Are Bluehost and HostGator the same company?

Bluehost and HostGator stand amongst the most popular web hosting companies. The two brands seem to compete well and do their best to sell their hosting services. While they appear to be rivals up front, what if I tell you that the two companies are actually operating under one umbrella? Well, it is not any rumor. Bluehost and HostGator are indeed running under the command of one company. But who is their parent?

Endurance International Group, EIG, is a giant that runs multiple hosting brands. It has over eighty brands working under its name. Bluehost and HostGator are two of the popular hosting names owned by EIG. The company possesses ‘A’ rating on BBB because of several reasons that include responding to complaints against business and resolving problems that come across. Moreover, it has been long since EIG is providing hosting solutions, starting as early as 1996.

However, as a consumer, you get Bluehost and HostGator as two different hosting brands. The companies vary when it comes to packages, performance, and other functional aspects. Therefore, it is essential to review the two in terms of what they offer to the users, and here we have Bluehost vs. HostGator to help you understand the two companies in a better manner.

 

Bluehost Hosting Review

Bluehost stands among the reliable and popular web hosting providers. It aims at addressing the needs of everyone. From a beginner to an expert, you’ll get all sorts of different hosting solutions at Bluehost. The fact that it is easy to use and provides excellent value for money makes it a decent option for newbies. Moreover, WordPress integration and free domain are a couple of useful features that you may prefer.

 

Basics

Bluehost gives you a 30 days money-back guarantee. So, if you are unsatisfied with the services or want to discontinue Bluehost’s use, you can do so within 30 days. Moreover, you get a free domain when you sign up with them. Another problem people face is the transfer or migration of the site and email accounts from one host to another. Bluehost provides you an option to do it manually or ask their experts to get the job done for you. The latter certainly comes at a cost.

Also, there are a ton of plugins and apps at your disposal to use with Bluehost. You get a website builder tool that gives you a chance to design your website, powered by Weebly.

 

Plans and pricing

Like other good hosting providers, Bluehost gives you shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting options. The shared plans start from as low as $2.75 a month and give you a chance to get a single domain up and running. You get SSD storage of 50 GB and a free SSL certificate. If you want to step up your game, you can go for Plus package which gives you spam experts and starts at $4.95 a month, Choice Plus package that starts at $6.95 a month offers you site backup and domain protection, or Pro package which starts at $13.95 a month and gives you a dedicated IP address.

Bluehost also allows you to pay each month, but you can only benefit from this billing cycle after your first account renewal, the monthly basic plan fee starts from $9.99.

Similarly, there are different plans for VPS, which start at $19.99 a month and dedicated hosting solutions, which you can begin using at $79.99 a month.

 

Performance

The performance of any hosting is amongst the critical aspects as it can make or break your website. Bluehost offers SSD drives to its users that are snappy and give you faster access to data. Moreover, the data centers are situated in different cities with locations undisclosed. However, the main center is located in Utah.

The Bluehost servers are operating at Tier 3 certificate (keep in mind that Tier 4 is the highest hosting certification). Therefore, you can experience significant redundancy and are likely to have maximum uptime. The average downtime of Bluehost is rated at 1.6 hours per year, giving you a 99.982% uptime. Their servers contain Quad-processors and uninterruptible power supply. They have backup generators and multiple internet connections operating at 10 GB. Also, Cloudflare CDN is fast and secure.

 

Security

Another critical aspect of a hosting service is its security. No one would wish to get his or her website hacked every now and then. Therefore, you need an excellent hosting solution that gives you protection at its best. Bluehost provides you CodeGuard Basic website backup with free shared SSL. As you step up your hosting game and switch to VPS and dedicated solutions, you can have dedicated IP and SSL certificates with multiple cPanels.

Moreover, the company has a strict system in place that regularly checks for malware and monitors DDoS attacks, providing comprehensive cybersecurity to your website.

 

HostGator Hosting Review

HostGator is one of those hosting companies that need no introduction. It stands amongst the snappiest and most reliable hosts that give your website the perfect home it needs.

 

Basics

HostGator also offers you a money-back guarantee, and the protection extends to 45 days. It applies to the hosting service only. Moreover, you get a free domain that will renew after one year at the regular price. The website transformation is also made easy, and you can migrate both WordPress and cPanel websites to HostGator without much trouble.

The web builder tool gives you mobile-ready templates and simple drag and drops functionality to create your websites. You can create up to six different pages with the free plan. Also, there are various plugins and applications available for use with their hosting plan.

 

Plans and pricing

Like Bluehost, their shared hosting plans also start at $2.75 a month and offer you a free domain and SSL certificate. However, as you proceed ahead, it is surprising to see how two hosting companies run by the same company, EIG, vary in terms of services. The other shared hosting plans start at $3.95 and $5.95, respectively, and offer you multiple domains, unlimited bandwidth, free SEO tools, dedicated IPs, and much more.

The VPS hosting also starts at $19.95, similar to Bluehost. However, dedicated hosting provides you a lot more and is a bit costlier, beginning at $89.98 a month.

 

Performance

SSD drives have become industry standard for better hosting, and HostGator does not shy away from it. You get SSD drives, and space varies depending on your package. Unlike Bluehost, which has all Tier 3 datacenters, HostGator has several Tier 4 certified data centers in Texas and Utah. These are state of the art facilities that provide you great flexibility and performance with a high level of backup and 99.99% uptime. For content delivery, the company uses Cloudflare.

 

Security

The automatic website backups are created every week with HostGator. You get a one-click restoring functionality with the backups. Moreover, SSL certificates are provided for free, whereas you may purchase other types of SSL certificates such as company validated, extended validation, multi-domain, etc. with the host.

Certain functionalities are similar in both companies, Bluehost and HostGator, which again refers to how EIG manages the two hosting giants. For malware, the HostGator also uses SiteLock, just like Bluehost, and gives you protection from cybercrimes. DDoS attack protection is also included in the package.

 

Which one is better?

Well, the answer largely depends on the type of hosting you prefer. You need to compare the packages of the two hosts carefully before you decide on one. Bluehost gives you fast and reliable hosting with high security. It is easy to use and suitable option for beginners. However, they come with average customer support, and their uptime is 99.98% with Tier 3 server data centers.

On the other hand, we have HostGator, which is very fast when it comes to website operations. It is reliable, secure, great for beginners, and offers you excellent customer support. Also, they have multiple Tier 4 datacenters, which give it a slight edge over Bluehost.

 

What are the top 5 factors to consider while buying hosting?

There are several aspects to consider when you are looking to settle on a hosting service. It is a tough decision and requires some work at your end. Amongst many factors that one has to consider, the following are five crucial ones that you cannot afford to overlook.

 

Renewal cost

Most of the time, individuals are looking at the first time purchase and are not worried about the renewal cost. Ultimately, they are lured by purchasing the hosting service with low first-time purchase cost, and when they are to renew it, they look for a new hosting provider. As you won’t wish to change your home now and then, you must settle on a good web host. Thus, one must also keep in the eye the renewal cost when purchasing a hosting service.

Uptime

Most of the web hosting services give you 99% uptime. However, there are instances when individuals end up signing a not so good host, and their website suffers from a lot of downtimes. It would harm the reputation of your site to a great extent as most of the people may not be able to access it. Thus, try signing with a hosting that has a good reputation when it comes to uptime.

Security

People spend a lot of time getting a great web hosting that provides stunning performance. However, what they overlook is how crucial security can be. Most of the time, they go with the perception that this is a reputable host and will have good security. However, you must go deep and find out the measures they take to protect the website, i.e., malware scans, protection from DDoS, and prevention of cyber break-ins.

Pricing and packages

Usually, people are looking at the price that is being offered and not at the actual plan. Whenever you are comparing the two hosts, do not just make decisions based on the price. Keep your long-term goals in mind and make sure that you compare the two offerings that are provided in the package before you decide on one.

Customer support

Everyone using web hosting is not necessarily an expert in all matters. Therefore, you need excellent customer support. Whenever you come across an issue, the customer support will resolve the matter for you, but that can only happen if the host has reliable customer support on offer.

 

What are the types of hosting?

While EIG manages Bluehost and HostGator, the primary difference we found was in the types of hosting they offer.

 

Shared hosting

Shared hosting is what most of the beginners need. You get your website hosted on the same server that hosts many other sites. The resources such as RAM, hard drive space, and CPU usage are shared among the websites.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is more of an advanced level hosting. It is generally a requirement of websites that demand an extreme security level or a web application that has huge traffic. The server is exclusively rented from a hosting company to support your website, and you can customize its resources to suit your needs.

VPS hosting

VPS refers to virtual private servers, and it gives a middle ground between dedicated and shared hosting. The VPS hosting gives you a chance to host your website on its own space on a server. You get more customization options, but the flexibility is not as advanced as dedicated hosts.

 

How to get fast speed hosting in cheap deals?

If you are looking to get fast speed hosting at a low price, you can do the following:

  • Shortlist 3 to 4 different hosting providers that give you reliable and secure hosting
  • Compare what each of the hosts offers to you
  • Compare their pricing
  • Select the most suitable hosting
  • Try to find any promotional offer
  • Search for coupon codes before checking out

 

Final words

Are Bluehost and HostGator the same company? Well, they are two different brands working under the command of EIG. We compared them in terms of performance, pricing, plans, and various aspects. A few things were similar, whereas some details were different. Which one works the best? Well, it is up to you now to make your choice.

 

If you’re unsure about which hosting company to choose, even after reading this article, have a look at Tribulant Hosting or Brontobytes.

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Comments
  1. Jim on December 15, 2021

    Hostgator has horrible support. If first-tier support can’t handle your problem they just take your name and create a ticket. Then you have to deal with them by email. I say again ONLY by email. And the emails are about one a day. I tried solving a problem and after a few weeks of not having the site active, they just left me out to dry. Said they would solve my problem, didn’t and further inquiry resulted in an automated email that said the case was closed. So I lost the site. Gone.

    Reply
    • Tribulant Software on December 15, 2021

      Hi Jim,

      It’s good to hear personal experiences. One email a day most probably means that support isn’t in the same country, which is usually fine, except that it is once a day and should be quicker. We can excuse once a day if they’re developing something, working on server restoration, have a major problem, etc., but in issues such as email problems, PHP version changes, or others, replies should be quick. We offer hosting as well and our server is more reliable than Bluehost’s and HostGator’s (and GoDaddy’s). We only offer live chat and ticket support but our customers rarely communicate with us as everything just works. We don’t lose websites since we have 2 daily backup systems, one on-site, one off-site.
      Blessings!

      Reply

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