In our Review we list everything you really need to know to buy Hostgator. The Good, Bad and the Ugly, read on…

Our Buy Hostgator review criteria is very simple. What do you really need from a web hosting company?

You need:

1.A Great Price.

2.Uptime and Reliability so good that you never need to waste your valuable time calling customer service.

3. Great Customer Service, because if you do have to get on the phone with them you want to get someone who can actually do their job without transferring you 10 times.

4. Easy to Use, you desperately need a web host with an easy to navigate and easy to use site. Nothing will drive you crazy faster than trying to use a site that looks like it was built by a guy who needs an hour and a half to watch the TV show 60 minutes.

5. Value, sure we all want the best price we can get. But is it worth it to save 50 cents a month if your site crashes all the time and customer service is in some foreign country?

6. What’s the Down Side when you Buy Hostgator, every company has things they could do better, that’s for sure. But what are the challenges, are they deal breakers and how much if any do they affect you?

The Review.

So, how does HostGator stack up to our criteria?

Price: (4.85 out of 5.00 possible). Why? Well, their basic site is only $4.95. And yes, we did find a web host company that was an unbelievably low $3.50 a month. The problem was when I called their support line and ended up hanging up after I had been waiting 13 minutes and no one had answered yet. I just called HostGator and was in Q (on Hold) for 11 seconds. Trust me, for that kind of service when I need it I’ll pay the extra $1.45 and sleep good.

Uptime and Reliability: (5.00 out of 5.00 possible). Why? 99.9% uptime is a common fact with HostGator not just a lame guarantee that never lives up to its claim. To get any safer with your up time you would literally have to deploy a cloud system of worldwide redundant mirror servers. Yes, I know that sounds really cool until you see the price tag of over $1,500 a month.

Great Customer Service: (4.75 out of 5.00 possible). Why? I have a hosting account with Hostgator myself. I have been on the phone with them several times mostly because when I was new to using word press I didn’t know what the heck I was doing.

Out of all those times I got one guy who just did not live up to my expectations of great customer service. Maybe he was having a bad day, maybe he’s a couple cookies short of a dozen, I don’t know. But on that day it just didn’t work for me. Every other customer service rep I ever got was great. And one guy was phenomenal. He was so good he should be running his own computer company and some day likely will.

Easy to Use: (4.90 out of 5.00 possible). Why? Because I can actually find stuff on their site and use it the first time around without having to hire a 13 year old to teach me technical skills. No, I am not one of those people where the elevator goes all the way to the top but the doors don’t open.

I am relatively ok with finding my way around new sites. But Host Gator has really taken the lay out and ease of use to a new level. I must admit they’ve done a great job. It’s pretty easy to get in get stuff done and get out without having to X out whole scheduling blocks in your calendar.

Value: (4.90 out of 5.00 possible). Why? HostGator has real value. Sure you could probably save that all important 1 dollar and 45 cents per month if you went somewhere else. But your monthly Prozac bill when your site is never up for more than 3 days at a time can get rather spendy after a bit too. Sure we all want to save a buck where we can but even more than that we need true value. Because we all know it’s perfectly ok to spend a little so long as we are getting what were paying for.

What’s the Down Side: This may sound rather silly. But the only thing I could find that I didn’t like about HostGator is the name of their smallest web package is baby. I know, I know, it’s stupid to rant about something so insignificant.

But I don’t care for all those “for Dummies” series either. You know the ones, cutting the grass for dummies or ear wax removal for dummies ect.. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like someone inferring that I might be a dummy. I told you it was a silly point to make. But literally that and one customer service rep who wasn’t on his game that day was the only downside I found.

Oh, and by the way. Sure Hostgator has won all kinds of awards, all the big hosting companies have. But take one of their awards down to the corner market and try to buy a cup of coffee. All their awards mean nothing if they don’t score high on the criteria listed above.

Use the link on this site to go directly to HostGator’s main site. When you do, you’re guaranteed to get all and I do mean all of their best specials and best promotional prices being offered anywhere on the web. Click on it, you’ll see. Visit HostGator Now