HostGator
Web Hosting Review
HostGatoris one of the largest and most prominent web hosts on the Internet today. The company was founded by former chairman Brent Oxley in 2002 who started HostGator from his dorm room at Florida Atlantic University.
It has since charted an impressive growth from just 112 active customers in 2003 to a present customer base of around 400,000. It is presently the 4th largest web host in the world today, hosting more than 8 million websites across its 12,000 Intel-powered servers.
The 2.1 million domains hosted by HostGator account for approximately1.5%of the world’s Internet traffic – a massive number.
It is not surprising then that HostGator was named as one of the fastest growing private companies in America by Inc. magazine in 2009 and 2008. In 2008 when it was first listed in the Inc500, it was 21st fastest growing company in the United States and the fastest growing web hosting company in the industry.
More impressively, it was the fastest growing private company in the whole of Texas. From 2007 to 2009, HostGator registered a mind-blowing growth of 896% in the 3-year period.
Shared Hosting
HostGator offers a complete range of web hosting solutions from simple share hosting plans to powerful dedicated server platforms. In this review we will look at its shared hosting plans which come in 3 variants -Hatchling, Baby & Business- with the following features :
|
Disk Space
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
|
Bandwidth
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
|
Domains Hosted
|
1
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
|
Parked Domains
|
X
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
|
Subdomains
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
|
MySQL Databases
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
|
Dedicated IP
|
X
|
$2.00
monthly
|
|
|
Free Private SSL
|
X
|
|
|
|
Free Domain Registration
|
|
|
|
|
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
|
|
|
|
|
45-Day Money-Back Guarantee
|
|
|
|
|
cPanel Control Panel
|
|
|
|
|
36 Month Term
3 year plan
|
$3.96
monthly
|
$6.36
monthly
|
$10.36
monthly
|
|
24 Month Term
2 year plan
|
$4.77
monthly
|
$7.16
monthly
|
$11.17
monthly
|
|
12 Month Term
1 year plan
|
$5.56
monthly
|
$7.97
monthly
|
$11.96
monthly
|
|
6 Month Term
Half year plan
|
$6.99
monthly
|
$7.97
monthly
|
$11.96
monthly
|
|
Monthly Term
1 month plan
|
$7.16
monthly
|
$7.96
monthly
|
$11.96
monthly
|
Email Features
|
POP3/ POP3 Secure Email Support
|
|
|
|
|
IMAP / Secure IMAP Email Support
|
|
|
|
|
Webmail Support
|
|
|
|
|
Forwarding Email Accounts
|
|
|
|
|
Email Autoresponders
|
|
|
|
|
SpamAssassin
Protects emails from spam by using a wide variety of network tests to identify spam signatures.
|
|
|
|
E-Commerce Features
|
Shared SSL
|
|
|
|
|
Shopping Carts
Includes popular shopping plaforms including osCommerce, Cube & Zen carts.
|
|
|
|
Site Tools
|
Website Builder
Free Weebly Drag & Drop Website Builder.
|
|
|
|
|
Blogs
WordPress, b2evolution, PixelPost & more
|
|
|
|
|
Forums
phpBB, Simple Machines, Gbook & more
|
|
|
|
|
Content Management
Drupal, Joomla!, Moodle & more
|
|
|
|
|
Photo Galleries
Gallery2, Coppermine, ZenPhoto & more
|
|
|
|
|
Poll, Survey & Counter Tools
|
|
|
|
Site Promotions
|
Personal Toll-Free Number
|
|
|
|
|
Google AdWords Credits
|
$100
|
$100
|
$100
|
Value Add-Ons
|
Domain Privacy Protection
|
$9.95
yearly
|
$9.95
yearly
|
$9.95
yearly
|
|
SiteLock Basic
Protect your website from fraud & malware, while speeding up its performance for visitors.
|
$1.67
monthly
|
$1.67
monthly
|
$1.67
monthly
|
|
CodeGuard Site Backup
Protects websites from accidents, data loss or malicious activity with automated backups to the cloud.
|
$19.95
yearly
|
$19.95
yearly
|
$19.95
yearly
|
|
SEO Gears
Provides SEO tools including site submission, rapid indexing, a DIY SEO program & analysis reports.
|
$14.99
yearly
|
$14.99
yearly
|
$14.99
yearly
|
All HostGator plans come with a45-day money back guaranteethat entitle subscribers to the following refund schemes upon cancellation of their accounts :
Do note that all refunds exclude standard non-refundable fees like administration fees, setup for custom software installation (i.e. add-on services) and domain registration fees. Refunds also only apply to payments made with credit cards.
Under HostGator's Terms of ServiceSection E, a subscriber must complete a cancellation form to initiate the refund process which may take up to 15 days be completed.
Uptime
HostGator offers a99.9% uptime guaranteewith its shared and reseller packages and a network guarantee for its VPS and dedicated servers plans. It also has in place 2 different uptime refund schemes :
|
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
|
Network Guarantee
|
-
Subscribers are entitled to 1 month of credit if a shared or reseller server falls short of the 99.9% uptime level guaranteed.
-
Planned server maintenance does not count as downtime.
-
As long as the server is available to deliver a subscriber's content, HostGator considers the guarantee met. It is the subscriber's responsibility to have working content for their websites.
|
-
Subscribers will receive a prorated credit for the amount of time that the server is down.
-
Planned server maintenance does not count as downtime.
-
As long as the network is available, HostGator considers the guarantee met. It is the subscriber's responsibility to ensure that there's a valid email & current root password on file for the dedicated server to prevent downtime from forced password resets.
|
HostGator carries out periodical maintenance of its servers which are not to be regarded as downtime. When checking on your downtime statistics, keep in mind also that you cannot use third party monitoring services to justify your claim due to a variety of factors including the monitor network capacity / transit availability.
An independent web host uptime monitoring website records HostGator's uptime at99.9%since 2005. Following EIG's acquisition of HostGator in 2012, there have been numerous outages of EIG's data centers in Provo, Utah, that have caused lengthy downtime for its customers.
Customer Support
HostGator has always held a high reputation for its responsive and helpful customer service. Most open tickets are resolved promptly and its forums are also helpful to a great extent as they are tended by an experienced staff. If your queries have not been answered after being directed through the available normal channels, you can always email them directly to escalate your concerns.
We have also observed that HostGator has generally been very civil and courteous in its communications with even abusive and unreasonable of customers - a hallmark of admirable customer service.
Culture and management
We believe that the culture of a company is indirectly informed and influenced by its management. True to and consistent with its dedication to customer service, we find that HostGator has a very people-friendly management team.
For example, see this reply to acustomer's snail mailletter to Brent whom the customer had mistaken for the CEO of InMotion Hosting. The customer was expressing his dissatisfaction on the "dispassionate and uncivil" customer service he had received from the web host.
Brent subsequently replied :
Dear Customer,
I’m emailing you in regards to a letter I received in the mail from you today. In this letter you described a few recent negative support experiences you had with Inmotion hosting. I wish I could say I’m sorry for these negative experiences you had but unfortunately I’m not.
In fact it pleases me slightly to hear about your poor experience with Inmotion. I highly recommend you take your business to hostgator.com immediately.
As owner of HostGator I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you receive 99.9% uptime along with 24/7 quality support. If you’re interested in signing up with us I’ll be happy to give you the first 6 months of service free to try us out. I’ll also do my best to make sure that the correct owner of InMotion gets this message. =)
Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with.
Sincerely,
Brent Oxley
In an interview, Brent described the principles to building a successful hosting company :
Brent: The most important aspect to a successful hosting company is a happy customer base. If your customers are happy they will spread the word, which in turn will result in plenty of business.
Hostsearch - 2011
And on the strengths of HostGator?
Brent: This all comes down to our employees. If you replace everyone in our company we become just another run of the mill hosting company. HostGator isn't doing much different than the thousands of competing hosting companies; we're just doing it better than the rest.
All of our management is promoted from within the company and required to get their hands dirty. It doesn't matter how small a customer is, they're able to talk with anyone in management.
We don't get caught up on hype and buzz words.
We are a powerhouse when it comes to spending money on marketing.
And most importantly we do our best to keep things real.
HostGator was acquired in 2012 by EIG, a technology company that is also a parent company for many other prominent web hosting companies including Bluehost, Just Host, HostMonster and FatCow.
Although there were some initial apprehensions about the acquisiton, mostly because EIG was reputed to be concerned only with profits and less with delivering a superb web hosting experince, Brent explained :
Brent: When I first heard about EIG purchasing Bluehost in November 2010, I was extremely ecstatic. The first thoughts that came to mind were that EIG was going to destroy the company, resulting in one of our biggest competitors going the way of the dodo. However, rather than plunder and pillage, they've hired and flourished.
Bluehost was at 280 employees when the sale closed and they have 450 today. Their management team has stayed the same and the culture has stayed the same. Now, the Bluehost culture, employees, and philosophy have taken hold to become the new status quo of EIG.
I'm confident the same will happen once again with the best of HostGator culture, ideas, people, and leadership coming together at EIG to create a more powerful hosting company than the world has ever seen. In fact, I've heard that EIG with HostGator will be even bigger than GoDaddy.
Source
Plan Features & Add-Ons
HostGator offers numerous features with its shared hosting plans as well as other value-added services (some which can include additional monthly charges). Click on the links below to find out more.
Green Hosting
To help offset its carbon emissions, HostGator buys theequivalent of 130%of its server energy consumption in Renewal Energy Certificates (REC) through an agreement with3Degrees, one of America’s leading renewable energy sales, trading and advisory firms. This means that HostGator is effectively powered by wind energy.
An REC purchased by HostGator represents one megawatt hour of renewable electricity generated and delivered to the relevant power grid by wind energy from wind farms in the state of Texas.
According toHostGator, this is the equivalent of :
-
Removing 444 cars from the road for a year.
-
Powering 321 homes with clean energy for a year.
-
Saving 5,654 barrels of oil.
-
Protecting 551 acres of forest for a year.
In one of itshelp pages, HostGator explains its stand on green hosting :
Is this just a marketing ploy?
No. HostGator really does want to do its part to help deal with climate change. If we were only interested in marketing, we could have done a program at a much lower cost. Instead, we've implemented a very strong program at a substantial cost.
Special Offers !
Use our exclusive promo coupon: hostbotgator to get25%off any of HostGator's web hosting plans ! Check out HostGator's latest promotions and couponshere.
Conclusion
HostGatorremains one of the most popular web hosting choices today by offering its customers a consistenly positive experience in terms of site performance and customer support. It is a safe and reliable hosting choice both for beginners and advanced users alike.
|
* For web hosting company in general and not to specific plans.
Pros
|
|
1.
|
Reliable Web Host / Good Plans
HostGator has historically been one of the most reliable web hosting providers with a good selection of hosting solutions at fair prices.
|
|
2.
|
Excellent Customer Support
HostGator has always emphasized on providing good customer support which it continues to deliver on.
|
|
3.
|
Comprehensive Refunds
HostGator offers refunds for cancellations and excessive downtime experienced even for its dedicated server plans. It also offers full refunds upon cancellation within 45 days of registration of a prorated refund for the remainder of the hosting term after 45 days.
|
|
Cons
|
|
1.
|
Recent Service Interruptions
There have been numerous service interruptions since EIG's acquisition of HostGator.
|
More Interesting Links
Disclaimer
-
HostBot participates in the affiliate programs of web hosting companies like HostGator and Amazon. Check out ourdisclaimerto learn more about our affiliateship policies.
-
Please note that we reserve the right to remove reviews or comments that are offensive or unhelpful to our readers.
Add new review