Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

DigitalOcean VS HostGator

Compare DigitalOcean VS HostGator and see what are their differences

DigitalOcean logo DigitalOcean

Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.

HostGator logo HostGator

HostGator is a leading provider of web hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Discover why over 9,000,000 websites trust us for their hosting needs.
  • DigitalOcean Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-10
  • HostGator Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-12

DigitalOcean features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    DigitalOcean offers a simple and intuitive interface, which is particularly helpful for developers who want to quickly deploy and manage cloud infrastructure.
  • Cost-Effective
    DigitalOcean provides affordable pricing, making it an attractive option for startups and small businesses that need cloud services but are on a tight budget.
  • Scalability
    The platform allows you to easily scale your infrastructure vertically by upgrading your droplet's resources or horizontally by adding more droplets.
  • Performance
    DigitalOcean provides high-performance SSD-based virtual machines (droplets), which offer fast and reliable performance for a variety of applications.
  • Community and Documentation
    DigitalOcean has an extensive library of tutorials and a large community of users, which can be incredibly helpful for troubleshooting and learning.
  • Managed Services
    DigitalOcean offers managed services like Managed Databases and Managed Kubernetes, which simplify the management of complex infrastructure setups.

Possible disadvantages of DigitalOcean

  • Limited Advanced Features
    While DigitalOcean is great for simple setups and small to medium-sized applications, it lacks some of the advanced features and services offered by larger cloud providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
  • Regional Availability
    DigitalOcean has a more limited number of data centers compared to major competitors, which might be a drawback if you need a presence in a specific region not covered by their facilities.
  • Customer Support
    DigitalOcean's customer support is primarily based on a ticketing system which could be slower and less efficient compared to the instant chat or phone support options that other cloud providers offer.
  • No Built-in Advanced Networking Features
    Advanced networking features like global load balancing are either limited or not available, which could be a concern for more complex infrastructure needs.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Switching from DigitalOcean to another provider might be challenging due to the unique configurations and setups; this could result in higher costs and effort.

HostGator features and specs

  • Affordable Pricing
    HostGator offers competitive pricing plans which makes it accessible for small businesses and individual users. They frequently provide discounts and promo codes.
  • Scalability
    HostGator offers a range of plans that can easily be scaled up as your website grows. Options include shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The platform features a user-friendly control panel (cPanel) which simplifies website management for beginners and experienced users alike.
  • Quality Customer Support
    HostGator provides 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, and email, ensuring that help is always available when needed.
  • Free Website Migration
    HostGator offers free website migration services, which can be particularly useful for users looking to switch from another hosting provider without hassle.
  • 99.9% Uptime Guarantee
    HostGator guarantees a high uptime, ensuring that your website remains accessible to visitors almost all the time.

Possible disadvantages of HostGator

  • Upselling
    HostGator tends to engage in aggressive upselling tactics for additional features, which can be annoying for users who are not interested in add-ons.
  • Performance Variability
    Some users have reported inconsistent website performance, particularly on shared hosting plans. This can impact site loading speeds.
  • Additional Costs
    Although the initial pricing is competitive, renewal rates can be significantly higher. Also, certain features like automatic backups are not included in all plans and come at an extra cost.
  • Security Features
    While HostGator offers basic security features, some advanced security options and monitoring are only available through paid add-ons.
  • Resource Limitations
    Shared hosting plans may come with resource limitations, which can affect the performance of larger websites or those experiencing high traffic.
  • Customer Service Wait Time
    Despite offering 24/7 support, some users have reported long wait times when contacting HostGator's customer service, particularly during peak hours.

Analysis of HostGator

Overall verdict

  • HostGator is generally considered a good web hosting provider.

Why this product is good

  • Reliable uptime: HostGator boasts strong uptime with consistent performance.
  • Affordable plans: They offer competitive pricing with various plans that cater to different needs.
  • User-friendly: The interface is easy to navigate, making it suitable for beginners.
  • 24/7 support: HostGator provides round-the-clock customer support through chat, phone, and ticketing systems.
  • Scalability: Offers numerous options for growth, including VPS, dedicated hosting, and WordPress plans.

Recommended for

  • Small businesses: Affordable plans with necessary features for small business needs.
  • Personal websites and blogs: Budget-friendly and easy to use for individuals starting a blog or personal site.
  • New website owners: The user-friendly interface and support make it a good choice for beginners.
  • Growing businesses: Offers scalability options as your website traffic increases.

DigitalOcean videos

DigitalOcean Review 2018 ( Why it Might not be Good for Blogging )

More videos:

  • Review - DigitalOcean vs AWS
  • Review - SITEGROUND VS DIGITALOCEAN 🤑 HONEST 💯 PROMO CODES

HostGator videos

Hostgator Review: Testing Performance, Support & Features [NEW]

More videos:

  • Review - Hostgator Review: Is Hostgator Good?
  • Review - Hostgator Review 2020 - (My Honest Opinion After 10 Years of Use)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to DigitalOcean and HostGator)
Cloud Computing
100 100%
0% 0
Web Hosting
35 35%
65% 65
VPS
100 100%
0% 0
Hosting
38 38%
62% 62

User comments

Share your experience with using DigitalOcean and HostGator. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare DigitalOcean and HostGator

DigitalOcean Reviews

Top 5 Best Ubuntu VPS Providers for 2024
Overview and Unique Selling Points DigitalOcean simplifies cloud computing for developers, offering scalable infrastructure designed to grow with your project. Known for its developer-friendly platform, DigitalOcean provides an extensive range of services from Droplets to Kubernetes, all supporting Ubuntu. Their SSD-only cloud servers, flexible API, and transparent pricing...
Best Linux VPS [Top 10 Linux VPS Provider 2024]
DigitalOcean makes it easier to handle your server using one click. They have a predictable and transparent pricing model. So, you can know all about the pricing. But aside from all of its advantages, the pricing for the DigitalOcean is relatively high compared to other VPS hosting solutions available in the market. For example, their basic 2GB RAM VPS is $12. In addition,...
Source: cloudzy.com
8 Best Free VPS Trials In 2024 [No Credit Card Required]
*These all are DigitalOcean cloud provider-based plans. Plans vary according to your choice of Cloud Provider.
10 Best Web Hosting Companies in India(December 2023)
Straightforward and intuitive, DigitalOcean's interface allows you to deploy your cloud infrastructure quickly and without hassle.
Source: www.vikatan.com
Top 50 Cheapest Cloud Services Providers | Affordable Cloud Hosting
Our goal is to make cloud computing as simple as possible so that developers and businesses can spend more time creating software that makes a difference in the world. You’ll love the cloud computing services you need, with predictable pricing, developer-friendly features, and scalability. DigitalOcean consistently outperforms other cloud providers in terms of price while...

HostGator Reviews

12 Best Cheap Dedicated Servers Ranked
HostGator has become infamous with its poor customer support and server outages. In fact, there are so many negative reviews around the Web that I’m surprised the company still gets new signups.
Top 5 Affordable WordPress Hosting Providers to Watch in 2025
Selecting the right WordPress hosting provider is crucial for your website’s performance, security, and scalability. In 2025, five affordable and reputable providers to watch are: Rad Web Hosting, InMotion Hosting, Bluehost, HostGator, and A2 Hosting. This assessment examines each provider’s features, performance, pricing, and customer support to help you make an informed...
8 Best Shared WordPress Hosting Providers in 2025 (Compared)
Last on our list of best shared WordPress hosting providers is HostGator. They offer three shared hosting plans, each with unmetered bandwidth, at least 10 GB of storage, one-click WordPress installs, and a free domain with a one-year hosting plan. What makes HostGator unique is the scalability of its hosting plans. For example, if you start with the Hatching Plan and decide...
Best European Web Hosting Companies – A Quick View
Hostgator offers Shared, WordPress, Dedicated, VPS as well as Reseller hosting. If you’re a beginner in the digital field, We recommend you to try Hostgator and use the following link to gain the best discount!
Best Linux VPS [Top 10 Linux VPS Provider 2024]
HostGator is user-friendly, making it one of the excellent choices for both beginners and experts. Of course, all these features come at a high cost. Aside from price issues, HostGator doesn’t guarantee you any money paybacks. You should also note that setting up SSH and remote access to your server might be difficult for you as a beginner VPS user.
Source: cloudzy.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, DigitalOcean seems to be a lot more popular than HostGator. While we know about 66 links to DigitalOcean, we've tracked only 6 mentions of HostGator. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

DigitalOcean mentions (66)

View more

HostGator mentions (6)

  • SiteGround vs. HostGator - Review / Comparison
    When comparing HostGator vs. SiteGround, I am very interested in what use cases they are best suited for. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Data Migration and User Deletion...
    We were basically hosting the e-mail on the server (we host through hostgator.com) and then using the outlook desktop app connected through IMAP. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Fresh install does not create index.html page
    FYI I am using hostgator.com as host and installing WP 6.0 using Softaculous. I have tried various themes and am having the same problem with any/all of the themes I have tried. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Customer Support for Non-account/customer
    My solution, that I started to use probably 20 years ago, is having my own emails & domain on a webhost server. Expect to pay $30 for a webhost, domain name & registration each year. Assuming your name is John Doe, you could have [jdoe@newDomainname.US](mailto:jdoe@newDomainname.US) or some such, plus 16 other emails [XXXXXX@newDomainname.US](mailto:XXXXXX@newDomainname.US). Spam filtering is free. You will... Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Why are most web hosting sites horribly designed?
    Not all hosting websites are horribly designed at least for me , I find : hostgator.com siteground.com xtreamcoderz.com and some other really simple and beautiful. Source: almost 4 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing DigitalOcean and HostGator, you can also consider the following products

Linode - We make it simple to develop, deploy, and scale cloud infrastructure at the best price-to-performance ratio in the market.

Bluehost - One of the largest and most trusted web hosting services powering millions of websites. Join Bluehost now and get a FREE domain name!

Amazon AWS - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

GoDaddy - GoDaddy makes registering Domain Names fast, simple, and affordable. Find out why so many business owners chose GoDaddy to be their Domain Name Registrar.

Vultr - VULTR Global Cloud Hosting - Brilliantly Fast SSD VPS Cloud Servers. 100% KVM Virtualization

Hostinger - Everything You Need to Create a Website