HostGator is a web hosting provider headquartered in Texas, USA and founded in 2002. HostGator is a subsidiary of Endurance International Group (EIG), a company that owns several other hosting brands.
The company has evolved into a giant that currently serves 2.5 million domains worldwide with shared, VPS, dedicated, cloud and reseller hosting plans.
Additionally, HostGator has made efforts towards sustainability by investing in Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to offset their server emissions, appealing to environmentally conscious consumers.
InterServer was founded 3 years before HostGator in 1999 and evolved from a reseller provider into a full-fledged hosting provider.
The US-based company has been focused on providing affordable hosting services across its full product suite – shared, cloud, dedicated, VPS, and reseller hosting plans – to small-scale freelancers and all the way up to large 500 companies.
HostGator offers unmetered bandwidth on all its hosting packages, where most other hosting providers only offer that on their basic shared plans. You get high-performance SSD storage of up to 40 GB on shared hosting, up to 240 GB on VPS, and up to 1 TB on dedicated hosting. You also get free daily backups and restore on most plans.
You also get a free domain and SSL out-of-the-box and migrating your existing website to the host at no charge. If you want to build your website from scratch, the Gator Website Builder will help you do that with click-n-drop controls.
And if you want a WordPress website, the WordPress-specific plans plus 1-click installs will make it as hassle-free as possible.
InterServer provides similar hosting packages to Hosgator – shared, VPS, dedicated and reseller but you only get to enjoy unlimited bandwidth on its basic shared hosting offerings. However, a 150 TB bandwidth and 14 TB disk space cap on its dedicated hosting make it exceptional.
Backups are made weekly and you enjoy SSD, HDD, NVMe and TATA storage. WordPress installs and migration of your website to InterServer is free. You get a free SSL out-of-the-box and building your website from scratch is easy with the InterServereditor and SitePad.
HostGator’s shared hosting starts with the Hatchling Plan at $3.75/month for one website, 10 GB SSD, and essentials like a free domain and SSL. The top-tier Business Plan at $6.25/month offers up to three websites, 40 GB SSD, and enhanced features suited for businesses.
InterServer’s shared hosting starts with the Standard Web Hosting plan at $2.5/month, offering 1 core, 2 GB RAM, unlimited SSD storage, and key features like free SSL and website migration without a free domain.
InterServer’s Boost X plan at $69.95/month scales up to 10 cores and 20 GB RAM and includes advanced offerings, enhanced performance, and global content caching. All InterServer plans offer unlimited data transfer and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
HostGator’s VPS hosting plans begins with Snappy 2000 at $36.99/month, offering 2 GB RAM, a 2 Core CPU, and 120 GB SSD, suitable for small to medium sites with unmetered bandwidth.
The higher-tier Snappy 4000 and 8000 plans, at $53.99 and $95.99/month, respectively, provide up to 8 GB RAM and 240 GB SSD for larger, demanding websites.
InterServer’s VPS hosting ranges from $6/month for 1 core, 2 GB memory, and 30 GB SSD storage, to $96/month for 16 cores, 32 GB memory, and 480 GB SSD storage. Plans scale with resources, offering up to 32 TB transfer, catering to a wide range of hosting needs from basic to highly demanding applications.
HostGator’s Reseller hosting starts at $36.99/month, offering 2 GB RAM, 2 Core CPU, and 120 GB SSD, scaling up to $95.99/month, which includes 8 GB RAM, 4 Core CPU, and 240 GB SSD. All plans feature unmetered bandwidth and free site migration.
InterServer’s Reseller hosting plans range from $19.95/month with 80 GB disk space and 500 GB transfer, to $69.95/month offering 280 GB disk space and 2000 GB transfer. All plans include unlimited accounts/domains, free SSL, website migration, and email accounts. There is no free domain but a $7.99 domain registration fee.
HostGator’s Dedicated Hosting plans start at $91.98/month for a 4 core/8 thread Intel Xeon-D CPU with 8 GB RAM and up to 1 TB HDD or 512 GB SSD.
The highest plan is $141.99/month for an 8 core/16 thread CPU with 30 GB RAM and up to 2 TB HDD or 1 TB SSD, both offering unmetered bandwidth.
InterServer’s dedicated hosting offerings start at $59/month for the Xeon E3-1230v5 with 32 GB memory, moving up to $92/month for the AMD RYZEN 5900X with 64 GB memory and 2TB SSD. All plans include 1Gbps unmetered bandwidth.
To measure HostGator’s relative performance, I ran the host’s domain through GTMetrix and PageSpeed Insights. And these were the results:
On GTMetrix, HostGator had a decent 600 ms response time (Time to First Byte) and anoverall performance of 70%.
On Google PageSpeed Insights, HostGator was slower with a TTFB of 1.2 seconds and a similar 71% performance.
I performed the same tests on InterServer and these were the results:
On GTMetrix, InterServer had a great response time (TTFB) of 300 ms and an excellent overall performance of 99%.
On PageSpeed Insights, the host had a TTFB of 1.3 seconds and a comparably outstanding 96% overall performance:
It is important to note that the overall performance is not the same as the uptime. Both hosts provide 99.9% uptime guarantees and that has become the industry standard.
HostGator provides impressive support portals including phone, live chat, email, support tickets, a vast knowledgebase and video guides.
If you need the help of HostGator’s agents, these support portals will come in handy:
And if you like DIY, the vast knowledgabse, blog, Facebook community and video guides are there for you:
I tried their live chat support to ask one of their agents a few questions:
Overall, the agent was very courteous and answered my questions well even though I felt like the expertise level was lacking and I recicved an article instead of a direct answer.
For the full support suite though, you’ll have to be a customer on HostGator and login to their support portal:
InterServer also provides the basic support options 24/7 – Phone, email, ticketing and a knowledgebase.
I particularly like how the host groups all their support features on a single page:
The ticketing portal is hard to miss and you can reach out via email, phone (for select regions), and old-school mailing to their physical address.
Their knowledgebase or ‘Tips’ page, is great too with a built-in search engine so you can quickly find what you’re looking for.
To find InterServer’s blog, though, I had to do a little digging, and you won’t find a direct link from their homepage.
HostGator has a straightforward user interface so even if you are a hosting newbie, you’ll be able to find your way around easily.
Once you sign up as a customer, HostGator’s user account dashboard carries on the familiar blue and yellow theme.
You can easily find the tools to manage your plans, domains, hosting packages, email and billing.
The dashboard also boasts one-click access to support and the good old cPanel with a little of HostGator’s touch.
HostGator’s cPanel has been overhauled to make it look far-less intimidating for control panel newbies and should you have any questions about managing your backend, the support is there for you:
InterServer is an also easy-to-use host and right from the homepage, you can make sense of what you need quickly.
I personally felt that interServer’s UI though, makes it look a little sophisticated (for professionals) and the way the different categories are arranged in the header bar could have been better.
However, it’s still really intuitive and the InterServer account management dashboard is feature-rich:
InterServer also uses a Modern cPanel that allows you to make tweaks on your backend:
All HostGator plans come with a free SSL certificate, ensuring your website is secured with HTTPS. Automatic backups keep your files safe and thanks to the host’s CloudFlare compatibility, you can expand your website’s data into the CDN’s global network.
HostGator is also SiteLock compatible and offers a special security plan with the provider for an extra $5.99.
The host also provides special SSL plans – Essentials, Prevent and Prevent Plus – that unlock extra features like a WAF, Database scanning, and PCI compliance reports.
InterServer provides a free SSL for basic security out-of-the-box. InterServer’s in-house security solution, InterShield security is included for free and with that you get – a built-in malware scanner, a machine learning firewall, and a malware database.
Another awesome security feature InterServer provides is the Inter-proxy. This feature shows where your data is automatically cached via CloudFlare when you’re having heavy traffic and data request loads. And the Inter-Insurance service, where the host will help you clean your website during the migration process.
A wider server footprint or the more servers your web host has around the world, the faster your website will load to a global audience.
Note that data centers are different from CDN locations – when a host uses a CDN, the CDN spreads their content across their own wider network of servers. So the host doesn’t actually own the servers of the CDN network.
HostGator has servers only in the U.S, located in data centers in Provo and Atlanta. The company also supports CloudFlare integration that caches your website’s content and data across 23 more data centers located in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia:
InterServer also has server rooms and data centers just in the U.S, three in Secaucus and one in Los Angeles. The company also has a host of network providers they partner with to provide high-end rerouting to improve your website’s overall performance:
InterServer is the winner of this matchup for good reason. Go for this awesome host if:
HostGator is a very solid host and makes a solid contender thanks to its overall features and ease of use. Go for HostGator if:
| Provider | Overview | Expert & User Reviews | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Offers affordable basic shared hosting offerings, VPS hosting, and cloud hosting, along with domain registration services. | Hostinger Review | Visit Hostinger |
 | Particularly noted for its managed hosting services, where they handle the technical aspects of server management and maintenance | Knownhost Review | Visit Knownhost |
 | Focuses on speed, security, and reliability and offers features like SSD storage, free website migration, daily backups, and a user-friendly control panel. | HostArmada Review | Visit HostArmada |
In the 7-round HostGator vs InterServer matchup, InterServer comes out on top as the superior host. InterServer boasts of exceptional speed and overall performance, a ton of security features, cheap hosting plans, a very versatile hosting catalog and a wider server footprint.
HostGator is still a solid host though and stands out thanks to its amazing ease-of-use, support features, and is just much better for hosting newbies.
InterServer offers cPanel as its standard control panel for its web hosting services, allowing users to manage their websites, domains, and hosting features with ease. It’s a user-friendly interface that is widely preferred for web hosting management.
HostGator is considered a good web host for beginners and small to medium-sized websites due to its affordable pricing, user-friendly control panel, and reliable uptime. However, it’s known for its comprehensive support and extensive hosting options, making it a versatile choice for various hosting needs.
InterServer is recognized as a good web host, offering competitive pricing, a wide range of hosting plans, and excellent uptime. It stands out for its price-lock guarantee, high-performance storage solutions, and scalable resources, catering to both novice users and technical experts. InterServer’s commitment to security and customer support further enhances its hosting services.
One con of HostGator includes its upselling tactics, which can be overwhelming for new users during the signup process. Additionally, while HostGator provides reliable service, some users have reported slower loading times compared to competitors. The renewal prices can also be significantly higher than the initial promotional rates, affecting long-term affordability.
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