Hostinger vs Gandi.net: Final verdict

Looking over Hostinger vs. Gandi.net, each web hosting provider brings unique strengths and weaknesses to the table.

• 
  Hostinger (Overall grade: 8.7)
  
  boasts an intuitive custom-built control panel (hPanel), a wide array of hosting options including shared, cloud, and eCommerce hosting, and a strong focus on speed and security features. It shines with a 99.97% average uptime over the past six months, extensive global data centers, and advanced storage capabilities. Additionally, Hostinger offers automated website migration, comprehensive support resources, and features like free domains and SSL certificates making it an excellent choice for users seeking robust performance, reliability, and competitive pricing.
• 
  Gandi.net (Overall grade: 7.9)
  
  focuses on delivering consistent reliability, particularly for high-traffic websites, with a 99.95% uptime guarantee and compensation for excessive downtime. It offers excellent data security, GDPR compliance, and multilingual customer service, making it appealing to a global audience. While Gandi.net provides fewer hosting types than Hostinger, its strength lies in high-performance DNS management and file-sharing capabilities through integrated Nextcloud services. The hosting provider could improve upon user accessibility and more detailed feature sets to match competitor offerings fully.

Both providers excel in different areas, with Hostinger providing a more inclusive and user-friendly experience, while Gandi.net offers dependable and highly secure hosting solutions.

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

🏆 Winner Gandi.net: A hosting provider with exceptional uptime and availability.

Hostinger promises a solid 99.9% uptime guarantee and has shown impressive results with a 99.97% average uptime over the past six months. With their advanced security features, including DDoS protection, web application firewall, and secure access manager, your website is well-protected. Hostinger also boasts global data centers, ensuring fast and efficient website performance regardless of the user’s location.

Gandi.net provides a slightly higher uptime guarantee of 99.95% and has proven to maintain near-perfect uptime. They offer compensation if downtime exceeds the guaranteed amount, which underlines their confidence in their service. Their data centers located in strategic global locations ensure exceptional website speeds and availability. Gandi.net supports multiple languages for customer service, making it more accessible for users worldwide.

🏆 Winner Hostinger: Offers superior performance features and extensive global data centers.

Both Hostinger and Gandi.net deliver strong hosting solutions, but they differ in key areas. Hostinger excels with LiteSpeed web servers, object caching, and Hostinger CDN for improving load times. Gandi.net uses Varnish cache and offers dedicated Linux containers for performance. Hostinger boasts extensive global data centers in the USA, Europe, Asia, and South America, while Gandi.net primarily features data centers in France and Luxembourg.

Website Speed

Hostinger’s efforts in website speed are evident with their NVMe storage, HTTP/3 support, and LiteSpeed web servers, significantly reducing load times. The inclusion of Hostinger CDN and LSCWP cache plugin further enhances performance. Gandi.net uses Varnish cache and provides dedicated resources but doesn’t match Hostinger’s extensive or advanced speeding techniques.

Scalability

Hostinger offers flexible scaling with three comprehensive cloud plans, but the scaling isn’t automatic; users must upgrade to higher plans. Gandi.net provides scalable solutions with their Pro and Business plans, and the Hosting Booster can handle traffic peaks temporarily. The cost to scale is straightforward for both hosting providers based on the plan upgrades. However, details on elastic scaling and dedicated servers for Gandi.net are unclear, whereas Hostinger does not offer elastic scaling and requires plan upgrades.

🏆 Winner
Hostinger: Offers a comprehensive set of security features to ensure data integrity and secure hosting.

Both Hostinger and Gandi.net have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

Hostinger provides 24/7 server monitoring, firewall protection, advanced security modules, and anti-malware protection to ensure robust security. Gandi.net also offers free SSL certificates and multi-level SSL options, including Business SSL with extensive validation. Hostinger features consistent security configurations across all servers and continuous vulnerability scans, while Gandi.net supports Anycast DNS with DNSSEC for secure DNS zones. Hostinger includes PHP version control, while Gandi.net supports PHP 8.2 for up-to-date performance and security.

Operational security measures:

Hostinger has a dedicated internal security team, internal policies, and a responsible disclosure policy with a bug reward program. It also adopts OWASP secure coding practices and two-factor authentication (2FA). Gandi.net secures accounts with multifactor authentication (MFA) using the WebAuthn standard, expert customer support, and anti-DDoS solutions. Additionally, Gandi.net’s hosting booster handles traffic peaks, complementing its robust operational security measures.

Compliance and certifications:

Hostinger complies with GDPR regulations but is not intended for PCI or HIPAA compliance, nor is it ISO 27001 or SOC certified. Gandi.net guarantees GDPR compliance with data hosted in European data centers, suggesting a focus on secure transactions via Professional and Business SSL certificates. PCI compliance is not explicitly mentioned for either provider, while both focus primarily on GDPR adherence.

🏆 Winner
Hostinger: A comprehensive hosting provider with a strong feature set, excellent support, and exceptional performance.

When examining the offerings of Hostinger and Gandi.net, the availability of a website builder is a crucial factor for many users. Hostinger shines with its custom-built hPanel control panel and intuitive drag-and-drop website builder with AI features, simplifying the web development process for beginners while still accommodating complex customizations. On the other hand, Gandi.net does not specifically mention an integrated website builder, which may present a steeper learning curve for those unfamiliar with web development.

Both providers offer a variety of unique selling points. Hostinger includes a free domain and SSL with most plans and provides 24/7 multilingual support, catering to users across the globe. Its security features, such as regular scans, Imunify360, and Cloudflare DNS Firewall, ensure a safe hosting environment. Gandi.net, however, stands out with unlimited free and auto-renewed SSL certificates, robust Anycast DNS, and LiveDNS technology for high-performance DNS management. It also supports automatic installations of popular applications like WordPress and Prestashop, which can be appealing to users looking to launch websites quickly.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both Hostinger and Gandi.net offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Email services at Hostinger are provided through a partnership with Microsoft 365, offering a professional email and access to Outlook on a trial basis before transitioning to a paid service. Conversely, Gandi.net offers unlimited free professional email accounts, which is particularly beneficial for users requiring multiple email accounts without incurring additional costs.

🏆 Winner Hostinger: Hostinger offers highly competitive pricing plans with extensive features across various hosting types.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

When comparing Hostinger and Gandi.net, Hostinger stands out with its more extensive feature offerings at competitive prices. Hostinger’s Premium Web Hosting plan starts at $2.99/month, offering more storage and features compared to Gandi.net’s Starter plan at $10.00/month. For cloud hosting, Hostinger’s Cloud Startup plan is priced at $9.99/month, offering multiple websites and substantial storage, whereas Gandi.net’s Business plan costs $25.00/month and provides more website hosting capacity. Both providers have a range of support and extra features, but Hostinger’s offerings are generally more inclusive and budget-friendly.

Enterprise plans

For enterprises, Hostinger’s Cloud Enterprise plan at $54.99/month offers comprehensive features including 300 websites, 300 GB NVMe storage, 12 GB RAM, and advanced WordPress tools, making it suitable for high-demand environments. Gandi.net’s closest offering is the Business plan at $25.00/month, providing capacity for 15 websites, 200 GB storage upgradable to 1 TB, and support for multiple programming languages. Hostinger’s plan is more feature-rich, particularly in terms of storage, website capacity, and RAM, making it a better fit for large-scale enterprise needs.

🏆 Winner Hostinger: A user-friendly solution with numerous features for easy website setup and management.

Hostinger uses a custom-built control panel called hPanel, designed to be exceptionally accessible for users of all technical backgrounds. With its intuitive interface, hPanel allows beginners to effortlessly perform tasks like setting up professional email addresses, installing content management systems, and utilizing the website builder. The control panel’s straightforward navigation and helpful visual aids make website management simple and stress-free. In addition to the wide array of functionalities, hPanel incorporates built-in AI tools to further streamline the process.

Gandi.net, on the other hand, offers a centralized interface that integrates domain name, hosting, and WordPress management in one location. While this can simplify tasks for users, it may lack the user-friendliness of Hostinger’s hPanel for absolute beginners. The automatic installation features for various applications, such as WordPress, Prestashop, and Nextcloud, are convenient but still require users to navigate a less intuitive interface compared to Hostinger’s offering. Gandi.net’s solution represents a solid option for those who appreciate a straightforward, yet not overly simplified, control environment.

Hostinger stands out with its free automatic website migration service that guarantees no downtime, making it extremely easy for users to transfer their existing websites. This feature is especially valuable for newcomers looking to switch hosting providers effortlessly. Gandi.net provides automated installation for applications but does not explicitly offer a comparable free migration service. This makes Hostinger the more favorable choice for users prioritizing seamless migration capabilities.

Hostinger excels in providing extensive support resources including 24/7 multilingual support via live chat and email. Their help center is rich with tutorials, comprehensive guides, and Hostinger Academy’s easy-to-follow video tutorials. Gandi.net also offers a variety of support channels with 24/6 availability but focuses more on documentation and ticket-based support. Hostinger’s approach to support is more dynamic and accessible, enhancing user experience significantly.

Hostinger excels in providing extensive support resources including 24/7 multilingual support via live chat and email. Their help center is rich with tutorials, comprehensive guides, and Hostinger Academy’s easy-to-follow video tutorials. Gandi.net also offers a variety of support channels with 24/6 availability but focuses more on documentation and ticket-based support. Hostinger’s approach to support is more dynamic and accessible, enhancing user experience significantly.

Winner Gandi.net: A versatile hosting provider with a wide array of user management features.

When comparing Hostinger and Gandi.net, both offer solid user role management capabilities, each with unique strengths. Hostinger provides a detailed, centralized system through its hPanel, facilitating easy client onboarding, access-level administration, and service modifications. However, Gandi.net adopts a more integrated approach with its Nextcloud services, allowing the administrator to use its own tools to manage user roles and permissions. Gandi.net also supports file sharing via links, which can be beneficial for delegating access to less sensitive information, unlike Hostinger’s more structured access levels.

Hostinger’s user interface is streamlined, focusing on its hPanel’s “Account Sharing” feature. Users can access this feature through their profile or home section and manage client additions, service oversight, and domain settings. Meanwhile, Gandi.net’s interface leverages Nextcloud’s admin panel, offering a well-rounded suite of user management tools for file sharing, permission delegation, and more, combined with broader compatibility with Nextcloud mobile applications. This makes it easier for users familiar with Nextcloud to manage their hosting environment effectively.

Access control on Hostinger is tightly managed with multi-level permissions ensuring specific restrictions, thus enhancing security. However, users with granted access face several limitations, such as the inability to manage payments or make significant domain changes. Gandi.net, on the other hand, offers a flexible and secure way to delegate permissions using Nextcloud’s robust admin interface, aiding in better adaptability as user numbers grow. Both platforms cater well to expanding user bases, but Gandi.net edges out with its dynamic and flexible controls.

Hostinger User Roles Table

Gandi.net User Roles Table

🏆 Winner Gandi.net: Gandi.net offers a notable range of multilingual and priority customer support options.

Hostinger provides excellent customer service options, including 24/7 live chat support, a rich knowledge base, and priority support for specific plans. Additionally, Hostinger offers multilingual support in over ten languages and aims to resolve issues rapidly within three minutes. Their comprehensive support coverage makes them well-suited for various hosting needs, spanning from shared to cloud and VPS hosting.

On the other hand, Gandi.net stands out with its dedicated customer support available 24 hours a day, five days a week, and additional phone support for resellers. Gandi.net also includes personalized attention with dedicated account managers on request and multilingual service in five languages. With technical support available around the clock and the ability to handle high-performance hosting, Gandi.net provides a particularly strong service for both individual and corporate users.

Hostinger vs Gandi.net: User feedback

Hostinger receives widespread praise for its user-friendly interface, affordability, and robust customer support. Users appreciate the intuitive control panel, quick loading speeds, and comprehensive features that cater to both beginners and experienced webmasters. However, some customers find the renewal pricing steep and the lack of phone support inconvenient. While most reviews highlight excellent performance and responsive customer service, a few users report issues with site migrations and technical support response times.

User feedback for this hosting provider is generally positive, with users appreciating the easy and straightforward domain registration process, a user-friendly interface, and competitive pricing on unique domain extensions. Customers value the company’s focus on privacy protection and steady performance without pushy upselling tactics. However, some users have experienced significant issues, such as paying for already-owned domains without receiving refunds, instances of confusing billing processes, and a lack of sufficient customer support. While some find the user interface to be intuitive, others criticize it for being cluttered and difficult to navigate, especially on mobile devices.

Hostinger vs Gandi.net: FAQ