Choosing Between HostGator and Bluehost Web Hosting

Although belonging to the same company — Endurance International Group — the duo of HostGator and Bluehost is still an enigma, especially when it comes to those newbies who have just stepped into the world of blogging or an IM and it has been the same ever since both companies were able to become the flagship ones in the field. We do admit that we too had this trouble of selecting between Bluehost and HostGator and that is why we decided to create one comprehensive comparison between HostGator and Bluehost web hosting services so that you will have fewer doubts! Other than those lengthy introductions, we will be focusing on how both web-hosting providers perform when we’d consider those worth noting aspects of web hosting.

Affordability

Affordability being the pivotal factor that decided popularity of a web hosting provider when it comes to the community of web-based professionals, we have to consider the aspect of both HostGator and Bluehost. Bluehost is often called one of the cheapest solutions in the web hosting industry as you can have shared web hosting service from Bluehost for $3.95 and there is a free domain name coupled with that plan. On the other hand, HostGator offers its somewhat limited shared host plan for $3.96. Despite the fact that figures are rather same, there’s something important to be noted — the free domain name! A HostGator fan may say that HostGator lets you use some kinds of coupons to get a discount when you purchase, but in the long run, the free domain system proves to be way too better than what we actually get from the other. Thus, if affordability is your pivotal concern, you should go with Bluehost.

Usability of Service

Unlike the aforementioned aspect, Usability aspect of this comparison is actually a matter of choice! In the above-mentioned case, you had a reason to go with the affordable one. However, when we explore usability of UI of both services, it ends up in confusion. It is because both are in two extremes. While Bluehost stays stuck to the simplicity of UI and keeps the productive aspect less emphasized, HostGator has given topmost priority to the productivity one user would find in the dashboard of HostGator hosting. Literally, it’s a war between minimalistic design and feature-richness that different users may perceive different way. Thus, there’s nothing for a neutral judge to do — you shall choose according to your taste and requirement.

Customer Support

Here is another section of this comparison, where you would find another tie! Both HostGator and Bluehost are very much popular for their top-notch customer service section that has been helping users to fix their issues and doubts in no time, for a longer time period. In both Bluehost and HostGator, you have different ways to communicate with a customer care executive, including the live chat and email methods. Out of these, you can choose the appropriate & effective method to move on. We repeat, there’s no war going on in this section and you can choose anyone out of the duo when you want superb customer care support that will help you fix the technical errors and doubts in as less time as possible.

Reliability

Both the services have been in the industry of web hosting for more than a decade and they’ve helped hundreds and thousands of webmasters to keep their websites or blogs up all the time. So, it’s rather a foolish decision to have one doubt on which one is more reliable or whether one is better than the other. Just as we saw in the case of customer support, we have ended up in a tie and you have the sole freedom to choose between the well-known players.

Additional Features

Both companies have tried to include productive features in the dashboard in such a way that you won’t have to get a third-party solution when you need to create a website in a minimum amount of time. Control panels of Bluehost & HostGator include scripts that make CMS and blogging platform installation easier, an integrated site-builder that is helpful when you have only a few minutes to set up your website and make it functioning. And, there is an availability of promotional deals as well.

HostGator vs. Bluehost: Time to Decide

Reconsidering what we have said, chances are way too high that both HostGator and Bluehost are tight competitors as far as a common user would be concerned. Of course, there are more sections that ended up in the tie but as a whole, we prefer Bluehost to HostGator, for the minimal yet effective approach and feature-richness that the provider does offer. Well, are you using any web hosting providers out of the duo? If yes, tell us why you use it and whether there are something that you don’t like about the current choice of yours.