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Do you need a website hosting provider that offers numerous plans, so you can compare and buy? There are many such website hosting companies and among them HostGator Hosting is probably among the most recommended. There are numerous packages and depending on your need you can opt for either shared, dedicated server or reseller hosting. The economic hosting plan will cost you $4.95 per month, but HostGator’s most popular hosting package is the next highest, costing $7.95, because it includes better features. All hosting accounts are backed by a 45-day money-back guarantee.

Support Services

For 24/7 technical support, customers can use telephone, email or live chat support facilities provided by HostGator. Information and user guides are available via the online knowledgebase,   Flash tutorials, Gator forums, HostGator blog and the ticket-based help desk system.

Web User Interface/Control Panel

Using the popular cPanel with all hosting accounts, HostGator provides customers with ease-of-use, efficiency and speedy site management facilities. The most basic level hosting has a rather limited cPanel (no add-ons), but all other accounts are provided with a full-featured web user interface.

Technical Features & Specifications

HostGator offers numerous facilities like unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited MySQL databases and unlimited domains with all hosting plans. Site builder tools, 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7 monitoring and backup services, advance development technology support and one-click installation scripts are available as well.

PHP, Perl, Python, CGI, Ruby on Rails, SSH, SSI, Cron, cURL and various applications such as PHPNuke are well-supported by HostGator accounts. Business hosting accounts get a personal toll-free number.

Unlimited POP3 email accounts with IMAP support, spam filtering and webmail facilities are offered with all hosting plans. HostGator provides Linux-based hosting, but is set to begin offering Windows-based hosting services in the near future.

Free Scripts, Tools & Extras

Fantastico script installation is available with all hosting accounts. A free domain name, website setup and, $25 worth Google Adwords credit add to HostGator’s appeal as a good hosting provider. Free e-commerce features offered by HostGator include such facilities like shared SSL, shopping cart software such as Agora, osCommerce, Zen Cart and Cube Cart.

Visit Hostgator Hosting

Hostgator Hosting Plan

Pricing details
Price per month	$4.95
Setup fee	$0
Web hosting plan details
Moneyback guarantee	45 days
Disk space	Unlimited
Transfer per month	Unlimited
Uptime Guarantee	99.9 %
Number of subdomains	Unlimited
E-mail accounts	Unlimited
Mailing lists	20
Operating system	Linux
Web Server	Apache
Primary database	MySQL
Server Features
Access to raw logs
Custom Error Pages
Backup
FrontPage server extensions
FTP Accounts
Password Protected Directories
Shared SSL
Streaming audio support
Streaming video support
Usage stats (Webalizer, AWStats, Urchin)
Development Features
Cron jobs
Image Manipulation (GD, ImageMagik, etc)
MySQL 4.x
MySQL 5
Perl/CGI
PHP 4
PHP 5
Python
Ruby On Rails
SSH or telnet
SSI
General Features
cPanel
Adult sites allowed
Google Adwords
Online support (chat/email/message board)
Phone support
Reseller Control Panel
Reseller program
Website Builder
Email Features
Autoresponders
IMAP
Spam Protection
Webmail
Pre-installed Softwares
Cube Cart
Form Builders/Processors
Gallery Scripts
GuestBooks
Joomla
Mambo
Miva Merchant
osCommerce
Other CMS
PHPBB
Shopping cart
Simple Machines Forum
Wiki
WordPress
Zen Cart
Fantastico

Pricing details
Price per month	$7.95
Setup fee	$0
Web hosting plan details
Moneyback guarantee	45 days
Disk space	Unlimited
Transfer per month	Unlimited
Uptime Guarantee	99.9 %
Number of subdomains	Unlimited
E-mail accounts	Unlimited
Mailing lists	25
Operating system	Linux
Web Server	Apache
Primary database	MySQL
Server Features
Access to raw logs
Custom Error Pages
Backup
FrontPage server extensions
FTP Accounts
Password Protected Directories
Shared SSL
Streaming audio support
Streaming video support
Usage stats (Webalizer, AWStats, Urchin)
Development Features
Cron jobs
Image Manipulation (GD, ImageMagik, etc)
MySQL 4.x
MySQL 5
Perl/CGI
PHP 4
PHP 5
Python
Ruby On Rails
SSH or telnet
SSI
General Features
cPanel
Adult sites allowed
Google Adwords
Domain parking
Multi Domain Hosting
Online support (chat/email/message board)
Own SSL Certificate
Phone support
Reseller Control Panel
Reseller program
Website Builder
Email Features
Autoresponders
IMAP
Spam Protection
Webmail
Pre-installed Softwares
Cube Cart
Form Builders/Processors
Gallery Scripts
GuestBooks
Joomla
Mambo
Miva Merchant
osCommerce
Other CMS
PHPBB
Shopping cart
Simple Machines Forum
Wiki
WordPress
Zen Cart
Fantastico

Pricing details
Price per month	$12.95
Setup fee	$0
Web hosting plan details
Moneyback guarantee	45 days
Disk space	Unlimited
Transfer per month	Unlimited
Uptime Guarantee	99.9 %
Number of subdomains	Unlimited
E-mail accounts	Unlimited
Mailing lists	50
Operating system	Linux
Web Server	Apache
Primary database	MySQL
Server Features
Access to raw logs
Anonymous FTP
Custom Error Pages
Backup
FrontPage server extensions
FTP Accounts
Password Protected Directories
Shared SSL
Streaming audio support
Streaming video support
Usage stats (Webalizer, AWStats, Urchin)
Development Features
Cron jobs
Image Manipulation (GD, ImageMagik, etc)
MySQL 4.x
MySQL 5
Perl/CGI
PHP 4
PHP 5
Python
Ruby On Rails
SSH or telnet
SSI
General Features
cPanel
Adult sites allowed
Google Adwords
Domain parking
Multi Domain Hosting
Online support (chat/email/message board)
Own SSL Certificate
Phone support
Reseller Control Panel
Reseller program
Website Builder
Dedicated IP address
Email Features
Autoresponders
IMAP
Spam Protection
Webmail
Pre-installed Softwares
Cube Cart
Form Builders/Processors
Gallery Scripts
GuestBooks
Joomla
Mambo
Miva Merchant
osCommerce
Other CMS
PHPBB
Shopping cart
Simple Machines Forum
Wiki
WordPress
Zen Cart
Fantastico

Frankly speaking, finding the best web hosting company is not a challenge. If you read the reviews and the ratings of these companies, you will be able to figure out which is the best hosting company out there. Instead, the real challenge is to find the ‘best web hosting company for you’. In the quest of finding the best web hosting company, there are many things to consider before settling down with one.

What are Your Needs?

First of all, you need to have a thorough understanding of your needs. Are you planning to host a small website such as a blog, or a corporate website? The packages and facilities needed for these two categories differ. How many visitors visit your website currently, and how many are you expecting in near future? Do you have expansion plans for your website in the near future? If you do, what are the bandwidth, disk space, and technical requirements?

First of all, ask all the possible questions from yourself and try to understand what you want. Getting to know this definitely helps you to choose the best web hosting company for you.

Does Price Matter?

There are web hosting packages for different prices. If you are planning to host a family or fun site, then there are free hosting sites that offer a great service at no cost. But if you are planning to use the website in a professional or business capacity, it is a good idea to move to a better package that offers a reliable service with a lot of bandwidth and disk space.

Price also changes depending on the service that you are expecting from the hosting company. For example, if you want to host your website in a dedicated server, then the price will be much higher compared to economy hosting packages (shared hosting).

As a rule of thumb, do not limit yourself to considering only the price. This may prevent you getting the most required features for your website.

Reliability and Overall Performance

Reliability is a key factor when it comes to websites. If your website is not available to users for most of the day, or experiences unexpected downtimes, then it does not reflect well on your business. In addition to that, the response times for the web pages should be less, making the users’ surfing experience faster. If you website is slow or suffers from frequent downtimes, it is likely that you will lose a lot of customers.

Bandwidth and Disk Space

Based on the number of visitors coming to your website everyday, you can decide on the bandwidth requirements. Do not try to get more than you need, as bandwidth is an expensive resource. If you are planning to expand your website and attract more customers, then make sure you get plenty of disk space and network bandwidth.

If you want to make an informed decision you should know know different types of hosting.

Free web hosting:

There are many hosting providers that do not charge you for hosting your files and site, in other words they are free. They normally cover their expenses through advertising which is added to your site like pop-ups, banner, and frames.

Advantages of free web hosting:

1. It is free.
2. You usually get a free email as well.
3. It is a good choice for hobby or small family sites.

Disadvantages of free web hosting:

1. You do not have your own domain name.
2. Limited or no technical support.
3. Lots of advertising in your site.
4. No security guarantee.

Paid web hosting:

If you want a decent web site with enough tools to build and manage your site and proper security and technical support, then paid web hosting is the way to go. In this type of web hosting you normally pay a fixed amount of money monthly and in return you get space in the hosting system, bandwidth, necessary software, and technical support.

There are three options for you purchase a hosting:

1. Shared hosting:

In shared web hosting your site is hosted in one server along with many other sites on the same server. This type of hosting is most common type of hosting that people buy and it is very popular. There are many advantages in shared web hosting such as having your own domain, very cost effective (between $2.00 to $19.00 per month), 24/7 support, and wide range of software.

2. Dedicated hosting:

If your site gets lots of traffic or it need special software, then you might need a dedicated server that exclusively hosts your site and you get root access to the server to control it completely. It is the most expensive type of hosting and you have unlimited control over software.

3. Collocated hosting:

It is exactly the same as dedicated server with one difference: In dedicated server you rent the server but in collocated hosting you own the server not the hosting company and you just pay for physical place in their facility and internet connection.

Both dedicated and collocated hosting are available as managed and unmanaged. In managed dedicated/collocated hosting you pay additional charges to hosting company to manage and maintain your server on your behalf, but in unmanaged dedicated/collocated hosting you have to manage, administer, and maintain your server including security, software update, and server hardware.