If you are wondering which hosting platform to choose for your website, Hostgator or Hostinger, you’re on the right track as these are two of the best hosts in the world. We compare their features, customer support, performance, ease of use, pricing, website migration and server footprint. Let the battle for who gets to give your website a home begin!

Overall Comparison – Hostgator vs Hostinger

Winner: Hostinger

It’s a very close tie, but overall if you want an affordable hosting plan with an incredibly beginner-friendly interface, Hostinger wins.

Read more to see why and what makes each host stand above the other.

About Hostgator and Hostinger

Hostgator is a hosting provider and domain registrar founded in 2002. The company provides different hosting plans and focuses on helping website owners scale their hosting needs alongside their traffic growth. Hostgator caters to small businesses and large corporations with Shared hosting, VPS hosting, Dedicated hosting, and helps website owners get started quickly with a free domain on all packages.

Hostinger is a hosting provider and domain registrar founded in 2011. The company focuses on giving the most affordable and lightning-quick hosting services to small and medium-sized businesses.They provide a custom hPanel dashboard so even people without technical experience can manage their plans conveniently. Hostinger provides shared and VPS hosting, among a vast array of platform-specific packages.

Round 1: Hosting features – Key Hosting Features and Services

Key Hostgator Features

Hostgator provides unmetered bandwidth (with terms) for its shared hosting plans and up to 1 Terabyte disk space with its dedicated hosting plans. You get high-performance SSD storage with optional expanded HDD storage, free daily backup and restore, and 1-click WordPress installation. And if you already have a website, you can migrate to Hostgator for free.

On every plan, you have access to the Gator Website builder – build your website from scratch with drag-n-drop controls. And out-of-the-box, you get a free SSL certificate to keep your domains secure. Hostgator also provides a Reseller hosting package for people who want to start their own hosting companies and resell the company’s packages.

Key Hostinger Features

Hostinger offers unmetered bandwidth for most of its plans (100 GB for basic) and up to 12TB bandwidth for its VPS hosting. They also provide up to 300 GB disk space for cloud hosting plans. You get high-performance SSD storage, free daily backups and easy restore, and 1-click WordPress installation too. Website migration is also free.

The Hostinger Website Builder is very easy to use and free. Every hosting plan comes with an SSL except for the most basic plan, however, its very cheap price makes up for it. Hostinger offers 8 VPS hosting plans making it easy for website owners who want more power to find the right match on a bargain.

And the winner is… Hostgator

In the first Hostgator vs Hostinger round, Hostgator wins with more bandwidth and disk space, free SSL on all plans, and a specialized Reseller hosting plan.

Round 2:  Prices & Plans

Hostgator Pricing Plans

Hostgator has a range of plans with different prices suited to different needs:

• Shared hosting plans – best for new and small websites e.g: portfolio websites, personal service websites, etc.
• VPS hosting plans – best for small business websites e.g: Ecommerce websites, larger blogs, news websites
• Cloud hosting plans – best for businesses that need scalable resources e.g: Ecommerce websites with traffic spikes in holiday season, news websites, etc.
• WordPress hosting plans – Hostgator’s tailored plans for WordPress websites
• Dedicated hosting plans – best for companies and large corporations with high traffic and large volumes of data, companies that need high-level security, IT companies, and hosting resellers.

Hostinger Pricing Plans

Most Hostinger competitors get knocked out when it comes to price. Hostinger provides plans more suited to small and mid-size businesses:

• Shared hosting plans – best for small and entry-level websites and blogs e.g: portfolio websites, hosted landing pages, personal service websites
• VPS hosting plans – best for small business websites e.g: Ecommerce websites, larger blogs, news websites
• Cloud hosting plans – best for small and large businesses who need dedicated, scalable resources e.g: Ecommerce, news websites, etc.
• WordPress hosting plans – Tailored plans for websites built on WordPress looking to migrate to Hostinger.
• Agency hosting plans – Best for web management agencies; allows you to host hundreds of websites from the same dashboard and features team management systems.

And the Winner Is… Hostinger

Hostinger offers very affordable plans and even though doesn’t have dedicated hosting, provides very niche packages for different businesses. Hostinger also has more plans overall than Hostgator.

Round 3: Website performance (Uptime & Speed)

A host’s uptime describes how consistently their servers stay active and running. The server speed is how long it takes between when a user accesses your website and when the server sends the first byte of data. Higher uptimes mean your website never experiences downtimes, and higher server speeds mean quicker loading times for your page. Now, Hostinger vs Hostgator.

Hostgator Uptime & Speed

To test Hostgator’s server speeds, we ran separate speed tests on GTMetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights.

Hostgator’s average server speed (TTFB) on GTMetrix was 567 ms and had an overall performance 68%:

Hostgator’s server speed on PageSpeed Insights was 1.20 s and had a decent 64% performance:

Note that the overall page load speeds will depend on the physical distance between the user and the server center.

Hostinger Uptime & Speed

Hostinger had significantly better results on GTMetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights than Hostgator.

On GTMetrix, Hostinger’s average server speed (TTFB) was 248 ms and had an overall performance of 82%:

On PageSpeed Insights, Hostinger’s Time to First Byte was 0.9s (300ms faster than Hostgator) and had a 90% overall performance:

This is likely due to the fact that Hostinger has a wider server footprint than Hostgator.

Both hosting providers have had an impressive 99.9% uptime making them very reliable.

And the Winner Is… Hostinger

Hostinger trumps Hostgator in server speed and average page load speed.

Round 4: Customer Support – Who Has the Best Support System?

Hostgator Customer Support

Hostgator offers several support portals including – phone, live chat, email, a vast knowledgebase, video tutorials, a Facebook community, and blog content for extra information.

The awesome thing about Hostgator is you don’t have to be a customer to chat with an agent live and the response is instant.

I tried chatting with an agent just to test this out. Check the screenshot below:

Other support options:

And if you love figuring things out on your own, Hostgator offers several self-learning options:

Their Knowledgebase, YouTube tutorials, Facebook Community, and HostGator Webinars. Hostgator also has call lines for sales, general support, and an international line.

Hostinger customer Support

Hostinger also offers several support options including – live chat, email, youtube guides, tutorials, a knowledgebase, and a blog.

However, to chat with an agent live, you already have to be a customer and already subscribed.

They have several contact emails:

And ‘find out more’ portals:

The Knowledgebase page features a search engine and the dedicated tutorial page gives you everything you need to host your website on Hostinger.

The ‘Hostinger Academy’ leads to Hostinger’s YouTube channel which is superb if you are a visual learner like me:

I’d have loved to see a social support page but each social media icon just leads to the company’s page. However, their support is still great.

And the Winner Is… Hostgator

This is a very close tie… but I’ll still tilt towards Hostgator because of their phone support and the fact that you can chat live even if you’re not a customer. And yet, you still get all the other support goodies.

Round 5: Ease of use – Which Platform Is Easier to Use?

Hostgator Ease of Use

Hostgator features a very intuitive user interface so whether you are green in the world of hosting or have been in the game for a while, you’ll be able to find your way around easily.

And after you have created your account on Hostgator you’ll be able to manage your website through the modern cPanel which is the industry’s standard:

Your cPanel dashboard has everything you need – Essentials, Files, Databases, Domain list, Email, Metrics, Security, Software, and other Advanced settings. You also get a list of popular links other website owners usually search for.

Hostinger Ease of Use

Hostinger also features a very intuitive interface with a beautiful purple theme. You get to see all the features you’ll enjoy right from the homepage and if you’re ready to join the 1.2 million websites on the platform, you can’t miss the Get Started buttons laid along the page:

Hostinger also has a special dashboard – a cPanel with Hostinger’s touch – the hPanel, designed to make managing your website even more intuitive:

And they did an awesome job at making the whole experience better – you get all your website’s essentials layered in an appealing interface that looks far less intimidating than the traditional cPanel.

And the Winner Is Hostinger

Hostgator and Hostinger are both very easy to use but I like Hostinger better – it just looks stunning and the hPanel takes the beginner-friendly cPanel to a whole new level.

Round 6: Security – Which Platform is More Secure?

Hostgator Security

Hostgator offers a free SSL on all its plans and CloudFlare compatibility. And if you are willing to pay $5.99 extra for the basic plan, you can install SiteLock Security and get automatic daily malware scans on your website.

The more advanced Prevent and Prevent Plus plans offer extra security features including Web Application Firewall, DDoS protection, and Database scanning and PCI compliance reporting. All your website’s files and data are also backed up automatically as long as they are less than 10 GB.

Hostinger Security

Like Hostgator, Hostinger also offers a free SSL on all its plans and all packages are compatible with CloudFlare. Hostinger has also implemented a Malware Scanner into hPanel that runs automatically and keeps your website protected.

To keep your data and files safe, you get daily backups on most standard and premium plans, while the entry level plans come with weekly backups. Hostinger also has an in-house Web Application Firewall to add an extra layer of security.

And the Winner Is… Hostinger

A near-tie once again, Hostinger comes out on top. You get most security essentials with the basic plan without needing to pay extra. Hostgator, on the other hand, is SiteLock compatible and gives you extra advanced features… for a price.

Round 7: Server locations

Your server location directly affects your website loading speed – the closer your servers are to your website users, the faster it will load, and in turn, higher SEO rankings, less bounce, and more business for you.

Hostgator Server locations

Hostgator has servers in just the U.S.A, housed in data centers in Provo, Utah, and Atlanta and other undisclosed locations. The company also supports CloudFlare integration that routes your content across 23 more data centers located in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia to increase your website’s average speed across different parts of the world:

Hostinger Server locations

Hostinger has servers located in four continents – North America (the U.S.A), South America (Brazil), Europe (the Netherlands, Lithuania and the United Kingdom) and Asia (Singapore and India). And like Hostgator, you can also link your hosting account with CloudFlare to enjoy CDN services and widen your website presence, while also increasing your average website speed:

And the Winner Is… Hostinger

Hostinger has physical servers in more locations around the world and is a fierce  Hostgator competitor with a longer reach. Hosting your website on Hostinger means your website is likely to be closer to any web user and thus load faster around the world.

Hostgator vs Hostinger: Final Recommendations

When to Choose Hostgator?

Hostgator is a powerful contender and boasts a ton of amazing features to give your website the home it needs. And while both hosts are closely matched, you should choose Hostgator if:

• Your target audience is US-based
• You want a powerful dedicated hosting package
• You are a hosting provider looking for a reseller service
• The most reliable support
• Unmetered bandwidth and up to 1TB of storage
• You are familiar with and prefer the good old cPanel design.

When to Choose Hostinger?

Here comes our winner… but it was a tough match. Hostinger is one of the best hosting platforms for good reason. You should choose Hostinger if:

• You want the most affordable hosting plans on the market
• You target a worldwide audience
• You are an agency
• You are a small to mid-sized business with moderate storage needs
• You want an easy-to-use control dashboard and are not big on cPanel
• You need tailor made plans for specific businesses
• You want high-level security features out-of-the-box.