I need some honest and detailed opinions on "Host Gator"

Ok, long story short my host provider, which was a local company is folding in 2 months. May 28th to be exact. Now, this was my only host provider since I started with HTML and got confused with it and when I learned to code. he was all I knew. I had him as a host provider for 8 years. After the email, and the panic I did some research.

Godaddy, is completely overpriced and not worth it in my opinion. Their customer service was lacking
register.com was too expensive for my needs, and expensive for domain transfers
inno(something) was garbage. they say 24/7 and I got an answering machine. So I gave them a piece of my minfd

I decided to google registrars and host providers and came across HostGator. I decided to give them a call and after a 2 hour call asking every single questions from hidden fees, to contacts, to transfer fees, to security, to backups, to the definition of "unlimited bandwidth" I was very very satisfied. I asked so many questions it is too many to list.

Basically I get one domain transfer for free, and an additional year added to the expiry date of that domain
Every domain after that to be added is 15$ (I have 4 more) with an additional year added ( I know this is standard)

It is 10$ per year for a private whois per domain. in which I can work with them to sync with the anniversary of the expiry of the domain even if the domain is not expiring on that date(extra years)

I have a domain registered for 10 years and do not have to pay for the private whois for the 7 years left up front and that will be the free domain to be transferred.

I get CPANEL!! FUCK YEAH

For the first month it costs me 8$ per month (20% off)
every month after that it is around 10$ for month to month contract.
If I am late with a payment there is no late fee, however if I do not pay my account after 30 days they lock my account until it is paid without deleting content

No annoying "hosted by host gator" banners or the like (again, I only had one experience with one hosting provider)

Free backups under X amount of gigs( I forget but nowhere near the amount I have)
If I need their backup they created it is 15$ to restore. They back up every day for 7 days storage
If I have a personal backup they will help restore it at no cost
dedicated IP
24/7 tech and chat support

They accept paypal, without a creditcard on file, or to sign up as long as there is a balance in paypal to pay the monthly fees
No hidden late, overage fees.

It seems too good to be true. What is your experience, in detail with hostgator? The guy on the phone seemed really good. And I consider myself very intelligent in reading people. When he did not know an answer, he put me on hold for 2 mins to get help. He seemed honest.

Can I have other peoples detailed experiences? this is a serious move for me and I do not want to screw it up. The prices seem great for my needs, and It will cost me 50% less than what I thought it would

+1 rep for every detailed response. This is a very important and nervous move for me

 

Hostgator is very reputable hosting company with millions of customers.I've had shared hosting account with them for many years before switching to dedicated server. Hardly ever any problems. Support is phenomenal and fast. I've used their live chat support may times and they wer able to resolve almost any problem immediately.

 

I contacted them again via chat instead of phone. And there were a few minor discrepancies between what the phone rep said and the chat agent. Chat agent says there is no charge for a private whois, phone says 10$ a year per domain. Plus a few other details. But overall it never deterred me from choosing them. They seem pretty straight forward. I will contact them a 3rd time when I decide to push everything over

 

I would advice keeping domain registar and hosting separate.
I advice to use Godaddy,namepros or moniker as your domain registrar and hostgator as hosting company. I believe this is what most people do.

 

Why would most people do that? keep them separate? what is the advantages? HostGator offers 1 free domain transfer, and i only have 3 more domains. Is this so if hostgator tanks, I still have control over the DNS and easily move to another host? I do not see the correlation.

 

I think it is a standard industry practice to keep it separate. If you ever decide to switch host, it would be less painful. All you have to do is change domain nameservers to point to the new host.

 

that makes perfect sense. I see clearly why. However, I was used to having both under one basket sort of speak. With MJM webtech I had no interest in moving host or domain providers until he decided to go under. I have done a lot of research over hostgator and the amount of time they have been in business. I think I will keep the domains and the content under the same umbrella. Unless there is some underlying issue with Hostgator that I cannot find I am pretty satisfied with their support and Do not plan on leaving them unless what happened with mjmwebtech happens. But he was small potatoes. I was overpaying for what I got but I wanted to help him out

4 domains, 5 soon anyway. If I choose to move host providers I would probably do what you advise. But, at the same time, If I wanted a different host provider for content couldn't I just use hostgator for the domains and company X for the server rentals? it would be the same thing, only backwards. Not trying to debate, this is just a huge headache to me as Mike, the owner of said company that died did most of the work for me.

Now I need to take control of everything and figure it out for the most part. I am out of my comfort zone. I call it growing pains.

I googled, asked around, and so far I think HostGator is the way to go. When is the question. Probably around 2 weeks at the least, 6 weeks at the most.

Speaking of being screwed over. Parked.com ripped me off a sum of money when they merged. My account "disappeared" because i never logged into it within 6 months. Sorry, ranting

Thanks for the responses, I was getting discouraged with the 100 views and no responses. thought I was missing something

 

HostGator is a great choice. Transfer your domains over to namecheap for your domain registrations and put your hostgator nameservers in for them. You'll get a better deal on your domain fees with namecheap in the long run then with Hostgator. Just use HostGator as your web host and you'll be happy. Best of luck with everything

 

I just contacted namecheap and they are not cheap at all. they advertise domain transfers for less than 5$ yet that is only for .co.uk extensions which is never mentioned. It is 9.69 per domain transfer. I only get one free year of a private whois, and then have to pay 8$ a year or more to continue it. The chat rep was a little arrogant when I pointed out the discrepancies. She assumed I knew everything about domain transfers.

With HostGator, to the best of my knowledge, although the transfers are more expensive, I get one free, and get free private whois while I am with them (as read on their pages, and told by their chat agents)

I gave namecheap a shot, but I would rather pay a bit more for superior support than speak to some dumbass. From the quick math in my head, I would actually save more with HostGator assuming the free private whois is a part of the package. Thanks for the options, I am still looking at other options too but for me, hostgator is destroying any competition I inquire about

 

HG is fine but that is it, just fine. If you are looking for something that is more reliable and affordable then look into some of the mid level hosting providers that are out there today. cPanel is included in some hosting providers value added packages. It seems you may be more concerned about the costs of moving and maintaining the privacy of whois domain registration. Conflicting opinions on this from two different reps. would send up a warning signal for me but you never know if it was just an honest mistake. Call a third time and see what the opinion is this time. I really do recommend talking to your provider or at least making some general inquiries before you purchase a plan. You may also want to search a few reviews and see what the overall option of most is. Good luck with your quest and may the transition be smooth for you.

 

You are Right!

 

The only downside is that their domain registrations are $15/year. That is why I'd recommend getting a separate registrar for the domains.
Apart from that the hosting and support is actually great. Here are some things to be aware of.
- Disk space is unlimited but there is a file limit of 250,000 on shared hosting.
- If you reach 10GB or 100,000 files, they stop your automatic backups from occurring.
- There is a $15 fee to restore a backup they have on their server.
- Domain registrations are done via eNom and not them. "$15 USD"
But apart from that, the service is worth what you pay for.

 

I am already a host gator client now. I never realized there was a 250gig and 100,000 file limit. I will take that up with them if I get that big. As far as backups, we will backup ourselves and I do not mind the 15$ charge for replacing data. Private whois is a BIG concern for me. which why I was sold on their service even if they use another registrar.

I decided to transfer only 1 domain just because it was free, about to expire and i will pay the 10$ a year for the private whois. There is come conflicting information with their support. I ran into it again with an agent that had NO idea what he was talking about when i was trying to upload a 130 meg zipped sql file. it was in .rar file.

I got a 'supervisor' on the chat, and he apologized, told me to upload it unzipped to the server and he would get it in for me via ticket. The ETA was an hour. I had a smoke, and it was already complete.

Thanks for all the responses. I am happy with my move. I am sure everyone has their favorite, but their true 24/7 fast service and working with me when their agents screw up was what was sold me. Plus, I paid pretty much nothing for my first month.

Im just waiting for my EPP codes, or whatever it is to get one of the domain transferred. The rest ill keep with namespot and worry about them when they are about to expire. One does not expire until 2019.

again, thank you for all your responses

 

Hostgator is good webhost .They have servers almost in all major countries and they are now leading in webhosting .
there support is good ,but not best !

 

Get a vps for 3$ and start hosting. I dont like any big reputed companies as they are charging more than they need.

 

agreed 100%, but if I know I am in the right I will chase it and get what compensation. happened twice. I am still happy with the company, but their support know nothing. I have a note of file that specifically says not to play guessing games and to give facts because if I find out they gave me incorrect information I won't stop until i get compensation. I have agreed not to discuss the agreement we made due to the 'miscommunication' I like to call it but it worked out in my favor. i will keep them as host. I rate them 7/10. There is worse out there.