SiteGround vs. HostGator 2025: Premium vs. Affordable Web Hosting

SiteGround is the better service overall, with a bit more feature variety, a nicer user experience, and stronger security features by default. But HostGator offers almost all of the same features at much more affordable prices.

In this SiteGround vs HostGator comparison, we go over which one you should consider based on features, performance, price, security, and reputation. We’ll also offer alternatives if neither is an option for you.

SiteGround vs. HostGator review at a glance

• SiteGround: Best for premium security
• HostGator: Best for affordability

	Our Pick
Star rating	5.0 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.7 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Starting price	Starts at $2.99/mo	Starts at $4.50/mo
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days for shared hosting	Yes — 30 days
Uptime guarantee	99.9%	99%
Monthly visits	10K - 400K on shared hosting	40K - 400K
Number of websites	1 - unlimited	10 - 100
Storage	10 GB - 40 GB on shared hosting	10 GB - 100 GB
Backup frequency	Daily	Daily, weekly, and monthly for <20 GB accounts
Free SSL certificate	On all plans	On all plans
Free domain for a year	On all plans except cloud	On all plans
Learn more	Get SiteGround Read SiteGround Review	Get HostGator Read HostGator Review

SiteGround pros and cons

SiteGround offers a dead-simple way to host your site on enterprise-grade servers, with great WordPress integration, a solid site builder, and really solid support.

Its reputation is so good that its customers don’t seem to mind the cons. Those would be the high prices and the slight lack of variety in web hosting types. SiteGround offers only shared or cloud hosting.

HostGator pros and cons

HostGator is by far the more affordable option of the two, offering more server resources for the price. It also offers pretty solid performance, easy DNS management for beginner users, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers, along with the usual shared hosting.

On the downside, security features like automatic malware scanning and domain privacy are reserved for higher-tier plans, which is less than ideal. Also, it doesn’t have a website builder.

Which web hosting service has the best core features?

SiteGround wins with a dedicated site builder that HostGator lacks and a hosting experience so simple that most people won’t need to change any settings, ever.

	Our Pick
Websites per account	1 - unlimited	10 - 100
Storage available	10 GB - 40 GB on shared hosting	10 GB - 100 GB
Bandwidth	Unmetered	Unmetered
Monthly visits	10K - 400K on shared hosting	40K - 400K
Staging environment	Starting at GrowBig plan	On all plans
Migration assistance	On all plans	On all plans
Email	Unlimited	Unlimited
Control panel	On all plans	On all plans
Website builder	On all plans
Hosting types available	Shared / site builder / WordPress / WooCommerce / cloud	Shared / WordPress / ecommerce / VPS / reseller / dedicated
Learn more	Get SiteGround Read SiteGround Review	Get HostGator Read HostGator Review

Both hosts have very similar feature sets, and both are fairly easy to use. But SiteGround offers a hands-off hosting experience. It handles almost everything technical so you don't have to worry about it.

It also has great WordPress integration to get a website up and running easily. There’s a separate site builder for people who want something even easier, or just something that’s not WordPress.

HostGator mostly sticks to WordPress and other CMS options. It’s not a bad approach by any means, but it might be limiting for beginners. The really big difference, though, is that SiteGround does so much for the user that most will never have to think about diving into the settings.

Which web host has the best performance and reliability?

HostGator performed better in our tests, which measure overall site performance, server response times, First Contentful Paint (FCP; the time it takes for your website to start loading elements), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP; the time it takes for your site to finish loading), and how well the servers respond under load.

		Our Pick
Uptime guarantee	99.9%	99%
Tested uptime	99.863%	100%
Average performance score	98.3	100
Average FCP	0.36 s	0.4 s
Average LCP	1.0 s	0.56 s
Stress test	Pass	Pass
Learn more	Get SiteGround Read SiteGround Review	Get HostGator Read HostGator Review

HostGator beat SiteGround in our testing, with faster load times for the test websites, better uptime, and more server stability. Now, the FCP times are admittedly better on SiteGround, but HostGator showed better long-term performance.

You’ll still get a snappy, speedy site on SiteGround, but HostGator just performed a little bit faster. And having more stable servers definitely matters when you’re hosting a website.

Which web host is the better value?

HostGator offers many of the same features (though not all) for a markedly lower starting price. And as you go up the tiers, it offers much better value for server resources.

		Our Pick
Price range	$2.99-$7.99/mo	$3.75-$13.95/mo
Best value plan	StartUp for $2.99/mo	Hatchling for $3.75/mo
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days for shared hosting	Yes — 30 days
Free domain for a year	On all plans	On all plans
Free CDN	On all plans	On all plans
Free SSL	On all plans	On all plans
Learn more	Get SiteGround Read SiteGround Review	Get HostGator Read HostGator Review

SiteGround plans

SiteGround’s pricing plans differ in terms of resources, yet they share most of the same features, which I do rather like. While the cheaper plan starts at $2.99/mo, it renews at $17.99/mo, which is a large jump in price. All the plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

• StartUp: 1 website, 10 GB storage, 10K monthly visits, daily backup, managed WordPress hosting or site builder, free CDN, caching, free WP migration, WP-CLI, and SSH
• GrowBig: Unlimited websites, 20 GB storage, 100K monthly visits, adds staging, and more optimized PHP
• GoGeek: Unlimited websites, 40 GB storage, 400K monthly visits, adds Git, white labeling for agencies, free private DNS, and priority support

HostGator plans

HostGator’s pricing plans are affordable, starting at $3.75/mo and going up to $10.99/mo at renewal with reasonable amounts of server resources. Going up in the tiers mainly provides more resources, rather than more features, and there are lots of add-on features that cost extra. Every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

• Hatchling: 10 websites, 10 GB storage, 40K monthly visits, free domain for 1 year, free CDN, managed WordPress updates, SSL, Yoast SEO plugin, email marketing, static content caching, object caching, SSH & WP-CLI, staging site, free manual malware scanning
• Baby: 20 websites, 20 GB storage, 50K monthly visits, otherwise identical to Hatchling
• Business: 50 websites, 50 GB storage, 200K monthly visits, adds automatic malware detection & removal, domain privacy (free for the first year),
• Pro: 100 websites, 100 GB storage, 400K monthly visits, otherwise identical to Business

Which web host has the best security features?

SiteGround wins here, too, though it’s a pretty close thing, and it all comes down to backups.

	Our Pick
Malware scanning
Firewall protection
DDoS protection
Backup frequency	Daily	Daily with the CodeGuard add-on / daily, weekly, and monthly for shared hosting under 20 GB
Learn more	Get SiteGround Read SiteGround Review	Get HostGator Read HostGator Review

Both services offer malware scanning to keep your site free of viruses, firewalls to help keep your site from getting hacked, and DDoS protection to keep your website running even if someone tries to take it down.

Where SiteGround takes the edge is with its backups. You get automatic backups on every SiteGround plan, no questions asked.

HostGator will provide automatic backups, but only for websites under 20 GB. If you have a big site, you’ll need to pay extra for the CodeGuard addon to get your HostGator site backed up.

That won’t be a problem for most small sites, but the fact that they have a limit lower than your stated storage limit isn't ideal.

Which web host has the best support and reputation?

SiteGround takes this category by virtue of having more satisfied customers.

	Our Pick
24/7 customer support
Support options	Live chat, phone, online guides	Live chat, phone support starts at the Baby plan on up
Trustpilot score	4.9	4.6
G2 rating	4.2	3.6
Capterra rating	4.6	3.8
Learn more	Get SiteGround Read SiteGround Review	Get HostGator Read HostGator Review

SiteGround offers a pretty good customer support experience, with all channels available to all customers. HostGator reserves phone support for customers on — at a minimum — the Baby plan, which is less than ideal.

We also found that SiteGround has a much better reputation on review sites and Reddit, with people expressing satisfaction despite the high prices. HostGator’s users complain about poor customer service (we had no trouble there) and predatory billing practices.

Top alternatives

If you’re looking for an affordable alternative to both of these services, Hostinger offers a great experience at reasonable prices, and IONOS has even cheaper plans, especially at renewal prices.

In fact, we think Hostinger and IONOS are two of the best web hosting services available based on pricing, performance, and overall ease of use. But if you’re looking for a premium service like SiteGround with an emphasis on WordPress, check out Kinsta.

SiteGround vs. HostGator: Which is better?

SiteGround takes the win in terms of overall quality, but HostGator is a lot cheaper.

	Our Pick
Value
Core features
Performance and reliability
Security
Support and reputation
Learn more	Get SiteGround Read SiteGround Review	Get HostGator Read HostGator Review

SiteGround offers a smooth, simple way to get a website started on enterprise-grade, PCI-compliant hosting with minimal fuss. It also includes more of its features across all plans. That, combined with its solid reputation, gives SiteGround an edge over HostGator.

That being said, HostGator is much more affordable while still offering a decent-enough feature set and better performance, and those things will matter to plenty of people.

Check out our Hostinger vs. SiteGround comparison if you’d like to see how SiteGround stacks up against other affordable hosts.

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