While reviewing any web host, there is a dilemma - should we really recommend it? More often than not, the answer would be "perhaps". But for hostgator, we won't hesitate - the answer is a definite yes! Sorry for the spoiler, if you really have the time you may proceed to read the review below. Otherwise just go to hostgator and get yourself an account!
HostGator Features
FREE Website Builder
FREE Website Templates
FREE Site Transfer
Money Back Guarantee
24/7 Technical Support
HostGator Reliability
Hostgator host their sites on top-of-the-line Dual Xeon servers in their data centers at Dallas. The data centers are well equipped and connects to 10 backbone providers. They offer 99.9% uptime Guarantee which is the industry standard.
We started realtime testing of hostgator uptime on Feb 2008. The test is done on a site hosted with hostgator, using a third party uptime monitor service. The result after one week shows 99.78% uptime for our test site hosted with hostgator.
While this is slightly less than the assure 99.9%, it is the BEST performance out of top 4 hosts tested. There has never been a single case of site being down for more than 3 minutes at a stretch. Hostgator indeed lived up to their reputation.
HostGator Price Value
They have three hosting packages starting from Hatchling ($6.95 pm) to Swamp ($14.95 pm). The price is reasonable for the features and space/bandwidth provided. Recently Hostgator increased the space and bandwidth to unimaginable levels. They also reduced the price of all plans, by introducing 24 and 34 month pre-payment options. The monthly payment now have a small set up charge and is costlier than 12 month rates. Our advice - don't get excited by the unlimited space and bandwidth. They do have limits on file numbers(inodes) and CPU usage to make sure that only reasonable sized accounts remains in the shared servers. But for any site with a reasonable traffic, hostgator plans are more than sufficient. You obviously can not expect a site with few million page views a month to run on a shared host, no matter what bandwidth they offer.
HostGator Control Panel
Hostgator offers linux hosting only(even though they are expected to start windows hosting in the near future). All their packages come with all the features needed for a serious website. Baby and Swamp packages allow unlimited domains(add on), which makes a lot of sense if you have multiple websites. They use cPanel, which is the best control panel around. You get Fantastico script installer which will install most of the popular open source scripts with few clicks.
They support PHP4 & 5, SSH, Cron jobs, Python, Ruby On Rails etc. Also, all the packages include enough POP3 accounts(20 for Hatchling and unlimited for others).
HostGator Customer Support
Hostgator offers 24/7/365 toll free support. In addition, they have Ticket System, Knowledge base, tutorials etc. Also they have an active forum which helps in fixing most normal issues. Support tickets are fast, often response will be made in less couple of hours.
HostGator Hosting Packages
Linux Web Hosting Packages
Hatchling Plan: 350 GB disk space, 3000 GB bandwidth @ $4.95/month (Domains Allowed: 1) Baby Plan: 600 GB disk space, 6000 GB bandwidth @ $7.95/month (Domains Allowed: UNLIMITED) Swamp Plan: 1000 GB disk space, UNLIMITED bandwidth @ $12.95/month (Domains Allowed: UNLIMITED)
HostGator Summary
Overall, hostgator is fair priced and provides enough resources for a shared web host.
I signed up with then and I could not be happier.
Best deal around
