Top Alternatives to HostGator for Budget-Friendly Website Hosting

in Web Hosting

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When it comes to building a website, choosing the right web hosting provider is one of the most important first steps. HostGator is a popular web hosting company, but is it really the best option for you? Here are the best HostGator alternatives ⇣ right now:

From $1.99 per month

Get up to 75% off on hosting

There are numerous factors to consider, including speed, security, and, of course, price. Although HostGator is certainly not a bad hosting provider, it’s not perfect either. If you’re looking for other options on the market, I’ve compiled a list of alternatives to HostGator that may be better for your web hosting needs. 

Quick summary:

  • Best overall: Bluehost ⇣ is one of the cheapest and beginner-friendly hosting providers on the market offering quality web hosting.
  • Runner-up: Hostinger ⇣ offers shared hosting and domains to VPS and cloud plans at incredibly low prices.
  • Best premium alternative: SiteGround ⇣ offers better features, speed, security, and reliability with servers powered by Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Top HostGator Alternatives in 2024

HostGator is one of the most popular and cheapest web hosting services out there. Here are the best HostGator competitors you should consider that are better and cheaper.

1. Bluehost (Best HostGator alternative)

bluehost

Founded in Utah in 2003, Bluehost has grown to become one of the most popular web hosting providers on the market today, powering more than 2 million websites worldwide.

Bluehost Main Features

Bluehost strives to offer great service at a decent price, and they don’t disappoint. Bluehost’s prices are affordable enough to be accessible for beginners building their first website, but they offer plans that are sufficient for websites with much higher traffic, too.

Bluehost offers a wide variety of plans, including shared hosting (where your website shares a server with other websites), dedicated hosting (where your website has its own private server), VPS hosting (a sort of hybrid, where your website shares virtual resources with others), and dedicated WordPress hosting (specifically designed for WordPress-powered sites)

Bluehost is an official WordPress recommended hosting provider, making it a great option for anyone using WordPress to build their site. All plans come with 1-Click WordPress installation, which makes setting up your website as easy as possible.

Bluehost has continually performed well in speed tests, so you’ll never have to worry about slow loading speeds affecting your website’s SEO performance. 

All of Bluehost’s plans come with an intuitive, user-friendly control panel that allows users to manage their hosting with a minimal learning curve. For cheaper plans intended for beginners, Bluehost uses its own customized control panel specifically built for ease of use. For the more advanced plans, they use cPanel, a classic option used by many web hosting providers.

If any problems arise, you can contact Bluehost’s helpful customer service team 24/7 through live chat. Check out my Bluehost review here.

Bluehost Plans

bluehost plans

Bluehost offers a wide range of different types of hosting with different price points. I’ll break it down here into general price ranges for each different type of hosting, and you can check out their website for more details.

Shared Hosting: This is the ideal option for anyone just starting out on their website-building journey. If you don’t anticipate high levels of traffic to your site just yet, then shared hosting should be more than sufficient (and much more budget-friendly). Bluehost offers four shared hosting plans: Basic ($2.95/month), Plus ($5.45/month), Choice Plus ($5.45/month), and Pro ($13.95/month).

Dedicated Hosting: A more advanced (and expensive) option, dedicated hosting means your website will be hosted on its own dedicated server – no sharing resources with any other websites. This is really only necessary for websites that get a high level of traffic, as sharing resources can slow it down. Bluehost has three dedicated hosting plans: Standard ($79.99/month), Enhanced ($99.99/month), and Premium ($119.99/month).

VPS Hosting: A nice compromise between shared and dedicated hosting, VPS hosting combines aspects of both to give your website more resources at a reasonable price. As Bluehost’s website explains, “users can enjoy complete control over virtually all aspects of a site’s features and functions, with better performance and scalability than shared hosting.”

Bluehost offers three VPS hosting plans: Standard ($18.99/month), Enhanced ($29.99/month), and Ultimate ($59.99/month).

WordPress Hosting: As the name suggests, WordPress hosting is specifically designed to work well with WordPress-powered websites. Bluehost offers four WordPress Hosting plans: Basic ($3.45/month), Plus ($5.45/month) Choice Plus ($5.45/month), and Pro ($13.95/month). 

Bluehost also offers managed WordPress hosting plans that range from $9.95 to $27.95/month.

WooCommerce Hosting: Like WordPress Hosting, Bluehost’s WooCommerce hosting plans are designed to work smoothly with WooCommerce, the popular eCommerce website building platform. There are two WooCommerce plans: Standard ($15.95/month) and Premium ($32.95/month). 

All of Bluehost’s plans come with a free domain and a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there’s no risk involved in trying it out.

Bluehost Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Affordable shared hosting
  • Includes a free domain name
  • Responsive 24/7 customer support
  • Officially recommended by WordPress, and includes a 1-click WordPress install
  • Great security
  • No hidden fees during sign-up
  • Offers a beginner-friendly website builder

Cons:

  • A bit costly when it comes time to renew your domain name

Why Bluehost Is Better Than HostGator

Although Bluehost and HostGator are comparable in areas such as speed and reliability, Bluehost pulls ahead of HostGator in several areas. Bluehost is officially recommended by WordPress and includes numerous features that make using WordPress a breeze. See my HostGator vs Bluehost comparison for more info.

Bluehost also features an all-around better security suite than HostGator. Visit Bluehost.com now.

2. Hostinger (Cheapest HostGator alternative)

hostinger

Originally launched as a small web hosting company in Lithuania in 2011, Hostinger has earned its reputation as one of the most trustworthy and fast-growing web hosting providers on the market.

Hostinger Main Features

Hostinger has some of the best prices on the market, with their cheapest plan costing only $1.99/month. Although they don’t offer dedicated hosting, Hostinger does offer VPS hosting and cloud hosting (in addition to the standard shared web hosting), and a few unique options including Minecraft server hosting.

Their plans come with a wide range of great features, including a free SSL certificate, 1-Click WordPress installation and WordPress website acceleration, Cloudflare CDN (a geographically disperse group of servers that ensure fast content delivery and loading times), and 24/7 customer support through live chat (no phone support is available at this time).

Hostinger has created its own control panel, a cPanel alternative that it calls hPanel. hPanel is relatively easy to use and is intuitive enough for beginners to manage their websites without too much hassle.

Hostinger is fast and reliable, and their promise of 99.9% uptime means you’ll basically never have to worry about your website slowing down or crashing. Read my Hostinger review here.

Hostinger Plans

hostinger plans

Although Hostinger has a number of unique hosting options available, I’m going to focus here on their most popular plans, which are web hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, and VPS.

Web Hosting: This is Hostinger’s shared hosting option, which it advertises as being “for small or medium websites.” There are three web hosting plans: Single Shared Hosting ($1.99/month), Premium Shared Hosting ($2.99/month – Hostinger’s most popular plan), and Business Shared Hosting ($4.99/month).

Cloud Hosting: An increasingly popular option for web hosting, cloud hosting uses cloud servers to power your website. Hostinger offers three cloud hosting plans: Cloud Startup ($9.99/month), Cloud Professional ($18.99/month), and Cloud Enterprise ($69.99/month). 

WordPress Hosting: Hostinger has four plans that are optimized for use with WordPress: Single WordPress ($1.99/month – Hostinger’s cheapest plan), WordPress Starter ($3.99/month), Business WordPress ($6.99/month), and WordPress Pro ($11.59/month).

VPS Hosting: If you’re looking for a step up from shared hosting, VPS hosting might be the right fit for your needs. Hostinger has a surprisingly wide range of plans (there are eight of them, so I won’t go into all the details here), but their most popular VPS plan, VPS 2, is $8.95/month.

Hostinger Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Almost unbelievably low prices
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • 1-Click WordPress installation
  • 24/7 live chat customer support
  • Comes with a free domain and free SSL
  • Cheap Minecraft server hosting plans

Cons:

  • Doesn’t do daily backups

Why Hostinger Is Better Than HostGator

Hostinger beats HostGator (and all of the others on my list) in terms of price. Hostinger offers some of the lowest prices on the market without compromising on performance or features, making it a strong competitor to HostGator.

Visit Hostinger.com now! or check out my HostGator vs Hostinger comparison

3. SiteGround (Premium HostGator competitor)

siteground

Another option that’s widely approved by the WordPress community, SiteGround is a solid alternative to HostGator. 

SiteGround Main Features

SiteGround is a great option for beginners, as it comes with a user-friendly control panel and makes scaling your website seamless and easy. It’s an example of a ‘boutique box’ provider, meaning it’s still independent and isn’t owned by one of the larger firms that have absorbed so many smaller web companies.

The company has built a strong reputation as a WordPress-focused web host, but that’s not all they have to offer. Regardless of whether or not your website is using WordPress, you can trust that SiteGround will give you great customer service, impressive speed and uptime guarantees, and multiple data centers.

SiteGround uses Google Cloud servers for all of their new customers, which is one of the fastest server options around. They offer an impressive range of different plans, many of which are geared towards beginners and smaller websites, although they do offer more advanced solutions with sophisticated features. 

These include WooCommerce hosting plans, the most advanced of which (called GoGeek) comes with unlimited websites, 20GB of web space, unmetered traffic, free WP installer and migrator, out-of-the-box caching, unlimited databases, and much more. 

They even promise a 100% renewable energy match with all plans, so your website can be climate guilt-free.  Read my SiteGround review here.

SiteGround Plans

siteground plans

SiteGround offers a wide variety of different plans, from the standard, shared hosting to more specialized options like reseller hosting.

Web Hosting: SiteGround offers three shared web hosting plans: StartUp ($3.99/month), GrowBig ($6.69/month), and GoGeek ($10.69/month). All web hosting plans are eCommerce enabled and come with free SSL and CDN, as well as managed WordPress.

WordPress Hosting: This is SiteGround’s WordPress-specific hosting option. There are three plans, which have the same names and prices as the web hosting plans (see above) but come with a few different features.

WooCommerce Hosting: Like its web hosting and WordPress hosting plans, SiteGround’s WooCommerce hosting plans have the same three tiers at the same prices, but are specifically configured for hosting WooCommerce-powered websites. There are three WooCommerce price tiers: StartUp ($3.99/month), GrowBig ($6.69/month), and GoGeek ($10.69/month).

Cloud Hosting: SiteGround’s cloud hosting plans come at four (much pricier) tiers: Jump Start ($100/month), Business ($200/month), Business Plus ($300/month), and Super Power ($400/month). 

Reseller Hosting: This is a more specialized option than most people will need, as it’s specifically intended for resellers who don’t want their clients to see any SiteGround branding. The reseller hosting plans come at three price points: GrowBig ($6.69/month), GoGeek ($10.69/month), and Cloud (starts at $100/month).

All of SiteGround’s plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 100% renewable energy match

One potential downside is that all of SiteGround’s plans come with limited storage space, so this is something you’ll have to pay attention to when choosing the right plan for your website’s needs.

SiteGround Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Great speed powered by Google Cloud servers
  • Free website migration
  • Officially recommended by WordPress, and comes with 1-Click WordPress installation
  • All plans come with free SSL and CDN (content delivery network)
  • Friendly, personalized customer service

Cons: 

  • Doesn’t come with a free domain name
  • Plans have limited storage space

Why SiteGround Is Better Than HostGator

Although HostGator is the cheaper option, SiteGround offers a wider range of features and plans, making it a truly flexible option for websites looking to start small and scale-up. 

Their customer service is another area where SiteGround really shines: they offer live chat, ticket, email, and phone support, and have a well-staffed team to make sure all your questions are addressed quickly and competently.

Visit SiteGround.com now! or check out my HostGator vs SiteGround comparison

4. GreenGeeks

greengeeks

Do you dream of finding a web hosting provider that not only cares about the internet’s negative impact on the environment but actually does something about it? Well, look no further than GreenGeeks, whose mission is “to be the most eco-friendly web hosting company in the world.”

GreenGeeks Main Features

GreenGeeks promises its customers a high quality of service with zero environmental guilt, and since their founding in 2008 they’ve consistently delivered on these promises.

GreenGeeks has been recognized since 2009 by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a Green Power Partner. They host over 600,000 websites and use green technology to power their servers.

They also offset their energy consumption by buying wind energy credits at 3 times the amount of energy GreenGeeks’ servers consume. Additionally, for every new customer, GreenGeeks has pledged to plant one tree.

They offer a wide variety of affordable hosting plans that come with a number of free perks, including a free domain name (for one year), free SSL and CDN, and free nightly backups.

GreenGeeks has consistently performed well in speed and response time tests, although larger websites with more traffic have occasionally had some difficulty loading during stress tests. To ensure high speed and uptime results, GreenGeeks uses LiteSpeed servers and LSCache technologies.

GreenGeeks Plans

greengeeks plans

GreenGeeks offers a wide variety of hosting plans at fairly decent prices.

Web Hosting: GreenGeeks offers three shared web hosting plans: Lite ($2.95/month), Pro ($5.95/month), and Premium ($10.95/month). Both the Pro and the Premium plans come with unlimited storage space and unlimited websites, a very reasonable price for these features.

WordPress Hosting: GreenGeeks’ hosting specially designed for WordPress comes at three prices: Lite ($2.95/month), Pro ($5.95/month), and Premium ($10.95/month).

VPS Hosting: GreenGeeks’ managed VPS hosting plans come at three price tiers: 2GB ($39.95/month), 4GB ($59.95/month), and 8GB ($109.95/month).

Reseller Hosting: Like SiteGround, GreenGeeks also offers reseller hosting. There are three reseller hosting plans: RH-25 ($19.95/month), RH-50 ($24.95/month), and RH-80 ($34.95/month).

All of GreenGeeks’ plans come with 1 tree planted, as well as their wind energy offset promise and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

If you want to know more about GreenGeeks, check out my GreenGeeks review.

GreenGeeks Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • The most eco-friendly hosting company on the market
  • All plans come with a free domain name, SSL, CDN, and website backups
  • Comes with a 1-Click WordPress installation
  • Excellent customer support

Cons:

  • Not much to say here, except that there’s no 24/7 phone support.

Why GreenGeeks Is Better Than HostGator

If you’re looking to build your website without building your carbon footprint, GreenGeeks is the web host for you. From its 3x renewable energy match promise to its “1 tree planted” program,  GreenGeeks outperforms HostGator in every sense when it comes to eco-friendliness.

Visit GreenGeeks.com now! or check out my HostGator vs GreenGeeks comparison

5. A2 Hosting

a2 hosting

A2 Hosting has built a solid reputation as a fast, flexible, and reliable web host provider, particularly for WordPress.

A2 Hosting Main Features

A2 Hosting offers an impressively wide range of plans for websites of all sizes, from personal blogs to big eCommerce websites that need to handle heavy traffic.

All of their plans come with unlimited bandwidth, free website migration, free SSL certifications, free Cloudware CDN, and cPanel, a user-friendly dashboard for managing your account and your websites.

A2 Hosting is compatible with Joomla and Drupal, and also offers 1-Click WordPress installation

In terms of speed, A2 Hosting doesn’t disappoint: they promise 99.99% uptime, and use Turbo servers and a caching feature called A2 Site Accelerator to deliver web traffic up to 20x faster than their competitors.

Best of all, they offer quick, helpful 24/7/365 customer service provided by their “guru crew.”

For more on A2 hosting, you can check out my full A2 Hosting review here.

A2 Hosting Plans

a2 hosting plans

A2 Hosting offers almost too many plans, with specific hosting solutions for blogs, eCommerce, personal websites, and businesses. Here are a few of the most popular options:

Shared Web Hosting: A2 Hosting offers four reasonably priced shared web hosting plans: Startup ($2.99/month), Drive ($5.99/month), Turbo Boost ($6.99/month), and Turbo Max ($12.99/month).

WordPress Hosting: A2 Hosting has a reputation for working well with WordPress, and even offers specific WordPress-compatible web hosting. There are four plans: Run ($11.99/month), Jump ($18.99/month), Fly ($28.99/month), and Sell ($41.99/month).

VPS Hosting: You can choose between managed or unmanaged VPS hosting plans, which come at four price points: Lift 4 ($33.99/month), Lift 8 ($46.99/month), Lift 16 ($57.99/month), and Mach 8 ($59.99/month).

Dedicated Hosting: Like all dedicated hosting, A2 Hosting’s dedicated plans are intended for websites handling serious amounts of traffic that need their own dedicated resources to function smoothly. They offer dedicated hosting at – you guessed it – four price points. WARP 1 ($155.99/month), WARP 2 AMD ($185.99/month), WARP 2 TURBO AMD ($215.99/month) and WARP 2 INTEL ($185/month).

A2 Hosting Pros & Cons

Pros: 

  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • Excellent customer support
  • Free site migration
  • 1-Click WordPress installation
  • Comes with free SSL and daily website backups

Cons:

  • Tons of add-ons that they push you to buy at checkout
  • Shared hosting plans come with a limit of 35 simultaneous HTTP connections to its servers

Why A2 Hosting Is Better Than HostGator

A2 is an independent hosting plan, unlike HostGator, which is owned by a company called Newfold Digital (formerly Endurance International Group). EIG has a bad reputation and was found guilty in 2018 of inflating subscriber counts and revenue per subscriber numbers.

According to the SEC, the company agreed to pay an $8 million dollar penalty. Because of this, many people would prefer to work with independent web hosting providers like A2 Hosting

Visit A2Hosting.com now! or check out my HostGator vs A2 Hosting comparison

6. NameHero

namehero

Founded in 2015, NameHero is one of the newer web hosting providers on my list. However, what it lacks in experience it makes up for with a slew of great features, a wide range of flexible plans, and excellent customer service.

NameHero Main Features

NameHero strikes an ideal balance between accessibility for beginners and advanced tools and options for experienced web builders. It comes with cPanel across all of its plans, as well as Hero Builder, the company’s user-friendly, drag-and-drop website builder tool, as well as 

NameHero has consistently performed well on speed tests and promises 99.9% uptime across all of its plans. It achieves these impressive results by using servers powered by LiteSpeed technology, a significant upgrade from the more common Apache and Nginx servers (you can find more information on LiteSpeed in this article).

In addition to speed, NameHero takes security seriously. It offers free SSL certificates (making your own site more trustworthy and secure) and protects all of its hosted websites with Imunify360, an airtight security suite for Linux web servers.

For a more in-depth look at what NameHero has to offer, check out my NameHero hosting review.

NameHero Plans

namehero plans

Namehero offers plans that are suitable for all kinds and sizes of websites and helpfully labels each plan with the type of website it’s best suited for.

Web Hosting: NameHero offers four different web hosting plans, all of which are decently priced: Starter Cloud ($2.69/month, best for beginner/personal websites), Plus Cloud ($5.18/month, best for average-sized websites), Turbo Cloud ($7.98/month, NameHero’s most popular package), Business Cloud ($11.98/month, best for eCommerce websites).

Managed Cloud VPS Hosting: NameHero also offers four managed cloud VPS hosting plans: Hero 2GB Cloud ($23.17/month, intended for web developers), Hero 4GB Cloud, ($28.97/month, best for Webmasters), Hero 6GB Cloud ($42.31/month, best for applications), and Hero 8GB Cloud ($51.01/month, best for high traffic). 

NameHero also offers cloud dedicated servers and plans specifically for resellers, which you can check out on their website.

NameHero Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • All plans come with LiteSpeed powered servers and unlimited SSD storage
  • 24/7 live chat, phone, and email support provided by “Superhero Support”
  • 99.9% guaranteed uptime
  • Uses LiteSpeed servers
  • Dedicated IP address available for an extra $4.95/month

Cons:

  • They have limited data center locations (only in the U.S and Netherlands).
  • Response from customer support isn’t immediate

Why NameHero Is Better Than HostGator

Arguably the biggest difference between HostGator and NameHero is LiteSpeed: NameHero uses LiteSpeed servers to provide its websites with lightning-fast speed, a feature that HostGator lacks (they use Apache, which is reliable but slower).

Visit NameHero.com here!

7. DreamHost

namehero

Founded in 1997 by four college friends, DreamHost has gone from being a “garage project” to one of the most popular web hosting companies around. 

DreamHost Main Features

DreamHost has a reputation for being one of the easiest and most intuitive web hosting providers on the market, which makes it a naturally great fit for anyone just getting started building their first website.

DreamHost is a particularly good fit for WordPress, as they offer easy, 1-Click installation and automatic WordPress updates. Thanks to this, DreamHost powers over 1.5 million WordPress websites around the world.

DreamHost is fast and reliable: all plans include unlimited bandwidth and free SSD to supercharge your website’s speed and ensure fast loading. In other words, you’ll never have to worry about your website’s SEO being negatively affected by slow loading speeds.

Their customer support is helpful and friendly, but you may have to wait a while for a response (they have an email-based ticket system and specific times when live chat is available).

Want to know more about DreamHost? Check out my DreamHost review.

DreamHost Plans

dreamhost plans

WordPress Hosting: DreamHost offers two reasonably-priced, WordPress-specific shared hosting plans: WordPress Starter ($2.59/month) and WordPress Unlimited ($3.95/month).

They also offer managed WordPress hosting at four price points: DreamPress ($16.95/month), DreamPress Plus ($24.95/month), and DreamPress Pro ($71.95/month).

VPS Hosting: If you’re looking for a middle point between shared and dedicated hosting, look no further. DreamHost offers fully-managed VPS hosting at four price points: VPS Basic ($10/month), VPS Business ($20/month), VPS Professional ($40/month), and VPS Enterprise ($80/month). 

Dedicated Server Hosting: For professional websites that receive a high level of traffic, dedicated server hosting is the best option. DreamHost offers two dedicated hosting plans: Standard ($149/month) and Enhanced ($279/month).

All of DreamHost’s plans come with a generous 97-day money-back guarantee, so there’s absolutely no risk in trying it out and seeing for yourself if DreamHost is the right web host for your needs.

DreamHost Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Officially recommended by WordPress (includes 1-Click WordPress installation and automatic WordPress updates)
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • Comes with a free domain name and free SSL certificate
  • Great security features, including a partnership with StopTheHacker
  • Includes automatic daily backups
  • Great customer support

Cons:

  • Doesn’t come with a free email account

Why DreamHost Is Better Than HostGator

DreamHost and HostGator are very similar in many ways: both are reliable and offer decent prices, and both use CDN to ensure quick response times. However, DreamHost has HostGator beaten when it comes to security.

DreamHost has a partnership with StopTheHacker, an anti-malware firm now owned by Cloudflare. What this means for DreamHost’s customers is that they get a slew of top-notch security features, including daily malware and virus scans, automatic daily backups, anti-blacklist protection, automatic security updates, and more

Visit DreamHost.com now! or check out my DreamHost vs HostGator comparison

8. Scala Hosting

scala hosting

Scala Hosting offers great features, solid security, and all-around excellent performance at a budget price.

Scala Hosting Main Features

One of Scala Hosting’s best features is its managed cloud VPS plans, which come at an unbelievably good price.

Scala Hosting has a ton of great native products, including a security suite called SShield, a WordPress manager called SWordpress, and a control panel called – you guessed it – SPanel. 

SPanel is a particularly great feature. It’s intuitive and user-friendly like cPanel, but takes away the need for customers to pay for cPanel’s license. SPanel comes included with your plan, and that’s it – you can use it forever, with no extra charges.

Although its features are comparable in many ways to cPanel, SPanel is specifically designed to work seamlessly with cloud VPS hosting. It also uses less CPU/RAM than cPanel, meaning those resources are freed up to serve website visitors.

In terms of security, Scala Hosting claims that SShield has been proven to block 99.998% of all attacks. It monitors your websites constantly for suspicious activity and gives an automatic, immediate notification in case of a hack.

Check out my Scala Hosting VPS review for a more in-depth look at what Scala Hosting has to offer.

Scala Hosting Plans

scala hosting plans

Web Hosting: Scala Hosting offers four shared hosting plans, all protected by their SShield security suite: Mini ($3.95/month), Start ($5.95/month), Advanced ($9.95/month), and Managed VPS ($14.95/month).

Managed Cloud Hosting: The star of the show, Scala Hosting’s four managed VPS cloud hosting plans come at prices you won’t find anywhere else: Start ($14.95/month), Advanced ($32.95/month), Business ($72.95/month), and Enterprise ($152.95/month).

Scala Hosting also offers WordPress hosting, reseller hosting, and self-managed cloud hosting. All plans come with Scala Hosting’s full suite of native tools and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Scala Hosting Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Fully managed VPS cloud hosting at an unbeatable price
  • Comes with a free domain name (for one year) and free unlimited website migrations
  • Automatic daily backups
  • Helpful, 24/7/365 customer support
  • LiteSpeed-powered servers and SSD drives for guaranteed lightning-fast speed
  • #1 best cloud VPS hosting company in 2024

Cons:

  • Server locations are limited to the U.S and Europe only
  • SSD drives are only offered with VPS plans

Why Scala Hosting Is Better Than HostGator

Scala Hosting offers a wider variety of different types of hosting, and its impressive range of native tools makes it a more versatile and user-friendly option than HostGator.

Visit ScalaHosting.com now!

Quick Comparison Table

Feature/ProviderBluehostHostingerSiteGroundGreenGeeksA2 HostingNameHeroDreamHostScala Hosting
PricingAffordableVery AffordableMid-rangeAffordableAffordableAffordableAffordableMid-range
PerformanceReliableGoodHighEco-friendlyHigh PerformanceReliableReliableReliable
Ease of UseUser-friendlyExtremely SimpleBeginner-friendlyUser-friendlyUser-friendlyUser-friendlyUser-friendlyUser-friendly
WordPressStrong IntegrationStrong IntegrationStrong IntegrationStrong IntegrationStrong IntegrationGood IntegrationStrong IntegrationStrong Integration
Support24/724/724/724/724/724/724/724/7
UptimeGoodGoodExcellentGoodExcellentGoodGoodGood
Special FeaturesMarketing CreditsLow-Cost PlansAdvanced SecurityGreen HostingSpeed OptimizedReseller Options97-Day MBGSPanel Control
  • Pricing: Hostinger is known for its exceptionally low-cost plans, making it a standout for budget-conscious users.
  • Performance: SiteGround and A2 Hosting are recognized for their superior performance, making them suitable for more demanding websites.
  • Ease of Use: All providers offer user-friendly platforms, but Hostinger stands out for its simplicity, ideal for beginners.
  • WordPress Integration: Most providers offer strong WordPress integration, but SiteGround is often highlighted for its WordPress-centric features.
  • Uptime: SiteGround and A2 Hosting boast excellent uptime, crucial for business-critical sites.
  • Special Features: GreenGeeks offers eco-friendly hosting, A2 Hosting is known for speed optimization, and Scala Hosting brings its unique SPanel control panel.

Worst Web Hosts (Stay Away!)

There are a lot of web hosting providers out there, and it can be hard to know which ones to avoid. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the worst web hosting services in 2024, so you can know which companies to steer clear of.

1. PowWeb

PowWeb

PowWeb is an affordable web host that offers an easy way to launch your first website. On paper, they offer everything you need to launch your first site: a free domain name, unlimited disk space, a one-click install for WordPress, and a control panel.

PowWeb offers only one web plan for their web hosting service. This might look good to you if you’re building your first website. After all, they offer unlimited disk space and have no limits for bandwidth.

But there are strict fair-usage limits on server resources. This means, if your website all of a sudden gets a huge surge in traffic after going viral on Reddit, PowWeb will shut it down! Yes, that happens! Shared web hosting providers who lure you in with cheap prices shut your website down as soon as it gets a small surge in traffic. And when that happens, with other web hosts, you can simply upgrade your plan, but with PowWeb, there’s no other higher plan.

Read more

I would only recommend going with PowWeb if you’re just starting and are building your first website. But even if that’s the case, other web hosts offer affordable monthly plans. With other web hosts, you might need to pay a dollar more every month, but you won’t have to sign up for an annual plan, and you’ll get better service.

One of the only redeeming features of this web host is its cheap price, but to get that price you’ll need to pay upfront for 12 months or more. One thing I do like about this web host is that you get unlimited disk space, unlimited mailboxes (email addresses), and no supposed bandwidth limits.

But it doesn’t matter how many things PowWeb does right, there are just too many poor 1 and 2-star reviews plastered all over the internet about how terrible this service is. All those reviews make PowWeb look like a horror show!

If you are looking for a good web host, I would highly recommend looking elsewhere. Why not go with a web host that’s not still living in the year 2002? Not only does its website look ancient, it still uses Flash on some of its pages. Browsers dropped support for Flash years ago.

PowWeb’s pricing is cheaper than a lot of other web hosts, but it also doesn’t offer as much as those other web hosts. First of all, PowWeb’s service isn’t scalable. They only have one plan. Other web hosts have multiple plans to make sure you can scale your website with just one click. They also have great support.

Web hosts like SiteGround and Bluehost are known for their customer support. Their teams help you out with anything and everything when your website breaks down. I’ve been building websites for the last 10 years, and there’s no way I would ever recommend PowWeb to anyone for any use case. Stay away!

2. FatCow

FatCow

For an affordable price of $4.08 per month, FatCow offers unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, a website builder, and unlimited email addresses on your domain name. Now, of course, there are fair-usage limits. But this pricing is only available if you go for a term longer than 12 months.

Although the pricing seems affordable at a first glance, be aware that their renewal prices are much higher than the price you sign up for. FatCow charges more than twice the sign-up price when you renew your plan. If you want to save money, it would be a good idea to go for an annual plan to lock in the cheaper sign-up price for the first year.

But why would you? FatCow may not be the worst web host in the market, but they are also not the best. For the same price, you can get web hosting that offers even better support, faster server speeds, and more scalable service.

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One thing I don’t like or understand about FatCow is that they only have one plan. And even though this plan seems to be enough for someone who’s just starting, it doesn’t seem like a good idea for any serious business owner.

No serious business owner would think that a plan that is suitable for a hobby site is a good idea for their business. Any web host that sells “unlimited” plans is lying. They hide behind legal jargon that enforces dozens and dozens of limits on how many resources your website can use.

So, It begs the question: who is this plan or this service designed for? If it’s not for serious business owners, then is it just for hobbyists and people building their first website? 

One good thing about FatCow is that they offer you a free domain name for the first year. The customer support may not be the best available but is better than some of their competitors. There’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you decide you’re done with FatCow within the first 30 days.

Another good thing about FatCow is that they offer an affordable plan for WordPress websites. If you’re a fan of WordPress, there might be something for you in FatCow’s WordPress plans. They are built on top of the regular plan but with some basic features that might be helpful for a WordPress site. Same as the regular plan, you get unlimited disk space, bandwidth, and email addresses. You also get a free domain name for the first year.

If you are looking for a reliable, scalable web host for your business, I wouldn’t recommend FatCow unless they wrote me a million-dollar check. Look, I am not saying they are the worst. Far from it! FatCow may be suitable for some use cases, but if you are serious about growing your business online, I can’t recommend this web host. Other web hosts might cost a dollar or two more every month but offer a lot more features and are much more suitable if you run a “serious” business.

3. Netfirms

Netfirms

Netfirms is a shared web host that caters to small businesses. They used to be a giant in the industry and were one of the highest web hosts.

If you look at their history, Netfirms used to be a great web host. But they are no longer what they used to be. They got acquired by a giant web hosting company, and now their service no longer seems competitive. And their pricing is just outrageous. You can find better web hosting services for much cheaper prices.

If you still believe for some reason that Netfirms might be worth a try, just look at all the horrible reviews about their service on the internet. According to the dozens of 1-star reviews I’ve skimmed, their support is terrible, and the service has been going downhill ever since they got acquired.

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Most Netfirms reviews you’ll read all start the same way. They praise how good Netfirms was about a decade ago, and then they go on to talk about how the service is now a dumpster fire!

If you take a look at Netfirms’ offerings, you’ll notice that they are designed for beginners who are just getting started with building their first website. But even if that’s the case, there are better web hosts that cost less and offer more features.

One good thing about Netfirms plans is how generous they all are. You get unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited email accounts. You also get a free domain name. But all these features are common when it comes to Shared Hosting. Almost all shared web hosting providers offer “unlimited” plans.

Other than their Shared Web Hosting plans, Netfirms also offer Website Builder plans. It offers a simple drag-and-drop interface to build your website. But their basic starter plan limits you to only 6 pages. How generous! The templates are also really outdated.

If you’re looking for an easy website builder, I wouldn’t recommend Netfirms. Many website builders on the market are much more powerful and offer a lot more features. Some of them are even cheaper…

If you want to install WordPress, they offer an easy one-click solution to install it but they don’t have any plans that are optimized and designed specifically for WordPress sites. Their starter plan costs $4.95 a month but only allows one website. Their competitors allow unlimited websites for that same price.

The only reason I can think of to host my website with Netfirms is if I was being held hostage. Their pricing doesn’t seem real to me. It’s outdated and is much higher when compared to other web hosts. Not only that, their cheap prices are only introductory. That means you’ll need to pay much higher renewal prices after the first term. The renewal prices are twice the introductory sign-up prices. Stay away!

Common Questions Answered

Our Verdict

Overall, there are a lot of great HostGator competitors on the market. Many have comparable features, as well as areas where they surpass HostGator. The best overall alternative is Bluehost, followed by Hostinger, which is the cheapest.

Bluehost: Fast, Secure & Beginner-Friendly Hosting
From $1.99 per month

Powering over 2 million sites on the Internet, Bluehost offers the ultimate web hosting for WordPress sites. Tuned for WordPress, you get WordPress-centric dashboards and tools along with 1-click installation, a FREE domain name, email, AI website builder + lots more. Whether you're starting a blog, running a business website, or setting up an online store, Bluehost's WordPress-focused hosting provides the tools and resources you need to succeed online.

All of the web hosting companies on my list come with unique features and areas of strength. But ultimately, you’ll have to take your own specific budgetary and business needs into consideration when searching for the right hosting provider for your website.

DEAL

Get up to 75% off on hosting

From $1.99 per month

How We Review Web Hosts: Our Methodology

When we review web hosts, our evaluation is based on these criteria:

  1. Value for Money: What types of web hosting plans are on offer, and are they good value for money?
  2. User Friendliness: How user-friendly is the signup process, the onboarding, the dashboard? and so on.
  3. Customer Support: When we need help, how quickly can we get it, and is the support effective and helpful?
  4. Hosting Features: What unique features does the web host provide, and how do they stack up against competitors?
  5. Security: Are essential security measures like SSL certificates, DDoS protection, backup services, and malware/virus scans included?
  6. Speed and Uptime: Is the hosting service fast and reliable? What types of servers do they use, and how do they perform in tests?

For more details on our review process, click here.

About Author

Matt Ahlgren

Mathias Ahlgren is the CEO and founder of Website Rating, steering a global team of editors and writers. He holds a master's in information science and management. His career pivoted to SEO after early web development experiences during university. With over 15 years in SEO, digital marketing, and web developmens. His focus also includes website security, evidenced by a certificate in Cyber Security. This diverse expertise underpins his leadership at Website Rating.

WSR Team

The "WSR Team" is the collective group of expert editors and writers specializing in technology, internet security, digital marketing, and web development. Passionate about the digital realm, they produce well-researched, insightful, and accessible content. Their commitment to accuracy and clarity makes Website Rating a trusted resource for staying informed in the dynamic digital world.

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