HostGator Web Hosting Recommendation

I have used a couple of different web hosting companies for both personal and business websites. For many years I used Interland's VPS with root access for my various web development projects (now Web.com).

HostGator was recommended to me by respected colleagues at work in the industry. I hadn't used them before but was very impressed with how easy it was to setup common applications with the click of a mouse such as phpBB message boards, osCommerce shopping cart, PHP-Nuke, chat rooms, polls, and WordPress blogs. Setting up cron jobs to automate scripts was also something that is so much easier to handle through the hosting company's admin tools. I also enjoyed the upgrade in website statistical reports. It wasn't very long before I switched my personal web development projects over to HostGator also.

I have registered dozens of domain names and am currently in development on several sites, so having unlimited domains, subdomains, and MySQL databases allows me to continue expanding. My biggest problem with my previous hosting company was space. With HostGator's Swamp plan I get 200 GB of disk space and more bandwidth at a fraction of the cost for $14.95. Plans start as low as $6.95, and for under $10 you can have unlimited domains hosted. There may more advanced server-level features that I no longer have, but nothing I ever used or am missing. I do mostly PHP and MySQL development and I have everything I need with HostGator to create unlimited dynamic sites.

I checked out some other companies also before going with HostGator like BlueHost, LunarPages, HostMonster, StartLogic, midPhase, RackSpace, Verio, etc. for web hosting comparison, but was much more comfortable with the HostGator services and value price offering based upon my experience with the company. They also get rave reviews for service and uptime.

It is also very helpful to review the control panel for your hosting account before you sign up, as HostGator allows you to go for a free demo trial. I passed on several hosting companies because I wasn't as sure what features and services would be at my control before signing up.

I was a little skeptical at first that a lower cost hosting option would give me the same kind of power and control over my development projects that I needed, but have been very satisfied with HostGator and join a growing list of those recommending them in the industry as I was first introduced to their services.