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HostGator is a web hosting company from Houston. It was founded in 2002 and it also has offices in Austin, Texas and India. In 2012 it was sold to Endurance International Group, for 225 million dollars.
HostGator offers shared hosting, VPS, dedicated, reseller hosting services and it hosts over 9 million domains.
The shared hosting comes with 3 plans and they are all affordable, as far as we are concerned.
The Hatchling Plan is $3,95/month and includes a single domain, one click installs and unmetered bandwidth.
The Baby Plan can be purchased for $5,95/month and offers unlimited domains, one click installs and, again, unmetered bandwidth.
The Business Plan also starts from $5,95/month, since it now has a 60% discount, and it includes unlimited domains, one click installs, unmetered bandwidth, private SSL and dedicated IP.
Reseller hosting also offers 3 plans to choose from: Aluminum, Copper and Silver, with prices ranging from $19,95/month for Aluminum (60 GB disk, 600 GB Bandwidth and unlimited domains) to $24,95/month for Silver (140 GB disk, 1400 GB bandwidth and unlimited domains).
If you are interested in their VPS packages, be prepared to pay somewhere between $19,95/month (2 GB RAM, 120 GB disk space, 1, 5 TB bandwidth) and $39,95/month (8 GB RAM, 240 GB disk space, 3 TB bandwidth).
Dedicated hosting comes with 4 plans: Basic, Standard, Elite, Pro.
The Basic Plan starts at $79/month and includes 4 GB RAM, 0.5 TB disk (RAID-1) and 10 TB bandwidth.
The Pro Plan is the most expensive one and starts from $129/month. It includes 16 GB RAM, 1 TB disk (RAID-1) and 25 TB bandwidth.
For more information on all their hosting services, please access this link: https://www.hostgator.com/
One particular feature of HostGator is their 45 day money back guarantee. While most web hosting providers offer a standard of 30 days, HostGator was generous enough to extend that period with 15 more days.
Regarding the software they use and compatibility issues, HostGator uses a cPanel that is pretty easy to administrate, QuickInstall for apps and CMSs such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and so on, PHP, MySQL, SSH access and many others.
Once you sign up, your account activation will take about one or two days. HostGator throws in a free website builder (Weebly) with all the tools you need, over 4,000 templates that help you easily design your website and $200 Google Adwords, Yahoo and Bing credits.
HostGator also offers the option of Cloud Hosting, with plans starting from $7,16/month. Among the Cloud Features they mention the integrated caching, designed and optimized for an increased speed and an intuitive dashboard.
For customers using Wordpress, the company offers optimized hosting services, with prices starting at $5,95/month and a free migration service. Daily backups and unlimited storage are included in all the available packages.
When it comes to security, HostGator includes Spam Assassin in all their plans, so customers don't have to worry about junk mail. Although basic plans don't come with a private SSL or a dedicated IP, they do include a shared SSL that will make your online transactions safer.
They also mention instant backups among their services, but do have in mind that those are just manual, by default backups, available in the cPanel. If, however, you want automated backups, they will cost you an additional $15,95/year.
The shared hosting comes with 3 plans.
The Hatchling Plan is $3,95/month.
The Baby Plan can be purchased for $5,95/month.
The Business Plan also starts from $5,95/month.
HostGator guarantees a 99,9% uptime rate and they even have a clause in their Terms Of Service that ensures one month of credit for their customers, in case they fail to keep their promise. So if your 'shared or reseller server has a downtime that falls short of the 99.9% uptime guarantee, you may receive one month of credit on your account'. Tests confirm that they pretty much manage to deliver that uptime score, with 99,99% uptime in a time frame of 30 days.
Phone: (866) 964-2867
Local: (713) 574 – 5287
International: 00+1+713-574-5287
This is one aspect in which HostGator definitely needs some improvement. While the company offers customer service in all the standard forms: phone, live chat, email and tickets, its quality doesn't always rise to your expectations.
Live chat seems to take too long in terms of response times, varying from 15 to 30 minutes, which is way too long for anyone. Once you finally get someone's attention though, the staff seems to be friendly enough and helpful.
Other than that, their customer support is 24/7 and they do have plenty of tutorials and solid FAQ pages that can get you out of a jam.
Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.
By: Kelly | Last updated April 12, 2017 
