HostGator vs. Kinsta

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HostGator
Score 6.8 out of 10
N/A
HostGator, from Newfold Digital (formerly Endurance), is a web hosting service with WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting capabilities.
$2.75
per month
Kinsta
Score 8.6 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Kinsta is a cloud platform used to deploy, host, and manage apps, databases, WordPress, and static sites, boasting 100,000+ successful web projects. Hosted on Google Cloud Platform’s fastest CPU machines on their Premium Tier Network offering 25+ locations. Projects are secured by Cloudflare-integrated DDoS protection and firewall rules. Includes 24/7/365 live chat support boasting an average first response time under two minutes for all paid subscriptions.…
$0
per month
Pricing
HostGatorKinsta
Editions & Modules
Hatchling
$2.75
per month
Baby
$3.50
per month
Business
$5.25
per month
WordPress Hosting - Starter
$35
per month 1 WordPress install, 25,000 monthly visits, 10 GB SSD storage
Application Hosting - Hobby
Starting at $7
per month 0.3 CPU, 0.3GB RAM
Application Hosting - Standard
Starting at $20
per month 0.5 CPU, 1GB RAM
Application Hosting - Memory Optimized
Starting at $35
per month 0.5 CPU, 2GB RAM
Application Hosting - CPU Optimized
Starting at $36
per month 1 CPU, 1GB RAM
Database Hosting
Starting at $18
per month Starting at 0.25 CPU, 256MB RAM, and 1GB Storage
WordPress Hosting - Business
Starting at $115
per month 5 WordPress installs, 100,000+ monthly visits, 30+ GB SSD storage
WordPress Hosting - Agency
Starting at $340
per month 20+ WordPress installs, 400,000 monthly visits, 50+ GB SSD storage
WordPress Hosting - Enterprise
Contact Us
per month 60+ WordPress installs, 1,000,000+ monthly visits, 100+ GB SSD storage
Static Site Hosting
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HostGatorKinsta
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
HostGatorKinsta
Small Businesses
Cloudways
Cloudways
Score 9.5 out of 10
Cloudways
Cloudways
Score 9.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
WP Engine
WP Engine
Score 9.2 out of 10
WP Engine
WP Engine
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Pantheon
Pantheon
Score 8.4 out of 10
Pantheon
Pantheon
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
HostGatorKinsta
Likelihood to Recommend
6.7
(19 ratings)
8.8
(16 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.8
(5 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
HostGatorKinsta
Likelihood to Recommend
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
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.
Read full review
Kinsta
I currently haven't found any scenarios whereby Kinsta is not well suited. Kinsta is suited to a variety of WordPress websites from business brochures to eCommerce. Kinsta's support is second to none, so if you lack technical knowledge, this is a great host to be with, especially if you need Managed WordPress hosting.
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Pros
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
  • 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.
Read full review
Kinsta
  • Developer friendly; WP-CLI; SSH access
  • Amazing support - I never have to wait more than a minute or two to get a response!
  • Kinsta is also willing to troubleshoot issues that are not their own. They don't just say "It's not our problem" without helping to debug the issue.
Read full review
Cons
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
  • 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
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Kinsta
  • No email solution provide resulting in having to find some other solution
  • Some clients find the price point difficult
  • Some clients find the lack of phone support difficult (although we find their online support great)
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Likelihood to Renew
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
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.
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Kinsta
This is an extremely solid hosting product that I have yet to find clients who use it disappointed. I have had clients move from other competitors several times in search of something more reliable and scalable but not after they moved to Kinsta.
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Usability
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
No answers on this topic
Kinsta
Their dashboard is really well layed out and simple to use for most users. I also really appreciate the fact that our clients are able to collaborate with us by granting us access. Their site migration tool is straightforward and painless to use as well!
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Reliability and Availability
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
No answers on this topic
Kinsta
We never had any major downtimes with our service, and I believe that's because it's based in a cloud-based network so therefore our system is being shared amongst multiple points.
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Performance
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
No answers on this topic
Kinsta
As mentioned before the performance was amazing and pages were loading quickly. They also provide other tools to help you improve further.
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Support Rating
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
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.
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Kinsta
They are quick to respond, very knowledgeable and I don't have to be escalated to get my problems resolved quickly. They have an efficient chat system that allows for support requests to be handled quickly and easily picked up by another specialist if the need arises. They are always there when I need them.
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Implementation Rating
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
No answers on this topic
Kinsta
Not really it's a really easy to use system and straightforward!
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Alternatives Considered
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
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.
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Kinsta
GoDaddy is the one that drove me nuts. Downtime, poor performance, abysmal customer service. I switched to Kinsta because they looked like they’d do right everything GoDaddy did wrong (and they have). Hostinger is a company whose services I still use and am pleased with them. Their shared WordPress hosting is a good value and where I put experimental sites and low-traffic things that don’t justify the purchase of better hosting at this time. They also provide good email hosting and customer service has been good. My second-favorite service provider.
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Scalability
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
No answers on this topic
Kinsta
We worked with clients who have major surges of visitor hits on a Buddhist website, and Kinsta was definitely up to the job. They were able to handle this and still provide excellent performance. As well, it was easy to track down other barriers for Google Ratings using their system to further improve the performance of these clients.
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Return on Investment
Newfold Digital (Endurance + Web.com)
  • 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
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Kinsta
  • Our website was up and running in less than a day
  • Despite not doing a huge advertising drive yet (we're still not ready at the moment), we've noticed a steady increase of organic visitors to the site, at least by 30%, which still isn't a lot in overall numbers at the moment, but that is expected
  • Cost is higher, so we've had to separate a budget just for Kinsta
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ScreenShots

Kinsta Screenshots

Screenshot of MyKinsta dashboard