We have worked out a comprehensive comparison between the shared hosting plans from NameCheap and HostGator to make clear which is better in Linux hosting, although both of them have been in the industry for more than 10 years and trusted by millions of webmasters. This comparison is based on our in-depth review on the 2 companies' reputation, price, feature, reliability, performance and technical support.
Moreover, we have read a number of verified feedbacks from the 2 web hosts' real customers to learn how they think of the service they have got. According to the information we have collected and our personal experience, we have developed the ratings of some important factors in the following table.
Rating
Plan in Comparison
Value Plan
Hatchling Plan
Price
Feature
Loading Speed
Uptime
Support
Customer Rating
Recommended
Website
namecheap.com
hostgator.com
Plans & Price
Founded in 2001, NameCheap offers several kinds of hosting services, among which the shared hosting is extremely famous, which includes 4 different plans named as Value, Professional, Ultimate and Business Expert that are priced from $2.95/mo to $22.98/mo. Unlike other 3 plans come with short-term 1/3/6-month billing cycle, the cheapest Value plan comes with 3/2/1-year billing cycle, priced at $2.95/mo, $3.48/mo and $3.98/mo respectively.
What's more, this company only guarantees 14 days money back guarantee that is much shorter than that most web hosts offer. In addition, none of the solutions includes a free domain name or any advertising credits.
HostGator has released 3 Linux shared hosting solutions named as Hatchling, Baby and Business that are respectively priced at $3.96/mo, $6.36/mo and $10.36/mo with a 20% discount by default. Now, the company is providing a 5% additional discount for visitors who subscribe this service by activating the coupon BWH25Percent, with which the price is low to $3.71/mo, $5.96/mo and $9.71/mo. Besides, each of the packages comes with a free domain name for 1 year.
In addition, the company guarantees 45 days full money back and anytime prorated money back to enable customers to ask for a full refund if they want to cancel their accounts in the first 45 days and a prorated refund after that period. Furthermore, the web host supports both credit cards and PayPal, which ensures the purchase is secure and convenient.
HostGator Coupon Code Activation
Feature
NameCheap and HostGator both adopt cPanel as control panel, which enables their customers to manage every aspect of their accounts with the least effort being made. In addition, they both offer a large number of server resources and highlights to ensure customers are capable of running websites smoothly and stably.
However, the 2 companies also have some differences in this factor. In below, we have made a comparison table to list the main features offered by them. Due to the similarity in the current price, the Value plan and Hatchling plan are selected in this part.
Feature
Plan In Review
Value Plan
Hatchling Plan
Disk Space
25 GB
Unlimited
Hosted Websites
100
Unlimited
Hosted Domains
5
Unlimited
Data Transfer
Unlimited
Unlimited
Email Accounts
50
Unlimited
MySQL Databases
50
Unlimited
PHP 5
Perl
PostgreSQL
cPanel
FTP Account
Toll-Free Phone Support
Money Back Guarantee
14 Days
Anytime
Regular Price
$2.95/mo
$4.95/mo
Discount
N/A
25%
Effective Price
$2.95/mo
$3.71/mo
How to Claim
-
Coupon: BWH25Percent
Reliability &Performance
Both NameCheap and HostGator guarantee at least 99.9% uptime for all the people who are using their shared hosting service and have done a lot of hard work to fulfill this commitment. To figure out whether they make good on their word, we have been hosting 2 websites respectively with the 2 companies, and kept monitoring the uptime. As a result, we found the web hosts have done a pretty good job.
In detail, by using multiple state-of-the-art SoftLayer data centers covering from 22,000 to 78,000 square feet and equipped with redundant power, HVAC, fire detection/ suppression systems and 24x7 armed security, HostGator surpasses NameCheap in uptime slightly. The monitoring results show that the uptime of the former is 99.98%, while that of the later is 99.91%. Learn detailed HostGator uptime information in the following chart.
In terms of hosting speed, HostGator has never disappointed any of their customers. This web host adopts hundreds of 100% factory-tested Dell servers and cooperates with Cisco network and other 9 backbone and fiber providers, including AT&T/SBC, MCI, Level3, and more, which enables them to deliver fast hosting speed. According to our monitoring results, the server response time of this company is 338ms, whereas that of its competitor is 568ms.
Read this statistics for the detailed HostGator server response time of the past 30 days.
Technical Support
Respectively owning a powerful support team that includes more than 200 experienced, professional, knowledgeable and well-trained support staffs, both NameCheap and HostGator provide a high level of technical support through email and live chat. The support representatives are on-site 24x7, so that they are able to respond quickly and offer instant and effective assistance for customers to deal with any kind of hosting issue.
Moreover, technicians and engineers of both companies have worked out quantities of helpful articles and detailed video tutorials in the vast knowledgebase, aiming to help customers learn more about hosting and teach them how to deal with most common issue independently. However, the difference is that asking for help through toll-free phone call is available for HostGator customers, but not for NameCheap customers.
Conclusion
Both of the 2 web hosts have integrated numerous tempting features and satisfying uptime with their shared Linux hosting plans, so they are really reliable. However, due to the lack of toll-free phone support and the slowness of hosting service, NameCheap is not really worth going. Therefore, we sincerely recommend people who are looking for a reliable Linux hosting provider go with HostGator.
For more information about HostGator, read HostGator review here or visit http://www.hostgator.com/