GoDaddy Review 2024: Is This Hosting Service Worth Choosing?

I recently reviewed Bluehost here and got a couple of questions about how I see GoDaddy as compared to it. 

Well, that’s a good question!

So I have decided to put together a detailed review, not just in comparison with Bluehost but covering all the service aspects as well.

GoDaddy is an American Internet domain registrar and web hosting provider that offers different solutions for domain name registration, SSL security, website building, professional email, and a whole lot of other online applications.

It towers over most domain registration and web hosting service providers largely because it has been around since 1997. Also, the brand has expanded wildly over its 23-year run, acquiring industry competitors such as Outright, Mad Mimi, and Host Europe Group. It has also run advertisements in traditional media such as TV, newspapers, and even during the Super Bowl.

While it is nothing short of being a web hosting titan, there are still other worthy competitors in terms of pricing and service.

GoDaddy vs BlueHost

Both GoDaddy and BlueHost are recognized veterans in the web hosting industry – having been around for almost the same time as each other. BlueHost was founded in 1996 and GoDaddy a year later.

Shared Web Hosting Capabilities

Shared Web Hosting refers to the low-cost method where multiple sites are hosted in a single server, which makes it the most cost-effective option. But keep in mind that it is not intended for large websites with high online traffic. It is intended for small sites such as small and medium businesses and personal blogs.

Basically, in terms of quality of service, GoDaddy and BlueHost offer almost the same amount and quality of service for your money. You can expect reliable uptime, email hosting, and website building solutions. However, in their respective high-end plans, GoDaddy Ultimate against BlueHost Prime, GoDaddy has the upper hand.

GoDaddy gives you SSL certificates which tag your website as safe and allows you to establish secure and safe connections over the Internet. It also offers Premium DNS with twice the memory and processing power. 

Even better, GoDaddy comes with a free domain registration with any of their hosting plans if you pay a year in advance.

E-Commerce Hosting Pricing Plans

E-Commerce hosting is an increasing application of web hosting services, where they offer companies the necessary features involved in selling their products and services over the Internet. This includes the server to host the company’s web pages as well as the resources and capabilities to accept and process a variety of secure online payment terms.

Based on the table above, BlueHost is obviously the cheaper web hosting option. Unfortunately, more technical users might be left with a few questions as the CPU and RAM in each BlueHost plan is not included.

However, most industry experts and experienced users definitely recommend GoDaddy and Magento under the following circumstances:

1. Need a complete e-commerce platform with a large amount of web hosting resources
2. Require advanced security features for web hosting
3. Plan to put up a large store, expect large online traffic, with plans to even scale upwards more in the future.

GoDaddy vs BlueHost WordPress Hosting

In terms of website building, WordPress is among the most widely used platforms available. In fact, web hosting services like GoDaddy and BlueHost are just some of the companies that have designed their own plans for integrating with this content management system.

Opposite to E-Commerce hosting analysis, GoDaddy is advisable for hosting WordPress sites that might not need a lot of resources. For most applications such as blogs or small businesses, GoDaddy and WordPress can cover most of its user needs.

Consequently, this same relationship between these two companies extends to premium, high-end plans intended for large companies and web hosting professionals who are in expecting a larger amount of traffic and are in need of more resources and higher limits.

Relevant: Don’t forget to check the features that make WordPress great here!

GoDaddy over BlueHost

As I have illustrated in previous tables, GoDaddy offers more resources at face value compared to BlueHost. Even more, GoDaddy has excellent partnership plans for hosting your WordPress account.

BlueHost offers more cost-efficient solutions for users who are looking for less resource-intensive solutions. In fact, they take the lead in terms of being beginner-friendly since you can build your site and get in online with less effort.

On the other hand, GoDaddy excels in E-Commerce hosting and WordPress hosting. All plans include PHP7, multiple caching layers, and dynamic load balancing so you can expect increased traffic without the hassle. Also, they offer free SSL that keeps your transaction and communication secure and they also run periodic site monitoring and DDOS attack monitoring procedures.

GoDaddy vs Amazon Web Services (AWS)

I will honest, comparing GoDaddy with Amazon Web Services is quite difficult. While both are web hosting companies, they are fundamentally different in terms of complexity and target market. GoDaddy, having been around for a longer time compared to AWS which was launched in 2006.

Basically, GoDaddy is designed to cater to a wide variety of applications and the experience level of its users. One could say that it has simplified plans perfect for beginners in web hosting. AWS, on the other hand, is intended for developers and more experienced users.

GoDaddy vs AWS in Pricing

It is important to note first that Amazon Web Services does not have rigid-structured pricing plans compared to most traditional web hosting companies like GoDaddy.

✋ Stop worrying about SEO and have me do it for you

PS: Ready to work with the 0.01% of all SEOs worldwide? Click here.

The following table illustrates GoDaddy’s basic pricing plans.

Amazon Web Services, on the other hand, offers a pay-as-you-go method. You get to choose the resources and services you need from over 160 cloud services available. For beginners, the number of cloud services grouped into categories tends to be overwhelming. For experienced professionals, however, they can choose the exact services they need without incurring unnecessary expenses. It also allows the company to adjust its plans depending on the online traffic or business conditions.

Another advantage AWS has over GoDaddy is that AWS offers free hosting for the first year. Although this is a limited hosting solution, it allows beginners to experiment and try putting up their website without significant financial commitments.

GoDaddy vs AWS in Features

If we would break down the features between GoDaddy and AWS, we will end up with basically the same list. However, the main difference is in flexibility and presentation. To summarize, here are the features included in every GoDaddy pricing plan.

Basically, with every upgraded plan, you get all benefits from the preceding plan plus doubled capacity for processing speeds and memory. In Ultimate and Maximum plans, free SSL certificates are thrown in. On the other hand, AWS offers a setup experience similar to sandboxing where you get to choose all the features you need. In the AWS site, cloud features are classified into twenty-five sections, each containing anywhere from one to fifteen specific services you will need on your own website.

Uptime Differences

In terms of uptime, Amazon Web Services reach impressive uptimes of 100% a year. Meanwhile, GoDaddy averages at about 99.94%. This translates to less downtime for sites hosted by AWS compared to GoDaddy. While the 0.06% difference appears negligible, this can still spell several dollars in losses depending on the size and traffic of the site.

This discrepancy is due to the collective traffic in both web hosts. On average, AWS hosts some 3000 or so different websites every day while GoDaddy hosts nearly a million individual websites per day.

Relevant: You would like to read my guide on Best Amazon SEO practices

GoDaddy vs Kinsta

GoDaddy and BlueHost are independent web hosting services with integration plans for WordPress contents while AWS is, of course, operating under the Amazon banner. Kinsta is quite different in the sense that it is focused on hosting WordPress websites. It also sells the brand as a fully “managed” hosting platform like others but Kinsta focuses on arranging all management-related work for you.

Also, Kinsta runs on the Google Cloud Platform. Meaning, the infrastructure that will handle your WordPress content will be the same as the one used by all Google Services such as Gmail and Apps.

GoDaddy vs Kinsta in Pricing

In terms of pricing, GoDaddy has a variety of pricing schemes across five hosting options – shared, business, VPS, dedicated, WordPress hosting. GoDaddy’s WordPress hosting plans start at 2.99 USD a month while Kinsta’s basic plans start at 30USD per month. Of course, Kinsta’s basic plan comes with additional features and protection aside from the automated management of your WordPress. 

See the following breakdown of plans for both GoDaddy and Kinsta below.

GoDaddy has four pricing plans for WordPress hosting, often considered as among the cheapest plans available in the market today. It has the most resources to get your site up and running. For more details, you can check their WordPress hosting plans and features here.

Meanwhile, Kinsta has four tiers for its WordPress hosting plans: Starter, Pro, Business, and Enterprise. Business and Enterprise plans are further divided from Business 1 to 4 and Enterprise 1 to 4. While it starts way higher than GoDaddy, it is important to note that it uses the Google Cloud Platform and even its basic plans offer SSL certificates, allowing you to start with secure HTTP connections right off the bat. To get a more detailed rundown of Kinsta pricing plans, you can check their website.

GoDaddy vs Kinsta in Features

Kinsta emphasizes its focus on WordPress management by basically hosting and integrating only with WordPress. In contrast, GoDaddy is capable of integration with other platformers – open-source or otherwise – such as Drupal for content management and Magento for E-commerce applications.

However, Kinsta upstages GoDaddy in security-based features, mostly since it uses the same infrastructure as Google. Kinsta-hosted WordPress sites can be set for automatic daily backups and daily malware/ DDOS monitoring. Also, it offers SSL to all its users regardless of pricing plans available unlike GoDaddy.

For WordPress, Kinsta over GoDaddy

GoDaddy definitely beats Kinsta in terms of hosting flexibility and prices, since GoDaddy has been on the market longer and serves greater online traffic. However, for website owners planning to set up a WordPress-based website with a streamlined management process and are willing to invest a little more, Kinsta is definitely the better choice.

It should also be noted that Kinsta’s plans starting from Basic to Enterprise 4 are all designed for business owners, offering management services to reduce the owner’s load and allow them to focus on other aspects of management. For blogging purposes, GoDaddy is still the more advisable option because of its low pricing plans and larger resource limits.

GoDaddy vs WPEngine

Comparing GoDaddy with WPEngine has to be set on common grounds because like Kinsta, WPEngine is also a WordPress-only hosting service. In fact, WPEngine also came three years before Kinsta was founded in 2013.

While GoDaddy’s WordPress hosting is relatively new compared to its other hosting options, it is built on the resources and brand recognition GoDaddy has earned over the years. WPEngine stands its ground as a formidable company in the hosting industry with its recent acquisition of Flywheel, another hosting company and a competitor to the aforementioned brands.

GoDaddy against WPEngine in Pricing

GoDaddy’s prices for WordPress hosting are already in the table above. WPEngine’s prices also start out pretty high, at 30USD per month. However, compared to both GoDaddy and Kinsta, WPEngine sits squarely in between the two with plans rapidly increasing in resource limits across its three payment plans.

Also, for larger applications such as enterprises and mission-critical websites, WPEngine commits a high-performance environment dedicated to keeping your site up with the best resources and services available. Their custom plans require prior meetings and coordination with their sales representatives.

GoDaddy and WPEngine in Features and Support

Both GoDaddy and its WordPress-owned contemporary easily offer basic services for setting up your website. Where GoDaddy has become the standard for most web hosting companies, WPEngine builds upon these services and improves them.

Putting up WordPress websites is available in two of GoDaddy’s five subscription plans – for shared hosted and managed hosting options. However, as shown in the table above, shared hosting only allows the bare minimum for WordPress management. Also, WPEngine allows staging sites and gives free SSL certification for all of its payment plans while GoDaddy’s managed hosting plan only offers both on their higher-tier plans. On the upside, GoDaddy’s managed hosting plans are far more affordable compared to their WPEngine counterparts.

In terms of live chat, GoDaddy experiences downtime and this function might not always be available. This also depends on the hour of the day and your location. Unfortunately, a significant chunk of website managers usually works during the evenings which puts GoDaddy at a disadvantage.WPEngine is aware of this fact and maintains a strong 24/7 live chat support service.

GoDaddy vs WPEngine in terms of Speed and Uptime

GoDaddy was not the strongest competitor in terms of speed but in marketing reach, uptime, and flexibility. Over the years, it now has nine data centers scattered around the world and maintains decent Internet speeds, averaging 500 to 540 milliseconds over the previous year. While they have invested significant server infrastructure for both shared and dedicated hosting, it still has limited accessibility for premium DNS and SSL certification.

WPEngine, meanwhile, uses Content Delivery Network for most of its plans which shows its commitment for fast content transfer and delivery. Also, WPEngine employs the EverCache as its built-in caching system, which dramatically reduces the page-load time to speeds below 500ms. For non-users of WPEngine and its EverCache, the usual move for WordPress users looking to reduce page loading time for visitors, they can install third-party caching plugins such as the W3 Total Cache.

In terms of uptime, it might appear insignificant as the two brands are close together in this category. WPEngine maintains an average uptime of 99.99%. Meanwhile, GoDaddy also offers 99.99% uptime but some independent testers find out that it dips to 99.98%. That 0.01 difference in uptime translates to more than 45 hours of downtime over 6 months of service between WPEngine and GoDaddy. 

Wrapping Up!

Overall, GoDaddy is good for a variety of domain registry and web hosting services especially for developers looking for a one-stop-shop across multiple applications and platforms. Its massive marketing arm and its endurance in the market speaks volumes about its performance and service. 

Looking closer, GoDaddy clearly does not dominate all aspects people might look for their web hosting service provider. Most of its competitors hold an advantage over the senior brand, like BlueHost, AWS, Kinsta, and WP Engine has demonstrated. It is still important to note that the battle for the best web hosting service provider still depends on user-specific criteria such as budget and application. You can take advantage of free trial plans such as with AWS and WPEngine and see the specific items you might or might not need in your planned website.

If you’re looking to boost the traffic on your site, check out some articles below to help you. Also, don’t forget to leave your comments below:

• Your guide to getting 250,000+ Visits on your website
• Your guide to getting more  Instagram Followers
• How to effectively use Twitter to Expand Your Business?

If this article helped you, let me know in the comments section what other topics would you like me to cover on the blog. You can join my newsletter here for some regular and effective tips on growing your business