HostGator Web Hosting Reviews
Last modified: October 11th, 2021
HostGator is one of the oldest most successful top 10 hosting company in India out there. Most of the aspects of their business are great. Their server features are amazing. Their hosting uptime is excellent. The pricing of their products is economical. Except of course, for their live chat support. For this, you sometimes have to wait for a while. However, we still recommend this great hosting giant to our customers, especially if you’re looking to host your business website.
HostGator was started by Brent Oxley in the year 2002, straight out of his college dorm room. He managed to grow the company from a one-man operation to a massive operation with many employees. HostGator kept on escalating with massive growth over the years.
In 2008, HostGator was ranked 21st in Inc., for the world’s fastest growing companies. In the year 2012, HostGator was sold to EIG (Endurance International Group) for a figure estimated to be around $225 million. EIG is a big corporate known for the acquisition of other well-known web hosting companies such as Arvixe, PowWeb, FatCow, HostMonster, iPage and BlueHost.
Over the years whilst hosting at HostGator, I was able to observe a couple of good and bad points about their service. With this HostGator review, I’d like to create a summary of the experience I picked up whilst a member of HostGator.
HostGator offers an array of hosting services, ranging from: Shared Hosting, WordPress Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Virtual Private Server, Reseller Hosting and Dedicated Hosting. In addition, it also provides other essential services like Domain Name Registration, Email Hosting, G Suite by Google Cloud, SiteLock Security, CodeGuard Cloud Backup and Digital Certificates & SSL. In this HostGator India Hosting reviews, we will take a look at all of these HostGator hosting options and services.
Explore HostGator Web Hosting Plans & Features
- What is HostGator?
- HostGator Hosting Plans
- HostGator India Reviews – Features
- HostGator Shared Hosting Review
- HostGator WordPress Hosting Review
- HostGator Reseller Hosting Review
- HostGator VPS Hosting Review
- HostGator Dedicated Server Hosting Review
- HostGator Cloud Hosting Review
- HostGator Domain Name Review
- HostGator Email Hosting Review
- HostGator SiteLock Review
- HostGator CodeGuard Review
- HostGator Digital Certificates & SSL Review
- Pros & Cons
- Verdict
HostGator India Reviews – Features
HostGator India is best known for its state-of-the-art server facility, premium quality support, robust security and economical web hosting prices. It provides you with a top-notch web hosting features that will help you to optimize your website and maximize your traffic & sales. As such, if you are in need of a hosting provider, then you can’t go wrong with HostGator India.
Some of the Benefits of Buying a Web Hosting Plan from HostGator:
HostGator has one of the best server performance in the industry. Their uptime record is excellent. Many reports have shown websites enjoying 100% uptime.
HostGator actually has a section in their terms of service where they guarantee you an uptime of 99.9%. They go so far as to give you a month of credit should your Shared server or your Reseller server come in lower than the 99.99% uptime.
Just like GreenGeeks Web Hosting and many others, HostGator is a certified green web host. HostGator’s operations are powered by wind energy. That is, about 130% of all their operations. What this means is that for every unit of energy used, they will restore 1.3 units by buying REC’s (certified Renewable Energy Credits) back into the grid. REC’s are basically certificate issued when utilizing clean energy. Clean energy is obtained from renewable resources like wind and solar.
HostGator has such a vast number of possible upgrading options, that you’ll never be left high and dry. Their Shared hosting comes in four plans: Starter, Hatchling, Baby, and Business for Linux platform, and Starter, Personal & Enterprise Plan for Windows platform. They also offer numerous other services like VPS, Reseller Hosting, and Dedicated server hosting.
HostGator has invested quite significantly in support. Going through an issue is handled with professionalism and is mostly resolved in a short time. They offer support through live chat, email, and telephone discussion. Live chat, although it takes a while to get logged in is very helpful and the staff is knowledgeable.
HostGator Shared Hosting Review
The most affordable hosting plan offered by HostGator is the Shared Hosting Plan. This hosting plan is suitable for beginners who want to start a blog or a website. The Shared hosting package provides you with a host of impressive features and is divided into 2 categories – Linux Shared Hosting and Windows Shared Hosting.
Both Linux and Windows Shared Hosting in India come with 24/7 award-winning support, tonnes of programming features, 99.9% uptime guarantee, latest Plesk Control Panel, 45-days money-back guarantee and more. Upgrading from one Shared hosting plan to another is also very easy and free, as the procedure includes filling out an upgrading form, and the HostGator personnel will take care of the rest.
Let us take a look at each of these hosting plans in brief.
The HostGator Linux Shared hosting plan is categorized into Hatchling, Baby and Business plans, to fit the various needs of web users.
- The Starter plan costs ₹149/ per month. With this plan, you can host a single domain, and you get features like 10 GB disk space, 100 GB transfer, 5 email account(s) and a Free SSL Certificate.
- The Hatchling and Baby plan both come equipped with the same features, namely the ‘unlimited’, meaning that most everything is offered as an unlimited – disk space, transfer, emails, except the Hatchling plan only allows you to host one domain. You get a Free SSL with these plans too. The Hatchling plan starts at ₹249/ per month, while the Baby plan is priced at ₹299/ per month.
- With the Business Plan, which starts at ₹399/ per month, you are allowed a bit more, obviously. You get more features, as well as the ones offered with the Baby plan. The nice thing about this plan is that it includes a free upgrade to positive SSL and a dedicated IP.
For Windows users, HostGator offers 2 plans namely, Personal and Enterprise plan.
- The Starter Windows Plan allows you to use a single domain. It is priced at ₹199/ per month, and you get 10 GB disk space, 5 email account(s), latest Plesk Panel, one-click script installation, and Free SSL Certificate with this plan.
- With the Personal Windows Plan, you can host one domain, whereas the Enterprise Plan allows you to host up to 5 domains. Both offer you unlimited disk space, and emails. However, you get Free Dedicated IP and a Free upgrade to Positive SSL only with the Enterprise Plan. The cost of the Personal Plan is ₹289/ per month, and that of the Enterprise Plan is ₹339/ per month.
HostGator WordPress Hosting Review
While Shared Hosting plan is an ideal platform for beginners, those who are running their website on WordPress should think of purchasing a WordPress Hosting plan for their business. WordPress Hosting plans offered by HostGator are divided into Starter, Performance, Business, and Professional.
They are specially designed to boost your WordPress site’s performance and comes with benefits like air-tight security, advanced caching, 1-click WordPress installation, enhance uptime and scalability. In addition, you also get MOJO marketplace, pre-installed JetPack plugin, automatic updates, 24/7 customer support, with all these plans.
- HostGator Starter WordPress Hosting plan features 10 GB storage and 2 GB RAM and allows 1 WordPress installation at a price range of ₹299/ per month.
- The Performance WordPress Hosting, on the other hand, starts at ₹349/ per month and offers you 30 GB storage and 4 GB RAM with 2 WordPress installation.
- Priced at ₹459/ per month, the Business WordPress Hosting provides 3 WordPress installation and 40 GB storage & 6 GB RAM.
- With 5 WordPress installation, the HostGator Professional WordPress Hosting is the most lucrative plan. Features offered include 80 GB storage & 6 GB RAM, and the price is ₹599/ per month.
HostGator Reseller Hosting Review
For those who want to start their own Web Hosting business, HostGator Reseller Hosting plans offer you a great deal, in terms of reliability, quality support, attractive price range, and uptime. Conveniently divided into 2 plans – Linux Reseller Hosting and Windows Reseller Hosting, HostGator ensures that each customer has the option of choosing a Reseller plan that best suit their business needs and budget. All plans are flexible, scalable and include numerous benefits that you can enjoy at a relatively low starting price.
With each Reseller plan, you also get FREE Reseller Club Domain Reseller Account and WHMCS Billing software. In addition to the latest Plesk Control Panel with Multi-language availability, 24/7/365 Server monitoring, Unlimited POP3 Email Accounts with SMTP, 45-days money back guarantee and 24/7/365 customer support via phone, live chat & ticket system (email).
- The Linux Reseller Hosting plan for beginners (Aluminium Plan) starts at ₹1,019/ per month and provides 50 GB disk space, 500 GB bandwidth, unlimited domains, and FREE WHMCS Panel, Domain Reseller A/C and SSL Certificate.
- This is followed by the Copper Plan that offers 80 GB disk space, unlimited domains, 700 GB bandwidth, and the FREE features offered in Aluminum Plan. The price for this plan is ₹1,199/ per month.
- Next, is the Silver Plan at ₹1,559/ per month and comprise of 120 GB disk space, unlimited domains and 1000 GB bandwidth. This also includes the FREE features; WHMCS Panel, Domain Reseller A/C and SSL Certificate.
- Lastly, the Gold Plan offers 160 GB disk space, unlimited domains, and 1200 bandwidth at a price tag of ₹1,919/ per month. This, too, includes all of the above FREE features.
- The ‘PREP’ Windows Reseller Hosting plan starts as low as ₹1,245/ per month with 20 GB disk space, 100 GB bandwidth, and unlimited domains.
- The second plan, known as the ‘STARTER’ hosting plan, begins at ₹1,325/ per month and offers you 50 GB disk space, 200 GB bandwidth, and unlimited domains.
- The ‘EXPERT’ Plan is a popular plan with 100 GB disk space, 300 GB bandwidth, unlimited domains, and starts at ₹1,985/ per month.
- The highest plan is the ‘PROFESSIONAL’ plan at ₹2,795/ per month and includes 200 GB disk space, 500 GB bandwidth and unlimited domains.
HostGator VPS Hosting Review
An ideal bridge between Shared Hosting and Dedicated Servers, HostGator VPS Hosting is known for its flexibility and great performance. Providing you with top-notch server features and robust network infrastructure, DDoS protection, managed support and customized hosting solutions, VPS Hosting is the best plan for those who want high-level security for their website with full root access and multitude software options & easy upgrade option.
- Snappy2000 is the starter VPS Hosting plan on HostGator that costs ₹1,495/ per month and includes 2 core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB disk space, 1 TB bandwidth and FREE website migration.
- The next plan is Snappy4000 that offers you 2 core CPU, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB disk space, 1 TB bandwidth, FREE website migration and is priced at ₹3,395/ per month.
- Snappy6000 is a popular package at ₹4,595/ per month and comes with 3 core CPU, 6 GB RAM, 80 GB disk space, 2 TB bandwidth and FREE website migration.
- The last plan is Snappy8000 that provides you with 4 core CPU, 8 GB RAM, 120 GB disk space, 2 TB bandwidth and FREE website migration at a price range of ₹5,795/ per month.
HostGator Plesk VPS Hosting Review
- Snappy2000 is priced at ₹699/ per month. With this plan, you get 1TB bandwidth, 2 GB RAM and 20 GB disk space.
- Snappy4000 offers you 1TB bandwidth, 40 GB disk space and 4 GB RAM at a cost of ₹1,399/ per month.
- Next is Snappy6000 at ₹2,099/ per month, which includes 2TB bandwidth, 6GB RAM and 80 GB disk space.
- Costing ₹2,799/ per month, Snappy8000 provides you with 8 GB RAM, 120 GB disk space, and 2TB bandwidth.
HostGator Dedicated Server Hosting Review
This web hosting plan is most suited for large businesses and enterprises who receive a huge amount of traffic. It offers you a dedicated cPanel and a WHM Control Panel. You also get Free WHMCS Billing software, anti-virus & malware support, SpamAssassin protection, Quickinstall and a host of other unlimited features that provide a wide range of customization and configuration options along with top-quality support.
HostGator provides 3 Dedicated Server Hosting plan namely; Linux, Windows and Managed. Let’s take a look below to know what each offers.
- The Basic Linux Dedicated Server plan duration is up to 1-year at a price of ₹9,555/ per month. With this plan, you get 2 FREE IPs, 1 TB Transfer, 6 GB RAM and 1000 GB HDD in RAID 1.
- The Standard plan also includes 2 FREE IPs, 1 TB Transfer, 1000 GB HDD – RAID 1 along with 14 GB RAM. The price for this is ₹10,995/per month with the duration of 1-year.
- The Elite plan starts at ₹13,725/ per month and offers 2 FREE IPs, 2 TB Transfer, 22 GB RAM and 2000 GB HDD – RAID 1.
- With the Pro plan, you get 2 FREE IPs, 2 TB Transfer, 2000 GB HDD – RAID 1 and 30 GB RAM. The selective duration for this is 1-year at ₹16,215/ per month.
- An entry-level Windows Dedicated Hosting plan, Win-Basic is priced at ₹9,545/ per month and comprises of 4 GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD – RAID 1, 1 TB Transfer and 2 Free IPs. The selective duration for this is 1 month to 1 year.
- The Win-Standard plan cost ₹11,375/ per month with duration up to 1-year and offers 12 GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD – RAID 1, 1 TB Transfer and 2 Free IPs.
- Starting at ₹15,295/ per month, the Win-Elite plan provides you with 20 GB RAM, 2000 GB HDD – RAID 1, 2TB Transfer and 2 Free IPs. The duration remains the same, i.e. 1 month to 1 year.
- Lastly, at a price tag of ₹16,995/ per month (duration 1-year), the Win-Pro is the highest-level plan that includes 28 GB RAM, 2000 GB HDD – RAID 1, 2TB Transfer and 2 Free IPs.
HostGator Managed Dedicated Server Review
- The Basic-M and Standard-M offer you the same benefits 4 GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD – RAID 1, 5 TB Transfer and 2 FREE IPs at Rs. 10,995 / per month and Rs. 11,995/ per month respectively. The only difference is the faster CPU, with Basic-M offering 2.30 GHz Dual Core w/HT and Standard-M offering 2.50 GHz Quad Core w/HT. The duration is set for 1-year.
- The next package is the Elite-M at Rs. 13,995/ per month with a 1-year duration and includes 8 GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD – RAID 1, 10 TB Transfer and 2 FREE IPs.
- The last plan is the Pro-M that comes with 16 GB RAM, 1000 GB HDD – RAID 1, 15 TB Transfer and 2 FREE IPs at a cost of Rs. 15,995/ per month (1-year duration).
HostGator Cloud Hosting Review
Cloud Hosting is quite different from your regular Shared hosting. The environment is completely different, and honestly, not many web hosting providers are offering this type of hosting yet.
HostGator Cloud Hosting is said to be good because of it’s uptime and it’s speed, as you are assured of getting 99.99% uptime. In fact, Cloud Hosting, in general, offers you great uptime and fast speeds. These are a website’s biggest assets. Additionally, HostGator offers pre-integrated caching and FREE SSL Certificate.
With HostGator’s Cloud Hosting Plans, you get excellent support i.e. you have access to professionals who can help you troubleshoot issues you might have on your website. Apart from this, you also get a 45-day money-back guarantee.
So, let’s dive right in and look at HostGator’s Cloud Hosting Plans which includes Hatchling Cloud, Baby Cloud and Business Cloud.
- The Hatchling Cloud plan starts at ₹539/ per month and includes unlimited Bandwidth, 50 GB disk space, 2 GB RAM and you can host only a single Domain with this plan.
- The Baby Cloud plan offers unlimited bandwidth & disk space, 4 GB RAM and unlimited domains at a price tag of ₹659/ per month.
- With the Business Cloud plan, you can host unlimited domains and you get unlimited bandwidth & disk space, 6 GB RAM and FREE upgrade to Positive SSL at ₹899/ per month.
HostGator Domain Name Review
Offering you both Domain Registration and Transfer facility, HostGator Domain Name services are reasonably priced and provides you with numerous benefits that make purchasing your own Domain Name worth your investment.
The most popular Domain Name extensions available at HostGator are:
- .com domain name @ ₹749/year
- .net domain name @ ₹799/year
- .in domain name @ ₹299/year
- .biz domain name @ ₹499/year
- .co domain name @ ₹799/year
- .website domain name @ ₹99/year
- .online domain name @ ₹149/year
- .org domain name @ ₹899/year
- .co.in domain name @ ₹229/year
The renewal and transfer rates are slightly higher than the registration price. As such, if you want to save big, then it’s best that you register your Domain Name for a minimum of 3-5 years. Also, to ensure a hassle-free service, make sure to adhere to the renewal guidelines and pay on time.
Apart from these, HostGator also offers you other Domain Name extensions that make your task of choosing the right Domain Name for your business easier. Check out the list below.
Now coming to the benefits, you get the following services for FREE with each Domain Name Registration..
- Email Accounts and Free Mail Forwards: On registration, you get 2 personalized email accounts for FREE along with virus and anti-spam protection. Additionally, it also offers you Free Mail Forwards through which you can seamlessly redirect your emails to your existing email accounts.
- Domain Forwarding and DNS Management: The Domain Forwarding feature allows you to redirect visitors to whatever website you want on typing your domain name in a browser. DNS Management, on the other hand, allows you to manage your DNS records, email, website location, subdomains, FTP etc.
- Domain Theft Protection and Easy-to-use Control Panel: The Domain Theft feature allows you to lock your domain name, which prevents theft or accidental transfer of Domain without your permission. You also get a powerful HostGator cPanel through which you can manage your domain and other services related to it.
HostGator Domain Name Transfer is another effortless and straightforward task, which takes up to 7 days to get processed. However, there are a few things that you should note, before transferring your Domain to HostGator.
- Individuals who have just newly registered their Domain should wait for at least 60-days before moving (transferring) it to a new registrar.
- Individuals who have just renewed their Domain, shouldn’t transfer their Domain within 45 days, in order to not lose out on the renewal fees paid to your old registrar.
Further, here are some benefits of Domain Transfer that you can avail for FREE.
- Free 1 Year Extension: On Domain Transfer, you get a 1-year Free renewal at no additional cost.
- All Transfers are Risk-Free: If a Domain Transfer is unsuccessful, for whatever reason, HostGator will refund the entire amount that you have paid immediately.
- All Transfers are Seamless: There will be no alteration done to your Domain Name Servers during the transfer process and thus, you wouldn’t experience any ‘downtime’ on your website.
HostGator Email Hosting Review
HostGator offers reliable and Email Hosting in India to all businesses. Running on powerful Email servers, this service can be availed by those who own a registered Domain name and want to create personalized email accounts for their business.
HostGator has 2 plans under Email Hosting – Business Email and G Suite by Google Cloud. Both these plans offer simple tools that will help you manage your professional emails and comes with strong Anti-spam filters. It also allows easy email access across various devices. You also get 24/7 global support and 45-day money-back guarantee with all Email hosting plans.
Professional emails is a must for businesses and with Business Email Plans, you get 99.9% network uptime guarantee and inbuilt virus protection. This hosting service also fully supports other Apps like Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, etc. Further, you get a user-friendly cPanel to manage your account as well as easy to upgrade options. You get 5GB email storage/per account at a price tag of ₹29/ per month /per ID.
With G Suite Email hosting, you get 30 GB Cloud storage space, robust security assurance and access to inbuilt apps like Gmail, Google Drive for easy collaboration between the team on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. You also get Video Calling facility and access to Google Calendar that helps you organize your work. The G Suite plan starts at ₹210/ per account /per month and allows you to create 1-5 email accounts.
HostGator SiteLock Review
For the uninitiated, SiteLock helps protect your site from malware, hacking attempts, viruses and spam attacks. Having a SiteLock Trust Seal on your website indicates that your site is safe, which enhances your brand’s credibility leading to more traffic and increased sales. Once installed, SiteLock automatically scans your website and notifies you of any anomaly that it finds and provides you with helpful suggestions on how you can fix these issues.
HostGator offers you 4 SiteLock plans, which you can choose based on your requirement. All these plans are cost-effective and provide comprehensive protection to your site through 360-degree site scanning and 24/7 spam and malware monitoring.
HostGator also offers Truespeed CDN, Blacklist Monitoring and TrueShield Web Application Firewall with all SiteLock Plans. Thus, making your site truly secure.
- The SL-Basic plan is well-suited for small businesses and personal blogs. This plan offers site protection for up to 25 pages and costs ₹1,548/yr.
- The SL-Professional plan is priced at ₹3,540/yr and is perfect for mid-size businesses that have up to 100 web pages.
- The SL-Premium plan cost ₹4, 992/yr and is ideal for large websites that have up to 500 web pages.
- The SL-Enterprise plan is suitable for online businesses that have more than 2,500 web pages and is priced at ₹12,996/yr.
HostGator CodeGuard Review
For automatic database and website backup, CodeGuard is a must. CodeGuard can be mightily helpful, in the event your site gets hack, as it comes with the 1-click restoration option that can help you restore your site in no time, thus preventing revenue loss. Plus, apart from backup, it also monitors your site for any undue changes on a regular basis.
As an automated cloud-based backup service, CodeGuard offers real-time backup and restore option. Also, since it uses the FTP / MySQL method, it can help you take a backup of any website including WordPress. Thus, if you are looking for a cost-effective backup solution that is reliable and secure, then you should give CodeGuard a try!
HostGator offers you 4 CodeGuard Plans, the details of which are mentioned below.
- The CG -Basic plan cost ₹69/month and includes 1 GB disk space and unlimited databases. This plan covers up to 5 websites and is set to take automatic backups every 5 days.
- The CG – Professional plan is priced at ₹239/ month. This plan offers daily backup facility and provides you with unlimited databases, 5 GB disk space and covers up to 10 websites.
- The CG – Premium plan covers up to 25 websites and is set to take daily backup. This plan is priced at ₹399/ month and offers you 10 GB disk space along with unlimited databases.
- The CG – Enterprise plan starts at ₹799/ month. This plan provides daily automatic backup facility & can cover up to 100 websites. You get 25 GB disk space and unlimited databases with this package.
HostGator Digital Certificates & SSL Review
SSL Certificates provide a secure encrypted connection between a website server and a user’s browser. SSL is a protocol that stands for ‘Secure Sockets Layer’ and is used to encrypt customers personal and sensitive information such as login details, credit/debit card information, passwords etc.
At HostGator, you have the option of choosing from 3 different SSL Plans that are compatible with all major browsers and have a great set of features along with amazing FREE services.
Talking about the packages, both the Positive SSL and the Comodo SSL plan secures a single domain and offers basic validation for a cost of ₹1,452/yr and ₹2,844/yr respectively. While the Positive SSL Wildcard plan offers security to unlimited sub-domains at ₹4,248/yr. SSL Certificates are issued within 2 days and you can purchase any of this plan for a 1-year or a 2-year duration.
Conclusion
While a web hosting checklist can help you pick the right hosting provider, in general, when people shop for a web hosting company, they normally look for a number of key factors;
- The reputation of the company.
- The hosting features.
- Great customer support.
- Server performance.
- The price of the product.
- Scalability.
HostGator has passed all this test, as you can in the above HostGator hosting review, with flying colours. Thus, in my honest opinion, HostGator is a definite go-to company where web hosting is concerned. Although support has suffered a bit (it is now coming back again), everything else is a bargain for the value you receive.