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Hostgator is slow?

by mariusr
21 replies
Hi All,
Started checking load speeds on my sites, and discovered that all my sites hosted with Hostgator have load time (according to google webmaster tools) 3...7 seconds. Google considers a good site load time 1.5 seconds. So, this is too bad... I use WP and Super Cache plugins and there's not too much traffic to cause problems with the load times.
Contacted Hostgator support as well, but didn't receive any good response ("everything seems normal, site loads fast").
Can you guys suggest any other good shared hosting company with what I can have faster load times?

Thanks
#hostgator #slow
  • Profile picture of the author BeachDude
    Any hosted server is gonna be slower than a dedicated server. You get what you pay for. WP Super Cache, WP Minify, etc can speed it up though.
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    • Profile picture of the author zannix
      If your site isn't too big in terms of the size of index elements to be loaded, and Hostgator says the speed is normal, then it might just be your ISP.

      To check this, go to any online service providing site loading speed test and see what you get a result there. If it's normal, then try another speed-test site, and if it's normal again, there's a good chance it's due to your internet connection.

      Just my thoughts...
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      • Profile picture of the author micksss
        Originally Posted by zannix View Post

        If your site isn't too big in terms of the size of index elements to be loaded, and Hostgator says the speed is normal, then it might just be your ISP.

        To check this, go to any online service providing site loading speed test and see what you get a result there. If it's normal, then try another speed-test site, and if it's normal again, there's a good chance it's due to your internet connection.

        Just my thoughts...
        I recommend using alertra.com for checking your website's speed from locations all over the world. The tool is called Spot Check and it's located towards the top of the homepage. You just enter the URL of your website and click "Check".
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    Shared hosting isn't usually all that fast. You might want to make sure you're not having issues with your SQL database or something. I had a site hosted on Godaddy that was dragging. That wound up being the reason why.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    I use WP
    You are blaming the hosting but chances are the problem is the site or some plugins you are using.

    Wordpress loading time is a problem for many blogs. I'm not a wodrpress advocate so I don't know why this is the case - but my html sites hosted by hostgator load immediately every time.

    Perhaps the question to ask is "why are my blogs loading slowly".

    kay
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    The location you are doing the checking from is important.

    I checked my main site on Hostgator using alertra.com

    For the checks from the US, the load times were around 0.5 seconds, whereas from Australia they were taking around 2-3 seconds.
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  • Profile picture of the author MonopolyMan
    I've spoken to hostgator a few times over the last months about crazy loading times one of my packages was having.

    Both times I was told there was server faults and they already had people on it but from time to time it pops up again.
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    • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      You are blaming the hosting but chances are the problem is the site or some plugins you are using.

      Wordpress loading time is a problem for many blogs. I'm not a wodrpress advocate so I don't know why this is the case - but my html sites hosted by hostgator load immediately every time.

      Perhaps the question to ask is "why are my blogs loading slowly".

      kay
      That is a good start.

      Hostgator is pretty fast for any comparable host. And their shared hosting is often time faster than other VPS/Dedicated servers that I have worked with (not always the case, but I have seen it).

      If your WP site is slow loading, I can venture a qualified guess that it is not the host, it is what you have on your site.

      Typical causes could be from plugins or widgets or ads or RSS scrapers or large images or any 3rd party site/info being called or large (outdated) ping lists or social widgets or...I think that is a good start.

      I have had a site that loaded SO slow once and found the cause was a javascript ad code from CJ that was out of whack from the vendor. Removed the AD code and the speed returned.

      So as Kay said,
      Perhaps the question to ask is "why are my blogs loading slowly".

      Find the cause and eliminate it (or fix it).
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  • Profile picture of the author KenB
    I've never had any problems with Host Gator, and I have MULTIPLE sites on numerous plans. All my sites are on wordpress, try installing a few WP plugins, that should definitely do the trick.
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    • Profile picture of the author greggreg
      Banned
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      • Profile picture of the author Lea Karana
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin_Hutto
    Google Analytics was slowing down a bunch of our blogs on hostgator... Took it off and the load times are all around 1 sec now.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Miranda
    Hostgator was slow for me also. I'm not using a dedicated server but it depends on your needs and budget.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jake Gray
    I have used Hostgator in the past for previous projects
    but I stopped using them a while ago after continuous slow
    speeds. For the past few months, I have been using Host
    Dime. They offer 24/7 Support (Live & Ticket Support). So,
    I moved over to them and haven't regretted it since.
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  • Profile picture of the author DomainSky
    It's probably not related with their servers, their servers are actually quite reliable from my previous experiences. Try optimizing your site(s) and disabling unneeded plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author Coach Louisa
    I agree with VegasGreg.

    Your loading time can be due to your band width, your PC, the plug ins installed, the many widgets or images you have on your blog. Try changing things a round and see if speed improves.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOpsychic
    i have checked server speeds of hosting companies serveral times. with my testing i found DreamHost to be faster than all.
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    • Profile picture of the author DomainSky
      Originally Posted by SEOpsychic View Post

      i have checked server speeds of hosting companies serveral times. with my testing i found DreamHost to be faster than all.
      I have heard nothing but nightmares with DreamHost... run a search on them in Google and you'll see.
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      - DomainSky

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      • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
        Originally Posted by DomainSky View Post

        I have heard nothing but nightmares with DreamHost.
        There are plenty of complaints about them, but there are a lot of positive comments too. Tony Blake mentioned that one time that his forum had 200 people watching a hot video at the same time. It didn't result in any slowdown or forum hiccup. He is really happy about them, to name one.
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  • Profile picture of the author sparckyz
    Alexa will tell you the average speed load time of your site and if its considered slow..
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  • Profile picture of the author anthony2
    I been using hostgator for years and never had a problem with load time
    but bluehost is another good hosting service.
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  • Profile picture of the author bobsstuff
    INTERESTING: I host with Godaddy, 1and1, Edson, and Hostgator.
    Using alertra.com my results were:
    Worldwide load times were fairly fast on all but Hostgator. Under 2 seconds from the slowest world location EXCEPT Hostgator --over 4.5 seconds from any location.
    All sites are static HTML sites. Nothing to slow load times.
    The Hostgator site is a simple one page site with TEXT ONLY on the page -- plus a single adsense ad.
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  • Profile picture of the author HostWind
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