In roughly six months time, I’ve managed to switch my web hosting from GoDaddy to BlueHost and have ultimately ended up with HostGator. Here are some thoughts concerning my journey.
I hosted my websites with GoDaddy for several years before making my first hosting switch last September. At the time, I was satisfied with GoDaddy’s hosting control panel (which many don’t care for) and I thought the history snapshot feature in the file manager was great. Plus the fact that they would prorate some of their services made them the best fit for me. I can honestly say I was satisfied with my GoDaddy shared hosting account. Then I started having some load issues and the most frustrating thing to me was that others I knew that were on the same plan didn’t experience the same problems I faced. Without getting into too much detail, I began looking for my next web host.
After reading numerous reviews and considering the WordPress Web Hosting recommendations, I decided to make a move to BlueHost. This was one of those changes that made me question why I didn’t make a move sooner. My sites seemed to load quicker, cPanel became my new best friend, and the support was better than expected (live chat makes a difference). Everything was great until my sites started going down almost daily. Had my move from GoDaddy to BlueHost proved not to be a step in the right direction, I probably wouldn’t have abandoned ship so quickly.
I figured I’d give HostGator a shot since they seem to have pretty good reviews and they came highly recommended by a few people I know. The move was very simple especially with the cPanel experience I picked up as a BlueHost customer. I pay a little more per month so hopefully “you get what you pay for.” Before I made the move from BlueHost, I ran some performance tests. I planned on comparing the results against HostGator but there wasn’t much difference in the statistical results. However, it is my perception that my sites load much quicker than they ever have before which I am very pleased about.
In conclusion, I’d have to admit that each web host has their pro’s and con’s (even GoDaddy). When deciding who to go with, you should compare your needs with what each company offers, read plenty of reviews (avoid affiliate review sites), and ask for the opinions of people you trust. There’s one tip I’ll leave with you that proved to be very helpful to me. Get real-time feedback by searching Twitter. For instance, you could search phrases like “bluehost down“, “godaddy down“, “hostgator down“, etc. Try it!
Hey Josh,
I’m also running Genesis Framework for wordpress on five different sites that I’m managing. I’m currently running them all on a Bravenet hosting account, and I’ve been with Bravenet for the past five years.
One thing about Bravenet, is that you can host up to 10 sites for about $179.00 every Two Years
30.0 GB of storage (Presently using only 54.4 MB)
Bandwidth up to 600.0 So far in February I’ve used only: 314.6 MB
Bravenet gives you access to stock photos, sftp, sql databases, email and more.
However, I’m considering starting a transition over to another hosting provider, as I want to be ready for larger amounts of traffic, and your article has really helped. However, I’ve heard that Dreamhost or Bluehost are considered the better, “go to” for Genesis/wordpress sites. Did you get the Hatching, Baby, or Business Plan from Hostgator, and Why?
Jon, I can’t say that I’m familiar with Bravenet but it seems you could get much better value with another host. Most hosts give you the things you mentioned except maybe the stock photos. Although I don’t think I would ever choose a host because of they provide stock photos. To each his own. 😉
Dreamhost and Bluehost are both listed as recommended web hosts on WordPress.org. I think they both would be a step up from where you are now but having just switched from Bluehost, I might suggest going with Hostgator. I went with the Baby plan mainly because the price was comparable to Bluehost’s and also because I don’t have a need for the dedicated SSL & IP and toll free number at this time.
Thanks for your comment and I hope the things I’ve shared will help you in your decision!
I’ve been through all sorts of iterations of shared hosting. Finally, I built my own server at Rackspace this past week. I’m in full control over every aspect of the server and I don’t have to share any resources which is extremely nice. I can also add memory or mirrored servers at will. The entire server is backed up daily so if something goes wrong, I can rebuild with yesterday’s server image and it’s back to normal.
For Rackspace, you do have to be proficient with SSH and Linux commands. Lastly, it’s pay for what you use. It’s a bit more spendy, but worth the speed and reliability. I pay about $20-30.00/month depending on bandwidth for 20GB and full control of my environment.
Thanks for chiming in, Brian. At this point, my HostGator plan is exceeding my expectations. I haven’t had any service interruptions, support is quick and always helpful, and I definitely can’t complain about the price. However, I’ll keep your input in mind if I ever switch hosts in the future.