Bluehost and HostGator are two top web hosting providers that offer low-cost but high-value plans, helping small business websites not only manage but also scale their websites. Bluehost is an all-in-one web hosting solution complete with domain registration and a site builder. HostGator is known as the best budget option for long-term websites looking for a cost-efficient provider. Read more to know the Bluehost vs HostGator difference.
Bluehost and HostGator offer almost the same set of services. However, they differ in terms of clientele. Here are the best cases to use for each web hosting provider:
- Bluehost: Best for WordPress-only websites and beginners who want better uptime
- HostGator: Better option for budget-conscious teams or those who want to use content management systems other than WordPress
Bluehost vs HostGator for Small Businesses (Compared)
 |  | |
Starting Price* | $2.95/mo. | $2.75/mo. |
Starting Storage | 50GB | Unlimited |
Bandwidth (Monthly) | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Uptime | 99.98% | 99.9% |
Free Email | ✔ | ✔ |
Free SSL Certificates | ✔ | ✔ |
Free Website Builder | ✔ | ✔ |
Automated Backups | N/A | ✔ |
Customer Support | Live chat, email, and phone support | Live chat, email, and phone support |
Money-back Guarantee | Within 30 days | Within 45 days |
*36-month contract
Pros & Cons of Bluehost
Bluehost
What We Like
- 99.98% uptime guaranteed
- Free WordPress website builder
- Free SiteLock CDN (to reduce latency)
- Officially recommended by WordPress
- Uses SSD storage
What's Missing
- Tricky checkout practices (search engine optimization tools and SiteLock cost extra)
- No automatic backups
- Limited storage for Basic plan
- Only has one data center, unlike HostGator with centers in Utah, Provo, Houston, and Texas
- Users can add a CloudFlare service, which routes content through an additional 23 data centers, but this costs extra
- Dashboard has ads
Bluehost has over 2 million domains, making it one of the biggest web hosting providers in the world. WordPress is a common starting content management system (CMS) for beginners due to its drag-and-drop, easy plugin approach. Thus, Bluehost slightly overtakes DreamHost when it comes to WordPress comparison.
Check out our Bluehost review to get a more thorough look into how it performs.
Pros & Cons of HostGator
HostGator
What We Like
- Offers free automated backups
- Uses HDD storage
- More flexible toward other CMS with HostGator website builder
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- Very easy to use “Gator” website builder by HostGator
What's Missing
- Does not offer site cloning for staging (site cloning is a way to test changes before going live)
- SiteLock (a cloud-based security tool that scans for malware) is sold separately
- Hacks may go on without alarms from HostGator
- Customer support might take a while to respond
For those who want a more practical choice, HostGator’s starting plans are more affordable at $2.75 per month for a 36-month contract. It also provides more flexibility toward other CMS, so if you want to make a website on Wix, Weebly, Joomla, or other providers, HostGator is a better choice. Our HostGator review tackles an in-depth look at this web hosting provider.
For more consistent pricing, A2 Hosting’s starting and renewal prices remain the same, starting at $2.99 per month.
How We Evaluated Bluehost vs HostGator
Making that choice between Bluehost and HostGator can be confusing due to the similarities in what they offer. We compare Bluehost and HostGator based on the key essentials, free offerings, security, pricing, support, and ease of use.
35% of Overall Score
We evaluated both hosting providers in terms of affordability and availability of flexible payment plans. We made sure the hosting companies cater to both long-term and short-term users with fair renewal prices and money-back guarantees.
40% of Overall Score
Significant bandwidth, a free business email, automated backups, and close to 100% uptime are vital for running a website. We made sure to factor in these features to not only help maintain a small business website but also provide them an opportunity to grow.
15% of Overall Score
Contactability is important for both big and small issues. Having 24/7 support is important when running a website for first-time website owners and even for professionals. Glitches, navigation problems, and incompatibility issues can happen during the most unexpected of times.
10% of Overall Score
Most Budget-friendly: HostGator
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Plan | Basic | Plus | Choice Plus | Pro | Hatchling | Baby | Business |
Introductory Pricing for Annual Contract | $4.95 per month | $7.45 per month | $7.45 per month | $18.95 per month | $8.95 per month (no discount) | $11.95 per month (no discount) | $16.95 per month (no discount) |
Renewal Price for Annual Contract | $9.99 per month | $13.99 per month | $18.99 per month | $28.99 per month | $8.95 per month | $11.95 per month | $16.95 per month |
Introductory Pricing for 36-month Contract | $2.95 per month | $5.45 per month | $5.45 per month | $13.95 per month | $2.75 per month | $3.50 per month | $5.25 per month |
Renewal Price for 36-month Contract | $8.99 per month | $11.99 per month | $16.99 per month | $26.99 per month | $6.95 per month | $9.95 per month | $14.95 per month |
HostGator pricing starts at a more affordable $2.75 per month for its 36-month subscription. On the other hand, Bluehost’s most affordable plan costs a couple of cents more at $2.95 per month for its 36-month subscription. The average web hosting services usually cost $3 to $7 per month, putting both providers at an affordable price range. For the cheapest introductory price, Hostinger’s 48-month contract costs just $1.39 per month.
HostGator extends a 45-day money-back guarantee, while Bluehost is not far behind with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
General Features Winner: Bluehost
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Plan | Basic | Plus | Choice Plus | Pro | Hatchling | Baby | Business |
Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Starting Storage | 50GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth (Monthly) | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Uptime | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% |
All of HostGator’s plans offer unlimited storage while Bluehost starts at 50GB. On average, most websites do not even consume more than 1GB of space. Still, having a limitless amount of storage extends your site’s performance. You can upload more videos, games, and other media files that could take up more than the average requirements.
Bluehost offers a higher uptime compared to HostGator at just 0.9%. If you prefer a 100% uptime guarantee, check out other alternatives like DreamHost. HostGator also uses the more conventional HDD while Bluehost uses SSD. This results in around 14x faster speeds for Bluehost.
If you are more particular when it comes to speed, A2 Hosting offers a “Turbo Max” option for $12.99 per month for a 36-month contract. It uses NVME storage, which is around 35x faster than traditional HDD.
Most Reliable Security Features: HostGator
| | ||||||
Plan | Basic | Plus | Choice Plus | Pro | Hatchling | Baby | Business |
Free Automatic Backups | N/A | N/A | For one year | ✔ | For one year | ✔ | ✔ |
Free SSL Certificates | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Bluehost and HostGator come without SiteLock, which needs to be separately purchased starting at $24.99 per year for Bluehost and $5.99 per month for HostGator. Each plan also offers an essential SSL certificate that helps secure data between servers.
Bluehost offers automatic backups, but they can only be availed once you subscribe to the Pro plan. It offers daily, weekly, or monthly backups, but aren’t guaranteed. On the other hand, HostGator provides free automated backups, making it the best choice particularly for security features.
Free Value-added Functionalities: Tie
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Plan | Basic | Plus | Choice Plus | Pro | Hatchling | Baby | Business |
Free Domain | For one year | For one year | For one year | For one year | For one year | For one year | For one year |
Free Email | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Free Website Builder | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Bluehost offers a free WordPress integrated website builder while HostGator offers its own free Gator Website Builder. Both plans offer a free dedicated IP once you choose Pro for Bluehost and Business for HostGator.
HostGator isn’t the only unique website builder you can use—Hostinger’s unique Zyro website builder costs just $1 per year.
Best for Ease of Use & Customer Service: HostGator
| | |
Live Chat Support | 24/7 | 24/7 |
Email Support | ✔ | ✔ |
Phone Support | ✔ | ✔ |
Video Tutorials | ✔ | ✔ |
Community Forums | N/A | ✔ |
Bluehost and HostGator are both beginner-friendly and come with the standard cPanel. A cPanel is a web hosting control panel software that provides a graphical interface and easy-to-use automation tools. Both website hosting providers also integrate very smoothly with WordPress.
As for support and resources, community forums are important when building a website. They allow you to get in contact with not just the provider, but other website owners as well. HostGator gets a slight lead in this area as Bluehost doesn’t offer community forums.
If you want to achieve a complicated coding project on your website, a community forum allows you to communicate with other developers.
When to Use Bluehost
Here’s when you should consider Bluehost for your website:
- If you plan to only use WordPress
- If you need higher uptime
- If you don’t want to hire a web developer and want to build your website on your own
- If you want a longer money-back guarantee (up to 97 days)
If beginner-friendly is your utmost priority, then Bluehost is a better choice. One thing you should consider is purchasing a site backup tool that automatically backups your data just in case your website crashes.
When to Use HostGator
Here’s when you should consider HostGator for your website:
- If you plan to try other CMS aside from WordPress, like Wix or Weebly
- If you’re looking for a cheaper web hosting provider
- If you want the cheapest plan with unlimited storage
- If you’re planning to experiment and need help from community forums
HostGator provides users with the potential to experiment more with the help of community forums and the ability to try out other CMS’ aside from WordPress. HostGator is also slightly cheaper than Bluehost, so if you’re looking to save on a plan that has unlimited storage, this is your best pick.
Best Web Hosting Alternatives
Bluehost vs HostGator isn’t the only comparison you should make when looking for the right web hosting provider. There are other best web hosting companies out there that could be tailored to your specific needs:
- DreamHost: Ideal choice for intermediates and professionals who don’t mind the customized control panel.
- A2 Hosting: Most consistent choice for those who want to pay a fixed price for a long time with no higher renewal rates.
- Hostinger: Best web hosting provider for budget-conscious website owners starting at just $1.39 per month.
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Rating | 4.15 out of 5 | 3.55 out of 5 | 3.10 out of 5 |
Starting Price* | $2.59/mo. | $2.99/mo. | $1.39/mo. |
Starting Storage | 50GB | 100GB | 30GB |
Bandwidth (Monthly) | Unmetered | Unspecified | 100GB |
Uptime | 100% (as per guarantee) | 99.9% | 99.9% |
Free Email | N/A | Unlimited | 1 |
Free SSL Certificates | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Free Website Builder | WP Website Builder | N/A | ✔ |
Automated Backups | ✔ | N/A | Weekly |
Customer Support | Only 3:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Pacific Time | Ticketing and email (no live chat) | Ticketing and email (no live chat) |
Money-back Guarantee | Within 97 days | Within 30 days | Within 30 days |
*36-month contract for DreamHost and A2 Hosting. 48-month contract for Hostinger.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I check my Bluehost webmail?
When you are logged into your my.Bluehost.com control panel, check the “Menu,” click on “Hosting,” and then “Email.” Scroll down and click “View Inbox” on your email address. If you’re looking for affordable professional email solutions, check out the best cheap email hosting providers for at least $6 or less.
Is WordPress free with HostGator?
Yes. WordPress is a free, open source content management system (CMS), but you still need a domain and hosting provider to build a website. Learn more about why you need a CMS.
Can we use Bluehost without WordPress?
Yes. However, you might need a separate CMS like Wix, Weebly, or Joomla if you don’t want to build, maintain, and navigate your website only using HTML, CSS, or front-end JS files.
Bottom Line
Both Bluehost and HostGator are extremely beginner-friendly, but if you want a cheaper plan with unlimited storage and free automated backups, HostGator could be a better choice. For those who want to stick strictly to WordPress, Bluehost is the official recommendation. Furthermore, its free website builder is specifically designed for WordPress.
You Might Also Like…
- If you’re building a website on an extreme budget, check out these cheap web hosting services for 2022.
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- If you’re already building on WordPress and want to make every page count, find out the best page builders for WordPress and how to easily design your website.
