Lunarpages Vs HostGator – Website Hosting Comparison

Following up on our introductory post on HostGator Vs Lunarpages, we’re now going to take an in-depth look into each web host’s website hosting plans and compare them side-by-side.

• HostGator Special Discounts
• Lunarpages Special Discounts

In this case we’re talking about “standard hosting plans” which are based on Linux web servers with cPanel control panel.

HostGator offers 3 different hosting plans for which the main differences are mostly the storage space and bandwidth.

Lunarpages on the other hand offers a Basic Hosting plan as well as Business Hosting plan. In this case, the major differences resides in the fact that you get 4 free domains and a dedicated IP address with the Business Hosting package.

Website Hosting Plans Comparison

As far as storage space goes, I think it’s not an issue here no matter which web host or hosting plan you choose. Even with HostGator’s Hatchling plan, chances are you will never use that much disk space. But as for bandwidth limitations, you may reach the limit of HostGator’s Hatchling and Baby plans if you offer huge downloadable files on your website. For instance, I’ve got a website (http://www.homemusician.net) that uses almost 10,000GB of bandwidth each month so I know it’s not impossible to reach such a limit.

I think it’s nice that Lunarpages gives you some free domain names with both hosting plans. With HostGator you have to pay $15.00 per year for domain registration so it’s a bit expensive.

Also if you need to host multiple websites, you must note that HostGator’s Hatchling plan gives you the possibility to host a single one only so you might want to go with the other plans.

As far as scripting languages goes, you get pretty much the same features with both web hosts: PHP, Perl, CGI, Ruby On Rails, MySQL and Postgre databases. HostGator offers ASP.Net support using Chilisoft ASP but you can also get it as an option with Lunarpages’ plans for $2.95 a month.

Less experienced users will be happy to know that both web hosts offer a great website builder. HostGator provides you with SWSoft’s Sitebuilder while Lunarpages provides you with PageMason (a Lunarpages product). I have tried both softwares and they are both very easy to use and provide you with some great looking templates for your website.

LunarPages vs HostGator: The Conclusion

We’ve got two great web hosts here so it’s a bit hard to say which one is the best. I think that HostGator’s Hatchling plan is kind of limited because it allows you to host a single website only. On the other hand, Lunarpages’ Business is too expensive for what you get. I mean you could get the Basic Hosting plan, buy 3 additional domain names and a dedicated IP address and get away with a much cheaper plan.

I also think that Lunarpages’ setup fees are kind of exagerated so if you plan to pay on a monthly basis, you’re better off with HostGator.

But if you can afford to pay a whole year of web hosting, Lunarpages’s Basic Hosting plan is pretty much unbeatable at only $95.40 per year. And better yet, check out Lunarpages’ home page. They always have a Lunarpages coupon code that will get you 24 months of web hosting for less than $120.

That said you just can’t go wrong with both hosts, they are truly two great hosting companies.

Lunarpages

• Pros: lots of storage space and bandwidth, scalability (you can later upgrade to a VPS or a dedicated server), great prices on 12 and 24 months plans.
• Cons: high setup fees on short term contracts, no toll free phone number, no live chat support.

HostGator

• Pros: awesome customer support, live chat support, toll free number, affordable monthly plans.
• Cons: none.

Links

• Lunarpages Reviews
• Lunarpages Website
• HostGator Reviews
• HostGator Website