Bluehost and HostGator are widely recognized for offering cheap web hosting solutions. In this Bluehost vs HostGator web hosting comparison I will review these two companies, so you can get a clear picture of what you actually get for the price.
Bluehost vs HostGator – Shared Hosting Comparison
Bluehost and HostGator are pretty close in terms of shared hosting features. However, when I compare their recurring billing options I find HostGator more flexible. In order to sign up for a Bluehost plan, you will at least need to pay for the whole year whereas HostGator offers so many choices (even monthly billing).
| HostGator | Bluehost |
|---|---|
| 1 month | – |
| 3 months | – |
| 6 months | – |
| 12 months | 12 months |
| 24 months | 24 months |
| 36 months | 36 months |
Flexible billing cycle gives users more confidence when they are switching to a new web host. Especially when you just want to try out a new hosting for a month. So, in this case, I believe the winner is HostGator.
Winner: HostGator
Price Comparison
As we know that HostGator doesn’t offer flexible billing options like Bluehost, It will only be fair if we do the price comparison based on the yearly costs.
| HostGator | Bluehost |
|---|---|
| Hatchling plan – $3.95/month | Basic plan – $2.95/month |
| Baby plan – $5.95/month | Plus plan – $5.95/month |
| Business plan – $5.95/month | Business Pro plan – $5.95/month |
Bluehost business pro plan might be expensive but they are still ahead of HostGator for their Basic and Plus plans. I believe most new users would be interested in the cheapest or the second cheapest plan, so Bluehost is clearly the winner here.
Winner: Bluehost
Main Feature Comparison
Here is the comparison between HostGator hatchling and Bluehost basic plans:
| HostGator Hatchling | Bluehost Basic | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of websites | 1 | 1 |
| Web space | Unmetered | 50 GB |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Free domains | 0 | 1 |
| Parked domains | 0 | 5 |
| Sub domains | Unlimited | 25 |
| Email accounts | Unlimited | 5 |
| Email storage | Unlimited | 100 MB per account |
| Marketing credit | $100 (Google Adwords) | – |
I believe they both have some promising features. If you are really into marketing that $100 Google Adwords credit will put HostGator ahead of Bluehost. On the other hand, if you just want to compare hosting related features Bluehost is clearly the winner here. It offers a free domain when you sign up and you get up to 50 GB of web space (which is more than enough for one site). The term unmetered might sound good but it doesn’t say anything specific. The problem with abstract term like “unmetered” is that they can give you a warning when they feel you are using too much resources. Other things like unlimited sub domains and email accounts are not very important as you would probably create only one.
Winner: Bluehost
Here is the comparison between HostGator Basic and Bluehost Plus plans:
| HostGator Baby | Bluehost Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of websites | Unlimited | 10 |
| Web space | Unmetered | 150 GB |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Free domains | 0 | 1 |
| Parked domains | Unlimited | 20 |
| Sub domains | Unlimited | 50 |
| Email accounts | Unlimited | 100 |
| Email storage | Unlimited | 500 MB per account |
| Marketing credit | $100 (Google Adwords) | $150 |
I believe the result goes in favor of Bluehost again. HostGator Baby plan does provide unlimited domains but the difference is not that much. On the other hand, BlueHost Plus plan is offering up to $150 marketing credit and a free domain when you sign up.
Winner: Bluehost
Here is the comparison between HostGator Basic and Bluehost Plus plans:
| HostGator Business | Bluehost Business Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of websites | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Web space | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Free domains | 0 | 1 |
| Free Private SSL | 1 | 1 |
| Dedicated IP | Yes | Yes |
| Parked domains | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Sub domains | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email storage | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Marketing credit | $100 (Google Adwords) | $300 |
Apart from marketing credit, HostGator is the winner here. You do get a free domain with BlueHost but you will be paying extra $6/month = $72/year.
Winner: HostGator
Bluehost vs HostGator – Page Speed Test
I tested the HostGator and Bluehost servers from 5 different locations. I found HostGator quicker on an average than Bluehost. There wasn’t a big difference in the page size either (HostGator 1.3 MB and Bluehost 1.5MB).
| Location | HostGator | Bluehost |
|---|---|---|
| New York City, New York, USA | 2.83s | 5.66s |
| Dallas, Texas, USA | 3.52s | 3.92s |
| Amsterdam, Netherlands | 4.41s | 7.15s |
| Stockholm, Sweden | 4.76s | 5.80s |
| Melbourne, Australia | 8.43s | 7.05s |
I ran the test a couple of times and HostGator performed better almost 90% of the time. The result from HostGator was also very stable, whereas Bluehost page load time fluctuated a lot during the tests.
Here is a graph that shows the average performance of both web hosts in the last 10 days:
HostGator Load Time
Bluehost Load Time
Based on this performance test, I believe HostGator is the winner.
Winner: HostGator
If you want to see the full list of things that come with their hosting packages please visit the HostGator and Bluehost sites. If you have anything to add to the list feel free to share it in the comments.
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