Create Website Builder vs. Google Domains vs. HostGator

[Google Domains is] very simplistic and easy to use, so it's very straightforward to register a new domain but it doesn't have some features that other services provide. Also, the integration with other Google Services and domain search tool is amazing.

Incentivized

HostGator for email, domain and website hosting--delightful, 100% satisfied! Have always had ample capacity for company email needs, features work well. I have used it off and on for several organizations since 2011. HostGator website building is fairly straightforward, although I wouldn't recommend it for first-time web designing. The pluses on the HostGator website builder: great-looking themes, adequate webpage capacity, really cool scrolling capabilities, which trends well now. Easier than building a WordPress website from scratch, which can also be done for free in HostGator. I'd say it's limited compared to feature-rich WP, but it designs as nicely as Wix.

Incentivized

• Process of buying a domain with Google Domains is easy
• Payment was simple - can use Google Wallet and other forms of payment.
• After purchase, you can quickly build a website with one of their partners.
• Email forwarding add-on for free.

Incentivized

• The pricing is a big feature for this hosting company
• Every three years when the hosting contract is coming to an end, they offer a reduced fee to upgrade your server plan, which is more cost effective than renewing at the regular rate for whatever plan you're currently using.
• The customer service workers are professional and friendly.

• Google Domains is pretty good at pre-solving email faux pas such as reply all mishaps. Perhaps a built-in email monitoring tool such as knowing when a customer opens up an email would be good. You can get these features with integrations, but what if it was an internal Google product? Might be nice
• Email masking was a bit difficult to figure out, but nothing you can't discover with a few Google sessions.
• I wish I could see more insight into time zones that my customers are in, or scheduling calls on Gcal with timezone awareness. I know this is super hard to code around though.

Incentivized

• Support could be better, it takes a long time to connect with somebody
• You need to pay extra for a backup you can rely on
• SiteLock is sold separately, but did not help when we were hacked
• Site seems to slow down from time to time

Incentivized

Unless the product goes away, I'll continue using it.

Incentivized

Because we have in house technical support to compensate the lack of quality HostGator tech support, and because the price continues to be affordable the business is likely to continue using HostGator. They provide what the business needs and we have in house support to maintain it.

Because it is intuitively easy to use, like all of their products. The integration with other apps works seamlessly, and you can have a professional website within hours, rather than days, as with most hosting companies. The templates on the website builder for just about every business make it so simple that even I can do it!

Incentivized

I've never actually had to use support because everything has been very straightforward and I have not had a glitch. I have used Google's support for other items so I can only imagine that it's probably the same support which is decent. They do take a while to get back to you.

Incentivized

While you will get support from HostGator, it seems to be a different level from 8-10 years ago. It may take 15-20 minutes to get someone on chat, and unless you follow up, I've found followup email support to take a couple of days. If you stick with it, though, you will get support, and I've never had a problem they couldn't help with.

Incentivized

GoDaddy is great, but what I really like about Google Domains when compared to GoDaddy is the ease of centralization. Our email, calendar, accounts, domain, etc was all handled in one place and that made things really easy. You could also access domains easily and quickly by being logged into your email, instead of worrying about yet another log in.

Incentivized

I prefer HostGator over GoDaddy. HostGator does have better and more reliable customer support, and the user interface and user experience are overall much more friendly and easier to use. GoDaddy does have downtime associated with their hosting in my experience, but I have not experienced that with HostGator.

Incentivized

• Being able to host my URL with Google Domains is one less thing I have to worry about in my writing career.
• I'm sure having my URL, which is my name, with Google Domains also helps people find me via Google's search engine.
• Its ease of integration with other Google products, especially Google Apps for Business, is a huge plus for marketing and day-to-day work.

Incentivized

• Usage of resale options easily quadrupled the money I was spending on HostGator
• Trust in the host has to be earned, and HostGator has not retained that for me -- it will be a while before I feel confident in their uptime again
• Overall, HG has been a positive impact on my business as a web developer

Incentivized