HostGator Web Hosting vs WordPress Hosting
HostGator offers a wide range of hostings to suit the needs of different website owners. Among them, the two most popular types of hostings are shared hosting and WordPress hosting.
Today, I’m bringing out the differences between these two hosting types offered by HostGator. The advantages and disadvantages of both hosting types are discussed here in great detail. It will help you decide which hosting is better for your website needs.
What Is Web Hosting aka Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting involves the hosting of multiple websites from a single server. It helps in sharing the resources and the related costs among different websites.
HostGator’s shared hosting is feature-rich as it comes packed with plenty of features to serve the needs of different website owners.
Advantages of Shared Hosting
Shared hosting has many advantages and you can take benefit of them all via HostGator’s different shared hosting plans. The host offers 3 plans under shared hosting:
- Hatchling plan
- Baby plan
- Business plan
Let’s discuss the advantages of HostGator shared hosting services in detail here:
Super-affordable Pricing
Starting at just $2.75 per month with the Hatchling plan, HostGator’s web hosting is super-affordable. The Baby plan is priced at $3.50 per month and the Business plan that offers many additional features is priced at just $5.25 per month.
All these plans are priced keeping in mind both the hosting needs and budget of different individuals.
Unlimited Websites
HostGator allows you to create and manage unlimited websites from a single shared hosting plan. It further makes this hosting a lot cheaper since you can manage any number of websites by paying a flat monthly rate.
Both the Baby plan and Business plan allow you to host unlimited websites while the Hatchling plan allows the hosting of a single website only. If you plan to expand your online presence in the future or launch multiple websites at the beginning itself, this feature will save you a lot of money.
Free SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate encrypts the online communication between your website and its visitors to secure your website data.
HostGator provides a free SSL certification with all its shared hosting plans that flags your website as secure in the eyes of search engines. It also displays a padlock icon in the address bar of your website as a mark of security.
Single Click WordPress Installation
Since WordPress is the most popular CMS around the globe, HostGator allows you to install it on your website with just a single click. This feature adds to your convenience while saving you a lot of time.
Free Domain
Most domains cost you about $20 but you can get one for free with HostGator’s shared hosting plans. If you are planning to keep your website for years to come, consider booking a long-term hosting plan for it.
A free domain is available when you purchase HostGator’s shared hosting plan for at least 12 months upfront. Considering that you choose the Hatchling plan, the cost of your domain (that you are saving) will cover about 7 months of your hosting charges. That’s a huge saving!
Unmetered Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to the quantity of data and traffic that can be processed on your website. It involves the sharing of your website data with your visitors by making it accessible to them.
HostGator offers unmetered bandwidth with all three of its shared hosting. It positively impacts the speed of your website as your website’s data can be shared faster among different servers throughout the world. You are never charged according to the bandwidth your website uses.
Unlimited bandwidth can be also found on VPS hosting. However, HostGator VPS plans can be quite expensive, so for those of you who wish to use a VPS with no bandwidth limitations that come at a cheap price, you can be sure that there are a couple of hosting providers that match these criteria.
Unlimited Storage
The disk space offered by a host determines the amount of data that you can store on the server. HostGator offers unmetered disk space with all three shared hosting plans giving your website an unlimited storage capacity.
You are never charged as per the disk space your website utilizes. So, you don’t have to worry about the files you share on your website.
Disadvantages of Shared Hosting
Though shared hosting offers many advantages, some disadvantages also come with shared hosting plans. Here are some of them:
Lack of Security
Shared hosting lacks the necessary security since the main server is shared among different users. Though HostGator takes several measures to provide adequate security to your website, it still lacks when compared to other hosting types.
Slower Website Speed
As the server resources are shared among different websites, you might experience slower website speed as compared to the speed you will receive with other HostGatorhostings.
Poor Website Performance
Shared hosting not only impacts the speed of a website negatively but also deteriorates the other aspects of website performance. Your website will be less stable when using HostGator’s shared hosting when compared to any other type of HostGator hosting.
No Automatic Backups
HostGator does not maintain automatic backups of your website under its shared hosting plans. If your website data is lost somehow or the website develops an error, you will lose all your data. Maintaining manual backups is, therefore, recommended.
Lack of Premium Customer Support
Though HostGator offers 24/7 customer support via phone and live chat under its shared hosting plans, you won’t receive any priority as a customer. Your issues will be resolved no matter how much time they take for resolution.
Who Is Shared Hosting For?
Shared hosting is an appropriate choice for:
- Small businesses and Startups
- Personal blogs and small websites
- Individuals with a very limited budget
- Individuals willing to use a Content Management System other than WordPress
- Individuals planning to start small and grow over time
What Is WordPress Hosting?
WordPress hosting involves the hosting of WordPress websites in a hosting environment that is beneficial for their growth. It helps in improving the performance aspects of WordPress websites.
HostGator’s WordPress hosting is performance-rich as it comes packed with performance-boosting features that are very powerful for the growth of your WordPress website.
Advantages of WordPress Hosting
WordPress hosting comes with many advantages and you can take benefit of them all via HostGator’s different WordPress hosting plans. The host offers 3 plans under WordPress hosting:
- Starter plan
- Standard plan
- Business plan
Let’s discuss the advantages of HostGator WordPress hosting services in detail here:
Secured hosting environment
The hardware demands of WordPress are fulfilled in this hosting type to provide you with a fully secure hosting environment. Your website is more secure under this hosting than HostGator’s shared hosting plans.
Unmetered bandwidth
HostGator offers unmetered bandwidth with all three of its WordPress hosting plans. It allows your website to perform faster by quickly transferring your website’s data among different servers around the world.
Robust website performance
As HostGatorfulfills the hardware demands of WordPress websites, the performance of your website improves significantly when compared to the speed provided by the host’s shared hosting plans.
Free SSL, CodeGuard, SiteLock Fix
Along with a free SSL certificate as in the case of its shared hosting plans, HostGator also offers free CodeGuard and SiteLock Fix for providing additional security to your website.
Free domain
Like shared hosting, HostGator also provides a free domain with all its WordPress hosting plans. If you are planning to grow and maintain your website for a long period, you must consider booking a long-term plan for making huge savings in terms of a free domain.
24/7 premium customer support
HostGator offers premium customer support with its WordPress hosting plans. It means you will be given priority while rendering customer support and your issues will be resolved first.
Automatic malware removal and backups
All HostGator WordPress hosting plans come with automatic malware removal to protect your website and its data from malware. The host also maintains automatic backups of your website to prevent any data loss.
One-click WordPress installation
All WordPress hosting plans of HostGator make it easy to get started with your WordPress. They provide one-click WordPress installation to add to your convenience as well as to save your time and effort.
Disadvantages of WordPress Hosting
WordPress hosting comes with a lot of benefits but has its share of disadvantages too. Let’s discuss them in detail here:
Not the cheapest hosting
WordPress hosting is not the cheapest hosting offered by HostGator. The prices start at $5.95 per month for the Starter plan and go up to $9.95 per month with the business plan. Even the cheapest WordPress hosting plan offered by HostGator is costlier than its most expensive shared hosting plan.
A limited number of websites
Unlike shared hosting, HostGator’s WordPress hosting doesn’t allow you to host unlimited websites. The Starter plan allows a single website, the Standard plan allows the hosting of 2 websites, and the Business plan allows 3 websites only.
If you are planning to add more websites to your portfolio, HostGator WordPress hosting plan won’t be able to host them all together. This further adds to your overall cost since you’ll have to purchase additional plans under such circumstances.
Traffic limit
HostGator WordPress hosting plans put a cap on your website traffic. The Starter plan allows only 100k visits per month while Standard and Business plans allow 200k and 500k visits per month respectively.
Who Is WordPress Hosting For?
WordPress hosting is an appropriate choice for:
- Medium and large businesses
- News reporting sites and large websites
- Individuals having a moderate or big budget
- Individuals willing to use WordPress as their Content Management System
- Individuals wanting a fast, secure, and reliable website
- Individuals wanting to focus solely on their website content rather than technical aspects
HostGator Web Hosting vs WordPress Hosting at a Glance
Let us compare the two hostings offered by HostGator in a simple to understand manner:
| Basis | HostGator shared Hosting | HostGator WordPress Hosting |
| Affordability | Super-affordable | Costlier than shared hosting |
| Number of Websites | Unlimited websites can be hosted in two of its plans | A maximum of 3 websites can be hosted under this hosting type |
| Unmetered Bandwidth | Available | Available |
| Unlimited Storage | Available | Not available |
| Security | Low website security | High website security |
| WordPress Installation | One-click installation available | One-click installation available |
| Free Domain | Available with long-term hosting | Available with long-term hosting |
| Speed | Website performs slower | Website performs faster |
| Website Performance | Poor website performance | Excellent website performance |
| Automatic Backups | Not available | Available |
| Customer Support | 24/7 normal support available | 24/7 premium support available |
| Traffic Limit | No cap on website visits | A cap is placed on the monthly website visits |
Conclusion
HostGator is an award-winning hosting provider rendering excellent hosting services around the world. Since you get a 45-day money-back guarantee on all the hosting plans under both shared and WordPress hosting, you have nothing to worry about when trying out the services offered by HostGator.
Shared hosting is the cheapest hosting offered by the host. It is feature-rich and affordable making it suitable for beginners and small websites.
The WordPress hosting offered by HostGator is performance-rich and offers more speed and security making it suitable for businesses and large websites. It is costlier than shared hosting as it provides benefits in terms of performance, time savings, automatic backups, and more.
Ultimately, your website needs will decide which hosting is better for you. I hope the detailed comparison above will help you make the right decision in choosing the best hosting for your site.
Have you tried HostGator’s hosting? If yes, how was your experience? If not, which host are you signed up with?
Feel free to ask me anything in the comment section below, I’d love to guide you through!
