Hostgator vs Web.com: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Evaluating HostGator vs. Web.com, HostGator emerges as a more versatile hosting provider with better suiting features for diverse user needs.

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  HostGator (Overall grade: 8.0)
  
  
  offers a range of hosting types including shared, WordPress, ecommerce, VPS, and dedicated hosting, catering to various requirements from small personal blogs to high-traffic business websites. Key strengths include a 99.9% uptime guarantee, unmetered bandwidth, and comprehensive customer support available 24/7/365. HostGator’s plans also feature free SSL certificates, Cloudflare CDN integration for reduced load times, and robust security measures like automatic malware detection and daily backups. However, potential drawbacks include slightly higher initial costs, periodic server performance complaints, and aggressive upselling tactics. Despite these issues, HostGator stands out with its free migration services, advanced control panel, and a wide array of resources and support channels, making it a reliable choice for a broad range of users.
  
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  Web.com (Overall grade: 7.3)
  
  
  focuses on providing user-friendly hosting solutions with an emphasis on simplicity and affordability, particularly beneficial for smaller websites and new business ventures. The platform offers shared and WordPress hosting, with standout features such as a drag-and-drop website builder, business email, free domain for the first year, and unmetered bandwidth. Web.com delivers solid performance with an uptime guarantee of 99.9% backed by a Service Level Agreement and faster server response times due to upgrades like PHP 8.0 and OPcode Cache. However, it lacks advanced hosting options like VPS and dedicated hosting, and its control panel may be less appealing to more experienced users due to limited customization. While Web.com provides valuable features at lower introductory prices, its limited scalability and advanced support options make it more suitable for smaller-scale operations rather than large, high-traffic websites.
  

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
Web.com: Reliable hosting with extensive features and strong customer support.

HostGator offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee with 24/7/365 support via telephone and Live Chat. However, some competitors offer a slightly higher uptime of 99.99%, equating to less downtime over a year. HostGator provides strong availability and robust customer service, making it a reliable choice for many users.

Web.com, with its 99.9% guaranteed uptime backed by a Service Level Agreement, delivers above-average performance in third-party tests with actual uptime recorded at 99.97%. Its extensive features, including unmetered bandwidth, SSL security, and daily backups, ensure reliable service and data protection. Web.com also boasts faster server response times and provides a variety of tools to aid both beginner and advanced users, securing its position as the winner.

🏆 Winner HostGator: Wide range of storage options and superior customer support.

Comparing the general performance of both hosting services, HostGator and Web.com both offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee and unmetered bandwidth. HostGator uses SSD storage with various plans that include different storage capacities, ranging from 10GB to 240GB, while Web.com has optimized its storage efficiency but does not specify exact capacities. HostGator enhances site performance with Cloudflare CDN and provides up to 3 vCPUs for certain plans. In contrast, Web.com offers up-to-date enhancements like PHP 8.0, OPcode Cache, and MySQL 8, ensuring faster server response times, yet lacks details about CDN availability.

Website Speed

When it comes to website speed, Web.com promises server response times that are up to 70% faster, which could be a significant advantage for SEO and user satisfaction. Their upgrades to PHP 8.0, OPcode Cache, and MySQL 8 further elevate speed performance. On the other hand, HostGator also focuses on performance, offering Cloudflare CDN to reduce load times by caching content globally, which helps in faster page loading. Both providers aim to deliver quick loading times but use slightly different methods to achieve it.

Scalability

Both hosting providers ensure scalability, but the specifics vary. HostGator’s plans are designed to grow with your website, featuring tools to adjust resources as needed, but specific details on dedicated servers or automatic scaling are not provided. They do offer free migration services, which makes scaling less cumbersome. Web.com supports more than 99.5% of customers’ bandwidth demands and offers scalable solutions for users outgrowing shared architecture, but details regarding costs or dedicated servers are not mentioned.

🏆 Winner HostGator: A highly secure and reliable hosting provider with robust security measures.

Technical security measures:

HostGator offers a free SSL certificate with all plans, providing up to 256-bit encryption. Additionally, users can upgrade to higher security SSL certificates, including Single Domain, Wildcard, and EV SSL with substantial warranties. Web.com also provides various SSL certificate options, including Essential, Premium, Wildcard, and EV SSL, tailored for different needs. HostGator supports PHP 8.2, whereas Web.com supports PHP 8.0. Both use SiteLock for malware scanning and removal, and CodeGuard for backups.

Operational security measures:

HostGator utilizes SiteLock Security for automatic malware detection and Cloudflare CDN to enhance page load speeds and provide DDoS protection. It also offers daily backups through CodeGuard. Web.com uses OPcode Cache for faster loading times, employs MySQL 8 for better performance, and offers CodeGuard for backups with encrypted storage on AWS. Both providers include 24/7 customer support, ensuring assistance during any issues or attacks.

Compliance and certifications:

Both HostGator and Web.com comply with GDPR, ensuring the protection of personal data for EU residents. HostGator also provides some PCI compliance support for server-related setups, with the user’s responsibility to ensure software compliance. Web.com uses SiteLock for PCI compliance scanning but does not specify further details about broader PCI support. Neither HostGator nor Web.com provide HIPAA compliance.

🏆 Winner
HostGator: A comprehensive and feature-rich hosting provider suitable for various needs and technical expertise levels.

When comparing HostGator and Web.com in terms of their hosting features, a few key differences and unique selling points emerge. Both hosting providers offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee and unmetered bandwidth, which provides peace of mind in terms of website reliability and traffic handling. However, HostGator stands out with its free domain registration for the first year, free SSL certificates, and robust security measures like DDoS protection and daily website backups for the first year. Additionally, HostGator’s offerings include options for full Unix Shell access, SSH, and comprehensive support for various programming languages, which can cater to more technically inclined users.

Web.com, on the other hand, offers a user-friendly website builder with drag-and-drop functionality across all its plans, making it an attractive option for users who prioritize ease of use and rapid deployment of their website. While they too offer a free domain and SSL certificate for the first year, they lack some of the more advanced features available with HostGator, such as full root access and advanced caching options. Web.com’s scalability is more limited with lower storage offerings compared to HostGator’s higher capacity plans, which might be a consideration for websites expecting rapid growth.

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 HostGator and Web.com 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:

HostGator provides extensive email hosting with unlimited accounts, making it suitable for businesses that need robust email capabilities. Customers can create specialized email campaigns with ease. Web.com also offers business email but generally provides fewer customization options and less capacity for scaling email operations. Neither provider explicitly mentions transactional email capabilities outside typical hosting features, and there is no mention of reselling third-party email services like Google Workspace or Outlook in the provided information.

🏆 Winner Web.com: Offering lower initial prices and comprehensive features across its hosting plans.

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.

In comparing HostGator and Web.com, Web.com stands out due to its lower introductory prices and versatile plan options. Web.com’s prices for WordPress and shared hosting start notably lower than HostGator’s, at $2.75 and $2.95 per month respectively, with renewal prices also being more economical. HostGator offers a wide range of higher-priced plans with robust features like unmetered bandwidth and increased performance capabilities. However, Web.com provides significant value for budget-conscious users with its drag-and-drop website builder and business email, making it a strong choice for smaller websites and new business ventures.

Enterprise plans

For enterprise-level hosting, HostGator’s dedicated hosting plans offer more resources and extensive features compared to Web.com’s options, which do not appear to cater to the same market segment. The HostGator Enterprise Server ($141.99/mo) includes Intel Xeon-D CPU, 30 GB RAM, up to 2 TB HDD or 1 TB SSD storage, DDoS protection, and IP-based firewall. Web.com lacks comparable high-tier options but remains a strong competitor in shared and WordPress hosting with efficient introductory pricing and valuable features for smaller-scale enterprise needs.

🏆 Winner HostGator: HostGator provides an incredibly user-friendly experience, backed by versatile features.

HostGator uses a standard control panel designed for ease of use, giving both technical and non-technical users the ability to manage their online presence effectively. This centralized dashboard offers simple navigation, making it convenient to handle various administrative tasks like managing domains and setting up email accounts. The intuitive interface, combined with one-click installs for over 75 open-source scripts, simplifies the onboarding process for beginners and satisfies the needs of seasoned professionals.

Web.com offers a custom control panel that includes a drag-and-drop website builder for ease of use. This makes it highly accessible for non-technical users who require a more visual and straightforward method to build their websites. The drag-and-drop functionality, combined with customization options available in their templates, provides an easy starting point for those new to website management. However, it may lack some of the advanced functionalities available in standardized control panels like HostGator’s, making it less appealing to more experienced users.

HostGator clearly stands out when it comes to migration tools by providing free migration services. This allows users to move their websites without additional cost or hassle, facilitated by their support team. On the other hand, Web.com does not explicitly mention free migration services, implying that site migration might require a more manual approach or incur additional fees, which could be a drawback for users looking to switch hosting providers smoothly.

The platforms provide extensive knowledge bases filled with guides, how-to articles, and instructional content. HostGator’s help center resources are comprehensive and easily accessible, featuring 24/7/365 support via phone, live chat, and Twitter, alongside a richer array of resources such as YouTube tutorials, blog posts, a vibrant Facebook community, and regular webinars. Web.com also offers round-the-clock support and a well-stocked help center, including knowledge base articles and online resources. Though valuable, Web.com’s resources might not be as extensive as HostGator’s, making the latter a more attractive option for users seeking diverse and accessible support.

🏆 Winner: HostGator: Offers comprehensive user role management and robust access controls for efficient administration.

HostGator and Web.com both offer distinct approaches for managing user roles, permissions, and accessibility. HostGator provides a more granular system with three user roles—Primary Contact, Administrative Contact, and Technical Contact—each with varying permissions. This allows for more specialized and controlled user access. Web.com, on the other hand, offers two main roles—Admin and Tech—each with general permissions suitable for most administrative and technical tasks. HostGator’s setup provides a clearer breakdown of user roles and comprehensive permissions, enhancing flexibility in managing multiple users.

When looking at the user interfaces and tools for managing users, HostGator’s Customer Portal has a streamlined navigation system that separates user roles effectively. It offers a clear and intuitive process to invite and manage users through a dedicated Accounts & Users section. Web.com’s Account Manager is straightforward, emphasizing ease of access for adding or editing users. However, the streamlined design of HostGator makes user management more accessible and organized, particularly for more complex setups.

In terms of access control measures and capacity to manage a growing number of users, HostGator demonstrates a more structured approach. The detailed permission settings allow for precise control over user actions, ensuring that access is carefully managed and scalable as user numbers increase. Web.com’s approach, while efficient, is less focused on granular permissions, which may become a limitation as the user base grows larger and requires more differentiated roles.

HostGator User Roles Table:

Web.com User Roles Table:

🏆 Winner HostGator: HostGator provides 24/7/365 customer support with multiple contact methods which ensures reliability and constant availability.

HostGator and Web.com both offer a variety of customer support channels. HostGator stands out with its 24/7/365 support availability through phone, live chat, and even social media like Twitter. Additionally, HostGator provides extra resources like a knowledge base, blog, YouTube tutorials, and webinars, which can be very helpful for users looking for DIY solutions. The 30-day money-back guarantee, positive customer testimonials, and promotional offers further bolster the advantages of choosing HostGator.

Web.com also provides 24/7 technical support along with the flexibility of phone, email, live chat, and a ticket system. While support from business consultants is somewhat limited to weekdays, Web.com offers adequate avenues for customer assistance. The customer service availability across multiple channels ensures that Web.com users have sufficient support options, albeit not as extensive as those offered by HostGator.

User feedback

HostGator offers affordable, user-friendly web hosting services, which are appealing to both beginners and budget-conscious users. Key strengths include competitive pricing, reliable uptime, free SSL certificates, and efficient customer support. However, customers have reported issues such as slow server performance, aggressive upselling, rising renewal prices, and limited advanced features. While the overall experience can be positive, especially for small-scale or low-traffic sites, technical support responsiveness and server speed occasionally fall short, impacting the user experience.

The hosting provider offers a comprehensive solution for purchasing domain names, hosting, and website building, making it highly convenient for users managing multiple domains and websites. Users appreciate the convenience of having all services bundled together, but some express concerns about the limitations on hosting unlimited domains and the cost associated with individual website software. Overall, the service is satisfactory and well-rated, though there is room for improvement in accommodating users with extensive hosting needs.

FAQ