HostGator vs Yola: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

HostGator and Yola both offer user-friendly website builders, but they cater to slightly different needs and preferences.

• 
  HostGator (Overall Grade: 6.2/10)
  
  is a versatile platform that combines web hosting with a powerful website builder. It excels in providing a wide range of customizable templates and comprehensive customer support. HostGator is ideal for users who need a robust hosting solution alongside their website builder, offering extensive design functionalities and a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor. However, its ecommerce capabilities and AI features are still developing, and its pricing may be higher for small-scale developers.
• 
  Yola (Overall Grade: 6.5/10)
  
  stands out for its ease of use and affordability, making it a great choice for individuals and small businesses. Yola offers a variety of responsive templates and essential ecommerce features, making it suitable for users looking to create a professional online presence without advanced technical skills. Its comprehensive security measures and user management capabilities further enhance its appeal. However, Yola’s customer support and customization options may not be as extensive as those offered by HostGator.

	Overall grade: 6.2	Overall grade: 6.5
Design functionalities & templates	7.9	7.2
Ease of use	8.0	8.0
Ecommerce	6.3	5.7
Website Editors	7.3	6.7
Product testing options	2.6	7.5
Price	6.2	8.1
Hosting quality	8.0	7.2
Website speed optimization	6.2	7.5
Plugins and integrations	7.3	6.3
Marketing features	6.9	6.5
Customer support	7.3	6.3
Security	7.4	8.3
AI capabilities	2.6	0.0
User Management	3.2	7.3

Best for ecommerce

6.3

5.7

Verdict

: HostGator offers a more comprehensive set of ecommerce features, making it a better choice for those looking to scale their online store. Yola, while user-friendly, is more suited for smaller, simpler ecommerce needs.

• 
  HostGator
  
  : Known for its robust ecommerce capabilities, HostGator provides a range of features such as secure online payments, unlimited products, and multi-channel inventory management. It is ideal for users who need a scalable solution with advanced ecommerce functionalities. However, the lower-tier plans have significant product limits, which might be a drawback for some users.
• 
  Yola
  
  : Yola offers basic ecommerce features that are easy to use, making it suitable for small businesses or individuals who are just starting out. It includes essential tools like shipping and tax configurations, product catalog management, and guest checkout. However, it lacks the depth and scalability of HostGator’s ecommerce offerings.

Best for informational & business websites

7.4

7.4

• 
  HostGator
  
  : HostGator is a robust option for those who need a variety of design templates and extensive customization options. Its drag-and-drop interface and comprehensive customer support make it user-friendly, even for beginners. HostGator also offers a wide range of hosting services, ensuring that your website remains online and performs well. For users who prioritize design flexibility and support, HostGator is a strong contender.
• 
  Yola
  
  : Yola excels in providing a user-friendly experience with its drag-and-drop interface and responsive templates. It is particularly suitable for small businesses and individuals who need a straightforward way to create professional-looking websites. Yola’s comprehensive speed optimization strategies and strong security measures make it a reliable choice for those who prioritize performance and data protection. When comparing HostGator vs Yola, Yola stands out for its ease of use and security features.

Detailed comparison

7.9

7.2

🏆

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, Yola offers a diverse range of templates and designs, catering to various types of websites, from personal blogs to professional business sites. Users can choose from a wide selection of themes, each customizable to fit their specific needs and preferences. With hundreds of templates available, Yola ensures that there is something for everyone, regardless of their niche or industry. This variety, coupled with the platform’s user-friendly design tools, makes it easy for users to create a unique and visually appealing website without needing advanced technical skills.

Yola Themes

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8.0

8.0

🏆 Winner: HostGator

. Both HostGator and Yola scored an 8.0 for ease of use, indicating that both platforms are user-friendly and accessible for beginners. However, HostGator edges out Yola due to its comprehensive customer support and more extensive learning resources.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: HostGator

. While both platforms offer learning resources, HostGator provides more comprehensive support and resources, including guides on getting started, various templates, and an intuitive interface, alongside 24/7 customer support.

6.3

5.7

HostGator and Yola both offer ecommerce capabilities, but they cater to different needs. HostGator’s ecommerce features are more comprehensive, offering unlimited products, secure online payments, product search and filtering, wishlists, gift cards, and multi-channel inventory management. 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. Yola, on the other hand, provides basic ecommerce features such as shipping and tax configurations, product catalog management, ability to checkout as guest, analytics and reporting, and promotions features.

Ecommerce themes and templates	7.0	5.5
Product page customization	6.5	6.8
Payment processing and commissions	6.0	7.0
POS capabilities	5.0	4.5
Payment gateways	5.5	7.5
Product numbers	4.5	7.0
Additional ecommerce features	6.5	6.0

HostGator ecommerce features:

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

Yola ecommerce features:

• Shipping and Tax configurations
• Product Catalog Management
• Ability to checkout as guest
• Analytics and reporting
• Promotions features

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. Yola offers a range of templates for building websites, including those suitable for ecommerce, but the variety and design quality may not match those provided by other leading website builders like 10web or Wix.

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. Yola’s eCommerce platform offers a variety of customization options for your product pages, including the ability to manage product options and combinations. This feature is especially useful for selling items that come in different sizes, colors, or models, allowing customers to select their preferences directly from the product page.

Payment processing

When it comes to payment processing, HostGator Website Builder integrates with PayPal as a payment gateway for processing transactions. The platform charges a 3% transaction fee on Express Store and Express Site plans, no transaction fees are charged on higher Express Store plan. Yola supports various payment gateways for online store transactions, such as PayPal, Sage Payments, and American Express, allowing users to choose based on their specific needs, including geographical availability and fee structure. While Yola doesn’t directly charge commission fees for transactions, the chosen payment gateway might impose its own fees, including transaction and possibly monthly fees.

7.3

6.7

🏆

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.

Yola’s website builder editor, scoring 6.7, is designed for ease of use, allowing users to create professional-looking websites without needing coding knowledge. It offers a drag-and-drop interface, enabling users to easily add, customize, and position elements like text, images, and buttons on their web pages. The editor also provides access to a wide range of templates and customization options, including color schemes, fonts, and page layouts, to help users achieve their desired website look and feel.

Mobile editor/app

4.0

4.5

🏆

Winner: Yola

. Both HostGator and Yola do not offer a dedicated mobile editor app. However, they allow for some small changes to be made using a mobile browser. Despite this similarity, Yola has a slightly higher mobile editor score than HostGator, making it the winner in this category. It’s important to note that for extensive editing and customization, using a desktop version of both builders would be more beneficial.

2.6

7.5

Overall Result

:

Yola wins

. Yola scores 7.5, significantly higher than HostGator’s 2.6. Both HostGator and Yola allow testing of all features within a 30-day refundable period. However, Yola offers a free version, which HostGator does not. Additionally, HostGator’s money-back guarantee comes with several exceptions, while Yola offers a straightforward 30-day money-back guarantee.

Free Plan	No	Yes
Trial Duration	No	No
Testing Premium Features	Possible within 30-day refundable period	Possible within 30-day refundable period
Money Back Guarantee	30-day with exceptions	Straightforward 30-day

6.2

8.1

Yola offers a wider range of price plans and a higher price score, making it a more cost-effective option compared to HostGator.

	Offerings	Offerings
Free	No offering at this amount.	Free (Website) ($0/month): Basic features with Yola subdomain, suitable for starting a simple site. With possibility to have up to 2 websites and 2 page limit. Free (Online Store Add-on) ($0/month): Launch an online store with basic features and a limited number of products. Available as an add-on to a website plan.
$5-$14	Express Start ($12.95/month): Includes hosting, basic analytics dashboard, 3 email campaigns per month, up to 3 products. Value for price: 6.0	Bronze (Website) ($9.45/month): More resources and features, including unlimited pages and bandwidth. With possibility to have up to 5 websites. Value for price: 7.5
$14-$17	Express Site ($14.98/month): Offers hosting, advanced analytics dashboard, 5 email campaigns per month, up to 10 products. Value for price: 7.0	Basic (Online Store Add-on) ($15.00/month): Includes inventory tracking, order management, and the ability to sell on Facebook. Available as an add-on to a website plan. Value for price: 7.0
$15-$20	No offering at this amount.	Silver (Website) ($18.95/month): Advanced design features and site customization options. With possibility to have up to 25 websites. Value for price: 8.0
$20-$35	Express Store ($26.98/month): Comprehensive plan including hosting, advanced analytics dashboard, 10 email campaigns per month, unlimited products. Value for price: 8.5	Professional (Online Store Add-on) ($35.00/month): Advanced features including discount coupons, product filters, and sales on multiple platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Available as an add-on to a website plan. Value for price: 8.0
$35-$40	No offering at this amount.	Gold (Website) ($35.45/month): Comprehensive plan with unlimited storage and advanced SEO tools. With possibility to have up to 25 websites. Value for price: 8.5
$90+	No offering at this amount.	Unlimited (Online Store Add-on) ($99.00/month): The most extensive plan offering a vast product catalog, point of sale integrations, and more, for expanding online business. Available as an add-on to a website plan. Value for Price: 9.0

8.0

7.2

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. Yola, on the other hand, offers managed cloud hosting with storage starting from 1GB on the free plan and up to unlimited on the highest plan. Both platforms have an uptime of 99.9% and offer an uptime guarantee.

Do they offer hosting?	Yes, offers four main types of hosting: shared, managed WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting, with unlimited storage and bandwidth. The platform has automatic backup service which runs once a week on a random day.	Yes. Yola offers hosting with storage from 1GB on free plan and up to unlimited on highest plan. Additionally the platform offers both automatic and manual backup included in all their plans.
Data Centers:	4 data centers: US(Texas, Utah), India(Mumbai), China(Hong Kong)	5 data centers located in US and EU
Type of hosting:	Shared, Managed WordPress, VPS, Dedicated	Managed Cloud Hosting
Uptime:	99.9%	99.9%
Uptime Guarantee:	Yes, 99.9%	Yes, 99.9%

6.2

7.5

🏆 Winner: Yola

Both HostGator and Yola prioritize website performance and page speed, but Yola has a slight edge due to its comprehensive speed optimization strategies.

Focus	Browser Caching, CDN	CDN, Caching, Code Minification, Server response time improvements, Image optimization
Performance Tools	Google Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights	Google PageSpeed Insights Integration
Key Strategies	Browser Caching, CDN	CDN, Caching, Code Minifcation, Server response time improvements, Image optimization
Load Times	Varies widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity and the chosen hosting plan	Varies widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity
Page Speed Scores Range	Varies widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity and the chosen hosting plan	Varies widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity
Core Web Vitals Improvement	Provides guidance on understanding and improving LCP, FID, CLS	Emphasis on LCP, FID, CLS improvements

Yola’s comprehensive speed optimization strategies, including CDN, caching, code minification, server response time improvements, and image optimization, give it an edge over HostGator. Yola also places a strong emphasis on improving Core Web Vitals (CWV), specifically LCP, FID, and CLS. The load times and PageSpeed scores for Yola websites vary widely, depending on the optimization and website complexity.

HostGator, on the other hand, focuses on browser caching and CDN for speed optimization. It also provides guidance on understanding and improving CWV for websites, with an emphasis on LCP, FID, and CLS improvements. However, both the load times and PageSpeed scores for HostGator websites vary widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity, and the chosen hosting plan.

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7.3

6.3

🏆 Winner: HostGator.

With a score of 7.3, HostGator offers a wider range of plugins and integrations that can enhance the functionality of your website. These include advertising options, social media connectivity, email marketing, and even music and podcast platforms. On the other hand, Yola, with a score of 6.3, also provides a variety of plugins and extensions, but falls short in comparison to HostGator.

However, it’s worth noting that Yola offers over 70 free apps and widgets, which can be a plus point for users on a budget.

Yola Applications

6.9

6.5

🏆

Overall Winner: HostGator

. HostGator edges out Yola with a slightly higher score, offering a more comprehensive set of marketing tools, especially in SEO and ad campaign management. Yola, however, offers a competitive set of features, particularly in email marketing and social media integration.

SEO Tools
Email Marketing	On higher plans	On higher plans
Blogging
Social Media Integration
Analytics and Reporting	Google Analytics integration on higher plans	Google Analytics integration
Ads and Promotions	Google Ads and Bing Ads integration	On higher plans

7.3

6.3

🏆 Winner: HostGator

. In the HostGator vs Yola 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 for instant assistance. This ensures that users can get help whenever they need it, contributing to a higher customer support score of 7.3.

Yola, on the other hand, provides 24/7 email support with priority responses for Bronze, Silver, and Gold customers. While Yola also offers a call-you-back service and support via social media channels, it lacks the immediate assistance options like live chat and phone support available with HostGator. This results in a lower customer support score of 6.3. Despite this, Yola’s premium support for paid plan subscribers ensures that users receive timely and personalized assistance.

7.4

8.3

🏆

Winner: Yola

. Yola’s security measures are more comprehensive, with a higher security score of 8.3 compared to HostGator’s 7.4. Yola prioritizes the security of users’ private data through encryption, access controls, and compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA. They conduct regular security audits, utilize secure data centers, and educate users on best practices for data protection.

HostGator, on the other hand, secures its servers against various threats, including DDoS attacks, through extensive custom firewall rules and mod security rule sets, alongside regular password audits to encourage strong user password practices. However, website owners are responsible for aspects such as password security, updating applications, and ensuring their site is malware-free. This places a greater burden on the user compared to Yola’s more comprehensive approach.

2.6

0.0

AI Builder	Basic AI capabilities in the new website builder
AI Ecommerce features
AI Content Generation
Additional AI features

🏆 Winner: HostGator

. Although both builders lack robust AI capabilities, HostGator edges out Yola due to its basic AI capabilities in the new website builder. However, it’s important to note that these AI capabilities are still in their early stages and may not offer significant advantages at this time.

3.2

7.3

🏆 Winner: Yola

. The user management capabilities of HostGator and Yola are quite different.

• 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.
• Yola supports multi-user editing capabilities, allowing different levels of access and control based on the plan chosen. The primary account holder, often referred to as the Owner or Administrator, possesses comprehensive control over the website, including the ability to edit content, manage settings, and extend invitations to collaborators for website modification. Collaborators or Editors, invited by the account holder, can edit the website to varying degrees, which might range from content editing to page management, depending on the permissions granted by Yola’s platform. The number of users permitted to edit a website and the scope of their roles and permissions may vary, typically increasing with higher-tier subscription plans.

Additional Features

SSL Certificate
Custom Domain
Free Custom Domain Included
International Domains
Mobile Responsive
Page Speed
Website Builder Mobile App
Convert a Website To An App
Website Analytics
Multilingual Sites
Multiple Users

User Feedback

HostGator

244 reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars

Yola

22 reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars

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.

Yola seems to have received mostly positive reviews. Users appreciate its professional templates, ease of use, affordability, and customer service. They find it ideal for website creation, especially for those without specialized knowledge. However, some users express dissatisfaction with aspects such as data security, customization limitations, and lack of certain features like chat support. Overall, Yola appears to solve the problem of easy website creation and maintenance for businesses and individuals, offering a range of templates and tools at a reasonable price point.

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