1&1 hosting and HostGator are two earliest and greatest hosting brands on the planet. I needed to check 1&1 Hosting versus. HostGator particularly after receiving several readers questions regarding the fir&1 brand (mainly b/c 1&1, like GoDaddy does a lot of advertising).
*Editor’s Note – this comparison was initially printed at the begining of 2014. It’s been revised throughout by May 2016.
A lot of my sites (that one uses InMotion VPS) run on HostGator hosting (see HostGator’s plans here), and that i’ve had the chance to make use of 1&1 hosting (see 1&1’s plans here) with several client sites, additionally to some recent side project that utilizes 1&1 hosting. After using each for a long time, here’s my knowledge about how 1&1 and Hostgator compare on prices, features, performance, usability, and customer support.
Disclosure – I receive referral charges from a lot of companies pointed out within this publish. All data and opinions within this publish derive from my experience like a having to pay customer or consultant to some having to pay customer.
Prices
Evaluating web hosting companies on prices is definitely a little difficult given that they attempt to make certain the comparison isn’t apples to apples, when really they all are selling exactly the same factor.
For cost comparisons, I keep the three D’s straight – domains, databases, and disk space. With regards to shared Linux hosting (which, unless of course you realize otherwise is most likely the best fit for you personally). Individuals would be the 3 features that you’re really having to pay for – things are else is great, but could’t be compared directly.
Domains is the amount of domains you are able to indicate your hosting account. With respect to the exact account – you might have limitless “websites” living all on 1 domain. You might have blog.domain.com together with shop.domain.com and support.domain.com – each could be distinct site but all around the single domain.com. HostGator’s least expensive account (Hatchling) enables 1 domain. All 1&1’s plans and HostGator’s other tiers are limitless.
Databases are what “powers” your website – particularly if you use something similar to WordPress to handle your site. Essentially 1 database = 1 distinct website. Within the example above, your site, support, shop, and primary site could be 4 different websites and would want 4 different databases. Disk space is the amount storage you could have (think photos, videos, text,etc). Databases and diskspace are where you have to be careful when evaluating.
All HostGator’s plans allow limitless databases & disk space whereas 1&1’s cheaper plans cap them. Everything to state is the fact that to check apples to apples, we have to take a look at 1&1’s Limitless Plan versus. HostGator’s Baby Plan.
The default 12 months cost for 1&1 is $9.99/mo versus. HostGator’s $9.95/mo. 1&1 however will run frequent promotions (see for their current one), while HostGator offers 45% off for first time customer having a special discount.
It’s close enough to think about additional factors for 1&1 hosting versus. HostGator. Let’s take a look at specific feature offering.
Features
For cost comparison purposes, you need to examines domains, databases, and diskspace. However, features matter for you overall purchasing decision – particularly if you have certain goals or needs (for example located email, etc).
Both 1&1 and HostGator provide huge lists of super-terminology attempting to convince you they provide greater than another. What really happens is it’s an excessive amount of to process and really compare, so you concentrate on the little variations (like how HostGator provides you with $100 in the search engines AdWords credit whereas 1&1 provides you with $50 in Facebook and $50 in Bing ads) rather of features that really matter.
That stated, there’s a couple of features that I wish to on-site visit. First, HostGator does weekly backups of the site. 1&1 does daily backups. Should you create a lot – that is one problem. Now, you shouldn’t depend in your webhost to complete backups for you personally (it’s important enough that you simply shouldn’t trust that to another person). However the additional frequency of just one&1 backups are nice, along with a feature that HostGator must add.
So far as return policies, HostGator will a 45-day refund policy, whereas 1&1 supplies a 30-day. Not really a ton, but worth calling out.
Both of them offer limitless bandwidth (ie, they’ll support limitless quantity of traffic to your website). Every host should asterisk this since in case your site hits every news network simultaneously…it’s most likely likely to crash. That stated, I need to on-site visit that whenever my a publish of mine went viral in This summer 2013, I’d 4,000 on my small site at some point and HostGator handled it gracefully (regrettably the websites I own running on 1&1 haven’t were built with a viral hit yet).
For first-time website proprietors, 1&1 provides an “App Center” which has led setup of WordPress along with other common software. HostGator, however, sticks out using their Quick Install feature (detailed here), which supplies a far greater experience which i’ll detail within the usability section.
Overall, in features I’ll call 1&1 hosting versus. HostGator a tie, based on precisely what features you actually value. But features don’t matter when they don’t work, so let’s dive into performance.
Performance
An internet host’s primary purpose would be to offer your site files as rapidly so that as reliably as you possibly can each time a customer navigates for your URL. All trustworthy hosts guarantee 99.9% uptime (quite simply, you might have about one hour of downtime each year). Both HostGator and 1&1 declare that their internal metrics match individuals figures.
There’s always likely to be lots of anecdotal evidence in either case. Customers for 1&1 frequently claim they have had significant downtime. Lots of HostGator customers possessed a day’s price of downtime once they switched data centers in August 2013 (my sites weren’t affected, but numerous others were).
It’s difficult to make judgments on future uptime in line with the past for those web hosting companies – since even Google and Amazon do go from time to time. So, I’d state that both are likely to provide you with solid uptime (but always make certain you retain your personal backups), and check out things that you could measure – like delivering your files rapidly.
To try and look directly at 1&1 hosting versus. HostGator directly, I setup 2 websites with similar settings on accounts and ran speed tests. Listed here are the outcomes.
In 2016, 1&1 has improved, but nonetheless not just like HostGator.
There are plenty of variables which go into how rapidly your site can load – however the factor that you could particularly take a look at to gauge host performance ‘s time to first byte (TTFB) – again, there are plenty of additional factors, but this is actually the just one you are able to distinguish from website setup. This can be a measurement of methods lengthy the server requires to acknowledge the request and begin coming back files.
Quite simply, should you walked up to and including counter and requested someone to enter the rear of the shop to seize a bundle, TTFB could be how lengthy they simply was there before you run into the rear of the shop.
You can observe in the screenshots above that HostGator is considerably quicker than 1&1. Almost embarrassingly better.
When we would compare 1&1 hosting versus. HostGator on performance alone – it might be no contest. But performance featuring don’t matter unless of course you are able to really rely on them, and that’s why its my hosting reviews I love to take a look at usability too.
Usability
All hosting accounts possess a “backend” setup where you want to manage your server account – kind of like the way you use Home windows 7 or OSX to handle your pc.
HostGator uses cPanel, the standard over the industry. It’s cluttered and never pretty, but it’s straightforward and fairly simple to find what you’re searching for, especially given that they put all the details around the primary page. Furthermore, because it’s mostly standard across lots of website hosts, it’s simple to find support and help online for this. Here’s what it appears as though.
1&1 hosting, however, utilizes a custom backend to handle their hosting accounts. Theoretically, this is great simply because they can personalize it exactly to meet the requirements of the customers…but it becomes a usability disaster. It’s admittedly more attractive than HostGator. However, several key settings (like DNS information) are hidden while some (for example Global PHP settings are emphasized. Here’s what it appears as though…
Despite the fact that there are plenty of overall usability difficulties with 1&1, my 3 specific issues are:
1. They hide the DNS information behind Domain Transfers. It’s a fairly overt make an effort to upsell their domain services and encourage people to transfer the registration of the domain to at least one&1. Rather, they ought to easily supply the DNS information to permit customers with domains elsewhere to still use 1&1 hosting.
As opposed to HostGator – DNS information (and FTP) details are something receive inside your signup email and it is around the primary dashboard from the hosting account.
2. 1&1 hosting’s primary marketplace is first-time website proprietors and small company proprietors, however their backend setup makes application setup (for example WordPress) very difficult, and much more technical than it ought to be. HostGator uses the QuickInstall that is a real 2 step process, whereas 1&1 puts their WordPress install inside an Application Center, and utilizes a more technical 5 step process.
3. Error messages really are a frequent appearance on 1&1 hosting. And they’re frequently for very mundane actions…like striking the back button.
Furthermore, a number of other fundamental functions for example installing databases fail a lot more frequently than HostGator.
Overall, despite the fact that HostGator’s backend isn’t pretty – however it’s functional and incredibly functional. 1&1 is loaded with lots of usability issues making it an irritating option for me – but specifically for any very first time hosting account customer. Major suggests HostGator.
Customer Support
HostGator both cover the spectrum of phone, email, chat, forum, and understanding-base support. I’ve had good encounters with HostGator for quite some time – despite the fact that I haven’t needed to contact support everything frequently. I’ve averaged about two to four minute phone waits, and chat is generally instantly available.
1&1 hosting support has typically been fine, although not quite good. Their support is fast (usually within minute wait) and cordial, although not super knowledgeable. They appear to see support like a cost center as opposed to a marketing & retention funnel. My newest experience was looking to get a database installation error fixed.
The support was fast and cordial, but she simply attempted to resolve the problem by re-creating it herself. She’d to place me on hold to usher in the technical supervisor (apparently they’ve line customer support that is based on a few tech people).
The hold was going for a while, and so i requested to become contacted by email when the issue was resolved. It had been fixed and that i was emailed just a few minutes later. Again, it had been fine – far better than other a number of other hosts, although not quite to the stage of HostGator’s good, but consistent support.
Conclusion
Typically, I different companies provide a better or worse fit based on your objectives. For 1&1 Hosting versus. HostGator – I’d repeat the following:
If you’re searching for branded hosting and curently have products or knowledge of 1&1, then 1&1’s hosting plans might be considered a good fit for you personally (see their promotions here).
Otherwise, I’d state that 1&1 hosting is a huge brand with low prices and a lot of features, however , can’t match HostGator in almost any other category for overall value. Get 45% off HostGator’s plans here (coupon incorporated).
If you’re searching for an independent hosting in a good cost point with higher performance, solid usability, and helpful features – you can examine out InMotion’s plans plans here (review).
If you’re more confused than ever before, make sure to take a look at my Buzzfeed-style hosting quiz to sort the choices.
The publish 1Ž Hosting versus. HostGator: My Comparison & Knowledge About Both made an appearance first on ShivarWeb.
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