After 3 years of testing, let’s compare HostGator vs GoDaddy and find out how they’ve performed so far…
HostGator vs GoDaddy – Testing Method
- Prior to testing, I have setup identical content on all 8 Live Test Sites
- Each week over 80,000 speed & uptime tests are run using independent tools, GTmetrix & Pingdom
- Test results below are from 04 Apr 2016 to 22 Dec 2018
Test #1: Speed
The GTmetrix Speed Test checks how long it takes for a website to fully load using a desktop internet browser. This test is then repeated every hour throughout the week (1,340 times).
- HostGator’s speed has typically been around the mid pack of our hosts across 2016 to 2018. Their best performance was in H1 2017 where they were 3rd fastest, but H1 & H2 2018 has seen a dropoff to 7th fastest.
- GoDaddy’s Speed was the fastest throughout 2016. They maintained similar speeds in 2017, but other hosts started to outperform them. And now the most recent results for GoDaddy in H2 2018 have plummeted to the slowest of all active hosts.
- GoDaddy is currently sitting in 5th place, while HostGator is 6th in our Speed Rankings.
H2 2018 Results
H1 2018 Results
H2 2017 Results
H1 2017 Results
Test #2: Uptime
The Pingdom Uptime Test confirms that the website is actually accessible to visitors. This test is then repeated every minute throughout the week (80,640 times).
- HostGator’s uptime has been let down by 1 horrendous week (Week 43), where they recorded 425 minutes of downtime. Across 2018, they avoided any one off poor weeks, and a result have been the 5th best performer.
- GoDaddy have performed brilliantly when it comes to Uptime over the last 3 years. Unfortunately, there was 2 blemishes on their record, during Week 73 they incurred 96 minutes of downtime and Week 130 they had 47 minutes of downtime. To put this into perspective, across the other 138 weeks of testing, they have only had 107 minutes of downtime. Even with these poor weeks, they are still one of the better performers.
- GoDaddy is currently 3rd, with HostGator 5th in our Uptime Rankings.
View the Weekly Uptime Tests
HostGator vs GoDaddy – Overall Test Results
The Overall Ranking accumulates the results from the speed & uptime tests to determine the #1 Host.
- While HostGator’s speed has shown promise at times, it has fallen into the bottom 2 hosts in 2018. When this is combined with the disastrous week of uptime, where they experienced a ridiculous 425 minutes of outages, HostGator has struggled to compete with the best hosts.
- GoDaddy’s performance has was excellent across the board in 2016, however, across 2017 & H1 2018 there have been a couple of hosts that have overtaken them in both the speed and uptime departments. The biggest disappointment has been their H2 2018 speed, which has seen them fall well behind our top 2 hosts.
- GoDaddy is currently 3rd, while HostGator is 6th in our Overall Rankings.
Hi, I'm Clint!
