Most of you here already know that I switched from Lunarpages to HostGator about a week ago. In short, my account was warned (and suspended for a while) because this blog created CPU spikes on the server (high CPU usage). I decided to move to HostGator (after doing some research on other possible web hosting) and really glad that I made the move (except that I couldn’t get a refund on my old hosting – I’ve paid for 5 years 
).
On this HostGator review post, you’ll find out about:
- Why I hesitated with HostGator at first
- Why I finally decided to migrate to HostGator
- Whether there were problems during the migration
- Whether the CPU usage problem appears on HostGator just like in Lunarpages
- How bad/good HostGator technical support is
- Overall impression on HostGator web hosting
Why I hesitated to move to HostGator at first
Well at first, I sort of got turned off by their logo. I mean, the alligator is kinda cute and all but I didn’t find it quite professional. I know this was not a good excuse or a very bad judgement but hey, how many of you got turned off by an online shopping site because it doesn’t look professional enough/dodgy? After I became a part of HostGator family though, I didn’t bother at the logo as much as before 
Actually, the site looks professional as a whole so there is no dodgy feeling when you are browsing their site. I’m being biased because I kinda like the logo now, lol.
The second reason why I hesitated was because HostGator doesn’t seem to provide a Virtual Private Server solution. If you look at HostGator hosting plans, it only offers a dedicated hosting. So if you are outgrowing your blog/site, then you may have to go somewhere else for a VPS unless you want to pay the dollars to jump to a dedicated service.
The price can be different by the time you are reading this
The last one I guess, is the price. They are quite mediocre but they are not the cheapest. However, I’m done with going for a cheap hosting. I mean, cheap is good but it doesn’t necessarily rhyme with “good service”. HostGator is not too cheap but it’s not too expensive either. The price on the home page is kinda misleading because it’s the price that you pay if you go for a 3 years straight. It’s more expensive than that if you go for a year plan. Nevertheless, there’s always the 20% coupon code (that seems to be valid forever) that you can use to bring the whole price down.
Why I finally decided to migrate to HostGator
HostGator has a very few negative feedback on the web when I did some research on some web hosting (which is good). There is no perfect world so there will always be someone who’s not happy with the service that you provide. But it can be a good indicator how well the service is by reading genuine opinions from its customers.
My hesitation completely disappeared with HostGator though, because:
- HostGator has a 45 day money back guarantee (as most hosting nowadays do).
- HostGator allows you to store your site’s backup on its unlimited storage (Lunarpages doesn’t! How can they expect me to transfer gigabytes of backup date to my computer every month??)
- HostGator provides a free service to migrate everything from your old host to HostGator. This includes all files and databases. HostGator will mirror exactly to what you had previously on the old host.
- HostGator displays the CPU usage, number of processes used, and memory usage of your account on your cPanel, in REAL TIME! That’s right! Tired of getting the high cpu usage warnings from your host? Check your control panel at HostGator. See it for yourself. Make a change bit by bit and check it yourself whether it works or not! This is the best feature that made me switch to HostGator!
- HostGator provides an SSH even on shared accounts for free! This is a bonus especially for those technical enough to play around with Linux commands. You can request this on the control panel.
Problems during the migration to HostGator
There were NONE. I applied on the weekend (Saturday evening, Australian time. So probably around 5 a.m in the U.S) and my account was setup instantaneously (within 5 minutes).
I then requested the free migration service to mirror what I had on my old host to HostGator. A support team responded within 15 minutes and the whole migration was done in less than an hour during the weekend! I had a few gigabytes of data needed to be transferred and I didn’t need to break a sweat because the HostGator team did it for me. The WordPress blog, PHP Menalto Gallery (my photo gallery), databases, mail accounts (+current mails in inbox), cPanel statistics, and other files were successfully migrated without a hitch. I was extremely pleased with the service.
HostGator CPU Usage problem?
Nope, nada! When I look at my cPanel CPU usage, it only shows 0.1%! Beat that, Lunarpages. They claimed that my blog’s usage was:
CPU 4.13% , memory 1.35 % , mysql 0.3%
Top Process %CPU 73.0 /usr/bin/php /blogs/index.php
Top Process %CPU 64.0 /usr/bin/php /blogs/index.php
Top Process %CPU 56.0 /usr/bin/php /blogs/index.php
How about HostGator? Have a look at this screenshot of my account’s control panel at HostGator now (You need to switch to HostGator style on the cPanel to be able to see the CPU usage meter at HostGator):
High CPU Usage? Where?
The tooltip of the CPU usage suggests that my account doesn’t consume more than 25% of CPU usage more than 90 seconds. Given that I’ve only been using 0.1% of a CPU usage, I can’t see how I can get to 25% Only once I saw that my CPU went to 0.2% and it’s gone after I clicked on refresh.
So if you’ve been having problems with your current host in regards to a high CPU usage, move to HostGator! I’m not promising that your problem will disappear but at least you can have a look at yourself and test your changes real time! Or you can even apply to HostGator just to test and ask for a refund after 45 days (although you may find that you’ve already fallen in love with HostGator 
). Don’t be fooled by your old host! (You don’t know how many times I was asked to upgrade to a dedicated hosting on my old host).
I even raised a support ticked asking them about their CPU usage policy and whether my account is giving a hard time on the server. This is one of the support team’s reply:
As of right now you are using no CPU at all. This can vary at different times depending on how many people you have on your site. The 25% for 90 seconds is a general rule and is not followed strictly. What really counts is if you are affecting other users on the server and their ability to view their sites. From what I can see this should not be a problem at all on your account.
This blog, “no CPU at all???” Need I say more, ladies and gents?
How bad/good HostGator technical support is
I tried submitting 2 support tickets (for testing and also real issues ) to check on their technical support service. All tickets were answered professionally within 15 minutes! If you are not happy with the reply, you can rate the reply to the lowest which should trigger an alarm to HostGator support managers Just do this wisely. I actually gave a rating 10 (highest) to the migration support request earlier because I was so happy with the service.
I also noticed that the technical support was the same person after a few replies which is a big plus for me. Previously on Lunarpages, every ticket reply was a different person and often I had to repeat myself over and over (and they were repeating their scripts over and over as well) which frustrated me. I asked the HostGator support person and he said that a ticket was assigned to a particular person until his/her shift is over on the day. The ticket will then go to a pool and someone else will pick it up to avoid having to wait too long in the queue. Brilliant!
Proof that I really did submit those tickets
HostGator Review Conclusion
This is the easiest review ever (it took me a lot of time to write but it’s easy because I’m totally satisfied with HostGator). HostGator seems to use pretty powerful servers to power the accounts as you can see from my CPU & memory usage. All of my high CPU usage problems were gone and now I can focus more on writing and tweaking this blog for productivity, rather than tweaking it to make the servers happy!
If you are considering moving to another web host, consider joining HostGator! Now, it may look dodgy because you will see my affiliate link to HostGator below this post, after all the praises and good things I wrote about them. Fear not, this is a truly genuine review post on HostGator. If you don’t want to join HostGator under my affiliate link, you can always go to the site yourself by typing the URL directly on your browser. I don’t really care because I love HostGator and I want to support them as much as I can!
But if you really think that my post has shed some light to you and has persuaded you to move, I’d appreciate it if you register at HostGator by clicking on the banner below. You’ll have nothing to lose anyway and you can make this blogger happier
It’s still less than a month though so hopefully this is not just some “Honey moon” phase from HostGator
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Hostgator is great; I transferred a few months back and im still breaking things on the server but they always come and fix it quick :p
Their VPS version is dubbed ‘reseller’, I stick with the normal $5 a month though…no were near outgrowing it yet!
Hahah it’s good to know, in case I’m starting to break things ^^
Ah..I haven’t really checked on the reseller plan thoroughly. I guess it’s good to know because I wouldn’t want to jump straight to a dedicated hosting (unless if my blog suddenly hits Digg’s front page once a week
)
Great review. I am currently on Hostmonster from last 1 and half years i guess. My site keeps giving CPU messages sometimes.
WIll think of shifting to hostgator and when i decide. i will use the above link to make you happy!
Thanks Nihar. I’ll know it when you do
As long as your blog isn’t suspended because of the CPU usage, I guess it’s still okay
Instead of taking a decision as drastic as you should see better fix what was your site that consumed so much.
Personally, I pass the same thing (and we use the same theme), and is the script that uses timthumb.php of the ”Arthemia Premium theme”…
Hostgator and in any other host you will not consume much until you find a solution to script
Hi you were wrong unfortunately. I’ve exchanged about 60 tickets in total with Lunarpages trying to find/fix the problem (you can have a look on my previous posts regarding this). I even changed to a very simple theme called Vigilance (very light weight) and even turned off lots of plug-ins. I’ve been optimizing it for weeks until I moved to HostGator. I switched back to this theme (with my other plug-ins back) and so far, 0.1% CPU usage.
Either the server was too old or maybe some bots hammering the hosting server and affecting the usage on that server, who knows.. I have wasted too many times tweaking over that period. You can probably try a free trial on HostGator and cancel it in 45 days if you are still having the same problems
Don’t worry, this is definitely not “Honey moon” phase from HostGator. I use hostgator for more than one month now and so far, no high CPU usage issue from hostgator. I’m glad I have chosen to leave Lunarpages.
Anyway, great review on hostgator.
Same here
Too bad I can’t get a refund out of Lunarpages (about $200-300 in total) 
Few days back when I was researching for the ideal shared hosting, host gator was one of those hosting company which get lots of positive reviews.
Glad that your problem is solved and as a part of token you wrote such a nice review.
I have a same problems with CPU load, and I’m wondering to chose between HostGator and BlueHost. BlueHost is cheaper, I can buy it at 3.95$. Did you write a review on BlueHost? Please give me an advice. Thank you very much.
Sorry to hear that you are having the same problem like I did. Unfortunately, I never use BlueHost before so I can’t give my opinion on that. Have you tried to calculate HostGator total price? You can get a 20% off from the coupon code on their main page.
I love HostGator because you can see your CPU usage real time from their control panel. That way, you can fix your problem while looking at the usage monitor. I’m not sure if BlueHost gives you that luxury.
HostGator has the best suppport team of any host I have used. Any issue I have had has been resolved within 1 hour.
Well it looks like hostgator provides the best support. Good to see that your cpu usage has decreased drastically. Why are they not refunding your money? What reason(silly reason) did they give you?
Well it is my fault. I extended my web hosting to another 5 years because I was so happy with them. Since they only give 30 day money back guarantee, they can’t refund my money
(I’ve been with them for years)
I got fed up with the service of Godaddy and their support yesterday and after spending about 3 hours reading reviews for Hostgator, I signed up for their service. The account was set up in about 5 minutes and I had all of my sites total of about 2 GB transfered to hostgator in about an hour….. All the sites were set up in the next 2 hours and i switched over the A record on the domains…..
I have been testing their service for the last 24 hours…… so far so good. CPU is not running high.. my sites have suddenly become super fast…… I’m happy……..
Oh By the way… Hostgator gave me some discount as well…. Which basically turned out to be cheaper than Godaddy….
Cheers
Manvir Randhawa
Glad you jump out the boat to HostGator. I have been with them for almost a year now and I’m so happy with their service so far