# HostGator > Shared and WordPress hosting with malware scanning and a free domain HostGator sells shared web hosting in Hatchling, Baby, Business and Pro plans, plus WordPress, VPS, dedicated and reseller hosting. Shared plans include a first-year domain, a free SSL certificate, malware scanning, WordPress staging and managed updates, and its website builder now runs on Bluehost's. - **Category:** Web Hosting - **Made by:** HostGator.com LLC - **Website:** https://www.hostgator.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026 ## Pricing HostGator's current pricing could not be confirmed from its own site. ## Key features - **Malware scanning and removal:** Every shared plan scans for malware, and the Baby, Business and Pro plans add AI-powered malware detection and removal, alongside a firewall and DDoS protection. - **WordPress tools:** Shared plans include managed WordPress updates, a staging site for testing changes, a free site migration tool and the Yoast SEO plugin. - **Domain and SSL:** Plans include a domain free for the first year and a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate. Business and Pro add a year of domain privacy. - **Creative Mail email marketing:** Plans come with Creative Mail for sending email campaigns from WordPress, and a free trial of Professional Email at your domain. - **Room to move up:** WordPress, VPS, dedicated and reseller hosting are sold alongside the shared plans, so a growing site can change plans without changing host. ## Good for - Small business and personal sites starting on shared hosting - WordPress owners who want staging and managed updates on a budget plan ## Worth knowing - HostGator's pages answered our readers with a bot check, and the plan cards fill in their prices by script, so its prices are not listed here. - Discounts apply to the first invoice only, and plans renew automatically at the regular rate shown in the control panel. - The 30-day money-back guarantee excludes renewals, monthly-term services, domain fees and add-ons, and a fee is charged to keep a free domain if you cancel. - Email at your domain is a Professional Email free trial that renews automatically at the regular rate once the first billing cycle ends. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 1.6 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. HostGator is classic budget shared hosting, with WordPress staging and managed updates on every shared plan and a first-year domain. We couldn't read its prices, as its pages answered our reader with a bot check. Email is a trial that bills once the first cycle ends, and malware removal waits for Baby and up. - **Value for money: C.** No price on record: HostGator's pages answered our reader with a bot check and fill their prices in by script, so no two-year figure can be worked out. With nothing to compare, it sits at C. Discounts cover the first invoice only. - **Free plan and trial: F.** No free plan and no trial. The 30-day money-back guarantee leaves out monthly terms, renewals and domain fees, and it isn't a trial anyway. - **Features: C.** Managed WordPress updates, staging, a migration tool, Yoast SEO, malware scanning and a first-year domain. The gaps the listing names: AI malware removal starts on Baby, and email at your domain is a trial that renews at the regular rate. - **Ease of use: C.** No app store rating to go on. Staging and managed updates help, but you're still setting up a domain, email and the site yourself. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** A web dashboard only. The named integrations are WordPress, WooCommerce, Yoast SEO and Google Workspace, and no API is on record. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from HostGator's own pages on 17 October 2026. Its web hosting page answered our reader with a bot check when we checked it again that day. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among web hosts - HostGator's GPA of 1.6 is higher than 0 of the 21 other web hosts we grade, and level with 3. - It stands best on value for money (C, above 1 of 21) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/web-hosting ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace HostGator you would be making an engine that recognises new malware as it appears. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 18 of the 21 other web hosts grade higher. - You could not: An engine that recognises new malware as it appears. - You could not: Servers kept running, patched and backed up for you. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with WordPress, WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, Google Workspace **Tags:** Malware protection, Managed WordPress ## Alternatives - [Bluehost](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bluehost): WordPress-focused shared hosting sold on multi-year terms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bluehost-vs-hostgator) - [Hostinger](https://toolgpa.com/tools/hostinger): Shared, WordPress and cloud hosting run from its own hPanel dashboard. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hostgator-vs-hostinger) - [Namecheap](https://toolgpa.com/tools/namecheap): Domain registrar's cPanel shared hosting, billed monthly or yearly. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hostgator-vs-namecheap) - [DreamHost](https://toolgpa.com/tools/dreamhost): Independent shared and WordPress host with monthly or multi-year terms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/dreamhost-vs-hostgator) - [IONOS](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ionos): Shared and WordPress hosting with a domain, wildcard SSL and email. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/hostgator-vs-ionos) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026: - https://www.hostgator.com/web-hosting - https://www.hostgator.com/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/hostgator Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).