SiteGround Vs HostGator: Who Offers Better Web Hosting Plans and Services?

Who doesn’t know them? If you don’t, you need to check out our extensive reviews on both SiteGround and HostGator.

But if you’ve been looking for a SiteGround vs HostGator Comparison guide, we’ve got you covered. This article is specifically focused on providing an unbiased answer to who offers better web hosting plans and services between the two.

Both are very respectable and reputable hosts in the web hosting industry. We’ve covered and compared all their hosting plans.

Additionally, we’ve investigated and tested aspects such as:

• Performance (speed and uptime)
• Customer service Quality
• Domain services
• E-commerce shops support,
• Pricing refund policies and more.

If you’re in a hurry and are looking for a summary on what we found out, here is one:

Plans	Offers 5 different types of hosting – all Linux-based – from shared to custom enterprise hosting.	Offers 7 types of hosting with both Linux and Windows Operating Systems
Freebies	Unlimited migration plug-in, SSL certificates, Cloudflare CDN.	SSL certificates, 1st year domain name, Global CDN,Private SSL (Business Plan), email marketing software, plus $100 Google AdWords and $100 Bing Ads Credit
WordPress Support	Optimized shared hosting plans are used for WordPress hosting. They offer managed technical support with WordPress speed optimization. Unlimited hosting for WordPress allowed.	Cloud-based WordPress hosting, with very limited speed up features. They also provide managed support services
Domains	Free domain migration but no free domain name included with plans. Features include domain lock and renewal add-on services. Domains are more expensive than HostGator’s	Free 1-year domain name provided plus free domain migration. Has cheaper domain prices with enticing first year discounts. Add-on features include domain locking, auto renewal and protection.
E-commerce	18 apps supported with easy installation or pre-installation on request. Additionally, you get free pre-installed store themes	online shop apps supported with easy installation, Private SSL and Ad credits provided
Green Hosting	Has various green hosting initiatives e.g. tree planting	Started providing green hosting and directly purchases Renewable Energy Credits
Speed	Fast site loading speeds powered by lots of speed up technologies implemented. 6 datacenters around the globe	Just above average site loading speeds. Very limited speed up features implemented
Uptime	Outstanding uptime scores and provides 99.9% uptime guarantee backed by SLA.	Very stable and reliable server with 99.9% uptime promise and a compensation plan.
Ease of Use	Fast automatic account activation, user friendly platform for beginners, easy tools e.g. website builder	Simple sign up and account activation, straightforward e-commerce ready drag and drop website builder (free). Access to MOJO Marketplace and more
Developer Tools	No root access with any plan, very helpful tools for developers available but fewer developer languages supported.	Full root access for some plans, lots of languages supported. Windows developer tools available
Security	Strong security for all plans with additional custom tools from their security team	Robust security tools are only for VPS and dedicated servers
Customer Support	Outstanding 24/7 customer support via 4 channels, fast response from well trained staff and priority support for some plans,	Outsourced 24/7 customer support via 4 channels, not the best quality and no priority support for any plan.
Pricing	Monthly billing with set up fees, and more costly plans but big discounts	Low-mid range pricing with lowered introductory prices. Windows OS and Plesk are free
Refunds	30-day money-back guarantee for shared and managed WordPress; 14 days for Cloud hosting. Has a “B” BBB Rating	45-day money-back guarantee and they are “C+” rated by the BBB Rating
Overall rating	4.5 Website Hosting	4.6 Website Hosting
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Let’s dig deeper for more

Both web hosting providers heavily trade blows in different sections, and that’s why it’s essential to look at the specific plans or services you are interested in and not just the overall score.

From our research, HostGator got the final knockout punch to get the overall win; they beat SiteGround in 8 sections. SiteGround was excellent though and won 6 sections, some of which are the most important in web hosting.

SiteGround is a web hosting company from Bulgaria that was founded in 2004. With their expansion to 3 continents, they’ve grown to be a globally recognized company most popular because of their exceptional plans and one of the best-managed WordPress hosting service. They currently host over 2 million domains.

HostGator is an American web hosting company –much bigger than SiteGround- based in Houston. The company was started back in 2002 and got acquired by EIG (Endurance International Group) in 2012. HostGator currently hosts 9 million domains and has over 400,000 clients.

• SiteGround – shared, managed WordPress, Cloud, custom enterprise, and reseller hosting.
• HostGator – shared, managed WordPress, Windows, VPS, Cloud, dedicated servers, and reseller hosting.

Pros

• Unlimited features: Bandwidth, databases, emails, and FTP accounts for all plans
• Free features: Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate, Cloudflare CDN integration and a migration plug-in for unlimited websites
• Unlimited website hosting (GrowBig and GoGeek)
• Automated-daily backups (except StartUp Plan)
• Free WordPress installation and auto-updates
• Pro-level support (on GoGeek Plan)
• Free upgrade to WildCard SSL certificate for all plans

Cons

• SSD Storage space is minimal
• Monthly visits cap is low
• No dedicated IP provided
• No marketing credits or SEO tools offered
• Slightly expensive plans

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Pros

• Unlimited features: Bandwidth, email accounts, storage, and MySQL databases
• Unlimited websites, domains and parked domains for Baby Plan and Business plan
• Free features: Integrated global CDN, an email marketing software, an SSL certificate, and a 1st-year domain name
• Marketing credits: $100 Google AdWords and $100 Bing Ads Credit.
• Free Positive SSL upgrade, free SEO tools, and anonymous FTP offered with Business Plan
• Dedicated IPs supported ($4/month)
• Has cheaper plans

Cons

• No Priority Support
• Backup restorations attract a fee

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All plans from both platforms are stacked with lots of unlimited features, which are almost the same. What differentiates them is the free features offered and prices, with HostGator being much better. Marketing credits, a free domain name, and email marketing software are only offered by HostGator. If you factor in their cheaper prices less the cost of a domain, it’s clear you get less on SiteGround.

But that’s not the whole story; HostGator loses on performance as they pack their shared hosting servers almost to full capacity, something which SiteGround doesn’t do. All in all; HostGator still is ahead.

Verdict: HostGator Wins

Pros

• Recommended by the WordPress organization
• Unlimited WordPress sites (GoGeek and GrowBig), bandwidth, email accounts, file transfer protocol accounts (FTP), and databases
• Decent Monthly Average Site Traffic Supported: StartUp (10,000),GrowBig (25,000), GoGeek 100,000),
• Managed Support: free pre-installation of WordPress (or 1 click-installation) and automated updates for core WordPress, security, themes, and plug-ins
• WordPress Starter tool provided
• SG Optimizer .built-in dynamic WordPress caching and free Cloudflare CDN for fast WordPress site loading
• Free SSL certificate; free upgrades to WildCard SSL certificate
• Automatic backups (excluding StartUp Plan)
• Both WP-CLI and Site staging environments for developers
• Cheaper Entry plan (StartUp) and mid-level (GrowBig) plan
• Pro-level support (on GoGeek Plan)
• Access to free professionally designed templates and a library of WordPress plug-ins

Cons

• Web storage space is minimal
• Monthly visits cap is minimal
• No marketing credits or SEO tools offered
• Expensive high-end plan (GoGeek)

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Pros

• Managed support: Automatic updates
• Access to Mojo Marketplace apps and WordPress plug-ins
• WordPress hosting on supercharged cloud architecture
• $100 Google AdWords Credit
• Free shared SSL certificate
• Unlimited storage, and emails
• Higher Monthly Average Site Traffic: Starter (100,000),, Standard (200,000),,Business (500,000)
• Auto-backups (1-click restores); configurable for full or snapshot backups
• Worldwide Content Delivery Network (CDN) for improved speeds. (Standard and Business)
• Daily automatic backups and one-click restorations.

Cons

• Limited WordPress Speed up features
• A limited number of websites for plans: Starter (1 site), Standard (2 sites), Business (3 sites)
• Few unlimited features
• Expensive Business Plan

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Just from looking at the pros and cons section, SiteGround is ahead.

• Better WordPress tools provided and extensive managed support.
• They don’t limit the number of sites you can host.
• More unlimited features in this section.
• Faster speeds because of in-built caching and speed up features for WordPress, which HostGator cannot match.
• 2 of their plans are cheaper than HostGator’s equivalents.

The reason you would want to go with HostGator is if you wanted more monthly visits for your site and the Google AdWords Credits provided.

Verdict: SiteGround Wins

Surprisingly, Windows hosting is missing in SiteGround’s hosting portfolio. Let’s take a look at what you get with HostGator.

• Windows modules supported:  ASP, ASP.NET (2.0 – 4.5), MVC 3.0 and AJAX
• Free Plesk panel
• Free SSL certificate
• Dedicated IP and a private SSL enabled (Enterprise plan)
• Microsoft technologies supported: IIS (Internet Information Services) server and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
• Unlimited Features: email accounts, subdomains, FTP accounts, Access Databases, and Microsoft SQL databases.

No verdict.

If you’re looking for more robust Windows hosting, we have a Best Windows Dedicated Server Review (2020).

SiteGround doesn’t offer VPS plans; HostGator’s VPS hosting plans get you the following:

• Freedom and flexibility of setting up custom installations and configurations
• 1-click scaling for extra resources
• Full root access
• SSD RAID 10 mirrored storage for higher redundancy
• Automatic Weekly offsite backups
• Unlimited features: email and FTP accounts, databases, domains, and  sub-domains,
• Private nameservers
• 2 dedicated IPs

No verdict.

Looking for other VPS options? Check our Best Unlimited Bandwidth VPS Providers guide.

Pros

• Fully managed support
• Custom cloud configuration service available
• Hosting on Google Cloud infrastructure
• Dedicated IP with all plans
• Free SSL certificate
• Free Cloudflare CDN service
• Automated daily backups (7 offsite copies)
• Collaboration tools for developers
• Advanced Priority Support for all plans
• Reseller Access with WHM panel
• Sub-Accounts for your clients supported

Cons

• Overpriced plans
• Short 14 days money-back guarantee
• Few unlimited features

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Pros

• Free Let’s Encrypt SSL
• Much Cheaper plans
• Instant backs ups
• 45 days money-back guarantee
• Unlimited website hosting (Baby, Business)
• Dedicated IP (Business Plan)
• Unlimited features: bandwidth, emails, disk space, subdomains, MySQL databases, and FTP accounts

Cons

• Only no automated backups
• Limited variety with only 3 plans

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Hosting on Google Cloud is a double-edged sword; you get the best of performance (speeds and uptime), but prices are significantly high, and your Cloud server resources you are somehow limited. In fact, SiteGround’s cheapest plan is twice the price of HostGator’s most expensive plan, which gives you more resources.

When you factor in HostGator allows you to have more unlimited features, their plans are covered by a more extended refund policy, it’s hard to go for SiteGround’s cloud plans.

SiteGround’s advantages lie in the provision of free Cloudflare CDN and Advanced Priority Support for cloud clients. However, we still found HostGator’s plans much better.

Verdict: HostGator Wins

SiteGround has no dedicated servers, but they offer custom Enterprise hosting. You state your server resources and requirements, and they will configure a custom solution and set custom pricing for you.

• Both Linux and Windows-based plans
• Custom configuration available
• Free cPanel and WHM panel (Linux-based Plans)
• Free Plesk Onyx panel and WebMatrix (Windows Plans)
• RAID-1 configuration for both SSDs and HDDs.
• 3 dedicated IPv4 IPs for each plan
• Unlimited features: Bandwidth (fair usage), and databases.
• Microsoft Technologies Supported: Windows DNS Server, ASP.NET, Silverlight, MVC6, RDP access. Microsoft FTP Service, and Microsoft IIS 10.0 webserver.
• Windows Operating system: Server 2016 OS
• Microsoft Databases: Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Express and Microsoft Access.
• Microsoft Mail Server: SmarterMail Server 16( max 250 users) and MailEnable 10.12

No verdict

HostGator charges cheap prices; for even better deals check our review of cheap dedicated server providers

Pros

• Free domain migration
• Domain lock and auto-renewal add-on services
• Attractive First-year discounts
• Free domain transfer service offered

Cons

• No free domain included with plans
• Domains are not covered by a refund policy
• More expensive domain prices

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Pros

• Free domain included with plans
• Free domain migration by their team
• Easy domain management via your dashboard.
• Provides domain services include domain locking, auto-renewal, and protection
• Cheaper domain prices

Cons

• Domains not covered by a refund policy

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With HostGator providing a free domain for your first year of hosting, having more domain add-functionality features, and cheaper prices, they have much better domain services than SiteGround.

Verdict: HostGator Wins

Pros

• PCI compliant and e-commerce ready GoGeek plan
• 18 online store apps supported including WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop
• 1-click installation
• Website builder with e-commerce functionality
• Free Pre-installation store themes
• Free SSL certificate with free upgrades to Wildcard SSL allowed

Cons

• No dedicated IPs for shared hosting
• No Free marketing credits
• No PayPal integration

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Pros

• Google Analytics integrated for store optimization insights
• Officially supports Magento, Prestashop, Woocommerce, and ZenCart
• 1-click installation
• Private SSL provided excluding smallest shared hosting plans
• Dedicated IP provided at a cost with the Business plan (shared hosting)
• Free SEO tools for shared hosting which help in marketing your store

Cons

• No free marketing credits
• No PayPal integration

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When it comes to online store support, the competition is neck to neck. Both lack free marketing credits, but they all have e-commerce ready shared hosting plans. With a dedicated IP, Private SSL certificate, Google Analytics, and SEO tools provided, it shows HostGator doesn’t take e-commerce support as an afterthought.

SiteGround have held their own by catering for their e-commerce clients with great features such as pre-installed themes, e-commerce ready plans, and PCI compliant plans. However, it’s not enough against HostGator’s offerings.

Verdict: HostGator Wins

Summary

• Started implementing eco-friendly hosting in 2010
• Has had a tree planting exercise once
• Use Google Cloud servers as part of their infrastructure. Google Cloud have 100% renewable energy match.

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Summary

• Started green hosting initiatives in 2008
• Purchases of Renewable Energy Credits representative of130% of their shared and reseller servers’ energy usage

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HostGator has been contributing to environment conservation through eco-friendly hosting for longer and take a direct approach by buying renewable energy certificates. This speaks volumes of their commitment.

SiteGround achieve their green hosting goals indirectly through Google Cloud, it counts for something, but you have to give it to HostGator for direct actions.

Verdict: HostGator Wins

Summary

• Very reliable uptime scores
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• SLA. For compensation
• Generous compensations; more offered per 1% extra dip
• Use stable and highly available Google Cloud for Cloud plans
• 24/7 real-time monitoring system with auto fixing technology to prevent server downtime.
• 5 data centers in 4 continents using servers which have distributed storage for better redundancy and reliability

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Summary

• 99.9% uptime guarantee for shared and reseller plans only
• Good uptime scores
• Compensation plan available
• Dedicated servers get RAID-1, VPS get RAID 10 for data redundancy and better reliability

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Both providers have good uptime scores and have implemented multiple measures to make services their services have high availability and make servers reliable. None has much unique from the other; the only difference comes in the compensation you get for downtime exceeding what’s promised.

• SiteGround – for uptime below 99.9% up to 99.0%, you get 1-month full credit, for every 1% below 99.0%, you get another month of free hosting.
• HostGator– for shared or reseller server, downtime exceeding the promised 99.9% uptime gets you one (1) month of credit on your account

With SiteGround providing better compensation and higher scores in uptime, they are the better hosting provider in this section

Verdict: SiteGround Wins

Pros

• Blazing fast site loading speeds
• Lots of speed up technologies used in their infrastructure
• You can choose data center location (6 in 3 continents) for your site
• Super-fast SSDs for storage
• In-house built SuperCacher (Memcached-based) enabled
• Cloudflare CDN with RailGun integrated
• Faster server and website protocols like TLS 1.3 HTTP/2, PHP 7.4 with OPCache, OCSP Stapling, and QUIC are implemented.
• SG Optimizer plugin for WordPress

Cons

• No cons found

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Pros

• Only above average site loading speeds
• Fast Cloud hosting plans
• SSDs used
• PHP7.1 enabled
• Built-in Apache-based content compression.

Cons

• Very few speed up features implemented
• Most speed up features are paid add-ons
• Only US-based data centers

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SiteGround’s servers are super-fast, your website loading speeds– irrespective of the plan – will be great for your visitors. All that is enabled by the speed technologies you see they’ve implemented. But that’s not all; they got data centers around the globe, which really help in reducing latency for different visitors in different places.

In contrast, HostGator hasn’t implemented a lot in speed up features, that’s why tests show just “okay” or only above-average speeds. You either pay for add-on or implement manual tweaks. To make matters worse, only US websites get good speeds; for the rest of the world, speed isn’t impressive.

Verdict: SiteGround Wins

Pros

• Few steps for signing up; accounts get activated automatically
• Modern dashboard interfaces very friendly for beginner webmasters
• Free intuitive cPanel for management
• Unrestricted migration plug-in provided for free
• 1-click app installer for 500+ app
• Free website builder powered by Weebly
• Access to lots of free responsive themes
• Online file manager
• Free site migration carried out by their team
• 4500 website templates to use

Cons

• Free builder supports creating limited pages
• 100MB database limit for site staging feature

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Pros

• Control panels: free Plesk, cPanel, WordPress Cloud Interface and WHM panel (resellers) for management
• 1-click installer and access to Mojo Marketplace apps
• Google Analytics for easy site analysis
• 100% free website transfer
• Free drag and drop website builder and 1000s of free templates
• Managed software patches and updates

Cons

• E-commerce functionality only available with a paid website builder
• Clunky interfaces
• Very limited for the free site builder

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Surprisingly HostGator hasn’t taken time to improve their dashboards. For better usability, you’re greeted with clunky pages, while for SiteGround, it’s the opposite.

With both, services and tools quality offered are almost the same, including sign up process, control panels, site transfers. However, SiteGround outdoes HostGator with an unlimited site transfer tool and a better free site Builder powered by Weebly.

Even HostGator’s builder has a drag and drop functionality, but SiteGround’s builder helps you create even an e-commerce site. Furthermore, it is not as very limited like HostGator’s in terms of pages you can create and more functionality to your site.

Verdict: SiteGround Wins

Pros

• Git support with 1-click repo creation; it’s pre-installed on GoGeek
• Both Site staging and WP-CLI environments (except StartUp plan)
• White Labelling feature for selling and shipping websites to clients
• Unlimited FTP accounts for transferring your files
• phpMyAdmin. Access for MySQL databases
• Developer Collaboration enabled by adding members
• Multiple PHP (PHP 7.4) supported with modification of php.ini file allowed
• More technologies such as Smart Templates, ionCube, ImageMagick, GD library, CURL, mod-rewrite, Http access, Zlib and Zend Optimizer supported

Cons

• No windows developer tools as they don’t offer Windows plans
• Few programming languages supported

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Pros

• OpenSSH Protocol access for all plans (using Jailed Shell) and full root access for VPS and dedicated servers
• Cron job scheduling for task automation
• Programming Languages and technologies: PHP 5 and 7.1, Ruby, Python, Perl, CGI, Fast CGI, and SSI (Server Side Includes)
• Windows technologies: ASP, ASP.NET (2.0 – 4.5), MVC and AJAX, Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services) 10.0 webserver, Silverlight, Microsoft FTP Service, RDP access, and Windows DNS Server
• Microsoft databases – MSSQL Server 2014 Express and Microsoft Access.
• MySQL databases with phpMyAdmin access
• Windows OS 2016 only
• Programming Modules supported and enabled include Curl, ImageMagick, CPAN, GD Library
• Multiple FTP accounts for easy file transfers
• WP-CLI for WordPress

Cons

• Missing site staging, developer collaboration support, and easy Git integration

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In this section, HostGator shines with lots of technologies provided for both Linux and Windows developers; if you’re a Windows-based developer, HostGator is the only logical choice. Almost everything SiteGround provides is covered by HostGator.

More languages are also supported by HostGator; the downside is that there is no mention of site staging for testing and Git integration crucial for repository creation (it might be a deal-breaker for most developers).

The area SiteGround comes on top is with the inclusion of collaboration support for developers.

Verdict: HostGator Wins

Let’s look at how you’re protected on each platform.

Summary

• Lots of security tools and features provided for all plans
• Free daily backups (30 days) and easy restoration except for the smallest plan
• DS/IPS and Smart AI Systems for intrusion detection, blocking brute-force attempts
• Real-Time Spam Filtering
• Free SSL certificate across the packages
• SG Site-Scanner
• Two-factor authentication (2FA)
• Cloudflare CDN that guards against DDoS attacks

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Summary

• Hotlink Protection
• Spam Protection for emails
• Free SSL certificates provided except the Hatchling plan
• Automatic Malware removal for Managed WordPress
• Advanced Windows Firewall and Windows Backup Service for Windows-based plans
• IP table Firewalls and centralized DDOS protection for VPS and dedicated server hosting
• Dedicated servers get exclusive Custom IPsec Security Policy and file change monitoring feature

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Its clear SiteGround has robust security features across the plans. They develop custom solutions and have implemented most of them at the server level.

What’s more?

You get automated backups on all plans, excluding the smallest plan. Most of HostGator’s features are limited and are provided only for their expensive packages like VPS and dedicated servers.

Verdict: SiteGround Wins

Pros

• Monthly billing available
• Discounts available, but with long commitments
• Limited upselling

Cons

• Set up fees for monthly paid plans
• SiteGround has more expensive plans compared to HostGator
• Prices increase significantly during renewals

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Pros

• Very attractive prices
• Longer contracts get you cut-rate introductory prices
• Free Plesk panels
• Monthly billing plans are available

Cons

• Prices get hiked during renewals but not by much
• Lots of upselling with a lot of extra features attracting extra charges

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SiteGround Plans cost/month

• $3.95 to 11.95/month for shared hosting
• Cloud VPS plans prices/month Entry $80, Business $120, Business Plus $160, and Super Power $240.
• Reseller Hosting –  GoGeek $11.95
• Enterprise hosting – custom prices

HostGator Plans/month prices

• Shared hosting: Hatchling $2.75, Baby $3.95, Business $5.95
• Managed WordPress: StartUp$5.95, Standard $7.95, Business $9.95
• VPS – Snappy 2000 $9.95, Snappy 4000 $9.95, Snappy 8000 $9.95
• Cloud hosting: Hatchling $4.95, Baby $6.57, Business $9.95
• Dedicated servers Value Server $119.00, Power Server 139.99, Enterprise Server $149.00
• MSSQL– 2017 Web Edition $25, 2017 Standard Edition $325, 2017 Enterprise Edition – $1025

As we’ve seen, both providers have similarities like monthly billing. However, with SiteGround, you will pay a $14.95 set up fee for monthly billed plans.

Both providers give attractive discounts with longer contracts and hikes prices with renewals, but SiteGround asks for a little more. Combining this with their generally higher prices on all plans compared to HostGator, they lose in this section.

Verdict: HostGator Wins

When things are not working as intended, customer support should be there for your aid. You can get the best plan, but with poor support, you will struggle and maybe despair.

Pros

• 24/7 support via phone, live chat, and Help desk tickets.
• In-house well-trained agents
• Overstaffed support department
• Extra support materials via knowledgebase and immediate help content
• Priority support available for GoGeek plan and Enterprise clients

Cons

• No cons found

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Pros

• 24/7 support via extensive support channels, including toll-free phone, email (limited), and live chat.
• Supplementary support via twitter, community forum, and Knowledgebase

Cons

• Outsourced customer support agents
• Delayed responses for Live Chat
• You’ve got to be logged in to access technical support
• Technically lacking agents
• Forum posts must get approval from an administrator

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SiteGround’s support team staff undergo 3-6 months of training. They handle even technical queries with ease and confidence. They are fast to respond to live chat (under a minute), and your tickets take only 15 minutes to get replied. The customer department has load balancers to prevent the overwhelmed of a staff member and ensure you get matched with an agent right away.

As for HostGator, support is sluggish and slow. Even for a live chat, you wait for over 5 minutes before getting a response. And when they respond, you won’t interact with very knowledgeable staff; they have to ask help from other colleagues or superiors, which is a strong indication of outsourced support.

Verdict: SiteGround wins hands down, it was hard for us to find their cons while HostGator got lots of them.

Pros

• 30-day money-back guarantee
• 14-day money-back guarantee refund for cloud plans
• Better Business Bureau (BBB) Rating “B”; better than HostGator’s
• You receive your refunds before (10) business days elapse
• Renewals are eligible for refunds

Cons

• Dedicated Server plans, add-ons, setup fees, domain names don’t get refunded
• Cloud hosting has a very short money-back guarantee period

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Pros

• Longer 45-day money-back guarantee
• BBB Rating “C+”
• Refund processed within two weeks, but you can even get it on the same day you cancel

Cons

• Plan renewals not covered by the refund policy, only first-time customers.
• Install fee and add-ons not covered
• Bank cheque, wire transfers, and money order payments are not covered by the money-back guarantee

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Refunds guarantee that if you change your mind or feel you aren’t getting your money’s worth, you can cancel and move to another provider with better services.

As you’ve seen, HostGator has a generous 45-day money-back guarantee much longer than SiteGround, which should allow you to evaluate their hosting adequately. However, they got more conditions and caveats that need to be met, like paying through PayPal to receive refunds. Only SiteGround’s Cloud plan clients will complain about the short refund period of 2 weeks.

So how are the cancellation processes for both?

SiteGround’s process is easier, you don’t need to talk to a customer support agent, and you just go through an automatic and quick step-by-step cancellation wizard, after you’re done filling the information, the process is over. It’s that simple!

Canceling your HostGator’s contract requires you to fill a basic online contact form through your dashboard. Using multiple attempts, they try to make you talk with their customer support staff, it’s not a good experience if you prefer a no questions asked cancellation. Good news is that it’s not a must, you can skip and complete the process.

Verdict: HostGator Wins

Despite HostGator overall win, its clear SiteGround is much better in most of the areas anyone new to web hosting, a beginner or a small business owner would prioritize. As you may have noted these providers are quite different in areas they focus in;

SiteGround is committed to providing high-quality services at reasonable prices as well as custom solutions.

On the other hand;

HostGator is committed to providing lower prices with some little compromises on performance.

All in all, we hope this SiteGround vs HostGator comparison guide has been an eye-opener and made it easier for you to make an informed decision.