If you open your browser and search for the two of the biggest web hosting companies, GoDaddy and HostGator, you will run into a lot of positive customers as well as expert reviews. But what if you want to choose one of these two providers? That’s when our team comes in-game and writes the best web host comparisons that should significantly help you choose the best company for your business website. Our GoDaddy vs. HostGator comparison will make things easier for you to decide. Let’s see which one is better, GoDaddy or HostGator?
Winner Snapshot: Check Out This Summary Table to Quickly Compare These Two Providers
| GoDaddy | HostGator | |
| Features | One-click installs, top-quality website builder, various shipping and payment methods, discounts and coupons, and marketing tools | WordPress optimized, one-click installs, free website builders, professional email, website migration, and various useful tools |
| Support | Live chat, phone, help center, how-to guides, and community | 24/7 via phone, live chat support, ticket-based email support, knowledge base |
| Performance | An uptime of 99.97% | Uptime of 99.99% |
| Ease of use | cPanel with Sotaculous installer | A straightforward cPanel with Softaculous installer |
| Security | Protection against viruses Fraud Spam protection Email privacy SSL certificates (free only with the two most expensive plans) DDoS protection | SSH Access IP Blocker SSL/TLS Manage API Tokens Hotlink protection SSL/TLS Status SiteLock monitoring |
| Server location | It has three available data centers – North America (USA), Europe (Netherlands), and Asia (Singapore) | The company has four data centers – North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa |
| Free migration | No | Yes |
Winner: HostGator
From what we can see in the chart above, HostGator is the clear winner in the GoDaddy vs. HostGator battle. This web host has more reliable hosting plans, better features, and significantly better support. Are you ready to learn more about both web hosts? Continue reading our thorough comparison.
About GoDaddy and HostGator
 | GoDaddy is the biggest domain registrar founded in 1997 by Bob Parsons. Over the years, it managed to get more than 82 million domains under its management. More precisely, it has more than 20 million customers globally. GoDaddy provides incredible services that I can confirm as I have a previous experience with it. According to some web hosting statistics, GoDaddy hosts 1 in 20 websites worldwide. |
 | HostGator has been on the market since 2002, and in those twenty years, it has become one of the most used hosting providers. Their expert team is accountable for over 10 million globally hosted websites, and this is possible due to the amazing services that the company offers, such as free domain, free SSL, 24/7/365 support, various hosting plans, excellent uptime, etc. The best part is that HostGator is ranked as the second-best after Bluehost. |
GoDaddy vs. HostGator: Side-by-Side Comparison
GoDaddy and HostGator may look like they don’t have anything in common, as the one is the biggest domain registrar while the other one is a superb web host, but they are still worth it opponents. Their overall hosting features are more or less the same, so we had to see which web host provider offers better services.
GoDaddy hosting comes with a few hosting plans that offer different features and services, but it comes with a weak security package. Its SSL certificates come as add-ons, which is quite a drawback as every provider should at least include the SSL certificates for free. Do you need to search for GoDaddy alternatives?
One of the many extraordinary GoDaddy alternatives is HostGator. But before we read more details, do you think that GoDaddy is better than HostGator? This web host not only has better features, superb security, and affordable prices, but it also comes with a free domain for a year. The fact that HostGator is the second-best web hosting provider says a lot, and although there are thousands of HostGator competitors in this industry, they can’t surpass it.
We’ve briefly explained what you can expect from both web hosting companies, but now, it is time to get into more details and carefully compare them in a few essential segments – features, performance, prices, customer support, ease of use, scalability, security, and server location. Are you ready to find out which web host is better – HostGator or GoDaddy?
Round 1: Hosting Features – Key Hosting Features and Services
| Hosting Feature | GoDaddy | HostGator |
| Free daily backups and restore | No | Yes |
| high-performance SSD storage | Yes | Yes |
| Free WordPress installation | Yes | Yes |
| Free site migration | No | Yes |
| Free website builder | Yes | Yes |
| Free domain-associated email | Yes | Yes |
| Email accounts | One free Microsoft 365 account for one year | Unlimited |
| Disk space and bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Built-in caching system | No | Yes |
| Free CDN (content delivery network) | Yes | Yes |
| Webspace limit | 100 GB to unlimited, depending on the plan | Unmetered but limited depending on the hosting plan |
| Free SSL | No – only as an add-on | Yes |
| Sub and parked domains | Yes – up to 500 subdomains | Yes – unlimited |
| Option to add multiple users | Yes | Yes |
| Free custom domain name | Yes, only for the first year | Yes, only for the first year |
| Easy staging sites | Yes | Yes |
| Git and SSH access | Yes | Yes |
Key GoDaddy Features
GoDaddy comes with pretty various features that offer almost everything one web host needs to have and are also superb. But is this enough for GoDaddy to beat HostGator, or is HostGator better than GoDaddy? We won’t waste more time, and we’ll get down to business. Among some of the best GoDaddy features are:
- Marketing tools
- Online store builder
- Website Builder
Marketing Tools
We decided to start off this round with GoDaddy’s marketing tools. This is an essential feature that is of great importance when it comes to hosting a website. GoDaddy includes three marketing tools that may improve your experience. We’re talking about GoDaddy InSight, Search engine visibility, and Email marketing. GoDaddy InSight compares and scores your website’s performance to other sites in your space. It also includes metrics (social media engagement and site views) and lets you select a few business goals. The second tool, known as Search engine visibility, suggests keywords and phrases and populates your metatags and page titles. And last but not least, the Email marketing tool is included in all hosting plans.
Online Store Builder
While I was reviewing GoDaddy’s feature, what got my attention the most was the online store builder. This amazing builder allows the customers to develop their online store quickly by using many beneficial tools for free. If you decide to use GoDaddy as your web host, I highly suggest using this feature!
GoDaddy Email
Another great feature is the GoDaddy professional email. This feature will help you send and receive emails from your domain. Due to this feature, your website will get a more professional look and gain more page traffic.
GoDaddy Website Builder
Lastly, I would like to put a bit more attention on the GoDaddy website builder. This web host includes a simple website builder that allows you to create a website by using one of the hundreds of templates. But that’s not all! The best part is that they are divided into categories so that you won’t waste a lot of time on this. And also, GoDaddy’s website builder is a drag-and-drop one, significantly improving your job. But is GoDaddy better than HostGator?
Key HostGator Features
After checking out some of the best GoDaddy features, it is time to see what HostGator has to offer. I’ve read many positive reviews of this web host, so I can’t wait to see if all of it is true. Are you as excited as I am? The best HostGator features that stand out are:
- Free website migration
- Personalized website builder
- Useful tools
Free Website Migration
The first and one of the best HostGator features is the possibility of free website migration. If this isn’t your first site, and you’re trying to move an existing one over, you’ll get 30 days after you sign-up to get in touch and have the HostGator team of experts help you move any site files, databases, scripts, and even a domain name for you. This process also includes a complete cPanel transfer. So you’re all good if you have multiple site installs (like subdomains for one large site).
HostGator Email
HostGator comes with a professional email hosting service, which takes the collaboration to the next level. The best part is that you will get an unlimited number of email accounts no matter what HostGator plan you choose. The setup process is easy, even for beginners, and it takes only a few minutes.
HostGator uses Horde and RoundCube email clients. They are pretty basic and hosted on the same server as your website. They are suitable for casual mailing but not large volumes of outbound emails.
Gator Website Builder
Personally, the personalized website builder that HostGator provides is the best feature of this web host. Gator Builder is one of the simplest website builders, which allows you to create up to 6 pages for free with your hosting account. All plans come with the same choice of 149 templates. There are modern ones, classic ones, and clean ones. In other words, you have a pretty great choice. However, if you are looking for some more advanced features, such as eCommerce, it would be best to master WordPress.
Useful Tools
A crucial feature of every web host is to have useful tools. As one of the oldest web host providers, HostGator hosting knows what must be done to remain at the top of the list. This well-known host provider comes with phpMyAdmin, MySQL Databases, MySQL Database Wizard, and Remote MySQL. These tools help you develop dynamic and interactive websites.
And the Winner Is…
HostGator! No matter what GoDaddy offers, nothing can beat HostGator’s features. Its excellent features provide an unforgettable and latency-free experience. But there is still hope for GoDaddy. Let’s check the other rounds.
Round 2: Website Performance (Uptime & Speed) – Who Offers Better Performance?
The most important segment of every web host provider is its performance and speed. By having a slow-loading website, you will face drastically lower page traffic, and you won’t manage to engage new customers. And how could you? Do you like slow websites with dull performance? We don’t think so.
To avoid losing customers, you should consider using a reliable web host provider that comes with an uptime of around 99.9% and a loading time of that is less than 3 seconds. From many kinds of research that have been conducted, it is proved that if your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, the visitors may give up.
But the loading speed depends on the server location of the chosen hosting company. That’s why you should pay attention to where their servers are located. However, although the server might be far from you, you don’t have to worry about anything if they offer CDN. You will still get a great performance.
Now, let’s get back to our two big competitors and see how they do in this round!
| Test | GoDaddy | HostGator |
| Pingdom test 1 (Tokyo, Japan) | 0.9 s | 4.15 s |
| Pingdom test 2 (San Francisco, USA) | 0.8 s | 1.64 s |
| Pingdom test 3 (Sydney, Australia) | 1.17 s | 4.35 s |
| GT Metrix test 1 (Vancouver, Canada) | 0.8 s | 1.7 s |
| PageSpeed Insights test | 2.2 s | 9.1 s |
GoDaddy Performance & Speed
What a pleasant surprise! GoDaddy has some extraordinary speed and performance, as can be seen from the chart above. Its slowest loading time is 2.2 seconds, which is still incredible (as long as it is less than 3 seconds, it’s great), while its fastest is 0.8 seconds in Canada and the USA. But that’s not all! We’ll wrap this up with GoDaddy’s fantastic uptime of 99.97%, which is still around 99.9%, making this web host one of the best in terms of performance. Let’s see how HostGator did. Can GoDaddy be better than HostGator this time?
HostGator Performance & Speed
Compared to GoDaddy, HostGator looks like it is quite behind it.HostGator might have been the clear winner in the features round, but it looks like its performance isn’t better than GoDaddy’s. HostGator’s fastest loading time of 1.64 seconds was monitored in San Francisco, USA, while the slowest loading time is 9.1 seconds, according to PageSpeed Insights. However, there is one thing better than GoDaddy –uptime. HostGator provides a phenomenal uptime of 99.99%.
And the Winner Is…
GoDaddy! Wow, we are only at the beginning, and we already have a tight. GoDaddy’s speed and performance are simply incredible, and we’re not even sure if some web host can surpass them. GoDaddy is better than HostGator, so is it time to consider looking for HostGator alternatives?
Round 3: Prices & Plans
Do you want an incredible yet affordable web host provider? If the answer is yes, check out the chart we’ve prepared for you below, and read the detailed GoDaddy vs. HostGator comparison to get a clearer image of their services.
| GoDaddy | HostGator | |
| Entry-Level Plan | $5.99/month | $2.75/month |
| Middle Plan | $7.99/month | $3.50/month |
| Middle Plan | $12.99/month | / |
| Middle Plan | / | / |
| Highest Plan | $19.99/month | $5.25/month |
GoDaddy Pricing Plans
GoDaddy is the largest domain registrar worldwide. Besides its domain prices, this company also comes with a few web hosting plans. More precisely, you can choose from seven hosting plans – Shared Web hosting, Business hosting, Windows hosting, WordPress hosting, WordPress eCommerce hosting, VPS hosting, and Dedicated server hosting. Let’s get down to business and see what each plan offers.
The Shared Web hosting plan provides expert hosting support, superior performance, and load time. There are four plan levels available. The Economy plan is the most affordable plan with a free matching domain and email. It can be purchased for $5.99/month and renewed for $8.99/month. Deluxe will give you unlimited sites with unlimited storage. This plan comes with a price tag of $7.99/month or $11.99/month for renewal. Ultimate is the recommended plan for websites with higher traffic offering increased processing power with unlimited sites, storage, and databases. It costs $12.99/month or $16.99/month for renewal. Maximum is the plan with maximized processing power and speed, unlimited storage, and databases. This plan can be purchased for $19.99/month or renewed for $19.99/month.
Next is the Windows Web hosting, which is recommended for ASP.NET, ASP, Net Core, and SQL Server users. You have three Windows web hosting levels – Economy, Deluxe, and Ultimate. The Economy is the perfect plan for basic websites. It’s also the cheapest. This plan costs $5.99/month or $8.99/month for renewal. Deluxe will give you more space and flexibility for multiple sites. This plan costs $7.99/month or $11.99/month for renewal. Ultimate is the ideal plan for complex sites and heavy traffic. This plan comes with a price tag of $12.99/month. The renewal will cost you $16.99/month.
Business hosting gives you the power of a VPS but with an easy-to-use control panel. There are four available business plan hosting levels. First is the Launch, which is the most affordable and the perfect plan for multiple primary sites. This plan costs $19.99/month. The renewal price of this plan is $29.99/month. Enhance is a plan designed for high-traffic WordPress, Joomla, and other sites. This plan costs $34.99/month or $49.99/month for renewal. Then, Grow fits the needs of advanced eCommerce sites like Magento. It comes with a $44.99/month price; renewing it will cost you $69.99/month. Lastly, the Expand is most suitable for photography or resource-heavy sites. This plan comes with a price tag of $59.99/month or $59.99/month for renewal.
Next is the WordPress plan, which is fully managed and reliable and has pre-installed extensions, plugins, and themes. There are four available levels. First is Basic, which is the best plan to get you started and will cost you $8.99/month and $9.99/month for renewal. Then, Deluxe will help you get more page traffic with an integrated SEO wizard. This plan costs $11.99/month and $14.99/month for renewal. The Ultimate plan level will give you more storage and security to add online marketing. The plan costs $18.99/month. The renewal price for this plan is $19.99/month. Last but not least, Ecommerce will get you a full-featured online store with a fast setup. This plan can be yours for $20.99/month. The renewal price is $24.99/month.
The Managed WordPress eCommerce Hosting contains WooCommerce extensions that will allow you to quickly set up your customizable store for just $20.99/month. The renewal price for this hosting is $24.99/month.
Next is the VPS Server, which will give you total control with full root access and an optional control panel. You have four plan levels with Standard RAM and four plans with High RAM.
- One vCPU with standard RAM will cost you $4.99/month and $9.99/month with high RAM.
- Two CPUs are $19.99/month with standard RAM. This plan with high RAM will cost you $29.99.
- Four CPUs with standard RAM can be yours for $39.99/month. The plan with high RAM is $49.99/month.
- Eight CPUs cost $69.99 /month with standard RAM and $99.99/month with high RAM.
Last but not least are the dedicated servers. GoDaddy provides two options – dedicated servers with HDD drives that have high capacity and servers with SSD NVMe, which are up to 25x faster. Each option has four available plan levels.
- DS-32 with HDD costs $129.99/month and $169.99/month for renewal. With SSD NVMe, the plan will cost you $139.99/month, or $179.99/month for renewal.
- DS-64 with HDD is $169.99/month and $219.99/month for renewal. The same plan with SSD NVMe will cost you $179.99/month or $229.99/month when you renew.
- DS-128 is $299.99/month with HDD and $359.99/month when renewing. With SSD NVMe, it will cost you $319.99/month or $379.99/month for renewal.
- DS-256 with HDD can be yours for $399.99/month and $499.99/month when you renew. The same plan with SSD NVMe will cost you $419.99/month, or $519.99/month when you renew.
HostGator Pricing Plans
HostGator is in the group with one of the most affordable web hosts. However, this doesn’t mean that HostGator hosting has nothing to offer. In fact, it comes with great features and services for its customers. HostGator comes with various plans suitable for everyone’s website – Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, WordPress Hosting, and Website Builder Hosting.
HostGator Shared Hosting plan is suitable for small to medium websites because its usage is straightforward. This plan comes in three levels: Hatchling, Baby, and Business. They all come with unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth. The only difference is in the number of websites you can host. Besides this, they all come with a free SSL certificate, a free domain for a year, and a free website builder.
HostGator hosting also provides Website Builder Hosting, which is easy, eCommerce-friendly, and perfect for your new business. This hosting plan also comes in three levels – Express Start, Express Site, and Express Store. The three plan levels come with a free domain and a free SSL certificate, so you shouldn’t worry about that.
The customers can notice a difference in the number of email campaigns per month and some additional features they’ll get with the more advanced level, such as no transaction fees, priority support, etc.
WordPress Hosting plan is best for small to medium websites, and it is optimized so your website can have better performance. It provides free migration, more security, and also a free domain.
One of the best HostGator hosting plans is VPS Hosting. This plan is best for high-traffic websites and online stores that should provide better performance. VPS Hosting also comes with three plan levels.
Did you think we were done? HostGator also delivered a Dedicated Hosting plan, which provides complete customization freedom and is the perfect fit for enterprises. The best part is that HostGator’s Dedicated Hosting supports both Linux and Windows OS.
HostGator Reseller Hosting plan is mainly designed for users to earn money. It’s a hosting solution that is most suitable if you would like to start your own hosting company and host your clients’ websites as a developer/agency. All plans include the essentials: unlimited domain hosting, cPanel, Web Host Manager (WHM), and WHMCS Client Management and Billing software.
Lastly, HostGator comes with one last hosting plan – Cloud Web Hosting. Cloud Web Hosting is 2x faster and has 4x more resources. The best part about this hosting plan is that besides the free SSL and free domain, the most advanced level, Business Cloud, provides even free SEO tools.
And the Winner Is…
HostGator! In this round, HostGator is better than GoDaddy. HostGator has more affordable plans that at the same time offer some incredible hosting features. By choosing any HostGator hosting plan, you’ll drastically improve your website for a low price. However, there are also some HostGator alternatives, such as Bluehost, that you may like more.
Round 4: Customer Support – Who Offers the Better Support System?
| Type of Support | GoDaddy | Namecheap |
| 24/7 support | No – the live chat is available Monday-Friday | Yes |
| Phone Support | Yes | Yes |
| Live Chat | Yes | Yes |
| Email Support | No | Yes |
| Ticket support | No | Yes |
| Forum Support | No | Yes |
| Video guides | Yes | Yes |
| Knowledgebase | Yes | Yes |
Another very important round of our GoDaddy vs. HostGator comparison is the customer support. Without excellent support, you won’t manage to keep your customers. Your expert team should be available to them even at the slightest issue. But what kind of support is important for one web host to include? Once again, is HostGator better than GoDaddy?
The most requested and used support is the live chat. The web host immediately gets positive reviews if the live chat support is available 24/7/365, so don’t forget to check that before you purchase a hosting plan. Other crucial customer support options are phone support, ticketing service, and the knowledge base. If your chosen web host has all of these, you have nothing to worry about. Let’s dig deeper and see how GoDaddy and HostGator have managed their support.
GoDaddy Customer Support
GoDaddy is known for a bit disappointing customer support, but we decided to test that out on our own and provide you the first-hand information. From what we could see, GoDaddy provides some decent support features that are pretty beneficial and can help you solve any issue relatively easily. First, we should mention that GoDaddy comes with live chat, phone support, video tutorials, a help center, and a GoDaddy community.
We’ll start off with the live chat option that is the most disappointing in their support. Due to this, this big domain registrar gains negative reviews. This web host’s drawback is that the live chat is only available Monday to Friday. You can’t connect with an agent for the weekends. But, there is still a chance for this company to compensate for this. GoDaddy includes phone support that is available 24/7/365, which means you can contact them by phone for an instant answer, and it is a great alternative for live chat.
Wait a second! Don’t be disappointed by the live chat. GoDaddy still has some amazing customer support extras! There are hundreds of GoDaddy competitors in this industry, but we don’t think that any web host comes with a better help center than GoDaddy. Its amazing help center can guide you from scratch to success. The help center includes Account Management, Domains, Microsoft 365 from GoDaddy, Websites+Marketing, SSL Certificates, Linux Hosting, Managed WordPress, Workspace Email, etc. But if you still can’t find something, you can always enter your question in the search box and see what kind of results GoDaddy provides.
Another great support option for visual learners is the tutorial video support. These tutorials are actually courses containing hundreds of lessons that can help every user. The best part is that experts explain these tutorials and come in high quality, so you shouldn’t have any issues with them.
Lastly, there is the GoDaddy community that many users love. Personally, this is one of the most important customer support options that one web host can include. Here, I’ll explain myself. This community allows you to ask another GoDaddy user for their personal experience, which means you’ll have a direct conversation with users of this company’s services. How cool is that! You can also find announcements, discussion topics, groups such as GoDaddy Pro and WooCommerce users, events, and an inspirational section in the community.
After what I’ve come across, I am incredibly impatient to see if HostGator can surpass all of these excellent customer support options.
HostGator Customer Support
Before I start this part, I must say that I have personal experience with HostGator’s customer support. Overall, I was very pleased with their level of professionalism, knowledgeable agents, and their friendliness. HostGator provides all kinds of customer support that you can imagine (you can also look at the chart). This web host provides 24/7/365 live chat support, phone support, email support, ticketing service, forum support, video tutorials, and a knowledge base.
The best part is that every support option can be reached easily.
What I liked the most was the part that HostGator asked me to choose a topic and describe my problem before I got connected with an expert agent.
What I personally like is that HostGator’s support team provides some articles that may solve your issue. However, if you don’t find a solution, click on ‘Start Chat.’
Because I wanted to test the live chat support, I chose to start the chat. Their team is friendly, professional, and understandable. Well done, HostGator!
But that’s not all! Like other well-known web hosting companies, HostGator provides different types of support. You can also use their knowledge base, phone, and email. Their extensive knowledge base includes video tutorials, which is excellent if you’re a visual learner.
As you can notice in the image above, HostGator provides an international phone number, which is available everywhere you are.
To sum up, my experience with HostGator’s support team was very pleasant, and they left a really good impression. So, HostGator or GoDaddy? What’s it gonna be?
And the Winner Is…
HostGator! Once again, HostGator is better than GoDaddy, although this was a tough battle between the two web hosts. They both provide fantastic support options. Just HostGator has everything one web host needs to provide. Even if you see some of the other HostGator competitors, there is rarely someone better than this top-quality company.
Round 5: Ease of Use – Which Platform Is Easier to Use?
When you search for a web host, you must keep in mind its ease of use. Especially if you are a beginner, it is much better to purchase a beginner-friendly and easy-to-use provider which won’t cause you any additional issues and won’t require technical knowledge.
GoDaddy Ease-of-Use
GoDaddy so far is showcased as an amazing web host, no matter that there are some better GoDaddy alternatives. But there are thousands of GoDaddy competitors that are also easy to use, so let’s see if GoDaddy somehow stands out from the rest. This company delivered one user-friendly web host that is suitable for beginners. You must wonder why, so I won’t leave you waiting. I’ll try to be as straightforward as possible. First, it comes with a cPanel that is loved by many because it has a simple and well-organized dashboard.
Another important thing is that you can create an account with this web host in less than 10 minutes. What’s even better, GoDaddy explains every step of the process, so not only will you have your account in no time, but you won’t face any difficulties. But we’re not done yet! GoDaddy allows you to install WordPress or buy a WordPress Hosting plan. This possibility is of great importance as it makes the web host easy to use because WordPress is one of the best website builders in the industry. Last but not least, you can also easily connect your already-existing domain for free.
HostGator Ease-of-Use
I highly recommend HostGator hosting because of its ease of use. This web host provider is pretty user-friendly, which is a benefit you should seriously consider when choosing a web host.
HostGator is developed with a cPanel, which is more or less known among people in this niche. The cPanel is very straightforward to access and navigate through it. When you log in, you can view your customer panel, and from there, you will have easy access to all features and tools HostGator provides. Everything is very well categorized and easy to find.
Besides providing a cPanel, HostGator also makes creating an account latency-free. Starting your journey has never been easier. You’ll get your new HostGator account in a few simple and well-described steps. The whole process should take less than 15 minutes, which is fantastic.
Furthermore, you can also install WordPress. But don’t worry, the WordPress installation is pretty smooth, as it can be done with only one click. The users will get the best website builder in the blink of an eye. Lastly, I have to mention the free website migration once again. Not only is it an amazing feature, but it also comes with a simple process. You just need to enter the domain you are willing to transfer, and that’s it!
And the Winner Is…
HostGator! I must be honest with you. This round might have been the most challenging for me, as both web hosts are so extraordinary that I couldn’t make up my mind so easily. However, HostGator showed us that it has a reason why it is the second-best web hosting company.
Round 6: Scalability – Which Platform Is Better for Growth?
When you start your hosting journey, you must find the web host that will help your business grow. Sometimes, having the best features isn’t the most important thing. The web host should also provide decent scalability that will help your website stand out from the crowd. Let’s see
GoDaddy Scalability
As the biggest domain registrar in the world, you must expect something more from GoDaddy, but, in fact, it’s not the most scalable web host. A few reasons make this company lack scalability. First, to have a successful business, you must integrate all kinds of apps for all kinds of needs. Unfortunately, GoDaddy doesn’t come with many apps and plugins, which is quite a drawback. Also, if you have an online store that requires a lot of products, GoDaddy might not be the most suitable web host. This provider will limit you to 100 different products for your online store, which is not enough. I highly suggest using the best GoDaddy alternative in scalability, WordPress, so you don’t face any issues with this. But what about HostGator? How did this web host do in this round? Let’s find out!
HostGator Scalability
According to what I’ve come across so far, I can guarantee that HostGator is the more scalable web host that will make sure you and your business grow in a short time. Growing so fast with this company is possible due to the amazing beneficial tools that it includes in its hosting plans. It also makes sure to let you integrate different apps that are crucial for your customers’ needs. There is nothing more left to say about the top-quality of this web host. You need to try it out and see what it is capable of on your own.
And the Winner Is…
HostGator! This amazing web host provider works hard in every field, and it even makes sure that your business will grow. What an amazing and professional company!
Round 7: Security – Which Platform Is More Secure?
Security is another essential aspect when choosing the right web host, so let’s see what GoDaddy and HostGator have to offer.
| GoDaddy | HostGator | |
| Free SSL certificate | Yes | Yes |
| DDoS protection | Yes | Yes |
| Cloudflare | No | Yes |
| Daily backups | No – only as an add-on | Yes |
| Malware scans | No – only as an add-on | Yes |
| SiteLock Security | No | Yes |
| WAF (Web Application Firewall) | No – only as an add-on | Yes |
| Security features | Email and privacy protection SSL certificates DDoS protection Firewall and malware protection | SSH Access IP Blocker SSL/TLS Manage API Tokens Hotlink protection SSL/TLS Status |
GoDaddy Security
GoDaddy’s hosting plans don’t provide many advanced security features. They come with the following basic security features:
- Protection against viruses
- Fraud
- Spam protection
- Email privacy
- SSL certificates
- DDoS protection
- Firewall and malware protection
Keep in mind that the SSL certificates are free with the two most expensive shared web hosting plans, and they are free only for one year.
HostGator Security
Compared to GoDaddy, HostGator comes with a few security methods that provide excellent security to achieve top security. Their servers are monitored 24/7/365, looking out for any potential site breaches or hacks, and they immediately inform you when they find them. Here are their incredible security features:
- Free SSL certificates
- SSH Access
- IP Blocker
- DDoS protection
- SSL/TLS
- Manage API Tokens
- Hotlink protection
- SSL/TLS Status
- SiteLock
And the Winner Is…
HostGator! It looks like the GoDaddy competitors are much better than GoDaddy. HostGator comes with some of the most advanced security features that offer the highest website protection. You can be sure that your business page won’t face any malware attacks. HostGator is the best of all HostGator competitors.
Round 8: Server Location
After seven complete rounds, we’ve come to the end of the GoDaddy vs. HostGator comparison. We only have one round left – the server location. At first, you may think that this round is not that important, but, in fact, it has a huge impact on the web host’s speed and performance.
GoDaddy Server Location
GoDaddy’s headquarters are located in Tempe, Arizona, but they also have more than 320,000 square feet of a data center in Phoenix. This web host has three data centers worldwide. More precisely, it has data centers in North America (USA), Europe(Netherlands), and Asia (Singapore). Besides the few data centers, GoDaddy also includes a content delivery network (CDN), which boosts the hosted websites’ speeds.
HostGator Server Location
Over the years, HostGator has expanded worldwide and has a presence in several countries. One benefit of having multiple divisions is that our customers can choose where their support staff and servers are located or what language they prefer to do business in.
The company has servers in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. More precisely, they have operators in the USA, India, Brazil, Turkey, Singapore, China, Russia, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Africa, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
And the Winner Is…
HostGator! Although HostGator has worse performance than GoDaddy, it has servers in a lot of countries worldwide. With this, we’re wrapping up our GoDaddy vs. HostGator comparison.
GoDaddy vs. HostGator: Final Recommendations
When to Choose GoDaddy?
GoDaddy is the world’s biggest and most significant domain registrar and is known by many. But it would be best to use it when:
- You want cheap domains – GoDaddy’s hosting plans are more expensive than HostGator ones but have relatively low domain prices.
- You want 24/7 phone support – although their live chat isn’t available on the weekends, their phone number is, so you can get an answer just by contacting them.
- If you are a beginner and you want to test some features out – GoDaddy is the better option for short-term websites and for small businesses that are in their beginnings
Go for HostGator If:
HostGator is the second-best web hosting company in the world because it has a lot of incredible extras. It would be best to go for HostGator if:
- You want high-quality security that is possible due to the amazing security features that are included in the hosting plans.
- You want an extraordinary customer support that includes all kinds of support options
- You want more affordable and yet superb hosting plans that are suitable for all kinds of online business
The Bottom Line
HostGator comes second in the web host rankings for a reason. Its services cover everything your website needs, from user support to value for money. Its loading speeds are a bit worse than GoDaddy’s, but that’s why the customer support options and the incredible security features make up for it. Overall, HostGator is better than GoDaddy, and I highly recommend it.
Meanwhile, GoDaddy’s appeal is convenience. Whereas HostGator is purely a web hosting company, GoDaddy is best for domain registration and website building software. At the end of the day, the final decision is yours. Which one will you choose? GoDaddy or HostGator?
FAQs
1. Which web host is more worth it?
HostGator offers better services for its price than GoDaddy. HostGator not only has cheaper price plans than GoDaddy overall, but it also provides a cloud hosting plan which GoDaddy doesn’t support, so you get more for your money with HostGator.
2. Which web host is better for domain registration?
GoDaddy comes with the best domain registration services. As one of the world’s leading domain registrars, it provides many tools. However, it is a little expensive. HostGator offers much cheaper domain registrations, but some of its extra features can be limited.
3. Is HostGator better for beginners?
The answer to this question is yes. HostGator is more suitable for beginners than GoDaddy. HostGator includes a better website builder and a wider range of hosting plans.
4. Which web host is overall better for a business website?
When you take everything into consideration, HostGator is the better web host provider. It provides very reliable service with great uptime, and also, it offers a selection of great scalability options you can take advantage of when your website grows.