Hostgator Pricing Charts: Compared to Other Web Hosts

Table of Contents

Hostgator Add-on Pricing

In addition to web hosting, there are also additional services. Here is the pricing for the Hostgator SEO, SiteLock, CodeGuard, Positive SSL, and Workspace add-ons.

Add-On	Pricing	Details
Hostgator SEO	$2.95/m	Basic SEO. Read my Hostgator SEO Review.
Hostgator CodeGuard	$23.95/m	Basic backup. Read my Hostgator CodeGuard Review.
Hostgator SiteLock	$2.99/m	Site security. Hostgator SiteLock review.
Positive SSL	$3.33/m	Positive SSL. Not needed after a free Hostgator SSL.
Google Workspace	$6/m	Personalized e-mail domain and more.

You can buy these Hostgator add-ons during the checkout process, or after you’ve already bought hosting. But they have to be attached to an existing Hostgator web hosting package.

Hostgator Pricing vs Other Web Hosts

Here’s how the pricing for Hostgator compares to other web hosts:

	Discounted Price	Renewal Price
Hostgator	$2.57/m	$7.99/m
KnownHost	$3.47/m	$8.95/m
Bluehost	$2.95/m	$9.99/m
DreamHost	$2.95/m	$4.95/m
NameHero	$3.58/m	$8.95/m
SiteGround	$2.99/m	$14.99/m
GoDaddy	$4.49/m	$8.99/m
HostPapa	$3.95/m	$9.99/m
Hostinger	$1.99/m	$9.99/m

Hostgator Pricing vs SiteGround Pricing

SiteGround is a lot more expensive than Hostgator. Even though it doesn’t look like it when you compare the discounted prices- SiteGround starts at $2.99/m, and Hostgator is $2.57/m.

SiteGround, unlike Hostgator, draws you in with discounts, and then hammers you with high renewal costs.

However, you see the real difference between the two when you compare the renewal prices for Hostgator and SiteGround. Hostgator renews at $7.99/m, whereas SiteGround renews at $14.99/m. The difference is huge! The reason is that SiteGround has a much higher discount than Hostgator, which makes it seem more affordable than it is. Especially in recent years, they’ve raised prices a lot – which is why I no longer recommend SiteGround.

Here’s the difference between Hostgator and SiteGround features:

Feature	Hostgator	SiteGround
Discount Pricing	$2.57/m	$2.99/m
Renewal Pricing	$7.99/m	$14.99/m
Backups	Separate add-on	Included
Free malware scanning	Separate add-on	Separate add-on
SSD drives	Only for the MySQL database	Yes
Free Domain	Yes	No

As you can see, SiteGround is better than Hostgator in all features. But the renewal price makes it very unattractive.

Hostgator’s renewal prices are much more affordable than SiteGround’s and this is why it’s a far better option for cheap hosting. SiteGround has a lot of features, it’s true. But the cost just isn’t worth it in my opinion.

Hostgator Pricing vs Bluehost Pricing

Bluehost is a sister company of Hostgator, and as such, the two inevitably end up sharing many of the same features. However, there’s still a big difference between Hostgator and Bluehost pricing.

Bluehost is slightly more expensive than Hostgator. But still no backups.

To start with, Bluehost doesn’t have 24-month hosting, and its 3-year plans are more expensive than its 12-month plans. With Hostgator, you can get 36-month hosting at a lower price than 12-month hosting, meaning you save more money in the long run. For the slightly higher price, Bluehost has more features such as site isolation and SSD drives for files and folders. Unfortunately, like Hostgator, Bluehost doesn’t have in-built backups and security. These are additional add-ons that you need to purchase. Here’s the Bluehost discount code page where you can see the pricing for all their plans.

Here’s a breakdown of the feature comparison between Bluehost and Hostgator:

Feature	Hostgator	Bluehost
Discount Pricing	$2.57/m	$2.95/m
Renewal Pricing	$7.99/m	$9.99/m
Backups	Separate add-on	Separate add-on
Free malware scanning	Separate add-on	Separate add-on
Site Isolation	No	Yes
SSD drives	MySQL database only	Yes
Free Domain	Yes	Yes

For a more in-depth analysis, check out the full Bluehost vs Hostgator comparison.

Hostgator Pricing vs GoDaddy Pricing

GoDaddy has a false reputation for being low-cost. They’re not. It’s quite expensive. Unfortunately, the price isn’t backed up by features. Hostgator is both cheaper and has better services. Which makes GoDaddy just bad.

GoDaddy is expensive, but without any compensating features. Hostgator is a better value proposition.

The biggest problem with GoDaddy compared to Hostgator, is the lack of SSL. GoDaddy charges all its customers the absurd amount of $63.99/yr for the privilege of SSL. Compared to that, Hostgator’s SSL pricing is free, and has been for many years. GoDaddy is simply taking advantage of customers who don’t know any better. In addition to that, they charge you extra for customer support, limit the number of databases you can create, and have pretty pathetic storage limits.

To be honest, I don’t know how GoDaddy is still in the web hosting business. Their product is so bad. Here’s a comparison of GoDaddy and Hostgator features:

Feature	Hostgator	GoDaddy
Discount Pricing	$2.57/m	$5.99/m
Renewal Pricing	$7.99/m	$8.99/m
Free SSL?	Yes	No
Backups	cPanel Backups	cPanel Backups
Free malware scanning	Separate add-on	Separate add-on
SSD drives	No	Yes
Free Domain	Yes	Yes

The lack of free SSL is in itself the single biggest reason to stay away from GoDaddy.

Hostgator Pricing vs Hostinger Pricing

Hostinger can be cheaper than Hostgator depending on whether or not you want a free domain. If you’re willing to dispense with that, the Hostinger pricing starts for as little as $1.99/m, which is lower than Hostgator.

Hostinger has cheaper pricing that Hostgator, but at the cost of many essential features.

One disadvantage of the cheapest Hostinger plan compared to Hostgator is the low storage limits and the number of databases allowed. Hostgator allows you to have as many databases as you want, and offers unlimited storage, whereas Hostinger just allows two databases, and has significant storage limitations. It doesn’t allow Cloudflare integration either. So on the whole, I wouldn’t choose Hostinger because their basic plan simply lacks too many features. The most viable Hostinger plan is the second-tier plan which starts as $2.99/m, but you can already see that this is more expensive than Hostgator.

Here’s a feature comparison between Hostgator and Hostinger:

Feature	Hostgator Hatchling	Hostinger Basic
Discount Pricing	$2.57/m	$1.99/m
Renewal Pricing	$7.99/m	$9.99/m
Databases	Unlimited	2
Cloudflare	Yes	No
FTP Users	Unlimited	1
Free Domain	Yes	No

As you can see, the Hostinger single plan lacks a lot of essential features that the Hatchling plan gives for free. And the higher tier plans are more expensive than Hostgator.

Hostgator vs KnownHost Pricing

At first glance, Hostgator looks cheaper than KnownHost – and it is. Hostgator has better discounts and lower renewal prices than KnownHost. To see more, here are all the KnownHost promo codes.

However, KnownHost has more in-built features and if you want these same features on Hostgator, you need to purchase add-ons, which raises the price. A good example of this is CodeGuard, which costs $23.95/m extra, and the same goes for SiteLock. Hostgator is great for affordable, basic hosting but as soon as you want something more than that, it quickly becomes a lot more expensive. KnownHost provides these for free with backups and Imunify360 protection. It’s also faster with the LiteSpeed webserver.

Another difference is that KnownHost doesn’t provide a free domain name. Here’s a more in-depth review of KnownHost vs Hostgator.

Hostgator Cost vs NameHero

The initial term discounts of NameHero are very similar to Hostgator, starting at $3.58/m. The difference is that with NameHero, you get the maximum discount only if you host for 3-years, whereas with Hostgator, you can get cheap hosting even with just one year. Here’s the best NameHero coupon to get you started.

NameHero also gives a free domain name like Hostgator, but only if you purchase the higher-tier plans and host for at least two years. So in terms of basic hosting, Hostgator is cheaper than NameHero. But NameHero has free backups, security, server-side caching, and NVMe drives. If you want additional features on Hostgator, you have to buy the add-ons which cost a lot more. So depending on what you want, Hostgator can be either cheaper or more expensive than NameHero.

Check out my full NameHero vs Hostgator comparison to learn more.

Hostgator Pricing vs DreamHost Pricing

Unlike Hostgator, DreamHost has only two pricing slabs for shared hosting – Starter and Unlimited. Here’s the DreamHost coupon page, where you can get the latest discounts for all DreamHost plans. The Starter package has a higher discount compared to Hostgator, starting at $2.95/m, but has one serious limitation – no e-mail hosting.

DreamHost can be cheaper that Hostgator’s pricing, but the basic plan lacks e-mail hosting.

Whenever I see a web hosting product cheaper than Hostgator, I double-check to see if there’s any major feature missing. And sure enough, with the basic DreamHost plan, there’s one huge loophole – the lack of free e-mail hosting. This means you can’t use your domain name as a customized e-mail address unless you purchase the “DreamHost Email” plan. With Hostgator, e-mail is included as part of the package with cPanel and everything.

On the other hand, DreamHost has free automated daily backups, which is a big advantage over Hostgator plans. So you have to balance the lack of e-mail with the availability of backups. Otherwise, the two plans have very similar pricing. The DreamHost basic plan has some additional limitations on storage and FTP users as you can see below:

Feature	Hostgator Hatchling	DreamHost Basic
Discount Pricing	$2.57/m	$2.95/m
Renewal Pricing	$7.99/m	$4.95/m
Storage (GB)	Unlimited	50 GB
SSD Drives	Only for MySQL Databases	Yes
Databases	Unlimited	6
FTP Users	Unlimited	6
Subdomains	Unlimited	5
Free Domain	Yes	Yes

As you can see, Hostgator is much more liberal in terms of storage space and resources compared to the DreamHost basic plan. The higher-tier DreamHost package is a much better product. Both come with daily backups, which is a great addition. In all, DreamHost is an amazing alternative to Hostgator.

Best Affordable Basic Hosting Alternatives to Hostgator

While Hostgator has the best affordable basic hosting, here are some alternatives if you want something else.

1. Bluehost

Bluehost isn’t the cheapest hosting service – not by a long shot. And there are indications that it’s about to get more expensive. However, under special circumstances, Bluehost offers an amazing $2.95/m plan with a free domain! In absolute terms, this is as close to the low Hostgator pricing as you can get.

However, there are a few caveats.

Catch 1: Very Rare Discount

The $2.95/m deal only shows up for special occasions. I’ve tried to see which actions can force it to appear, and it seems to be a bit hit and miss. The link above shows you how you can increase your chances of seeing the deal.

Also, it’s only worth it if you don’t currently have a domain. If you already have one or are switching web hosts, then the Bluehost deal doesn’t bring as much value.

Catch 2: 36-month Hosting is More Expensive

It’s strange, but Bluehost charges you more if you host for 36-months instead of just one year. This makes it impossible to lock in a low rate for a long time. Here’s a screenshot:

Normally, web hosts try and lock you in for longer periods. But Bluehost essentially forces you to subscribe for just one year, and then pay the full renewal price afterward because the 3-year rate is so much higher.

2. GoDaddy

GoDaddy’s famous $1/m plan for 12-months would seem to beat out both Bluehost as well as Hostgator in terms of costs. In terms of low costs, it’s certainly one of the lowest-priced deals on the market.

The Catch

The biggest catch with GoDaddy’s $1/m web hosting is that it has no free SSL. Since early 2018, every major hosting company has been offering free SSL because of Google’s mandate.

GoDaddy makes you pay for SSL.

Without SSL, you will face a decline in your Google ranking (all other things being equal). And GoDaddy’s SSL isn’t cheap. Instead of offering free Let’s Encrypt certificates like everyone else, they make you pay around $63.99/m per year for SSL!

That’s an outrageous price for what should be a basic amenity at this point. Let’s Encrypt or AutoSSL certificates are standard, these days and the only reason for charging for SSL is a cash-grab. So if you’re looking for basic, low-cost hosting, give GoDaddy a pass. It’s not worth it.

3. DreamHost

DreamHost’s prices are almost lower than those of Hostgator. If you see the web hosting comparison page, it seems that DreamHost’s discounted price is lower than that of Hostgator’s.

DreamHost’s renewal price is higher than Hostgator’s.

DreamHost’s basic hosting starts at $2.95/m, whereas Hostgator’s starts at $2.57/m. However, because DreamHost’s discount is higher, the renewal costs are more. On the plus side, DreamHost has a free backup system, which beats out Hostgator since even basic, affordable hosting benefits greatly from daily backups.

For monthly hosting, DreamHost has a pretty low-cost option, but it doesn’t beat Hostgator’s 1c hosting, which is a lot more affordable – essentially free.

Hostgator Pricing is the Lowest for Basic, Affordable Hosting

If you’re looking for basic, low-cost hosting, there’s a certain price point below which you shouldn’t go. Below that, web hosts start compromising on essential features that you need to run even a small website. Here are the limits I’ve found in my research:

• MINIMUM Price for 12-months: $2.64/m after discounts
• MINIMUM Price for 3-years: $3.00/m after discounts

I’m basing both these limits off of Hostgator’s discounts because I use them as a benchmark.

Why am I Using Hostgator as a Benchmark?

Many web hosts offer you dirt cheap hosting. Sometimes for pennies per month. On the other hand, there are plenty of expensive web hosting options with features oozing out the ears.

Hostgator is the benchmark for basic, affordable hosting.

Somewhere between these two, there is a minimum support point. If you go lower than that, you start cutting into the bone, and the service degrades irreparably.

I’ve found that Hostgator manages to find that “lowest supportable” point. Where you get just enough affordable, basic hosting to run your website properly without cutting too many corners. You’ll find that given the specific feature list, no one beats Hostgator for price.

What Happens if you Go Below the “Limit” Pricing?

The market is saturated with web hosts who offer prices lower than Hostgator, of course. GoDaddy for example sometimes has its famous “$1/m” plans for 12-months. Hostinger is another well-known hosting provider, whose prices are simply too good to be true – often a few pennies per month.

There’s a lower limit for affordable, basic hosting.

But each of these has fatal flaws that will make hosting on them very difficult. For example, Exabytes is a hosting provider that has low pricing. But when you dig into the guts of their plan, you see that they have severe limitations on the disk space and bandwidth per month.

Similarly, GoDaddy and Hostinger don’t have basic SSL support – something that’s a necessity in today’s world. GoDaddy’s SSL option is expensive, and Hostinger makes you shell out a one-time payment for so-called “lifetime SSL”, which in reality is just the free Let’s Encrypt certificates that all the other web hosts like Hostgator provide without any additional charge.

Free Domains with Hosting

These days, most web hosts will give you a free domain when you sign up for an annual plan or more. For a long time, Hostgator didn’t offer this, but late in 2019, they decided to offer that as well, along with a slight increase in their annual hosting price.

Some web hosts like Hostinger, don’t offer a free domain with cheap plans as shown in the screenshot here:

So if you’re looking for the lowest cost hosting, make sure you find one that offers a free domain along with everything else. When it’s time to renew your domain, however, I suggest you switch your domain registrar to Cloudflare. It’s much cheaper than HostGator since they don’t charge your markups.

Hostgator Pricing: Decreased 12-Month Hosting Costs

Hostgator recently reduced the prices of their 12-month plans for certain coupon codes. Here’s what the pricing looks like with the SAVINGSBUNDLE coupon:

This new pricing isn’t rolling out to all coupon codes. Only a few select ones. The idea seems to be to keep both options open. If someone wants to search for lower-cost 3-year or 12-month hosting, they can find the coupon that corresponds to the pricing they want.

Hostgator Pricing: No Warning Signs

You might be thinking that Hostgator pricing isn’t that low. After all, there are plenty of web hosts with lower-priced hosting. But web hosting plans are full of gimmicks. In an attempt to entice you with lower prices, companies will compromise on all kinds of features, that should be a staple on any package. Here are 3 signs that you’re looking at a poor web hosting plan – and if you spot them, make sure you run away!

1. Hosting Price is Lower than $2.50/m

I usually use Hostgator as my benchmark to determine if a web hosting plan sucks. Hostgator isn’t anything special (except for their WordPress plans). But it’s rock-solid hosting, at the lowest possible price.

Be suspicious of extremely low-cost web hosting.

As a result, when I see dirt cheap web hosting, I get immediately suspicious. Bluehost is the only plan that comes close, but that’s only with their special $2.95/m deal that comes along very rarely – and you also need to sign up for 36-months at a time.

There are many companies like Hostinger which offer packages for dirt cheap – pennies per month. But remember – there’s always a catch. If you still want to explore further, then see the rest of the warning signs below. The Hostgator pricing is right in the sweet spot.

2. No Free SSL Including in the Pricing

This is a massive warning sign for any web hosting plan. It should be printed in big neon lights over any web hosting provider that doesn’t give you a free SSL certificate. In today’s world, NO ONE needs to pay for SSL, and someone who doesn’t give it to you for free is trying to scam you.

For example, Hostinger is often cited to have some of the cheapest plans on the market. And if you just look at their prices, you’ll be inclined to agree. But then see this screenshot from their website:

So not only does the cheapest plan not give free SSL, the second cheapest plan doesn’t either. At this rate, you have to purchase an SSL certificate, and that costs a lot more than the web hosting itself! GoDaddy is another major offender on this front. Yes, they have cheap $1/m plans. But those plans come without free SSL, which you’ll then need to purchase anyway. Result? You end up paying a lot more for web hosting. In your quest for low-cost, basic hosting, make sure you don’t miss out on other aspects that impact the price.

Hostgator on the other hand gives you free SSL on all their plans. It’s built into the pricing. So if you see web hosting with suspiciously low rates, take a look at whether or not they provide free SSL.

3. Paltry Disk Space and Bandwidth Quotas

A normally functioning website requires at least a few GB to function. This is taking into consideration files and MySQL databases. A small website should also have a few GBs worth of bandwidth. Anything less than that, and you risk running out of resources.

Sometimes, cheap web hosting plans limit their resources to pay for the low revenue. For example, Exabytes is one of the nicest “genuine” affordable, basic web hosting providers. They provide free SSL. But look at the resource allocations for their cheapest plan:

As you can see, this means that you’ll run out of disk space or bandwidth pretty fast. It can particularly hurt when your site suddenly takes off, but instead of cashing in on the opportunity, your website goes down and you have to scramble for new hosting. That is a tragedy. Hostgator on the other hand gives you enough resources to run your company. It’s not amazing, but it’s good enough.

Hostgator’s Pricing is Right on the Line

There’s a lower limit to the price of affordable, basic web hosting without sacrificing something along the way. I’ve already mentioned that I use Hostgator’s pricing as a benchmark for “gimmick-free” hosting. However, many others in the same price range are perfectly good alternatives.

But if something is substantially cheaper than Hostgator, I immediately get suspicious. And when I look closely, I’m always right. Use the above tips as a guide to what’s “real” and what’s not!