Monday, March 2, 2009

A Review of HostGator Web Hosting


HostGator identifies itself as one of the ten largest web hosting companies doing business today, with more than 175 employees and 1,300,000 hosted domains. They provide shared and dedicated web hosting options. Claiming to be the answer for both beginners and professionals, they guarantee uptime of 99.9%, round the clock support and a forty-five day money back guarantee.

Before signing up with HostGator, you are invited to view a demo of their cPanel hosting platform. A free site builder is part of the package that includes the usual unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth and unlimited websites. If you are transferring to HostGator from another web hosting company, they offer free domain transfer, free file transfers, free database transfer and free script transfer.

You are guaranteed free instant setup as well. There are 4,500 Flash templates available for use as well.

Three no-contract option plans are offered. They include the Hatchling for $4.95 a month, which limits your domain to one. You can also purchase the Baby or the Business plans. They are $7.95 a month and $12.95 a month, respectively. The most popular plan appears to be the Baby. Like FatCow, HostGator takes a somewhat humorous approach to marketing. Until recently, they featured a plan called, "The Swamp", which apparently featured everything.

In February 2009, there are a number of online coupons available for HostGator, including one that will give you hosting service for a penny a month for a limited amount of time. There is also a deal for eight months of free hosting. By selecting the coupon code "Snowman", a client signing up for a year will save 20%.

HostGator is only six years old, having been founded in 2002, but they are the first web hosting company to go green. The company purchases renewable energy credits up to 130% of their power use. Outside monitors document that HostGator routinely provides consistently high uptime.

Their data centers are in Dallas, Texas, and boast ten backbone providers. Accounts are hosted on top-of-the-line dual Xeon servers. HostGator publishes information about its tech support that stipulates if a client's problem is not solved, the president is available for individual assistance. They offer an active live forum at which help can be found for many issues and several tutorials as well.

From a review of user feedback, it seems apparent that HostGator gives its clients more than they pay for. Written reviews tend to be very positive and suggest long-term use. In addition to kudos from their clients, HostGator enjoys consistently high reviews from various review sites. This web hosting company has made a commitment to reasonably sized accounts with reasonable traffic to offer shared hosting. They do keep watch for over-sized accounts with very high traffic that are attempting to inappropriately maintain a shared account when they actually need a dedicated server. But never fear; HostGator offers those as well.

For money back, guaranteed web hosting services, it's hard to beat the HostGator plans. If the money back guarantee doesn't sell you, go ahead and try out the Hatchling plan. No contract is required and it's an easy plan for getting your feet wet.

Choosing the right web host for your needs is a very important decision and there are literally hundreds to choose from. We have taken a look at the top ten web hosts and have provided you with our honest assessment of the features that each has to offer. Check out HostGator Web Hosting and the other top web hosting providers at Best Webhosts.com.

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