Both are owned by Newfold Digital (formerly EIG). Both have aggressive upselling, similar pricing, and middling performance. The honest answer? Neither is our top pick. But if you're deciding between these two specifically, here's what we found.
Before we compare these two: both are owned by the same company, run on similar infrastructure, and have similar problems. If you're open to alternatives, Hostinger and InterServer outperform both at lower prices. That said, if you're committed to one of these two:
Pick Bluehost If
You want the WordPress.org recommendation, a smoother onboarding wizard, and slightly better performance. The marginally better choice.
Visit Bluehost →Pick HostGator If
You want a lower intro price, unmetered storage on all plans, and don't care about WordPress-specific features. Slightly cheaper upfront.
Visit HostGator →| Category | Bluehost | HostGator | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intro Price | $3.99/mo (36mo) | $3.75/mo (36mo) | HostGator |
| Renewal Price | $9.99/mo | $10.99/mo | Bluehost |
| Renewal Increase | 150% | 193% | Bluehost |
| Load Time | 1.35s | 1.55s | Bluehost |
| TTFB | 380ms | 410ms | Bluehost |
| Uptime (12mo) | 99.93% | 99.91% | Bluehost |
| Storage (Basic) | 10GB SSD | Unmetered | HostGator |
| Control Panel | Custom + cPanel | cPanel | Tie |
| WordPress Setup | Guided wizard | One-click install | Bluehost |
| Free SSL | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Free Backups | No ($2.99/mo) | No ($2/mo) | Neither |
| Support Channels | Chat + Phone | Chat + Phone | Tie |
| Support Quality | Adequate | Below average | Bluehost |
| Free Domain | Yes (1 year) | Yes (1 year) | Tie |
| Parent Company | Newfold Digital | Newfold Digital |
Bluehost edges ahead in performance and WordPress experience. HostGator wins on intro price and storage. The differences are small these are fundamentally similar products.
Both Bluehost and HostGator are owned by Newfold Digital (formerly Endurance International Group / EIG). This matters because:
They share infrastructure. Performance differences are marginal because the underlying servers are similar.
Cost-cutting is the business model. Newfold acquires hosting brands and optimizes for profit margins, not product quality.
Upselling is aggressive on both. Pre-checked add-ons at checkout, dashboard prompts, renewal price jumps.
Support quality has declined on both brands over the past 5 years. Former customers of both hosts report the same trend.
Neither invests in performance innovation. While SiteGround built SuperCacher and Hostinger adopted LiteSpeed, Newfold brands run standard Apache/Nginx setups.
This isn't speculation it's a pattern across every EIG/Newfold acquisition. HostGator was excellent before the 2012 acquisition. Bluehost was solid before EIG took over. Both have coasted on brand recognition since.
For comparison: Hostinger does 0.85s, SiteGround does 0.65s, InterServer does 0.95s. Both Newfold hosts are in the bottom tier of our testing. Bluehost is slightly faster, but "less slow" isn't a selling point.
We tested both. We'd use neither. Here's what we'd pick instead at every price point:
$2.50/mo, price locked forever. Faster than both Bluehost and HostGator. cPanel included.
$1.99/mo intro, $10.99 renewal (vs $12 for both Newfold hosts). Modern dashboard, LiteSpeed servers.
$2.99/mo intro, $17.99 renewal. Expensive but genuinely fast with excellent support.
Managed cloud hosting. Faster than any shared host. Worth it if your site earns money.
A local plumber running a 5-page service website on HostGator was paying $12.95/mo after renewal. His web designer suggested moving to Bluehost to "get better performance." Here's what happened: the migration took 3 hours, everything transferred cleanly, and the site now loaded in... exactly the same time. TTFB went from 740ms to 720ms. Functionally identical.
This is the dirty secret of the Bluehost vs HostGator comparison: both brands are owned by Newfold Digital (formerly Endurance International Group). They share infrastructure, data centers, and in many cases, the same physical servers. Moving from HostGator to Bluehost is like switching from Coke to Diet Coke and expecting a completely different drink.
The plumber ended up spending $49 on a "migration service" for what amounted to a lateral move. Six months later, he moved everything to Hostinger and actually saw a real difference — TTFB dropped to 380ms, and his monthly bill went from $12.95 to $3.99.
The lesson: if you're unhappy with HostGator or Bluehost, don't switch to the other one. Leave the EIG family entirely.
Newfold Digital owns both brands and runs them on shared infrastructure. The "comparison" between Bluehost and HostGator is largely a marketing exercise. Different dashboards, different branding, similar hardware. This is the elephant in the room that neither brand acknowledges. When you see affiliate sites recommending one over the other with dramatic performance differences, check the test methodology — genuine independent tests show negligible gaps.
Bluehost's primary competitive advantage is a WordPress.org recommendation that predates the EIG acquisition. It converts new users who Google "best WordPress hosting" and trust the WordPress.org endorsement. The hosting itself is adequate, but Bluehost invests more in marketing than in infrastructure improvement. The onboarding flow aggressively pushes paid add-ons before you even see your dashboard.
HostGator was genuinely good under founder Brent Oxley. After the 2012 acquisition, investment in infrastructure slowed. The cPanel-based shared hosting is functional but dated. Their primary appeal is familiarity — people who used HostGator in 2010 come back without shopping around. In 2026, that loyalty isn't rewarded with competitive pricing or performance.
If you must choose between these two: Bluehost. Better WordPress experience, slightly faster, and the onboarding is smoother. But we'd rather point you to InterServer (cheaper, faster, price-locked) or Hostinger (modern, fast, reasonable renewal). Both Newfold hosts are living on brand recognition from a decade ago.