As some readers wonder which one between HostGator and DreamHost provides better web hosting service for small businesses, we have made a detailed comparison between them based on the 2 companies' real customer reviews and our careful analysis on their reputation, web hosting price, features, reliability, performance, technology, ease of use and technical support.
Both of the 2 companies have a long history and a rock-solid customer base in the web hosting industry. Before comparing them, let's take a deep look at their overview as well as the advantages and drawbacks in regards to small business hosting service.
About HostGator
Founded in 2002, HostGator has been one of the fastest growing web hosting providers which is now hosting over 9 million domains with 12,000 servers and 850 experts. The company has a series of products designed for all kinds of customers, including shared web hosting, VPS hosting, reseller hosting and dedicated hosting.
Recognized as a leader in the area, HostGator has also been devoted to environment protection by investing in Wind Energy and purchasing certificated Renewable Energy Credits. Customers' websites are guaranteed to be eco-friendly.
Advantages of HostGator
Drawbacks of HostGator
Both of the 2 companies have a long history and a rock-solid customer base in the web hosting industry. Before comparing them, let's take a deep look at their overview as well as the advantages and drawbacks in regards to small business hosting service.
About HostGator
Founded in 2002, HostGator has been one of the fastest growing web hosting providers which is now hosting over 9 million domains with 12,000 servers and 850 experts. The company has a series of products designed for all kinds of customers, including shared web hosting, VPS hosting, reseller hosting and dedicated hosting.
Recognized as a leader in the area, HostGator has also been devoted to environment protection by investing in Wind Energy and purchasing certificated Renewable Energy Credits. Customers' websites are guaranteed to be eco-friendly.
Advantages of HostGator
- HostGator has a high reputation in providing high quality web hosting service.
- cPanel control panel is adopted to simplify the management of website statistics, files, databases, emails and domains.
- The web hosting service is as low as $3.71/mo when using HostGator unique coupon code “GatorGator25Off”, coming with a free shared SSL certificate.
- Free 24x7 responsive technical support is accessible via phone, live chat and email.
- HostGator provides upgradable options to meet the growing demands as small business websites expand.
Drawbacks of HostGator
- No one of the 3 web hosting plans includes a free domain. Instead, HostGator charges $12.95 for each domain.
- The Hatchling plan allows hosting one single domain and doesn't support add-on or parked domains.
About DreamHost
DreamHost is also a leading web hosting provider offering various services including shared web hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated hosting. Since its establishment in 1997, the company has made great achievements, and as a result, it is serving approximately 750,000 domains and websites now.
DreamHost has received many praises from customers, while at the same time, it has also got some complaints on certain aspects.
Advantages of DreamHost
Drawbacks of DreamHost
HostGator VS DreamHost on Price & Features
HostGator has 3 shared web hosting plans which start from $3.71/mo now with the coupon code “GatorGator25Off”. DreamHost, however, has only one shared web hosting plan which is priced at $8.95/mo. Occasionally, this company provides large discounts to cut the price down to $3.96/mo.
All of the 4 plans come with unlimited disk space, bandwidth, email accounts, and support programming languages and technologies like PHP5, MySQL 5, Perl, Python and Ruby on Rails. As for their differences, read the following table. Note that the plans selected for HostGator are Hatchling and Baby.
DreamHost is also a leading web hosting provider offering various services including shared web hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated hosting. Since its establishment in 1997, the company has made great achievements, and as a result, it is serving approximately 750,000 domains and websites now.
DreamHost has received many praises from customers, while at the same time, it has also got some complaints on certain aspects.
Advantages of DreamHost
- DreamHost provides shared web hosting customers with a free domain and free domain WHOIS privacy.
- The shared web hosting plan comes with nearly all the standard features needed by a small business website.
- DreamHost guarantees 97 days money back and 100% uptime (the real monitored uptime is 99.93%).
Drawbacks of DreamHost
- DreamHost doesn't support some important features like custom cronjobs.
- DreamHost utilizes a custom built control panel which comes with less usability than cPanel.
- The renewal price of the web hosting plan is $8.95/mo, much higher than most other popular web hosts.
- DreamHost provides free support via email only, and charges $9.95/mo for support via live chat and phone.
HostGator VS DreamHost on Price & Features
HostGator has 3 shared web hosting plans which start from $3.71/mo now with the coupon code “GatorGator25Off”. DreamHost, however, has only one shared web hosting plan which is priced at $8.95/mo. Occasionally, this company provides large discounts to cut the price down to $3.96/mo.
All of the 4 plans come with unlimited disk space, bandwidth, email accounts, and support programming languages and technologies like PHP5, MySQL 5, Perl, Python and Ruby on Rails. As for their differences, read the following table. Note that the plans selected for HostGator are Hatchling and Baby.
HostGator VS DreamHost on Performance
Both of HostGator and DreamHost house servers in multiple data centers of a collocation provider. The partner of HostGator for data center service is SoftLayer, a reliable company with data centers equipped with the best networks, state-of-the-art security system, redundant power, HVAC and fire detection/suppression systems. The websites hosted with HostGator are accessible via the networks of Cisco, AT&T, Time Warner, Global Crossing and 6 other backbone and fiber providers.
DreamHost has been partnered with Alchemy Communications, a Los Angeles-based dedicated server and collocation provider, for basic data center and network service. The data centers have dozens of gigabits of network capacity, a UPS power backup generator and redundant fire suppression and cooling systems.
As we monitored in the past 6 months, the servers of HostGator respond approximately 50% faster than those of DreamHost. Read the following chart for the statistics of the past 30 days.
Both of HostGator and DreamHost house servers in multiple data centers of a collocation provider. The partner of HostGator for data center service is SoftLayer, a reliable company with data centers equipped with the best networks, state-of-the-art security system, redundant power, HVAC and fire detection/suppression systems. The websites hosted with HostGator are accessible via the networks of Cisco, AT&T, Time Warner, Global Crossing and 6 other backbone and fiber providers.
DreamHost has been partnered with Alchemy Communications, a Los Angeles-based dedicated server and collocation provider, for basic data center and network service. The data centers have dozens of gigabits of network capacity, a UPS power backup generator and redundant fire suppression and cooling systems.
As we monitored in the past 6 months, the servers of HostGator respond approximately 50% faster than those of DreamHost. Read the following chart for the statistics of the past 30 days.
Our Recommendation
The web hosting services from both HostGator and DreamHost are reliable enough for small business websites, but we personally recommend HostGator as HostGator is faster, supports more e-commerce applications, and provides cPanel and a free shared SSL certificate which helps increase the security of business websites.
The web hosting services from both HostGator and DreamHost are reliable enough for small business websites, but we personally recommend HostGator as HostGator is faster, supports more e-commerce applications, and provides cPanel and a free shared SSL certificate which helps increase the security of business websites.