Bluehost vs HostGator (2021)

Which Web Hosting Provider Should You Use?

Bluehost and HostGator are some of the most well-known web hosting companies available for a good reason. Not only are they affordable for just about any budget, but they also provide services that are worth every cent.

How much value for money you’re getting from each one is a different story, though. At that, we compare the two to help you in making a decision between them.

Bluehost vs HostGator Comparison Chart

Name	Bluehost	HostGator
Price	Check Price at Bluehost.com	Check Price at HostGator.com
Websites	Basic: 1 Plus: unlimited Choice Plus: unlimited Pro: unlimited	Hatchling: 1 Baby: unlimited Business: unlimited
Disk Space	Basic: 50 GB Plus: unlimited Choice Plus: unlimited Pro: unlimited	Unlimited
Bandwidth	Unmetered	Unmetered
Control Panel	cPanel	cPanel
Free Domain	Yes	Yes
SSL Certificate	Free	Free
Backup	Daily (Choice Plus and Pro only)	Weekly
Email	Microsoft 365 (one free during trial only, excluding Basic; pay-per-account basis)	Unlimited
Ad Credits	$200 (all plans except Basic)	$200
Website Migration	Paid	Free
Support	24/7 chat, phone, email	24/7 chat, phone, email
Money-Back Guarantee	30 days	45 days

Performance

You can get speedier server response times with Bluehost.

Bluehost and HostGator have an average uptime of 99.98 percent.

In terms of speed, Bluehost delivers fast server response times, and by the same token, that equates to fast loading times for your website. This is important because visitors will likely click away if things take too long to load on your page. In comparison, HostGator performs slower in general.

However, both have excellent uptime rates, averaging at 99.98 percent. That says a lot, considering that they’re shared hosting services.

Security

Both lag behind in security compared to other competitors, unless you pay extra.

You’ll have to fork out more cash for Site Lock Premium and Code Guard Basic.

Even though it’s one of the most important factors in web hosting, security is where most service providers skimp on to offer plans on a budget. As a result, features to keep your website safe are sold as add-ons to keep subscription prices down.

Both Bluehost and HostGator are guilty of this, but they do throw in Site Lock Lite with every plan. At first, that might sound like a good thing. You’ll get malware detection and stay out of search engine blacklists at the same time, but it’s limited. You can only scan up to five pages of your website, for example. In fact, it’s so lacking that it feels more like a tactic to push you to avail the premium version, almost like an upsell. For the record, all their plans come with a free SSL certificate, so there’s that.

Now one advantage that HostGator has is it offers weekly backups. But if you want a more robust solution on either service, you’ll have to avail Code Guard Basic for automatic backups, which is also a paid add-on—surprise, surprise.

Features

HostGator’s cheapest plan has more to offer than Bluehost’s counterpart.

If you need a website builder, Bluehost has got you covered from the get-go.

Both offer similar features across the board, but HostGator ups the ante by giving you more for every cent you pay. For instance, its Hatchling plan costs less than Bluehost’s Basic. Despite that, it comes with unlimited storage, email addresses, and subdomains as opposed to 50 GB of space, Microsoft 365 email accounts paid individually, and only 25 subdomains. Long story short, HostGator shows that affordable doesn’t mean cheap.

When it comes to website builders, Bluehost does beat HostGator. It offers access to Weebly across its plans, but the Gator Website Builder requires you to sign up for a separate paid subscription.

Customer Support

HostGator’s representatives are generally better at dealing with issues.

Bluehost and HostGator have tons of help articles and videos to help you get by on your own.

You can get in touch with either web hosting service via 24/7 live chat, phone, and email. In other words, they got all the usual bases covered.

However, the overall quality of support is where things start to become drastically different. First off, Bluehost is pretty infamous for its mediocre customer service, and it unfortunately lives up to its name. That said, you can expect long response times via chat, even when you’re just trying to get a simple problem resolved. On the other hand, HostGator’s agents typically know their stuff and can find a solution to your issue in a jiffy.

Both do have an extensive library of support articles and video tutorials, so you can always take a whack at working out a fix for any hiccup you encounter yourself. On that note, HostGator boasts having over 500 videos and 680 articles, so you’ll almost always find a guide that caters specifically to your issue.

Verdict

HostGator can deliver where it counts.

Bluehost

The speedier option

HostGator

A better bang for the buck

The two are decent web hosting services in their own right. However, Bluehost has the edge on the performance front, providing faster server response times and page loading speeds. Meanwhile, HostGator has better customer support, and its plans have better value for money. Neither one will win any awards when it comes to security, though.

BLUEHOST REVIEW 2021

FAQs

📌 Are Bluehost and HostGator the same company?

Yes, both services are under Endurance International Group or EIG.

📌 Is Bluehost secure?

Yes. To begin with, all of Bluehost’s plans come with a free SSL certificate and Site Lock Lite, and its pricier subscriptions include Spam Experts and Code Guard Basic. However, you’ll have to avail Site Lock Premium as an add-on if you want a more comprehensive security measure.

📌 Is HostGator reliable?

Yes. For starters, HostGator offers a 45-day money-back guarantee, beating most competitors. It also has an uptime average of 99.8 percent and excellent customer support.

📌 Does HostGator use cPanel?

Just like other popular web hosting providers such as Bluehost, HostGator also uses cPanel.

BLUEHOST REVIEW 2021

Bluehost  OR   HostGator