KnownHost and HostGator are two popular American hosting providers that were launched just a few years apart;
KnownHost in 2006 and
HostGator earlier in 2002. They both have solid international client bases, and they both offer a range of hosting products and services including shared hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, reseller hosting, dedicated servers, and domain registration.
It’s a tough challenge, but I’ll do my best to decide which one is better.
Features
Despite some differences, HostGator and KnownHost have the following features in common:
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited SSD storage (only on the premium plan with KnownHost)
- Free SSL certificates
- cPanel control panel
- One-click installer
- Website builder
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Regular backups
Although both hosts offer a one-click application installer,
KnownHost beats HostGator by providing the better-known Softaculous software installer rather than HostGator’s lesser-known QuickInstall. Besides being better known, Softaculous is more user-friendly and reliable.
HostGator offers unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth with all its plans, whereas KnownHost offers unlimited bandwidth with all plans but unlimited storage only with its premium plan.
Ease of Use
In both cases, the aforementioned one-click installers make it easy for you to install CMS applications such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, and PrestaShop.
Both hosts offer drag-and-drop website builders with many different templates, so you can create your website without web design skills or programming knowledge.
All KnownHost’s and HostGator’s hosting plans include the cPanel control panel as a standard feature. This user-friendly panel empowers you with full control over your hosted website.
Pricing
KnownHost offers two price plans compared with HostGator’s three price plans, and its packages are more limited. Furthermore,
HostGator’s greater choice comes at lower prices. So,
HostGator takes the lead in terms of value for money.
Both vendors allow you to be billed monthly, semi-annually, annually, biennially, or triennially, but HostGator also allows quarterly billing. If you’re not sure about signing up, you should note that
KnownHost offers an industry-average 30-day money-back guarantee compared with HostGator’s more generous 45-day money-back guarantee.
You can pay using PayPal and credit/debit cards in both cases, but HostGator also accepts checks, money orders, and wire transfers.
Support
KnownHost and HostGator both publish very informative and comprehensive knowledge bases that include FAQs and tutorials, but once again,
HostGator gets ahead by also offering video tutorials and remote support via TeamViewer.
Both web hosts provide excellent support. You can take advantage of toll-free telephone and ticket support in either case, and live chat too, but
HostGator’s live chat is truly 24/7.
HostGator Wins
What I imagined would be a close call between these two hosting companies actually turned out to be a one-horse race, with
HostGator inching ahead in almost every category. Although they’re similar in so many ways,
I declare HostGator to be the winner.
