ScalaHosting vs HostGator
ScalaHosting and HostGator compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. ScalaHosting scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
ScalaHostingWins overall
Dallas and Sofia host with its own SPanel, an anytime prorated refund and a credit table that reaches 100 percent
Newfold's Texas-born cPanel host: four shared tiers on a 36-month term with a free domain, Cloudflare CDN and staging
ScalaHosting wins 5 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (8.1 vs 7.4).
How do the scores compare?
ScalaHosting leads on 5 sub-scores, HostGator on 1. Higher is better.
| ScalaHosting | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 8.0 (better) | 7.5 |
| Uptime | 8.5 (better) | 8.0 |
| Support | 8.5 (better) | 7.0 |
| Features | 8.0 (better) | 7.0 |
| Value | 7.5 (better) | 6.5 |
| Ease of use | 7.5 | 8.0 (better) |
Which one is faster and more reliable?
| ScalaHosting | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.1 (better) | 7.4 |
| Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs HostingStep 243 d; methods differ | 99.99% (better) | 99.97% |
| Response time (published)WPBeginner vs HostingStep; methods differ | 526 ms | 496 ms (better) |
Which one costs less?
On renewal, HostGator is cheaper ($10.99/mo vs $11.95/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
| ScalaHosting | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | Mini | Hatchling |
| Intro price | $2.95/mo (better) | $3.75/mo |
| Renewal price | $11.95/mo | $10.99/mo (better) |
| Required term | 36 months | 36 months |
| Websites | 1 | 10 |
| Storage | 10 GB | 10 GB |
| Money back | 30 days, then prorated at any time (better) | 30 days |
What does each include?
| ScalaHosting | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | Start, Advanced and Entry Cloud; not on Mini | First year on every plan; $22.99 is deducted from a refund if you cancel within the year |
| Free SSL | Yes | Let's Encrypt, auto-renewed |
| Automated backups | Daily, 7 restore points kept for the last 7 days | Not stated |
| Free migration | Website and email migration | A free site migration tool is listed on the plan cards; the comparison table on the same page says paid migration is available |
| Control panel | SPanel (free, with SShield security and spam protection) or cPanel | Not stated |
| CDN | CDN integration | Not stated |
| WP-CLI and SSH | Yes | Not stated |
| Malware protection | Real-time, on every plan | Not stated |
| Staging | Not listed on the plan cards | WordPress staging site on every plan |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.9%; credits from 10% at 99.8% up to 100% below 99%, claimed through billing | The plan page says 99 percent; the terms we read contain no uptime clause or credit schedule |
| Money-back guarantee | Full refund within 30 days; prorated refund of unused time at any time after that; new clients only; web, reseller and VPS hosting | Not stated |
| Choice of data center | Dallas, New York, Seattle or Sofia on ScalaHosting's own infrastructure; partner cloud and AWS regions for cloud plans | Not stated |
| Phone support | Yes | Baby, Business and Pro; Hatchling is chat only |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| Backups | Not stated | Weekly courtesy backups, restorable with one click; the terms call them a courtesy, so keep your own |
| Free CDN | Not stated | Cloudflare with Argo routing on every plan |
| Caching | Not stated | Static content caching and object caching on every plan; the feature list names an NGINX caching layer |
| SSH and languages | Not stated | SSH, WP-CLI, cron, PHP 8.2, Ruby on Rails, Perl, Python, unlimited MySQL and SFTP users |
| Resource limits | Not stated | No |
| Data center choice | Not stated | No |
| Security | Not stated | Malware scanning, AI-powered detection and removal from Baby up, web application firewall, DDoS protection, DDoS scrub center |
| Not stated | Unlimited POP3 and IMAP mailboxes with SpamAssassin; Pro Email is a paid product after a free trial |
Company facts
| ScalaHosting | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | SPanel (ScalaHosting's own) or cPanel | cPanel behind the HostGator customer portal |
| Data centers | 5 (better) | 1 |
| Support channels | chat, ticket, phone, knowledge-base | chat, phone, knowledge-base |
| Founded | 2007 | 2002 |