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- Daily backups, kept 30 days
- Free migration done for you
- 45-day money-back
- Up to 10 sites on the entry plan
- Malware scanning and firewall included
- 30-day money-back
Ultra Web Hosting is the better deal for most small sites. Its renewal price matches the signup price, so the $3.95/mo plan stays $3.95/mo, while HostGator’s $3.75/mo plan renews at $10.99/mo. Ultra also includes daily backups and does your migration for you. HostGator makes more sense if you want several sites on the cheapest plan, built-in malware scanning on every plan, or more than 50 GB of storage.
Both companies have been hosting websites since 2002, both use cPanel, and their entry plans start within 20 cents of each other. The difference shows up later: one keeps your price flat, the other roughly triples it when the first term ends. Here is how they compare on cost, features, support and refunds.
Shopping during Black Friday? Hosting prices drop this month. Our Black Friday hosting deals page tracks the sales we have checked and what each one costs over three years.
Ultra Web Hosting vs HostGator at a glance
| Ultra Web Hosting | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price (36 months) | $3.95/mo | $3.75/mo |
| Entry plan renewal | $3.95/mo | $10.99/mo |
| Sites on entry plan | 1 | Up to 10 |
| Storage | 50 GB NVMe on every plan | 10 to 100 GB SSD, by plan |
| Backups | Daily, 30 days of restore points | Weekly courtesy backups |
| Migration | Free, done by Ultra staff | Free self-serve tool, or paid migration |
| Malware protection | Imunify360 on top plan only | Scanning and firewall on every plan |
| Money-back guarantee | 45 days | 30 days |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.9% | 99% |
| Phone support | All plans | Baby plan and up |
| Ownership | Independent, owns its servers | Newfold Digital, which also owns Bluehost |
Prices and renewals
Both hosts quote their lowest prices on a 36-month term. The table shows what you pay in that first term and what each plan costs after it.
| Ultra Web Hosting plan | First 3 years | After | HostGator plan | First 3 years | After |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra 1x (1 site, 50 GB) | $3.95/mo | $3.95/mo | Hatchling (10 sites, 10 GB) | $3.75/mo | $10.99/mo |
| Ultra Unlimited (unlimited sites, 50 GB) | $6.95/mo | $6.95/mo | Baby (20 sites, 20 GB) | $4.50/mo | $16.49/mo |
| Ultra Unlimited Pro (unlimited sites, 50 GB) | $9.95/mo | $9.95/mo | Business (50 sites, 50 GB) | $6.25/mo | $21.99/mo |
| Pro (100 sites, 100 GB) | $13.95/mo | $29.69/mo |
Over six years, assuming today’s prices hold, the gap is large:
- Entry plans: Ultra 1x costs about $284. HostGator Hatchling costs about $531.
- Second tier: Ultra Unlimited costs about $500. HostGator Baby costs about $756.
- Third tier: Ultra Unlimited Pro costs about $716. HostGator Business costs about $1,017.
HostGator is cheaper for the first three years on every plan. If you plan to move hosts before your first renewal, that matters. If you plan to stay, Ultra wins by year four. Billed monthly, Ultra’s plans cost $6.95, $9.95 and $12.95. For more on how renewals work across hosts, see our web hosting renewal prices guide.
Features
Both give you cPanel, free SSL, Cloudflare CDN, one-click WordPress installs, unmetered bandwidth and a free domain for the first year on longer plans. The differences:
- Backups: Ultra runs daily backups with 30 days of restore points you can use yourself. HostGator describes its backups as weekly and a courtesy, so keep your own copies.
- Storage and site limits: HostGator scales storage with the plan, up to 100 GB, and its entry plan allows 10 sites. Ultra gives every plan 50 GB, and its entry plan allows one site.
- Security: HostGator includes malware scanning, malware removal and a web application firewall on every plan. Ultra includes Imunify360 only on Ultra Unlimited Pro.
- WordPress extras: HostGator includes a staging site and managed WordPress updates. Ultra includes WP Toolkit, Redis object caching and an AI coding assistant built into cPanel.
Servers and reliability
Ultra owns its servers and runs them from its own datacenter, using CloudLinux, LiteSpeed and NVMe storage, and guarantees 99.9% uptime. HostGator uses SSD storage with NGINX caching and Cloudflare with Argo routing, and guarantees 99% uptime. That one-point gap allows about three days of extra downtime a year on paper.
We have not run our own speed tests on either host yet, so treat both companies’ speed claims as claims.
Support and refunds
Ultra offers 24/7 live chat, tickets and phone support on every plan and says its average first reply is 12 minutes, from US-based staff. HostGator offers 24/7 chat on every plan and adds phone support from the Baby plan up. Hatchling customers get chat only.
Ultra’s money-back window is 45 days and HostGator’s is 30. Both refund hosting fees only, not domain registrations.
Which should you choose?
Choose Ultra Web Hosting if you…
Ultra- plan to stay more than three years
- want daily backups without paying extra
- want someone to move your site for you
- want phone support on the cheapest plan
- prefer a small independent host
Choose HostGator if you…
HostGator- want the lowest first-term price
- need several sites on the entry plan
- want malware scanning on every plan
- need more than 50 GB of storage
- want a staging site built in
Still deciding? Read our full Ultra Web Hosting review or compare more options in best shared hosting.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ultra Web Hosting cheaper than HostGator?
Not at first. HostGator is slightly cheaper during the first 36-month term, but Ultra renews at its signup price while HostGator’s plans renew at roughly three to four times their intro price, so Ultra costs less from year four.
Does HostGator raise prices at renewal?
Yes. Hatchling renews at $10.99/mo, Baby at $16.49/mo, Business at $21.99/mo and Pro at $29.69/mo.
Which has better backups?
Ultra. It keeps daily backups for 30 days on every plan. HostGator offers weekly courtesy backups.
Who owns HostGator?
HostGator is owned by Newfold Digital, which also owns Bluehost. Ultra Web Hosting is independent.
Can I move from HostGator to Ultra Web Hosting?
Yes. Ultra migrates your site for free, and its 45-day money-back guarantee gives you time to test before your HostGator term ends.
Ultra Web Hosting wins for anyone staying past the first term. The price never jumps, backups are daily and support is on the phone from day one. HostGator is the pick if you need many sites or lots of storage now and don’t mind paying much more later.
