We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
Before discussing the differences between HostGator and Bluehost it is best to first answer the question right up front:
Which is better for WordPress HostGator or Bluehost?
This post will focus on the technical resources and pricing differences between Hostgator and Bluehost. As for an opinion
regarding which hosting company is better, opinions will vary a lot based on one’s personal experiences with either hosting
company.
Unfortunately, a bad opinion about a company can be generated by one customer having a bad experience, and yet countless
customers who have been pleased with a company for years will often say nothing.
Our choice, after over 15 years with HostGator, is the HostGator web hosting company. This choice is solely based on our
personal experience with both hosting companies.
In a nutshell, both companies are very good for companies for startups and have withstood the test of time. Ultimately, when
it came to deciding which company has been best for our businesses when starting out, we based our choice on the
following:
- Does the hosting company have the technical resources you need for your business?
- How much technical support will you need?
- How important it is for you to have immediate live customer support?
HostGator Web Hosting Service Review
HostGator is the power that runs 8 million+ web domains worldwide. It is also one of the best web hosting services we have
in the industry right now, which also explains why it has been growing in popularity over the past few years.
HostGator was launched in 2002 and has since grown to become one of the best web hosting companies under the sun.
Their monstrous growth is attributable to their top-notch web hosting plans, friendly customer support staff, and amazing
shared hosting plans.
Today, HostGator has over 850 staff members who operate from the company’s Houston headquarters.
What Makes HostGater Different?
The main reason why HostGator is a great option for both personal and business website hosting is because of its 99.99% uptime and 24/7 customer support.
Other people love it for its exclusive mouth-watering discounts of up to 62% on some plans. For every plan, the web hosts provide a domain name and an SSL certificate, free of charge!
General Information
SPEED: 1,191ms (February 2018 – January 2020 average)
UPTIME: 99.98% (February 2018 – January 2020 average)
SUPPORT: 24/7 Live Customer Support
APPS: Supports 75+ apps
Features:
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- Unlimited Storage
- One free email account
- Free Domain for the 1st year
- Free SSL Certificate
- Single site Transfer is free.
- Pricing starts at $2.75 per month and renews at $6.95 per month
Plans:
- Shared
- Cloud
- VPS
- WordPress
- Dedicated Servers
So What Are The Pros and Cons of HostGator
Every web hosting service has its unique selling points and weaknesses, too. Below are some of the pros and cons that you will realize if you opt for HostGator as your preferred Web Hosting.
Pros
- High Uptime Guarantee: HostGator promises its users a 99.99% uptime. If you experience anything short of that, then the company will give you a month’s credit.
- 45-Day Money-Back Guarantee. This is yet another reason why most people love HostGator. As is the norm, most web hosting services offer a money-back guarantee of up to 30 days. However, HostGator will generously refund you your money even after 30 days of using their products, at least if you don’t like what it has to offer.
- Unbeatable Hosting Plans. HostGator provides more great features on their hosting plans as compared to other website hosting providers. For example, on the purchase of a shared hosting plan, the company will give you email marketing software, free of charge!
- Reliable Customer Support. Now, HostGator has the best customer staff ever! Those fellows will give every customer a shoulder to lean on whenever there is a need. So, whenever you experience a problem, be sure to raise the issue with them and they will be happy to help you. Most users utilize the live chat feature because it is fast and very reliable.
Cons
- HostGator does not provide free domains to users who sign up for the one-month plan. Also, you have to pay for 3 years upfront if you want the best deals from the company.
HostGator Hosting Plans
Whether you are a newbie or a Pro, HostGator has great products and services for you. With their shared hosting offering, you can easily set up your personal or business website, so you can begin working on generating more traffic to your site.
Yet still, you can upgrade your plan as your site grows. HostGator hosting plans provide monthly hosting fees but prefer customers to sign up for a longer term of not less than six months.
While some users enjoy such arrangements that save them the hustle of month-to-month service, others feel that being pushed into paying for three years upfront is just too much.
Shared Hosting
The Hatchling Plan
This is the cheapest offering from HostGator and it comes with unlimited storage, databases, and support for e-commerce and content management systems. And just like any other cloud hosting plan, the Hatchling provides an SSL certificate, free!
If you opt for this plan, you may also need to add more security tools such as CodeGuard, SiteLock, and more, of course at an additional cost.
The Baby Plan
This one is a slight improvement from the Hatchling plan. It offers unlimited hosted domains to users who sign up for the offering.
This plan comes with more CPU space and twice the memory as the Hatchling Plan, which explains why it is the most popular plan from HostGator.
The Business Plan.
This one comes with such specialized options as a private SSL certificate, a free toll number, and more. Like Baby Cloud Hosting, it also offers unlimited domains on every single plan.
If yours is a heavy business such as an e-commerce site, then you may need this plan because it will give you 6 GB of RAM and 6 cores as compared to 2 and 4 cores on the Hatchling and Baby offerings.
Alternatives to Cloud Hosting
You will agree that cloud hosting isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, right? So, if you are looking for traditional hosting plans, you may consider the following options:
Dedicated Server Hosting.
This means that you are renting physical servers for your website and you won’t be sharing resources with other users. If that is the case, then this is the fastest option from HostGator.
VPS Hosting.
With this plan, you are offered an array of software options and full root access to your site’s virtual private servers.
Features:
- Free Domain name and registration
- Easy Sign-up process
- 45-Day Money-back guarantee
- Payment via checks, wire transfers, money orders, credit cards, and PayPal
- Easy-to-Use cPanel
- One-Click Installs
So, Is HostGator Worth It?
Yes. HostGator offers great products that suit the needs of everyone. Even if you are a total beginner, there is no need to panic because they have all the tools you need to get started! And if you face a problem along the way, their professional and friendly customer support staff will help you out, instantly. Over 8 million people trust HostGator. So, is HostGator good for WordPress? In our opinion, it definitely is, especially if you are just starting to learn about working online with web hosting companies.
Bluehost Web Hosting Service Review
Matt Heaton founded 0catch.com, a free hosting company that offered customers limited hosting features. The brand was renamed Bluehost in 2003 before it began offering shared web hosting plans. Bluehost has earned itself a position on the list of the most popular web hosts. It powers over 2 million websites across the world and is a brand that has involved itself in multiple businesses, which explains why it can offer its customers huge discounts on its products.
Apart from offering hosting services, Bluehost also offers:
- domain name registration
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services
- social media marketing
- content creation
- graphic design
- business listings
Their dedication to catering to their customers regardless of the experience level is yet another plus. Bluehost offers great products and services to beginners and established bloggers, e-commerce entrepreneurs, and more.
General Information
SPEED: 581 ms (As of October 2020)
UPTIME: 99.98% (Updated October, 2020)
SUPPORT: 24/7 Live Chat, Email, Phone, and Knowledge Base
APPS: Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, phpBB, and 75+ Open Source Projects
Features:
- Free Domain for the first year
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- Unlimited Storage and Websites
- SSL Certificate
- Domain Privacy
- Spam Experts
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee for all plans except the cheapest plan
- Transfer of a single WordPress website for free
- Pricing starts at $2.75 per month and renews at $7.99 per month
Plans:
- WordPress
- Shared
- Reseller
- VPS
- Dedicated Servers
The Pros and Cons of Bluehost
Pros
- Speed and Performance
The primary job of any web hosting service is to store your website deliverables and avail them to people whenever they request them. A reliable web host will deliver stored files quickly. Bluehost runs the latest versions of MySQL and PHP but they limit the allocated memory for users in the Basic plan. That said, Bluehost scores around average when it comes to website speed and performance.
- Uptime
Bluehost recently improved its server architecture to ensure that users get a pleasant experience on all hosting packages. Its experts work hard to prevent websites from going down whenever hosting issues arise. Whether you want to run a personal blog or e-commerce website, you would be happy to realize that Bluehost provides top-performance servers that suit your needs. Shared hosting plans make it easy for many users to share the cost. The good thing with Bluehost hosting is that it maintains the number of users per server at its lowest to ensure that each user gets more resources (over 300,000 file count), fast load time, and more uptime! Most users have reported 99.99% to 100% uptime since 2018!
- Cheap Hosting Plans
The introductory pricing at Bluehost hosting can be as low as $2.75. When you pay this amount, you get all the resources you need for your website at no extra cost. That includes an SSL certificate, unmetered bandwidth, free 50 Gigabyte SSD storage, and more. Still, you will face some restrictions if you opt for the cheapest plan. However, you will get value for your money due to Bluehost’s fast loading speeds and consistent uptime.
- Excellent Security Features
While Bluehost is a cheap hosting option, its architecture doesn’t cut corners on security features and options. For example, you will be provided with a free SSL certificate no matter the hosting plan you choose. Additionally, you are allowed access to a free CDN!
- Friendly User Interface
Whether you are a total beginner or a pro, Bluehost is a great option for you. To begin with, their portal is just clean and intuitive. Secondly, cPanel is created in a way that makes it easy to navigate. Plus, most of their features such as WordPress plugins are easy to install. If you don’t know how to code a website, you can take advantage of Bluehost’s site builders such as Drupal and Weebly to create your site.
- Friendly Customer Support
For a company with millions of users worldwide, there are times when things go wrong for some users, right? And when that happens, you don’t have to feel worried because the support staff at Bluehost is friendly and professional. Bluehost has adopted a culture of prioritizing the needs of its customers, which explains why the company is trusted by millions of individual users and businesses from across the world. Apart from the 24/7 live chat feature, Bluehost also has email and phone options if you choose to go that route.
Cons
- High Renewal Rates – The cheapest Bluehost plan will cost you $2.75 for the first month. Then, you will be expected to renew your hosting for $7.99 per month after the first month. However, you can get the lowest prices per month if you prepay for one to three years upfront. If you don’t like what you get, you can still seek a refund within 30 days of purchase.
- Restrictions on the Cheapest Plan – As we said earlier, some of Bluehost’s shared plans come with lots of restrictions. With the cheapest plan, the only security feature you will be offered is a free SSL certificate. Also, the storage space you get is limited and Bluehost won’t allow you to own more than one site.
Bluehost Hosting Plans and Prices:
|
Pricing |
$2.75/month |
$5.45/month |
$5.45/month |
$13.9/ month and Renews at $23.99/ Month |
|
Websites |
1 |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
|
Bandwidth |
Unmetered |
Unmetered |
Unmetered |
Unlimited |
|
Storage |
50 GB |
Unmetered |
Unmetered |
Unlimited |
|
Email Accounts |
5 |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
|
Other Features |
– |
|
• Spam Experts
|
|
Features:
- Free Domain for the 1st year and $15.99/year
- Easy, guided sign up process
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Payment via PayPal and major credit cards
- User-friendly cPanel
- Easy and quick installation of CMS and apps
So, Is Bluehost Worth It?
Bluehost’s web host service has been around for many years and is steadily improving its service They ensure over 99% uptime and have user-friendly apps and affordable hosting plans.
What is our choice?
Hostgator gets the call but “only” because of their tremendous live customer service. In over 15 years I have never been disappointed. Their immediate and thorough technical support is amazing and they stay with you until your issue is resolved! This being said Bluehost has never posed a problem after using it as well many years ago.
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Hostgator WordPress hosting reviews