My review of GoDaddy web hosting
GoDaddy is one of the most recognized names in the web hosting industry.
Mainly because of some scandalous advertisements
Despite what one might think of their ads, the company offers exceptional services. GoDaddy has millions of customers worldwide.
They offer a variety of services ranging from website creators and professional email to domain registration and web hosting.
Normally $8.99 per month
24/7/365 US-based Support
Free domain and 1 year of email
Guaranteed uptime of 99.9%.
Get a 33% discount.
But some of you may want to see if it's really that great. I have taken the time to delve into everything you need to know about GoDaddy as a web hosting provider.
This review covers all GoDaddy hosting plans, as well as the pros and cons of using GoDaddy for web hosting
By the end of this guide, you will be able to decide with knowledge whether GoDaddy is the best hosting provider for your website.
The benefits of using GoDaddy web hosting
A high availability rate
The uptime is always the first thing you should look for when evaluating a web hosting provider. This is the duration your website is operational for visitors.
If your plan is not able to ensure good uptime, you'd better start looking elsewhere.
One of the reasons why GoDaddy has been so successful over the years is that their uptime is truly outstanding. You can expect an average availability rate of 99.9% throughout the year.
Of course, a few months may be below average, but you can even add some availability rates of 100%.
I recently saw a test that revealed that GoDaddy's average monthly downtime is about 13 minutes. This is hardly enough to have a major impact on your website.
Fast loading speed
In general, page loading speed is not typically associated with cheap web hosting plans. So it may be surprising to learn that GoDaddy has exceptional page loading times.
As you can see on the chart, GoDaddy has faster average loading times than some recognizable names in the industry.
But that being said, this graph was pulled directly from the GoDaddy website. So I am sure they intentionally left out some competitors with faster times.
Are they the fastest web hosting provider on the market? No.
However, I am confident that you will be satisfied with the speed of your website, regardless of the plan you choose. It is clear that choosing a higher plan will save you time.
Easy installation of applications
As I explained previously, GoDaddy also has its own website builder with a drag-and-drop feature.
For those of you looking for a little more than that, you can easily install over 125 applications in just one click. This includes content management platforms like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
You will also have access to development tools such as MySQL, cPanel, Python, and several versions of PHP.
In short, GoDaddy's application installations meet the needs of a beginner blogger, a tech-savvy webmaster, and anyone in between.
Price
The entry-level prices of GoDaddy were not low enough to make it onto my list of the best cheap web hosting providers. However, their rates are quite competitive.
With plans starting at just $5.99 per month, GoDaddy is very affordable. Even if you choose their highest shared hosting plan, it is less than $240 per year.
It's rather good, considering the significant operating time and fast page loading rates that we just talked about.
For those of you who are price sensitive, GoDaddy remains a viable option.
Other considerations
GoDaddy offers many interesting features to customers. Their plans are an excellent option for many websites.
But that doesn't mean they are perfect. You will need to consider these potential drawbacks before finalizing anything.
Increase in sales and rise in renewal rates
One of the reasons GoDaddy has such affordable prices is because they have subjected you to price increases along the way. This means you can add different "extras" for additional fees.
So, at first glance, the price is not exactly what it seems to be.
These are just a few examples of features for which you will have to pay an additional fee. But I will come back to this in more detail in a moment.
In order to benefit from the lowest possible monthly rate, you must commit to a 36-month contract. Some of you may not be ready to commit for this duration.
Once your plan is renewed, you can expect to pay higher rates than those you originally subscribed to. Although this is very common in the web hosting industry.
In fact, GoDaddy's price increases are not as high as those of some other providers in the market. Additionally, some of their plans (like the Pro 5+ WordPress plan and all VPS plans) renew at the same rate as the one you subscribed to. So, this is a positive point.
Basic features not included
To come back to our last point, GoDaddy has a lot of upselling because some basic features are not included in its plans.
Most hosting providers include a free SSL certificate, even in their basic plans. Other providers typically offer free backups and security with each plan, but not GoDaddy.
Here again, you can buy them separately or upgrade to a more expensive package, which is probably more beneficial.
GoDaddy also does not offer free site migrations. This service tends to be implemented randomly with other providers. However, in general, it is free with certain plans. It is also worth noting that site migrations can take up to 10 days. So you are not only paying for a slow service, but also for a slow service.
Customer Support
Customer support is an essential feature of web hosting. If you have a question or a problem, it's good to know that you can contact someone.
GoDaddy advertises 24/7 support for its projects, but overall, it is quite disappointing.
I am not going to sit here and hit them. I just went on their site now to talk to a live chat agent and I was connected almost immediately. So it's not so bad.
That being said, review websites and customer forums are filled with complaints related to GoDaddy's support and customer service. While people are more likely to complain after a bad experience, the volume of complaints remains high.
Domain registration
It's funny, GoDaddy is mostly known for registering domains, not for its web hosting services.
But honestly, I wouldn't recommend GoDaddy as your domain registrar. You might be tempted to bundle it with your hosting plan, but you can find better options elsewhere.
To learn more, consult my guide to the best domain registration offices.
Compare GoDaddy web hosting plans
Website hosting comes in different shapes and sizes. GoDaddy offers a wide range of options to meet the needs of almost every website.
You can choose from a variety of hosting plans.
Shared hosting
WordPress Hosting
VPS Hosting
Hosting reseller
Dedicated hosting
They have plans for basic websites, blogs, small businesses, agencies, and everything in between. Let's take a closer look at each of these plan options.
Shared hosting
GoDaddy's shared hosting plans are very popular for new websites. Shared hosting is the most cost-effective way to host a website, making it ideal for those of you who are creating a site from scratch or have a smaller website.
Here is an overview of the common plan options.
As you can see, the prices are very attractive. A new website that does not expect too much traffic can be hosted for only 6 dollars per month.
In this perspective, I recommend the ultimate plan, at minimum, for the majority of you who are looking for shared hosting. This allows you to get value for your money in terms of resources, which will make it easier when your site grows and traffic increases.
All shared plans come with a free one-click installation of over 125 applications and 24/7 security monitoring.
You can always buy additional resources such as RAM and CPU with just one click from your admin dashboard. Speaking of which, the control panel is easy to use for everyone, no matter their web hosting experience.
WordPress Hosting
WordPress being the most popular CMS in the world, there is a strong chance that you are currently using it or considering using it for your website. If that's the case, the WordPress hosting plans offered by GoDaddy should be on your radar.
To be clear, WordPress plans are also shared web hosting. The only difference is that it comes with WordPress already installed.
GoDaddy also performs nightly backups of the site and automatically updates you with the latest version of WordPress if you choose one of these plans.
For these additional benefits, you will pay slightly higher prices than those of traditional shared hosting plans.
Basic - Starting at $6.99 per month (renewal at $9.99)
Luxurious - Starting from $9.99 per month (renewal at $14.99)
Ultimate - Starting at $12.99 per month (renewal at $19.99)
Professional five plus - Starting from $29.99 per month (renewal at the same rate)
WordPress plans also come with pre-built site templates and drag-and-drop page editors. This is a useful feature to have if you are creating a new website.
GoDaddy also has a 99.9% uptime guarantee for all WordPress hosting plans.
These plans can accommodate up to 400,000 visitors per month for a single site. With the exception of the basic plan, they all come with an integrated SEO assistant. All plans also include integrated registration forms.
VPS Hosting
GoDaddy offers managed and self-managed VPS hosting plans. Although self-managed options are only a fraction of the cost, they are only recommended for advanced users.
In this regard, let's examine GoDaddy's managed virtual private servers.
Contrary to some other plans we have seen, these reduced rates will be maintained when you renew your VPN plan.
With a virtual private server, you will benefit from increased speed and performance thanks to server resources allocated specifically for your website.
GoDaddy offers up to 4 CPU cores, 8GB of RAM, and 200GB of storage. But to benefit from this, you need to purchase their Expand package. The entry-level VPS Launch starts with 1 CPU core, 2GB of RAM, and 40GB of storage. As expected, the resources offered by the other plans fall between these two.
GoDaddy VPS is the best solution for those of you who have multiple websites or an e-commerce site. It is also common to use a GoDaddy VPS as a testing environment for websites and applications.
You can also use a GoDaddy VPS as an email or database server.
Keeping all of this in mind, it is worth mentioning that GoDaddy did not make it onto my most recent list of the best virtual private servers (VPS hosting). Although I do not have any specific issues with their VPS services, I simply think that you can do better elsewhere.
Dedicated servers
Do not be discouraged by the fact that I did not rank this company as high in terms of virtual private servers. GoDaddy was indeed part of my list of top dedicated hosting plans.
I like GoDaddy dedicated servers because of the prices. For those of you looking for a low-cost dedicated hosting plan, GoDaddy is an option to consider.
At first glance, these prices may not seem so attractive. But that is only if you compare them to shared hosting plans.
GoDaddy allows you to easily set up each hosting plan while providing you with tools for things like billing, payment options, and support ticket management.
Reseller Plans Pricing:
Improved - Starting from $39.99 per month
Cultivate- Starting from $49.99 per month
Develop- Starting from $64.99 per month
Created - Starting at $89.99 per month
All GoDaddy reseller plans come with a free integrated WHMCS license for up to 250 accounts.
Additionally, GoDaddy will allow you to sell additional products to your customers, such as other GoDaddy products as well as third-party products. This is a great way to offer a complete solution to your customers while increasing your margins.
Conclusion
Do we recommend GoDaddy for web hosting? Absolutely.
GoDaddy is one of the most well-known names in the industry, and they have millions of customers worldwide. If you don't agree with all of their marketing tactics, their web hosting products are solid.
You can choose from a variety of hosting plans.
Shared Hosting
WordPress Hosting
VPS Hosting
Hosting reseller
Dedicated hosting
Personally, I would say that the sharing, dedication, and resale options of GoDaddy are the best.
So if you are looking for a hosting provider, GoDaddy deserves to be on the list for all the advantages we have listed in this review. Just make sure to be aware of any potential drawbacks before making a final decision.