Hostgator Review

Summary review

A lot of web hosting services have recently started to offer their very own website builder and Hostgator is one of them. Now proving to be an all-in-one solution for all your website needs, HostGator takes care of everything from hosting to website building. Offering a free domain name, unlimited storage and bandwidth, SSL certificate, responsive themes, and more, is it worth checking them out? Read on and decide for yourself if this website builder is what you’re looking for!

Pros

+ Intuitive and easy to use editor
+ Excellent uptime score of 99.99%
+ Free SSL certificate
+ Social media integration
+ Unlimited pages, storage, and bandwidth
+ Excellent support

Cons

- Limited features so it is not ideal for larger websites
- Basic blog functionality
- The control panel feels a bit dated
- No built-in marketing tools
- Limited apps available



Who is Hostgator for?

Hostgator’s website builder is designed primarily for those starting a website with little to no technical skills. It’s a drag-and-drop builder, which means you won’t have to deal with Html or CSS. While the features may not be as extensive as Wix or WordPress, it has enough to support a small personal or business site.

Main Features

Ease of Use

As we have mentioned previously, Gator is a drag-and-drop editor which means you can drag any element and drop it to position wherever you want. It’s also a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor so you get a preview of the live version even as you build your website. Using the editor, you can easily customize fonts, colors, add images, embed videos and social media posts, add a blog, and more. There’s even a step-by-step tutorial that will sort of hold your hand as you add content and customize your chosen theme.



Templates

Speaking of themes, HostGator has hundreds of modern and responsive templates that you can choose from. Since these are pre-built, you won’t have to worry about designing your website from scratch, you can simply use the editor to tweak it according to your needs and preferences. Templates are categorized into E-Commerce, Blog, Business, Portfolio, and Technology.



E-Commerce

It’s no Shopify or BigCommerce but Hostgator (e-Commerce plan) does provide all the basic features for a small e-commerce store. As for product types, it supports the selling of not just physical goods but also digital products and services. If you have an existing product catalog, you can import it to HostGator using CSV, Excel, Google Sheets, or Ecwid. Otherwise, you can just enter the data manually. Here are some of the things you can do with HostGator:

- Manage inventory
- Add products and product variants by size or color
- Organize products by categories
- Manage coupons and discounts
- Calculate shipping and tax rates automatically
- Integrate a payment processor such as PayPal, Stripe, and COD (Cash on Delivery)

Social Media Integration

One way to reach a wider audience is to integrate all your social media platforms into your website. That way, if your visitor finds something worth sharing, they can easily share it and reach more people without spending a dime on advertising. With HostGator, you can display social buttons and easily connect your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to sync live feeds and image galleries.

SSL Certificates

If you’re planning to accept payments in your store, then having an SSL certificate is terribly important. It’s what protects your customer’s data such as customer information, passwords, or credit card details from ever falling into the wrong hands. Fortunately, all HostGator plans include a free SSL certificate.

Blogs

HostGator has 15 templates designed mainly for blogging. Adding a blog is quick and you can easily create a post, add images, videos, links, tags, or text formatting. You can also pin a post or edit your post’s URL. The only downside is that you can’t schedule a post nor add any commenting tools except for Facebook comments. If you’re serious about blogging, we suggest you look into WordPress.com.

Reports and Analytics

Your account dashboard will also show your website’s analytics such as total visits, total page views, number of unique visitors, how much time they’re spending on your site, where your traffic is coming from, devices used, and more.

Support and Knowledge Base

Support is excellent and we expected nothing less from a leading web hosting provider. They have an extensive knowledge base with well-written articles on a wide variety of help topics. If you are on the Premium or e-Commerce plans, you’ll also have access to 24/7 priority support. We tried all their options, email, live chat, and phone call and were consistently satisfied with the result. Support agents that we have talked to seemed to be very knowledgeable, straightforward, and friendly.

Pricing and Plans

Below, you will find the three paid plans that HostGator currently offers.



Included in all price plans are the following:

- Unlimited pages
- Unlimited storage
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Free domain name registration
- $200 ad vouchers
- Analytics
- SSL certificate
- Connect existing domains
- Password protection
- HD video and audio
- Save, view, or restore site history
- Remove ads
- Chat, email, & phone support

The Bottom Line

We love HostGator for its easy-to-use editor, responsive design, great uptime, and excellent customer support. If you’re not looking to build a complex website then all its basic features should suffice. On the other hand, it would have been nice to have a decent app market to be able to add more website functionality.