HostGator
Start using Hostgator today only 1 Penny first month!
Overall Impression
A good hosting provider with a well known brand, prices are good all over all products.
| Host Information | |
|---|---|
| Name | HostGator |
| Website | hostgator.com |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Support Email | support@hostgator.com |
| Support Phone | 001 713-574-5287 |
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Good pricing on there hosting packages | Support can be slow when sending tickets, up to days to reply |
| Offers Shared, VPS and Dedicated Hosting |
HostGator Review |
| Not only are we in the 21st century, but we are also quite well into the second decade of it. Not a single person just half a century ago could have imagined that the world could have the internet- let alone a portable computer (mobile phone) in your pocket. In today’s world, your business needs a website no matter whether it’s an entirely automated e-commerce store or your personal blog- you, therefore, need a web hosting service.
In many circles, Hostgator, with its many features, has proven more than useful and has remained the top choice for several years boasting of Server Packages, quality cloud services, reseller, dedicated and virtual private server (VPS) server packages with the company’s shared plans being the shining star of the company’s offerings, setting itself apart from the thronged web hosting crowd. |
HostGator Background |
| On October 2005, Brent Oxley, then a student of Florida Atlantic Unversity, founded Hostgator which had register over 200,000 domains by the year 2006. Thereafter, the company moved to an office complex in Houston, Texas. In effect, the provider’s largest world-class data centre is in Houston as well, spanning a surface area as wide as 300,000 sq. ft. The company also has an 8,500 sq. ft. data centre in Provo, Utah which is designed to look like a pod to enhance efficiency. The company runs on SSL Encryption certificates which keep your data encrypted. The company was sold to Endurance International Group in 2013. |
Key HostGator Benefits |
| Going into Hostgator, know you’ll be experiencing a great uptime as the company registered an average uptime of 99.97% meaning that, on average, your site will only be down for at most 5 minutes a month. Also, the highest uptime expected is 99.99%, so Hostgator sits quite high up there.The site has amazing customer support as well. According to the company, there’s going to be someone to talk to you “24/7/365”. The available options include email, a phone call and live chat as well. Responses are received latest within a day.
Whereas the majority of companies online only offer you 30 days to try their services for free before charging you, Hostgator ups the ante and offers you 45 whole days (2 weeks extra) of free usage before having to make your first payment.
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Hosting Features of HostGator |
| Heres some more good news: Hostgator offers you unlimited bandwidth meaning you’re not charged for bandwidth and neither do you need to worry about too many people on your site slowing it down. Speaking of unlimited features, you also get unlimited disk space meaning no amount of uploaded data will fill up your server space.
What’s more, you get Secure Socket Layer protection. You could opt for shared SSL certificates if you are not looking for something pricey, but if you happen to be a major player and would like something of a higher level, private SSL certificates offering impenetrable security would serve you better. Higher level plans, as well as shared hosting plans, offer you a private IP address for more convenience. |
HostGator – Control Panel & Usability |
| The control panel you get to use depends o the feature plan you subscribe to on the site but all factors considered, the plan is mainly dependent on your operating system. If you use Linux or the iOS, cPanel is available but for Windows users, Plesk is available.
The Plesk control panel runs on ports 8880 and 8883 with the latter being more secure and preferred. After logging in the first time you could adjust the interface to make it more appealing and easily usable to you. cPanel has been used for the longest and its interface is a testimony to such as it seems dated. Fortunately, Hostgator has its cloud dashboard which is better looking and easier to use. |
HostGator – Data Security and Backups |
| Hostgator provides a backup service that runs once a week at random. Unfortunately, you will have to invest in a third party backup services provider as Hostgator does not backup data longer than a week old- when the back-up occurs, your data is overwritten. A service known as CodeGuard is advised for business entities in need of long-term backup services. In terms of security, HostGator is protected from DDoS attack using network-level flood protection. There’s an extensive firewall rule also protecting your server from different online attacks and heavy physical protection with restricted area access. |
HostGator – Hosting for WordPress |
| HostGator allows you to incorporate the WordPress CMS (Content Management System) on either of the available servers as well as three WordPress Hosting packages including Business, Starter and Standard. The most affordable is the Starter allowing you to host 25,000 visitors on a monthly basis to only one site and 50 Gigabytes of storage. You also get unlimited amounts of storage. All of the plans provide you with an optimized WordPress hosting Environment and Page Caching.
Hostgator makes it simple to host WordPress without you having to ply the managed-Wordpress route. You could even link third-party plug-ins through a dedicated interface that is reached via the option “Quick Links”. There are lots of premium WordPress add-ons on offer in the Mojo Marketplace that you could access after clicking WordPress Services. If you would like to import a blog, you could do so from WordPress’ end. |
HostGator – Shared Hosting |
| Whether your server runs on Windows or on Linux, know that HostGator has an offer for a shared hosting package that will give you leverage no matter whether you are a medium/small-scale business. There’s the hatching Plan at $10.59 a month, the Baby Plan at $11.95 a month which has unlimited domains, and the business plan at $16.95 a month.
The HostGator Hatching Plan offers you support for a single domain and plug-ins like eCommerce platforms and (CMS) Content Management System. What the baby plan has over the hatchling plan are unlimited domains. The top of the line business plan has you receive a toll-free phone number for your business and a private Secure Socket Layer certificate. HostGator’s fiercest rival is Arvixe, but where the Gator gets ahead is when it comes to the Business plan. |
HostGator – Customer Support |
| If you’ve been reading this article from the start, you must have come across mention of the Mojo Marketplace. This HostGator offering provides you with facilities to enable marketing straight to your visitors’ emails using tools like DaDa Mail from an annual $34.95. There is also software to help your sending email newsletters to your subscribers’ email inboxes. There are so many options available, you couldn’t be blamed for being overwhelmed.
HostGator also hosts Magento, an eCommerce software platform that not only promises growth but also to change the status quo of the whole industry. There is also PrestaShop software and ZenCart software which is simply free online payment software that lets you accept online payments securely. |
HostGator FAQs |
Could You Help Me Start Using My Account?Start off by knowing what you need. Do you already have a website or are you starting from nothing? If you already have a website on another server you could check how to move the site and avoid downtime. You must also change the DNS no matter whether you have a site or not. Then upload your site using the FTP Client or the cPanel file manager. What Should I Do If I Registered A Domain Name And Nothing’s Happened Yet?First of all, congratulations are in order for the first step in creating something successful. All that is happening is the DNS propagation if you bought your domain name along with your hosting package. If you simply bought a domain name separately, it might not have been associated with the right hosting package. Contact customer care to have the issue resolved. Which Payment Methods Are Accepted By HostGator?The payment methods available include Paypal, Debit and Credit Cards and Cash. You shall only be eligible for the 45 day trial period if you use these payment methods to make your payment. You will not be eligible if you opt for bank wire transfer, a check or a money order. Can I Build A Website On HostGator?As a matter of fact, you can. If anything, it’s easier today than it has ever been, to build a website. You must first buy yourself a package that suits your website needs and then proceed to the cPanel where you may install Content Management Systems to help you build your site. Some include Weebly, Magento, Drupal, WordPress, Joomla and Concrete 5 among multiple others. |
HostGator – Final Thoughts |
| It, therefore, becomes easy to see why this company has been an industry leader since 2005 and why it was sold to Endurance for a whopping $225 Million. The customer service, which stands at the very core of this company’s model, is A1 and available to users every day of every hour. Not only is it snappy, but your issues are sure to be resolved. The packages, in comparison to other providers, are mighty affordable.These very prices also cater for all palates and all offer unlimited bandwidth which is a scarce commodity in the hosting universe. What’s more, you get free calls with the Business plan. Hostgator also ensures that you’re comfortable using the resources at hand by providing you with either Plesk or cPanel. It cannot go without mention that these guys have 99.97% uptime! |
Start using Hostgator today only 1 Penny first month!
