GoDaddy is a giant Utah-based domain registrar (opens in a new tab) and web hosting provider (opens in a new tab).
The company stands out in the world of domains, where (according to Domainstate (opens in a new tab)) it manages more than 63 million domains. To put that into perspective, this not only puts GoDaddy in first place among the top 10 domain registrars, but it's also more than the next nine registered providers combined.
Measuring hosting success is more difficult, but Datanyze (opens in a new tab) gives GoDaddy another top spot, with around 14% of the hosting market (that's ahead of AWS, IONOS, Google Cloud, and HostGator (opens in a new tab)) .
- GoDaddy Subscription Options:
- 12 month plan - €2.99 per month (total cost €35.88) (opens in a new tab)
What hosting plans does GoDaddy offer?
GoDaddy offers a wider than average range of plans, covering shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting, a competent website builder, managed WordPress, and managed WooCommerce (opens in a new tab) for building powerful online stores.
There's also an extensive catalog of support products, including SSL certificates - opens in a new tab, malware scanning, DDoS and firewall protection, a speed-boosting CDN - opens in a new tab, email hosting business email and more.
That's a lot to consider, but here we'll explore some of the main types of hosting.
Shared Hosting
There are four shared Linux hosting plans (opens in a new tab), ranging from $5,99 to $19,99 per month on the three-year plan ($8,99 to $24,99 when you renew ). The Starter Economy plan supports one site, one free domain, 100 GB of storage, and unlimited bandwidth. Paying to upgrade gives you unlimited bandwidth and storage, plus increased processing power and speed. All plans include one-click installation for WordPress and other apps via Installatron (not as good as Softaculous - opens in a new tab), but better than most.
Uniquely, there is also a range of shared Windows hosting (opens in a new tab). Specs and pricing are similar, with plans ranging from $5,99 to $12,99 per month for three years ($8,99 to $16,99 upon renewal). Most hosts don't have a Windows option or charge a premium, so GoDaddy's plans are a big draw.
GoDaddy shared hosting benefits include fast SSD storage for speed. Every plan comes with backups (but be warned, the cheapest one allows you to restore only the day before). A selection of data centers allow you to host your site in North America, India, Singapore and Europe. And when it's up and running, you can manage your site with the industry standard cPanel, a huge plus.
Valuable extras include at least 2 Microsoft 365 mailboxes, free for one year. Plan durations are more flexible than anything else in the business, with the option to subscribe for 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 60, or even 120 months.
The main downside to GoDaddy shared hosting is that there is no free SSL with the two cheapest plans. GoDaddy SSL certificates start at $69.99 per year on the two-year plan ($99.99 upon renewal), also a significant addition to the bill.
You may be able to avoid this by choosing another plan from GoDaddy (see WordPress Hosting, below). But if you're just looking for shared hosting, there's plenty of money to save elsewhere. Hostinger's premium shared hosting includes free SSL and is priced at just $2.99 per month for the first year ($6.99 upon renewal), less than the cost of the GoDaddy SSL certificate alone. GreenGeeks and iPage offer similar value.
GoDaddy's plans are capable, however, with valuable acceleration technologies, easy management via cPanel, and a very unusual bonus in the Windows hosting option. If you can live with the cost, the higher-end plans may be worth it.
WordPress Hosting
While GoDaddy's shared hosting range makes WordPress easy to install and use, the company's Managed WordPress range adds several useful features (and one big perk at the bottom of this list) for minimal extra cost.
An automated migration tool imports your existing WordPress site with a single click, for example. This should cover most people, although complex sites with a multitude of plugins may require a bit of work.
If you're starting from scratch, plans include thousands of themes, pre-built sites, and a drag-and-drop editor. We've explored the themes, and while very few stood out, you'll likely find several to suit your needs.
Handy benefits include automatic updates for WordPress, plugins, extensions, and PHP versions, maximizing performance and ensuring you always have the latest security patches.
A comprehensive backup system saves your website every day, keeps each version for a month, and you can restore any backup with one click. This is a significant improvement over the cheaper shared hosting plan, which only maintains a previous day's backup.
However, the main benefit of GoDaddy's managed WordPress plans is that they include a free SSL certificate for as long as you maintain your plan. This saves at least $69.99 per year compared to the cheapest shared hosting plans, but the plans are only slightly more expensive at $6.99 per month on the three-year plan ($9.99 per year after renewal).
There are some potential catches. Managed WordPress plans (opens in a new tab) start with just 30 GB of storage, compared to 100 GB for the basic shared plan. And while shared hosting plans offer unlimited bandwidth, the cheapest managed WordPress plan is recommended for "up to 25 visitors per month," and GoDaddy will recommend an upgrade if you need more.
Still, 30GB and 800+ hits per day is enough for many personal and small business sites. If you're looking to host a WordPress website, GoDaddy's managed WordPress plans are a much better value than their shared range.
Budget alternatives start with Hostinger's shared range, where you can build multiple WordPress sites, with basic managed WordPress tools, starting at $2.99 per month for four years ($6.99 on renewal). It's less polished than GoDaddy, but it gives you plenty of features and could be a cheap way to learn more about WordPress.
Bluehost is a bit more expensive than GoDaddy, but offers a wider range of plans, including support for some very pro features (video compression). Some plans also include specialized WordPress support, where you'll get general advice on design and functionality, as well as troubleshooting.
Liquid Web's Managed WordPress comes at a higher price (even the starter plan costs $15.83 per month on the annual plan), but it's lightning-fast and reliable, with some of the best support available, and could be a great option for discerning people. . -Traffic sites. (A 14-day free trial is also available.)
VPS hosting
GoDaddy's Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting plans offer better performance and many more configuration options than shared hosting, but they can also be more complicated to set up and use.
VPS pricing starts at just €4.99 per month on the three-year plan. Sounds cheap, but that's for a very basic setup: just 1 CPU core, 1GB of RAM, and 20GB of storage, though you get unlimited bandwidth and automated weekly backups.
There are actually eight plans, and most are compatible with Linux and Windows. The premium plan gets you 8 CPU cores, 32GB of RAM, and 400GB of storage for $99.99 per month for three years.
These prices are for an unmanaged VPS, which means you still have to manage the server and software updates, troubleshoot and fix failures, and keep your system running smoothly. Even control panels are an expensive optional extra ($16 per month for cPanel or Plesk).
If that seems like too much, you can pay to have GoDaddy handle the VPS for you. That bumps the price up by $95 per month, but it might be worth it if you're running a business-critical site. Choose a managed VPS and GoDaddy finds some hosting issues and solves them by itself, for example: choose unmanaged, and it's up to you.
GoDaddy VPS plans stand out for offering unlimited bandwidth, even on the cheapest plans. Windows support is a welcome bonus, and the choice of data centers in North America, Europe, and Asia could be a real performance benefit if your target audience is in a specific country.
The problem is that there are competitors that do it better. On the budget side of the market, the IONOS 4 Core 8GB RAM VPS costs just $2 per month for the first six months, $25 per month thereafter, a fraction of GoDaddy's price. And if you're looking for full management, Liquid Web has premium support and starts at $40 per month for two years ($106 on renewal) for a dual-core, 2-RAM configuration. Choosing a GoDaddy VPS might still make sense if you already have GoDaddy hosting products, but most people are probably better off somewhere else.
Dedicated Hosting
By choosing one of GoDaddy's dedicated plans, you get an entire server all to yourself for maximum performance and configurability. But it's also relatively expensive, because no one else shares the cost. And just like with VPS hosting, dedicated servers require expertise to set up and run yourself, so you may want to spend even more money on a managed plan and let the support team do it for you.
GoDaddy only offers four basic servers, ranging from 4 to 16 cores and 32GB to 256GB of RAM. They are available with at least 2 hard drives of 4 TB capacity or 2 x 500 GB speed, under Linux or Windows, and in managed and unmanaged versions.
Pricing is reasonable at €129,99 per month for two years for an unmanaged server, rising to €529,98 for a high-end managed model. All plans offer unlimited bandwidth, unusual in the world of dedicated servers.
GoDaddy's dedicated range stands out for its decent hardware specs. IONOS looks cheaper, for example, with prices starting at €45 per month for the first six months, then €65. But that's because it has 8GB of RAM, a less powerful CPU, and a single 240GB SSD. , compared to 32GB of RAM and 2 x 500GB SSDs with even GoDaddy's most basic plan.
The problem is that GoDaddy doesn't give you much of a choice on what hardware you'll get. If you like its specifications, much better;...