When it comes to domains, GoDaddy isn’t just a registrar: it’s the registrar. And while many people are aware of its cult status in this industry, only a few know that it’s also an equally amazing hosting provider. Considering the importance of choosing the right hosting service to build a solid website, we’ve decided to break down GoDaddy’s feature set and compare it to its rivals to help you make the right choice.
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Compare GoDaddy Review to The Best Web Hosting Services
GoDaddy got its start in 1997 when founder Bob Parsons decided to start a company. He wanted the name “Big Daddy” but found that the domain was taken, so he opted for GoDaddy instead. What really sealed this company’s fate as a major player in the domain industry was its contract with the National Science Foundation, which cemented GoDaddy as the sole domain registrar until 1998 when the creation of ICANN allowed competition. By 2004, GoDaddy was the largest domain registrar and has been ever since.
GoDaddy is well known for its domain registration services, but we are here to talk about GoDaddy for web hosting. Although it is not the most well-known web hosting provider out there, it is still a name that people know and trusts, so we deem it worthy of us reviewing and worthy of you considering for your website.
If you’re looking to create a website quickly and hassle-free, GoDaddy may be the answer for you. While their hosting and WordPress plans are affordable, there are other web hosting providers that offer lower prices.
GoDaddy is fine, but people who buy web hosting can afford to be picky. We’ve spent time researching, testing and analyzing the top web hosting providers to find the best in the industry. Here’s what we found:
The most reliable web hosting for European and Asian audiences
Although GoDaddy didn’t make it into our list of the best web hosting providers, it has some advantages that may suit your specific needs. Because one thing is certain when it comes to websites and hosting: everyone has their own wants and needs.
To learn more about the web hosting providers we recommend, check out all of our top picks here.
Because we don’t live in a perfect world, some cons come with the pros. And that’s the case with GoDaddy and any other web hosting provider. The key is to find the right provider whose pros outweigh the cons for you.
To determine if GoDaddy is right for you, here are the things we love about it, and the things you should be wary of.
The Good 👍
One-click application installation: If you don’t want to waste time installing a bunch of applications on your website, you don’t have to with GoDaddy. They offer one-click installation for a number of different applications, including WordPress. This is ideal for those who are new to building websites, but still want to try out web design on their own. It is also ideal for those who are ready to get a site up and running as quickly as possible and don’t have the time or desire to spend time fiddling with application configuration.
Easy to use:GoDaddy is a great hosting provider for those who are new to the world of websites. The builder available through GoDaddy does all the hard work for you and allows you to simply choose what you want your website to look like by choosing from a variety of templates. The only downside to the ease of use is that you don’t have as much room for creativity as with other providers. However, if you’re new to creating websites and don’t want to spend a lot of time and energy creating something elaborate, GoDaddy’s ease of use will be especially advantageous to you.
Incredibly responsive customer service: Getting someone on the phone is not as easy as it used to be. It feels like everything is automated and you’re constantly being put through bots until you lose patience and end up hanging up. This is not the case with GoDaddy. While it is true that they use bots, they also have 24/7 phone and webchat support. And when you call, it doesn’t take 20-30 minutes to speak to a real person. In fact, users have reported that it typically takes less than 2 minutes to talk to a real person on the phone. Now that seems unheard of. The same is true when you decide to use the chat. The reps may be busy at first, but wait a few minutes and you’ll have someone to help you.
Solid video guides: If you have a question or problem and don’t want to ask GoDaddy’s help desk for help, try their video guides. The How-To section of GoDaddy’s website is unlike that of any other hosting provider. They have playlists of video guides to help you plan your online presence, set up your email, marketing basics and much more. You will find this extensive resource useful for more than just troubleshooting problems you may have. This is a place for you to take your website and the concept behind it to new levels.
Fast load time: Load time is a very important piece of the website puzzle, and your site won’t work well if it doesn’t load fast. Because news flash: No one wants to sit around waiting for a website to load. It’s 2022 and we want things to happen now (well, as close to now as possible). Luckily, GoDaddy’s load time is 171.1 ms on average, which means they’re super-fast.
Multiple data centers: The more data centers a hosting provider has, the faster their speeds will be. GoDaddy has three data centers: Europe, USA and Asia, so it has fast upload speeds that cover most of the world. However, there are locations further away from those data centers that cause the speed to drop a bit, but GoDaddy is planning to open another data center in India that may help reduce the atypically low numbers.
Freebies: Whoever said there’s nothing free didn’t use GoDaddy’s hosting service. When you buy a shared web hosting plan, you get some great free features, including a domain, Office 365 email, webmail, 125+ apps and more.
However, the biggest one is the domain. Since GoDaddy is known for its domain registration, it’s smart of them to give a free domain to someone who buys their hosting. Otherwise, domain names can cost anywhere from $5 to $5,000 a year, so a free one always comes in handy. However, keep in mind that the domain is free for the first year only. After that, you will be charged the normal annual price.
Limited Basic Plan: GoDaddy’s basic plan is just that: basic. It doesn’t offer anything that will blow you away and doesn’t include many special features or bonuses. It’s a good starting point for potentially scaling your website, but at first, it doesn’t offer anything that competitors don’t offer. And it doesn’t come at as low a price as many other basic web hosting plans offered by others like Hostinger.
Loaded With Upsells: While there are some freebies included with the hosting plans, where GoDaddy gets you is with the upsells. A lot of features are available when you use GoDaddy for your hosting, but most of them come at a price. You may be overwhelmed by the checkout process that tries to sell you all sorts of products and sometimes automatically adds some things to your cart. While these can be great additions, we’re not thrilled about them being added to your cart without your permission. Many people don’t even realize these additional charges until they’ve already made their purchase.
High renewal rates: While this is true with almost all hosting providers, GoDaddy seems to be one of the worst when comparing their introductory prices to prices after that first year.
GoDaddy Pricing and Options
GoDaddy, like other web hosting providers, offers several different plans to suit different needs. And, as you might expect, the lower tier plans limit what you can do with your hosting, but they are also low-priced and a good starting point.
GoDaddy Shared Hosting
GoDaddy’s shared plans are ideal for small websites and new sites that are just starting out. They are a great value because you share server resources with other websites, hence the name “shared”.
This means it is not as powerful as other hosting tiers. But it’s a cost-effective option for personal sites, low-traffic blogs, and even business sites with just a few pages.
Here are GoDaddy’s shared hosting packages:
Maximum. The Maximo plan is the highest level in GoDaddy’s shared tier. Starting at $17.99 per month, this plan is designed for sites that need to support high-quality photos and videos. With support for up to 50 sites, 100 GB of storage, and 100 databases, there’s plenty of room to grow.
Deluxe. The Deluxe package is designed for beginners who need a hosting solution for multiple websites. It comes with everything included in the Economy plan, but supports up to ten websites and has double the storage capacity – all for just $2 more per month.
Ultimate. Starting at $12.99 per month, the Ultimate plan is designed for sites with a lot of traffic. You’ll benefit from increased processing power, support for up to 25 sites, 75 GB of storage and 50 databases.
Maximum. The Maximo plan is the highest level in GoDaddy’s shared tier. Starting at $17.99 per month, this plan is designed for sites that need to support high quality photos and videos. With support for up to 50 sites, 100 GB of storage and 100 databases, there’s plenty of room to grow.
For beginners, WordPress can be your best ally. It will make hosting and building your website much easier and a much smoother process. You don’t need to learn any coding to use WordPress, although you can if you want to further customize your site.
Basic. For a small site just starting out, the Basic plan is all you need. This level includes two free Microsoft 365 mailboxes for the first year, a free SSL certificate for as long as you use GoDaddy for your hosting plan, and 20 GB of storage. The starting price is $8.99/month.
Deluxe: Is the Basic plan too basic? Try the Deluxe plan which gives you help boosting your SEO, 40 GB of storage, three free Microsoft 365 mailboxes for the first year and everything from the Basic level. This package starts at $11.99/month.
Ultimate. If you don’t want the number of visitors to your site to be limited, the Ultimate plan will give you just that: unlimited visitors. It will also give you 60 GB of storage, five free Microsoft 365 mailboxes for the first year, and everything in the Deluxe tier for $18.99/month.
E-commerce. For someone looking to sell on their website, the Ecommerce plan is great. It gives you the features of the Ultimate plan, but with ecommerce bonuses, such as unlimited product listings and real-time shipping rate calculations. Plus, it has 80 GB of storage. This plan costs $20.99/month.
If you want multiple WordPress websites, GoDaddy’s Pro tier is worth exploring.
Launch. For the basics on multiple websites, GoDaddy’s Launch package is a good place to start. It gives you all kinds of features to help you get your business up and running and is priced at $19.99/month.
Upgrade. If you expect your website to get a lot of traffic, then Enhance is what you need. This plan gives you more storage and RAM and starts at $34.99/month.
Grow. For those who want e-commerce to be a part of their website, the Grow plan may be the right fit. It supports e-commerce sites like Magento and starts at $44.99/month.
Expand. If photography will be an important part of your website or other resources, then Expand is worth considering. It offers 150 GB of storage, 8 GB of RAM and 4 CPUs, plus much more. Pricing starts at $59.99/month.
A VPS hosted website will see much faster speeds and performance thanks to the fact that there are servers allocated specifically for your website, and your website only. Therefore, if you are looking for a fast website that generally runs better, VPS hosting may be for you.
The higher you go on each VPS hosting plan, the more memory and storage space you get. The 4 vCPU plan is twice as powerful and twice as fast as the 3 vCPU plan.
Although this type of hosting is the most expensive, it also offers the most power and control. If you are a small website or are new to building a site, you don’t need to spend this kind of money on hosting. If you are a larger website that needs the control and flexibility of your server, this is for you.
Dedicated server hosting is perfect for those who have traffic volumes that will exceed the limitations of the VPS plan.
Each of the different dedicated hosting plans offers more storage and RAM than the previous plans, with DS-256 maxing out at 256 GB of RAM. This plan is intended for enterprise-level businesses and costs $419.99 per month.
It’s likely that GoDaddy’s hosting plans will work for you, but it’s also possible that others will work better. Considering that the service doesn’t offer as many features as other hosting providers, it may not provide you with the same level of satisfaction and value that you might get elsewhere on our list of best web hosting services.
GoDaddy is just one of many hosting services. It does not appear on our list of the best web hosting services, which features eight other providers that, in our opinion, excel in certain areas.
How trustworthy is GoDaddy?
GoDaddy is one of the most reliable and trustworthy names in the world of web hosting and domain registration. Over 21 million customers worldwide have used GoDaddy’s services, and there are tens of thousands of verified reviews from satisfied customers written on trusted review sites.
Overall, GoDaddy is definitely a safe place to get a domain name and host your website. They take privacy very seriously, and there are tons of free privacy and protection services that come standard with your purchase.
Is GoDaddy good for domain names?
GoDaddy is ideal for domain name registration. It is the largest domain registration site on the market, and it is a great option for both single domain names and bulk domain registration. Whenever you register a domain with GoDaddy, free WHOIS protection and domain privacy is included. You can also add additional protection services, such as two-factor authentication for transfers and changes, and the ability to hold your domain for 90 days if your credit card expires at renewal time.
For alternatives to GoDaddy, check out our list of the best domain registrars.
Why is GoDaddy so expensive?
GoDaddy is expensive compared to other web hosts and domain registrars because of its brand name. People recognize GoDaddy as a reliable and trustworthy provider, so they are willing to pay much more than for a lesser known service.
GoDaddy also seems more expensive because it offers low upfront fees that almost double at renewal time. In some cases, GoDaddy even charges for things that other providers include for free. For example, the basic web hosting plan includes a free SSL certificate for one year, but then costs $99 for each subsequent year. Other web hosting providers offer a free SSL certificate indefinitely with all hosting plans.
Does GoDaddy have any special promotions?
The best special promotion GoDaddy offers is a .com domain name for $0.01 for one year. They also offer web hosting packages at a discount of up to 42% off the regular price if you sign a three-year contract. Start claiming your special offer now.
Henry Sprung is an e-commerce tech blogger with several years of experience in online retail. Alex’s blog focuses on topics such as online marketplaces, payment processing, and digital marketing for e-commerce businesses. Henry’s expertise in e-commerce provides valuable insights into the latest trends in online retail and how businesses can use these platforms to grow their sales. He is a valuable resource for online retailers and entrepreneurs looking to start their own e-commerce businesses.
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