Hostgator totally CRAP - CONFIRMED

[Wilson Grant Fisk]

Hostgator have suspended my sites twice in the last 24 hours due to high CPU/Resource issues.
Total downtime approx 12 Hours. Loss on one of the sites at least $250
I have been sending some paid traffic(various sources) to one of the sites but it shouldn't have caused a problem.
Their support is now useless, they emailed to say they had suspended the sites but didn't respond to any follow up emails.
Took me a while to find they had used .htaccess to block access to the sites with the following added to the file:

#BEGIN HG BLOCK
# The following configuration has been set by your hosting provider,
# and has been put in place for the benefit of the server.
#
# Any modification or removal by non-authorized individuals may
# result in corrective action.
#
# If you have any questions you may contact your provider for information.
order deny,allow
allow from  # Administrative
allow from  # Administrative
allow from  # Administrative
allow from  # Administrative
allow from  # Administrative
allow from  # Administrative
allow from  # Administrative
allow from  # Administrative
allow from  # GTMetrix
allow from  # GTMetrix
allow from  # GTMetrix
allow from  # GTMetrix
allow from  # GTMetrix
allow from  # GTMetrix
allow from  # GTMetrix
allow from  # GTMetrix
allow from  # Last IP used to log in to cPanel.
allow from  # ManageWP.com
allow from  # ManageWP.com
allow from  # ManageWP.com
allow from  # .hostgator.com
deny from all
#END HG BLOCK

I have removed IP addresses from the above file.

So if you get your sites suspended, resolve any issues and then remove the above from your .htaccess file and your site should then be accessible.

Still not 100% sure what the issue was but think it may be related to WordPress Heartbeat and heavy admin-ajax.php usage as explained here:
http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/wordpress/heartbeat-heavy-admin-ajax-php-usage

I have always promoted HostGator in the past, even though I have been threatening to leave them for sometime because the number of outages over the past 2 years has increased but no more. Now totally sick of them and would advise people to change Hosts.

I am looking to move and I am considering http://www.hostwinds.com/ or http://www.inmotionhosting.com/ but would like some more opinions. Please share your recommendations.

 

[KHR]

Ohh, I never Faced any of problem by HostGator.

 

[ExpressFans]

I'm sorry to hear that mate. I would highly recommend you try http://www.nexcess.net/
You don't hear of them much but they're a pretty solid provider, and have a reasonable server sharing.

 

[fatboy]

Same with every host that EIG purchase mate - HG used to be okay until they got bought out. All EIG do is pack as many people as they can on less than decent hardware and hope for high amount of people buying up their better than true plans.

I have some spare hosting, if you want to sit on my server drop me a mail with what you are after and I will try to help you out.

FB

 

[BackY]

My advice: use DigitalOcean's wordpress ready OS, in combination with Varnish, Nginx and W3 Total Cache. I've seen some really good results, paying for a very low server.

 

[zburatorul]

I am currently using hostwinds and have no issues with them. I have around 2k visitors daily though so don't know about higher traffic performance.

 

[Zso]

Liquidweb the best hosting company I've been with.

 

[umerjutt00]

Mate try hostwinds business hosting. You get a dedicated IP, unlimited bandwidth and no bullshit CPU limit - All at the rate of shared hosting. I was facing the same issue with another host. ever since I moved to hostwinds, everything is smooth.

 

[Wilson Grant Fisk]

Ohh, I never Faced any of problem by HostGator.

You won't realise how bad they are UNTIL you have a problem.
WHEN you do have a problem you will find it a pain in the arse to get through to support.

Even when they have their outages, I can sort of live with for the odd hour or two but to suspend sites without any real help or explanation sucks.

It took over 12 hours for them to respond to me, THAT IS out of order for a company that size.

 

[Nut-Nights]

Go for liquid web I think they are best.

 

[BuildMoreLinks]

Liquid Web and Media Temple are seriously awesome, I never regret moving my sites from HG.

 

[blisad]

Just use hostwinds have been using them for the last 3 years never had any issues and they are quick to resolve issues

 

[krishparmar83]

I am now using mediatemple.net and never had any problem with them.

 

[owaiswiz]

Roger that....

TrafficPlanet's hosting are also great.They're bit expensive but are worth it.Give them a shot.I think the best plan is like $30 a month,not sure though.I think they're currrently Wordpress Only. HostWinds are great too but I would recommend Traffic Planet if you have wordpress

 

[hardcorebiker]

All these hosts which offer large commissions are crap: Bluehost, Hostgator, Inmotion, Netfirms just stay away from them. Go for Hostwinds, HawkHost or Digital Ocean.

 

[manking]

Hostgator is crap. So what else is new

 

[Aty]

Your thread title made me laugh. I recommend either Servinio or Hostwinds. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[tompots]

Moving my sites from HG was the best decision I ever made. In there hay day they were great, but that time has come and gone.

 

[kacsa1337]

OP, im disappointed. I thought you are the one who knows: you get what you pay for. On cheap host like hostgator and any other who offer hosting under 10/ month you will get almost zero support and right to modify the server files to make your site run better. You will have only one option at the end. Pay them more for VPS, etc.
If you can afford(and i assume you can) go for dedicated servers. Quality ones starting from 100 /month and you will not regret it.

p.s.: Last time google bot made my site suspended.) YAY cheap hosting companies.

 

[gdon9]

+1 for LiquidWeb. You get what you pay for truly. I pay $15 per month to LiquidWeb and get the highest value a hosting company can offer .