basic plans
My review of Hostgator
In this HostGator review, I conclude it is a cheap but brilliant platform to host your website. What I liked the most is the support system it provides for a fantastic user experience. However, the HostGator website installed with WordPress comes with many pre-installed features that you need to optimize. This is because many of these functions are not something many of you require.
After a little evaluation, you will notice better performance and better respond to the website faster. So, make sure you use what you require, and you are good to go.
Comparison with others
Hostgator and GoDaddy are two of the leading web hosting platforms, but their services and user-experience vary from each other.
However, GoDaddy is pretty expensive compared to HostGator, which has a lot to offer with a minimal price range. Moreover, when we compare uptime and page loading time, HostGator is much faster than GoDaddy and its alternatives. Imagine how amazing it is.
Conclusion
In this Hostgator review, we have checked what this hosting company is offering, the plans, support, and other important website building aspects.
No matter how many hosting platforms exist on the internet, HostGator will always have its mark on the market as one of the leading and user-friendly platforms. Try this out and see how amazing it can be.
