Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links. If you sign up through them, HostHub1 may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Neither HostGator nor GoDaddy is an affiliate partner of HostHub1 at the time of writing, and this does not change how providers are evaluated.
Quick Answer
Choose HostGator if you want to run several sites on one cheap plan: its Hatchling plan lists 10 websites at $3.75 per month on a 36-month term, then renews at $10.99 per month. Choose GoDaddy if daily backups and a 99.9% uptime guarantee matter more than site count: its Economy plan lists 1 website, 25 GB NVMe storage and a regular price of $11.99 per month. GoDaddy’s page does not state what the plans cost after the first 3-year term, so budget for that before you commit.
Key Takeaways
- HostGator Hatchling costs $3.75 per month on a 36-month term (checked October 2026) and renews at $10.99 per month.
- GoDaddy advertises web hosting from $5.99 per month for the first 3-year term, and its pricing page shows a regular price of $11.99 per month for Economy.
- HostGator Hatchling lists 10 websites and 10 GB SSD storage; GoDaddy Economy lists 1 website and 25 GB NVMe storage.
- HostGator lists a 99% uptime guarantee and courtesy backups; GoDaddy lists a 99.9% uptime guarantee and automatic daily backups.
- Both providers list a 30-day money-back guarantee on web hosting.
HostGator vs GoDaddy at a Glance
| Feature | HostGator Hatchling | GoDaddy Economy |
|---|---|---|
| Intro price (checked October 2026) | $3.75 per month | Headline “as low as $5.99 per month” (plan-level intro price not stated separately) |
| Term behind the intro price | 36 months | First 3-year term |
| Renewal | $10.99 per month | Not stated; page shows a regular price of $11.99 per month |
| Websites | 10 | 1 |
| Storage | 10 GB SSD | 25 GB NVMe |
| Control panel | cPanel | cPanel |
| Backups | Courtesy website backups | Automatic daily backups |
| Uptime guarantee | 99% | 99.9% |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
Both columns come from each provider’s official hosting page on 2026-10-07. GoDaddy’s table cell for renewal is deliberately a “regular price” because the page does not publish a renewal rate for the period after the 3-year term.
Price: 36 Months vs Three Years
HostGator publishes a plan-by-plan price, while GoDaddy publishes a headline and a regular price. That difference shapes how far you can plan.
- HostGator lists Hatchling at $3.75 per month, Baby at $4.50 per month and Business at $6.25 per month, each on a 36-month term. The renewal rates shown are $10.99, $16.49 and $21.99 per month. Its Pro plan lists $13.95 per month and renews at $29.69 per month.
- GoDaddy lists web hosting as low as $5.99 per month for the first 3-year term. Regular prices on the page are $11.99 per month for Economy, $14.99 for Hosting for WordPress Basic, $16.99 for Deluxe and $21.99 for its highest tier. Deluxe lists a $7.99 intro price and the highest tier lists $12.99 per month.
On the numbers shown, the cheapest HostGator entry plan ($3.75) is lower than GoDaddy’s lowest headline ($5.99). Beyond the first term the comparison is incomplete: HostGator’s Hatchling renewal is $10.99 per month, which is $1.00 less than GoDaddy Economy’s $11.99 regular price, but the two are not the same kind of number. One is a stated renewal rate and the other is a regular price shown next to the intro offer. Read the checkout page for a GoDaddy renewal figure. For the method behind renewal comparisons across hosts, see our web hosting renewal prices guide.
Plans Side by Side
| Tier | HostGator | GoDaddy |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Hatchling: 10 websites, 10 GB SSD, $3.75 intro | Economy: 1 website, 25 GB NVMe, $11.99 regular |
| Middle | Baby: 20 websites, 20 GB SSD, $4.50 intro | Deluxe: 10 websites, 50 GB NVMe, $7.99 intro, $16.99 regular |
| Higher | Business: 50 websites, 50 GB SSD, $6.25 intro | Top tier: 25 websites, 75 GB NVMe, $12.99 intro, $21.99 regular |
HostGator Business lists 50 websites and 50 GB SSD storage for $6.25 per month. GoDaddy Deluxe lists 10 websites and 50 GB NVMe storage for $7.99 per month. At matching storage of 50 GB, HostGator lists five times as many websites at a lower intro price.
GoDaddy’s advantage is storage per site at the entry level and the larger top tier, which lists 75 GB, while HostGator’s Pro lists 100 GB with 100 websites. GoDaddy’s page also lists Hosting for WordPress Basic with 10 GB NVMe storage and the GoDaddy Managed Hosting for WordPress control panel, which is a different product from cPanel hosting.
Features Compared
Control panel. HostGator lists cPanel access. GoDaddy lists cPanel on Economy, Deluxe and the highest tier, and uses its own managed WordPress panel on the WordPress Basic plan.
Backups. GoDaddy lists automatic daily backups and says you can recover from the previous day. HostGator lists courtesy website backups, and its marketing copy says files are backed up daily and can be restored with a click. We treat HostGator’s backups as a courtesy feature, not a guarantee, because the page labels them that way.
Uptime. GoDaddy lists a 99.9% uptime guarantee and HostGator lists 99%. Neither page gives enough detail for us to describe the credit terms, so read the service terms before relying on either number. We have not run our own uptime tests.
Support. HostGator lists 24/7/365 support, with chat only on Hatchling and phone plus chat on Baby and Business. GoDaddy lists free 24/7 support and says its GoDaddy Guides number over 3,500 experts reachable by chat, phone or email.
SSL and domain. HostGator lists free SSL from Let’s Encrypt and a free domain for the first year. GoDaddy lists a free domain with an asterisk disclaimer, a free SSL certificate for 1 year on Economy, and free unlimited SSL on Deluxe and the highest tier.
CDN, staging and migration. HostGator lists a free Cloudflare CDN with Argo Routing, a WordPress staging site and a free site migration tool, with paid migration also available. GoDaddy’s page, as captured for this comparison, does not list a CDN or a migration tool.
What Users Say on Trustpilot
HostGator holds a Trustpilot rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 17,904 reviews, as of October 7, 2026. GoDaddy holds 4.4 out of 5 from 143,938 reviews on Trustpilot on the same date. These profiles cover each company as a whole, not only shared hosting, and the GoDaddy page itself shows 4.4 out of 5 from 141,836 reviews.
We quoted recent Trustpilot reviews (collected 2026-10-07) that mention web hosting directly, and skipped reviews about domains only. Reviews are opinions, not facts about the service. Only one recent GoDaddy review in our collection concerned the hosting side of the business, so the balance below is not even.
Timothy, a HostGator customer, wrote on Trustpilot on 2026-10-03: “Easy to use and good price. It was also easy to cancel when I no longer needed website hosting at hostgator.” (review).
Sanjeev R., a HostGator customer, wrote on Trustpilot on 2026-10-07: “The free cPanel email option is difficult to locate, while the paid service is much more prominently displayed and easier to select during signup.” (review).
Rabia R., a GoDaddy customer, wrote on Trustpilot on 2026-10-06: “The support process has been exhausting, repetitive and ineffective.” (review).
Pros and Cons
HostGator
Pros
- Hatchling lists 10 websites at $3.75 per month on a 36-month term
- Business lists 50 websites and 50 GB SSD storage at $6.25 per month
- Free Cloudflare CDN, WordPress staging and a free migration tool
Cons
- Hatchling renews at $10.99 per month, about three times the $3.75 intro price
- Backups are described as courtesy backups, not a guaranteed feature
- Uptime guarantee is 99%, lower than GoDaddy’s 99.9%
- Hatchling support is chat only
GoDaddy
Pros
- Automatic daily backups with recovery from the previous day
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Economy lists 25 GB NVMe storage, compared with 10 GB SSD on HostGator Hatchling
Cons
- Economy lists only 1 website, against 10 on HostGator Hatchling
- The renewal price after the first 3-year term is not stated on the pricing page
- Only 3-year pricing is shown, so there is no monthly or 1-year price to compare
- The page shows a regular price for Economy ($11.99 per month) but no renewal rate after the 3-year term
Which Host Should You Choose?
Choose HostGator if you plan to host more than one site on a small budget. Hatchling and Baby list 10 and 20 websites respectively, and a 36-month commitment is the condition for the advertised price.
Choose GoDaddy if you are running a single site and want automatic daily backups and a 99.9% uptime guarantee listed on the plan. Check the checkout screen for the renewal figure first, since the page does not publish it.
If your budget is the main concern, read our cheap web hosting comparison, and if you run a business site, see best web hosting for small business.
How We Evaluated HostGator and GoDaddy
- We read each provider’s official US shared hosting page on 2026-10-07 and use only figures published there.
- We separated stated renewal rates from regular prices, because they are not the same figure.
- We applied the same standard to both providers; neither is an affiliate partner.
- We have not run our own speed or uptime tests, so this comparison makes no performance claims.
FAQ
Is HostGator cheaper than GoDaddy?
On advertised first-term prices, yes. HostGator Hatchling lists $3.75 per month on a 36-month term, while GoDaddy lists web hosting as low as $5.99 per month for its first 3-year term. After that, HostGator Hatchling renews at $10.99 per month, and GoDaddy’s page does not state a renewal rate.
Which host has better backups, HostGator or GoDaddy?
GoDaddy lists automatic daily backups and says you can recover from the previous day. HostGator lists courtesy website backups, and its marketing copy mentions daily backups with one-click restore. Because HostGator labels backups a courtesy and does not state a guaranteed frequency, GoDaddy’s listing is the more explicit of the two.
Do HostGator and GoDaddy offer refunds?
Both list a 30-day money-back guarantee on hosting. HostGator says it will refund your hosting fees if you are not happy in the first 30 days. Our sources do not say whether domain fees are included, so confirm that with each provider before you request a refund on a bundled domain.
Can I host more than one website on GoDaddy Economy?
No. GoDaddy Economy lists 1 website. Deluxe lists 10 websites and the highest tier lists 25. HostGator Hatchling lists 10 websites on its entry plan, and Baby lists 20. For several sites on the lowest tier, HostGator’s page lists more websites per plan at each entry level.