Hostgator vs Godaddy Hosting
Recently I had the chance to deep test both Hostgator and Godaddy, probably the biggest hosting providers around.
My websites are hosted on Hostgator, I have a nice plan from them and I like the support they have ( they are always online ), but their speed is not the best. On the opposite, Godaddy don’t have live online support at all, but their speed is far superior.
Speed
I don’t have a dedicated server at godaddy, and the speed of my website is not very good, but this was not an issue for me until I had the chance to test the Godaddy Economy plan, my website loaded in 1 second, while on Hostgator it takes 3-4 seconds to load completely.
The test may not be so accurate, because the goddady hosting was in Amsterdam and the tool I used to test the speed was located in Stockholm, while my hostgator servers are in US. Despite of this, the website loaded very fast in my browser too.
For the loading speed Godaddy hosting is far superior, let’s say 10 for Godaddy and 6 for Hostgator.
Number of Domains hosted on the same IP
Probably a cause of the slow loading of my pages on hostgator, the number of domains hosted on the same server counts a lot toward the quality of the hosting plan. While I tested shared account on both companies, on Godaddy I was on the same IP with 7 websites, while on hostagor they keep me with another 70+ domains on the same IP. This is a huge difference.
So, if i judge only by the number of domains hosted on the same IP, Godaddy gets a 10 and Hostgator a 4. There are too many websites hosted on the same server.
Support
The support is very important for a hosting company. There are many times when you need to ask something or you have an issue that you want to let them know about.
Hostgator support is excellent. They provide live 24/7 support and are always prepared to fix the things for you. One day I added a new plan to my hosting account but soon I’ve changed my mind and I contacted support. In few minutes the plan was removed.
On the other side, Godaddy don’t have live support. They still respond to support tickets in less than 12 hours but with no live support, 12 hours is a lot. So 10 for hostgator and 7 for Godaddy.
Control Panel
When you have more websites, the speed, usability and features of the control panel is a great advantage. You know Cpanel, it is used on most hosting accounts so you can control and manage your websites.
While hostgator use Cpanel software which is great, Godaddy use a custom made control panel that a lot of people find it hard to use and most really can’t figure out how things are going. Maybe the speed of the website can be ignored, but the management not. I will give 10 for hostgator and 3 for Godaddy.
Changes turnaround
When you are managing websites, you have to make a lot of changes to the websites and hosting. Also you have to have patience to wait for a lot of things: you want for a programmer to finish his job, you want for the writer to finish the content, the more thing you wait for the hard is to manage the website. So, if you have to wait a lot for every change you make to your hosting it seems it is not the best option.
For Hostgator turnaround time is very good, they fix issues very fast, any change you make is live almost instantly, while on Godaddy you have to wait several hours for a domain to be added to your hosting plan, or to make a change to your domains. This is not a good thing for a Hosting company. And the usability of the Godady website is far inferior to Hostgator. I will give 9 to hostgator and 5 to Godaddy.
Other Related Reviews
Both Hostgator and GoDaddy have been around for some time and I am sure you can find a couple more reviews on them. In case you need further reference, I suggest Jerry’s Hostgator review on WebHostingSecretRevealed.com. The review is written based on his true experience with the Gators and it provides lots of insights that others don’t.
Summary
Summing it up, Hostgator gets 39 points while Godaddy gets only 35. The advantages of one are disadvantages of others. It is very important what you need from your hosting to provide. You want good, on-time support and to control everything, or you want just speed ?
Hostgator advantages:
- Control trough Cpanel
- Excellent support
- Very good turnaround
Godaddy advantages:
- Speed
- Very few websites on the same IP
For my situation where I have a lot of websites to manage, I will go with hostgator, but this depend on what you need. I have clients that I get Godaddy hosting for them because what they need is speed.
I didn’t took into account the price and space they provide, because nowadays the space and bandwidth offered is unlimited everywhere, and it is not something to judge upon. The price is irrelevant as you want the best for your website, not the cheapest.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission
December 13th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
I’m with hostgator for many years and it is the best hosting company I ever worked with. Go Go Hostgator 🙂
December 14th, 2010 at 8:31 am
I am glad you enjoy stay at hostgator 🙂
December 13th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
I would say stick with Hostgator and as for your speed issues, just install W3 Total Cache or SuperCache plugin 💡
December 14th, 2010 at 8:58 am
That’s why I will do, despite I think the slow performance comes from the facebook and other widgets I have on the sidebar.
December 16th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
From what I have read, Hostgator is a great web host and Godaddy is good for domains, not for hosting. Godaddy hosting doesn’t have cPanel so you cannot install WordPress with one click using Fantastico, so I would definitely go with Hostgator as they have cPanel – if I were to choose from these 2 web host.
December 16th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Maybe the 1 click install of wordpress is not the best thing I recommend, having cPanel to your webhost is a great deal, as I explained in the article.
March 9th, 2011 at 6:49 am
number of sites on server info above is incorrect. I ran a ip check and there were 4500 sites on my shared server plan. As for speed, static pages load fast but wordpress uuuug super slow at Godaddy. I have WP Super cache gzip force and other things to speed up. nothing else but a language translator for blog sidebar. I have complained about load speed many times and all I get back is automated email telling me to install WP Super Cache which is already installed.
March 9th, 2011 at 7:11 am
I know that the support system at godaddy is awfull. I can’t believe there can be 4500 sites hosted on the same server. I’m using http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/web-sites-on-web-server/ to figure out how many domains are on the same server. It turns out that on your godaddy shared server are hosted another 18 domains.
The fact that they are providing good bandwidth but low processing speed means that their machines are very inferior, and this can’t be a good thing. I was not aware about processing speed because I ran my speed tests on static pages.
March 10th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
My server IP 182.50.148.1 I ran this test many times on your link and it said 4500+ but after many weeks of crying at Godaddy it is now 237 – what a difference! however, my page load time is still in the 25-35 range but has slightly improved from the incredible load time of 35-45 sec. At Alexa.com it says my site is 1,307,523 and in the Philippines 29,908 but it use to be 900,000+ and 13,000+ in Philippines so it seems load time is a factor. However, my SEO is really good – very good!!! even with super slow pages so if I had some fast pages – look out hahahah Alexa says: page load speed SLOW 74% of all sites in the world are faster. Ouch! I am thinking of trying VPS at Hostgator – hoping it will increase load time – Any thoughts on that from anyone would be MOST APPRECIATED!!!!
March 10th, 2011 at 6:19 pm
When I told you that there are 15 websites hosted with your domain I thought you talk about boracaylive.com . If you enter the domain in the search query you will get the same results. Actually, it is hosted on 182.50.147.146 , but probably it is on same server but just with different IP, which will not improve the speed.
As I said, try to get a css developer to remake your website. It will look the same but it will have fewer images and it will result in improved seed. If you can reduce the number of images to 1/4 of the actual number, your website will load 3 times faster. You should try to find a freelancer css expert on Freelancer
Another reason why you may exerience a delay is because the server is located in US and you are accessing it from Philippines. If most of your users are from Philippines you should consider taking a server hosted there. If you aim for a global reach then taking a host in US is the solution. If you want to go with hostgator I can help you with a coupon, use it at your checkout and you will get 25% off your price. The coupon is: HOSTGATOR250
March 10th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
FYI check this blog: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-on-godaddy-unbearably-slow?replies=63
Titled: WordPress on Godaddy unbearably slow (67 posts)
Name: pathofkarma
Near the bottom
Quote: I also did a reverse ip lookup, and found 4,142 sites hosted off the ip i am on.
He is probably on the same server as me hahahahah
March 11th, 2011 at 7:14 am
I am actually discussing with Hostgator the pros and cons of business shared hosting and level 3 VPS and I am getting that speed will be the same but with VPS more functionality. I am just concerned with getting pages loading faster. I was looking at dot.ph (hosting in Philippines)and they say: If your market is based in the Philippines, getting a Philippine-based webhost is your best option. Our local peering with ISPs allows you faster response times than other web hosting companies that use a US-based webhost.
However, since I have travel sites it is seen around the world so hummmmmm also, there packages are a bit high with little bandwidth compared to like Hostgator.
have you experienced a page load time decreased from say Hostgator vs Hostgator VPS? or no noticeable change? It seems you can get 4 Business shared plans with 4 dedicated IP’s and SSL as opposed to just one account level 3 VPS at Hostgator which you would still have to buy the 3 extra dedicated IP’s and the SSL for all.
Just trying to justify the extra cost????
But in the end, I have to do something fast because Godaddy is so slow – I think I am loosing clients. Losing clients must be prevented at all cost.
What a pickle — hoping someone can school me hahahahah
March 12th, 2011 at 8:21 am
The most important thing at a dynamic website is the processing speed. On a shared server you might have issues sometimes ( especially during active hours ) when all the websites receive their peak of visitors. With a VPS you can be sure that this won’t happen.
If you make some money with your website then the VPS should not be so expensive. As you said, you’ve done good seo and propably a lot of visitors are coming to you.
I have websites on shared hosting, reseller accounts and dedicated servers.
The dedicated server is in my home country and there are about 15 websites on it, few of them with a lot of traffic and with huge databases ( 100MB ), and unoptimized software. They all work fine. With a VPS you get exclusivity, but only a portion of the RAM and hard drive, so there is a change that some software which require more RAM won’t work, but don’t worry, it is not the case for PHP based websites. There are enough resources.
I have a site with a lot of traffic on a reseller account at hostgator. It is still shared by any account added by the reseller is on a random shared server. I have about 1500 visitors a day and I also provide an API which is requested 1 million times a day. Yes, 1 million times. It works perfect, but I have practically no images on the website.
I have another 15 websites with not that much traffic on a shared hosting at hostgator and they all work fine, but there are hours when I experience some delay when working in the admin panel. The websites are also optimized to use very few images and the front-pages are loaded fast.
March 11th, 2011 at 7:18 am
FYI thanks for the info and coupon but finding a css guy I can trust then fixing a site that only cost $35 for theme seems costly, but hey if it does the job faster – that is something looking into. I am actually talking to the creator of Swift themes which is coming out with a super modified fast theme which he claims will be the fastest wordpress site to date with all SEO modifications and everything geared to fast page load time. I am interested in seeing that but unfortunately to much time into this theme. (future sites)
March 12th, 2011 at 8:22 am
If you paid money for such an un-optimized theme then you should not buy from them again or use their services. I think it is better to try to buy the theme from somewhere else or start with a free one.
April 25th, 2011 at 7:46 am
in my view… Go Daddy is the best for hosting..
April 6th, 2012 at 3:19 am
After being with GoDaddy for a year, I’ve just switched to HostGator and I cannot praise them enough!!
With GoDaddy, my pages would load in about 4 seconds, but more and more often it would take 10-30 seconds just to connect to the database, never mind loading the page. With Hostgator, the first page-load takes no more than 2 seconds, then each page load from there is almost instant. It really is miles ahead of GoDaddy, so much that I also wrote an article on the differences between the two. Please have a quick read, I’m sure you’ll find it interesting: http://techod.com/hostgator-vs-godaddy/
All the best,
Jason
April 7th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Thank you for further clearing on the subject. Godaddy might have some expensive plans, but their basic ones are underpowered and it will take a while to load your dynamic website.
September 21st, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Spot on with this write-up, I absolutely believe this web site needs a great deal more attention.
I’ll probably be returning to read more, thanks for the advice!