Web Hosting Reviews – HostGator Review

Dear Readers,

I have been using HostGator hosting services since 2nd of August 2011 and am still using it right now (Update: not anymore since November 2013).

To be frank, HostGator is the most talked about web hosting company that is being promoted by the vast majority of Internet Marketers. It is the main reason why I decided to write on hostgator review. Actually I didn’t like HostGator right from the start. It’s just that the name and website design do not appeal much to my eyes. And maybe I have been so used to using big web hosting companies that own their own datacenters until I ignored HostGator completely from my own shortlist of web hosting companies. Whenever I wish to recommend a web hosting company to someone, I normally point them to LiquidWeb.

Anyway, after I had sold off my main sites, as written in this post, I no longer need to use a Virtual Private Server (VPS) since I have stopped promoting and hosting huge video files that need high demand of bandwidth. So I began searching for a shared hosting instead. Since everyone has been recommending HostGator, I decided to try them out.

I sent out a few emails and chat with the staff regarding a few pre-sales questions. I was quite surprised at first because the speed of the replies were fast and accurate. I wasn’t expecting this kind of response especially from a web hosting company who is a reseller. After getting all the replies that I needed, I proceeded with the order using a discounted coupon.

I ordered the reseller plan since I have a few sites to host, in which I need each of them to have a separate cPanel login account. I’m also selling a few web hosting accounts to my closest friends.

Coming To 11 Months And Still Counting… (Update: Not anymore)

It has now been almost 11 months with HostGator and I have absolutely not encountered any problems with my server and their support staff. In fact, I am extremely delighted in the manner and speed of the support staff in handling all of my support tickets. They were absolutely brilliant and wonderful. ALL of my support requests were answered promptly and professionally. The staff were extremely helpful in trying to help resolve any problems that I encountered.

In terms of security, never did I encounter any security breach except for one of my client’s site that was hacked. It turned out that he was still using a very old version of Joomla script that contains a few security exploits. So the cause of it wasn’t due to an unsecured server, rather an exploit from an old version of a script. So it’s my client’s fault, not HostGator. All of HostGator’s shared and reseller hosting are also fully managed servers with 24 hours, 7 days a week with support.

The Client’s Admin Area

Like most web hosting companies, HostGator also offers a client admin area for complete account control. The clean interface makes it easy for anyone to be able to understand on how manage their accounts. Below is a screenshot image that I took from my own client admin area:

From the screen-shot above, you can see how easy it is to manage your account from the client’s admin area. Anyway, here’s my conclusion for my review on HostGator based on my current 11 months (and still counting) experience with them:

The Pros:

• Fully-managed servers for all shared & reseller plans

Their servers for shared and reseller plans are fully managed. While this feature is almost available to most web hosting companies that offer shared hosting, I still consider this as an important point because HostGator also takes care of the security aspect of the servers. Even though they are resellers, their technical staff department works 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Thus I do not need to worry about the up-time of my sites. I spent more time taking care of my online business rather than worrying over my server. Everything has been well taken care of.

• Extremely reputable company that you can trust your business with

One thing I like about HostGator despite them being a web hosting reseller company, is their high reputation that they have built since 2002. They now have more than 12,000 servers under their management with more than 400,000 customers worldwide. With HostGator, you know you can trust your business with them.

• Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and they’re fast to respond

Since support is available 24/7/365, and they are fast and efficient in dealing with my server issues or questions. I did not have to wait whenever I need any help from them.

• Affordable pricing

HostGator offers very affordable pricing with flexible payment plans. You can either pay monthly, bi-annually, yearly, every 2 years or every 3 years. The best thing is even though they are affordable, they can still afford to provide quality hosting accounts and excellent customer support. There is no doubt on why most of their customers reported being satisfied with their service.

The Cons:

• Misleading advertising on unlimited disk space & bandwidth

Well in all honesty, despite HostGator being my favourite web hosting company so far, there are still drawbacks that I can think of. One of them is misleading information regarding their unlimited disk space & bandwidth. That’s what written on their site, as though there isn’t any limit & restrictions on their server. In reality, that is far from true. If you look at their Terms of Service (TOS), you will notice that there are restrictions placed on disk space & bandwidth, although the usage of words in describing it is somehow different. Take a look at the screen shot below (taken from their TOS page):

However, despite the restrictions placed above, the majority of customers will not exceed the usage. If your usage is going to exceed the allocated limit, you will most probably be asked to upgrade to a Virtual Private Server (VPS). This is a standard practice for many web hosting companies.

Overall Conclusion

HostGator is by far one of the best hosting providers for shared & reseller plans. Their hard work and great support in dealing with their clients proved to me that they really take care of their customers. I can’t recommend HostGator enough if you are looking for a shared or reseller accounts. Even for newbies & starters, HostGator is the best choice for them to use. My current 11 months of experience with HostGator shows that they are the best out there. If you go for HostGator, I am confident that you will NOT regret your decision.
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