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You’ve done it! You’ve got a great idea for a business and you want to make a website. You’ve written killer copy, taken photos worthy of Annie Leibovitz, and all that’s left is to choose a hosting provider.
In this review, we’ll tell you why we think HostGator hosting is the very best, and why it tops our list of the best five hosting providers available right now. Croco-dial into our review and we’ll try and make it as snappy as possible.
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HostGator is a web builder suitable for a wide range of users, including both web professionals and beginners. With over two million sites hosted since 2002, they have a long-standing track record in the industry. Their robust web hosting tools are designed to be easy to use and effective, ensuring that both pros and newbies can create and manage their websites with ease. Additionally, HostGator offers scalable solutions, allowing your site to grow alongside your needs, making it an ideal choice for anyone looking for a reliable and adaptable hosting provider.
HostGator's website builder offers an intuitive and user-friendly experience, allowing users to create stunning websites quickly. With a one-stop solution, it provides all the necessary tools to make the process feel effortless, even for those with no web development experience. Additionally, HostGator offers a free domain, making it even more attractive for users looking to get started on their online journey. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned web whiz, HostGator's website builder is designed to help you look amazing online and have your website up and running in no time.
When you’re setting up a website, budget is likely to be one of your most important considerations, if not the most important. To keep things simple, we’ve selected the providers that we believe represent the best value, and have plans suitable for a mixture of budgets. Our top provider, HostGator, has lots of options, with the cheapest package coming in at just $4.95 per month at the time of writing. This gives you a free domain, 2GB of memory, and a free SSL certificate.
Website | Website + Marketing | Online Store | Online Marketplaces |
---|---|---|---|
DIY Website Builder with Built-In Blog | DIY Website Builder with Built-In Blog | DIY Website Builder with Built-In Blog | DIY Website Builder with Built-In Blog |
150+ mobile-optimized templates | 150+ mobile-optimized templates | 150+ mobile-optimized templates | 150+ mobile-optimized templates |
Free domain | Free domain | Free domain | Free domain |
Free private domain registration | Free private domain registration | Free private domain registration | Free private domain registration |
Free SSL | Free SSL | Free SSL | Free SSL |
- | Unlimited appointments | Unlimited appointments | Unlimited appointments |
- | Online payments & deposits | Online payments & deposits | Online payments & deposits |
- | - | Unlimited products & categories | Unlimited products & categories |
- | - | - | Marketplace selling |
- | - | - | Fulfillment automation |
$4.95/mo | $7.95/mo | $13.95/mo | $19.95/mo |
HostGator's web builder platform is an all-encompassing toolkit for modern businesses. Whether you're looking to captivate audiences with over 2 million free high-resolution stock images or seamlessly embed videos from platforms like YouTube and Vimeo, this builder has got you covered. Cultivate an online community effortlessly with its customizable social media integrations, allowing for embedded feeds and customer sharing features.
It's essential for customers to locate and contact you, and with this platform, embedding Google Maps and crafting custom contact forms is a breeze. Brand authenticity is also addressed, offering unique domain names paired with an SSL certificate ensuring your visitors that their data is secure. One of its standout features is the built-in web hosting, promising rapid load times and efficient backup tools. And if ever you're in a bind, their expert support team is a call away, ensuring you get hands-on help whenever required.
Design and content? They've got professionals handling that, offering custom designs, copy, and content structured with SEO in mind. If you're venturing into e-commerce, the platform empowers you with direct online sales tools, inventory management synced in real-time, user-friendly shipping software, and even an appointment scheduler for workshops or classes. In essence, HostGator's web builder is a robust solution for those seeking a stress-free yet comprehensive web development experience.
Every website is unique, and will need different features at different times. That’s why our top 5 picks include lots of hosting providers that give you the chance to add varied features to your platform. This can include ecommerce options for online shops (such as the ability to be able to add discounts to products), marketing functions (e.g. being able to send emails to all of your customers), and SEO tools (which can include keyword support). HostGator, our number one choice, offers more features than most other providers, including free email marketing software with all plans. Our HostGator ecommerce review also found a number of great elements for online selling.
Security is a big deciding factor for us when selecting the best hosting providers. We assess each company’s provision of features such as regular backups of data, and whether an SSL certificate is included, to make sure that our recommendations can guarantee the security of your customers and your site. We also consider each provider’s uptime. No site can be live 100% of the time, but our top picks guarantee that you’ll experience very close to that. For example, our HostGator hosting review found that they have a pledged uptime rate of 99%.
HostGator can be trusted for its commitment to website security and customer safety. They provide an SSL certificate for encrypted information transfer, protecting website owners and customers alike. Additionally, SiteLock offers daily malware scans and automatic removal to safeguard against viruses, malware, and hackers. CodeGuard ensures peace of mind with daily automatic backups, enabling users to revert to previous versions in case of code breaks or attacks. With these features, HostGator proves to be a reliable and secure hosting option.
When you’re setting up a new business, time is a precious commodity. We’ve taken that onboard and selected our top five hosting companies based on the ease, simplicity, and speed of their setup. Some offer slightly more complex options if you have a little more web experience, but we rate sites that are accessible for those with no prior knowledge. Our HostGator website builder review, for example, found that the website setup process is simple, with a choice of 150 templates.
HostGator offers an incredibly user-friendly experience with its easy-to-use website builder. Regardless of your skill level, setting up your new platform is quick and effortless. The intuitive site editor allows you to add or remove pages, customize the navigation bar, edit images, and more, ensuring a seamless website development process. Additionally, helpful video tutorials are available for quick tips and assistance whenever needed.
HostGator offers an extensive selection of over 150 website templates, catering to every industry's unique needs. With such a diverse range of templates, creating a website that aligns perfectly with your business becomes effortless. The user-friendly interface allows you to personalize your site with just a few clicks, enabling you to customize images, change fonts, and incorporate your brand identity seamlessly. Additionally, the platform supports easy video embedding and other features, making it an ideal choice for crafting beautiful websites across various industries.
Some hosting providers have flashy plans and tonnes of features but fall down when it comes to customer support. We think this is a vital part of a hosting company’s credentials, and why we’ve only included hosting providers who offer speedy customer service. In most cases, as we found in our HostGator website reviews, this is available via a live 24 hour chat service.
There are many different hosting providers to choose from, all offering something slightly different. To help you make your choice, we’ve selected what we reckon are the current five best hosting provider sites.
HostGator are an award-winning hosting platform and website builder. They provide cloud and web-based hosting to suit different businesses and budgets. They’re a great pick for larger companies thanks to their unlimited email addresses and excellent customer service, and long term offers mean that you don’t have to worry about price increases partway through your contract. So if you’re wondering ‘is HostGator worth it?’, then the answer for most websites is a resounding yes!
Our HostGator reviews found that the site is simple to use. One thing we especially liked about them is that their plans are designed to grow with you as your business expands, so you can add more tools and features as you need.
Bluehost are an affordable hosting choice for lots of businesses as they offer shared hosting. This means that your website will be sharing server space with another, keeping costs lower than being on one dedicated server each.
Bluehost are a domain registrar, very beginner friendly, and offer one click installation of WordPress and WooCommerce to make building your site a quick and simple process.
Ionos are another very good value hosting option that will appeal to businesses just starting out. For a price of £1 per month (for the first 12 months), their most popular package provides one click WordPress installation, unmetered bandwidth, free domain name, SSL certificate, and a professional email address. They also offer 24 hour customer support, which is a big plus.
If your business is an online store, Shopify may well be one of the best hosting picks for you. It has a range of different plans available to suit online stores of any size and lets you choose from over 800 plug-in apps to bring extra features to your shop.
Shopify have a solid selection of templates to start you off but you’ll have to pay for some of their best designs. It’s fair to say that Shopify doesn’t come cheap in general, and their hosting plans are among the more expensive.
Hostinger is an affordable option for new businesses keeping an eye on the purse strings. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee and a four year introductory deal which is among the best value options of any hosting provider. If you pick the four year plan, you’ll be able to enjoy 50GB of SSD storage, 100 GB of bandwidth, and an email address. However, unlike many of the other providers we’ve discussed, Hostinger doesn't provide a free domain name so you’ll need to calculate this additional cost.
There are lots of different ways to host a website, from sharing a server with other websites to using cloud hosting. If you’re new to the world of hosting, then Strafe has your back with our complete guide to the best hosting services.
HostGator are one of the very best hosting providers out there today, and have a number of advantages over their competitors. If you’ve been wondering ‘Is HostGator a good website builder?’, and a good choice for novices, read through our review.
There are many cloud hosting companies out there, and they are not all made equal. While some claim to provide cloud hosting, this is not always the case. To find our pick of legitimate and trustworthy sites, cast your eyes over our total HostGator reviews, which also detail our other top hosting providers.
Choosing a hosting provider is not an easy decision, and very much depends on what your individual website needs. It can also be a long term decision, as hosting provider packages are generally much better value if you lock into your contract for several years.
Our pick of the litter has to be HostGator. Not only do they have a smiley alligator mascot, but our HostGator reviews also found that they outperform many other hosting providers in key areas. This includes competitive pricing, guaranteed uptime, a selection of hosting solutions, and excellent customer support.