HostGator and GoDaddy are shared hosting behemoths that compete with each other in various categories. If you want to use one of the services of the two companies but you’re unable to choose a plan or registrar among the two, go through the following paragraphs where we’ve compared GoDaddy and HostGator web hosting plans, domain registration charges, and other vital services they offer.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the backbone of tech companies. The network infrastructure of the two firms is robust, and the companies offer a guaranteed uptime of 99.8% to 99.9%. The servers of the two firms employ the latest server processors from AMD and Intel. They run on Windows or Linux, and the OS is patched/updated regularly. GoDaddy data centers are situated in 7 different cities in the US, and the data centers of HostGator are located in 2 different cities of the United States.
Hosting
GoDaddy and HostGator have budget-friendly shared server packages. While GD sells four shared servers, HG offers 3. The company’s base subscription is priced at around $1.5, and the most affordable HostGator package is available for purchase at 2.75. The 2.75 and 1.5 pricing is applicable only when you buy a 3-year plan. The base plans of both firms support a single website only.
GoDaddy’s mid-range subscriptions are Economy and Deluxe. You can buy these two subscriptions for within 3 to 4 dollars. You can host unlimited sites on the Deluxe server and a single site on the Economy server. In addition, GoDaddy offers a costlier subscription that supports unlimited site hosting. This plan doesn’t have any name and costs around 6.5 dollars. Excluding the Starter pack, you’ll get a free domain and a professional email ID with the other two plans of GD. Hostgator’s other two packs, i.e. the Business and the Hatchling plans, are pretty popular. They enable users to host unlimited websites. The users of the three packages of HG will get a free domain, and they can create professional email addresses for their businesses or website for free.
A free premium SSL certificate is provided to the 6.5 dollars plan users only. HG shared hosting users will find an option to enable SSL certificates/HTTPS for their sites in the control panel.
GoDaddy is the clear winner when it comes to the base plan. The base/starter pack costs nearly 1.2 dollars less than Hatchling. HostGator wins when it comes to hosting unlimited sites. The non-base plans let you host unlimited websites and are slightly cheaper.
Shared hosting features of the two firms:
- Backups, option to create multiple databases.
- cPanel, one-click installer tool.
VPS
Another service that is very popular among bloggers and website owners is VPS hosting. HostGator VPS plans are not cheap like the ones offered by cloud hosting companies, but they are worth looking at. You can buy VPS from it for a price between 23.95 and 59.95 dollars. The GoDaddy standard RAM servers cost between 6 and 70 dollars. You can buy the high RAM server plans for 6 to 100 dollars.
Cloud hosting
The benefit of cloud VPS over shared servers is that you can scale the instance quickly if you think the current setup is being overloaded/overstretched or your site needs a more powerful server. Cloud hosting is one service that GoDaddy is not offering. You can buy a cloud hosting plan from HG for a low price i.e. 4.95 to 9.95 dollars only. HostGator cloud instances have excellent configuration. For example, its 4.95 cloud VPS has a dual-core processor and 2GB RAM.
Domains
As a customer/user, I have loved the user interface of the GoDaddy dashboard but not the pricing. The price is the only factor that made me switch from GoDaddy to registrars such as Namecheap, Namecheap alternatives, etc. While purchasing a plan from HostGator, I got a free domain. While the domain was active and registered with HG, I did not encounter any issues with it.
Many people consider GoDaddy’s domain registration charges higher than other companies. HG is a costlier registrar than GD if you take the free TLD offer out of the equation.
Users who register a .com on GD for two years pay 18.04 dollars. HG charges 12.95 USD for .com registration. If you don’t have a coupon code, you must pay around 30 dollars to register a .com for two years. .com renewal on it costs around 18 dollars. The Privacy protection module of HG costs 14.95, and that of GoDaddy starts at 2.95 dollars.
Domain registration charges on HostGator are on the higher side, but HG is more affordable than GD when it comes to transfers. .com transfers cost 7.95 dollars on HG, while GD charges around 8.5 dollars.
Marketplace
Found a great TLD worth thousands of dollars according to domain valuation tools, and you’re thinking of selling it? You can sell the TLD on the GoDaddy marketplace and avoid the domain verification process. The website of HostGator doesn’t have a marketplace.
Website builder
Don’t want to use an open-source framework for creating a site? Find the CMSes, and eCommerce frameworks such as Magento or WooCommerce too complicated? Users can use the website builder service of GD and HG. GoDaddy website builder plans cost between 2.59 and 12.6 dollars. HostGator website builder aka Gator Builder plans, will cost you between 3.84 and 9.5 dollars. What can you build with the website builders? Blogs, shopping portals, photography sites, and more. As in CMS software, you get access to beautiful themes and a drag-and-drop page builder. You can customize these themes using the drag-and-drop page editor tool.
Support
Apart from a solid infrastructure, the support offered by the companies must be good. Fortunately, the two companies don’t disappoint us when it comes to after-sales support. The support team members of the two companies are well-trained. Why do I say so? When I was using the shared hosting plan of the two firms, I had some issues with the control panel and DNS. The staff responded to my technical queries quickly. You can use live chat or contact them by writing an email.
Closing words: Domains are cheaper on HostGator, and hosting plans are affordable on GoDaddy.
