HostGator vs KnownHost
HostGator and KnownHost compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. They tie on overall score.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
7.4 out of 10
Newfold's Texas-born cPanel host: four shared tiers on a 36-month term with a free domain, Cloudflare CDN and staging
7.4 out of 10
Managed cPanel hosting since 2006 on LiteSpeed and NVMe with stated cores and RAM, daily backups and three locations
Both hosts score 7.4 overall.
How do the scores compare?
HostGator leads on 2 sub-scores, KnownHost on 3. Higher is better.
Which one is faster and more reliable?
Which one costs less?
On renewal, KnownHost is cheaper ($7.16/mo vs $10.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
What does each include?
| HostGator | KnownHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | First year on every plan; $22.99 is deducted from a refund if you cancel within the year | No |
| Free SSL | Let's Encrypt, auto-renewed | Every plan, every domain |
| Backups | Weekly courtesy backups, restorable with one click; the terms call them a courtesy, so keep your own | Daily JetBackup with 2-day and 1-week retention on every plan; extended retention sold as an add-on |
| Free migration | A free site migration tool is listed on the plan cards; the comparison table on the same page says paid migration is available | Migration team copies files, databases and email and tests the site |
| Free CDN | Cloudflare with Argo routing on every plan | No |
| Caching | Static content caching and object caching on every plan; the feature list names an NGINX caching layer | LiteSpeed Web Server with LSCache on every plan; Redis and Memcached optional |
| Staging | WordPress staging site on every plan | No |
| SSH and languages | SSH, WP-CLI, cron, PHP 8.2, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Python, unlimited MySQL and SFTP users | Not stated |
| Resource limits | No | CloudLinux isolation with 1, 2, 4 and 6 cores and 1, 2, 4 and 6 GB memory limits by plan |
| Data center choice | No | Atlanta, Seattle or Amsterdam at checkout |
| Uptime guarantee | The plan page says 99 percent; the terms we read contain no uptime clause or credit schedule | The network page claims a 99.999% availability SLA and 99.99+% uptimes; the terms of service contain no uptime clause or credit schedule |
| Security | Malware scanning, AI-powered detection and removal from Baby up, web application firewall, DDoS protection, DDoS scrub center | Imunify360 with real-time malware scanning and a web application firewall; Patchman optional on Basic and Standard, included above |
| Unlimited POP3 and IMAP mailboxes with SpamAssassin; Pro Email is a paid product after a free trial | 5, 25 or unlimited mailboxes by plan, with webmail | |
| Phone support | Baby, Business and Pro; Hatchling is chat only | A US toll-free number on every page, with 24/7 ticket support |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| SSH, Git and cron | Not stated | Every plan, with current PHP versions |