Web Hosting Comparison

If you’re looking for the best and most reliable web site hosting service, two names have probably turned up over and over in your web hosting comparison search: Hostgator and Bluehost. These two companies have consistently garnered positive reviews, and both really seem to offer good prices and top-notch service. But ultimately of course you have to choose one, so which will it be? We’ll compare the two hosting servicesto help you determine which one will be right for you.

Host vs. Host

For basic shared accounts, both companies offer essentially the same features. You get cPanel, a site builer with a gazillion templates, Ruby on Rails support, PHP5, and on and on. Both give you Fantastico, which has a ton of great scripts including 1-click Wordpress installation. And of course unlimited email and FTP accounts.

If your needs are a bit more complex, bear in mind that BlueHost doesn’t offer reseller or dedicated hosting. HostGator offers reseller, VPS (virtual private server), and dedicated hosting. In addition, if you are hosting a site in the “adult” niche, Hostgator is fine with it; Bluehost may not be.

Looking at the surface interface, Bluehost’s website is a tad more formal compared to Hostgator (which has a – you guessed it – alligator mascot). In terms of information, contacts, reviews, and awards, both services offer adequate information. We checked out their offers and our web hosting comparison showed that both sites offer a range of affordable web hosting services:

Hostgator . As we said, Hostgator offers reseller accounts, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers, in additiona to their basic shared hosting accounts. Their smallest hosting plan starts at about $4.95 a month (on a shared server). And their unlimited account, which allows you to host an unlimited number of domains, is only $7.95 a month, including unlimited email accounts. Hostgator excels in customer support, with comprehensive online training materials and videos, as well as 24/7 telephone support and live support chats.

Bluehost . Bluehost is more “one size fits all.” Their only option is the $6.95/month shared hosting account. As with Hostgator’s Baby account, Bluehost allows you to host unlimited domains and gives you unlimited bandwidth and 2500 POP/Imap email accounts. If you’re starting out in business, they have a free promotion package with complimentary Google and Yahoo credits. Their control panel has been raved about by critics for its easy to use features.

Customer Service

Bluehost and Hostgator both take pride in their customer support. Both have 24/7 telephone support and live chat. Both respond promptly to clients’ queries about web space hosting for their businesses. But Hostgator still gets higher points for the large number of tutorials and helpful information already posted on their website.

Green Web Hosting

We really like the fact that, in addition to being a superior and reliable web host, Hostgator is a “green” company. Their servers are 130% wind-powered, so they not only conserve energy but they earn it back. Not a lot of web hosts take pains to go “green” and think of taking care of the real world, too.

Conclusion – Hostgator Takes It

Our web hosting comparison shows that these two hosting services both provide excellent and reliable service. Their servers rarely crash (they both have 99% uptime guarantees), and they provide automatic backups. We recommend Hostgator especially for first-time web site builders because of their outstanding customer support. And if you need a dedicated server or a reseller account, Hostgator is your only option.

But the bottom line is that you’ll do well with either Hostgator or Bluehost. Take a look at the sites and go with the one that best meets your needs.