HostGator might be one of the biggest, oldest web hosting companies in the industry, but they’re still making improvements, posting an average uptime of 99.98% over the past 24 months.

HostGator began as a small hosting company. Brent Oxley, a Florida Atlantic University student, started the organisation in 2002. Since its inception, it has continued to flourish year after year.

Endurance International Group, which owns Bluehost and other hosting firms, bought HostGator in 2012. Although its headquarters are in Houston, Texas, it currently has offices all over the world.

It caters to a wide range of customers, from complete novices to seasoned webmasters, and now hosts over 9 million websites.  There labels for plan levels are all Gator themed;  Baby, Hatchling, etc.

Pros

High-speed performance
Free daily & weekly data backups
1-click WordPress auto-installer
Ultra-fast server response times
Excellent customer service
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

Hostgator also offers free migration of your current hosting site to theirs.

The free website builder is a useful tool, but if you want to do more than create a simple couple of page website, you’ll rapidly reach its limits. You are forced to upgrade to one of the pricier plans if you want to create a large, feature-rich site.

Cons

Free Let’s Encrypt SSL has to be manually setup on addon domains

Their support is multiplatform, from online chat, tickets, and phone conversation, but users complain of slow response times.

There is quite a hike in your second subscription term.  And another thing I didn’t like was the auto bump to 3 year term when signing up.  Multi-month would be ok, but to 3 years is excessive in our opinion.

HostGator at a Glance

Bandwidth: Unlimited

Free marketing offer: Various offers online constantly

Uptime: 99.98%

Website builder: Yes

Money-back guarantee: 45-day

Hostgator Prices, Hosting Plans:

Hatchling Plan: Starting At $2.75 /mo*

Baby Plan: Starting At $3.95 /mo*

Business Plan: Starting At $5.95 /mo*

Ideal for:

• WordPress businesses
• Bloggers
• Personal Websites
• Startups
• Any business that enjoys flexible, easy, feature-rich hosting

Conclusion

HostGator’s shared hosting does offer a lot of benefits. The uptime has really improved over the past year or so. The customer service was good, although slow. And the plethora of beginner-friendly options makes it user-friendly.

HostGator’s powerful shared hosting plans include unlimited storage, email, and monthly databases, giving your company plenty of opportunity to expand. In a nutshell, it’s the greatest shared hosting service we’ve tested. As a consequence, we’ve chosen HostGator as our Editors’ Choice for shared web hosting.  VPS though, is another story.  Read all of our reviews to discover recommendations for that service!