Weebly vs HostGator: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Weebly and HostGator both offer robust website building solutions, but they cater to different user needs and preferences.

Weebly (Overall Grade: 7.3/10)

is a user-friendly website builder with a drag-and-drop interface, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced users. It offers a variety of themes, ecommerce features, SEO tools, and seamless integration with third-party apps. Weebly excels in ease of use, product testing options, and security, making it a solid choice for small businesses and individuals looking for a straightforward website building experience.
HostGator (Overall Grade: 6.2/10)

is a well-known web hosting company that also offers a powerful website builder tool. It features a drag-and-drop interface and a variety of customizable templates suitable for different types of websites. HostGator stands out in hosting quality and design functionalities, providing a wide range of hosting types and a substantial variety of design templates. However, it falls short in ease of use and product testing options compared to Weebly.

	Overall grade: 7.3	Overall grade: 6.2
Design functionalities & templates	7.4	7.9
Ease of use	8.1	8.0
Ecommerce	7.1	6.3
Website Editors	7.6	7.3
Product testing options	8.3	2.6
Price	8.4	6.2
Hosting quality	7.7	8.0
Website speed optimization	7.9	6.2
Plugins and integrations	7.5	7.3
Marketing features	7.1	6.9
Customer support	7.3	7.3
Security	8.3	7.4
AI capabilities	1.8	2.6
User Management	6.5	3.2
Overall	7.3	6.2

Best for ecommerce

7.1

6.3

Verdict

: Weebly is slightly better suited for ecommerce compared to HostGator, thanks to its more comprehensive set of ecommerce features and higher overall score.

Weebly

: Weebly offers a user-friendly interface with a range of ecommerce features, making it a solid choice for small to medium-sized online stores. It supports unlimited products, inventory management, and various payment gateways like Square, Stripe, and PayPal. Weebly also provides essential marketing integrations and basic analytics, which are crucial for growing an online business. However, when comparing Weebly vs HostGator, Weebly’s ecommerce capabilities are more robust, giving it an edge.
HostGator

: HostGator’s website builder is designed to be simple and efficient, offering essential ecommerce features such as secure online payments, unlimited products, and multi-channel inventory management. While it provides a broad selection of mobile-responsive templates, it falls short in areas like payment gateway options and advanced ecommerce functionalities. HostGator is a good option for those who need a straightforward, easy-to-use platform but may not be the best choice for more complex ecommerce needs.

Best for informational & business websites

7.9

7.4

Verdict

: Weebly is the better choice for informational business websites due to its user-friendly interface, comprehensive security measures, and slightly higher ease of use score. HostGator, while robust, is more suited for users who need extensive hosting options and a wide variety of design templates.

Weebly

: Weebly scores 7.9 for informational business websites, making it a strong contender. Its drag-and-drop interface and WYSIWYG editing make it accessible for both beginners and experienced users. Weebly offers a variety of themes, SEO tools, and a robust blogging platform, which are essential for creating and managing informational websites. Additionally, Weebly’s comprehensive security measures and slightly higher ease of use score make it a reliable choice for businesses looking to establish an online presence without the need for extensive technical knowledge.
HostGator

: HostGator scores 7.4, slightly lower than Weebly, but still a viable option for informational business websites. HostGator’s website builder features a drag-and-drop interface and a variety of customizable templates, making it simple for users to design professional-looking websites. It also offers extensive hosting options, including shared, managed WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting, which can be beneficial for businesses with more complex needs. However, HostGator’s slightly less intuitive interface and the responsibility placed on users for certain security aspects may be a drawback for those seeking a more straightforward solution.

Detailed comparison

7.4

7.9

🏆

Winner: HostGator.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers more creative control and a wide array of design features, HostGator is the preferred choice.

Weebly offers a curated selection of templates, numbering in the low hundreds, which is fewer than some competitors. However, the emphasis is on high-quality, professionally designed templates covering various categories such as business, ecommerce, portfolio, blog, personal, and events. Weebly’s templates are praised for their clean, modern, and responsive design, with easy customization options for colors, fonts, layout, images, and content.

Weebly Themes

Compared to Weebly, 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.

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8.1

8.0

🏆 Winner: Weebly

. Scoring a slightly higher 8.1, Weebly is known for its user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop features, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced users. HostGator, with a score of 8.0, also offers a robust platform but with a slightly less intuitive interface. If ease of use is a priority, Weebly is the clear winner in this category.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Weebly

. While both platforms offer solid learning resources, Weebly goes a step further with its wide array of detailed tutorials and active community forums, making it easier for users to learn and adapt.

Learn Weebly

Learn HostGator

7.1

6.3

When it comes to ecommerce, both Weebly and HostGator offer a range of features to help users create and manage their online stores. However, Weebly seems to have a slight edge with a higher ecommerce score of 7.1 compared to HostGator’s 6.3.


Ecommerce themes and templates	6.5	7.0
Product page customization	6.8	6.5
Payment processing and commissions	7.0	6.0
POS capabilities	6.0	5.0
Payment gateways	7.5	5.5
Product numbers	7.0	4.5
Additional ecommerce features	6.7	6.5

Weebly ecommerce features:

Unlimited products
Inventory management
Product reviews and ratings (Paid plans)
Secure checkout
Shipping options
Abandoned cart recovery (Paid plans)
Basic analytics
SEO tools
Marketing integrations (Paid plans)

Weebly add a product

HostGator ecommerce features:

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

Ecommerce themes & templates

Weebly provides ecommerce-specific themes with a decent range of styles, offering built-in features like product galleries and optimized checkout flows. On the other hand, HostGator’s website builder caters to eCommerce needs by offering a broad selection of free templates, all designed with mobile responsiveness in mind.

Product page customization

In terms of product page customization, Weebly allows a decent level of customization through its user-friendly interface, offering options for layout, colors, fonts, backgrounds, and content. HostGator Website Builder offers basic features for customizing product pages, enabling users to add products with details such as name, price, description, and images.

Payment processing

For payment processing, Weebly seamlessly integrates with popular payment processors such as Square, Stripe, PayPal, and others, enabling secure and convenient online transactions for your store. HostGator Website Builder integrates with PayPal as a payment gateway for processing transactions.

7.6

7.3

🏆

Winner: Weebly

. Weebly, with a score of 7.6, stands out for its drag-and-drop simplicity, catering to beginners with an intuitive interface and visual editing. The editor features a range of pre-designed templates, customization options, and content management tools, making it accessible for users without coding knowledge. While offering ease of use, it has some limitations in design flexibility and advanced features, with certain functionalities requiring a move to paid plans.

Weebly editor

HostGator’s website builder, scoring 7.3, 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. However, some beginners might encounter a learning curve when first navigating through its features and options.

Hosgator website editor

Mobile editor/app

8.1

4.0

🏆

Winner: Weebly

. Both Weebly and HostGator offer mobile capabilities, but they differ significantly in their offerings. Weebly has a mobile app that allows users to manage and make basic edits to their websites on the go. While it does have limitations, such as no advanced editing capabilities or extensive design flexibility, it is best suited for quick content updates rather than major design changes.

HostGator, on the other hand, does not have a mobile editor app. It only allows for small changes using a mobile browser, which can be limiting for users who need to make significant edits or updates to their website while on the go. Therefore, Weebly is the clear winner in this category due to its dedicated mobile app and the convenience it offers to users.

In summary, Weebly receives a higher rating due to its dedicated mobile app and the convenience it offers, while HostGator is limited by its lack of a mobile app and the restrictions it places on mobile editing.

8.3

2.6

Overall Result

:

Weebly Wins

. Weebly scores 8.3 in product testing options, significantly higher than HostGator’s 2.6. Weebly offers a free version and a 30-day money-back guarantee for all paid plans, allowing users to explore all features and make a decision within the refund window. HostGator, on the other hand, does not offer a free or trial version, but allows testing of all features within a 30-day refundable period. However, their money-back guarantee comes with several exceptions.


Free Plan	Yes	No
Trial Duration	No (30-day money-back guarantee)	No
Testing Premium Features	Yes, within 30-day refund window	Yes, within 30-day refund window

8.4

6.2

Weebly and HostGator both offer a range of pricing options, but Weebly’s plans are generally more affordable.

	Offerings	Offerings
Free	Free ($0/month): Basic template selection, 500MB storage, Weebly ads, limited features.	No offering at this amount.
$0-$10	Personal ($6/month): Custom domain, unlimited storage, ad-free, limited SEO and email marketing tools. Value for price: 6.5	No offering at this amount.
$10-$14	Professional ($12/month): Advanced design options, blog membership features, advanced SEO tools, form analytics. Value for price: 7.5	Express Start ($12.95/month): Includes hosting, basic analytics dashboard, 3 email campaigns per month, up to 3 products. Value for price: 6.0
$14-$20	No offering at this amount.	Express Site ($14.98/month): Offers hosting, advanced analytics dashboard, 5 email campaigns per month, up to 10 products. Value for price: 7.0
$20+	Performance ($26/month): Advanced ecommerce features, lead capture tools, custom code injection, marketing automation. Value for price: 8.5	Express Store ($26.98/month): Comprehensive plan including hosting, advanced analytics dashboard, 10 email campaigns per month, unlimited products. Value for price: 8.5

In some cases companies have different prices based on various components like a
location. As a result in rare cases the prices displayed here can differ from the ones you see on their
websites.

7.7

8.0

🏆

Winner: HostGator

HostGator edges out Weebly with a variety of hosting types, including shared, managed WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting. It also offers automatic backup services, which Weebly lacks. Both platforms have a 99.9% uptime, but HostGator’s disclosed data center locations and automatic backup services give it a slight advantage.


Do they offer hosting?	Yes, included in all paid plans	Yes, included in all paid plans
Data Centers:	Not publicly disclosed due to security and technical reasons	4 data centers: US(Texas, Utah), India(Mumbai), China(Hong Kong)
Type of hosting:	Shared Hosting, Cloud Based Hosting, Managed Hosting	Shared, Managed WordPress, VPS, Dedicated
Uptime:	99.9%	99.9%
Uptime Guarantee:	Yes, 99.95%	Yes, 99.9%

7.9

6.2

🏆 Winner: Weebly

Both Weebly and HostGator prioritize website performance and page speed, but Weebly has a higher Website Speed Optimization score.


Focus	Load balancing, CDN	Browser Caching, CDN
Performance Tools	Google Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights	Google PageSpeed Insights Integration
Key Strategies	Load balancing, CDN	Browser Caching, CDN
Load Times	2s to 4s	Varies widely, depending on optimization
Page Speed Scores Range	Average 80+/100	Varies widely, depending on optimization
Core Web Vitals Improvement	Automatic image optimization, lazy loading, code minification, caching	Emphasis on LCP, FID, CLS improvements

Weebly has significantly enhanced its Core Web Vitals performance by implementing measures such as automatic image optimization, lazy loading for content, code minification, and caching. These improvements, along with streamlined JavaScript usage and an enhanced server infrastructure, aim to boost website loading speed and responsiveness. The load times for Weebly range from 2s to 4s, and the average PageSpeed score is 80+/100.

HostGator provides guidance on understanding and improving Core Web Vitals (CWV) for websites. The emphasis is on LCP, FID, CLS improvements. However, both load times and PageSpeed scores vary widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity, and the chosen hosting plan.

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7.5

7.3

🏆 Winner: Weebly.

With a score of 7.5, Weebly slightly edges out HostGator, which scores 7.3. Weebly’s App Center offers a wide range of integrations for different needs, and its higher-tier plans provide API access for added functionality. HostGator also offers a variety of plugins, known as apps, catering to diverse needs such as advertising, website analytics, social media integration, and more. However, Weebly’s slightly higher score and the availability of API access for advanced users give it a slight advantage.

Weebly Applications

Weebly plugins

Hostgator plugins

7.1

6.9

🏆

Overall Winner: Weebly

. Weebly edges out HostGator with a slightly higher marketing features score. Both platforms offer similar marketing features, but Weebly’s built-in analytics and reporting tools and its comprehensive set of social media integrations give it a slight advantage.


SEO Tools
Email Marketing		✓ (on higher plans)
Blogging
Social Media Integration	Easy link to social media accounts and share buttons
Analytics and Reporting	Built-in analytics for tracking site performance	Google Analytics integration (on higher plans)
Ads and Promotions	Integrated marketing tools for creating and managing ads	Google Ads and Bing Ads integration

7.3

🏆 Winner: Tie

. When comparing Weebly vs HostGator, both platforms offer robust customer support options, each with its unique strengths.

Weebly provides a comprehensive Online Help Center, a Community Forum, and Email Support. Live Chat is available during limited hours, and Phone Support is offered to Pro and Business plan users in the US and Canada during specific hours. The Online Help Center and Community Forum are accessible 24/7, ensuring users can find assistance at any time.

HostGator, on the other hand, excels with its 24/7 support through email, phone, and live chat. This round-the-clock availability ensures that users can get help whenever they need it, which is particularly beneficial for maintaining website uptime.

Both platforms offer valuable support resources, making it a close call in this category.

8.3

7.4

🏆

Winner: Weebly

. Weebly’s security measures are comprehensive, including secure data centers, routine system updates, encryption through SSL certificates, compliance with PCI standards, automatic malware scans, spam prevention measures, robust password protection, optional two-factor authentication, and user permission controls. These measures collectively ensure a secure and reliable environment for individuals and businesses utilizing Weebly for website creation.

HostGator also prioritizes security, securing its servers against various threats, including DDoS attacks, through extensive custom firewall rules and mod security rule sets, alongside regular password audits. They also offer SiteLock Security services for enhanced protection. However, the responsibility for aspects such as password security, updating applications, and ensuring their site is malware-free falls on the website owners, which may be a disadvantage for less tech-savvy users.

1.8

2.6


AI Builder	Weebly does not currently offer a dedicated AI builder feature	HostGator’s AI capabilities are relatively basic
AI Ecommerce features	Weebly does not offer any built-in AI-powered ecommerce features	HostGator does not have AI ecommerce features
AI Content Generation	Weebly allows for the integration of third-party AI content generation tools	HostGator does not have AI content generation features
Additional AI features	Weebly allows for the integration of third-party AI-powered plugins	HostGator’s website builder has very basic features

🏆 Winner: Neither

. Both Weebly and HostGator have limited AI capabilities. Weebly does not have a dedicated AI builder and does not offer AI-powered ecommerce features, but it does allow for the integration of third-party AI content generation tools and plugins. HostGator’s AI capabilities are relatively basic, and it does not have AI ecommerce or content generation features.

6.5

3.2

🏆 Winner: Weebly

. Weebly and HostGator have different approaches to user management.

Weebly allows varying numbers of users to edit a website depending on the plan selected. The Free Plan allows only one user, the Personal Plan accommodates two users, the Professional Plan permits up to 10 users, and the Business Plan offers unlimited user access.
HostGator mentions the possibility of having multiple users for its hosting solutions, but there’s no mention of whether these users have permission to edit the websites built with their website builder.

Weebly User Roles and Access Levels:

Role	Description	Access Highlights
Owner	The primary account holder and creator of the Weebly site.	Full access to all site features, including design, pages, settings, store management, and analytics.
Admin	Users granted significant control over the site by the Owner.	Can edit and publish site content, manage store orders, view analytics, and access most site settings, except for site ownership transfer and account deletion.
Author	Users with limited permissions, typically focused on content creation.	Can create and edit blog posts, manage comments, and sometimes edit specific pages if granted permission.
Store Manager	Specifically focused on e-commerce aspects of the site.	Access to manage and fulfill orders, view store analytics, and edit product details, but cannot change site design or settings.

HostGator does not provide information about user roles and access levels for their website builder.

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

Weebly

458 reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars

HostGator

244 reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars

Square Online (formerly Weebly) receives positive reviews for its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and quick website development features, making it suitable for small businesses. Users highlight its role in efficient appointment booking, saving time in coordination and scheduling. However, some express a desire for more advanced building tools and better pricing. The platform is recognized for streamlining website and payment operations, though opinions on customer service and design limitations are mixed. Overall, it is considered a good, affordable solution for small businesses.

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.

The making of this blog

We followed a clear, step-by-step process to write and research this article.

Our Ranking Criteria

FAQ

Which platform is better for beginners, Weebly or HostGator?

Weebly is generally considered better for beginners due to its user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop features, scoring slightly higher in ease of use. It’s designed to be accessible for users with no technical background, making website creation straightforward.

Can I use both Weebly and HostGator for ecommerce?

Yes, both platforms support ecommerce, but Weebly has a slight edge with a higher ecommerce score. Weebly offers a more comprehensive set of ecommerce features, making it a better choice for users looking for an all-in-one online store solution.

How do Weebly and HostGator compare in terms of design flexibility?

HostGator is the winner when it comes to design flexibility, offering a wider array of design features and templates. While Weebly provides a curated selection of high-quality templates, HostGator offers more creative control and a vast collection of design options.

What are the major differences in pricing between Weebly and HostGator?

Weebly’s plans are generally more affordable, offering a free plan and several paid options that cater to different needs, from personal use to advanced ecommerce features. HostGator’s pricing is higher, especially for its website builder, but it includes hosting services which may justify the cost for some users.

Which platform offers better customer support, Weebly or HostGator?

It’s a tie in terms of customer support. Both Weebly and HostGator offer various support channels, including email and phone support. However, Weebly provides a more extensive online help center and community forums, while HostGator is known for its 24/7 support availability.

Are Weebly and HostGator equally good for creating informational and business websites?

Weebly slightly outperforms HostGator for informational and business websites, thanks to its user-friendly design tools and comprehensive security measures. It’s particularly suited for users looking for a balance between functionality and simplicity in their website creation process.