Who is RunHost? RunHost (formerly Heaven Hoster) is a British hosting provider and has been in business for over 10 years. They offer feature-rich plans at reasonable prices and still growing now.
Who is HostGator? HostGator is one of the biggest hosting companies and has been around for more than 2 decades. They stand for their expertise, flexibility, freedom, reliability, and support.
This Blog will compare these two and see who will stand out.
OVERVIEW
Both RunHost and Hostgator serves the most basic feature for a web hosting company. Let’s see:
| Shared Hosting Plans | RunHost- 4.5 ★★★★☆ | HostGator- 4.3★★★★☆ |
| Unlimited Websites | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Unmetered Bandwidth/Disk space | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Unmetered bandwidth | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Free Domain | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Free SSL Certificate | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Free WordPress | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Free Website/Domain Migration | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Free Email | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| cPanel Access | ✔️ | ✔️ |
That is given, but where are they different? Let’s talk about first the price of their best-shared hosting plans.
PRICING
- RunHost – Positive Plan for $4.99/mo (50%off)*
- HostGator- Baby Plan for $3.50/mo (65%off)* *This is an introductory price for new customers only.
Price is the first one we look up every time we differentiate things, it matters a lot but the question is: Is it worth it? Our price here in RunHost is not that cheap but let us look at what is inside our shared hosting plan and compare it to HostGator’s hosting plan.
- Unlimited Websites
- Unmetered bandwidth
- 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
- 14days Moneyback Guaranteed
- FREE Domain RunHost’s Positive Plan
- FREE SSL certificate
- PRO Daily Backup
- FREE Website Migration
- FREE Content Delivery Network
- 10X Website Speed Enabled
- Unlimited Websites
- Unmetered bandwidth
- 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
- 45 days Moneyback Guaranteed HostGator’s Baby Plan
- Free Email
- Free SSL certificate
- Free Website Migration
Very different right? We at RunHost are better regarding this matter, we stand up for our transparency, what you see is what you get. While HostGator displays its prices for 12-36 month terms on the main product pages, at first glance, the prices seem very cheap. However, if you’re looking for a month-to-month plan or any term less than one year you’ll pay a much higher price.
Here at RunHost, we only offer a 14-day moneyback guarantee for all hosting plans, so you won’t have to worry in case you change your mind. You can use major credit/debit cards, bank transfers, and Bitcoin to purchase with them.
Now, HostGator gives a generous 45-day money-back guarantee, but you’ve got to watch out for the pricey (and optional) add-ons which are added to your cart by default. You can purchase with them using major credit cards.
FEATURES
RunHost have more feature than Hostgator, for example, the domain. We give a free lifetime domain as long as you renew your hosting plan for as long as it takes. While HostGator gives a free domain if you will get a 12+ months plan but then after 1 year, you will get it at the regular rate. What else? All shared hosting plans here at RunHost have Free CDN for faster load page, while Hostgator only offers their 2.5x faster Cloudflare CDN in their business plan.
RunHost has its own website builder called Heaven Builder, free with all packages. Heaven Builder has more than 450+ ready-made templates and a simple drag-and-drop interface. You can quickly build your entire website from scratch without requiring any advanced web designing skills.
HostGator also has its own website builder that comes with all packages. The difference was it’s not a full pack with what you need to build your website so they offer an additional package plan for those who need an upgrade or better website builder with their Gator Builder that starts at $3.84/mo. (Hostgator’s Start Plan).
Our RunHost offers better features as you see, they stand up for their transparency. ‘What you see is what you get ‘ feature. Still not convinced?
PERFORMANCES
RunHost and HostGator offer a solid, but fairly standard 99.9% uptime guarantee. While it’s not going to break any world records, it is good to see it’s backed by their commitment policy and you will not have to worry about unscheduled downtime. Overall performance is A+. You can’t ask for better than that. The websites loaded in as little as 30 milliseconds for some locations, with the slowest locations at around 800 milliseconds. Whatever location you’re in, the page load speed is far below the 2-second rule.
Here at RunHost, our plans come with daily offsite backups, you’re able to restore up to 30 days of backups at any time from your control panel. The Hostgator plans come with automatic weekly off-site backups and you can upgrade for their CodeGuard backup and restore for an additional monthly fee.
SUPPORT
Our RunHost customer service is available 24/7 via call, live chat, and email or support ticket system. Our website has comprehensive knowledgebase and FAQs. We stand out for our responsive customer support.
HostGator customer service is 24/7/365 by live chat, call, and email. It’s not their strong suit because many customers are complaining about their level of service on Google and maybe this is why they have an organized knowledge base, blogs, packed with video tutorials, and FAQs on their website.
BOTTOM LINE
Both providers have what it takes to be a good hosting providers. Looking over all that we discussed, RunHost is on the upper hand. Yes, HostGator also has lots of great aspects, but in terms of features and transparency, our RunHost takes it all. But, just like what all other reviewer says: ‘there is Pros and Cons in everything’. Now it is only up to you which will you choose.
