HostGator Pricing | 10 Things to Know Before Signing Up

HostGator’s pricing plans start with its shared hosting Hatchling plan, which costs just $3.95 per month for your first term, and renews at $9.99 per month after that. After that, prices increase as you work your way up through the plans and different hosting types.

Check out the table below for a full breakdown across three plan tiers:

Best for Shared Hosting

4.7

out of 5

Value For Money

3.8 out of 5 stars

Features

4.1 out of 5 stars

Help and Support

3.5 out of 5 stars

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This is a summary overview of each hosting package, to give you an idea of how much each one costs. These prices reflect discounted plans for new users – we’ll cover that in more detail next, then dive into the details of HostGator’s different hosting types and their costs below.

Not sure which type of hosting you need? Here’s a quick breakdown to help you choose:

• Shared hosting: best for small, basic sites with low traffic, such as single page blogs.
• Cloud hosting: best for sites that experience hikes and dips in traffic, such as stores running online sales.
• WordPress hosting: best for WordPress websites of all sizes.
• Reseller hosting: best for those starting their own hosting business.
• VPS hosting: best choice for most standard websites – it’s an encouraged upgrade from shared hosting.
• Dedicated hosting: best for very large websites and online stores that need advanced customization and security.

You’ll have noticed that HostGator’s prices are pretty affordable. Wow! Just $3.95 per month for hosting, you might be thinking, that’s amazing! What else do I need to know when it’s that cheap?!

Well, there is one important thing to know – HostGator, like most hosting providers, offers discounts for new users. These discount prices are the ones displayed on HostGator’s website, because it’s a great way of getting started with your plan.

This discount lasts for your first term. That means if you sign up for a 12 month plan, you get the first year at the discounted price; if you sign up for a two-year plan, you get the first two years at a discount. It’s also worth knowing you pay the total sum upfront when you first sign up.

So, what happens once your first term is over? Well, your plan will renew at the regular rate – this is how much the plan usually costs without the discount. For example, HostGator’s Hatchling plan costs $3.95, to begin with, but renews at $9.99 once your first term is over.

This is common practice among web hosts, and can really work in your favor by giving you a great deal on your first hosting plan. However, it means you need to keep both eyes open and always check the regular price before jumping feet – or rather, credit-card – first into a plan.

This will help you avoid sky-high renewal prices later down the line!

Shared hosting is the most basic form of hosting – it’s very limited, but this also makes it extremely affordable. The main benefit of shared hosting is how cheap it is – your site shares a server with other sites, meaning resources are spread between all of you.

If other sites are using up too many of those shared resources, then your site suffers – for example, it could crash if another site gets a spike in traffic. This makes shared hosting best for very small, simple websites with low traffic.

In our research, HostGator topped the table as our king of shared hosting with an impressive score of 4.7 out of 5 in our research with solid scores across all our testing categories, including value for money where it scored a 3.6 out of 5.

HostGator’s Shared Hosting Plans

HostGator has three shared hosting plans, ranging from $3.95 to $7.25 per month (for a 12-month billing cycle and with the initial discount). Plans start at:

• Hatchling plan: $3.95, renews at $9.99 per month
• Baby plan: $5.00, renews at $14.99 per month
• Business plan: $7.25, renews at $18.99 per month

Here’s a closer look at how their features stack up – we’ll go into more detail underneath the table:

Looking at the features available, you might be wondering what the difference is between unmetered and unlimited. Let’s take a quick look to clear up any confusion.

Unmetered means you’re not charged for the amount of resources you use – but there is still a limit on how much you can use. It’s very unlikely that your site will approach these limits, however, HostGator will email you if it looks like you might exceed their limits.

Unlimited really does mean there’s no limit – so you can have as many domains as you like!

Another feature you’ll see a lot is SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). This encrypts information passing between your visitors and your website, protecting data from hackers or leaks. Google warns visitors when they’re entering an unsecured site, so having SSL really is an essential feature.

HostGator earns a 4 out of 5 for shared hosting features in our research, which is actually a decline from our previous valuation of it pre-2021 which was 4.4 out of 5. So why the change? Well, while unlimited bandwidth and storage were big sellers back in the day, they’ve become almost standard in recent years.

We only recommend the Hatchling plan for very small websites – as the name suggests, its features are best for sites that are just getting started online. You can only host one domain, and you can’t upgrade your SSL certificate for added protection.

The Baby plan is a good middle-ground for $5.00 per month – you can host an unlimited number of domains, and if you want to upgrade to private SSL then you can. This makes it a better choice for value for money if you’re running more than one website or need better security.

The Business plan has the most advanced features, giving your site more room to grow. It’s also the best plan if you’re running a small online store. You get a free upgrade to a Positive SSL (which offers a higher level of security than the basic version) and SEO tools to help people find your site online.

So, which plan should you choose? If you need to host more than one domain, the Baby plan is your best choice. If you want to run a small online store then you’ll need the Business plan. For simply hosting a single site that’s just getting started, the Hatchling plan will get you on your feet.

In our shared hosting research, HostGator got 3.6 out of 5 for value for money, which puts it comfortably in fourth position. If you need a shared hosting provider who will give you constant performance, HostGator is the one.

HostGator Cloud Web Hosting Cost

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Cloud hosting is where your website’s data is stored across multiple virtual servers, instead of physical servers like normal shared hosting uses. This means that if one server fails, your site won’t go down because another server will automatically take over. Cloud hosting very scalable, reliable, and versatile. 

If you need extremely flexible hosting to handle surges in traffic, then cloud hosting is a great choice – it’s usually favored by online stores that experience large traffic spikes as a result of sales and seasonal trends.

HostGator’s Cloud Hosting Plans

HostGator has three cloud hosting plans ranging from $7.95 to $11.95 per month:

• Hatchling plan: $7.95, renews at $10.95 per month. You get a free domain name and SSL certificate, unmetered bandwidth, and can host one site.
• Baby plan: $9.95, renews at $13.95 per month. You get the same features as the Hatchling plan, but can host unlimited sites.
• Business plan: $11.95, renews at $19.95 per month. You get the same features as the Baby plan, plus SEO tools and a better SSL certificate.

The biggest limitation of the cheapest Hatchling plan is that you can only host one website, and it has a small memory allowance. HostGator recommends its $9.95 per month Baby plan instead, which gives you more space for growth while keeping the price pretty reasonable.

HostGator’s cloud web hosting plans promise better speeds, reliability, and resources than its normal shared hosting. But what do you actually get for your money? The table below breaks down each plan’s features:

You’ll notice a similarity between the features here and those provided on the shared hosting plan. So why the increase in price? Well, cloud hosting gives you better performance because you have access to multiple servers.

It’s worth knowing that resources are still shared out rather than being dedicated to your account – but, you’re much more in control of your resources and how much you’re using, making it easier to manage.

The main difference here is the addition of memory and CPU cores. The more memory you have, the better your site will perform in times of high traffic – we recommend the Baby plan to be safe, unless your site is really small.

CPU stands for central processing unit, and is the part of a computer that performs most of the important actions to keep things running smoothly.

Luckily, you don’t need to worry too much about what a CPU core is. You just need to know that the more CPU cores you have, the more data your system can handle, and the better performance your site will receive. Simply: the more cores you have, the better!

For most websites, between two and four CPU cores should be fine – you’ll only need more than that if you’re running complex programs (like advanced gaming) through your website.

Overall, the Hatchling plan is fine for newbie sites with low traffic, but the $9.95 per month Baby plan is definitely worth paying for. It provides the tools to handle more traffic, giving your site room to grow. Most people won’t need the extras that come with the Business plan, unless you’re running a complex website.

HostGator WordPress Hosting Cost

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Are there any WordPress fans out there? Chances are, you’ve used – or at least heard of – WordPress, seeing as it powers 43% of the internet! And what do all those WordPress sites need? You got it – they need hosting.

WordPress hosting caters to the specific needs that come with running a WordPress website. For example, it usually includes better security and protection, migration services, and updates to keep your WordPress site safe and running smoothly.

HostGator comes in fourth overall for WordPress hosting with 4.2 out of 5 in our WordPress hosting research – a drop from second in our old scores, though it is now 4th overall for value of money. Let’s take a look at the analysis and see if we can sniff out why.

HostGator’s WordPress Hosting Plans

HostGator has three WordPress hosting plans – the cheapest starts at $7.95 per month, while the most expensive comes in at $12.95 per month:

• Starter plan: $7.95, renews at $12.95 per month. Host one site, with free SSL and domain name included. Supports up to 100k visits per month.
• Standard plan: $9.95, renews at $17.95 per month. Host up to two sites, with free SSL and domain name included. Supports up to 200k visits per month.
• Business plan: $11.95, renews at $24.95 per month. Host up to three sites, with free SSL and domain name included. Supports up to 500k visits per month.

The plan you choose largely depends on the number of websites you have – for example, if you have more than one site then you’ll need at least the $9.95 per month Standard plan. Take a look at the table below to help you decide:

So while HostGator’s overall WordPress score may be lower than for shared hosting, HostGator actually scores better in value for money for WordPress hosting with 3.7 out of 5. This is due to the increased amount of features you get with the plans. While they may be more expensive, you actually get more for your money comparatively, hence the increase in scores.

For example, all plans also include a free migration service for any users who need to transfer their existing WordPress site over to HostGator’s servers.

If you only have one WordPress website, then the $7.95 per month Starter plan has all the essential features you’ll need to succeed. Free backups up to 1GB, a free domain name, and automatic updates are all included to make your life as easy as possible.

If your site gets more than 100,000 visits on average per month, or you have multiple sites to host, you’ll need a more advanced plan. HostGator scored a 4 out of 5 for performance in our WordPress hosting research, meaning it’s one of the best, so don’t stress too much about going over the limit constantly.

The main benefits of the Standard plan are that it can handle twice the amount of traffic than the Starter plan, and doubles your backup storage as well. It’s a well-rounded plan that suits most regular WordPress sites, whether you’re scaling up or just ticking along steadily. You can host up to two websites on this plan – a good choice if you’re running multiple projects!

The Business plan sees a big jump in the number of visitors it can handle per month – up to 500,000! This makes it best if you’re really gunning for big-time growth and need your plan to support large amounts of traffic.

HostGator includes all the most important features for all its users to enjoy, so your choice really comes down to two main things:

• The number of sites you need to host
• How much traffic do those sites generate per month 

Base your decision on these factors, and you should end up with the perfect WordPress hosting plan for you!

If you’re looking to set up your own hosting business, you’ll need reseller hosting. This is where you pay for hosting, and then resell it to your own clients to make money. It’s a great way of starting a hosting business, because you don’t have to pay for overheads such as server maintenance.

HostGator provides you with the power and technology, and you provide your clients with hosting, services, support, and more. It’s a popular option with web designers, freelancers, and budding web hosts – reseller hosting is how a lot of big names in the hosting industry started out!

HostGator’s Reseller Hosting Plans

HostGator has three reseller hosting plans, ranging from $24.95 to $29.95 per month:

• Aluminum plan: $24.95, renews at $34.95 per month. You get 60GB disk space and 600GB bandwidth.
• Copper plan: $29.95, renews at $48.95 per month. You get 90GB disk space and 900GB bandwidth.
• Silver plan: $29.95, renews at $69.95 per month. You get 140GB disk space and 1400GB bandwidth.

These are a lot more expensive than the plans we’ve looked at so far because they include a lot more features. This is a case where you need to look carefully at renewal costs – the discount prices mean you can get the Silver plan for the same price as the Copper plan, but their renewal prices reflect their usual value.

Reseller hosting comes with pretty technical features – it goes without saying that if you just need hosting for your personal website, then this type of hosting isn’t for you.

The main difference between the plans is the amount of storage and bandwidth you get with each one – this is the easiest way to decide which plan is best for you.

The cheapest Aluminum plan is best for those just starting out, or freelancers selling to a small number of clients. It can also be a good fit for those who need multiple servers, as it can work out cheaper and more manageable than buying several web hosting packages.

For a standard-sized business selling to a larger handful of clients, the Copper plan should be a comfortable fit. It has more storage and bandwidth, leaving you room to grow your business.

For even more resources, the Silver plan is the obvious choice – however, it can get pretty expensive once the discount period is over, so make sure your business really needs the extra features before upgrading.

The most important factor to keep in mind when becoming a hosting reseller is uptime. There’s no use reselling if the servers will be constantly down and the user’s sites won’t be live. HostGator promises an uptime of 99.9%, and in our own research, HostGator scored an overall score of 4 out of 5 for uptime performance. HostGator has an official guarantee in place if it can’t hit this target, offering all users and resellers one month of credit if it’s caught slipping.

And in case you’re in the dark about a few of those technical features, here’s a quick overview:

• WHMCS is a client management software that helps you manage your billing process
• cPanel is a popular control panel where you manage your site and system settings – this is what your clients will be using to run the hosting you’ve sold them.
• WHM (Web Hosting Manager) control panel lets you create cPanels for each of your clients. This is what you use to manage all your clients’ accounts.
• MySQL is a database management system that makes it easy for you to add and manage content

The Aluminum plan is a good place to start if you’re unsure how many resources you need – although you may not want to lock into a long-term plan to start with. HostGator makes it free and easy to upgrade, so you can start out with the lowest amount of storage and bandwidth and grow from there.

HostGator VPS Hosting Cost

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Usually, once you’ve outgrown shared hosting, the next step up is VPS hosting. This is a type of hosting where sites still share a server, but you share with fewer sites so that each one has its own set of resources. It’s a faster, safer, and more reliable type of hosting that delivers better performance than shared hosting. 

This is best for regular or medium-sized sites that need more consistent hosting than shared plans can provide. If you’re running a business website, for example, then VPS hosting is a smart choice. HostGator comes in at joint first place with an overall score of 4.6 out of 5 for VPS hosting in our research.

HostGator’s VPS Hosting Plans

HostGator has three VPS hosting plans to choose from, ranging from $29.95 to $49.95 per month:

• Snappy 2000 plan: $23.95, renews at $79.95 per month. You get 2GB of RAM, 120GB disk space, and unmetered bandwidth.
• Snappy 4000 plan: $34.95, renews at $119.95 per month. You get 4GB of RAM, 165GB disk space, and unmetered bandwidth.
• Snappy 8000 plan: $59.95, renews at $149.95 per month. You get 8GB of RAM, 240GB disk space, unmetered bandwidth, plus an extra 2 CPU cores.

HostGator’s prices used to be really expensive compared to other providers on the market – the Snappy 2000 plan used to be $29.95 per month!

But while the price may have lowered, its value for money sadly can’t compete with other providers. Whereas hosts like Bluehost have plans that remain at the discounted price even after the period has ended, HostGator’s renewal costs are higher. This is why we had to give it a lower value score of 3.1 out of 5 in our research – the lowest pricing score across all of HostGator’s hosting types.

Why does HostGator charge so much for its VPS plans? Let’s take a look at the features you get to see if it’s worth your hard earned cash:

HostGator gives you everything you’d need to successfully run your site, such as unlimited domains and backups. In fact, HostGator has the best VPS features out of all of our VPS hosting research, with a features score of 4.3 out of 5. The only place it falls down here is value for money.

Luckily, the cheapest plan is a great starting point – you get a huge amount of bandwidth to allow for traffic spikes, plus a decent amount of memory and storage space to keep your site’s performance smooth.

The main reason for upgrading to the Snappy 4000 plan would be a need for more storage space, as the rest stays pretty much the same. Bandwidth nudges up to 2TB, but you’ll only feel the benefit of that if you were really bursting out of your bandwidth on the cheapest plan.

As for the Snappy 8000 plan, it’s hard to recommend it knowing it costs $49.95 per month with a discount. Still, if you’re loving the reliability and power that comes with HostGator’s features and don’t mind shelling out, you’ll enjoy a massive 3TB bandwidth – that should handle as much traffic as you can throw at your site!

All plans come with full root access, which gives you access to your site’s server. This means you have total control over your site’s settings – you can customize your server to suit your specific needs.

HostGator Dedicated Hosting Cost

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Dedicated hosting is the most advanced type of hosting – and the most expensive! This is where your site gets a whole server to itself, giving you the ultimate level of performance, speed, and security.

Most sites don’t need this extreme level of hosting, but it’s definitely appropriate if you’re running a huge online store, a site with eye-popping levels of traffic, or have very sensitive security requirements.

HostGator comes in third for overall dedicated hosting with a score of 4.4 out of 5, with a very generous 45-day money-back guarantee and fantastic help and support. In fact, HostGator consistently scores excellently for help and support across all its categories, earning a 4.9 out of 5 in most cases. But what about its prices?

HostGator’s Dedicated Hosting Plans

HostGator came out as the best provider for dedicated hosting in our research. It has three dedicated hosting plans, ranging from $109.97 to $139.99 per month:

• Value Server plan: $109.97, renews at $199.99 per month. You get 4 CPU cores and 8GB RAM.
• Power Server plan: $139.99, renews at $269.99 per month. You get 8 CPU cores and 16GB RAM.
• Enterprise Server plan: $159.98, renews at $299.99 per month. You get 8 CPU cores and 30GB RAM.

As you can see, this is big hosting, designed for big websites with big budgets!

If you don’t have much technical knowledge, you could struggle to make the most of dedicated hosting – its features are advanced, and you’ll need some experience to get to grips with them. We recommend the managed hosting solution as it makes life much easier!

The $109.97 per month Value Server plan is a great starting point – it doesn’t swamp you with features, making it a manageable choice. 8GB RAM is plenty of memory, and four CPU cores should be enough to keep your site running smoothly.

The only downside of the cheapest plan is that it uses HDD (Hard Disk Drive) storage. This isn’t bad, but it won’t be as fast as the newer SSD (Solid State Drive) storage that comes with more advanced plans.

HostGator recommends the Power Server plan, and if you’ve got the budget to stretch to $139.99 per month, it’s a solid choice. You get to choose between HDD and SSD storage for one thing, meaning you can choose the faster option if you want to.

Most users won’t need the Enterprise Server plan, and definitely not right away – this plan is something to work towards. Eight cores and 1TB SSD storage would be wasted on “normal” websites. At the Enterprise Server plan level, you are just paying for the extra resources as unless you’re a really, really big store, you won’t be utilizing it fully which makes this plan a little excessive.

HostGator’s value for money score for dedicated is 3.6 out of 5, similar to its score for shared hosting in our research. Make sure you’re getting value for your money by picking the plan that’ll work hardest for you!

HostGator Hosting Plans vs Competitor Hosting Plans

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We’ve looked at each of HostGator’s hosting plans in detail, so you should have a pretty good idea of which one you would choose for your own site. But before doing that, you probably want to know if you could get a better deal elsewhere, right?

HostGator’s prices match up pretty well on the whole with its main competitors, InMotion and Bluehost. It’s not the cheapest, but overall it puts some appealing deals on the table. Across all hosting plans, here’s how these three top competitors range in price:

• HostGator’s prices range from $3.95 to $299.99 per month
• Bluehost’s prices range from $2.95 to $209.99 per month
• InMotion’s prices range from $3.49 to $839 per month

HostGator sits fairly close to Bluehost in its overall pricing range, and you can clearly see it offers much cheaper pricing than InMotion when it comes to its top-priced plans. But how do they compare on a plan-by-plan basis? Let’s take a look (all prices shown in the table are discount prices only):

While HostGator may not offer the cheapest prices on the market, it does tend to have a more affordable upper limit on its price plans.

Overall, HostGator offers better value for money than InMotion, with a 3.5 out of 5 overall score versus InMotion’s 2.9 out of 5. But Bluehost’s overal value score of 4.7 means that it offers better value than HostGator.

However, when you dig deeper into specific hosting types, it’s clear that the best value option depends on the type of plan you need. HostGator’s shared plans give you better value than Bluehost’s, with 3.6 out of 5 for value for money against Bluehost’s 3.1 out of 5.

While HostGator isn’t the best value choice for VPS hosting, apart from that its plans are pretty well-matched with its competitors and its scores in our research tell us it’s an amazingly solid and reliable provider.

Additionally, we mentioned it before but it bears repeating: no one beats HostGator for help and support across all types of hosting. It scores 4.9 out of 5 in nearly all rankings and has every available help and support channel open for you. Knowledge base? Check. 24/7 phone and live chat? Check. Email support and community center where you query other users and professionals? Checkamundo. 

If you’re really unsure and are a total newbie when it comes to hosting, HostGator’s help and support should be able to put that mind at ease.

When you sign up for hosting, you’ll find there’s a whole range of other things you either should, could, or definitely must get. Some extras are even automatically selected when you get to checkout – let’s take a look at what other costs you can expect from HostGator if you sign up.

1. Domain Names

Some of HostGator’s plans – its WordPress hosting, for instance – include a free domain name. This is a great bonus, but not all plans include a domain for free. Luckily, you can buy your domain name directly from HostGator – but how much does it cost?

HostGator’s domain prices work in a similar way to its hosting costs – in this case the first year is discounted, and you then pay the regular price afterwards. Here’s a look at some of its prices:

• .com: $12.95 per year, renews at $17.99
• .org: $12.95 per year, renews at $17.99
• .website: $9.95 per year, renews at $15
• .net: $12.95 per year, renews at $17.99
• .me: $15 per year, renews at $19.95

These are pretty high renewal prices, but it does come with the benefit of having your hosting and domain name all in one place!

2. SSL Certificates

HostGator includes a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate on all its hosting plans. This gives you basic protection, but if you want a more advanced level of security then you can buy premium SSL certificates through HostGator.

There are three SSLs to choose from:

• Positive SSL: $3.33 per month (renews at $39.99 per year)
• Multi-Domain SSL: $79.99 per year
• Extended Validation SSL: $269.99 per year

You don’t have to buy one of these – it’s mostly for sites that need an extra level of trust and security, such as online stores.

3. CodeGuard

CodeGuard is a backup and security software that gives you protection against things going wrong. It runs daily, automatic backups for your site, lets you know of any unauthorized changes, and lets you restore your site to a previous version should anything not go to plan.

Pricing starts at $2 per month for your first term, then renews at $23.95 per year. You can add this as an extra at checkout when you sign up for a hosting plan. Heads up – it often comes already selected, so if you don’t want these features you’d better make sure this box isn’t ticked.

4. SiteLock Monitoring

This is a helpful feature that monitors your website daily and alerts you if your site gets hacked or injected with malicious code. Pretty scary stuff, right? That’s why HostGator lists it as a “highly recommended” add-on at checkout.

SiteLock monitoring costs $2.99 per month – billed annually at $35.88 and renews at $83.88. This is added to your hosting plan and comes pre-selected by HostGator. Double-check to make sure whether it’s ticked or not to avoid any surprises at payment.

5. Other Extras

Other extras you might find at checkout include a professional email address, which costs $6 per month, and HostGator SEO Tools, which cost $35.40 per year. These don’t usually come automatically selected, so if you want them as add-ons simply tick the ones you want!

We’ve covered the ins and outs of HostGator’s pricing plans, from the cheapest to the most expensive packages, how it compares with its top competitors, and flagged the extra costs you should look out for.

By now you should know whether HostGator’s hosting plans are right for you – and which one you want to take a closer look at. We’ve talked about a lot of different plans, though, so let’s have a quick recap of HostGator’s plans…

HostGator Pricing Summary

• Shared hosting: $3.95 – $7.25 per month.
• Cloud hosting: $7.95 – $11.95 per month.
• WordPress hosting: $7.95 – $11.95 per month.
• Reseller hosting: $24.95 – $29.95 per month.
• VPS hosting: $23.95 – $59.95 per month.
• Dedicated hosting: $109.97 – $159.98 per month.

Shared, WordPress, and VPS hosting are the most commonly chosen hosting types, but it really depends on your individual needs – and your budget!

Remember that the initial discount won’t last forever, so always check the renewal prices before signing up. Watch out for additional costs at checkout, too – HostGator offers tons of optional extras that you can pick and choose, such as domain names, backup services, and SEO tools – so be careful to review your plan before completing your purchase.

Our final verdict of HostGator’s pricing is a positive one. With an overall score of 4.7 out of 5, a value for money score of 3.5, and our #1 ranked provider for shared hosting, it’s an extremely strong hosting provider, so although its plans aren’t always the cheapest, you know you’re getting a great quality service for your money.