Choosing between HostGator and GoDaddy is a tough call to make. Both of them are excellent web hosting providers that host millions of websites on their servers. They have worked hard to gain significant goodwill in the market.
The question is, which is best among HostGator and GoDaddy for your online venture?
As mentioned above, these two web hosting providers are the two most affordable web hosting solutions available with plenty of standard features.
But still, the key takeaway is, HostGator and GoDaddy are worlds apart when it comes to performance, speed, and reliability.
To ease the selection process, we have written an in-depth HostGator vs. GoDaddy comparison. The comparison includes all prominent hosting parameters, such as performance & speed, security, ease of use, pricing, customer support, and so on.
Read on to learn which one is the most suitable option available between HostGator and GoDaddy.
Quick Summary
Here’s a quick index to help you navigate this article:
So let’s dive in.
HostGator vs GoDaddy: Overview
What is HostGator?
HostGator is one of the oldest web hosting providers that have created a significant impact on users. With perfect uptime and speed, it also provides some of the best support and documentation available by the experts.
Being one of the most popular web hosting providers in the industry, it offers various hosting plans to fit your type.
It is a smart choice for users who need top-notch security features, speed, customer support, and more at affordable pricing. HostGator also offers some significant freebies to add a cherry on top!
What is GoDaddy?
GoDaddy is an all-in-one web hosting solution for beginners as you can build your site, manage, and host it in one place.
GoDaddy is well–known for its marketing strategy and it is the world’s largest domain registrar. No matter what plan you go for, you will be provided with several outstanding features that will boost your website.
Over the years, they have hosted millions of websites on their servers. GoDaddy offers a secure, fast, and reliable web hosting experience and makes sure that your site keeps running.
GoDaddy has a team of award-winning experts who are on board to answer all your questions. GoDaddy is the best choice for users who are looking for premium features for their website.
HostGator vs GoDaddy: Key Features
Features play a crucial role in shaping your website. Useful features make or break your website. All the web hosting service providers offer different characteristics depending on the plan and pricing you pay to them.
Both HostGator and GoDaddy provide various web hosting solutions such as dedicated, cloud, VPS, and WordPress hosting to users.
Therefore, the features vary from plan to plan. In this comparison of HostGator vs GoDaddy, we will focus on the features offered in shared hosting plans.
HostGator Key Features
- With every plan, you get free SSL certification.
- HostGator provides a free domain name for one year on all the plans. For beginners, you do not want to miss out on this freebie.
- Their in-house website builder is an excellent tool that makes managing and building websites more accessible than before.
- To make sure your website is growing, HostGator offers free $100 Google Adwords and Bing ad credits to your plans.
- Avoid paying extra bucks to other web hosting providers with the unmetered storage and bandwidth feature offered by HostGator.
- You get a 45 days money back guarantee on all the plans. However, there is no refund for the domain name, admin fees, and customized installations.
- If you are reading this article while using other web hosts, you can migrate for free.
- You can install the MOJO marketplace easily with the help of the “quick install” option.
GoDaddy Key Features
- GoDaddy offers a drag and drop editor so that you can build your website with ease.
- On all the plans, you get a free domain. After a year, you will have to pay a fee for the domain name.
- Even their cheapest plans offer unmetered bandwidth without making you pay extra.
- GoDaddy offers free SSL certification only on the ultimate plans. For their lower-level plans, you will have to pay an additional amount to get free SSL.
- You get complete freedom to transfer as much data as you want for free. There is no metered bandwidth.
- With the ultimate plans, you get 2x faster performance and memory.
- GoDaddy offers scalable plans. You can get started with the cheapest plans and upgrade to their premium plans as soon as your website grows with just a few clicks.
HostGator and GoDaddy offer never-ending features, and both of them provide unique characteristics.
HostGator vs GoDaddy: Reliability and Uptime
Speed and uptime are one of the crucial aspects that you must look at when you are choosing a web hosting provider. You need to be aware of the speed that your web host is offering.
Performance and speed can make your website successful, but at the same time, lousy performance can disrupt your site and leave you clueless about where you went wrong.
Thankfully, HostGator and GoDaddy do not disappoint when it comes to excellent uptime and speed.
HostGator promises an uptime of 99.9% on all of their plans. If you receive any less uptime than 99.9%, you can apply to have credit on your hosting plan for the following month.
This option gives you a sense of reliability towards the hosting provider.
When It comes to page loading times, HostGator takes 1-3 seconds to load the page from various parts of the world, according to multiple loading time tests conducted by experts.
With an excellent page loading time being 3 seconds, HostGator is struggling to offer a fast loading time to its users.
GoDaddy promises an uptime of 99.99% as well. However, there is no assurance to the users regarding what will happen if it fails to provide the guaranteed uptime.
Some of the research shows that the average uptime of GoDaddy is 99.7%, which is an excellent uptime. However, the uptime of HostGator is slightly better.
The page loading time offered by GoDaddy is excellent. According to various studies, GoDaddy’s page loading time is between 0.90-2 seconds. Godaddy leaves an impressive mark due to their fast loading time.
A fast page loading time increases your Google ranking along with conversion rates, and that is why you need to choose a web hosting provider that delivers excellent page loading time.
GoDaddy is the winner of his battle, as it is continuously working and providing a superb uptime with speed.
HostGator vs GoDaddy: Security Measures
The moment you launch your website, several threats are waiting to visit your site. For that, you want some strict security measures from your web host.
Taking precautions is better than finding cures after the problem occurs. Let us have a look at the security options provided by team HostGator and GoDaddy.
HostGator offers weekly backups to keep your data protected. HostGator charges a fee for backup restore, which is a drawback for most users. You also get malware scans every week on your website.
The data centers of HostGator are super conscious about security; that is why they offer layers of protection for your data. You also get free SSL certificates on all the plans, which provide significant aid to the security of your website.
GoDaddy offers daily backups and daily malware scanning for your website. The backups are stored in the cloud, which you can restore at any time. However, GoDaddy charges some fees to keep your data protected for the prevention of crisis.
GoDaddy’s system blocks millions of threats and attacks every hour. GoDaddy offers the most potent and reliable protection on all their plans. Real people are monitoring your website regularly to keep it protected.
The data centers have prioritized security as number one; therefore, hosting your website with GoDaddy is purely safe and reliable.
GoDaddy charges a fee for security. However, investing a bit in keeping your site safe rather than spending thousands of dollars later is the better choice. Hands down, GoDaddy offers higher security options than HostGator.
HostGator vs GoDaddy: User Experience and Interface
Any web hosting provider needs to be built by keeping a beginner in mind. Not everyone is tech-savvy, which can be a significant problem that many users come across.
The dashboard and control panel that the web hosting provider offers will play a critical role in the user’s experience.
Both HostGator and GoDaddy offer cPanel, which makes the management process a lot easier by giving you direct access to various aspects of your website. However, there are many user-friendly areas that we need to consider. Let us have a brief look.
HostGator’s dashboard offers an eye-catching design, which is very easy to understand.
On the left side of the panel, there’s primary navigation that shows all the details of your account, such as hosting plan, domain name along with support, and your billing information.
The control panel depends on the type of plan you go for. Usually, the lower level plans consist of cPanel, while the high tier plans use Plesk for a better interface.
The cPanel offers a customizable management interface for your website. Through the control panel, you can quickly complete a one-click WordPress installation.
GoDaddy also offers an easy to use interface. The dashboard is straightforward to navigate. The dashboard displays two options; one of them shows the hosting plan and the domain name, while the other program includes your account details.
GoDaddy also gives you direct access to various tools through their ‘Manage’ option. GoDaddy is a great choice for beginners as it offers domain management, website building, and web hosting all in one place.
When it comes to cPanel, unlike HostGator, it is not customized. This doesn’t take GoDaddy down, because there is still plenty of documentation provided online for completion of specific tasks.
Overall, both HostGator and GoDaddy offer an easy to use and beginner-friendly user interface. If you are just starting your website, you do not need to worry about going through various tutorials to understand the dashboard.
HostGator vs GoDaddy: Pricing Comparison
Pricing is one of the most significant factors in every aspect. Pricing affects user’s decisions, and that is why your web hosting provider shouldn’t empty out your pockets with their expensive web hosting services.
Let us compare HostGator and GoDaddy’s cheapest pricing plans.
HostGator Pricing
- Hatching – $2.75/month: This plan is perfect for getting started with HostGator. Some of the features include free SSL, free domain name, unmetered bandwidth, and more.
- Baby plan – $3.95/month: This plan is excellent and recommended by HostGator. You get free website transfer, SSL, unmetered bandwidth, and more features.
- Business plan – $5.95/month: As the name suggests, this plan is an excellent option for business owners. With this plan, you get free SEO tools, dedicated IP, and all the features of the Hatching and Baby plans.
GoDaddy Pricing
- Starter – $3.99/month: As the name suggests, this plan is perfect for beginners. It lets you host one website of up to 30GB with unmetered bandwidth.
- Economy – $4.49/month: This pan is perfect for users who are starting their website. It includes all the features, such as free email for a year, 100GB storage, and more.
- Deluxe – Deluxe is the best choice if you are the owner of a large website and looking for advanced features. This plan provides you unlimited storage and unlimited website hosting.
- Ultimate – $8.45/month: Ultimate plan is the ultimate choice for enterprises. You get all the features of economy plan and deluxe plans, along with a free SSL certificate.
The above-listed plan pricing is for 36 months. If you are looking for short term pricing plans, you can go for the same plans at annual and two-year payment methods, but at a high price.
Pricing between HostGator and GoDaddy does not have a significant difference. For what
GoDaddy offers the price is right. However, if you are looking for the cheapest pricing plans, HostGator might be your best choice.
HostGator vs GoDaddy: Customer Support Options
When you need support, the web hosting provider should offer support at your fingertips. There are going to be some scenarios where you will need the help of human assistance in terms of handling your website.
Both of our comparable web hosting providers offer premium support in various ways.
HostGator offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone call, email, and ticketing system. HostGator has over 700 articles that guide you through all the problems, along with the basic setup of your website.
You can also surf through their 500+ tutorials that are made to make your site-building process easier. HostGator also has large knowledge base forums that consist of people who might have faced similar issues, along with solutions.
Some of these forums can be accessed for free by everyone, while others are accessible only by the members.
GoDaddy also offers 24/7 customer support for its users through live chat, phone calls, email, and ticketing systems. GoDaddy has a massive knowledge base forum where you can find the answers to your queries.
All the members have access to lengthy tutorials that offer essential information for beginners as well as significant tutorials for tech-savvies. These forums help you find your answers quickly without taking the effort of contacting the team directly.
Both HostGator and GoDaddy offer excellent customer support through various platforms. However, GoDaddy’s site is sometimes hard to navigate, which can be a drawback for some users.
Overall, this round calls for a tie between both the host providers.
HostGator vs GoDaddy: The Final Verdict
After considering HostGator vs GoDaddy, we can proudly say that our best pick is GoDaddy. The services offered by GoDaddy are top-notch with a decent pricing plan.
The award-winning support team of GoDaddy works day and night to solve all of your problems. Irrespective of the size of your website, GoDaddy already has all kinds of plans that will give your site a kick-start.
It is a one-stop destination for your website that facilitates everything running smoothly. Investing in GoDaddy is the smartest move you will ever make.
HostGator is the best option if you are not willing to spend some extra cash on your website. If you are on a tight-budget, HostGator might be the right choice for you. The right web hosting plan for your website depends on your needs.
We hope our head to head comparison gave you a clear view regarding which web hosting provider is the best choice for you.
Drop a comment in the comment section below regarding which web host you are going for.
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