HostGator vs Network Solutions: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

HostGator and Network Solutions both offer comprehensive website building and hosting solutions, but they cater to different user needs and preferences.

• 
  HostGator (Overall Grade: 6.2/10)
  
  is a versatile platform known for its user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder and a wide range of customizable templates. It excels in ease of use, making it ideal for beginners and small businesses. HostGator also offers robust ecommerce features, extensive plugins and integrations, and strong customer support. However, its pricing can be high for small-scale developers, and some users have reported issues with customer support responsiveness.
• 
  Network Solutions (Overall Grade: 5.4/10)
  
  provides a variety of templates and tools tailored for small businesses and individuals. It offers comprehensive hosting services and a range of ecommerce capabilities. Network Solutions is praised for its customer support and marketing features, but it falls short in terms of ease of use and design flexibility. Users have also reported concerns about outdated business practices and high costs.

Best for ecommerce

Verdict

: HostGator and Network Solutions both offer solid ecommerce features, but they cater to slightly different needs. HostGator is better for those who need a straightforward, user-friendly platform with essential ecommerce functionalities, while Network Solutions offers more advanced marketing tools and a wider range of payment gateways.

• 
  HostGator
  
  : HostGator’s website builder is designed for ease of use, making it ideal for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers secure online payments, unlimited products on higher plans, and multi-channel inventory management. However, it has limitations on the number of products for lower-tier plans. HostGator’s ecommerce features are robust but may not scale well for rapidly growing businesses.
• 
  Network Solutions
  
  : Network Solutions provides a comprehensive suite of ecommerce tools, including customizable templates, a variety of payment gateways, and advanced marketing features. It is well-suited for small businesses looking to establish a professional online presence. However, its interface may be less intuitive, and it might not be as scalable for larger businesses compared to other platforms.

Best for informational & business websites

Verdict

: When comparing HostGator vs Network Solutions for informational business websites, both platforms score equally at 7.4, but they cater to slightly different needs. HostGator is ideal for users seeking a user-friendly interface with extensive customization options, while Network Solutions offers a comprehensive suite of tools for small businesses and individuals looking for a reliable online presence.

• 
  HostGator
  
  : HostGator’s website builder is designed for ease of use, featuring a drag-and-drop interface that makes it accessible even for those with no technical background. It offers a wide variety of customizable templates, ensuring that users can create professional-looking websites tailored to their specific needs. HostGator also provides robust web hosting services, domain registration, and 24/7 customer support, making it a solid choice for businesses looking to establish and maintain their online presence efficiently.
• 
  Network Solutions
  
  : Network Solutions is a versatile platform that caters to small businesses and individuals. It provides a variety of templates and tools that allow users to create professional websites without any coding knowledge. The platform includes features such as domain registration, email services, and e-commerce capabilities, making it a comprehensive solution for managing websites. Network Solutions is known for its customer support and a wide range of services, accommodating the needs of its users from website creation to online marketing strategies.

Detailed comparison

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Winner: HostGator.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers a substantial variety of design templates and significant customization flexibility, HostGator is the preferred choice.

HostGator website builder provides a substantial variety of design templates, catering to different user needs and preferences. It offers over 200 different mobile-friendly themes. Additionally, there’s a separate collection of 4,500 templates available for free download to users hosting their sites on HostGator servers, which are not interchangeable with the site builder’s own templates. This vast collection ensures that users have a wide range of design options to choose from, whether they seek simplicity for a professional presence or more intricate designs for complex websites.

Compared to HostGator, Network Solutions offers a wide variety of templates and designs tailored to meet the diverse needs of its users. Whether you’re setting up a website for a small business, a personal blog, or a large e-commerce platform, you’ll find an extensive selection of options to choose from. With hundreds of professionally designed templates, users can easily find a style that perfectly matches their vision and brand identity. Moreover, these templates are customizable, allowing for a high degree of personalization in terms of layout, color schemes, and functionality, ensuring that each website can be unique and fully optimized for its intended purpose. However, Network Solutions does not provide a link to their themes page or a screenshot of their template page and template example.

🏆 Winner: HostGator

. With a score of 8.0, HostGator’s website builder, Gator, is praised for its user-friendly interface and simplicity, making it a great choice for beginners and small businesses. Network Solutions, scoring 6.8, offers a simple and reliable platform, but some users may find the interface a bit outdated and the customization options limited.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: HostGator

. Both platforms offer learning resources, but HostGator provides a more comprehensive range of guides and 24/7 customer support, making it easier for users to learn and adapt.

When it comes to ecommerce, both HostGator and Network Solutions offer a range of features suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. However, there are some differences in their offerings that could make one a better choice for your specific needs.

HostGator ecommerce features:

• Secure Online Payments
• Unlimited Products
• Product Search & Filtering
• Wishlists & Gift Cards
• Multi-Channel Inventory Management
• Shipping Labels

HostGator’s website builder includes ecommerce features that allow users to create an online store where they can sell products and services directly from their website. The ecommerce functionality includes features such as product management, inventory tracking, secure payment gateways, and options for shipping and tax calculations. However, on lower Express Start and Express Site plans there’s a significant limit on the number of products: 3 and 10 respectively, and unlimited number of products on higher Express Store plan.

Network Solutions ecommerce features:

• Marketing Tools
• Personalized Email
• Product Listings

Network Solutions offers a range of ecommerce features suitable for small to medium-sized businesses looking to establish an online store. Their platform includes customizable templates, an easy-to-use shopping cart, secure payment processing, and inventory management tools. However, one downside is that their ecommerce solutions can be less scalable for larger businesses or those experiencing rapid growth, potentially leading to the need for a more robust platform. Additionally, some users find the interface less intuitive compared to other leading ecommerce website builders.

Ecommerce themes & templates

HostGator’s website builder caters to eCommerce needs by offering a broad selection of free templates, all designed with mobile responsiveness in mind. These templates are equipped with essential eCommerce features such as product catalogs and payment processing options. The platform is user-friendly, enabling users to effortlessly create professional-looking online stores tailored to their specific requirements, all without the need for any coding knowledge.

Network Solutions offers a variety of ecommerce templates designed to cater to businesses of different sizes and industries. Their templates are crafted to be responsive, ensuring a seamless shopping experience across various devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops. The platform provides a range of customizable templates, allowing users to tailor their online stores to their brand’s aesthetics and requirements. While the exact number of ecommerce templates can vary over time, Network Solutions focuses on delivering quality, professional designs that incorporate essential ecommerce features such as product catalogs, shopping carts, and secure checkout processes.

Product page customization

HostGator Website Builder offers basic features for customizing product pages, enabling users to add products with details such as name, price, description, and images. It supports product variants and categorization to enhance customer navigation. Advanced settings include inventory management, discount options, and the ability to set products as shippable or downloadable.

Network Solutions offers a range of ecommerce product page customization options to enhance the online shopping experience. Users can personalize product descriptions, images, and videos to showcase their items effectively. Additionally, the platform allows for the customization of product options such as size, color, and material, enabling a more interactive and tailored shopping experience for customers. Network Solutions also supports the integration of customer reviews and ratings, further enriching product pages and aiding in the decision-making process for potential buyers.

Payment processing

When it comes to payment processing, HostGator Website Builder integrates with PayPal as a payment gateway for processing transactions. This is particularly highlighted in their offerings, suggesting that PayPal is a primary option for e-commerce activities within the platform. The platform charges a 3% transaction fee on Express Store and Express Site plans, no transaction fees are charged on higher Express Store plan.

Network Solutions’ website builder is designed for online stores, small businesses, and personal websites, offering essential e-commerce features including a built-in shopping cart and support for a wide range of payment options such as PayPal, PayFlow, USA ePay, CyberSource, PlugNPay, making it convenient for businesses to process transactions. Network Solutions does not mention that they charge commissions on transactions, commissions are charged by the gateways themselves.

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Winner: HostGator

. With a score of 7.3, HostGator’s website builder offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, enabling users to easily create and customize their websites without needing any coding knowledge. It provides a wide range of templates that are fully customizable, allowing for the personalization of layouts, colors, and fonts to match the user’s brand identity. Additionally, the editor supports the integration of various multimedia elements like images, videos, and social media links, enhancing the visual appeal and functionality of the website.

Network Solutions, scoring 6.3, offers a comprehensive suite of tools for website creation and management, catering to businesses and individuals alike. It provides an intuitive website editor that allows users to design, edit, and publish their websites without needing advanced technical skills. With a wide array of templates and customization options, users can create professional-looking websites that are responsive and optimized for search engines.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: HostGator

. Neither HostGator nor Network Solutions offer a dedicated mobile editor app. However, HostGator does allow for some small changes to be made using a mobile browser, giving it a slight edge over Network Solutions in this category. Network Solutions does not provide any information about mobile editing capabilities. Therefore, if mobile editing is a priority for you, HostGator may be a better choice.

Overall Result

:

HostGator Wins

. HostGator scores 2.6 in product testing options, significantly higher than Network Solutions’ score of 0.5. HostGator does not offer a free or trial version, but it allows users to test all features within a 30-day refundable period. Network Solutions, on the other hand, does not provide a free or trial version and only allows access to features after purchasing a plan. Both platforms offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, but there are certain conditions and exceptions.

HostGator and Network Solutions have similar price scores, with Network Solutions slightly ahead.

However, HostGator offers significant discounts for annual subscriptions, while Network Solutions does not. Neither of the platforms offer enterprise plans.

Winner: HostGator

. HostGator offers a variety of hosting types, including shared, managed WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting, with unlimited storage and bandwidth. It also provides an automatic backup service. Network Solutions also offers a variety of hosting options, but it has been criticized for outdated features and confusing pricing structures. Despite Network Solutions having a slightly higher uptime, HostGator’s diverse hosting options and transparency about its data centers give it the edge.

🏆 Winner: Network Solutions

Both HostGator and Network Solutions prioritize website performance and page speed, but Network Solutions edges out HostGator with a slightly higher Website Speed Optimization score.

Network Solutions uses a combination of CDN, Web Caching, Image Optimization, and SEO optimization to improve website speed. The platform also emphasizes improving Core Web Vitals (CWV) for websites, focusing on Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) improvements. The load times and PageSpeed scores vary widely, depending on the optimization, hosting type, and website complexity.

HostGator, on the other hand, focuses on Browser Caching and CDN for speed optimization. The platform provides guidance on understanding and improving CWV for websites, with an emphasis on LCP, FID, and CLS improvements. Similar to Network Solutions, the load times and PageSpeed scores for HostGator vary widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity, and the chosen hosting plan.

🏆 Winner: HostGator.

With a score of 7.3, HostGator offers a wider range of plugins and integrations compared to Network Solutions, which scores 4.8. HostGator’s plugins, known as apps, cater to diverse needs such as advertising, website analytics, integrating social media, managing appointments, and conducting email marketing. Network Solutions, on the other hand, focuses more on providing an all-in-one solution with built-in features rather than a wide range of third-party plugins or extensions.

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Overall Winner: Network Solutions

. Network Solutions edges out HostGator with a slightly higher score in marketing features, indicating more advanced tools for SEO, email marketing, and ads and promotions. However, both platforms offer a comprehensive suite of marketing tools suitable for various business needs.

🏆 Winner: HostGator

. In the HostGator vs Network Solutions comparison, HostGator takes the lead with its comprehensive 24/7 customer support. HostGator offers multiple support channels, including email, phone support with toll-free, local, and international numbers, and live chat support, ensuring users can get help whenever they need it. This round-the-clock availability is crucial for maintaining website uptime and addressing issues promptly.

Network Solutions also provides 24/7 live chat support, which is beneficial for users needing immediate assistance. However, it lacks the variety of support channels that HostGator offers, which can limit the ways users can seek help. Despite this, Network Solutions is still recognized for its reliable support, but it falls short compared to HostGator’s more extensive support options.

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Winner: Network Solutions

. Network Solutions edges out HostGator with a slightly higher security score. Network Solutions takes a comprehensive approach to security, with measures such as encryption, strict data center security, careful access controls, regular security checks, data recovery plans, malware protection, and SSL/TLS certificates.

HostGator also takes security seriously, with features such as SiteLock for malware scanning, GDPR compliance, custom firewall rules, mod security rule sets, and regular password audits. However, it places more responsibility on website owners for aspects such as password security, updating applications, and ensuring their site is malware-free.

🏆 Winner: HostGator

. With a score of 2.6, HostGator edges out Network Solutions (1.1) in AI capabilities. While both builders have limited AI features, HostGator has announced the launch of a new website builder with basic AI technologies. Network Solutions, on the other hand, does not have an AI-powered website builder but provides an AI copywriting tool on higher plans.

🏆 Winner: Tie

. Both HostGator and Network Solutions have limited user management capabilities.

• HostGator mentions the possibility to have multiple users for its hosting solutions, however, there’s no mention whether the mentioned users have the permission to edit the websites built with their website builder.
• Network Solutions’ website builder offers very limited multi-user functionality and access levels compared to other platforms.

Given the lack of detailed information on user roles and access levels for both platforms, it’s difficult to determine a clear winner in this category.

Additional Features

User Feedback

HostGator’s website builder receives mixed reviews from users, highlighting both its strengths and areas for improvement. Users appreciate the platform for its ease of use, making it accessible even for novices to build professional-looking websites, and for its range of web services that facilitate website creation and management, including domain registration and SSL certificates. However, concerns are raised regarding its customer support, which is often described as slow or unresponsive, potentially impacting users requiring timely assistance. Additionally, some users find the pricing structure to be high, particularly for small-scale developers or those needing only basic services.

User reviews of Network Solutions are mixed, with some praising its prompt customer support and variety of domain management options. However, there are widespread complaints about the platform’s outdated business practices, high costs, and poor customer service. Users often find the website’s layout confusing and report instances of misleading promises regarding refunds. Overall, while Network Solutions has some positive attributes, its drawbacks suggest that users may want to consider alternatives.

FAQ