I was reading a comparison review and the author favored Hostgator because it used cPanel and had better customer service. They said GoDaddy was better for domain registration though.

What are your thoughts?

I have used and trust GoDaddy for domain registration and I do have a personal account with Hostgator and have never had problems with either.

Well, I would definitely attest to the fact that Godaddy's shared hosting is not close to Hostgator's, especially in terms of server performance (2-4 times slower). Then again, there is a bit of a price differential. If the trade-off is worth it or not, is, at the end of the day, a personal decision.

Why do you keep a web hosting account with another hosting provider... to check how do they provide Shared hosting services...?

Dont we all ? Unlimited offers are my pet hate thus I see them as a challenge

As to the topic i would agree with the above, and also add that it is always advisable to seperate your domain registrar from your host, it can avoid complications in the future.

I guess that will remain my secret. I have accounts elsewhere, as well.

What complications can arise from having the same registrar and host? Does it make it more difficult to keep your domain if you change hosts?

I've seen horror stories of providers holding domains hostage if hosting somehow gets out of whack, e.g. billing issues. If you have your domain separate from the provider, it is so much easier to move, should you need to make that decision.

hostgater is good service.

I didn't have an account with Hostgator ,but once I found that it is quite inconvenient for me to ask for customer service.

None if you pick a decent supplier, in fact it can make life easier (support can be more straightforward if it's all together) and possibly cheaper (some hosts provide the domain for free).

It does however go seriously downhill when you start chasing unrealistically silly prices, pick a complete muppet of a host, or get scamed by someone who registers the domain in their name instead of yours.

I will always prefer GoDaddy because of the prices and the customer service. A couple weeks ago I bought another domain under them. A day later, one of their reps called and asked if he could do anything to help make my experience with them better. It was odd because I'd never gotten a call like that before, but refreshing too. He wanted to know what type of site I was building and seemed genuinely interested in what I was trying to make.

Now Hostgator, I know nothing about. I may try them out and see how it goes later on.

I've read many negative reviews about GoDaddy's hosting lately. I'd recommend that you stick with Host Gator (or another provider) for your hosting needs

I like GoDaddy, they always have great prices on their domains. This is where we register our domains. I have used Hostgator in the past but would still prefer Godaddy or my own

I will have to agree on your finding. Godaddy hosting is a little confusing to work but the domain manager is great. As for HostGator they are great with support issues but need to work on their customer service a bit, a little rude sometimes.