Web Hosting: hostgator review

Founded in 2002, Hostgator has zoomed up in the market with its quality service and attractive marketing. It is a privately owned hosting company which was launched when webhosting industry was already at its peak. Although, the claims made by them is debateable, but officially Hostgator claims to have won 1,000,000 website hosting deals and have about 20,000 reseller customers. Dealing with this company always gives you the feel that you are in safe hands. Check out the complete hostgator review:

Hostgator Overall rating

Hostgator Hostgator Inc.
Website: http://www.hostgator.com

Features :
Support :
Pricing :
Reliability :
Hosting Cost : $7.95/mo
Overall Rating : A+ *Recommended

Whats inside Hostgator Service?

BabyGator Price
12 months plan $9.95/mo
24 months plan $8.95/mo
36 months plan $7.95/mo
Hosting Features Specs
Disk Space Unlimited
Monthly Bandwidth Unlimited
Free Domain Name No
Free Site Builder Yes
CGI-BIN Yes
SSI Yes
Frontpage Extensions Yes
FTP Access Yes
Email Features Details
Email Accounts Unlimited
Forwarders Yes
Auto Responders Yes
Web-Based Email Yes
eCommerce Features Details
Agora Shopping Cart Yes
osCommerce Yes
Zen Cart Yes
Cube Cart Yes
Private SSL Yes
Software/Plugin Details
Perl 5 Yes
PHP 5 Yes
mySQL Databases Unlimited
Ruby/Ruby on Rails Yes
Java script/DHTML Yes
Fantastico Yes
Message Forum
(PHPBB & more)
Yes
Guest Books Yes
Image Galleries Yes
Payment Method Details
Credit Card Yes
PayPal Yes
Policy Details
Full Refund 45 days

I have personally hosted several websites at Hostgator for many years now and i still run many on it. It also happens to be an award winning web hosting company, which topped the Inc 5000 Awards held in Texas, USA. Essentially its the quality service and prompt customer service that makes it stand out in the market.

With an amazing marketing strategy, they have managed to reach the top of the competition in the webhosting segment industry.

Without a second thought, i can say that Hostgator is one of the best hosting companies you can ever find and it definitely comes among the top choice. It achieved this position mainly due to the A++ reliability, A++ Tech resources, Pretty descent pricing, and above all, awesome customer support. It also happens to be environmental friendly hosting company.

Currently, I advice everyone to go for this web hosting service. I speak out of exprience with several other hosting services.

Sever Uptime? My exprience says 100% uptime!

Its very hard to find a hosting service that keeps its servers up 100% of the times. In these several years, i have never seen a single instance where the servers went down or were closed down for maintainence. Simply Never!

Although, saying they have 100% uptime would be in appropriate (though i had 100% uptime exprience with them) because no tech service provider can garauntee a 100% perfect service, it would be fair to say that they have 99.99% uptime (leaving out few hiccups once in a blue moon).  To add upto this, Hostgator now has its own Data center which is another good news!

Another point to be noted, though other companies might also provide it, is that with every package at Hostgator, you get the option of 45-day money back guarantee. Brent, the CEO and founder of Hostgator himself takes special interest in gauranting this service. This shows that this company has a very professional and responsbile management.

Endless options with Unlimited offers

Hostgator now  offers 300GB of disk storage and 3,000GB bandwidth unlimited bandwidth and disk storage!. And to add to that, you get unlimited domain hosting too. To cut things short, this means you can host all your websites on one hosting account itself!

Expand your Business with Unlimited MySQL and POP3 email account

This option is hardly seen in web hosting companies. But, Hostgator goes ahead in providing the facility of unlimited MySQL databases. Yeah, you heard it right. It’s unlimited MySQL databases. This means you can expand your web applications and services as much as you want.

Eco Friendly

Recently, Hostgator turned green by powering and cooling their server using wind power, thus protecting the environment.

Hostgator Customer Reviews

Always keep the Unlimited options open! First of all, thanks to the Hostgator team who answered all of my pre-sale questions and explaining me the differences between Dedicated IP and Random IP. I would also thank Brent for giving the eNom domain account and for the WHMCS License, which can be rarely found!
I rate HostGator a 9.9/10! That 0.1% is just the exceptional human error margin which is pretty low compared to other humans!

I am sure in few years, you will be THE BEST! – Akawebmaster @ jimmy 30, 2009.

Simply the best hosting company out there! I never have to troubleshoot with them because i never have any problem! That itself speaks a lot about their quality service.
After spending pleasant years on a Standard Dedi from HostGator I am now moving to an Elite Dedi ….. and wow what a spec it’s got. HG rules!” – jacos Carter @ www.Carsena-Tech.net.

Hostgator – 10/10 “It’s been about 2 years since DumbShoppers hosted at Hostgator and I hardly have any chance to communicate with HG staffs at the customer support section coz there’s no problem with the hosting at all! Hostgator is definitely my recommendation to friends and family.” – Teddy Low @ www.DumbShoppers.com.

So what can we Conclude?

Some of the hosting plans offered by HostGator might be a dollar more than other plans provided by other hosting companies. But trust me, you get what you are paying for. A simply awesome service, from a professional and dedicated Team.

Hostgator is highly recommended – especially if you are looking for a reliable web host or a reseller hosting account.

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Web Hosting: bluehost review

Bluehost is a giant web hosting company, providing web hosting to several personal and corporate websites. Founded in 1996, they are currently running 826,000 domains and still expanding. They claim to have the highest customer service, maximum guaranteed up time, Quality resources, good functional tools for administration, reliable and secure backups. Check out the below bluehost review:

LOOK & FEEL

When you check their website, it gives you a real professional feel. They have a very descent looking site clearly appealing to the one who visits it. The marketing banners and ads are also attractive and surely makes a person click them. They have clear contact details mentioned which is generally not the case with most of the hosting companies. It has a live chat facility right on the homepage. With loads of award flashing on their site, Bluehost as surely given the “trust me” message.

CONTROL PANEL

Control panel of Bluehost is just like any other hosting Cpanel. It has nearly all the tabs required to host a personal as well as corporate website. It also has the latest version of Fantistico with all stable versions of applications within it. There is nothing much to say about this as its no different from other Cpanels.

The toll free number given was something i tried. I called up and within 30 seconds i was on call with support. So support is at your fingertips.

HOSTING FEATURES

All professional web hosting features (depending on what you choose) provided by them essentially include the following:

FEATURES INCLUDED / ALL ACCOUNTS INCLUDED
Disk Storage (Now More!) Unlimited
Host UNLIMITED Domains (WOW!) Yes
Free Drag and Drop Site Builder (New!) Yes
Free Domain Name Yes
Support International Domain Names Yes
POP3/POP3 Secure Email Support 2,500
IMAP/Secure IMAP Email Support 2500
3 Different Web Based Email Solutions Yes
Forwarding Email Accounts Unlimited
Email Autoresponder Unlimited
Gigs of Site Transfer (Now More!) Unlimited
Add-on Domains Unlimited
Parked Domains Unlimited
Subdomains Unlimited
Additional FTP Accounts 1000
MySQL Databases 100
PostgreSQL Databases 100
CGI-BIN Yes
CGI Library Yes
Server Side Includes Yes
Frontpage 2000/2002 Extensions Yes
Account “Control Panel” Yes
FTP Access Yes
Shell Access (SSH) Yes
Override .htaccess Support Yes
Anonymous FTP Yes
Webmail (Browser Based Email) Yes
Log Files + Site Stats Yes
Customizable Error Pages Yes
Web File Manager Yes
Custom Cronjobs Yes
Hotlink Protection Yes
Spam Assassin Protection Yes
CGI / DATABASES INCLUDED
PHP 5 Yes
Perl 5 Yes
Python Yes
Ruby / Ruby on Rails Yes
Support For Custom PHP.INI Files Yes
MySQL 5 Database Server Yes
PostgreSQL Database Server Yes
Javascript/ DHTML Yes
Flash / Shockwave Yes
FREE WEBSITE PLUG-IN SCRIPTS INCLUDED
Message Forum (PHPBB and More) Yes
Form-mail Scripts Yes
Social Networking Yes
Guestbook (Multiple Options) Yes
Web Blogs / Wordpress / b2evolution Yes
Mailing Lists Yes
Image Galleries / Coppermine (More!) Yes
Poll and Survey Software Yes
Moodle Yes
Tikiwiki Yes
Drupal and Joomla Yes
Project Management Yes
Help Center/Support Ticket Yes
Many, Many Others… Yes
E-COMMERCE FEATURES INCLUDED
SSL Secure Server Yes
OS Commerce Shopping Cart Yes
Agora Shopping Cart Yes
Cube Cart Shopping Cart Yes
Zen Cart Shopping Cart Yes
Free Generated Certificate Yes
Password Protected Directories Yes
OpenPGP / GPG Encryption Yes
MULTIMEDIA FEATURES INCLUDED
Supports Streaming Video Yes
Supports Streaming Audio Yes
Real Audio & Video Support Yes
Flash Support Yes
Macromedia Shockwave Yes
MIDI File Support Yes
Add Own MIME Types Yes
WORLD CLASS TECHNOLOGY INCLUDED
Quad Processor Performance Servers Yes
UPS Power Backup Yes
Diesel Generator Backup Power Yes
Linux Operating System Yes
Customized Apache Web Server Yes
24/7 Network Monitoring Yes
Courtesy Site Backups Yes
OC-48 Backbone Connection Yes
SITE PROMOTION INCLUDED
Search Engine Submission FREE

Much of the features above are self explanatory!

WEB HOSTING PRICE

Pricing varies depending on the duration for which you require the services for:

  • 3 Months: $9.95/month + $30.00 Setup + Domain ($10.00 if purchased from BlueHost)
  • 6 Months: $8.95/month + $30.00 Setup + Domain ($10.00 if purchased from BlueHost)
  • 12 Months: $7.95/month (no setup fee, free domain included)
  • 24 Months: $6.95/month (no setup fee, free domain included)

TERMS & CONDITIONS

BlueHost has a different Terms of Service, with no legal jargon. There are some bullet points on a page with the important points included in most Terms of Service agreements. The catchy point is “All activities may be monitored, recorded, and examined by any authorized person, including law enforcement.” Also this one is something we must read “Any violation found or fraudulent activity that system personnel deem inappropriate may have your account immediately terminated without notice and any recorded evidence reported to authorized persons.” However, the points are pretty clear without any hidden or behind the curtain rules.

INSTALLING SCRIPT

By default, BlueHost doesn’t allow SSH/Shell Access. However it does provide the facility to enable shell access for the account on authenticating few documents. It asks you to send the copy of driver’s license, passport etc. Speed of  scripts running was average (checked by running simple blogs etc)

CONCLUSION

Pros: Good control panel (cPanel) with a few nice extras, plenty of space and bandwidth, good support, fair pricing

Cons: Semi-shady points in TOS (nothing too major, and clearly outlined), 3 month minimum contract length, pricing is relatively hard to find

Bottomline: BlueHost is a good web host that provides a good hosting experience with a top-of-the-line control panel as well as helpful support for a reasonable price.

Rating:

rating5


Interested to go for the Bluehost hosting service? If yes, then Click on the banner below to go to their site directly:


Bluehost.com Web Hosting $6.95