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If you are reading this, you are most likely considering one of the giants – HostGator or Bluehost – among the literally thousands of options available.
Shared hosting is offered by both of them, and they both have many different options, pricing, and features- but which is the best? Is one of the more reliable than the other? Which is the fastest? How much does each company charge?
Even though Bluehost and HostGator both offer many benefits, Bluehost comes out on top in the end. The affordability and ease of use of Bluehost really put them on top. HostGator is close behind with a close second.
Here is a detailed explanation of why Bluehost wins the battle over HostGator.
HostGator vs. Bluehost: What’s different
Bluehost has the following advantages over HostGator:
- Recommended by WordPress
- WordPress dashboard that is customized
- cPanel interface customized
- A step-by-step process for creating a WordPress site
HostGator has the following advantages over Bluehost:
- Guaranteed to refund within 45 days
- Provides a website builder through HostGator
A comparison of Bluehost and HostGator for WordPress
In addition to their Shared Hosting plan, Bluehost and HostGator offer WordPress hosting. There are, however, some benefits to Bluehost for WordPress sites. To begin with, Bluehost is definitely the better option for beginners since they offer more guidance when building and setting up your first WordPress site.
Also included are their customized WordPress dashboards, which give you quick access to all of the important functionality for building a website. Bluehost is a good choice for WordPress advanced users looking for advanced features such as automatic theme and plugin updates and website staging.
Additionally, Bluehost is recommended by WordPress.org. Therefore, Bluehost is the clear winner for WordPress websites.
A comparison of Bluehost and HostGator for website builders
Hosting provider, HostGator offers a website builder that comes with mobile-friendly templates plus pre-built sections that allow users to create sites more quickly. As well as WordPress, Bluehost focuses more on other applications available to its customers through cPanel, such as other content management systems and bandwidth monitoring. The winner of this category is HostGator.
eCommerce comparison between Bluehost and HostGator
With regards to eCommerce platforms, HostGator and Bluehost are fairly even when it comes to hosting. In this category, however, Bluehost wins due to its superior performance and support (website speed and customer support).
Comparing Bluehost and HostGator’s customer support
HostGator consistently has long wait times for live chat support even though both companies provide professional customer support. The customer support services at Bluehost have improved significantly, as they are now one of the fastest web hosts that offer live chat support.
Besides live chat and support tickets, Bluehost offers 24/7 phone and live chat support. They are knowledgeable and helpful, in addition to their quick response times. The time it takes to resolve issues is also excellent.
Bluehost is the winner when it comes to customer support.
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Security:
Security is not something you want to ignore when it comes to web hosting. If you want people to trust your website as well as you, you should choose a web hosting provider that you can trust. For plans that utilize a shared IP address, BlueHost offers a free shared SSL. Your website is protected from hackers, and everything on it is secure, including any customer/client information they enter on it, such as credit card numbers and other personally identifiable information.
With both providers, you get free SSL
Earlier this month Bluehost and Hostgator announced free SSL for all of their plans, just a few weeks before Google made HTTPS mandatory. The first to announce it was Bluehost, and Hostgator followed a few weeks later.
It lowered the overall cost of ownership significantly. It previously cost a minimum of $50 annually to purchase SSL for both – now you can get it all from one place. Fortunately, those extra costs have been removed now. The good times are here!
Other differences
In Bluehost, website transfers are an extra charge. With Hostgator, they’re provided for free. A free dedicated IP is part of the Hostgator business plan as well. Having a positive SSL gives it this capability. As a result, you can get both the lock symbol and the coveted “green bar” on your website. Customers are more likely to trust you because of this.
When it comes to disk space, there is an interesting distinction between Bluehost and Hostgator. However, the basic Bluehost plan only allows 50GB of disk space, whereas Bluehost’s advanced and premium plans offer unlimited disk space. In contrast, Hostgator leaves it unmetered. However, since they mention compliance with their terms, there must be a limit here. Watch out!
HostGator vs Bluehost pricing comparison
The pricing packages offered by Bluehost and HostGator are similar. Their plans are both easy to comprehend and they clearly show what features are included in each of them. Check out two of the best Web Hosting services available today.
Pricing for Bluehost
There is very little difference in price between Bluehost’s Plus plan and its Choice Plus plan, with monthly prices of $5.95 and $6.95 respectively. I think that’s a pretty good deal for unlimited websites, storage, bandwidth, and free SSL. Option Plus will provide you with a free Office 365 mailbox, as well as domain privacy and protection.
In relation to its cheaper plans, Bluehost’s Pro plan seems quite expensive considering its ‘dedicated IP’ and additional Spam Experts are the only real differences. With the Pro plan, however, you get higher performance, as you can upload 300,000 files. Moreover, fewer users will share fewer resources, and more resources are available.
Pricing for HostGator
In my opinion, all of HostGator’s plans are very affordable. They offer plenty of features suitable for individuals and businesses at a price of only $4.48 per month for their most expensive shared hosting plan.
The business plan from HostGator is almost identical to Bluehost’s Pro plan without the performance upgrade. Several hosts offer 1-click WordPress installs via their cPanel, but Bluehost is the only host recommended by WordPress in this comparison.
Conclusion:
Bluehost is better than HostGator according to our research and experience. In spite of this, HostGator is not far behind.
Whenever you need a hosting provider that works with WordPress and provides freebies, customer support, and security, BlueHost is the right choice.
If you are looking for a hosting provider that offers uptime guarantees and a user-friendly control panel, then HostGator is the way to go.