HostGator Review

Based in Texas, HostGator is a leading provider of shared, reseller, and dedicated web hosting.

HostGator was founded in 2002 and since then has grown from a small hosting company with just 3 servers into a major player with 8,000 servers under management, making it one of the top 10 web hosting companies.

Packages offered

HostGator offers Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting and Dedicated Server Hosting each with various packages. The shared and VPS hosting were previously just Linux based but since May 2011 shared Windows hosting is also available. Dedicated Server hosting can be Linux or Windows.

Hostgator Review

The Shared Hosting has three plans “Hatchling”, “Baby” and “Business”. All three are sold on an “Unlimited” basis, which at least keeps it simple. The only significant difference between the Hatchling and Baby plans is that the former is limited to one domain. The Business Plan adds a private toll free phone number, dedicated IP address and allows a private SSL certificate.  All include a site builder and cPanel.

HostGator widely advertise a price of $4.95 which relates to the Hatchling plan – if you pay 36 months in advance. If you want this plan on a monthly basis it is $8.95. There is no contract so you can cancel hosting at any time and get a pro-rata refund. There is also a 45 day Money Back Guarantee during which period you can request a full refund (of course cancellation and money back guarantee does not cover domain name registration). HostGator coupon codes are easily available to discount these prices (a coupon code is usually applied automatically but better reductions are available – see link on this page).

Hostgator Windows HostingTechnical Service

Looking through numerous customer comments, the general view is that the technical service provided by HostGator is very good. Apart from maintenance (done at night time in Texas) there is little downtime. There are a few critical comments regarding technologies they don’t support but this will not affect the vast majority of people looking for hosting as they deliver well what the website says they will deliver.

Support Service

Support is where HostGator score very highly in customer HostGator review feedback. This is provided 24/7 by toll free telephone, chat, email and a ticket system.  Most customers seem to rate the support as excellent, with a quick response time, although a few felt that their questions were not answered satisfactorily.

Other Customer Comments

I did see a few negative comments relating to payments and refunds but it would be very surprising if all comments (about any organization) were positive. The fact that HostGator allow you to pay monthly without a contract was the deciding factor for several people.

HostGator Review Conclusion

Customer HostGator review  feedback was overwhelmingly positive and my own experience supports this. If you are looking for a reasonably priced service that simply delivers what it promises give HostGator a try.