HostGator Review
Looking for an affordable and reputable hosting company, with various plans and types of hosting available, which is also earth conscious? Then HostGator is definitely a great option as it has proven itself to be one of the top web hosting companies in the industry.
Go to HostGator.com and find more on its special discount and features >>
There are many factors to consider when deciding upon a web host. Usually the most important factor is price. But at the same time, one doesn’t want to sacrifice quality for a cheap and undependable plan. This leads us to another factor which should be considered and that is reliability. This is important to all website owners, because the amount of time a website is down, will affect the performance and trustworthiness of the site. Also, depending on the size of one’s site and the estimated amount of traffic, one will need to decide what type of hosting to purchase and does the company offer it. While there are many other things to consider as well, these are usually at the top of people’s list. HostGator is a good choice for webhosting because it directly addresses the three factors that we mentioned above.
So now, let’s take a look at HostGator’s different options:
- Shared Web Hosting: A good, economical option for those who have one site, or several smaller sites, and in tight budget.
- Reseller Hosting: For those who would like to sell hosting to others.
- VPS Hosting: This is one step above regular webhosting, for growing sites, which would like some more reliability.
- Dedicated Servers: This is for very large sites, with huge amounts of traffic or for those who have many, many sites.
And within these different types, HostGator offers various pricing levels, so it is easier to find the hosting that will exactly fit your needs and your budget.
You may be thinking how long do I have to sign up for,with the various plans,and is there any choice? Yes, there is. For the different web hosting plans, HostGator offers everything from three years to the lowest, which is monthly. However, the longer that you sign up for, the lower your final price will be. HostGator also boasts that they have no contracts.
Speaking of budgets, HostGator also offers some very affordable plans. For example, for those looking for the lowest price available, HostGator has the “Hatchling Plan”. This is the most basic web hosting plan, but it still has:
- Bandwidth unlimited
- Disk space unlimited
- Instant Backups
- Uptime Guarantee of 99.9%
- Google Adwords Credit of $100
- Unlimited FTP Accounts
- Unlimited MySQL Databases
- Unlimited POP3 Accounts
- IMAP Support
- Webmail
- Control Panel with various useful tools
- But, it is only for one domain
To get the lowest price, which is $3.96, one would need to sign up for three years option. And if you do not choose to sign up for three years, the price does go up, but the highest it goes is $7.16 (for the monthly option).
So what is the best plan for someone starting out and who has a few sites they would like to put up? One good choice is the “Baby Plan”. This offers a reasonable price, but as opposed to the “Hatchling Plan” that we mentioned above, you can host an unlimited amount of domains. This factor alone makes a huge difference. Everything listed above is included, but what else separates this one from the one above?
- Unlimited Parked Domains
- Private SSL Allowed
- The option to purchase monthly a Dedicated IP
- Like we mentioned, the ability to host an unlimited amount of domains
If you would like some more perks, but are not ready to step up the VPS, then the highest web hosting package offered is the “Business Plan”, which besides the perks listed above, offers:
- Toll-Free Number
- Dedicated IP for free
- Private SSL included
- Anonymous FTP
However you will have to pay a little bit extra every month for these benefits. But it is less than the VPS and dedicated plans.
What makes HostGator different than others?
Well, there are many things. Besides, providing its customers with wide range of webhosting solutions, packages as well as plans, mentioned above, it also gives them an added sense of security and reliability being one of the reputable and established companies in the business.
For instance, what about if you are having some trouble or have a question? Some companies may not be available, or will only offer one way that they can be reached. HostGator.com offers a top notch support, which is available from 24/7 from one source or another. They offer support by phone, email, online chat, fax, and even regular mail. So there is always some way for you to get in touch with them. Plus, they have online forums which may also help answer your questions. On top of that, they offer an extensive online video tutorials about different aspects of the hosting, like FTP, Webmail or Frontpage, just to name a few.
When signing up with a company, one wants to make sure that the company will not disappear, leaving them with no hosting and their website offline. HostGator has been around since 2002 and has received many awards, so one doesn’t need to worry about reliability. On a side note, if you like companies which are earth-friendly, HostGator’s website says that they are “powered by 130% wind energy”.
And what if you find out that this is not the best option for you? Don’t worry, because HostGator offers a 45 day money back guarantee. So there is nothing to lose in case you are not fully satisfied with their services.
Hence as you can see, HostGator offers many good services for reasonable prices and is a sound option for a range of hosting needs.