The most valuable part for a hoster is its control panel. If a hoster can not provide you with control panel, you’d better say”Bye”. We know Hostgator and Ipage both are one of the world’s top 10 largest web hosting companies which could provide environment friendly green web hosting services and powerful control panel. Here, I am going to talking about the difference between these two according to the plan what I am using.
First of all, I am going to talk about something that they have in common. Hostgator and Ipage both are easy and quick to register, setup and activate. They are also easy to connect your domain with web hoster. Both of them include unlimited disk space, bandwidth, unlimited domain,unlimited email. You can manage all your domains in one hoster. It is convenient. If you need help, you could contact the assistance by Live-Chat 24*7. They are professional and pretty well.
Second, How to login to cpanel ? For Ipage, you could login easily from Ipage home page on the topright. But for Hostgator, if you are the first time to use it, probably you are confused. Because you can not find login menu from the home page.You could login from http://www.yourdomainname.com/cpanel In this point, I more like Ipage, you could find more useful information from its menu. But Hostgator has more promotion information.
Third, How to manage your email? Ipage control panel provides unlimited email and webmail. But I could not find autoresponder and mailing list tool there . Hostgator cpanel has more choices and functions. Most useful tools are Email accounts, webmail, Forwarder and autoresponder. We all know ”Money is in the List”, so setup autoresponder and mailing list is very important for your business.
Fourth, How to setup domains or subdomains? Through Ipage control panel, under website, you only could register , transfer or add domains. No options for subdomain and redirects. Through Hostgator cpanel, under domains, it clearly lists subdomains, addon domains, parked domains, redirects domains. It is easy to operate.
Fifth, How to chose software to install and build your website? They both provides widely used WordPress software. Except this, In Ipage control panel, under website , you could find Weebly Drag and Drop Builder, Website creator by CM4all, Frontpage extentions. I used Weebly Drag and Drop Builder to help my friend to setup his website, it is easy to use, but the maximum pages I could set up is 6, otherwise you have to pay extra money to get more service. For ecommerce software is same as weebly Drag and Drop builder. Compared with Ipage, Hostgator cpanel provides more varieties of softwares and templates. The free Site Builder will allow you to easily create a professional looking website within minutes. It also provides ecommerce shopping software . You could use it to set up unlimited website. How Cool it is! I am personally interested in ecommerce shopping software. Online shopping is more and more popular, it is a trend in the long run.
Sixth, How to do the traffic report for your website? In Ipage cpanel, you could chose “visitor statistics “to automatically analyze your site’s raw visitor log files and display them in a summary form. While, In Hostgator cpanel, under logs, Awstats provides detailed traffic report to your website, including how many people visit your website, how long do they stay on your website, which page is more attractive, where are they from. By analyzing information, you could know how to improve your website to increase traffic and business. I think it is a useful tool.
Seventh, How to get tutorial? You could find Video tutorial under Preference in Hostgator cpanel , but the video is too short and simple, no detailed information. I prefer Ipage in this point. Go through Help center, you could browse hundreds of knowledgebase articles, you could get guidance to use Ipage web hosting account, you also could get dozens of tutorials to help you start with your site. You could find everything you need.
Eighth, How about the price? Ipage has special price, only $2.95 per month with anytime money back guarantee. Whlie, Hostgator is a little bit expensive than Ipage. It is about $7.99 for baby plan. The price depends on different plan which you chose.
In general, both of them are very good web hosting companies. Which one to choose, it depends on you. In my opinion, for the beginners, Ipage is a good choice, the function in Ipage control panel is enough and price is challengeable. If you want to be more professional, you could think about Hostagor.
Third, How to manage your email? Ipage control panel provides unlimited email and webmail. But I could not find autoresponder and mailing list tool there . Hostgator cpanel has more choices and functions. Most useful tools are Email accounts, webmail, Forwarder and autoresponder. We all know ”Money is in the List”, so setup autoresponder and mailing list is very important for your business.