HostGator Reviews

I have been a Hostgator client for years, but lately the company is moving in a direction that seems to be increasingly anti-consumer. For example in the past if you ran into an issue with your hosted website you reached out to support, and they would restore your website to an earlier date. Recently Hostgator implemented a new change where they are now charging $49.99 to perform a restore of your website.

We have been using Hostgator for almost 10 years... But recently things are very, very disappointing... They allowed scammers and hackers access their site... Our website has been down for more than 2 months... And customer support not able to help and unwilling to ESCALATE this security breach issue.... We have filed a complaint with the US DOJ internet crimes unit... What a disappointing experience... Many complaints on Social Media and they don't seem to care

We have been using Host Gator for many years. We are overall happy with it and find the costs involved to be low. Recently we had an email issue which seemed to be a sticky problem with distribution lists. A phone call away and they identified the issue and it will take a few hours to get the fix populated. Our service contact was helpful, polite, and efficient. It also helps if you have a bit of IT knowledge to begin with.

If there was a way to give a zero star review I would. Our accounts have been compromised for 3 days. We are in no way responsible for the downtime and HostGator has failed at every interaction to do what they say they will do - or to follow up on tickets. They have promised multiple times to correct their error within the hour and have not. We are a small business and have lost 3 days of productivity over this. Unacceptable.

Hostgator started well (4 years) but as soon as my web designer ghosted me a lot has transpired. I would say if you're not familiar with WordPress then think twice about implementing and working with Hostgator or any other host company. There can be a lot of questionable issues with the site and then conveniently sales try to sell products to help resolve issues, that seem to pop up out of the blue. The sales team in the U.S. are questionable and the logistics in India ...Well there's some odd going on. The team in India can be helpful but it seems like you're working with different companies when trying to resolve matters. It can be time-consuming and if you fall into the hands of sales trying to sell you maintenance to your site - it seems very intentional and scammy. As soon as my account expires I think I'll review other means of hosting because this has been a problem...more so lately. Good luck!

I was negatively billed $500 for a renewal. The price was outlandish. I called in and negotiated a better price. It took hours because their outsourced staff is completely useless. Then hostgator DELETED my entire site causing data loss. When I called in I was told I could pay MORE money to recover my site and there was no other way to recover it. I cancelled with them and forced them, with great effort. to refund all the $500. They have been bought out. They have been stripped of all talent and expertise. They're hoping people will just renew and they can treat hostgator as an annuity. Cancel these people. Cancel Hostgator that doesn't provide good support and only over bills.

I have the Hatchling plan. I got an email in February saying that my website's server software is out of date. I have contacted them several times. They keep telling me that it will be updated. Today, 7/18, 4-1/2 months after the first email, the chat tech said that the server is so old that it can't be updated and would not confirm that my website would be transferred to another updated server. I was just told to keep waiting. I'm done with Hostgator. It will be a pain to move everything, but I see that I am not the only one who is getting the runaround about updating out of date software.

I've used HostGator for 20 years. In the meantime, I have also used at least 10 other hosting companies on hundreds of different websites. The last couple of years, HostGator has completely gone astray and turned into an awful company. I don't recommend them whatsoever. Support is terrible these days too.

Abysmal customer service. I received a renewal notice that my domain would be expiring on 7/13/24 unless I canceled. On 6/28/24 they ran my credit card before I even had a chance to cancel. I contacted them and pointed out that I had the right to cancel since it was before the renewal period and they basically said, "Too bad." $300 down the drain for absolutely nothing because I no longer need the site. There is no way I would recommend this company, if for no other reason than they will rip you off even if you do the right things. "Cancel" doesn't mean anything to them.

Their customer service is horrendous. I cancelled my service over a year ago yet they still charged me the annual renewal fee on May 24 2024 without sending the 30 day annual renewal notice like they are legally obligated to do. I had to jump through hoops for over a week just to gain access to my account to initiate refund. I opened a dispute with PayPal on June 1st because I was being charged illegally for a service I didn't want or even have access to. On June 3rd I finally got access to my account and was advised refund was processed. I was also advised I would have the funds deposited by end of week (June 7). Spent all morning on chat June 8th just to be told that refund was already processed and posted. It was not.

All of my sites are down and clients are texting me asking why. I opened a live chat with Hostgator and the rep had no idea what he was talking about. I then closed the chat and called and they said the issue has been "escalated". I get an email from Hostgator saying the issue will be resolved in 24-72 hours. Unbelievably horrible, slow service. I have 7 hostgator accounts and considering going elsewhere now that this issue has arisen without a prompt resolution. The sites on the affected account are owned by high-end clients and they are losing business due to Hostgator's server issues. Hostgator didn't offer a solution, any credits or anything... at all. Absolute nightmare of a company. Was with them for over a decade but will most likely be leaving them for a better host who doesn't take 3 days to provide a solution. Unacceptable.

It is one of the most expensive hosting providers, although they advertise other prices you somehow end up with almost 250 per year for the simplest site you can imagine. Plus I have complained to them that for some reason although I have received their promo mails I do not find my warning mails for renewals. I ended up without a site twice, and them telling me that in order to have my back up online again they are requesting 149 dollars more. They are practically thieves. Do yourself a favour and go for other companies.

Horrible company. Some guy calls you to sell you 5 month service to help you do a new website and they did nothing. Charged me 700$. Called 2 days later to cancel. Refused to give me back my money for worthless service. Scam company. Stay away.

I have been a HostGator customer for over a decade. They used to be great-the best. Then they sold to EIG. Hostgator has cost me an estimated $100,000 in lost revenue over the last year. Not to mention the hours and hours of wasted time on the phone and chat trying to resolve constant issues. My website has constantly been down over the year. For over a decade they were great but they have totally failed repeatedly over the last two years.

Their "abuse" department is setup to "abuse" businesses. Very bad service. We got a message that you need to reduce space. We reduced the disk space and they keep threatening and shutting down our server every week. We had 200 websites running on the server. It was so scary, every time they send one message and shut down the server at the same time. I wasted time requesting every time they shut down. They were pushing me to take VPS package. Hosting business is trust-based business, you can not shut down by just sending message. It was so rude and scary that I would never recommend HostGator. I have record of all their mails from abuse department. Their abuse department even do not read mails, they just use template to reply.

I started with HostGator almost 17 years ago. Too long ago to remember my pin number. In the first years, I got great service but the service changed. When I retired and didn't need the website, I couldn't cancel it because I didn't remember my pin number. They had no other verification way. Not my SS number, not my mother's maiden name. Just this one pin number. So I was forced to pay a year's service for a service I didn't need. The outsourced people couldn't help me. (When did Texans move to India?) They write bot scripts in their chats. And to add to this, GoDaddy had hacked my site and Hostgator did nothing. Hostgator is not the business they started as. If you want service, talk to a Bot.

We migrated to HostGator a year ago (2023). 6 weeks ago a key component of our website began failing with no updates or changes. After a month battling HostGator's support, including a failed executive (4th level) escalation, we have given up and are migrating to another site. The failed component functions flawlessly on all 3 of the sites we evaluated. HostGator bluntly told us 'We are not a good fit for everyone. Go elsewhere." They never actually tried to find the cause of the failure.

BAD: what has happened to Hostgator? HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE. I have been with them for 25 years plus. They were a TEXAS based operation with AMERICAN BASED CUSTOMER SERVICE. They were excellent. Since early this year.....They have doubled their rates from 12 .95 to 23.95 per month...so I wanted to understand why. Well now their Customer service is in the Philippines. You cannot speak to anyone in the US. I lived in the Philippines so I clearly understand the language barrier. I went through 4 people in 1.4 hours on the phone: ZIG/Bianca /Rica/Dexter who could barely speak English. I am seeking another hosting company. We as Americans want to support our own country. This is Horrible and I would not recommend them. Date of experience: March 27, 2024

Review: HostGator - A Hosting Nightmare. My recent encounter with HostGator's hosting service has left me deeply disappointed and convinced that they are nothing short of scammers. Here's the rundown of my ordeal: Upon discovering that my hosting plan had expired, I reached out to HostGator's customer support seeking assistance in retrieving my WordPress login credentials for data transfer purposes. Instead of offering help, I was met with a barrage of absurd demands and stonewalling tactics that left me incredulous. Despite my straightforward request for login details, HostGator insisted on charging me an exorbitant fee for the basic service of accessing my own data. When I contested this blatant attempt at extortion, they adamantly refused to provide any assistance unless I renewed my plan with them, effectively holding my data hostage for ransom.

Friendly; and the sales copy would comply with all of Google’s requirements”, (Explicitly stating the website would be needed for Google). At the time, I was comparing Fiverr with Hostgator; Fiverr was $1200 dollars less expensive. After being told by the sales rep: “we guarantee our work”, I paid 1,800 for a website from Host Gator, that was agreed to meet the requirements of being SEO friendly; sales copy written to comply with Google and professionally built. What I received did not fulfill our agreement; it was complete garbage! The site is not SEO friendly; was not written to meet Google’s requirements and had security issues because of outdated plugins, as well as outdated Themes.

I've been with HostGator for 3 years and one of my cards expired and I updated my card credit card but they didn't run the updated card. They ran the old card, lost my site my domain name and won't even refund me the money. Terrible company to work with.

I recently had a disappointing experience with HostGator that I feel compelled to share. Over the last couple of years, I've consistently faced issues with my domain, including losing access to it multiple times. Each incident required me to pay an additional redemption fee, adding unexpected costs and frustration to my experience.

The company deleted files that affected my site and wants me to pay for the restoration. Additionally, they refused to allow me to speak with a supervisor. It appears that the customer service process has changed. They charge for everything to make money instead of providing customer service.

HostGator's tech support has always been poor. Customers cannot contact tech support directly. Even if customer support promised to "escalate" the matter, it takes days for tech support to get back to us by email, and either they've closed the case prematurely or they ask us to repeat the information we gave customer support in the first place, adding several more days to down time. But, now they have also reduced their customer support to a robotic chat, internationally outsourced. They have eliminated phone support completely. Every time we now try to get help through the chat support, the poor support person comes back with the same empty promises and platitudes: "I understand your concern," "I've escalated this case," "24-48 hours," and it's still taken weeks — yes weeks — to resolve, causing loss of revenue for our business.

I signed up for a cheap website, tried it out, didn't like it, asked them to cancel it. So they say, "Yes it's cancelled." The next year I get billed for all kinds of crap, bunch of addons, all they did was cancel the annual plan. I says, "You told me it's cancelled, CANCEL IT ALL." So they assure me, "Ok this time it's cancelled." So now years after signing up, I get ANOTHER billing notice that they're charging me again. What part of cancel everything and bill me nothing is hard to understand? This seems like some kind of nickel and dime scam.

HostGator hosted my company website for a number of years. Then, inexplicably, my website got hacked and was filled with photographs of sushi and monster trucks (I'm not kidding!). I was in a panic. I called their customer service and all they did was try to sell me a very expensive security package. I was understandably very upset, told them I was no longer using their services and in 2019, I switched to WIX hosting service which necessitated me rebuilding my entire website. Two days ago I was billed $216 for an annual "Baby Plan" and have since learned that they've been billing me for four years even though I have not used their services. This is outright theft. Because it was on my business credit card and because I have 12 different domains for various creative projects, I didn't notice until this year.

I have been with HostGator for 3 years on the Business plan, they did some updates on there server and now my website keeps going down with a message stated: error connect time out. I have contacted their help desk more than 20 times with in the past 3 weeks, and my site still keeps going down then back up after 5 mins making my website unusable, I have lost a lot of business because of this. Their help desk and server team have told me they don't see anything wrong on their side. Troubleshooting steps taking on my end: I have disable all plugins, created a whole new WP site, rebuilt the database and nothing has worked. I will be move my website to a different hosting company.

HostGator is a complete scam. DO NOT & I REPEAT DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. I ordered a dedicated server with HostGator & the representative that assisted me with my order did not sell me the correct dedicated server package that I had intended to order. I needed the WHM & cPanel along with the dedicated server. I put in a request not even 1 day later for a cancellation & a refund and was told I couldn't get a refund and I would be also charged hundreds more to do an upgrade. I'm so sick & tired of companies like this. The representative made the mistake and now me the buyer is being penalized for it. When does the GREED end? Stop giving companies like Hostgator your money.. DO NOT BUY A SINGLE PRODUCT FROM HOSTGATOR. You have been warned.

We have ourselves to blame when we select a VPS hosting provider that offers "70% off the first billing period" and makes it available for up to three years. Two and a half years later I can offer that, from the outset, HostGator was quick to take the money and grab the business. It was "migrate in haste--repent at your leisure" after that. The assigned IP address has been constantly on Ucelevel2 and 3 RBL blacklists. The server worked adequately for nearly two years, as it should, since we use only 30-50% of disc storage and run 10-30% of CPU capacity. The support is available via CHAT but not very knowledgeable. They introduced a custom Firewall that they cannot manage (they locked us out of our FTP ports for site updates that took WEEKS for them to resolve) among other things.

I have been with Hostgator for over 5 years and I Upgraded my package from the baby plan to a business plan. I am now experiencing issues with my site. I am not sure where the problem is but at least for the last 3 weeks I have been having issues. Prior to that I was getting a bad 503 Gateway off and on. I didn't know what that means so I decided to call up and have them check on it. I made updates to my site and made 7 pages and all those updates are completely missing. The guy on the phone said something about a corrupt server and they could only go back 1 week. That doesn't help much because my updates were done a week ago.