Shared Hosting
HostGator
Budget cPanel hosting with 45-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 phone support
Founded 2002United StatesNewfold Digital
Overall Rating
3.1
Trustpilot: 4.5/5 (16,176 reviews)
Starting Price
$2.75/month
Renews at $11.95/mo
45-day money-back guarantee
Free SSL
Free Domain
Free Migration
24/7 Support
Pricing Plans
Compare HostGator's hosting plans
Most Popular
Shared Hosting
WordPress Hosting
VPS Hosting
Cloud Hosting
All plans include a 45-day money-back guarantee
Pros & Cons
What We Like
- Budget beginners (45-day money-back)
- Users needing 24/7 phone support
- cPanel users
- US-based websites (2 US data centers)
- Users wanting longer money-back guarantee than competitors
- VPS users needing managed cPanel/WHM
What Could Be Better
- Need international server locations
- Budget-conscious at renewal time (triples)
- Need daily backups included
- Need staging environment
- Sensitive to aggressive upselling
- Need malware removal included
Rating Breakdown
Value for Money
3.0Performance
3.0Support Quality
4.0Security
3.0Features
3.0Ease of Use
3.5Transparency
2.0Overall Rating
Weighted average of all categories
3.1/5
Technical Specifications
Complete feature breakdown across all 152 data points
Storage & Resources
- Storage
- Not specified
- Storage Type
- SSD (Unmetered)
- Bandwidth
- Unmetered GB
- Websites
- 1
- Databases
- Not specified
- PHP Versions
- 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2
Performance
- Uptime Guarantee
- 99.9%
- Uptime SLA Credit
- CDN Included
- CDN Provider
- Cloudflare CDN (optional activation)
Server Locations
- Location Count
- 2 locations
- Choose Location
- Locations
- Provo, UT (US), Houston, TX (US)
Security
- Free SSL
- Wildcard SSL
- Dedicated IP
- DDoS Protection
- DDoS Level
- Network-level flood protection
- 2FA
Backups & Malware
- Malware Scanning
- Malware Removal
- Firewall
- Backup Frequency
- Weekly (if account <20GB and <100K inodes)
- Backup Retention
- 7 days
- On-Demand Backup
Developer Tools
- SSH Access
- Git Deployment
- Staging
- Cron Jobs
- WP-CLI
Language Support
- Node.js
- Python
- Ruby
WordPress
- WP Optimized
- Auto Install
- Auto Updates
- WP Staging
- WooCommerce
- LiteSpeed Cache
- Object Caching
Support
- Live Chat
- Chat Hours
- 24/7
- Phone Support
- Phone Hours
- 24/7
- Ticket Support
- Priority Support
- KB Quality
- 4/5
- Channels
- Phone, Live Chat, Email, Knowledge Base
- Languages
- English, Spanish, Portuguese
- Email Included
- Account Limit
- Not specified
- Webmail
- Spam Filter
- Forwarding
Pricing Details
- Monthly Price
- $2.75/mo
- Renewal Price
- $11.95/mo
- Renewal Markup
- 335%
- 1st Year Cost
- $33
- 2nd Year Cost
- $143.4
- Setup Fee
- None
- Money Back
- 45 days
Free Inclusions
- Free SSL
- Free Domain
- Free Migration
- Free CDN
Migration
- Free Migration
- Sites Limit
- 1 sites
- Paid Cost
- $149.99
- Quality
- 3/5
Control Panel
- cPanel
- Panel Name
- cPanel
- Softaculous
- Site Builder
- Builder Name
- Gator Website Builder
Compliance
- GDPR
- PCI
- HIPAA
- Certifications
- Tier 3
CMS Platforms
- Drupal
- Joomla
- Magento
- Laravel
- Django
- Next.js
- Rails
- Static Sites
Content Policies
- Adult Content
- Gambling
- Crypto Sites
- Bandwidth Overage
- Unmetered within fair use; must stay within typical personal/small business range
- Storage Overage
- Unmetered within fair use; exceeding 100K inodes removes from weekly backups; 200K+ inodes violates AUP
Business Features
- API Access
- Reseller Hosting
- White Label
Best For (Score)
- Beginners
- 4/5
- Bloggers
- 3/5
- Developers
- 2/5
- eCommerce
- 3/5
- Agencies
- 3/5
- Enterprise
- 2/5
Company Info
- Founded
- 2002
- Headquarters
- United States
- Parent Company
- Newfold Digital
- Trustpilot
- 4.5/5 (16,176 reviews)
Our Ratings
- Overall
- 3.1/5
- Value
- 3/5
- Performance
- 3/5
- Support
- 4/5
- Security
- 3/5
- Features
- 3/5
- Ease of Use
- 3.5/5
- Transparency
- 2/5
Managed WordPress
- Available
Regional Info
- Best Countries
- United States, Brazil, India
- Currencies
- USD, BRL
- Support Languages
- English, Spanish, Portuguese
- Data Sovereignty
- GDPR
External Ratings
- Trustpilot
- 4.5/5
- Reviews Count
- 16,176
- G2 Rating
- 3.8/5
- BBB Rating
- Not Accredited
Advanced Technical
- Inode Limit
- 100,000
- Max DB Size
- 5 GB
- Max Upload
- 50 MB
- PHP Switching
Access & Limits
- SSH Tier
- All shared hosting plans
Additional Pricing
- Domain Duration
- 12 months
- Exclusions
- Dedicated servers excluded (30 days only); Domain registrations non-refundable ($17.99 fee if free domain used and cancelled within first year); SSL certificates non-refundable; SiteLock and CodeGuard non-refundable; Administrative fees non-refundable; PayPal and credit card payments only
- Payment Methods
- Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal
- Auto Renewal
- SSL Provider
- Positive SSL (Sectigo) - $10K warranty
Support Details
- Phone Countries
- United States
- Community Forum
Affiliate Program
- Affiliate Available
- Commission Type
- Flat rate (tiered)
- Commission Amount
- $50-$125 per sale depending on volume; 60-day cookie; via Impact Radius
Additional Policies
- File Hosting
- Proxy/VPN
- Suspension Policy
- AUP violations may result in suspension or termination without notice; 100K+ inodes excluded from backups; 200K+ inodes flagged for review/suspension
- Downloadable Backups
Additional Platforms
- PrestaShop
- Ghost
- Shopify Migration
- Wix Migration
- Squarespace Migration
- Webflow Export
Editorial Notes
- Best For
- Budget beginners (45-day money-back); Users needing 24/7 phone support; cPanel users; US-based websites (2 US data centers); Users wanting longer money-back guarantee than competitors; VPS users needing managed cPanel/WHM
- Avoid If
- Need international server locations; Budget-conscious at renewal time (triples); Need daily backups included; Need staging environment; Sensitive to aggressive upselling; Need malware removal included; Want more than 1 backup copy retained
- Known Issues
- Renewal prices triple from promo rates; Only 2 US data centers (no international options); Cannot choose server location; Weekly backups only (and only if account <20GB/<100K inodes); Daily backups and malware removal require paid add-ons; Aggressive upselling tactics widely reported; Post-EIG acquisition complaints about declining service quality; Average support wait times (15 min calls); No staging environment on shared hosting; Reddit complaints about predatory billing practices
- USP
- Budget cPanel hosting with 45-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 phone support
- Ideal Customer
- Budget beginner wanting cPanel and phone support with extended refund period
Competition
- Competitors
- Bluehost, GoDaddy, A2 Hosting
- Best Alternative To
- Bluehost
We strive for accuracy, but pricing and features change frequently. Some data may be outdated. Report an error and we'll update it promptly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about HostGator
HostGator is decent for budget beginners wanting cPanel and phone support, but has aggressive upselling, limited features, and only US data centers.
HostGator is owned by Newfold Digital (formerly Endurance International Group), the same company that owns Bluehost.
HostGator shared hosting starts at $2.75/month (promo) and renews at $11.95/month. First year costs approximately $33.
Yes, HostGator offers cPanel and 24/7 phone support, making it beginner-friendly despite aggressive upselling.
Yes, HostGator includes unlimited email accounts with shared hosting plans.
Yes, HostGator offers WordPress hosting with auto-install and auto-updates, but no staging environment on shared plans.
HostGator guarantees 99.9% uptime with SLA credits for downtime.
Yes, with a 45-day money-back guarantee (longer than most competitors). $17.99 deducted if free domain was used.
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