Gator Website Builder Review: A Friendly, Basic Builder

Gator, which is a part of the web hosting platform HostGator, is an affordable website builder ideal for creating simple websites with a template. It was listed as one of our top 10 website builders of 2024. The website builder is easy to use and comes with a drag-and-drop editor to make the process of building a website seamless and intuitive. There are two editor options: Traditional and Express. The first one comes with a list of templates, and the second one offers an even easier solution by building a template automatically based on your website category. Both of these options are available in Gator’s website builder packages.

Gator offers three different tiers for their subscription: Express Start, Express Site and Express Store. Here’s how the price breaks down for each plan:

Express Start

• Introductory offer: $3.84 per month for the first two years (billed $92.16)
• $9.98 per month for the month-by-month plan
• $9.22 per month for the annual plan (billed $110.64)
• $7.78 per month for the 2-year plan (billed $186.72)

Express Site

• Introductory offer: $5.99 per month for the first two years (billed $143.76)
• $12.98 per month for the month-by-month plan
• $12.29 per month for the annual plan (billed $147.48)
• $11.98 per month for the 2-year plan (billed $287.52)

Express Store

• Introductory offer: $9.22 per month for the first two years (billed $221.28)
• $24.98 per month for the month-by-month plan
• $19.98 per month for the annual plan (billed $239.76)
• $18.45 per month for the 2-year plan (billed $442.80)

The Express Start plan comes with a free domain for the first 12 months, an SSL certificate, three email campaigns per month and a three-product online store. The Express Site offers a slight upgrade with five email campaigns per month, a ten-product online store, an appointment booking system and priority support. The Express Store offers ten email campaigns per month, an unlimited product online store and no transaction fees for an e-commerce store (the first two plans charge a 3% transaction fee).

The Gator Builder offers predesigned templates based on the type of website you’re looking to build. This makes putting together a website fast without requiring a learning curve. On the downside, it means there are fewer options to customize your website.

The Gator Builder charges a 3% transaction fee for e-commerce stores for both the Express Start plan and the Express Site plan. Customers who purchase the Express Store plan, on the other hand, are not subject to this fee. Keep in mind that the Start plan comes with a three-product limit, and the Site plan has a ten-product limit, which may make these choices less than ideal for larger stores.

Gator Builder compares favorably with other popular website builders like GoDaddy and Squarespace. Gator is the most affordable option of the three. However, it’s also the most simple. It comes with 50+ templates, while Squarespace and GoDaddy come with over 100. Gator offers a longer money-back guarantee window of 45 days, while the other two offer a return period of 30 days and 14 days.

If you’re looking to build a website quickly and are not prioritizing customization options, then Gator Builder is a great choice.