Choosing a hosting is one of the key concerns when you are starting a website. Obviously, you want the best hosting service at a budget price without compromising on features.
Hostgator and Namecheap are the two big names in the hosting world. Hostgator is a more popular name in the hosting world, while Namecheap is more popular for Domain buying and selling.
Undoubtedly, they both provide quality hosting services. As you can only select one for your website, so, you might want to know that which one would be a better solution.
One cannot know this without testing it personally. Therefore, rather than writing a review that includes some comparison of features, we opted to test it personally. For this, we analyzed them on various aspects to know the ground realities of their services by performing 328 tests.
On the basis of our in-depth comparison, we will declare a winner aka the best hosting provider. It will take you out from the dilemma of selection between these two big brands.
Our Methodologies for Measuring Their Performance
Just like our previous comparison of Hostgator with iPage and Hostgator v/s Godaddy Hosting Hosting, we took three criteria for measuring the server performance. They are as follows:
- Page Load Speed Test
- Uptime Test
- Support Response Time Test
Hostgator and InMotion Hosting Comparison
Step By Step Details Of How We Worked
Step 1: It all started with purchasing a similar web hosting plan of Hostgator as well as Namecheap.
Step 2: We made a demo website and hosted it on both web hosting. They both have same files, built on WordPress CMS, content and plugins. Only the domain name was different. The file size we used was 93kb of HTML, 48 KB of CSS, 312 KB of JavaScript, and 1544 KB of images.
Step 3: To measure their uptime, we set up a pingdom.com account. We consistently buzzed both of the websites at the interval of 1 minute.
Step 4: To measure customer support service, we raised support tickets and waited for their reply. We have calculated their response times for every they replied. Afterward, we calculated their average response time.
Hostgator v/s Namecheap - Page Load Speed Test:
Page Load Speed is an important aspect of a hosting service. Here are the key points we found in our tests.
- The average page load time of Hostgator was 3.11 seconds while it was 4.13 seconds of Namecheap.
- The best page load time of Hostgator was 1.88 seconds while it was 1.23 seconds of Namecheap.
- The Worst Page load time of Hostgator was 13.8 seconds, while it was 9.65 seconds of Namecheap.
Site Hosted On Hostgator
Site Hosted On NameCheap
In these test, Namecheap has an edge on Hostgator in best and worst Page load time. However, Hostgator had a far better average. This demonstrates its consistency and reliability. So, Hostgator was the winner of this round.
Winner – Hostgator
Hostgator v/s Namecheap - Uptime Test Results:
No web hosting always provides 100 percent uptime. It will be like living in a fool’s paradise if you expect them so. However, you can still get a decent uptime.
As we mentioned earlier, we used Pingdom speed test service for measuring website uptime. We performed this test consecutive times for a specific time period. Here are the results, we got in them.
- The average uptime of Hostgator was 99.97 percent, and it was 99.89 percent of Namecheap in our test.
- The worst Uptime was 96.78 percent of Hostgator. While it was 89.28 percent for Namecheap.
- In this test, Hostgator came out as a clear winner. Obviously, it offers a more reliable hosting solution.
Uptime Result – Site Hosted At Hostgator
Uptime Result – Site Hosted At Namecheap
Hostgator v/s Namecheap – Customer Support Ticket Response Time Test Results:
After raising various customer support tickets, we got responses from the hosting providers. We noted the response times and calculated the average.
- The average response time of Hostgator was 4 hours while it was 9 hours of Namecheap. It is a significant lead.
- The best response time we recorded for Hostgator was 1hour while it was 1.5 hours for Namecheap.
- The worst response time for Hostgator was 21 hours and it was 36 hours for Namecheap.
I would choose Hostgator over Namecheap any day if I mainly prioritize the customer support factor.
Winner – Hostgator
Hostgator v/s Namecheap – User Interface Comparison:
It is also a factor that affects the selection of hosting providers, especially for the beginners. These both hosting providers have user-friendly cPanel that let users manage them easily. One can perform tasks like installing CMS, adding Domain names, accessing file managers and databases easily.
There was no real winner in this round as both of them were equally user-friendly.
Winner – Draw
Hostgator v/s Namecheap – Hosting Packages and Pricing Comparison:
The pricing of hosting plans is a decisive factor for many website owners, especially the novice ones. As a matter of fact, this factor influences everyone’s decision from large to small extents.
Hostgator comes with three types of hosting plans for Shared hosting. They are Hatchling, Baby, and Business plans. Namecheap also comes with three types of hosting plans for Shared hosting. They are Value, Professional, and Ultimate plan.
The very basic plan i.e. the Hatchling plan of Hostgator will cost you around 5.56$ per month. While the basic plan of Namecheap i.e. the Value plan will cost you around cost you 9.88/year along with a renewal price of $38.88/year.
Initially, Namecheap may sound a cheaper solution, but in reality, Hostgator is a cheaper one. This is because it comes with regular Discounts and Offers that make this hosting service incredibly affordable. Additionally, yearly payment will also significantly decrease the price.
Winner – Hostgator
The Final Verdict
We found that in almost every test, Hostgator dominated this comparison. A hosting is not something you choose or switch regularly, thus, it is important to choose the best one. Therefore, you should always prefer Hostgator over Namecheap for a hosting solution.
