In 2024, you might come across many web hosting providers, but if you’re looking for reliability and affordability, NameCheap and HostGator are two great options. Both providers have a vast customer base with various hosting plans suiting several users.
However, users must know about some key differences before choosing NameCheap or HostGator as their go-to web hosting service. Here’s how the two compare.
NameCheap vs. HostGator: Overview
NameCheap was founded in Arizona by Richard Kirkendall in 2000 “with a mission to deliver the best domains at the best prices.” Since then, the company has also added hosting and Managed WordPress services to its portfolio. Currently, the company has over 1700 employees in over 18 countries and manages over 17 million domains for millions of customers.
HostGator was founded in 2002 by Brent Oxley, who started the company with limited resources. Shortly after, HostGator started expanding its resources with more hosting plans and flexibility in terms of price. Today, it caters to more than 800,000 customers around the world, offering shared hosting plans for beginners and dedicated hosting for businesses or enterprises.
Although both services offer different types of hosting, such as shared and dedicated, some crucial factors differ, such as the starting price and included features. Our comparison also includes information about the providers’ uptime, safety measures, and customer support. By the end, you will have a good idea of what suits your hosting needs better than the other.
Starting price
INR 164.82 ($1.98) per month (billed annually)
Extras and inclusions
Free domain, SSL, site migration, website builder, 100 apps
Why We Picked It
For one of the lowest prices out there, Namecheap offers decent quality. You won’t get all the bells and whistles GoDaddy offers, but you’ll get enough to have a solid business website that attracts customers. And with a 100% uptime guarantee, Namecheap can give you confidence your site will be online whenever your customers need it.
Pros & Cons
- Less than half the price per month than GoDaddy
- More storage than GoDaddy’s entry-level plan
- Unlimited email accounts on top plans
- Up to 600,000 files on top plan
- Unlimited FTP users on top plans
- Backups only happen twice a week
- Limited to three hosted domains on base plan
- Only three data center locations to choose from
- Free cloud storage only available on top U.S. plan
HostGator
Pricing
Starts at INR 79 228.84 ($2.75) per month for shared hosting
Security
Free SSL certificate and server monitoring
Pricing
Starts at INR 79 228.84 ($2.75) per month for shared hosting
Security
Free SSL certificate and server monitoring
Pros & Cons
- 99.9% uptime
- Easy setup for beginners
- Cheap, scalable plans
- Free domain only lasts one year
- Does not provide daily backups
- Renewal rate two to three times higher than introductory rate
NameCheap vs. HostGator: Detailed Comparison
Features
Let’s begin the NameCheap vs. HostGator comparison with the available hosting options. The Arizona-based web hosting provider NameCheap offers a variety of services, including shared (beginner-friendly, affordable plans), reseller (for small businesses), VPS, Dedicated (most expensive), and WordPress hosting.
In the mix, shared or WordPress hosting are excellent options for clients wishing to host their websites. Naturally, these are the most affordable plans. On the other hand, VPS and dedicated hosting are for large-scale businesses or enterprises that want the best performance.
On the other side of the fence, HostGator provides all the web hosting services NameCheap does (except reseller hosting) and adds Cloud Hosting. This type of hosting guarantees more uptime as the website runs on multiple cloud-based servers that can fill in for others when one fails.
Both NameCheap and HostGator provide three plans, but there is a stellar difference in pricing.
Pricing and Plans
NameCheap’s most affordable plan, Stellar, starts at $1.98 per month for the first year. It offers a domain name, three websites, 20GB of SSD storage, 30 mailboxes, and access to the website builder tool. At $2.98 per month, Stellar Plus offers a domain name, unlimited websites, unmetered SSD, unlimited mailboxes, auto backups, and a website builder.
Then comes Stellar Business, which offers a domain name, unlimited websites, 50GB of SSD storage, unlimited mailboxes, auto backup, website builder, and cloud storage for 100% uptime at $4.98 per month. It is important to mention that the prices mentioned here are the discounted prices the company offers new customers for the first year. NameCheap also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee.
In comparison, HostGator’s most affordable Shared hosting plan, Hatchling, is available at an introductory price of $3.75 per month. It offers hosting for one website, 10GB of SSD web storage, unlimited email accounts, and chat-only support. A higher tier Baby plan costs $4.00 per month and offers hosting for two websites, 20GB of SSD web storage, and phone support.
Then there’s the HostGator Business Shared hosting plan that offers hosting for three websites, unmetered bandwidth, 40GB of SSD web storage, unlimited email addresses, and phone support for $6.25 per month. This plan also includes website transfers. Last but not least, HostGator also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee.
NameCheap’s most affordable Reseller hosting plan, Nebula, starts at $19.88 per month and offers 25 cPanel accounts with 30GB SSD storage. The EasyWP Starter plan, which offers 10GB of SSD storage and can handle 50L visitors per month, costs $6.88 per month. NameCheap’s VPS hosting services start at $6.88 and provide 2 CPU cores, 2GB RAM, 40GB SSD storage, and 1000GB bandwidth.
HostGator’s cheapest WordPress hosting plan costs $4.50 per month and allows customers to host two websites on an unmetered bandwidth connection. The included SSD storage is capped at 20GB. Other features include phone and chat support and one-click WordPress installs. However, HostGator’s VPS plans are way more expensive than NameCheap’s (due to more storage), starting at $34.99 monthly for 2 cores, 2GB of RAM, and 120GB of SSD storage.
NameCheap’s Dedicated hosting services begin at $41.38 per month, which provide a four-core Xeon E3-1240 processor clocked at 3.4GHz, 8GB of RAM, and 2TB of HDD storage. HostGator’s Dedicated hosting starts at $89.98 per month, offering a four-core Intel Xeon-D CPU, as long as 8GB of RAM and either 1TB HDD or 512GB SSD.
Reliability and Uptime
Both NameCheap and HostGator provide a 99.9% uptime. However, several reviews suggest that HostGator is better at keeping the promise, as its average runtime comes out to be around 99.9% in real-life usage. This means users should still expect about eight hours of downtime annually. However, NameCheap’s average uptime comes out to be 99.4%. In terms of downtime, this translates to about 50 hours a year.
As a result, even though HostGator is more expensive, it compensates by being more reliable. On the other hand, if uptime doesn’t bother you, NameCheap is still a pretty reliable web hosting service provider, especially for beginners or backyard businesses.
Performance and Speed
Like uptime, HostGator gets the better of NameCheap in terms of performance, too. According to Cyber News, NameCheap provides an average response time of 1.05 seconds, whereas HostGator stands at 525ms. The former LCP comes up to be 2.3s, whereas the latter recorded just 1.1s. Fully loaded time is a similar story, with HostGator coming out as the better provider.
Security Measures
Both NameCheap and HostGator include a free SSL certificate and a server-level firewall. However, to tip things back in NameCheap’s favor, its offerings provide WHOIS domain privacy protection, DDoS protection, automated backups twice a week, and a Web Application Firewall for $8.88 per month. HostGator, on the other hand, offers sitelock add-ons for $23.88 a year. Further, automated backups also cost an additional fee.
Customer Support
When it comes to customer support, both NameCheap and HostGator offer live chat for 24 hours, seven days a week. Both providers also offer support via email. However, HostGator also provides on-call support via its toll-free numbers on the contact page. Nonetheless, both companies also have a large knowledgebase where clients can find quick resolutions.
Bottom Line
The NameCheap Vs. HostGator comparison offers an insight into the differences between the hosting providers. While NameCheap’s hosting plans are more affordable with robust support, HostGator’s plans offer better performance and reliability at a higher price.
In the end, it is the type of website you wish to host and for what purpose. While NameCheap is great for a personal blog or a small-scale business, HostGator’s hosting plans are better suited for funded companies or enterprises that are catering to a larger audience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which is the most affordable web hosting provider?
When compared to others, NameCheap’s Shared hosting plans are among the most affordable.
Is NameCheap secure?
NameCheap offers several security features, such as SSD Certificates and a firewall, which makes it a secure web hosting provider.
Is HostGator better than NameCheap?
The answer depends on what one is looking for. In terms of affordability, NameCheap is better. However, HostGator offers more reliability and performance.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/in/business/software/namecheap-vs-hostgator/
