HostGatorReviews 13,391

Run! Hostgator has predatory practices. They shut down my website and business emails and then charged my credit card 20 days later. So I was forced to get a new website, hosting, email, etc. and then charged for services I do not have and had to start all over losing many customers.

HostGator permanently deleted my website—despite being told over 10 times, on recorded calls, not to touch it. That site held 11 years of work, including proprietary content, internal systems, and critical business assets. It wasn't just a website—it was the operational core of my business. Their actions were not a mistake. They were malfeasance—willful, reckless, and damaging. I spent hours every day on the phone trying to undo what they did. Support lied to me repeatedly, saying "we're working on it," while doing nothing. They refused to escalate. I was told "the supervisor is busy" over and over. I finally stayed on hold for two hours to reach a second-tier agent who also did nothing except delay, deflect, and lie again. HostGator uses underqualified, script-reading virtual assistants with zero technical skill or decision-making power. They have no business handling anything tied to real businesses or real consequences. They don't fix problems—they create them. Then they waste your time pretending to help. This didn't just disrupt my business—it caused severe stress, physical sickness, and lost momentum that cannot be recovered. They erased what took years to build—and acted like it didn't matter. HostGator is negligent, unfit, and dangerous. Their malfeasance speaks for itself. Stay away.

While porting one of my websites to my existing account with hostgator, my ported website somehow ended up in a separate business plan (meaning additional hundreds of dollars). Unfortunately I didn't notice that until many months later (I was on multi-year billing plan). When I asked hostgator about this they said there was not anything they could do about it because of "policy." I finally got it escalated to the "admins" who would not communicate with me directly. They just reviewed the front-end communicate and sent me an email saying they couldn't do anything. In the meantime, my other business plan was renewed for three years without a notification. They say they sent the notification, and maybe they did, but it was not in my inbox or spam (and this has happened multiple times where there hypothetical notifications do not show up on my end). Even just after a few weeks they again said they could not cancel or refund the plan because it was already charged. Can't or won't? I think that's obvious. The admins again made no effort to talk to me directly. They just send out their front end people who have no power to do anything except say what they are supposed to say, and the admins hide behind their electronic screens. I've never experienced such poor customer service in this type of situation. I'll be moving to another host that communicates with customers and gives them the benefit of the doubt.

I signed up for HostGator's "unlimited" Business hosting plan in 2023, drawn in by the promise of hosting an unlimited number of websites. This was a key factor in my decision, as I have multiple projects I wanted to host. Critically, I prepaid for a full three years of service based on this advertised "unlimited" feature. However, I recently discovered that HostGator has quietly implemented a cap on the number of websites allowed on this plan. This change was made without any prior notification to me, the customer.

This is extremely disappointing and feels like a bait-and-switch tactic. The very definition of "unlimited" implies no limits. To impose a website cap after I've paid in full for three years of "unlimited" service is not only misleading and dishonest, but it feels like a breach of contract. I relied on the advertised "unlimited" feature when making my purchase decision and committing to a long-term contract. Now, I'm forced to reconsider my hosting options and potentially migrate my websites, which is a significant inconvenience, especially after having already paid for three years of service.

I contacted HostGator support regarding this change. Their explanation was that they "previously used to provide unlimited websites, but with the recent updates it's reduced to accommodate the storage for the hosting package." They cited a transition to a "Scalable Shared Hosting platform" for improved speed, stability, and security. While they apologized for the lack of notification, they stated the change was necessary to "restrict users overwhelming the server with high disk usage" and to ensure "fair usage of shared resources." They provided an example of one user consuming all server resources, disadvantaging others.

However, despite their claims of improved performance, I have not seen any noticeable increase in website speed or overall performance. This makes their justification for removing the "unlimited" feature even less convincing. If the change was truly about improving performance, I would expect to see tangible results.

While I understand the need for fair resource allocation, changing the core advertised feature of the plan after I purchased it, and especially after I prepaid for three years based on that feature, is completely unacceptable. If limits were always intended, they should have been clearly stated from the beginning. Furthermore, the justification of "keeping up with the latest technological advances" doesn't excuse the bait-and-switch. A change in platform shouldn't necessitate removing a key advertised feature, particularly if the change doesn't even deliver the promised benefits. Transparency and honesty are crucial, especially when it comes to services people rely on, and even more so when significant prepayments are involved.

I would not recommend HostGator to anyone looking for truly unlimited hosting. Be aware that their "unlimited" Business plans now come with undisclosed limitations, and they may change the terms of your service without warning, even if you've prepaid for an extended period. I am extremely dissatisfied with this experience.

For the last decade or more, I had 8 companies hosted through hostgator. Over the years I sold or closed the companies, am down to one now.

I kept trying to downgrade to a lesser plan, it was tough. I canceled the auto renew and waited a year.
When I got the email about a year later letting me know the renewal was due, I contacted support, they happily downgraded my plan, I paid for three years hosting upfront.

Then hell broke loose.

I could not access my company's email addresses, and the website went down. Contacted support, to migrate the data, or turn it back on (I'm not a techy) Hostgaor asked $150 for each email address and $100 for the website - or vise versa. After downgrading my plan, Hostgator asked for around $600 in ransom fees, ethically I could not stomach that. I did not want to be associated with a company who treated their long term customers this poorly.

After several "chats" I finally asked the smart question, "if I go back to the higher plan, can I get my data back without paying the ransom." They said yes! So went back to the old plan... three weeks and many chats later, I got my email addresses/data/emails back and the website working again.

It is short-sighted to treat a decades long customer this poorly. After 6 weeks of hassel, Hostgator fueled my drive to switch hosting companies.

I'm pretty hands off with it. I made my website but I don't really update it.

Was able to repair my site quickly by downloading new software.

Site was down, so contacted hostgator who resolved my issue

I transferd from wix to save money. I bought the domain name last April 2024, I had my original webpage redesigned and finally is ready to go live. The email to sign goes to my old email andI cannot get in it needs to be migrated and transferred. I'm not familiar with how all this works. So I call customer service sent ID and utility bill and I've been getting a difficult time with customer service saying that I have to resend paperwork and it went to the wrong department and send another kink. Then they changed to the new email and I still cannot get into the site. Now when calling in both emails are not coming up I refer by case number. I have about 20 of them. The email came back anoter name. Which happens to be the hacker...someone hacked into our account and made their contact primary. I had to show ownership and my business name. It's taking literally three weeks. When calling in they didn't believe me and they do now. I call everyday and now they say they got my paperwork and it's under review. I had to report to the FTC and Attorney General and BBB. I don't know how they got great reviews. It's the worst service ever and they take people money and just assume that someone will just move on. It's bad business practice. I'm licensed in 11 states if we ever did half of the unethical things this business gets away with. We're regulated. I don't know how these people get sway with tr e eating customers as badly as they do. And I don't know if rhe reviews given are fake!

Support has helped us with any issues that show up. We are happy.

Everything has been going well. I haven't had any issues in a while. The sales thing that popped up when I'm trying to make changes is annoying--gets in the way.

Earlier the response was faster with Staff responding well. Now there is too much delay for any response

Very helpful. The knowledge base is great. I learn a lot from it. Live chat is always there to help me anytime.

I didn't get a refund but I understood what the customer care agent said.