Hostgator Review

Hostgator has been in business since 2002, where it was started out of a dorm room by Brent Oxley. Today, they have more than 225,000 customers and have established a reputation as one of the best web hosting companies online. Known for their unparalleled customer service and rock solid stability, Hostgator also offers affordable prices for all their web hosting plans. Hostgator is currently one of the web hosts I use, so in this Hostgator review let me show you why I choose them.

User Rating
Support
Reliability & Uptime
Features
Value
Overall
Rating: 4.5/5 (28 votes cast)

Website: hostgator.com

Hostgator Hosting Plans

Hostgator offers a wide range different plans. On the low end side are the Hostgator shared hosting plans. Hostgator offers 3 flavors of shared web hosting, the Hatchling, Baby, and Business plans. The Hatchling plan starts at $4.95 a month, but the downside is that you can only use a single domain with this hosting plan. A better option is the Baby plan which allows you to put unlimited domains on your account. At $7.95 a month, this plan is very affordable compared to other web hosts, and I personally use this plan myself.

One nice thing about all the Hostgator plans, is that there are no setup fees and no contracts you have to sign. Just pay month to month for however long you want to keep your hosting. Also, Hostgator offers an industry leading 45 day money back guarantee. Most web hosts only give you a 30 day guarantee so this gives you an ample amount of time to test Hostgator’s services.

Hostgator Customer Support

One aspect where Hostgator really distinguishes itself is in its customer service. Hostgator offers 24/7 support through email, chat and phone. Support tickets are responded to within minutes, and not hours which is very comforting when you’re business relies so heavily on its online presence. The Hostgator chat is really easy to use and probably the most convenient way I’ve found to talk to someone. However, if you like to talk over the phone, the Hostgator toll free phone number is displayed right on the banner for your convenience.

Managing Your Account

Hostgator makes use of the CPanel control panel to help you administer your account. CPanel is probably the most popular control panel and is used by a variety of web hosting companies. It’s fast, user friendly, and quite powerful. You will spend a lot of time in your CPanel, so make sure you familiarize yourself with it. From your CPanel it is quite simple to add additional domain names to your account, create new MySQL databases, and install WordPress on your account through Fantastico. Check out the Hostgator demo CPanel and you can see how it looks for yourself.

Hostgator Special Deals

One really nice thing about Hostgator, is that there are a ton of Hostgator coupons around that can save you money. Use the coupon code JURY and you can get your first month’s hosting for just 1 cent with the Baby Plan. Or use the coupon code BEACH to save 20% on any order. This can save you quite a bit of money if you decide to order a Hostgator VPS or Dedicated Hosting plan.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been with Hostgator for a few years now, and I have many websites hosted on my Hostgator account. The most important thing thing for me about any web host is its stability. I can only think of 1 or 2 times where I’ve experienced any sort of downtime at all with Hostgator which is quite impressive. Compared to Dreamhost, my previous webhost, that is rock solid stability in my book. Plus, I’ve always been pleased with my dealings with the customer service staff. They are fast, and they were very knowledgeable in answering my questions. Overall, I don’t think you can go wrong with choosing Hostgator and I truly believe they are one of the best web hosting companies around. I can’t highly recommend them enough for your business.

—>> Click Here To Visit Hostgator (official site)

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }

Mike September 12, 2010 at 4:27 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

Previously I was with Dreamhost for my other websites but I was sick and tired of my sites constantly going down. I switched over to Hostgator’s Baby plan and I am really happy with it so far. Hostgator support was able to help me transfer all my sites over and it went really smoothly. So far no problems with hostgator at all!

Emma Y September 24, 2010 at 4:37 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I’ve been using Hostgator for many years now, and I think they are a great webhost. I’ve never experienced any significant downtime and everytime I have needed support, the people I’ve talked to have been very courteous and kind. I can’t highly recommend Hostgator enough.

Kinley October 24, 2010 at 4:40 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I host several sites with Hostgator and I’m very happy with them. I’m not very technical so I’ve had to email support several times, and they have always been able to answer my questions satisfactorily. I’ve never experienced any downtime with them in my 2 years with them too *knock on wood*.

Garen January 18, 2011 at 11:35 pm

I have used Hostgator for a number of my sites, and I am always happy when I have a client that uses Hostgator because their tech team is top notch. They go out of there way to help you resolve any issues you might be a having. Needless to say, there uptime and speed is simply amazing. I would recommend that everyone starts using Hostgator because they are truly the best web hosting service! A lot of my developer buddies use them, as well 🙂

Mask IP January 19, 2011 at 5:04 am Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

When I first signed up with Host Gator I had to give them the name of my website that I was planning on hosting with them. I gave them one site name of a few that I planned on using. I did not know at the time that they were going to use this as the base for all of my websites. If had known, I would have picked a different website.

So I called their support line. It seems I’m not the first person that did this. They changed the site to a different domain name. While they were helpful with this, and handled the problem both quickly and efficiently, I still question the need for them to do this in the first place.

I understand that they need a domain name to access the box and the FTP. But what this did was burn one of my domain names so that its harder to use.

Chris January 19, 2011 at 5:13 am: Why do you say it burned your domain name? You can still use this domain name as you would any other one. It just has the added function of being the domain you use to access your control panel as well. All other web hosts do this too btw.
Reply

Brett M January 19, 2011 at 5:18 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I have been using Hostgator for over three years now and have never had any issues. I have used other hosting companies as well and have suffered quite a bit of downtime from those other hosting companies. Not from Hostgator though, Their uptime has been nothing less than remarkable.

I currently have over 20 domains running on Hostgator through two diffferent hosting accounts (to help spread out the IP addresses a little more) and have not had any issues.

As far as “MaskIP’s” comment above, yes, you do have to use one of your domain name’s as the Web Hosting Manager for all of the domain administration for the rest of your domains on certain types of accounts, however, that domain is still a fully functioning domain that you can use the same as any other domain. (I currently have a Wordpress blog setup on mine).

For someone who is just starting out I would only recommend Hostgator.

Alison F. January 19, 2011 at 6:09 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

HostGator is a great hosting service. The best I’ve purchased as far as reliability and value goes. I have multiple websites and HostGator def. gives the best bang for the buck, so to speak. I have used many hosting people in the past, and it adds up to be a lot of money when you have a lot of sites. I would definitely recommend this hosting service to anyone and their unlimited web hosting is the best offer I have used or seen online. If your interested you can actually transfer your current hosting to them at no charge. This is what I did with the websites I currently own.

mirslr January 20, 2011 at 8:22 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

Awesome, awesome web hosting provider. Hostgator has the best support staff ever and that’s important for newbie like me. I have installed my wordpress blog with fantastico and my website was online in less than 30 minutes. I would recommend Hostgator to anyone who wants to start their first website.
Also Awesome service and support! Although it’s been only a few months they have been great. I’ve requested a few server changes and help with set-up on a few occasions and I was able to reach someone immediately and they made all changes within 15 minutes. I couldn’t be happier with this company! Highly recommended!

Scott Luu January 21, 2011 at 12:19 am Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

This is the best hosting service so far for me. I really satisfy with the service and the pricing. Easy to use and transfer files are very easy, that’s why I love Hostgator.

So far I have 5 domains using Hostgator and I feel safe when using this service. I used to use GoDaddy, but Hostgator is better, especially pricing. Hostgator costs a bit more expensive than GoDaddy, but it’s worth the money.

Keep up the good work, Hostgator.

Jane Carlisle January 21, 2011 at 3:00 am Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I have been using this particular web hosting service since 2004 to host numerous websites.

In the past if I have needed further clarification about the service I have had no difficulty contacting customer service.

The service is incredibly easy to use including the sign up procedure. I have not had one negative incident since signing up with the service. The web hosting service is extremely reliable as I have not encountered any significant downtime.

There are a number of great elements such as knowing that they charge a reasonable fee each month. It is great that the web hosting company has a generous data storage capacity. This enables me to increase the number of websites and content available.

I would highly recommend this particular web hosting service to people who are in search of a web hosting company who highly value quality web hosting.

lucy January 22, 2011 at 12:41 am

Hostgator is definately one of my favorite hosting for my websites. I have around 5 sites in varying 3 different microniches. All of which are making me money and all of which are hosted by Hostagator. This is a great hosting for newbies who are just starting out in the whole website scene. The prices are very cheap, by far some of the cheapest I’ve seen in the past years. They also almost always have some sort of special promotion going on with these coupon codes. The support is also really helpful and they get to you quick. which is very helpful. This site is seriously one of the best in this buisness, and I would rate if 5 out of 5 stars. I would definately recommend it

Myindustry January 22, 2011 at 10:18 am Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I needed Fantastico for easy installation of Wordpress – Hostgator had …

I needed 24/7 Support – Hostgator had …

I needed fast speed – Hostgator had 100 Mbps speed !

I need affordable price – Hostgator had the best price !

I hope it create more options for customers, it was the only problem !

Kingsley Adjei January 22, 2011 at 12:22 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

Hostgator was my very first web host. As a newbie, I found the service very simple to use. The signup process was so straightforward it took me only a few minutes to set up.

At this price, I have no complaints whatsoever about the service being provided, and I see no reason why I should look for another web-hosting service. I am looking forward to using this service for a long time!

With my direct debit already set up, payment is effortless, and I get prompt notifications regarding payments received.

As an ongoing user of this service, I benefit a great deal from the monthly newsletter, which I find incredibly valuable. I would never hesitate to recommend Hostgator to both newbies and experienced web-masters!

Murray Ambler-Shattock January 22, 2011 at 11:34 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

During my career I have managed a large amount of websites for my clients and have found Hostgator to be not the cheapest, but certainly the best value of the ‘budget hosts’. Pretty good support levels (under half-hour turnaround) considering the reasonable price levels being paid and whilst the product is not suitable for high demand websites, it is usually adequate for most clients websites in the early growth stages (and definitely more than adequate when starting out). Support will give you the heads up if the site is nearing the permitted bounds or hitting limits and help wherever possible to accommodate the requirements of a rapidly growing site, particularly if you experience seasonal peaks or times of sudden short lived high demand for example. All in all, I am happy to recommend their services and award Hostgater an overall 4/5.

Louise Brook January 23, 2011 at 8:14 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I’ve used Hostgater for a number of years now, not just for my websites but also for numerous clients sites too. They offer a reliable service and neither I or my clients have found any problems with the hosting which they provide. I would recommend the hosting even to newbies as the service that they provide is easy to set up even if your just setting out in having your own site. It’s also one of the cheapest hosting packages that I have found, however this is no reflection on its efficiency as I’ve always found it to be very reliable and that’s important if you want to actually make money from your site.

Jamesnovello January 23, 2011 at 8:21 pm

After swapping and changing through several different different UK Web Hosts for my company website, I decided to try a US based host and went for Hostgator. Compared to my previous Web Hosting companies the service was fantastic, no problems in two years that weren’t dealt with straight away. The best thing being that the great customer support came with an incredibly cheap package, perfectly suited for a small business website.

I’d recommend any UK company that isn’t worried about having a UK based webhost to try Hostgator. For a company with international clients, or a US based company Hostgator is definitely one of the best hosts out there.

Joe Hilton January 25, 2011 at 3:38 am Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I love Hostgator. I originally was using Godaddy. No longer! Hostgator is so much better. They have better features, cheaper, their support team ROCKS, and reliability is NEVER a question! Hostgator is by far superior over every other hosting company.

Manuel Boissiere January 25, 2011 at 6:04 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I have been using hostgator for a year and half , I have a reseller account and spend around 80 dollars a month on hosting. The majority of my sites are hosted with them. The thing I like the most is that their support is just brilliant. Open up a chat window and 24/7 there will be someone to help you out efficiently , you can call them as well but the live chat is enough for me most of the time. Upgrading from whatever plan you are to something bigger is ever so easy and hassle free. I also like the fact that they accept PayPal.
Touch wood, I have never had issues with them so far.

Chris Jensen January 26, 2011 at 4:30 am Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I have personally been with Hostgator.com for just over two years. Being that I have been with them for two years, I must admit that I have never experienced and issues that would have caused me to leave them. I have a few sites that are based on movies and television shows. With these sites, every once in a while I will have really heavy traffic days. The extremely high traffic has caused my sites to crash a couple of times. Luckily, they do contact you via telephone and email immediately if something like this happens, so usually these issues are resolved fairly quickly.

Overall, I would say that for the price, Hostgator does provide a pretty nice product. Unless something crazy happens, I have a feeling I will be with them for quite a while.

Ryan Hippensteel January 26, 2011 at 6:25 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I have used Hostgator for numerous years, and I am always happy when I have a client that uses Hostgator. They go out of there way to help you resolve any issues you might be a having. I have to say there up time and the speed is great. I would recommend that everyone starts to use hostgator because it is just brilliant. Me and my buddys now use this to host.

Abhishek January 27, 2011 at 11:38 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

The first thing that one experience after loading a domain here is the support available from the site, which is splendid, also the hosting of domain is much cheaper and reasonable in term of comparison. It also provides the user with some unique features. They have a good reputation in terms of reliability is concerned, as they provide you with 24/7 online support, even if your hosting crashes or so, they’l contact you immediately and the problems are dealt with efficiently. All cheers to Hostgator!

charles Oyewusi January 30, 2011 at 10:54 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I signed up for Hostgator a couple of weeks ago because of a recommendation from one of the top internet on-line marketers and I have so far not found a fault with their services. I bought my website from Namecheap and I realised that there is a very good chemistry between Hostgator and Namecheap. I did not have to wait for 24hrs to get my website listed on search engine. Everything was connected in minutes of signing up. I intend to recommend Hostgator to all of my friends planning to set up their websites to sell goods in a couple of months.

Phil January 31, 2011 at 5:49 am Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

HostGator is the first web host I have ever tried and so far I love them. They have excellent support and respond to issues very quickly. When I email support I get quick responses and whenever something goes wrong with the server, they are quick to fix it. Their uptime has been pretty good so far. I have only had a few problems where the server was down, or my databases were not working correctly, but those problems were taken care of immediately. The features on their baby plan are good because I am able to get unlimited addon domains so I have multiple sites on this 1 account. The value for this package is at a really good price, but don’t be fooled by their “unlimited” bandwidth/space offer because it is not really unlimited. They have some fine print of what their limits really are. Overall, great host if you need something cheap, and reliable.

Martin January 31, 2011 at 12:03 pm

HostGator has become one of the better known web hosts in the industry by being themselves. Though nothing they do is completely spectacular or unbelievable, they do what they should do. That is, HostGator actually answers their phones, replies to their emails, responds to live chat requests, doesn’t rip you off, and provides quality hosting. It’s actually quite sad that most hosts can’t seem to get these things right, but it’s great for HostGator as they’ve banked on it and it’s translated into success.

Haydn Caddell January 31, 2011 at 9:11 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

I’ve been using Hostgator for a short while, and I think they are a great webhost. I’ve never had any significant downtime and support is great, the people I’ve talked to are very helpful and care about their service. The hosting of domain is very good value compared to other hosts. It also provides the user with some unique features.

Kelly November 26, 2011 at 2:31 pm Support Reliability & Uptime Features Value Overall

Hostgator are great, I’m hosting 8 websites on 1 hosting account and there is no delay or downtime in any of them. I’ve been with them for 6 months and only one problem occurred was that one addon domain didn’t want to resolve, but the support was super fast and fixed it in about 1 hour. If you are looking for performance and reliability this is the host you should choose.

Hostgator Review

Hostgator Hosting Plans

Hostgator Customer Support

Managing Your Account

Hostgator Special Deals

Final Thoughts

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