If you are thinking about creating your website, whether it is for a product or a service – or simply because you want to blog – it is imperative to have a dedicated web host. A web host connects your website to a primary server, giving it an identity (its URL) and authenticating it on the Internet. A web host enters the picture once you’ve created a layout for your website and have decided on a domain name. The web host then enables you to upload your website files online so that people surfing the internet can access them.
There are a lot of web hosting companies claiming to provide the best services. It can be not very clear to choose one amongst a wealth of options, and that’s why I will help you sift through them! I’ve selected two of the most reputed web hosting services to compare and scrutinize – HostGator India and Godaddy.
These are the four parameters on which we will evaluate these web hosting giants:
- 1. Performance
- 2. Efficiency
- 3. Response Time
- 4. Customer Service
Let’s begin the web host battle!
Performance
Performance is an essential aspect of any website. If your website does not load on time or is inaccessible due to server errors, your website can take a severe hit. Both GoDaddy and HostGator assert 99.99% uptime as well as a backup service, ensuring that your website is always online and that any problems can be solved if it isn’t. A high uptime rate also guarantees faster downloads and uploads, letting you relax about making any last-minute changes to your website.
We ran a server response comparison on both GoDaddy as well as HostGator servers, and here’s what we found:
(Source: )
Over a period of 30 days, our research showed that HostGator had a much better loading time and was around 130% faster than GoDaddy!
Score so far: Hostgator – 1, GoDaddy – 0
Efficiency
It would help if you had an efficient web host because page load time is a major factor in how high your website ranks. An inconsistent and inefficient server at the backend can be the death of your website!
Both HostGator and GoDaddy are reliable platforms, so you don’t have to be worried about your website crashing if there’s too much traffic. Both claim to offer excellent uptime as well as unlimited bandwidth!
A high uptime rate does wonders for your website by foregrounding its content so that any internet user can easily spot it within a range of other, similar websites.
Using a Pingdom tool, we compared the uptime backup and the loading time of both GoDaddy and HostGator.
Here are the results for HostGator:
(Source:
And here are the results for GoDaddy:
(Source:
Analyzing the results, we see that GoDaddy took nearly 3.1 seconds to load the same website that HostGator could completely load in around 1.52 seconds. Thus, we can conclude that HostGator is the superior web hosting service in this regard!
The score so far: HostGator – 2, GoDaddy – 0.
Response Time
Your website requires a fast response time so that everything is working up to speed, without any unforeseen difficulties. Response time is the rate at which a user can communicate with the primary server. With a high response time, site implementation and upload become slower. A faster response time allows you to optimize your resources more efficiently, and the more resources you have, the more necessary it becomes! Quick response times are always sought after by anyone who owns a website.
We performed a GTmetrix Benchmark test on both these web hosts, which checks a particular server’s response time.
Here are the test results for HostGator:
HostGator Response Time Graph (source: )
And these are the results for GoDaddy:
GoDaddy Response Time Chart (source:
While both GoDaddy and HostGator provide remarkable web hosting frameworks, on analyzing the results, it was clear that HostGator is far better than GoDaddy in this regard again, having a response time that was twice as fast!
In conclusion, HostGator offers its customers much greater flexibility of action through its faster response time.
The score so far: HostGator – 3, GoDaddy – 0
Customer Service
A web hosting service to keep its customers always satisfied is just as important as any of the factors discussed above. Not only does it play a significant role in positive customer relations, but it also helps to build a reliable online presence. It involves talking to existing and potential and giving them updated information regarding the latest plans and offers that the web host has launched. It can even be said that the customer service team’s efficiency directly affects the performance, and in turn, the perceived credibility of any web hosting service. On attempting to contact all branches of the customer service, we found that:
HostGator offers a 24/7 email, live chat, and a ticketing system that’s brought into use if there is any glitch that requires technical assistance. This ticketing facility was quite efficient! It got us in touch with concerned authorities within an hour of contacting a customer service representative. Moreover, they offer a choice between Indian and US servers. This means you can opt for either server depending on where you’re going to expect the most visitor traffic. In addition to this, a user can also post their queries on their public forum! This left us very impressed, to say the least.
GoDaddy also covered some communication channels, including toll-free phone support, but not all. For instance, they do not use a ticketing system – which can be a significant hindrance in the case of a technical glitch – and they also don’t have the facility of a live chat. In comparison with HostGator, therefore, GoDaddy clearly fell short.
Final score: HostGator – 4, GoDaddy – 0.
The verdict is out!
Finally, keeping all the four parameters in mind, we can easily conclude that HostGator is the clear winner out of the two!
