New web hosting services and plans appear on a regular basis, and the larger corporations seem to lose more of their personal interaction as they grow. Our option about Hostgator wasn't the best a while ago, we would not have given you a positive answer if asked sometimes ago.
Our HostGator WordPress hosting analysis shows that they've turned it around after updating their new cloud hosting plans.
In this article, we'll look at what distinguishes this hosting package from the rest of HostGator's offerings, as well as how it fares when measured against a number of metrics. Let's just get this HostGator WordPress analysis underway.
The distinction between HostGator's standard and cloud hosting plans
Before we get into the specifics of our HostGator WordPress hosting analysis, it's worth noting that we'll be concentrating on the WordPress-specific cloud hosting plans. Your mileage can differ if you subscribe to a different form of plan.
It's also worth mentioning that HostGator didn't do very well in our latest WordPress hosting survey:
It earned a 3.7 out of 5 overall ranking, putting it in third place out of nine hosts.
Just 74% of those polled said they were interested in renewing their subscriptions package.
They received a 2.4 out of 5 for WordPress optimization, and a 3 out of 5 for CMS expertise from their help.
Let's see how they perform when we just look at their WordPress cloud hosting.
Basic features of HostGator WordPress hosting
We foresee a variety of WordPress-specific functionality to be included since this is controlled WordPress hosting. Here's what we discovered:
- With the purchase of any plan, you can get a free WordPress migration service.
- The MOJO marketplace provides access to a number of WordPress themes.
- Optional auto-backup and one-click site restoration.
- Shared Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates are available for free.
Though HostGator does have a few freebies to entice potential users, their WordPress-specific functions are somewhat limited. However, HostGator is one of the most affordable run WordPress hosts available, this is why there are no advanced functionality.
Support available
The next stop on our HostGator WordPress hosting analysis is to discuss support features. You can contact HostGator's team of specialists via live chat, internet, direct mail, and even fax (We'd like to know if someone has used that tool before).
Their support team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as we discovered when we called them late on a Thursday and a Saturday.
We waited for about six minutes the first time, and ten minutes the second time. We considered their support staff to be a little hesitant with their responses when it came to WordPress both times, but they actually pointed us in the right direction to resolve our fictitious questions.
Performance
Thanks to low-density servers and custom Content Delivery Networks (CDN) solutions, HostGator says that its WordPress cloud storage can provide up to 2.5x higher speeds than the competition. They also offer their customers the ability to scale their cloud settings with a click of the mouse in order to cope with unpredictable traffic spikes.
Besides being among the biggest web hosting companies, HostGator only has two data centers:
- Houston (in the city in Texas).
- Provo (in the state of Utah).
We're not going to take a web host's speed assertions at face value without putting them to the test. So, let's get started.
Results of the Pingdom page speed comparison
For this test, we used three separate Pingdom servers and a fresh WordPress installation with no frills. Here's what we discovered:
- 1.72 seconds in Melbourne.
- 0.75 seconds in New York.
- 1.39 seconds in Stockholm.
The test results show that load times vary greatly depending on the geographic area from which the site is reached – something that may be due to HostGator's datacenter locations. Let's see if the theory will withstand a more rigorous examination.
Load Impact Basic Load analysis
Load Impact studies websites by simulating up to 25 or even 50 simultaneous links over a five-minute span, allowing us to see how a platform performs under pressure. We used the same simple site that we had set up for the Pingdom test for this test. Here's what we discovered when you choose Ashburn, Virginia as the location of both the load generator & the test server
- 0.46 seconds is the quickest response time.
- 0.71 seconds is the maximum response time.
These are among the fastest load times we've ever seen from any web host, and they came from a stress survey (albeit a modest one). So, our theory is right. Geographical differences in load times are to blame, not poor server efficiency.
Pricing
As previously said, HostGator is one of the most affordable controlled WordPress hosting solutions. There are three proposals on the schedule:
- Starter ($7.96 a month): This entry-level package allows you to run one website with up to 25,000 monthly visitors. It's ideal for personal blogs and small business websites.
- Normal ($9.56 a month): This package allows you to host one or two websites and get up to 200,000 monthly visits. It should be sufficient for handling limited service sites and e-commerce websites.
- Company ($14.36 a month): This package is designed for well-established businesses and large e-commerce sites. It can host up to three websites at once and can accommodate up to 500,000 monthly users.
We mentioned earlier that HostGator is a little short on WordPress-specific functionality. Although this is also valid, this provider still provides outstanding service, which we feel compensates for the shortcoming. Finally, although these rates were accurate at the time of publishing, HostGator may have changed them since then.
Advantages and disadvantages
We've been over a lot of ground so far, so let's take a few minutes to review those important points.
Advantages
- Despite not having extensive experience with WordPress, HostGator's support team is available all the time 24/7 and offers reasonable service.
- They have temporary scaling solutions, which are ideal for dealing with traffic surges that occur from time to time without having to upgrade to a more costly package.
- They will assist you with the migration of the WordPress account.
- Each package includes a free SSL certificate and access to a global CDN.
- Their support is effective
- It's quick.
- Scaling solutions are available on a temporary basis.
Site conversion is now possible.
Drawbacks
- The advanced WordPress-specific functionality in their controlled WordPress hosting plans are a little lacking.
Overall, we believe HostGator has made significant progress in enhancing their WordPress hosting services, and we're looking forward to seeing how this pattern persists.
Final thoughts
For any website, picking the best web host is critical. Although this web host has previously been synonymous with poor quality, our HostGator WordPress hosting analysis shows a significant improvement in their service and offer.
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