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HostGator is a web hosting service with WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting capabilities.https://dudodiprj2sv7.cloudfront.net/product-logos/f7/2r/45Q98ZU77PL6.pngHostGator will Eat You Up and Spit You Out, but will do it with friendly and professional support.HostGator provides the company with internet hosting. The company started using HostGator several years ago on a shared server, and gradually upgraded to a dedicated server. It hosts my website, and the websites of some clients. It was chosen based on price, as the business owners were capable of providing their own tech support.,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.,The technical support is very deficient. If you are going to be relying on your host for all things technical, HostGator isn't a great choice for you. They're professional and friendly, but when you actually run into an issue, it will be a challenge to resolve. During the latest server upgrade HostGator was to handle the migration of all sites on our Windows based server over to the new Linux based server. While doing so, the technicians left open a gap for hackers to infiltrate the old server which was then partially encrypted with ransomeware. A half a dozen sites hadn't yet been fully migrated at that point. HostGator said nothing about not finishing the migration - we figured it out when specific sites weren't working properly. They then said it wasn't possible to migrate them. Fortunately, one of the business owners had the technical capability to migrate 4 of the 6, and then rebuilt the two that were lost. Unless you have a solid technical background, you're going to be disappointed with HostGator. They often can't determine the cause of technical issues, or claim it's impossible to fix the issues. However, the business partner always ends up solving the issues.,1,HostGator has provided the business with affordable hosting. HostGator has offered great financial incentives (through special pricing on contract renewals) for upgrading every three years, which means our sites have been hosted on increasingly better, faster servers, which improves customer satisfaction (no waiting on page load speeds). HostGator's lack of quality tech support has meant the business owners have had to do more technical troubleshooting when there have been issues rather than focussing on some other aspect of the business.,,Yoast Wordpress SEO Plugins, Slack,3,1,HostGator provides the business with server hosting on a dedicated server. The server is used to host the business websites and client sites, ranging in size from small charity groups to an international organization. The server is also used as a staging area when developing new sites or new site features for clients who have their own hosting. That way the new features and changes can be fully tested prior to releasing to the clients.,I don't think the business has used HostGator in unexpected or innovative ways. It's server hosting, and we've used it for that purpose. The biggest standout feature is the price point, which is why the business keeps using this provider.,The use of their servers won't change over time. The business has contracted with them to provide a server, and that's the extent of the need. In the future, providing the rates continue being at the right price point, the business will likely continue to upgrade the servers every few years.,8A very good choice for shared cloud hostingI used HostGator to host my most important websites. I chose HostGator because it is one of the most popular hosting services. It offers a very affordable cloud hosting service which is faster and more reliable than traditional shared hosting. I used several hosting plan types on HostGator. I like the Business Cloud hosting the best because it offers hosting for unlimited websites and unlimited bandwidth.,HostGator is a very reputable company. So you know that your website is in good hands. They have one of the most affordable cPanel cloud hosting services that you can find. The speed of HostGator's hosting is pretty fast. And little to no downtime.,The hosting dashboard is always slow for me. And it's hard to navigate around. Not providing free SSL certificates and not allowing installation of free SSL certificates are big minuses for me The pricing is not straightforward.,6,The business cloud plan only provides one free SSL certificate. If you want to add another free SSL certificate to another domain, the fee is $10. If you want to use HostGator's SSL certificate, it is going to be around $50 a year, which is really expensive because nowadays you can easily get an SSL certificate for free. We were very happy with HostGator until we needed another SSL certificate for another domain. Hosting on HostGator give us a peace of mind. We don't need to worry about our website crashing down. The Business Cloud plan is basically unlimited. So we didn't need to worry about hitting the limits.,DigitalOcean and SiteGround Web Hosting,Zenkit, Tallyfy, TrelloHostGator is good, but they'll upsell you when you call for supportWe use HostGator to host our website, and to provide automated backups of the website. We get our SSL certificate through them, and also have their SiteLock add-on for providing an additional piece of security. To manage the site, we use their cPanel interface. Until about a year ago, we also had them hosting our email addresses but we migrated off of that plan, and retained only the website services.,A simple backup is included at no cost Haven't experienced any downtime for 2 years Uses cPanel, which is familiar and easy to work with,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,3,The basic plan we were sold was not enough for us, so we had to re-work our budget Having a website with our own domain has increased sales and visibility,GoDaddy,Google Analytics, OnForce, RMail Services, Open Dental SoftwareGood product for starting your businessI have been using HostGator for my business and personal domain for well over 10 years. I use HostGator's services for my website, emails, Moodle platforms, and custom projects. I've set the members as well to use their services. I have also used HostGator to manage my domains. Their service has been solid and reliable.,Setup and management is easy. Customer and Technical Support is fantastic. Prices are reasonable.,I use a shared server and I've had some confusion with setting up a unique IP. It didn't perform as expected. My website has been hacked a few times and HostGator had no alarms in place to notify me. I've had some email issues where my emails were blocked from some servers. But I don't do SPAM. And HG was unable to help me figure out the reason.,7,HostGator's introductory pricing does offer an easy entry and lots of functionality. After the introductory period expires, prices go way up. Customer service is very good, both via telephone and chat.,Bluehost, SiteGround Web Hosting and GoDaddy,QuickBooks Online, Google Analytics, Hootsuite ProDon't Go With A Start Up - Go with HostGatorWe use HostGator for our current website and hosting and for over one hundred client's hosting and servers. It solves the hosting problem of our clients. They need quality hosting and HostGator provides this. They also have servers that have a great price and high quality. You can't go wrong.,Hosting Servers Customer Service,Hackers can slide in and they take a while to catch those. Or at least update you that someone tried to hack.,10,Positive return on investment,Bluehost,GoDaddy, AdWords, Google Analytics
  3. HostGator Reviews
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HostGator
22 Ratings
Score 6.2 out of 101
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HostGator Reviews

HostGator
22 Ratings
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Score 6.2 out of 101
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October 29, 2018

Review: "HostGator will Eat You Up and Spit You Out, but will do it with friendly and professional support."

Verified User
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HostGator provides the company with internet hosting. The company started using HostGator several years ago on a shared server, and gradually upgraded to a dedicated server. It hosts my website, and the websites of some clients. It was chosen based on price, as the business owners were capable of providing their own tech support.
  • 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.
  • The technical support is very deficient. If you are going to be relying on your host for all things technical, HostGator isn't a great choice for you. They're professional and friendly, but when you actually run into an issue, it will be a challenge to resolve.
  • During the latest server upgrade HostGator was to handle the migration of all sites on our Windows based server over to the new Linux based server. While doing so, the technicians left open a gap for hackers to infiltrate the old server which was then partially encrypted with ransomeware. A half a dozen sites hadn't yet been fully migrated at that point. HostGator said nothing about not finishing the migration - we figured it out when specific sites weren't working properly. They then said it wasn't possible to migrate them. Fortunately, one of the business owners had the technical capability to migrate 4 of the 6, and then rebuilt the two that were lost.
  • Unless you have a solid technical background, you're going to be disappointed with HostGator. They often can't determine the cause of technical issues, or claim it's impossible to fix the issues. However, the business partner always ends up solving the issues.
HostGator is well suited to those on a smaller budget and or those who can provide their own in-house tech support. It is not suitable for the tech-illiterate who need more than just simple basic hosting for a small site.
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August 08, 2018

HostGator Review: "A very good choice for shared cloud hosting"

Verified User
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
I used HostGator to host my most important websites. I chose HostGator because it is one of the most popular hosting services. It offers a very affordable cloud hosting service which is faster and more reliable than traditional shared hosting. I used several hosting plan types on HostGator. I like the Business Cloud hosting the best because it offers hosting for unlimited websites and unlimited bandwidth.
  • HostGator is a very reputable company. So you know that your website is in good hands.
  • They have one of the most affordable cPanel cloud hosting services that you can find.
  • The speed of HostGator's hosting is pretty fast. And little to no downtime.
  • The hosting dashboard is always slow for me. And it's hard to navigate around.
  • Not providing free SSL certificates and not allowing installation of free SSL certificates are big minuses for me
  • The pricing is not straightforward.
If you are looking for a reputable hosting provider with a proven track record, then HostGator is going to be a good choice. Also HostGator is very good if you're not so technical. Their dashboard, even though it is a bit slow, is pretty self-explanatory. They have add-on upsells everywhere, but if that doesn't bother you, then it is going to be a good choice.
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Dan Gospe profile photo
June 05, 2018

Review: "HostGator is good, but they'll upsell you when you call for support"

Dan Gospe
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use HostGator to host our website, and to provide automated backups of the website. We get our SSL certificate through them, and also have their SiteLock add-on for providing an additional piece of security. To manage the site, we use their cPanel interface. Until about a year ago, we also had them hosting our email addresses but we migrated off of that plan, and retained only the website services.
  • A simple backup is included at no cost
  • Haven't experienced any downtime for 2 years
  • Uses cPanel, which is familiar and easy to work with
  • 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
HostGator is cheap and will host your website and the users of your email. However, we did run into some issues over the years.

They sold us SiteLock, which is supposed to be an extra layer of security. We had it for a while, when our site was hacked. When I called HostGator they said that the SiteLock plan we had wasn't the right one to protect you, so they tried to upsell me on more SiteLock. This was very frustrating, as our site was down due to hacking and we were seen as a sales opportunity instead of clients who needed help.

It turned out during this time that the basic backup that was included with HostGator was not going to work to get us back up. The problem is that it backs up once per week, and overwrites whatever was there before. So, it had backed up after the hack. After that we decided to get their premium backup plan.

HostGator is good if you only need the most basic of services, unless you are willing to pay for the add-ons, and you might not even be aware of the add-ons until there's a problem.
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Steven Davis profile photo
February 15, 2018

HostGator Review: "Good product for starting your business"

Steven Davis
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
I have been using HostGator for my business and personal domain for well over 10 years. I use HostGator's services for my website, emails, Moodle platforms, and custom projects. I've set the members as well to use their services. I have also used HostGator to manage my domains. Their service has been solid and reliable.
  • Setup and management is easy.
  • Customer and Technical Support is fantastic.
  • Prices are reasonable.
  • I use a shared server and I've had some confusion with setting up a unique IP. It didn't perform as expected.
  • My website has been hacked a few times and HostGator had no alarms in place to notify me.
  • I've had some email issues where my emails were blocked from some servers. But I don't do SPAM. And HG was unable to help me figure out the reason.
If you want simple hosting with MySQL and PHP functionality or Wordpress/Joomla hosting, HostGator is a good solution. But this is not a managed hosting provider meaning that you have a lot responsibility to manage your own website.
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June 14, 2018

Review: "Don't Go With A Start Up - Go with HostGator"

Verified User
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use HostGator for our current website and hosting and for over one hundred client's hosting and servers. It solves the hosting problem of our clients. They need quality hosting and HostGator provides this. They also have servers that have a great price and high quality. You can't go wrong.
  • Hosting
  • Servers
  • Customer Service
  • Hackers can slide in and they take a while to catch those. Or at least update you that someone tried to hack.
HostGator is a proven hosting company. They aren't having people sell their product as an affiliate. They hardly ever go down and if they do they are right back up or solving the issue in a timely manner. "New" and "startup" hosting sites are so unpredictable and go down way more than HostGator. We will always be customers of HostGator.
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Jack Kingsman profile photo
September 08, 2017

HostGator Review: "Great for the run of the mill site"

Jack Kingsman
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HostGator is being used to host ~10 WordPress, Drupal, and static site installations along with ~15 mailboxes and multiple forwarders. For certain clients, backend usage of PHPMyAdmin for direct database manipulation was used to build and administer custom applications within their sites. DNS is not used, but almost all aspects of vanilla hosting (i.e. no value-add components like CloudFlare) are used.
  • cPanel is clear and functional; administrative areas are clear
  • Power to do what you need to yourself with nominal fee -- <$10 to enable SSH, or to have them install an SSL cert of your own
  • Good analytics to track CPU usage and general resource allocation
  • Convenient billing interface makes managing multiple hosting packages simple and easy
  • Support team response time is fairly slow; be prepared for long holds.
  • Only recently is the company coming out of a reliability slump -- in months past, sites would go offline, sometimes for as long as hours, with no explanation or ETA for fix.
  • The upselling is massive -- be prepared for borderline spam from HostGator partners.
HostGator is good for small scale, run-of-the-mill site hosting with low to medium traffic (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.). Even their "unlimited" plan won't handle the traffic a major app needs, and you're better off using a more elastic service to host your app. But if all you need is a vanilla website for your store/small business/etc? They're not bad.
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Jennifer R Glass profile photo
September 06, 2017

Review: "Using HostGator from a reseller's perspective."

Jennifer R Glass
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
Review Source
We are a web hosting company reselling HostGator's services to our customers. We had made the decision to become a web hosting company initially because of our eCommerce clients that we process their credit card payments for to ensure that they were processing via a secure method. From there, since we had the extra capacity, we made the service commercially available to others and have been happy with the service.
  • Support - while it's not always the greatest and more on-time of other companies, HostGator does help with the support of my clients' sites when needed.
  • Pricing - For our needs, the HostGator reseller pricing was acceptable to us without us needing to put too much in up-front.
  • I'd like to see faster response times to trouble tickets as there are some issues that are very time sensitive and cannot wait several days for resolution.
  • It would be good for HostGator to allow resellers the ability to join Windows and Linux servers under a single reseller option instead of requiring double reseller packages if a reseller requires both servers.
As a reseller for HostGator, I am always recommending my hosting solution to clients, potential and current. While HostGator is good for some people as a standalone, it's not how we are working with them.
Read Jennifer R Glass's full review
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September 06, 2017

Review: "HostGator - Not just hosting for alligators!"

Verified User
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HostGator has allowed our business to host our own website and host our clients' websites. It's been a great solution to not hosting MySQL and PHP on our own servers. The management fees for what you get are a great value.
  • They have a great knowledge base of FAQ information.
  • HostGator has excellent support teams - I've needed both account and technical support and never been let down.
  • Their library of quick installs for different platforms or CMSs has options other companies don't offer.
  • As far as things that could be done differently, they updated their site and now it's two different areas to log in to.
  • The email to renew a domain name has the domain name in an attachment rather than the body of the email.
  • The service ticket area could be updated more often to straighten out closed issues - they'll complete the task or close the issue but not update the ticket status.
Packages are great for hosting several sites.
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October 02, 2017

HostGator Review: "Okay Hosting - Terrible Customer Service"

Verified User
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HostGator was one of my first web hosts about ten years ago. They were and still are very affordable. We stopped using HostGator about seven months ago, though, had been using another hosting company for a few years previous to canceling altogether with HostGator. Initially, HostGator solved hosting needs along with PHP support and cPanel access.
  • Affordable
  • Fast Set up
  • Free cPanel
  • Customer Service
  • Renewals are confusing
  • Adding items to your shopping cart for you instead of asking you if you want them.
HostGator is okay for small websites that require no customer service at all. I have realized having support with hosting is just as important as having a fair price. With HostGator it's cheap, and you really do get what you pay for.
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September 08, 2017

HostGator Review: "Fantastic hosting for your clients!"

Verified User
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use it daily to host clients websites and email accounts.
  • Hosting
  • Email Packages
  • Business Account is the best deal!
  • Customer Service
  • Easier Cpanel
  • Easier Billing
If you need hosting for clients it has a fantastic business account. Comes with unlimited emails. Great host 1-3 sites for clients.
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August 29, 2017

HostGator Review: "Take a bite out of your hosting needs"

Verified User
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We have used HostGator for entry level web clients who need affordable hosting options.
  • HostGator provides good hosting for website clients looking to save money while building a digital presence.
  • Customer service has been helpful.
  • Additional WP optimization options would make them a better competitor.
  • User interface lacks compared to platforms like GoDaddy and WPEngine.
HostGator would not be a great fit for high volume, or high performance WordPress based sites. For this reason, we now use GoDaddy for entry level client work, and WPEngine for more advanced projects.
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Rose Grant profile photo
March 23, 2017

User Review: "HostGator: Above Average Site Hosting"

Rose Grant
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Our organization has used HostGator for years with no interest in moving to other host servers. We use its web hosting services for all our digital content. It's cost effective and has offered good support in time of need. I find the control panel to be easily navigable and like the helpful reminders and alerts it gives me when I need to do a backup or any other issue that we need to deal with.
  • Support staff - this is key for any hosting company. If something happens to your site you want a dedicated crew who will be friendly, supportive and work fast to solve any issues.
  • Price - working for a nonprofit this is key. Host gator offers reasonable packages.
  • Backup options - we like the variations of backup options (DIY or having a team conduct the backup).
  • Speed- it's a little slow at times, though we're looking into trying HostGator Cloud which is apparently much faster.
  • Even despite decent pricing, it does use pricing tricks which get a little annoying (i.e. sign up for a year of service in order for us to get the best price). Not unreasonable, but might be a con to some.
  • Extra Fee for ‘True’ Backups - these can add up.
It's well suited if you want a reasonable price (and can commit to a year), a fairly easy to navigate control panel and friendly support. Maybe companies needing faster uptime display and page loading times should look elsewhere. While not our top priority, we realize speed is factored into Google SEO ranking. Time delays can stunt your profits.
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September 06, 2016

Review: "Affordable and robust web hosting plans with HostGator"

Verified User
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
I use HostGator for my personal website and a few freelance sites that I've created for clients. When we need to select a hosting provider for a client I've found that HostGator has very competitive product offerings, competitive pricing, and often has excellent promotions.
  • Affordable hosting plans
  • Reliable web hosting
  • Excellent up-time
  • Quick and efficient support
  • Confusing navigation throughout their large menu of options on their site and control panel
  • Spam filtering on their basic level email package. You have to upgrade to a higher-tier email plan for an inbox that's not flooded by spam.
I think HostGator is appropriate for a small business or a personal website. In my several years of experience I don't have a strong level of confidence in using them for a larger-scale website with ecommerce capabilities or heavy database dependencies. I think of HostGator as being better suited for basic brochure-style or promotional websites with fairly static content.
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HostGator Scorecard Summary

Likelihood to Recommend (22)
6.2
Likelihood to Renew (1)
8.0

About HostGator

HostGator is a web hosting service with WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting capabilities.
Categories:  Website Hosting