Hostgator vs Bluehost Review

hostgator-vs-bluehost
This Hostgator vs Bluehost review will help you compare two well-known web hosting providers.

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Hostgator and Bluehost are two of the best-known web hosting providers available.

But which one is the better choice? This is what we explore in this Hostgator vs Bluehost comparison. We delve into what each hosting provider has to offer in terms of features, services, reliability, pricing, and more. After reading this article, you should have a clear idea of which hosting provider is best for you.

In this review…

Hostgator Overview

Hostgator is a hosting provider that has an excellent range of services. This includes everything from basic shared hosting, up to dedicated hosting, and domain management. Their price plans are cheap and cheerful but still have a good set of features and offer great value for money.

This hosting provider is known for offering great customer support. They also have the slight edge in terms of storage as their plans all give unlimited storage space. This hosting provider also has exceptional uptime and will give you a reliable service with great security features. If you want a simple and affordable shared hosting plan, Hostgator is definitely one of the best choices available.

Hostgator Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Fantastic customer support.
  • Reliable service with excellent uptime of 99.99%.
  • Easy to use for beginners.
  • Affordable prices and a variety of plans.

Cons

  • Doesn’t provide a dedicated IP address.
  • The interface could be modernized.

Visit Hostgator for the latest offers

Bluehost Overview

Similar to Hostgator, Bluehost also provides a series of cheap but effective hosting packages. This includes shared, VPS, dedicated, and WordPress hosting. They are renowned for affordable web hosting and offer some of the cheapest monthly prices you will find,

This does not mean you can expect less features or quality, however. They also give a great uptime performance, and have a robust security system. One area that they excel is their availability of backups that can be automatically scheduled. 

If price is the main consideration you have, you certainly can’t go wrong with the basic shared hosting package from Bluehost. Their other packages like managed WordPress hosting are also great value for money and include a one-click WordPress installation.

Bluehost Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Affordable and great value for money.
  • Relatively easy to use.
  • Includes a free domain name.
  • Offers excellent WordPress integration.

Cons

  • May not provide as much storage on their basic plan.

Visit Bluehost for the latest offers

Hostgator vs Bluehost: What can you Expect from These Web Hosting Providers?

Hosting Services Offered

First, let’s take a quick look at the services each provider offers. Bluehost has a wide array of services including WordPress hosting, shared hosting, dedicated hosting, VPS hosting, and website domain names. They also have a store builder package that uses WooCommerce.

Hostgator has a similar set of services including shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting. They too have WordPress hosting, and domain name registration. Essentially, both companies provide the same set of services for all your hosting needs.

Pricing

The price of hosting services is also an important consideration. Luckily, both Hostgator and Bluehost offer some of the cheapest hosting solutions available.

For shared hosting, Hostgator’s Hatchling Plan is just $2.75 per month initially. This includes unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disk space, a free domain, and a single website. Alternatively, Bluehost’s basic package is slightly cheaper at $2.07 per month. This includes unlimited bandwidth, but onl 50GB of storage, it also includes a free domain.

For WordPress hosting, Bluehost is the cheaper option. Their WordPress hosting is also $2.07 per month and has the same specs as the basic hosting (50GB storage etc.). Alternatively, Hostgator has a basic WordPress package for $5.95 per month. This again has unlimited bandwidth and storage, up to 100k visitors per month, and $150 of Google Ads spend.

Overall, Bluehost is the cheaper option. However, if a large storage capacity is important, Hostgator is the better choice with it’s unlimited storage plans – still at a cheap price. Bluehost also offers slightly cheaper WordPress hosting packages.

Features

As with the price plans, the features for the different plans are quite similar. The basic shared hosting package from Hostgator includes – a free domain for 1 year, one-click WordPress install, use of the Hostgator site builder, free domain transferal, a free SSL certificate, free email, $150 Google Ads spend, and $100 Microsoft Advertising credit.

In contrast, the basic shared hosting plan for Bluehost includes 1 website, access to custom website themes, a free domain for 1 year, free CDN, and a free SSL certificate. These are the basic features, but you also get a domain manager, $150 of Google Ads credit, resource protection, and a free Google My Business listing.

There really isn’t much to choose between these two providers in terms of basic features. Neither has any outstanding features that set it apart from the other. regardless as to which you choose, Hostgator vs Bluehost, both give you a comprehensive set of features to create a website, manage your hosting, and manage your domain.

Reliability

The reliability of a hosting provider is highly important. If you are running a business website or ecommerce store, you want a hosting package that has virtually a 100% uptime. Also, you want to be able to access your files and manage your hosting whenever and wherever you want.

Both hosting providers have an incredible uptime. Hostgator has a slight edge with an average uptime of 99.99%. However, Bluehost is still up there at the top with an average uptime of 99.98%. For some, this 0.01% may not matter at all. However, if any downtime at all could impact your business, Hostgator is the winner here.

Both hosting providers also have an uptime guarantee. The Bluehost network server guarantee is a little vague. It doesn’t really give any assurance of uptime. It simply states that any server issues are aimed to be dealt with in 15 minutes. Alternatively, Hostgator gives an uptime guarantee and is committed to achieving a 99.99% uptime.

Security

In our Hostgator vs Bluehost review we also looked at security features. When using a web hosting provider, you want the assurance that your files and connection are secure

Firstly, lets consider file backups. Bluehost providers CodeGuard backups which are automatic. You can also plan them on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Similarly, Hostgator also offers website backups. These are created automatically each week. The downside is that for more detailed backups, you must pay extra.

Next, what about SSL certificates? This is a primary method of security and both providers offer a free SSL certificate with their basic hosting plan. Finally, both hosting providers also offer additional security features. Hostgator and Bluehost both offer automatic protection from DDoS attacks. Hostgator also includes malware scans and protection, whereas for Bluehost, this is something that you must pay extra for.

As a result, Hostgator offers more versatile protection from external threats, whereas Bluehost offers great flexibility for website backups.  

Customer Service

Finally, customer service is also something to consider. Hopefully, you will never have any issues with your hosting plan or website. However, if you do, how easily can you contact the customer support team? What channels are available and when are their opening hours?

Bluehost has a good selection of support methods. This includes basic support tickets, live chat, and a phone line. They are committed to answering live chat and phone line queries instantly, whereas there is no specified response time for tickets. 24/7 support is also available for sales, technical support, and account management.

Hostgator also has a decent customer support team and this is one of their strong points. You can contact them via a live chat, phone line, forums, and they have a separate support team for billing issues. We feel that Hostgator has the slight edge in customer service and aside from their team, there is also a great range of videos and tutorials.

Which is the Best Choice – Hostgator or Bluehost?

So is there a clear winning in the Hostgator vs Bluehost battle? It is difficult to choose between these two hosting providers. They have incredibly similar packages, features, and prices. However, when you look at the fine details, you can pick a winner in different areas.

Firstly, if customer service is of a great importance to you, Hostgator has the slight advantage, They are renowned for having brilliant customer service that is easily accessible. Maybe you want greater security and the ability to backup your website as and when you want? If so, Bluehost has a small advantage here as you can make daily, weekly, and monthly backups.

Perhaps pricing and value for money is the most important feature? If so, Hostgator has the edge. Although Bluehost is cheaper overall, Hostgator offers unlimited storage for all of their plans which beats the 50GB offered for the Bluehost basic package.

To conclude, which is the better choice when it comes to Hostgator vs Bluehost depends on what you want from a hosting provider, and what features you value the most. Think about your website and business, and what you wish to achieve with your website hosting.

Questions?

Hostgator Vs Bluehost FAQs

Here’s some simple, jargon-free answers.

HostGator and Bluehost operate as different companies, but they are owned by the same organisation, Endurance International Group (EIG). 

HostGator is good for WordPress and it is recommended as a basic web hosting service for those looking to start a new website.

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