Every business needs a website, whether it's a fully functioning e-commerce setup or a simple blog to post daily updates. Either way, you need a web hosting service. The stacked HostGator is a top choice, as it includes feature-rich cloud, WordPress, virtual private server (VPS), and dedicated server packages. However, it's the company's shared plans that stand out from the very crowded web hosting pack. In fact, HostGator's shared packages are so robust that the service is our Editors' Choice winner in the shared hosting category.

Shared Hosting With HostGator

Shared hosting, if you're not familiar with the category, is a type of web hosting that sees multiple sites living on a single server. In this setup, sites share the server resources (hence the name), so a large traffic surge on Site A can, unfortunately, impact Site B's performance in a negative fashion. Shared hosting is a good option if you're looking for cheap hosting; if you want more server resources devoted to your site, you need to go the VPS or dedicated hosting routes.

HostGator offers month-to-month shared web hosting plans, but it pushes you hard to sign up for longer terms, starting at six months. We don't like that during the signup process HostGator defaults to a three-year term, like many other web hosts. It's one thing to encourage users to skip month-to-month service, but pushing them into three years from the start is a bit much.

That said, HostGator offers Linux and Windows-based shared hosting packages that give small- and medium-sized businesses room to grow. For Linux services, HostGator offers the Hatchling plan (starting at $11.95 per month, or $9.99 per month with an annual plan) that includes unlimited disk space, monthly data transfers, and email addresses. It also features a free SSL (secure socket layer), plus support for one domain and third-party applications such as content management systems and e-commerce platforms. The Baby plan (starting at $12.95 per month, or $14.99 per month with an annual plan) builds on the Hatchling offering by adding unlimited domains. The top-tier Business plan (starting at $17.95 per month, or $18.99 per month with an annual plan) includes highly specialized options, such as free dedicated IP, SEO tools for your business, and the speedy Cloudflare CDN (content delivery network).

For Windows-based shared hosting, Hostgator offers the Personal Plan (starting at $9.95 per month, or $14.99 per month with an annual commitment). This features unlimited disk space, unlimited monthly data transfers, a free SSL, and support for a single domain. The more robust Enterprise plan (starting at $19.95 per month) includes the above features, as well as support for five domains.

Note that HostGator's annual commitments aren't always cheaper than their monthly counterparts, which is unusual. Generally, you receive a discount when paying for servers in 12-month (or more) blocks. With HostGator, some annual, biennial, and triennial plans actually cost more than the per-month renewal subscription. For example, you'll pay $12.95 per month for the Baby Plan, but the price increases to $14.99 per month with an annual commitment. This is the case for several HostGator's WordPress plans as well, not just the shared hosting packages. In fact, we spoke with a customer service rep who was seemingly surprised and confused by the price structure. Use this pricing table to help make an informed decision before committing to a package.

Still, HostGator's rich shared hosting packages offer unlimited storage, email, and monthly databases that give business plenty of room to grow. In short, it's a great service for shared hosting packages.

VPS Web Hosting With HostGator

Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is for people who want more server horsepower than what shared hosting offers. VPS hosting also sees multiple sites living on a server, though far fewer in number than what you'll find on a shared hosting server. You'll pay more for a VPS server, but you get more server power in return.

HostGator offers three, Linux-based VPS hosting tiers. If you need more power, expect high traffic volumes, or have specific compliance requirements that prevent you from using shared servers (but you don't want to pay dedicated server prices), these are good options to consider.

The most basic VPS plan, Snappy 2000 (starting at $79.95 per month), offers 2GB of RAM, 120GB of SSD disk space, and unlimited email and monthly data transfers. The mid-tier Snappy 4000 package (starting at $119.95 per month), builds upon Snappy with 4GB of RAM and 165GB of SSD storage. The most advanced plan, Snappy 8000 (starting at $149.95 per month), offers 8GB of RAM and 240GB of SSD storage. The plans are flexible, but not quite as well-rounded as Hostwinds, our Editors' Choice winner for VPS hosting.

Hostwinds has wallet-friendly VPS offerings that start at $16.99 per month for 1GB of RAM, 30GB of disk space, 1TB of monthly data transfers, and unlimited email. Plans scale up to $574 per month for 96GB of RAM, 750GB of disk space, 9TB of monthly data transfers, and unlimited email. Hostwinds' VPS plans also have a Windows operating system option, which is something that HostGator doesn't offer.

Dedicated Web Hosting With HostGator

Dedicated hosting is a potent iteration of web hosting that sees your site existing on a server all by itself. As a result, this expensive hosting is also the most powerful. If you expect lots of traffic, it's what should power your website.

HostGator's dedicated server packages begin with the Value tier (starting at $179.99 per month). With Value, you get 8GB of RAM, 1TB of HDD storage, and unlimited email and monthly data transfers. Next up is Power Server (starting at $239 per month), which includes 16GB of RAM and 2TB of HDD storage (or 512GB of SSD storage). The high-end Enterprise Server (starting at $279 per month) contains 30GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage

HostGator's dedicated servers come in both Linux and Windows flavors, which isn't as commonplace as you might think; Linux tends to dominate the field. In fact, HostGator is one of the few web hosts we've tested that scored well and offers both operating systems. Even DreamHost, one of our favorite hosting services, lacks Windows-based dedicated servers. That said, Hostgator isn't the Editors' Choice pick for dedicated hosting. That title goes to AccuWeb.

AccuWeb has an impressive feature set. Its dedicated hosting packages start at $105 per month, but they scale in price and power depending on your needs. The servers come in either Linux or Windows flavors, too.

Still, HostGator's dedicated hosting offerings are nothing to sneeze at. Check them out if you're in need of dedicated hosting with high-capacity SSD storage.

Cloud Web Hosting With HostGator

HostGator, like the many other web hosts that PCMag has reviewed over the years, also offers cloud hosting. With cloud hosting, the resources that your site needs to operate are shared across multiple servers. The benefits? You can scale resources in real time, as your site isn't limited to physical server constraints.

HostGator's cloud hosting service—unlike that of DreamHost, the category's other Editors' Choice winner—is only available via the Linux platform; if you want the Windows operating system, you must look elsewhere. Still, HostGator has attractive cloud hosting plans that are worth your consideration.

The Cloud Hatchling plan (starting at $12.95 per month) comes with 2GB RAM and unlimited email, monthly data transfers, and storage. From there, Cloud Baby (starting at $13.95 per month) adds unlimited domains and ups the RAM to 4GB. At the top of the offerings is Cloud Business (starting at $19.95 per month), which includes 6GB of RAM, a dedicated IP address, and free SEO tools.

1&1 Ionos, our other Editors' Choice winner for cloud hosting, is designed for enterprise-level businesses. You'll find 16-core CPUs, servers with 48GB of RAM, and other high-end specs. You can greatly customize your package, too. Please read that review for in-depth details.

WordPress Web Hosting With HostGator

HostGator lets you install the WordPress content management system (CMS) onto any of its servers, but the web host also offers three tiers of pre-installed, managed WordPress web hosting: Starter, Standard, and Business.

Starter (starting at $17.95 per month, or $14.99 per month with an annual plan) offers 100,000 visits per month, the ability to host just one WordPress site, and unlimited email. Standard (starting at $24.99, or $18.99 per month with an annual plan) ups things to two WordPress sites and 200,000 monthly visits. Business (starting at $27.95 per month) grants three WordPress sites, 500,000 monthly visits, and unlimited storage. All plans come with page caching and an optimized WordPress hosting environment. That said, A2, Bluehost, and WP Engine—our co-Editors' Choice picks for WordPress hosting—top HostGator with slightly more robust packages. Please check out those reviews for a deeper dive into their WordPress offerings.

WordPress is easy to set up on HostGator even if you don't go the managed-WordPress route. The customer portal has an option called Quick Links that opens a dedicated interface for installing third-party applications. There's also a handy shortcut called Get Started With WordPress Today that leads to the Quick Links interface. We set the path to my blog's installation, entered the username for the WordPress administrator account, and clicked on the install button. As easy as that, our site was up and running. HostGator also automatically installed the WP-Super-Cache plug-in to help improve blog performance. If you're looking for even more plug-ins to give your site a boost, check out The Best WordPress Plug-Ins for Supercharging Your Website.

In testing, the process of setting up our WordPress site was easy, because the database was already there. There was also a link to the Mojo Marketplace under WordPress services, with premium add-ons and services for our blog. HostGator itself lacks a blog-import button, but WordPress makes the import process easy enough.

Building a HostGator-Powered Website

It's a good thing HostGator sends a getting-started email with links to all the resources you need to create a website, because the interface is a bit clunky. HostGator has a Billing Login link at the top of its site that leads to the customer portal, where all the payment information, details about your plan, and options to purchase add-ons are listed. This page has tabs across the top for account and domain management. The Hosting tab is where you see the actual control panel with site-building tools, applications, website statistics, and more. The introductory email also has a direct link for the control panel, but it looks different from what you'd get through the Hosting tab, making the experience a bit confusing at first.

HostGator has several options for building a website, including HostGator's excellent, simple-to-use Gator website builder. The drag-and-drop functionality let me quickly build an attractive page complete with slideshows, contact forms, social media links, and more in no time. You can also install WordPress or other CMS platforms, such as b2evolutions, Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, and Tiki, to name a few. A File Manager tool lets you manually upload files to the server to create the website that way. The tool is better than a basic FTP client, because you can edit the files directly or use a built-in HTML editor.

HostGator blesses you with a free domain name if you sign up for at least 12 months of cloud, shared, or WordPress hosting—dedicated and VPS hosting do not qualify. That's not an unusual feature in the web hosting space, but it is a nice touch. There are two caveats, however. The no-cost period lasts for one year, and your desired domain must end in either the .com, .org, or .net extensions. If you already own a domain name ending in one of the aforementioned extensions, HostGator will transfer it to a server free of charge. If you want to know more about site building, check out The Best Courses for Learning How to Build Websites and How to Create a Blog.

Reseller Web Hosting With HostGator

If you're looking to get into the web hosting business, but you don't want to deal with infrastructure matters, check out HostGator's reseller hosting packages.

The plans, starting at $34.95 per month, include unlimited email across the board. The Aluminum, Copper, and Silver plans are of both the Linux and Windows variety, but HostGator doesn't supply them with unlimited storage and monthly data transfers at each tier, as the reseller Editors' Choice pick Hostwinds does with its offerings. On the upside, HostGator lets you apply your own branding to the servers you rent, and it also supplies 24/7 tech support.

HostGator E-Commerce Tools

As mentioned, HostGator is partnered with Mojo Marketplace, which has valuable design tools like graphics, logos, themes, and templates. Quick Links also has e-commerce packages, including Magento, phpCOIN, SugarCRM, and ZenCart. We installed Magento, which provides a drag-and-drop interface to create an attractive online store.

Setting up shop with the new tool is straightforward and easy. You select a theme, add products, pricing, and images, and pick your preferred payment and shipping methods. If you plan on using your website to sell products, HostGator offers many excellent options.

Excellent Uptime and Customer Service

We used a website-monitoring tool to track our HostGator-hosted test site's uptime over a 14-day period. Every 15 minutes, the tool pings our website and sends us an email if it is unable to contact the site for at least 1 minute. The testing data reveals that HostGator is remarkably stable; in fact, it didn't go down once in the two-week testing period. You shouldn't have to worry about your HostGator site going down for extended periods of time.

HostGator has 24/7 telephone support and live web chat support. We placed a call on a weekday morning and spoke to a customer service rep less than a minute later. We asked about the different hosting tiers, and experienced excellent customer support. The rep was friendly and knowledgeable. We then connected to their live web chat to inquire about their WordPress services and pricing, and the support agent replied within seconds to explain how each tier was priced, and the features included in each.

Like many other web hosts, HostGator has a money-back guarantee. However, it does better than most of its competitors by offering a 45-day refund window (most web hosts top out at 30 days). That said, DreamHost, another Editors' Choice pick, is even more generous with its impressive 97-day guarantee.

5 Things You Need to Know About Web Hosting

Dedicated to Hosting

Featuring numerous hosting types, excellent customer service, terrific uptime, and a lengthy money-back guarantee, HostGator is an excellent web hosting provider. With it, you get a suite of tools to launch a personal or business website—provided that a Windows-powered server isn't a top priority. HostGator's shared hosting plans are particularly outstanding, and earn the service our Editors' Choice award for the category. If you need to build atop the Windows Server operating system, AccuWeb (also an Editors' Choice winner) will suit you well.

For more on web hosting, point your browser toward 10 Easy But Powerful SEO Tips to Boost Traffic to Your Website and How to Create a Website.