For every individual who owns a website whether for business purposes or even for promoting a hobby, Website hosting is an essential service that is required. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed on the Internet.
Think of it this way– When you sign up for a web hosting service, what you’re doing is essentially renting space off a physical server where you can store all the files and data necessary for your website to run properly. This is a very basic way of putting it as there is so much more to know about Website Hosting and also the best website hosting services for you.
One additional service that is usually offered by top-notch web hosts is domain registration. A company or organization that is responsible for the registration and management of domain names for websites is known as a domain registrars. Therefore, many Web Host services also serve as domain registrars. Many but, not all.
Two giants in the Web hosting industry, Hostinger and Hostgator always make it to the conversation when we’re talking about services like web hosting, domain registration, WordPress hosting, and similar services.
In this article, we would be comparing both Web hosting providers and making a final call on which one is best for you!
Hostinger vs Hostgator- General Overview
Hostinger
Hostinger was founded in 2004 and has been a privately owned company from the get-go. After going by the name ‘Hosting Media’ from 2004 to 2011. The company was rebranded later in 2011 and has gone by the name ‘Hostinger’ever since then.
From the point of its birth to now, Hostinger has grown gradually and steadily in every aspect. So much so that in 2020 it was named one of the fastest rising companies in Europe and it makes it to every list talking about the best web hosting providers. They provide worldwide web hosting and are available on every continent with their headquarters being in Lithuania.
Today, Hostinger provides some of the cheapest web hosting and is a favorite among many.
HostGator
Back in 2002, Hostgator was founded by a Florida Atlantic University student, Brent Oxley. Over the span of 10 years, Hostgator progressed rapidly and received various recognitions including being ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States in 2008. By 2012.
Hostgator moved from being a privately owned business by selling off to Endurance International Group (EIG) in 2012. They still remain one of the best web hosting platforms and provide hosting and other related services worldwide.
Interface and Customer Support
Hostinger has a user friendly and easy to use interface. The website makes use of hpanel control panel. Once you sign up for your account, you can log onto your Members area. Here you would be presented with your panel interface which looks just like this-
You can see most of what you’d need to navigate your way around at the top menu listings from hosting settings to email, billing, and many more. Also, towards the right side of the list items, you will find options for mitigation requests, notifications, and also access to your profile. It’s pretty straightforward and easy to navigate. For further inquiries on hpanel you can check out these guides.
When it comes to customer support, you can get in touch with them through live support which is available 24/7 although they are unavailable over the phone. They provide excellent customer service both for issues concerning the technical (or backend) of your site in relation to the services they offer and they also provide a thorough help center that will help you along your process if you run into any difficulties.
Hostgator like most web hosts, uses cpanel dashboard. The dashboard is familiar and clearly laid out and fully packed with all the options you would need (and even some you might never notice).
You can see the options that enable you to manage your domain names, email accounts, and also the app installer which makes it easy for you to install apps and content management systems such as WordPress, with a click.
Hostgator takes customer support very seriously and provide support through live chat support, email, phone and also an extensive knowledge base.
Though Hostinger and Hostgator make use of dissimilar looking interfaces, both are still considered user friendly and although the cpanel dashboard can look crowded, it should only take a short time to figure your way around it for the tools you would be using frequently. Both web host providers offer stellar customer support and in this category, we can agree they are both winners.
Types of Web Hosting
Both Hostinger and Hostgator offer various types of Web Hosting which are as follows:
Shared Hosting Comparison
A shared web hosting service refers to a web hosting service in which many websites owned by many users reside on one web server connected to the Internet. It is generally the most economical option for hosting. When business owners and individuals are looking for hosting plans for their websites, this is often what they are looking for.
Hostinger offers three shared web hosting plans that offer different features.
While none of the plans offer unlimited storage space, you can get unlimited bandwidth if you go for the premium or business plan. Based on your plan of choice, you can also get a lot of extra features added like free domains and Google ads credit.
Hostgator offers three shared web hosting plans which are called the hatchling plan, the baby plan and the business plan.
All their plans offer unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth and Hostgator also throws in a free domain for a year. With a familiar and easy-to-use cPanel, Hostgator’s backend is quite intuitive. Additional features with your hosting plan also include a free drag-and-drop custom website builder and even free SEO tools if you’re using their business plan.
Based on features, Hostinger offers more than enough for the price it proposes while, Hostgator offers unlimited storage and bandwidth irrespective of your plan but, it’s packages are pricier.
If you are interested in the technical part of your hosting account and are familiar with backend technology, you might find this difference very significant. A major difference between Hostgator and Hostinger is the control panel which they use. Hostgator uses cpanel which is familiar and supports virtually any programming language you can think of. Hostinger on the other hand makes use of its own control panel, hpanel. hpanel offers all the basic features although not all the features of cpanel. This can be good as it makes your options less clustered but, it could be a downside for you if there’s a certain feature that is only available on cpanel (which is quite unlikely for a beginner or intermediate programmer).
Dedicated Hosting Comparison
As established earlier, in a shared web hosting service many websites owned by different users reside on one web server connected to the Internet. A dedicated hosting service, therefore, is one in which an entire server is dedicated to the use of only one client.
Currently, Hostinger doesn’t provide dedicated hosting so if you’re looking for a web hosting provider for dedicated hosting then, look elsewhere. Perhaps look towards Hostgator.
Hostgator offers dedicated web hosting with unmetered bandwidth and powerful hardware for Linux or Windows OS. With 100% server control and features such as an IP-based firewall and professional support, Hostgator takes the cake on this one.
Seeing as the option of dedicated web hosting is a huge determinant to whether you use Hostinger or Hostgator as your hosting provider, you might be wondering, ‘Do I need dedicated hosting?’
Well, there are a few reasons why you might need a dedicated server to only yourself. The most common reason is traffic load. If your site is receiving as many as a thousand or more unique visitors every day, and the shared server you’re using has a high server load on it, then the performance of your website might be compromised. In addition, dedicated hosting comes with enhanced security features so if you run a website that contains sensitive data that you want to keep away from hackers or any security breach, then a dedicated server would be of benefit to you.
VPS Hosting Comparison
Virtual private server(VPS) hosting by definition “is a type of hosting where multiple companies use isolated instances on the same host or parent server”. VPS hosting works by making use of a software called a hypervisor, a separation between virtual walls is created that allows each user to install their own OS and software.
Hostinger offers six different VPS hosting plans with the starting price being as low as $3.95/month.
Regardless of the plan purchased, you are sure to enjoy the features such as a dedicated IP address and technical infrastructure such as it’s processors and SSD disk space that enable you and your site customers to have a lightning fast experience on your website.
Hostgator offers three VPS hosting plans with the lowest introductory offer currently being $19.95/month.
Each plan comes with 2 IP addresses as well as huge storage spaces and a bunch of ‘free’ features which include powerful hardware for speed and efficiency of your website and weekly data back up for your private server data.
To compare Hostinger and Hostgator’s VPS hosting services, let’s begin by addressing the major elephant in the room- pricing. The current prices that we have listed above are promo prices and not original prices. On a normal day, Hostinger’s cheapest option for VPS hosting is $9.95/month while it is about $80 on Hostgator. Is Hostinger’s pricing simply too good to be true? or does it mean they offer less quality than Hostgator which costs more? Let’s find out
Well, Hostgator offers tough to beat VPS hosting services with a stable uptime of 99.99% averaging on nothing less than 99.95% over the last year, we can call Hostgator reliable. Although the original pricing for this service is quite steep, if you choose to use this service as your long-term provider there’s a better option for you which is to pay the promo introductory price of $19.99 per month as a one-time payment for 3 years. Hostinger falls short in terms of uptime and other features like disk space and bandwidth but, it offers great value for its price.
WordPress Hosting Comparison
Think of WordPress hosting as a hosting service that has been optimized specifically to suit your meet WordPress’ performance and security needs. If you have a WordPress website, going with WordPress hosting would be ideal as it is pre-configured to host WordPress websites efficiently but, not necessary as the normal shared web hosting could also suffice.
Both Hostgator and Hostinger offer WordPress hosting services with standard features and their prices are not that far apart. When you choose WordPress hosting with Hostinger, expect additional WordPress support and features such as one-click WordPress installation and enhanced security protection. With Hostgator, the WordPress features get just a little bit more specific by offering access to WordPress themes, providing Google ads credit to boost marketing amongst others.
Both hosting providers are excellent options for WordPress hosting with Hostgator being slightly better so much so that it is recommended by wordpress.org themselves.
Cloud Hosting Comparison
These days it’s almost impossible to have a conversation about tech and the internet without hearing someone refer to ‘the cloud’. Unlike the traditional hosting options such as shared hosting and VPS hosting, in cloud hosting, data from sites aren’t hosted by one single server but by a network of cloud servers. Thus, with cloud hosting, you do not need to purchase server equipment or worry about active management especially when it comes to data storage.
Hostinger cloud hosting plans cost more and offer a plan of $56.99 per month that is powered by Google cloud. The features include the basics of web hosting plus increased speed performance, increased uptime and free dedicated Ip address.
Hostgator’s cloud features present you with a website with superior speed and an intuitive dashboard. Even better, its pricing is quite pocket friendly.
Overall Cost
Overall, Hostinger plans are more affordable for all types of hosting excluding dedicated hosting (which they do not provide) and cloud hosting which offer more than Hostgator plans offer. So generally speaking, Hostgator costs more.
What is great about Hostinger’s pricing is that at first glance, it appears too good to be true and you might even mistake it for a below-average service due to its cheap prices but, in reality, Hostinger offers much value for the low prices. The value is comparable and in many cases even better than other host providers that charge three times the price.
Both offer generous money-back guarantees. Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee while Hostgator offers a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Performance
Hostinger’s shared web hosting is one of the fastest hosting service and it’s uptime score is stable and averaging on 99.9% across all it’s servers.
Along with it’s almost perfect uptime score, Hostinger’s average response time for shared web hosting is 183.32ms.
Hostgator’s statistics are not as impressive as Hostinger’s but they are decent. We pulled the statistics for their overall performance this month and you can see it right here-
Evidently, it’s clear that Hostinger’s performance knocks Hostgator’s out of the park both by offering quick response time and a 99.99% uptime score. Although, for VPS hosting we noticed some fluctuations from Hostinger and thus Hostgator’s uptime for VPS hosting has been more stable in the past.
Security
After years of complaints in regard to poor security by the Hostinger team, an incident in 2019 gave them the final push to up their security game. They have made noticeable efforts to improve their customer security by using a cryptographic hash function to encrypt all our Client passwords and offering an HTTP secure access to most areas on their services.
Hostgator monitors it’s servers 24/7 and takes extra security measures to ensure the safety of it’s users data. They have an extensive firewall that protects their servers from malware attacks and they also employ additional security measures that are ‘confidential’.
Security is important to any well meaning web hosting platform but, it’s glaring that Hostgator puts a bit more priority on this in comparison to Hostinger. Hopefully, no further security breach would occur to a Hostinger user account but, part of this lies in your hands so you should observe your procedures to be more secure.
Summary
It’s a decent battle between Hostinger and Hostgator but, there is a clear winner. Due to its performance, quality of services for affordable pricing and, superior cloud hosting, Hostinger has proven to be the bigger and better web host between the two. Of course, this isn’t a flat out ruling. If you’re keen on getting dedicated hosting then, Hostgator is what is recommended. You might even still go with Hostgator if you’re looking for WordPress hosting specifically but, in every other aspect, Hostinger is the winner. Looking for website hosting? Do yourself a great favor and sign up on Hostinger today.
