Setting up your blog isn’t just about content creation. You’ll have to handle the technical side of things, as well.
One of the most important decisions revolves around the selection of the right hosting provider. Hosting affects the load speed of your blog, its uptime and even the effectiveness of search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
Doing hosting provider research could make things even more confusing than they already are if you lack the technical knowledge and experience. There are dozens of web hosting providers out there. Which is the best web hosting for blogs?
Through the research, you can narrow the options down to a few that correspond to your criteria. Bluehost and Hostgator often make it to the shortlist due to the cost-efficiency and the flexibility of hosting packages made available.
How do they stack up against each other, however? The following Bluehost vs. Hostgator comparison will try to answer the question.
Bluehost: A Quick Overview
We’ve already discussed some of the key Bluehost characteristics in this blog post but let’s come up with a quick company overview.
Bluehost ranks among the 20 largest web hosts with over two million domain names being hosted by the entity.
The company was established in 2003 and ever since, it has grown. Today, it operates a number of companies under the brand umbrella and these include HostMonster, iPage and FastDomain.
Customers can sign up for an array of annual plans that include shared, cloud, VPS and dedicated hosting.
Choosing one option or the other will depend on the size of your blog, the anticipated traffic and the level of security you’d like to benefit from.
Most newbies will opt for the shared hosting option because it’s the most inexpensive one – the basic package is currently available for 2.95 dollars per month.
Bluehost has a number of positive characteristics worth mentioning.
The most important ones include excellent customer support (via phone, chat and a support portal), Linux servers, unlimited monthly data transfers, a specialized WordPress hosting package for bloggers, easy file management through the system, spam control, email creation and FTP access.
What’s even better, Bluehost has created a specialized offer for the Blogging Done Right readers.
If you decide to benefit from the possibility, you’ll get a free domain and site builder, effortless WordPress installation and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The exclusive offer is currently available for 2.95 dollars per month.
Bluehost vs. Hostgator: What is Hostgator All About
Hostgator is another quite popular hosting platform.
If you’re looking for the best WordPress hosting, you’ll probably come across a Hostgator package or two.
The company was set up in 2002 and as of 2018, Hostgator has over 1.31 million websites on its 6,579 shared IPs.
Just like Bluehost, Hostgator offers an array of packages – from shared to specialized WordPress hosting, cloud, VPS and dedicated hosting opportunities.
The hosting plans come with numerous features that are described as an excellent choice for newbie and relatively inexperienced webmasters.
If you’re one of these inexperienced bloggers, you may benefit from a reliable source of information that will guide you through the first steps of getting things established.
The Blogging Done Right course is a great choice for you.
The course will acquaint you with the steps you need to undertake in order to set up a high-quality blog, begin creating content and monetizing your efforts.
Use the form above to sign up for the 5-Day How to Start a Blog E-Course.
The 5-day course is completely free and it will acquaint you with the most important blogging techniques you can use to build a solid online presence.
Bluehost vs. Hostgator: A Comparison of Key Features
As you can see from the quick overviews above, Bluehost and Hostgator share a number of similar characteristics.
Comparing these features side by side will make it easier to pinpoint the specific ways in which the two hosting providers differ from each other.
Price-wise, the Hostgator offers are only slightly more affordable.
While the most inexpensive Bluehost blog hosting option starts at 2.95 dollars per month, Hostgator has a similar offer at 2.64 dollars per month.
Hostgator also offers a longer money-back guarantee period – 45 days in comparison to 30 days for the Bluehost packages.
In terms of the main characteristics, Bluehost offers a free domain and site builder, effortless WordPress installation, unlimited website traffic, 24/7 support and industry-leading uptime guarantees.
The main characteristics related to a Hostgator package include a very functional and user-friendly control panel, a free website builder, unlimited disk space and bandwidth with all of the plans and 50 percent off the cost of the first-month fee.
A comparison should also be drawn between the characteristics of the most affordable hosting plans.
The Bluehost shared hosting comes with WordPress endorsement for reliability, a free website builder, free templates and free Cloudfare CDN.
Hostgator offers a free website builder, a functional control panel, unlimited, disk, email and bandwidth.
Let’s also take a look at the specialized WordPress hosting packages.
The Bluehost web hosting for WordPress sites is characterized by a formal WordPress endorsement, VPS technology and included CDN, automated data backups and pre-installed ManageWP.
Hostgator offers easy to set up WordPress packages on the company’s shared servers, cPanel WordPress activation, unlimited email addresses on the hosted domain and a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee.
There’s also a Google Adwords credit provider with the Hostgator package to give you a little bit of boost in the very beginning.
Choosing one hosting or the other will really depend on your priorities but both of these opportunities can be considered quite reliable.
Speed, Uptime and Security Comparison
Whether you’re a beginner or you already have some blogging experience, you probably know that security, uptime and speed are three of the most important characteristics of every hosting plan.
The Bluehost vs Hostgator comparison needs to focus on these essentials next.
Uptime Guarantees
A few characteristics play a role in determining the speed and the uptime a hosting company can ensure.
Information about the company’s data centers comes first.
Research suggests that Bluehost has 23 data centers located in various countries like the US, European countries, Canada and India.
Hostgator’s data centers are located in the US. Additional information is also available about state-of-the-art HVAC, electrical systems and backup generators at the venues.
In terms of certification, Bluehost has tier 3 infrastructure (with tier 4 being the highest level).
Based on this information, the Bluehost uptime is set at 99.982 percent.
The average Bluehost downtime is 1.62 hours per year.
To sum it up, the company’s infrastructure ensures reliability via the uninterrupted power supply, mirrored storage backup and quad-processor servers.
Hostgator promises a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee that’s ensured by the company’s tier 4 infrastructure.
Proprietary technologies and Linux container technology are utilized to ensure the highest level of infrastructure performance.
So when it comes to speed and uptime, Hostgator does offer a more stable and reliable performance than its competitor.
Security Comparison
There are several key characteristics that will have an impact on hosting security.
Bluehost does perform slightly better in this field.
Bluehost gives its clients free of charge automatically generated backups. It’s up to the individual client to do some scheduling and decide whether backups will occur daily, weekly or monthly.
Hostgator doesn’t have the option for automatic data backup scheduling.
If you want to, you can create a manual backup before deciding to introduce some blog changes, for example.
Hostgator has a paid upgrade that makes it possible to create automated daily website backups.
When it comes to security certificates, Bluehost offers a free shared SSL available to all accounts sharing the same IP.
With Hostgator, there isn’t a free SSL certificate.
While SSL certificates weren’t mandatory for websites in the past, their prominence has grown. Today, they’re an absolute essential if you want to build your reputation and benefit from highly effective search engine optimization at the same time.
Malware protection with Bluehost is available in the form of basic spam monitoring, basic business verification, the creation of a site verification certificate, blacklist monitoring and basic malware monitoring that takes place daily.
In addition, Site Doctor is available as a Bluehost add-on for 249.99 dollars per year.
Bluehost also has DDOS (distributed denial of service attack) protection built into the hosting infrastructure.
Site Doctor is a highly effective solution for addressing website and blog malware and if you’re serious about growing your online presence, you may want to invest in it.
Hostgator has a range of anti-malware features, as well.
The primary ones include malware scans, hack alerts, immediate notifications in the case of detected threats, basic spam monitoring, site verification certificates and blacklist monitoring.
Just like Bluehost, Hostgator offers reliable protection against DDOS attacks.
Reliability of the Support
While all companies offer reliable, high-quality customer support, getting in touch with the respective team is the only way to find out if the help can be counted on.
If you do a bit of online research, you’ll come across both praise and criticism for the Bluehost and the Hostgator customer support teams.
To determine the quality, let’s take a look at a few of the key characteristics.
Bluehost offers customer support via toll-free numbers, chat and a chance to submit support tickets.
Chat and phone support both strive for immediate resolution of the problem.
Those who fill out a support ticket will have to wait a certain amount of time in order to hear back from the service provider.
Bluehost offers 24/7 customer support to resolve emergencies. Both tech support and account management representatives are available to address the most common issues.
Hostgator offers chat and phone support.
There’s also an online forum where clients can post information about their problems and get assistance from those who have some experience with the issue.
The phone and chat support provide instant addressing of issues. Billing support is available within minutes to one business day, depending on the complexity of the inquiry.
Videos and tutorials are also available to give clients knowledge about common issues.
In terms of responsiveness and immediacy, Bluehost seems to be doing a better job than its competitors.
Bluehost vs Hostgator: Summary
Don’t rush the selection of the best WordPress hosting package. Many aspects of your website’s performance will be dependent on the hosting that you choose.
This is why you need to build your knowledge before getting started with hosting selection (alternatively, you should seek advice from someone who already has some experience in the field of blog setting up).
Our blogging five-day course can provide a lot of information for those who don’t possess the knowledge or the experience required to make the best decisions:
Upon the acquisition of some understanding of the technical parameters, you can move on to the selection of the best hosting package.
Both Bluehost and Hostgator have some excellent features that bloggers can benefit from.
Both of the companies are known for the reliability of their customer service and the flexibility/cost-efficiency of the hosting packages.
Bluehost does perform better in several fields. It is officially recommended by WordPress.
If you’re looking for the best WordPress blog hosting package out there, you should definitely opt for the Bluehost service.
In addition, Bluehost offers superior website security features that will protect you against various threats – from common malware to serious hack attacks.
Bluehost is also better in terms of instant customer service.
Hostgator’s strengths include an easier setup for inexperienced webmasters, more features for hosting management and quality of infrastructure.
The two companies tie with each other in terms of speed guarantees.
The ways in which Bluehost misses the mark include the absence of an uptime guarantee and the fact that migration fees will be charged if you want to move a pre-existing blog.
Hostgator’s major shortcomings are poor response in the case of sudden traffic spikes and some problems with customer service speed and effectiveness (as reported by existing Hostgator customers).
What to Look for When Choosing Blog Hosting
Apart from picking a blogging platform, you will also have to opt for the hosting that makes the most sense.
Stay away from free hosting.
Free hosting does not give you any control over the features of your website.
Additionally, it may be linked to additional limitations like the display of annoying, irrelevant ads on your website.
If you want to impress rather than annoy your audience, you should steer clear of free hosting.
Free hosting plans make your blog look amateurish. Professional appearance is the key to boosting audience loyalty and you need a reliable hosting provider for the purpose.
To determine which hosting providers offer superior service, you’ll have to go through several key steps.
The simplest thing to do is to check the respective company’s reputation online.
Does the company have a good customer score?
If there are Google or Facebook reviews, are they predominantly positive or negative.
Is there a big number of customers providing the same type of positive or negative information? If multiple reviews are based on similar experiences, chances are that the information can be considered trustworthy.
Next, examine the key characteristics of the service.
The cost of hosting is the first aspect to examine. While it’s not the most important criterion, it can help you narrow the options down.
Customer service comes next.
Inexperienced bloggers may need some tech support to get things going.
Even those with some knowledge in the field could require some assistance for migration, doing backups or installing security certificates.
Next, look at the reliability of the service.
Uptime guarantees are crucial for those who want to make money from the blog.
If your blog is down for hours at a time, you’ll miss on an opportunity to reach your target audience and get these people engaging with your content.
Security features, the availability of backups, email availability, bandwidth and data transfers come next.
Hopefully, this information and the comparison between Hostgator and Bluehost will enable you to make the best choice.
Do you have experience with one company or the other? Have you opted for an alternative blog hosting provider? Don’t hesitate to share the details in the comments below.
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