Newbie Q: Affordable Alternatives to Hostgator

28 replies
I'm done watching and reading some awesome free materials about IM. Special thanks to Steven Resell for SuperSimpleBlogging who was recommended by Adie and Oliver Kenyon for Newbie 411.

So now, I'm looking for an affordable web hosting company. I know Hostgator is highly recommended here but I'm wondering if some people have cheaper recommendations.

I made a quick search and got the ff:
Hostgator- $6.36/mo. if 3 yrs -> $228.2/3 yrs
Bluehost- $4.95/mo. if 3 yrs -> $178.2/3 yrs
Justhost- $3.75/mo if 1 yr. -> $135/3 yrs
Mochahost- $3.98/mo. if 3 yrs. -> $143.10/3 yrs
Webhostinghub- $3.95/mo. if 3 yrs -> $142.20/3 yrs
Webhostingpad- $1.99/mo. if 4 yrs -> $95.92/4 yrs

I think all those packages offer unlimited parked domains.
I'm probably over analyzing this but I just want to make the most of my money. I know that it'll take some time before I can really earn money in IM so I want to keep some costs low.

For those who use Hostgator, is it really that good?
And for those who have used other companies such as those listed above, are they okay?

Thank you so much for those who'll help.
#affordable #alternatives #hostgator #newbie
  • Profile picture of the author Gav35
    Originally Posted by jazzygelable View Post

    I'm done watching and reading some awesome free materials about IM. Special thanks to Steven Resell for SuperSimpleBlogging who was recommended by Adie and Oliver Kenyon for Newbie 411.

    So now, I'm looking for an affordable web hosting company. I know Hostgator is highly recommended here but I'm wondering if some people have cheaper recommendations.

    I made a quick search and got the ff:
    Hostgator- $6.36/mo. if 3 yrs -> $228.2/3 yrs
    Bluehost- $4.95/mo. if 3 yrs -> $178.2/3 yrs
    Justhost- $3.75/mo if 1 yr. -> $135/3 yrs
    Mochahost- $3.98/mo. if 3 yrs. -> $143.10/3 yrs
    Webhostinghub- $3.95/mo. if 3 yrs -> $142.20/3 yrs
    Webhostingpad- $1.99/mo. if 4 yrs -> $95.92/4 yrs

    I think all those packages offer unlimited parked domains.
    I'm probably over analyzing this but I just want to make the most of my money. I know that it'll take some time before I can really earn money in IM so I want to keep some costs low.

    For those who use Hostgator, is it really that good?
    And for those who have used other companies such as those listed above, are they okay?

    Thank you so much for those who'll help.
    Hi

    I have always used hostgator and a couple others but have always stuck with them.

    If your worried about saving a couple of bucks a month then this business is probably not for you.

    For me hostgator are the best out there for what we do,IMO

    have a great day

    Regards Gavin
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  • Profile picture of the author refhernando
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
      If you're worried about the difference between $6 a month and $3 a month, then perhaps it's time to set your income goals, oh... just a tad bit higher.

      The total amount that you spend each month should be irrelevant... all that should matter is that you make more than you spend.

      If you don't believe in yourself enough to think that you can make more $ per month than the cost of bargain-basement shared hosting, then with all due respect, you're in the wrong business.

      BTW, there is no such thing as "unlimited" anything when you're referring to cheap hosting plans, so don't fall for that BS. Once you start getting more than a little bit of traffic to one of those plans, you will find out real quick that there are most definitely limits!

      As a previous poster said... don't sacrifice performance just to save a couple bucks. The last thing you want is a website that's "down" when a would-be customer is trying to access your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vorsiedious
    Host gator. Don't sacrifice your site performance just to save a couple dollars.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris-
    BlueHost is good in some ways, but their support has got a lot worse over the years, so they are probably as bad as HostGator in that way now

    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author jazzygelable
      Originally Posted by Gav35 View Post

      Hi

      I have always used hostgator and a couple others but have always stuck with them.

      If your worried about saving a couple of bucks a month then this business is probably not for you.

      For me hostgator are the best out there for what we do,IMO

      have a great day

      Regards Gavin
      Well, it won't hurt to check which ones I can save on.
      I guess hostgator is really the preferred choice of most IMers here.
      I'm okay with them but I'm hearing conflicting opinions in another forum.

      Originally Posted by Vorsiedious View Post

      Host gator. Don't sacrifice your site performance just to save a couple dollars.
      Sorry this might sound stupid. How do you really measure this 'performance'? As I browsed through the other companies, almost if not all of them specified 99.9% uptime. Can you share some questions or issues with other providers that I should be wary about?

      Originally Posted by refhernando View Post

      Thank You mate, I have a bad experience with one of them
      Thank you for your response. Can you share more about this problem you encountered?

      Originally Posted by Chris- View Post

      BlueHost is good in some ways, but their support has got a lot worse over the years, so they are probably as bad as HostGator in that way now
      Chris
      Thanks! I've seen a lot of good reviews too from their customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author ashloren
    I don't have experience with any of the others in the list, but I've been using HostGator for my site and I think they offer amazing value for the rates they charge. And their support has always been very responsive and helpful when I needed assistance. It's well worth the small monthly fee.
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    -Ashly Lorenzana
    AshlyLorenzana@gmail.com
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  • Profile picture of the author SasaIlic
    Hostgator is top notch, just stick with them, i have tried many and non of them are good as them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Davis
    Just my two cents, but your hosting is the lifeblood of your business. I would opt for a bit pricier hosting that is highly reliable, instead of saving 2 or 3 bucks a month for an unknown/unproven company.

    You might try going BlueHost (my pic) or HostGator for the shortest period possible, then when you get some money rolling in you can get longer packages for greater overall savings.

    I think a lot of people in IM (and in general) are very short-sighted when it comes to money - they only look at the upfront costs without factoring in the intangibles. It does you no good to save $3 a month on hosting if your hosting goes down and you are losing customers (who are likely never to return.) You need to definitely factor in long-term costs/benefits such as reliability -- both for your bottom line, and well as for peace of mind.

    Best of luck to you!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bryan
    Time is money too, and the more time you spend pondering hosting after doing your initial research and worring about costs in the future you are delaying the building of your business. You didn't probably calculate the money you could be making if you had started a week or month sooner.

    I understand it can be a bit intimidating when starting out, but we're talking about a couple dollars a month difference. A lot of hosting sites are good. HostGator is a good choice, so get started and you can move on to building a site or blog to be closer to establishing your business and in time -- making money.

    There are a lot of tasks involved in building a business online by yourself so you don't want to be hungup on basics for you'll lose more money in the end. Like I said a little due dilligence is good but if you take the longer road instead of realistically setting up hosting with domain in a couple hours, you're losing dollars/hour.

    Realistically, a person should at the very least have decided on and accomplished the following within a week:

    - Decide on Business model and Site Topic/Market/Niche
    - Register Domain
    - Set up Hosting
    - Change DNS at Domain registrar to tie domain with hosting
    - Set up WordPress
    - Wrote and published at least a page or two of content

    Many of us hem and haw, and end up spinng are wheels but when we look at it as a series of simple actions, we can see a week is plenty of time.

    The truth is no matter how long you take to decide on direction, you'll learn more from your experience, which includes mistakes. You will most likely see how you could have done things better, but that is only because you had taken action.

    So, I would encourage you to treat it as a business and expect yourself to accomplish tasks in a reasonable time.

    I have helped out with private membership and I know one guys that still didn't take any action and has probably learned 20x more than another guy that was completely new, but just took each step without getting hungup with the details and questioning if the trainer was advising the right course of action. In short, he had a site up within several hours.

    The next time he does it it'll take him half the time. If you're wish to make a decent income, I would encourage you to shift your mindset to accomplishing more when you think about saving and making money. I realize their is longer learning curve when starting out but each day you can be taking action towards your goal.

    I don't regret any of my failures, but one thing I do regret is the hours of spinning my wheels because I chose to read more and research more, which is a form of procrastination, instead of taking the next step to the goal each and every day.

    Making mistakes while taking strides forward is much better than not failing because you're not moving forward.

    I hope you didn't mind me addressing the bigger issue than chosing what host to select.
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    • Profile picture of the author lincsy
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      • Profile picture of the author Matida
        I have tried different ones, but HostGator is still one of the best. I have always been very satisfied with their services and the perfomance of my sites have always been good. I wouldn't go low budget when it comes to hosting.
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    • Profile picture of the author jazzygelable
      Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner View Post


      As a previous poster said... don't sacrifice performance just to save a couple bucks. The last thing you want is a website that's "down" when a would-be customer is trying to access your site.
      Thank you. With some new info I got from some members here, I managed to get some more discounts for HG hosting.

      Originally Posted by SasaIlic View Post

      Hostgator is top notch, just stick with them, i have tried many and non of them are good as them.
      I also have tried some local webhosting services. They're really cheap but then downtime occur often so I'm trying to check those with big names already.

      Originally Posted by Ebiz Mom View Post


      You might try going BlueHost (my pic) or HostGator for the shortest period possible, then when you get some money rolling in you can get longer packages for greater overall savings.

      Best of luck to you!
      I signed up for 1 year hosting. I got some coupons and I managed to get it under $100 which is my budget. Now, I have a year to earn that money. Thanks

      Originally Posted by Bryan View Post

      Time is money too, and the more time you spend pondering hosting after doing your initial research and worring about costs in the future you are delaying the building of your business. You didn't probably calculate the money you could be making if you had started a week or month sooner.

      I hope you didn't mind me addressing the bigger issue than chosing what host to select.
      I didn't think of that. Thank you for pointing out that time is money too. I already acted upon the suggestions of most people here. I'm now looking for some nice WP themes.

      (I just figured out how to use the multiquote tool! )
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        Well, it won't hurt to check which ones I can save on.
        How much valuable time are you spending trying to save $2-3 a month by avoiding the short list of most recommended hosting services?

        If you need 100% positive reviews to make a choice you'll be stuck in one place for a long time.

        Just saw you've made the choice - good work.
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  • Profile picture of the author sumeno
    I hear around that hostgator is good. But i have been using justhost from the start and its very good on my experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Davis
    And a big Congratulations to Jazzygelable -- too many people come here and ask questions but never take ACTION.

    You are a breath of fresh air -- vs. the usual winds of stagnation and excuse making that are so prevalent among new IM'ers!
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  • Profile picture of the author dviraz
    thanks for the comparison, what do you people think about the other hosts, are they any good?
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  • Profile picture of the author miskat
    you may try http://dedicatedserverandhosting.com
    Quiet affordable rate for basic and professional package
    though i am using their Hyip hosting to host my Hyip site
    Best thing is they got very good support which i think very important
    i found them always online , i needed ... infact 24/7 online they claim.
    Domain rates are little costly though. but i really recommend this.
    i am using their service for last 3 months with 100% uptime.
    if you ask me i love them , Atleast don't provide Non working Live chat link as hostgator
    They are giving 150 ready install script , Google Apps and SEO tools in Cpanel that i have never seen in other hostsites like bluehost or hostgator or even godaddy... hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author alllyc
    I believe Hostgator is the best one on your list. Even though, we hear bad comments GoDaddy's hosting plan, first I installed Magento on GoDaddy's Shared hosting plan. The end result was extremely slow website. Then I moved it to Hostgator that has better review rating than GoDaddy's. But, the result was worse than GoDaddy. If I would give a point from 0 to 10 for those two companies, I'd give 1 out of 10 for Hostgator and 2 out of 10 for GoDaddy. I know Magento eats up a lot of system resources but both of them was a failure for me. Now, I'm using Aspiration Hosting for my Magento website and it performs pretty good. I can give 7 out of 10 for it. But, it's so price. I pay $35/month for 15 GB space.
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  • Profile picture of the author KickAss Marketing
    I suggest that you stick with Hostgator. Like what most of us here said do not sacrifice the performance of your site just to save a couple of bucks. If you experience problem with them you would have to send an e-mail with your concern and i'm sure they will address and do something about it.
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    • Profile picture of the author abrandt
      Hello jazzygelable:

      After some 7-years of constant tech problems with HostGator and some 30 calls that required an avg. 1-hour phone call each... I finally called it quits.

      After some serious homework, I decided to go with PacificHost.com because they have:
      • Invested in high-end server hardware...
      • Tweaked their servers for high-performance speed and reliability...
      • With discount, I actually reduced my cost for temporarily using shared servers while I gauge PH's technical competence and customer service.
      In the initial stage of my 1st project with PacificHost, I have called in with an initial 5 support tickets. Support has been extraordinary so far. I have had a chance to speak with their CTO and their Sr. Network Manager and am comfortable that they know what they're doing on a critically higher level than HG.

      Some 3-months down the road after my this 1st CPS project is launched, I will migrate to PH's VPS servers.

      Cheap is fine for a personal site or blog... but absolutely inadequate for any commercial projects launched with the intent of reliable and escalating monitization.

      I hope this proves helpful!

      Alan
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  • Profile picture of the author slicka
    I just switched to Hawk Host and I love them so far
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    • Profile picture of the author micksss
      Originally Posted by jazzygelable View Post

      I made a quick search and got the ff:
      Hostgator- $6.36/mo. if 3 yrs -> $228.2/3 yrs
      Bluehost- $4.95/mo. if 3 yrs -> $178.2/3 yrs
      Justhost- $3.75/mo if 1 yr. -> $135/3 yrs
      Mochahost- $3.98/mo. if 3 yrs. -> $143.10/3 yrs
      Webhostinghub- $3.95/mo. if 3 yrs -> $142.20/3 yrs
      Webhostingpad- $1.99/mo. if 4 yrs -> $95.92/4 yrs
      Of the web hosts you mentioned only keep Hostgator, Bluehost, and Webhostinghub on your list of hosts to decide on using.

      Originally Posted by slicka View Post

      I just switched to Hawk Host and I love them so far
      I too moved some of my sites to Hawk Host back in April and have been happy so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author aksports2003
    Hostgator does a good job. I like the support guys.
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  • Profile picture of the author OliverRealize
    I've worked with 4 different hosting providers. And hostgator is hands down the best. Best uptime, best support and they know their stuff.

    They do auto back ups, continuously scan your site for security threats and bend over backwards to help you.

    I have an affiliate link for them but I won't even post it here so that everyone believes this.
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    Oliver
    Realize Internet Marketing
    San Diego SEO Company

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  • Profile picture of the author zcrafts
    Hostgator was good before the purchase .. read there reviews from last 6 month and there support is surely going down hill after the sale to EIG.. and most of the companies you have listed are owned by EIG itself so it seem you will end with the same provider.

    If you are really looking for some good support and reliable Hosting check out :

    Web Hosting US

    OR

    RS Hosting
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    • Profile picture of the author heavysm
      Originally Posted by zcrafts View Post

      Hostgator was good before the purchase .. read there reviews from last 6 month and there support is surely going down hill after the sale to EIG.. and most of the companies you have listed are owned by EIG itself so it seem you will end with the same provider.
      Bleh...yes. That's why I have been searching for a decent non-EIG host. Lot's of cookie cutter shared hosting providers under that big umbrella company. Hostgator sadly lost it's amazing and super speedy customer support after the sale (my experiences anyway). Their support feels vague and slow now.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevinhoss
    Hostgator...Bluehost is not that good from my experience. Too many issues and lots of downtime.
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  • Profile picture of the author olaska
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  • Profile picture of the author David Tan
    Been using hostgator for a few years now and only good things to say about them. Was using bluehost previously but jumped ship due to server issues and poor service

    Here's a review and comparison that I wrote for my experience of both hostgator and bluehost Web Hosting Reviews: Hostgator
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