Whether you need shared hosting, cloud hosting, a WordPress plan, reseller account, dedicated hosting, or VPS, HostGator has something for you. The site would be intimidating if it wasn’t for the fact that HostGator loves to throw in dinosaur-based cuteness via its plan names alongside the cuddly looking dinosaur that adorns its logo.
The most basic shared hosting plan starts at £2.16 per month with that price giving you unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email addresses. Things steadily ramp up depending on your needs with cloud hosting of a similar quality starting at £3.89, and a WordPress optimised solution at £4.67 per month. All those prices are dependent on you tying yourself into a three-year plan though, so be aware if you only have short term aims.
For the more tech-minded user, a dedicated server starts at £93 per month. Reseller accounts start at £15.66 per month with VPS hosting priced the same. If you’ve kept up with pricing conventions, you’ll notice that HostGator isn’t the cheapest at everything it offers but it does remain highly competitive given its unlimited offerings.
Where things get even more appealing for the service is with its wealth of features. It has its own website builder that produces attractive results, one stop automated installations of popular CMS platforms including Joomla and WordPress, and its file manager tool is far easier to use than FTP software.
Perhaps most importantly for anyone considering taking the plunge, its uptime is almost flawless, and the same can be said for its customer service. It offers 24/7 telephone support as well as online web chat so you can easily get in touch if there’s a problem or you simply have a tricky question.
It’s a strong, multifaceted effort for the dinosaur themed company, with its only failing being that it doesn’t offer a quick import function if you have an existing WordPress setup elsewhere. Also, it is a little cheeky during purchase, since prices are based upon signing up for three years. Additional services such as HostGator’s SiteLock monitoring service are also automatically ticked, so be aware when making a purchase.
Despite that, if you just want something straightforward while you figure out what specific needs you require, HostGator is a really dependable starting place.