HostGator

It is now much easier to create a website and get it live online. The common misconception that you have to be a web developer or website designer pervades. If you want to design all the elements on your website from the ground, then the above argument will stand. 

However, you can streamline the process greatly by choosing the right web hosting service. You need website builders who will help you to set up the site quickly. Others, like WordPress, will give you a one-click installation of popular CMS.

The best web hosting services will also make sure that your website loads quickly, stays secure, and many other benefits. The host that you choose will either break or make your online success. 

If you choose a low-quality website host, your site will have very slow loading speeds. Besides, you will have headaches when it comes to dealing with the support team. Besides, you will be more susceptible to hacking and have low levels of reliability. 

If you are a beginner, you need to choose a web hosting company that understands what it means to build a website for the very first time. Even though HostGator has tons of different hosting types, it addresses the needs of beginners perfectly. 

HostGator works towards achieving the goals of your website and will never be against you. The secret is knowing how and when to use this web hosting service. You will only fail if you are using the tool for the wrong purposes.

Brent Oxley, a student at the Atlantic University of Florida founded HostGator way back in 2002. The company has been recording tremendous growth year after year from its inception. 

In 2012, the Endurance International Group acquired HostGator. The brand also runs other companies such as Bluehost. The official office of HostGator is located in Houston, Texas even though it has more offices throughout the world. 

The brand serves a large segment of the market ranging from website veterans to total beginners. Currently, HostGator is hosting more than 9 million websites. 

The fact that the brand has been sustaining high growth levels over time tells you that they are doing the right thing. Every year, one to two hosts break out fading back into obscurity as fast as they appeared on the scene. However, HostGator remains among the best web hosting services since its launch. 

The ability to remain popular and competitive tells you a lot about the quality of service that you expect. Here are some of the features that make HostGator be of the best web hosting services globally. 

1. Stable and Strong Uptime

HostGator has posted a stable and string uptime of 99.98% uptime for the last one year. The company has consistently maintained an uptime of 99.98 to 100% for an extended period.

One of the things that I love about HostGator is what it states in its uptime guarantee. According to the company, you will get one credit amount in your account if the uptime drops below 99.90. 

Since the company is in business, they will not want to lose revenue in any way. Therefore, the staff does all that they can to maintain high uptime. The company leaves to its promise and hence it is not just a marketing language.

Recently, some hosts are copying HostGator by coming up with uptime guarantees. It is good to learn that HostGator sets the pace when it comes to uptime. At the end of the day, you are the one who stands to benefit as a customer. 

When competitors come up with such ideas, all they do is raise the bar for the whole industry. This forces them to raise the standard level of their services and match the guarantee or they will risk falling behind. 

2. Amazing Support 

HostGator has several channels that you can use to reach out to them in case you encounter any issues. These include live chat support, email, phone, and a knowledge base. You can choose any of them depending on the issues that you are facing.

For the issues that you can solve on your own, the knowledge base is sufficient. The chat support is the fastest and you will be connected to the rep within 15 seconds. I tried to Pepper them with questions, while jumping from one topic to another, and they did not hesitate at once.

The staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and well-trained. The overall experience that we got was good. You will never go wrong when you use are looking for customer support from HostGator. 

3. 45-Day Money-Back Guarantee 

HostGator has a high level of confidence in their services. Therefore, the company extends the average 30-day refund policy by adding 15 more days. You will rarely come across a company that offers such a long warranty period.

The 45-day money-back guarantee is applicable to all the VPS, reseller, and shared hosting packages. The only catch is that the offer does not apply to custom software install fees, administrative fees, and HostGator’s dedicated servers. 

After going through more than 30 Terms of Service documents, I have realized that the caveats are common among most hosting companies. For instance, if your plan comes with a free domain name, the company will deduct a standard fee of approximately $15 from the refund amount for the domain. 

We also have other points that you need to put into consideration. The Terns of HostGator require 90 days to issue a refund. No refunds are issued on the money order, check bank wire transfers, and Western Union payments. 

The refunds are only available for new accounts or new plans. Therefore, if you signed up for one previously, and are canceling a second attempt or renewal, you will not receive anything in return.  

Lastly, HostGator processes foreign currency refunds on the dollar exchange rates of the United States. It is important to note all these points when planning to host your website on HostGator.

4. Site Security Features 

The shared hosting plans of HostGator are fairly bare-bones. You will be getting enough for a single site but not so many extras on top of it. Luckily, the brand offers a few extra security features such as the ability to add site lock monitoring to your website. 

The service runs every day and searches for all the potential site hacks or breaches. It will inform you of any of these instances with immediate effect. 

The company also offers Spam Assassin for the email plans to make sure that spam does not hit your inbox in the first place. The only challenge with the site lock is that it will cost you a little extra. The sticker price is $1.67 per month and the annual billing stands at $19.99. 

5. Free cPanel and Site Migrations 

If this is not your website and you are trying to shift an existing one over, HostGator has you covered. You will have 30 days after signing up to get in touch. They will move any site scripts, databases, files, and domain name for you.

It also entails a full transfer of the cPanel. Therefore, if you happen to be having multiple website installations, such as subdomains for a large website, you are covered. All the shared hosting plans of HostGator have one site or cPanel migration inclusive. 

Various plans like resellers give you access to more which goes up to $30. However, it is still better than platforms like Bluehost that will charge you up to $150 to move five sites at a time.

When switching from another hosting service to HostGator, the process is much simpler. You just need to sign up for hosting and the team at HostGator will handle all the technical steps. It’s a perfect solution for any beginner who does not want to get his hands dirty with complex site migrations. 

Besides, if you are using this service for the very first time, you will take advantage of the one-click installs that they offer. To install a CMS on your website, it will take nothing than just clicking a few buttons and then enter the name of your website. 

These services and tools make it pretty easy to get your website off the ground. It will serve you perfectly even if you possess no technical skills. 

6. Fast Server Speeds 

HostGator is pretty fast even on its basic shared hosting plans. The brand regularly scores among the top beginner’s web hosts hosting performance. However, most of your website speed depend on whether you are following the best practices for website speed.

However, to get the most out of your website, you need to build it from a host that provides a high-performance foundation. You will not go wrong on this element when using HostGator as your primary web provider. 

7. First Time User Discounts 

If you are using HostGator for the first time, you can pick a hosting package cheaply. The price can even be less than the price of a cup of coffee. 

The overall hosting price will increase over time. However, by then, your website should be profitable enough and the increase in price will not make a dent. It tells you that HostGator caters to the needs of beginners. 

8. Nearly Unlimited Hosting 

The unlimited nature of HostGator is the other amazing feature that you will get. You will access things like unlimited databases, unmetered bandwidth, and unlimited disk space. To add to this, users can also create an unlimited number of domain names and email addresses on their account. 

The only limitation is when you are using the most basic shared hosting package. Most hosts claim to offer unlimited packages but some of them are not truly unlimited. You will always get a few limitations on your account. 

However, HostGator stands out with the least number of limitations. For instance, when using the shared hosting package, there are slim chances of running into any issues. HostGator’s unlimited hosting plan is clear and there is so much you can do with it. 

Running into each of the limits will really consume a lot of time. The only challenge you can encounter is the utilization of the CPU server. If you are encountering a massive volume of traffic, this can be a potential issue.

HostGator is specially designed for beginner webmasters and bloggers. The website is full of walkthroughs, tutorials, and many more to help in navigating through the data centers and DNS.

The company also has additional features for any beginner who would like to set up a website without the hassles of hiring an expert to build, design, and manage everything. Gator, the website builder from Host Gator, is among the best I have ever reviewed.

It comes with a domain name and free hosting. To get all these necessities, all you need to do is buy a single account.

HostGator also has pretty modern customizable templates. You can customize their look by dragging and dropping every feature. You will also receive a free SSL certificate and site analytics. This will help you in safeguarding the personal data of your visitors.

HostGator also comes along with an eCommerce plan. Therefore, you can set up a fully functional online store with inventory. You won’t have to worry about plugins, gateways, and messy technology because everything works perfectly.

It is disappointing to sign up for a web host and discover that it disappears often and the site is painfully slow. It can force you to go through the painful process of switching providers which is also a headache. 

It is paramount to go for a reliably fast web hosting service that has a stable performance throughout the year. HostGator will not let you down when it comes to some of these critical elements. 

The uptime that HostGator offers currently stands at 99.9%. Most web hosting services across the board achieve this standard of uptime. Whenever a site is down, you will offer a poor user experience and lose revenue. 

HostGator backs up the solid uptime with a guarantee. If the uptime of your website falls short of the 99.9% mark, the company will compensate you accordingly. Even though a few companies have started to replicate this feature, you won’t find it in most hosting companies. 

The other good element of HostGator’s performance is its loading speed. A fast website is good for your website’s SEO rankings. According to studies, one second delay in loading will cost 11% fewer page views, 7% fewer conversations, and a decrease of 16% in user satisfaction.

The test speed results of HostGator scores among the best in the market. Over 94% of the websites load in less than one second which is highly satisfactory. Besides, you will rarely find the site going down. It is something that everyone will want to find in a web hosting service.

What we are saying is that the server response time of HostGator is incredible. However, the type of content on your website affects the loading times significantly. For instance, websites that have many images decrease the loading time of the page. 

This can affect the speed test result of the server. In my case, I used the Bitcatcha tool to carry out the test. The way this tool works is quite different from the other web speed testing tools. Instead of loading your content, it will only test the server’s response time. 

Bitcatcha also runs the speed test 3 times from multiple locations that are spread globally. It will give you the average response time of every location. HostGator produces amazing responses under all these instances. 

It is among the best web hosting services when it comes to the element of performance. The server response time is always below the one-second mark. For the case of the United States, it stands at merely 37 Ms.

Overall, it indicates that HostGator loads websites pretty fast all over the world. It is a platform that will not let you down when it comes to the performance of your website. 

HostGator offers support to customers 24/7 on online chat and over the telephone. The telephonic support reps offer detailed instructions that are related to any issue almost instantly. Most users claim that the company’s online support is a bit slow.

The good thing with the Tech support team is that they know exactly what they are talking about and are highly knowledgeable. HostGator also offers a ticketing customer support system. The other mediums you will find here include support forums, social media, video tutorials, etc. 

Overall, the response times of the customer support team is super-fast. The team always go the extra mile to help their customers to resolve any issue. The high score in customer service makes it one of the best web hosting services globally.