HostGator Reviews 2020: Honest Look at Speed & Uptime

By Technical - May 18, 2020

HostGator is an incredibly dependable host, with a decent information base, extraordinary UI, and a wide choice of facilitating arrangements.

Speed and uptime as far as numbers (19 months information):

Ø The TTFT is somewhat better than expected, at 0.59 seconds, yet then the rendering doesn't take any longer. It finishes in 1.15 seconds.

Ø With 99.99% uptime, Hostgator is the most solid host.

Because of its interesting engineering, HostGator Cloud offers genuine cloud adaptability and in a hurry asset the executives – a one of a kind component among shared hosts.

What's more, the apprentice inviting Gator web designer for exclusively constructed sites and online business stores, 30-day movement period during which the HostGator relocation authorities can move over any cPanel record of yours for nothing, 45-day unconditional promise make HostGator a decent web facilitating for new sites promotion bloggers.

The organization bolster group is educated. Reasonable and highlight rich, this is a host that is attempting by and by to arrive at the potential it indicated at an early stage in its reality.

Things we liked / disliked

+ 100% Uptime

+ Free Migration, SSL, Backup

+ Drag And Drop Website Builder

+ Free Domain Name

+ Unmetered Space And Bandwidth

+ 55% Off On 12 Months Plan

- High Renewal Rate - $10.95

- No-Free SSL on Basic Plan

HostGator Review

HostGator is among the most popular web hosting providers and I was eager to test its mettle.

I set up a basic WordPress installation on the HostGator Baby Cloud and measured the response times and behavior under load of the HostGator servers. I also went through many HostGator reviews to get a clearer picture about the company support and policies.

My ongoing tests of 11 most popular hosting companies rank HostGator as follow

#1 in reliability

#10 in frontend speed

#10 in backend speed

#5 in support

#9 in price

§ Pricing – 8.5/10

§ Support – 8/10

§ Features & Ease of Use – 8.2/10

§ Reliability & Speed – 8/10

Who Is HostGator?

Without a doubt, HostGator is among the most popular names in the industry, especially for US-based users.

Currently, it hosts about 10 million domain names, making it one of the biggest hosting providers in the world. Not bad for a company founded some 16 years ago.

In the first ten years of its existence, the company built a very solid reputation which attracted the attention of EIG. The consecutive acquisition, as with so many things EIG touches, wasn’t entirely beneficial and brought about several massive outages early on in the Provo data center that affected BlueHost as well.

Still, HostGator recovered and improved upon its services. And while the standard shared hosting offering of the company is not all that impressive, the relatively new Cloud packages put HostGator once again in the mix of the best website hosting companies.

Its Cloud platform promises great speed, superb scalability, and seamless resource allocation among other perks to make account and site management a breeze.

But is it enough to consider HostGator as a serious contender for the best web host in 2018?

Let’s see what the numbers say in this detailed HostGator Cloud hosting review.

The Essentials – HostGator Uptime, Speed, Support

Uptime, speed and quality support make or break a hosting provider.

1. Amazing Uptime – 99.99%

Uptime is effectively the most significant factor to consider while checking any web facilitating audit. Speed additionally matters a great deal however a moderate site despite everything benefits around; a disconnected page is an unmitigated catastrophe.

The organization probably won't be perfect – you can see a portion of the HostGator issues further down – yet its uptime is superb.

HostGator has a 99.9% uptime assurance and guarantees free facilitating should this administration level understanding be penetrated.

Presently, the terms of administration specify that outside checking frameworks can't be utilized to quantify uptime. Just the server logs are regarded solid enough to be utilized in such cases.

That is reasonable enough, as even the best checking devices are not idiot proof, and HostGator has a worked in server uptime observing that can be gotten to through the client entryway.

The Cloud HostGator is an updated rendition of the standard shared stage, and the overhaul is telling. It brings to the table two significant advantages: higher unwavering quality and truly open overhauls that can be bought with a few ticks and similarly effectively debilitated when not, at this point required.

On account of the propelled Cloud engineering that permits the constant duplicating of any site.

Average Uptime 2018:

August – 100%
September – 100%
October – 100%
November – 100%
December – 100%

Average Uptime 2019:

January – 100%

"HostGator is an extremely reliable host."

2. Average Speed

Reasonable Response Time – 0.70s (11th)

Reasonable Fully Loaded Time – 1.28s (10th)

Questionable Under Certain Load – 9.43s (10th)

Note: If you run speed tests on my area, results may change a piece. Indeed, even from a similar testing stage, two back to back tests typically show marginally various outcomes. My HostGator site is facilitated in Houston, so I tried it from US areas. All modules and server-side storing were debilitated.

Stacking speed is totally urgent for any fruitful endeavor on the web. A webpage that takes over 4 seconds to stack is deserted by 74% of the clients, while slow web based business sites are once in a while visited once more.

I test the TTFB (time to first byte), and the time it takes for a site to be stacked completely. The main measurement uncovers how rapidly the server reacts to a question. It is a decent marker of how fast the facilitating machine is.

The subsequent estimation shows to what extent it takes before the site is obvious and helpful to the end client. Surely, this is significant also.

In the two classes, across three testing destinations, HostGator Cloud facilitating was noteworthy, checking in the quickest reaction and the second quickest time to stack the landing page of my fundamental WordPress site completely. In the next months, however, the reaction and burden times crawled up, debasing the normal execution of HostGator.

My HostGator site showed good results on WebPageTest.

I was truly impressed by this performance, but when I put my HostGator site under load, the server crumbled.

To clarify, I purchased the second out of three Cloud hosting plans HostGator has. It was doing reasonably well up until 30 virtual users, but then the struggle began.

In the end, the average response time with 50 virtual users became the massive 7.9 seconds. While the virtual users were fewer than 30, the Cloud server kept responding within 0.3-0.45 seconds, which is pretty good.

Load Impact revealed some weakness under load.

I have a WordPress site on HostGator WordPress Cloud (slightly more expensive optimized specifically for WordPress) and the Load Impact tests I run regularly show similar behavior: very decent backend response up until 30 users or so and then some serious lag. It is the slowest on average among all hosts reviewed by the Hosting Tribunal.

In all fairness, 30 concurrent users are not such a small number for a growing website, but I expected more from the medium HostGator web hosting offering.

Average response time 2018:

August – 0.17s
September – 0.70s
October – 1.71s
November – 0.48s
December – 0.57s

Average response time 2019:

January – 0.57s

Fully loaded page 2018:

August – 0.87s
September – 1.26s
October – 2.26s
November – 0.92s
December – 1.17s

Fully loaded page 2019:

January – 1.19s

Response under load 2018:

August – 7.9s
September – 10.01s
October – 7.99s
November – 9.70s
December – 10.89s

Response under load 2019:

January – 10.10s

"Fast servers that need optimization to handle high volumes of traffic."

3. HostGator Has Slow Support and Excellent Knowledge Base

I got in touch with the support team four times while preparing this in-depth review. Once over email, the other three times over chat. I was considering to test the 24/7 HostGator phone support too, but these four interactions were enough.

For starters, the wait time on chat is not that short.

The first time I engaged a sales representative to ask clarifications about certain plan features. The agents needed some 4 minutes to pick up my chat request. That’s not horrible but is far from the best website hosts out there.

Then, my question was rather simple but had to ask it twice, as the first answer I received was a copy-paste from the website of the info I was asking clarifications about. The second time I asked I didn’t change the wording much. It seems that the agent simply read it more carefully and provided the answer I was looking for.

HostGator support is open over all channels of correspondence.

The second talk I began with the HostGator support was identified with a specialized issue. It was addressed rapidly, and the operator took as much time as necessary to investigate the difficult I had (the inherent uptime screen wasn't working). He researched for some time and raised the issue to the framework managers for me.

This was decent, however the specialist disclosed to me that I would be messaged the case subtleties, to screen the circumstance. I never got an email, and the case didn't show up under my HostGator client entrance.

After another talk, I was informed that the ticket isn't logged under my record since it has been heightened, which didn't bode well. It despite everything doesn't.

In the end, somewhere in the range of four days after the fact, I got an email saying that the framework directors know about the issue yet can't give me ETA about its goals.

The last experience I had with HostGator talk support was tied in with changing the cPanel topic. It couldn't be any more obvious, HostGator Cloud has a tweaked cPanel subject, which is pretty and utilitarian, however it doesn't permit you to change to cPanel works of art like Paper Lantern or x3. My visit demand was hanging for more than 15 minutes. At any rate the operator who at long last tended to my issue was courteous and quick.

I will likely convey genuine, impartial investigation of each host I look at and must state that the HostGator client support is inconsistent, best case scenario.

This being stated, I was glad to see that the information base has improved a great deal. The quality and amount of assets have developed extensively since the last time (summer of 2017) I checked.

Presently it is a truly decent self improvement community.

"The HostGator bolster group is under a great deal of pressure and the hold up times can be high, yet the self improvement community is incredible."

The Pros of HostGator

HostGator is a friendly hosting company with many perks and quality services. Its Cloud platform is the perfect example.

1. Flexible Hosting

The Cloud setup is slightly more expensive than the shared HostGator web hosting offering, but you get what you pay for.

The modern servers are interconnected, which allows for quick resource allocation and great redundancy.

It is possible to get additional resources whenever needed. With the click of a button and a basic slider, you can ramp up your site’s CPU and RAM without actually switching to a larger plan. Similarly, when the extra power is no longer needed, you can remove it.

Adding and removing resources made easy!

Such flexibility is excellent for sites that have occasional or seasonal spikes in traffic. Travel agencies, event organizers, conference centers, an ecommerce sites that run aggressive marketing campaigns will find the possibility to manage site resources quite handy, adding the necessary Umpf! when needed and returning to the default values when the visitor levels drop again.

Budget-friendly, hassle-free and empowering, this is an awesome feature to have.

2. Great Statistics Right Out of the Box

The ability to deal with the assets of your site is just significant in the event that you really comprehend what it expends. The HostGator site facilitating gateway has this secured.

There you can see the measure of handling force and memory utilized by your pages at some random second. Gotten straightforwardly from the server, this factual information is truly available and simple to peruse.

At some random second, you can check RAM utilization, running procedures and CPU load. All these give a total image of what's going on at the backend of your site and help distinguish potential issues subsequent to introducing refreshes and new modules.

3. Natural Interface

The HostGator login territory is as instinctive as could be. Charging, plan subtleties, area name the executives, and backing are only a tick away consistently.

Valuable and uncluttered, the client entrance doesn't forfeit usefulness for structure.

Pass on, this is one of the most uncluttered and simple to utilize client entrances I have seen. It is as a distinct difference with any semblance of A2 Hosting, for example, whose control board is profoundly practical and all around structured, yet the sheer measure of data that welcomes you upon login can be overpowering.

Site the board occurs through the ubiquitous cPanel. It is altered to coordinate the HostGator shading plan and looks rather pleasant. In view of the styling, you can't change the cPanel subject, however the design takes into consideration adequate customization.

Much the same as the client territory, the HostGator cPanel noticeably shows utilization details.

4. Sublime Network Infrastructure

HostGator is perfect for US-based sites.

Its two server farms are situated in Provo, Utah and Houston, Texas, where the HQ of the organization is. It used to be in Florida, which may be some sign of where the brand name drew motivation from.

Every single present day datum focuses are furnished with a few layers of security, repetition power generators, propelled cooling frameworks, solid physical security and HostGator's are no special case.

What makes them especially noteworthy is the way that any semblance of Arista Networks, Juniper, Arbor, Brocade, and Cisco assumed a focal job in planning and provisioning them. These are the greatest names in systems administration – security, physical framework – and are an assurance for a steady, snappy and future-verification arrange.

5. Intense Servers

Shockingly, relatively few HostGator surveys notice this, however the organization's Cloud depends on genuine processing power.

All servers accompany SSDs and run on 32-center AMD Opteron™ Processor 6376 or Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2630 v3. They likewise have 4 RAID 1s over.

The specialized gobbledegook likely doesn't mean a lot yet get the job done to say that these are some amazing machines.

A brief glance at the distinctive facilitating plans (underneath) uncovers exactly how much force you can anticipate from every item. While the data isn't shown in the best detail conceivable, it is there.

6. Enticing Introductory Prices

In a run of the mill web facilitating design, the organization pulls in new clients with low expenses. The HostGator evaluating goes up after the underlying time frame is finished.

You can get a webpage running for as low as $2.75/mo on the mutual HostGator web facilitating stage, should you submit for a long time. The Hatchling Cloud goes for $4.95 for a similar period, no additional items notwithstanding.

In for all intents and purposes each facilitating audit I should explain that it is standard practice for facilitating organizations to promote extremely low costs to make individuals click on their arrangements. HostGator in any event puts an indicator close to each mouth-watering offer to show that there is something else entirely to the arrangement.

Brain, the underlying rebate, in all actuality, is a consequently applied HostGator coupon, so regardless of whether you locate a decent arrangement somewhere else online the markdown would almost certainly be the equivalent.

7. WordPress Optimization and Caching

All Cloud plans accompany Mojo Marketplace, Google Analytics, and a few different advantages. The most critical one is the Varnish server reserving, which is preinstalled (needed to handicap it physically to get reasonable test outcomes) and conveys generally excellent speed.

Magic Marketplace can increase the value of your WordPress site, while server-side storing is consistently a pleasant thing to have, particularly when utilizing content administration frameworks.

My most loved WordPress perk is the way that Google Analytics is prepared to use as its arrangement can be an obstacle for unpracticed clients.

The oversaw WordPress arrangement is arranged for testing as a piece of things to come arrangement of HostGator surveys, here on the Hosting Tribunal.

8. Complimentary gifts

HostGator compensates new clients with a not too bad promoting financial plan. $100 worth of Google AdWords can be yours after you spend genuine $25 in AdWords.

It probably won't sound like a great deal, however once you get your site ready for action, these promotion credits can help with perceivability no doubt. Whenever utilized deliberately and related to great SEO rehearses, they can assist you with increasing average introduction.

Additionally, all Cloud plans get a free Let's Encrypt SSL, while the Business Cloud is provided with a committed IP address as well.

Moreover, the organization has a 45-day unconditional promise, which is longer than the business standard of 30 days.

The Cons of HostGator

HostGator is a long way from great. I addressed a portion of the territories that different HostGator from the absolute best site facilitating suppliers. Boss among them is the slow help group, yet there are a few different grumblings about HostGator that must be referenced.

1. Deluding Marketing Language

Right me on the off chance that I am off-base, yet I've come to accept that precarious showcasing language is endemic to all hosts under the umbrella of EIG.

On account of HostGator Cloud facilitating, the most glaring confusion is in the arrangement introduction.

The arrangement subtleties publicize assets instantly like 2 CPU centers and 2 GB RAM. With no further examination, you may reason that these two processor centers and gigs of open memory would be for you to use however you see fit. It would be an obvious end result, to be sure; as though the data is out there to make you think precisely this.

An example of classic marketing, not everything is as flashy as it seems at first.

I can guarantee you that not everyone checks everything meticulously and with the care need to, say, make a detailed, unbiased review of the host. On top of that, the way this information is laid out seems inconspicuous enough to take it at face value.

However, if you expand the plan details, you will see a clarification stating that these are not dedicated but shared resources. In other words, these are server specs and not plan specs.

I checked with the HostGator sales team to confirm this as the wording in as vague as it gets, but the sales agent, after being asked twice, confirmed that the advertised values are server resources your Cloud site would have access to. Together with an unknown number of other sites.

On a server with a few hundred websites these numbers don’t look that impressive, do they?

I guess that’s the whole point of such fishy wording. It is a blatant marketing trick that is in stark contrast with the likes of A2 Hosting and SiteGround, who provide detailed lists of the dedicated resources each plan has.

While knowing the basic server resources is nice, it doesn’t really give valuable info on a personal level.

The way HostGator presents the numbers is fishy. I was baffled that none of the 2019 HostGator reviews I saw mentioned this.

2. Slow Customer Portal

Earlier in this HostGator Cloud review, I mentioned how awesome the customer portal is. It is uncluttered and very easy to use, but it has one major flaw: it is slow.

Switching between tabs takes seconds and often browsing the options under the same tab is much slower than it should be.

The sluggishness hardly is a dealbreaker, but it is annoying all the same.

3. Slow Account Setup

I purchased the plan necessary for this impartial hosting review with the fastest payment method available, namely, credit card. The payment was cleared instantly, but then I had to wait more than 40 minutes for my service to become available.

That took a while.

Again, that’s not a dealbreaker, but it makes you wonder why an automatic process would take so long. After all, the plan I bought is the most popular one, according to HostGator’s website.

HostGator Cloud Plans at a Glance

No HostGator hosting review can be thorough without covering the hosting plans offered. The HostGator Cloud comes in three flavors:

Do We Recommend HostGator?

HostGator Cloud hosting is a solid choice.

It is a very decent option for US-based sites with medium traffic.

The support could be better, but the Cloud infrastructure is very robust and delivers excellent speed and uptime. I will be interested to see how the regular shared hosting performs but also the managed WordPress solution of the company. We might be having a series of HostGator reviews soon enough.

Under load, the HostGator servers perform well up to a point. Once more than 30 concurrent users start browsing the site, the overall response time jumps. Then again, 30 users is a respectable number. If your site gets as many on a regular basis, you should consider moving away from shared solutions.

HostGator still is one of the better website hosting companies out there, despite the EIG acquisition. Modern, reliable server and network infrastructure ensure smooth operations, while the comprehensive self-help center can be an excellent place to learn a lot about web hosting in general.

I am looking forward to your impressions and also toward a thorough, proper HostGator shared hosting review, just to see how it fares against the company’s main product.