HostGator Review

Uptime and Reliability

HostGator hosts in datacenters of "The Planet" in Dallas, Texas and is The Planet's largest client. These datacenters are equipped with cutting-edge technology, security, cooling and fire-protection systems. The data center is connected to the internet via 10 backbone fibre connections of the largest providers like AT&T, Level3, Time Warner, Global Crossing and others.

HostGators data centers are 24/7 staffed with experts monitoring all activities. Additionally, the software DataTrax monitors the whole infrastructure. The network is Cisco Systems Certified. Emergency diesel generators are installed to provide continuous service in case of a power outage. Offsite data backups are performed on a weekly basis.

Host Gator's performance and realiability can be ranked to be high.

Hosting Plans and Tech Features

Control Panel and Software

HostGator uses cPanel, the industry-leading control panel, for providing their customers a self-management software for their hosting accounts. CPanel is intuitive, easy to use, has nice icons and is orderly organized. It is the most used control panel and our favourite software for controlling web hosting accounts.

With cPanel it is easy to change mySQL databases, enter new email addresses and see statistics, such as the used bandwidth and storage space. Additionally, 52 applications can be installed via fantastico, wich is neatlessly integrated in HostGators control panel. With fantastico, customers can easily install galleries, forums, blogs, content management or online shop applications with one click.

CPanel in our opinion is one the best control panels that exists.

Support Performance

Host Gator provides their customers with 24/7/265 live support. There is a toll-free support telephone number, a live chat and a ticket system. Additionally to that, there is a support forum, a knowledge base and an online support portal with more then 500 flash video tutorials and 680+ help articles.

HostGator made a survey among their existing clients to find out, what they think about support quality. More than 90% of them responded, they are content and that support is responsive and competent. We found out, HostGator's support indeed is.

HostGators has a fast, responsive and friendly support and a toll free telephone number. We rank support quality at this company to be very high.

Pricing, Value and Renewal Fees

Host Gator is specialized in reseller hosting. However, they also provide their direct customers with attractive plans for shared hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated server hosting. The budget plan (called "Hatchling") provides all these things unlimited: storage, bandwidth, subdomains, FTP users, eMail accounts and mySQL databases - for $4.95 /month (if signed up as a 3-year plan). As we wrote this review, there was a "Cyber-Monday Super Sale", with everything 50% off! So the price for the "Hatchling"-plan is $2.48 /month on Cyber-Mondays - watch out for these special prices.

Geeks will be happy to hear about the many detailed features of HostGator's package: unlimited MySQL Databases (with phpMyAdmin), PHP5, Python, RoR, SSH, Cron Jobs, FrontPage Extentensions, SSI, Curl, GD2, ImageMagick and Streaming Audio/Video work at this feature-packed hosting plan. Fantastico 1-click installer allows customers to add 52 applications like Blogs, Content Management, Forums, Galleries or Wikis with ease. Many ecommerce applications and a shared SSL certificate are included in the web hosting package as well. The free site builder comes with more than 4,500 design templates.

Additionally, $100 in Google AdWords credits are given. HostGator guarantees 99.9% uptime, gives a 45-days-money-back guarantee and provides 24/7 customer support through a toll free telephone number.

This hosting plan is very feature-rich and professional. The service level and the quality is high. Although we know cheaper hosting plans at other providers, the price value of this one is high, considering all these features and extras.