Bluehost vs Hostgator – Which Shared Hosting Plan You Should Choose?

Bluehost and Hostgator belong to the same parent-organization, but the services offered by these two EIG companies are worlds apart. While Hostgator has a more casual approach, which is awesome for beginners and absolutely cool with the millennials, Bluehost is definitely more popular and formal (ahem! stuck-up).

So, let’s skim through the features of each of these web hosting companies, and narrow down the best-shared hosting plan for your business.

Bluehost and Hostgator – Two Behemoths of Shared Web Hosting

Before we run you through some of the most important features of Bluehost and Hostgator, here’s a word of caution. If you own a budding business then focus more on what Hostgator has in store for you. Bluehost is a more professional company, ideal for those who have been into online businesses for at least a year.

Hostgator is for complete newbies while Bluehost is for someone who has just learned to walk and on a budget. However, if speed and performance is your #1 priority, we recommend you try Siteground.

While your Hostgator journey starts smooth and nice with free migration and a 45-day money-back guarantee, Bluehost takes a more traditional approach. You get a 30-day money-back guarantee and must cough up around $149.99 for the migration (this price is to migrate up to five of your websites). Now that you have a clue of how the journey takes off, let’s explore which of the two web hosting companies is going to be beneficial in the long run.

Uptime, Speed, And Performance – Bluehost Vs Hostgator

We shall now assess the core attributes of the shared web hosting plans offered by the two EIG owned web hosting titans, Bluehost and Hostgator. To make it easier for our readers, we shall stick to features that are crucial for the ranking of your website in the organic search results, so let’s get started.

Since both the companies belong to the same parent-organization, EIG, we’d like to assume that they make use of the same technologies, and/or resources. So there isn’t much of a difference in their uptime and speed. Despite the similarities, we favor Hostgator because of their 99.99 percent uptime, or one-month free credit policy. Now, who doesn’t like that sort of a deal? We sure do! However, if the hosting is for an established website, then you might want to have the assured uptime.

Usability – Bluehost Vs Hostgator

Although both Bluehost and Hostgator offer a cPanel control panel to manage the back-end, we like Hostgator for two reasons. Firstly, Hostgator lets the users customize the cPanel according to their preferences. The second and the most important reason is that Hostgator offers a ton of resources that makes the entire process of using it, a breeze even for a newbie.

WordPress Hosting – Bluehost Vs Hostgator

Both Bluehost and Hostgator offer shared WordPress hosting plans that start at $3.95 an $5.95, respectively. Although Hostgator may appear to be costlier, it isn’t and by the time you are done reading this article, you’d agree with us. Hostgator offers free website migration, free site backup, and outstanding security features. Most of these are available either for an additional cost or with Bluehost’s advanced plans. When you pile up all of those additional costs, Bluehost turns out to be a lot more expensive than Hostgator.

The snapshot clearly indicates that you need to pay extra for domain privacy, backups and SiteLock security with Bluehost’s packages.

The above screenshot shows that Hostgator offers free SiteLock Monitoring and backups.

Customer Support and Service – Bluehost Vs Hostgator

Not many anticipate trouble while choosing a web hosting service provider, but focussing on this aspect can save you a hell lot of trouble in the future. Good customer support not only helps you be sure that your website is up and running, but also ensures timely assistance in times of crisis, and when it comes to shared web hosting, this is sure to happen at some point of time.

From the available info and the inputs we’ve gathered, Hostgator’s customer support is far better than that of Bluehost. Also, Hostgator has a bunch of resources that you can use, like an active interactive forum, in-depth video tutorials and more. So, most of your queries won’t require a phone call or an email. Bluehost also offers useful resources but we must admit Hostgator offers more. The customer support offered by both these EIG companies are quite similar, so when it comes to customer support, both the companies are on an equal footing.

Pricing – Bluehost Vs Hostgator

The pricing structure of a company defines its marketing goals, and while Bluehost is a wee bit more aggressive than it should be, Hostgator seems to keep things uncomplicated. So, if you plan to buy Bluehost’s web hosting, then you sure can, but don’t forget to get the facts straight and we are about to do just that for you. Bluehost offers 4 shared web hosting plans, while Hostgator offers only 3. Let us now compare all the seven plans based on how many websites the plans let you host.

Shared Hosting Plans to host a single website

If one website is all that you have or wish to buy a web hosting for, then the battle is between Hostgator’s Hatchling Plan that starts at $2.75 per month and Bluehost’s Basic Plan which starts at $3.95 per month. However, those rates are available only for those who wish to invest in long-term web hosting for a period of at least 36 months. Now since that seems too long, we’ve compared the prices based on a 12-month basis and figured out that both the companies charge $5.95 per month for that duration.

Shared Hosting Plans to host multiple websites

Together Bluehost and Hostgator offer 5 multiple shared web hosting plans that we shall now review. So if you wish to host more than one website through a single web hosting plan, then one of these should be ideal.

Bluehost offers multiple web hosting services through its Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro plans. The Plus Plan is priced between $5.85 and $7.95, the Choice Plus Plan is priced between $5.95 and $7.95, and the Pro Plan is priced between $9.95 and $14.95. Between the Plus plan and the Choice Plus plan, we like the former due to lower renewal charges. Also, there isn’t much of a difference between the two. The Pro Plan, however, is the best as it offers domain privacy, dedicated IP and a lot more.

For those who wish to host multiple websites on Hostgator, this company offers Baby Plan which is priced between $3.95 and $11.95 and Business Plan which is priced between $5.95 and $16.95 per month. The price difference between the two plans is justified by the fact that the Business Plan offers additional features like a Dedicated IP, free access to SEO tools and more.

Free Trial and Money Back Guarantee – Bluehost Vs Hostgator

Both Bluehost and Hostgator offer a money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied with their web hosting services. Bluehost lets you claim a refund within 30 days, while Hostgator lets you take some more time to claim it, and offers a 45-day money-back guarantee, The longer window period offered by Hostgator makes it a better choice.

Security – Bluehost vs. Hostgator

Both Hostgator and Bluehost remain tight-lipped about its data centers and back-up system, and that adds an extra layer of security. Also, Hostgator is known to be the knight in shining armor, ready with extensive firewalls to protect your website and combat the DDoS and Brute Force attackers. Despite a strong security mechanism, Hostgator’s support team educates its customers on how to implement security measures from their end.

Bluehost however, chooses to hire a bouncer to throw the bad guys out and therefore relies on Cloudflare to protect its servers. Also, since ransomware has become quite a menace, we recommend that website owners focus on having the necessary security measures in place. So when it comes to security, we prefer Hostgator.

Value-Added Services – Bluehost Vs Hostgator

Our Verdict and Suggestions

If you are looking up for a reliable web hosting service provider for a period of 3 years or more, then we recommend Bluehost, but if you still have under 20 posts on your website then you could always consider buying a Hostgator plan. Also, if you are a DIY kind of a person, Hostgator’s video tutorials would definitely help you sort out most of the petty confusions, and for the major ones, there’s great customer support, However, Bluehost seems to prioritize queries based on the plan that a customer has subscribed to. So, unless you have sound technical skills, we suggest that you stick to Hostgator.