HostGator vs. HostICan
HostGator (review), now based in Houston, started operations in 2002 as a Florida based company. A 1,300 mile drive northeast takes you to the home of HostICan (review), a company that was born in 2003 in Glen Allen, Virginia. While HostGator strives to “eat up the competition,” HostICan is busy providing “Unmetered Bandwidth.” The two hosts occupy similar areas of the hosting market. This review comparing HostGator and HostICan will look at the details of each in order to allow you to make an informed decision to select the right host.
Both HostGator and HostICan offer shared and dedicated hosting. HostGator also provides reseller hosting and HostICan provides Virtual Private hosting. The offerings of each host are summarized below:
HostGator
Shared: Linux (and Windows was coming soon at time of writing)
Reseller: Linux
Dedicated: Linux (Red Hat and CentOS) and Windows
Control Panel: cPanel for Linux, Plesk for Windows
HostICan
Shared: Linux
Virtual Private Servers: Linux and Windows
Dedicated: Linux and Windows
Control Panel: cPanel for Linux, Plesk for Windows
Merchant Accounts
If you are in need of a specific type of hosting the above information is helpful in deciding which host to choose. For example, if there is an interest in reseller hosting, the choice must be HostGator because HostICan does not provide this service.
Bandwidth
One of the main things that sets HostICan apart from their competition is that they offer unlimited bandwidth on their second tier plans. They offer two tiers of hosting plans in each hosting category: The first tier is limited bandwidth, and the second is the unlimited. HostGator only offers unlimited bandwidth on their highest shared hosting plan, but not on any other plans. Therefore if unlimited bandwidth is of value on VPS or dedicated plans, HostICan may be the choice to make. Unlimited bandwidth from HostICan can only be used for website related content, so the bandwidth cannot be used to host a download site. HostGator does not allow torrents.
Support
Support provided can often set two hosts apart. In the case of HostGator and HostICan, both hosts provide 24/7 support via toll-free numbers and email. Live chat is available from HostGator around the clock, but is provided by HostICan only during certain hours. Take a look at each host’s respective reviews individually for more information regarding the quality of support each host provides.
Money Back Guarantees
There are other important concerns when comparing hosts such as uptime and money-back guarantees. Both HostGator and HostICan guarantee 99.9% uptime. HostGator “eats up” the competition with their money-back guarantee of 45 days while HostICan provides the industry standard of 30 days. Both hosts also offer rewarding affiliate programs.
Conclusion
When choosing between HostGator and HostICan it will likely come down to what services each offers as they are both quality hosts. The specific numbers for price, disk space and bandwidth change often so check them out right before you are about to buy and see where each hosts stands for what you are looking for. If you need virtual private hosting, the choice has to be HostICan, but if you need reseller hosting you have to go with HostGator. Although you are bound to be satisfied with either host, the details can often be the difference between simply being satisfied and being happy with a host.
