Hi All, hope you have read our previous two comparison articles on – HostGator vs GoDaddy and HostGator vs Bluehost India. Today, discussing along the same lines we’ll take a look at this HostGator vs BigRock review. So, let’s get started!
The recent popularity boom of digital marketing is inspiring thousands of startups and small-scale business entrepreneurs to take their business online. As a result, hundreds, if not thousands of websites are popping up every day. To stay one step ahead of his competition, a web developer needs to have more than just revolutionary ideas and as such, when it comes to setting up a blog or a website, Web hosting is an essential part of website building and maintenance.
Every web hosting company offers more or less the same features. At least, that’s what we safely assume from their advertisements. However, we don’t always get what we pay for. One of the key reasons behind it could be that you didn’t choose a web host based on your specific requirements.
HostGator and BigRock are two heavyweights of the web hosting industry. Both have a loyal fan base around the globe. Both offer tons of useful and cost-effective hosting plans along with a reliable customer support. In this post, we will draw a comparison between HostGator vs BigRock to find out which company can successfully cater to your specific hosting needs.
Contents
A. HostGator vs BigRock General Overview
HostGator came into existence in 2002. Within 5-6 years since its launch, it became one of the most widely used web hosting service providers around the globe. From round-the-clock customer support to feature-rich hosting packages, it offers everything both beginner and seasoned webmasters would need to make their online venture successful.
HostGator is also one of the most preferred web hosts by bloggers. Affordable price, excellent service quality, easy one-click WordPress installation and scalability are some of its strongest features that specifically cater to bloggers and businesses, both small and large.
Recently, HostGator launched its Indian web hosting portal to aid a better customer support, reduced latency and most of all, localized payment options. Its office is located in Nashik, Maharashtra. Although the Indian website fully resembles the US version, the internal functionality of HostGator.in differs. This is primarily because the Indian website provides domain and hosting services from Reseller club. To know more about HostGator, read this honest HostGator India review.
BigRock is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar owned by the Directi group. For years, BigRock has been synonymous with reliability which is the reason why it has over one million customers in India. You don’t have to possess a sound knowledge of coding to build a website using their DIY website builder. The website builder brings a bunch of premium tools along with a streamlined ecosystem to help you confidently tap into the field of online marketing.
Apart from the super easy-to-use DIY website builder, it also offers reliable domain registration service, unlimited emails, easy domain migration, SSL certificate and feature-packed hosting packages at a reasonable cost.
As we highlighted earlier, both companies have more or less same features to offer. However, upon thoroughly scrutinizing the service quality and other important aspects of these two biggies, we have been able to find a couple of differences between HostGator India vs BigRock. In order to find out which web host provides the best service to its Indian clients, we will compare their main features and characteristics side-by-side.
B. HostGator Key Features
HostGator, for all the valid reasons, is a mass-favourite web host in India. A massive section of their client base is comprised of new bloggers and entrepreneurs. Do you wonder why? Most beginners focus on reducing their startup cost due to the limited capital in hand. You can start your initial online journey with their affordable shared hosting plans.
As your business keeps growing with time, you can easily switch to VPS hosting without any additional fee. All you have to do is make a call to their customer service. Their web hosting plans also include WordPress and Drupal Portal.
Below we have listed down the key features of HostGator;
- 24*7 customer support.
- 99% server uptime and intuitive cPanel.
- Unlimited disks space and bandwidth.
- Fantastico and One-click WordPress installation.
- Unlimited email accounts and sub-domain.
- SSH, Pop3 Account and Zencart.
- Site builder, Web stats script and Full backup.
- 45 days money back guarantee.
- $100 Google Award Support.
C. BigRock Key Features
BigRock’s strongest point is its equal focus on small, medium and large-scale businesses. On one hand, their DIY website builder and starter plans are aimed at novice webmasters with next to no coding skills required.
Alternatively, their advanced plan includes a premium tool set, regular monitoring and a bunch of other features to help medium enterprises and big MNCs maximize the performance of their websites.
Their salient features are listed down below;
- 99.9% server uptime.
- Single-click WordPress installation.
- ₹2000 Google AdWords Credit.
- Unlimited domain, email account and disk space.
- 30 days money back guarantee.
- Round the clock tech support and 24×7 website monitoring.
- Latest cPanel/Plesk control and WHMCS billing system.
- WHM control panel and private name servers.
- Supports MySQL and programming languages such as Python, PHPv5 etc.
D. HostGator vs BigRock Compared
1. Web Hosting Pricing
Although it’s true that cheap plans mostly result in a terrible service, there are a few web hosts that deliver what they promise without costing you a fortune. HostGator and BigRock have amazing pocket-friendly plans to help you grow your online business steadily in each stage of its evolution. Read more about the best best online business ideas.
HostGator web hosting plans start at ₹222/mo while the highest hosting plan costs ₹595/mo. Plus, you can avail more discounts on hosting and domain through the use of HostGator hosting coupons and HostGator domain coupons respectively.
On the other hand, the starter plan of BigRock starts at ₹89/mo. You just have to shell out ₹150 more to upgrade to its advanced plan. BigRock is also the one and only company that lets you buy .com domain for ₹99 only.
Verdict – Needless to say, that BigRock is a clear winner when it comes to cost-effectiveness. The cheapest plan of HostGator costs nearly 4 times more than the starter plan of BigRock.
2. Web Hosting Plans Comparison
HostGator offers both Windows and Linux hosting. We found the latter to be better than Windows hosting. Apart from that, they also offer basics like Reseller hosting, Shared hosting, VPS hosting and more. All their plans are divided into 3 subcategories – Hatchling plan, Baby plan, and Business plan. Unlimited bandwidth, email and storage are the common factors in all 3 packages.
- Hatchling Plan – As quite evident from the name, this is the starter plan by HostGator. If you are a blogger or a web developer with just one website to manage, this is best suited for you. The package has sufficient features to foster the growth of a single website or blog. Learn more about the benefits of blogging
- Baby Plan – As you go on to manage more than two websites at a time, you can switch to the Baby plan. It will allow you to manage approx. 5 WordPress websites or blogs at a time. Apart from that, it covers all the features and facilities of the Hatchling plan.
- Business Plan – This package is tailored to meet the hosting requirements of small startups and business entrepreneurs who wish to take their business to the next level. The key attractions of this plan are dedicated IP and a private SSL Certificate to amplify the security of the websites. You are also provided with a toll-free number for tech-support on priority.
- Starter Plan – This is the most economical hosting plan on BigRock, primarily targeted at beginners who are constrained by a strict budget. For merely ₹89/mo, you will be getting nearly all the tools and facilities required to set up a website or a blog.
- Advanced Plan – Their Advanced plan includes unlimited bandwidth, email and disk space. If you are building and managing a website for a client, this is the ideal hosting plan to invest in.
- Pro Plan – Once your business sky-rockets, you will need to switch to a plan that offers more flexibility and features to maximize the website speed and performance. The Pro plan is suitable for all kinds of businesses and offers nearly all the features, corporates and medium enterprises might require in the advanced stage of their business.
If you decide to go with HostGator then here is a step-by-step guide on how to register a Domain Name and buying Hosting on HostGator.
BigRock provides Shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, Reseller hosting, Joomla hosting as well as Reseller hosting. To ward off hackers and malware issues, BigRock allows for regular website monitoring and a wide array of premium anti-virus tools.
Like HostGator, BigRock has 3 plans, namely, Starter, Advanced, and Pro but it provides you with an option to upgrade to Cloud hosting.
Verdict – BigRock triumphs HostGator on the count of the number of hosting plans. As far as the credibility is concerned, BigRock is neck to neck in competition with HostGator. While the former is suitable for all kinds of businesses, HostGator plans are seemingly designed to benefit Indian bloggers the most.
3. Payment Options
Localized payment options are another major USP of HostGator India. One another brighter note, you will get the full refund if you decide to change your host within 45 days of the subscription. The payment options available are NEFT, Credit/Debit card, RTGS and Net banking.
You can buy BigRock hosting plans via PayPal, Credit Card and Direct deposit to their partner bank ICICI bank.
Verdict – HostGator lets you pay using both credit card and debit card along with net banking options from almost every major bank of India. Unfortunately, for BigRock, you have to stick to either PayPal or own a credit card of their partner banks to be eligible to purchase their plans. Needless to mention who takes the brownie points here.
4. Customer Support
The round the clock tech/customer support of HostGator India deserves a special mention. No matter what time of the day you call them, somebody is always available on the line. You can reach them via live chat, ticket submission, and email as well. Their replies are usually quick and their customer care team is well-trained to deal with all kinds of customers.
The tech support team of BigRock is at your beck and call 24/7. No matter how petty or complex your problem is, they will listen to you patiently and come up with a fail-safe solution. To get a fast response, submit a ticket to reach them via email or live chat. They also have toll-free numbers in the event of technical issues with the computer or internet connection. However, there are few instances of delayed response reported.
Verdict – For customer support, HostGator emerge as the winner.
5. Server Uptime
Server uptime denotes the time during which a computer stays operational. Both competitors offer a guaranteed 99.9% uptime. However, HostGator will compensate you with 1 month of credit based on the package you choose if the Reseller or Shared server fails to lives up to this claim.
Verdict – Since these servers are not personally supervised by God himself, it can fall short of the uptime guarantee on certain occasions. If any such thing should happen, HostGator will have your back and compensate for the inconvenience caused. So, our vote is slightly more inclined towards HostGator.
6. Popularity
Brand name does matter a lot, whether you admit it or not. And when it comes to investing in something as serious as web hosting, it matters even more. BigRock is officially the number #1 domain registrar in India right now. It hosts over 100,000 websites today which speaks volume about its reliability. HostGator, however, currently boasts of nearly 8 million customers.
Verdict – Tough to declare only one winner. So, one point each for both.
7. Loading Speed
Server uptime denotes the time during which a computer stays operational. Both competitors offer a guaranteed 99.9% uptime. However, HostGator will compensate you with 1 month of credit based on the package you choose if the Reseller or Shared server fails to lives up to this claim.
Website speed is an important SEO ranking factor and as such, one needs to check out this feature when buying a web hosting for their website. Since HostGator India uses an India-based server, the website latency is dramatically reduced as the request has to travel a short distance to reach the server. Similarly, BigRock too uses an Indian server to boost the loading speed.
Verdict – Both are winners.
The Bottom Line
After going through numerous HostGator vs BigRock reviews online, it became even more challenging for us to decide which one is the best. After a detailed analysis and comparison of their respective features and characteristics, we have come to the conclusion that HostGator has a critical edge over BigRock due to its multiple localized payment options, compensation for server downtime, tonnes of HostGator coupons and a robust customer support.
However, BigRock offers a wide range of hosting packages as opposed to 3 options provided by HostGator, therefore, resulting in a greater flexibility. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, it all boils down to your particular hosting requirements and budget.
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