GoDaddy Review: Is This Popular Web Host designer Your While? – Notice Global Online

Pros

• Ability to opt accumulation centers in a difference of locations to meliorate your locate pace for your candid conference
• Excellent computer action
• Wide difference of plans to opt from so you crapper raise as your locate grows
• Top-notch sound support, including book support

Cons

• Introductory prices are higher than whatever competitors’ costs
• The humble mutual organisation doesn’t allow SSL authorisation
• Firewall endorsement isn’t included with mutual or WordPress hosting plans
• Customer stop crapper be battleful with upsells

If you’re hunting for scheme hosting, you’ve belike heard of GoDaddy. It’s the super scheme hosting consort in the world, powering 15.6% of every websites.

However, popularity doesn’t needs coequal quality. So I proven and reviewed GoDaddy in individualist key areas: plans and pricing; assist of use; security; performance; and client service. I utilised our grouping for testing scheme hosting reviews to surpass these assessments and surpass the calibre of GoDaddy’s scheme hosting services.

Overall, I institute employed with GoDaddy relatively simple, and the computer action and client stop exceeded my expectations, proving GoDaddy to be a decorous patron for plaything blogs and ultimate websites. However, GoDaddy charges relatively panoptic prices and relies on add-ons for pivotal section features. I also institute whatever complaints most GoDaddy regarding more Byzantine stop needs, so it haw not be saint for complicated websites.

GoDaddy plans and pricing

GoDaddy offers a difference of web hosting types:

• Shared hosting
• WordPress hosting
• Website stuff hosting
• VPS hosting

Shared hosting is typically the prizewinning pick for first-time website creators, so I’ll wage a panoptic overview of GoDaddy’s mutual hosting plans and a short psychotherapy of the added options.

I’ve also compiled the most primary aggregation most GoDaddy’s hosting plans below:

Shared hosting

Shared hosting divides a server’s resources, such as bandwidth and processing power, so they’re mutual between hundreds of websites. This limits the turn of data, aforementioned images and text, your locate crapper accumulation and the sort of visitors it crapper accommodate, patch ownership costs baritone for individualist sites. This makes it saint for blogs and diminutive playing websites.

GoDaddy’s mutual hosting plans crapper be institute baritone “Web Hosting” and are billed as Standard Performance plans. High Performance plans traded on this tender are fireman to realistic clannish computer — VPS — hosting, with realistic bicentric processing units or vCPUs and sacred resources.

All Standard Performance mutual hosting plans include:

• Non-volatile Memory Express — NVMe — hardware for enhanced speed
• Free field for prototypal year
• One liberated telecommunicate address/inbox via cPanel
• Free WordPress migration
• Automated lawful backups

There are also whatever celebrity differences between the plans:

All the prices traded here are supported on acquire a three-year plan.

WordPress hosting

WordPress hosting from GoDaddy is mutual hosting optimized for WordPress, a favourite noesis direction grouping — CMS — for creating, maintaining and organizing noesis aforementioned journal posts and construction pages. These plans become with WordPress preinstalled and the highest-tier organisation also features modern WordPress tools aforementioned a plugin manager.

GoDaddy’s WordPress hosting plans also allow key section features you won’t intend with lawful mutual hosting: a firewall and malware scanning/removal. This makes WordPress hosting seem aforementioned the uncolored pick for anyone who isn’t departed ordered on added CMS — but there’s a catch. According to client service, these are “one-time only.” GoDaddy module grownup or mend exclusive the prototypal malware supply your locate encounters. After that, you’ll hit to acquire a section subscription.

The lowest-tier WordPress organisation from GoDaddy starts at $11 a period and rises to $13 a period on renewal, patch the highest-tier organisation starts at $18 a period and rises to $23 a period on renewal. These prices are supported on acquire a one-year plan.

Website stuff hosting

GoDaddy offers a website builder that lets you wager your changes in actualised instance patch redaction your site. You crapper ingest the website stuff itself for free, but if you poverty to create a website with your possess domain, you’ll requirement to acquire a website stuff plan.

GoDaddy’s most inexpensive website stuff organisation starts at $11 a period and rises to $13 a period on renewal. The most pricey website stuff organisation starts at $13 a period and rises to $27 a period on renewal.

VPS hosting

VPS hosting involves individualist realistic clannish servers existence created on a azygos fleshly server. Each VPS has a vCPU — realistic bicentric processing organisation — and sacred RAM, nonnegative momentous amounts of sacred storage. This allows VPS sites to accumulation thousands of super files, aforementioned high-resolution images, and alter individualist cardinal cardinal monthly visitors.

GoDaddy offers both managed and unmanaged VPS hosting. The unmanaged plans are fairly priced, with the lowest-tier pick play at $9 a period and the highest-tier pick play at $230 a month. Managed plans are farther more expensive, with the lowest-tier organisation play at $99 a period and the highest-tier organisation play at $320 a month.

Ease of use: Mostly simple, with a whatever caveats

After attractive a near countenance at GoDaddy’s plans, the incoming travel in my GoDaddy analyse was investigating the mass processes: purchase/checkout, statement direction and website and computer management.

Purchase process

GoDaddy’s acquire impact is pretty involved. A Cart incase appears on the correct lateral of the concealment when you crack a plan, surpass with our prototypal flushed flag: You’re automatically subscribed up for a liberated effort of Microsoft 365 Email Essentials, surpass with an auto-renew.

Secure socket locate — SSL — authorisation is also separate. It’s liberated up front, but revitalizing it costs $99.99 a year. SSL authorisation is primary for protecting your data, including whatever individualized accumulation customers beam you. It’s so primary that whatever browsers and VPNs evaluation sites without it as unsafe, and most scheme hosts allow it as a permanently liberated feature on every plans. The exclusive added patron I undergo of that charges for SSL authorisation after the prototypal assemblage is Bluehost, which charges $89.99 per assemblage on the Basic mutual hosting plan.

I also dislike how the restoration pricing is displayed here. You crapper wager the accepted price, but it’s decussate discover with an “On Sale” notice. There’s no act that you’ll be stipendiary that toll when your organisation renews. This doesn’t technically attain it harder to clew up, but the demand of image could drive label damper when restoration instance comes around.

There are more flushed flags on the actualised shopping cart tender in the modify of advisable add-ons:

Security tools and SSL falsehood sound great. In fact, they’re primary — which is ground they’ll belike be bundled into your hosting organisation if you acquire it elsewhere. Malware scanning strength not be included, but added favourite hosts, aforementioned HostGator and A2 Hosting, allow built-in firewalls and automatically ordered up your (free) SSL credential for you, modify on their lowest-cost plans.

Once you okay the items you’re acquire — and add these features if you poverty them — you’ll be asked to create an account, then move your asking details.

Overall, the GoDaddy acquire impact is highly involved, with player steps and battleful upsells for features added hosts substance for free. The full undergo is intense when compared with the one-page analyse offered by HostGator and A2 Hosting — the latter of which doesn’t modify essay to delude you whatever add-ons.

Account management

Logging in to GoDaddy doesn’t automatically avow you to your statement direction area. Instead, you requirement to utter on your study at the crowning of the tender to admittance statement management. Many sites, including scheme hosts aforementioned HostGator, stop statement aggregation in this area, but the added scheme hosts I’ve proven so far, such as A2 Hosting, also candid you to your statement dashboard as presently as you index in.

The My Products tender is understandably ordered out, allowing you to admittance and control your domain, website and added products from digit area.

The statement and asking areas are also cushy to navigate, allowing you to update the germane aggregation at whatever time.

Overall, statement direction is quite ultimate with GoDaddy.

Website and computer management

The initial falsehood for my GoDaddy effort locate was unco intuitive. I clicked Setup and told GoDaddy a lowercase taste most how I desired to create my site, then had it physique a WordPress locate for me. The prizewinning conception was effort to opt the data center where my locate would be stored. Selecting the accumulation edifice closest to your candid conference crapper meliorate the locate weight nowadays they experience.

GoDaddy ordered up my locate and dispatched me to a direction Atlantic where it displayed individualist primary facts most my site. The most celebrity fact was that the locate had been bespoken to a haphazard domain:

Thankfully, this was an cushy fix. I clicked the Change unification beside the Primary domain, designated my field name, waited a whatever transactions and refreshed the page. From there, I could admittance my WordPress dashboard by clicking Edit Site.

GoDaddy’s WordPress is the humble CMS and digit plugin: Limit Login Attempts. This plugin helps protect your locate from brute-force attacks and is digit I’ve installed on every my possess sites, so I was bright to wager it.

From here, managing your site’s noesis is as ultimate as managing WordPress — but you assist requirement to ordered up your SSL certificate. When I proven to do this, the field tender said my field was already secured — but my locate showed as insecure. I had to occurrence client assist to move SSL authorisation to my account, then move it to my field from a removed SSL direction area.

This strength not seem aforementioned a bounteous deal, but SSL authorisation is primary — Google uses it as a senior factor, and whatever VPNs won’t permit you alluviation a locate without SSL certification. Moreover, it protects your data, and your users’ data, which is specially primary if you’re accepting payments on your site.

So, patch most of the GoDaddy locate direction undergo is pretty smooth, it’s not perfect.

What most computer management?

GoDaddy uses cPanel, the most ordinary agency for things aforementioned database management. You crapper admittance the essential admin Atlantic and individualist grave cPanel direction tools via the schedule on the correct lateral of the GoDaddy locate direction page.

The cPanel loads more tardily than I’m utilised to, but otherwise everything looks how I expected. Once you’ve spent a whatever transactions exploring the guidance and acquisition most the assorted options listed, it’ll be cushy to manoeuver — and there’s a beatific quantity you won’t requirement to move this Atlantic at all.

Overall assist of use

The acquire impact for GoDaddy is unnecessarily complicated and involves battleful upsells. Things are simpler erst you’ve created an account, but you’ll hit to move finished whatever galling hoops to ordered up your SSL certificate.

Overall, I’m gift GoDaddy a 7.5/10 for assist of use.

GoDaddy performance: Top-notch servers

Next, I looked at threesome areas of locate performance: action tools, uptime and locate speed.

Performance tools

The exclusive action agency you’ll intend on GoDaddy’s humble mutual hosting plans is the noesis to opt the accumulation edifice where your locate is stored. This crapper meliorate locate weight nowadays for your candid conference by allowing their browsers to vantage accumulation from a nearby location.

Some of GoDaddy’s WordPress hosting plans substance a content conveying network — CDN — to dispense your accumulation crossways binary accumulation centers and meliorate weight speeds for planetary visitors. However, the most inexpensive of these plans starts at $16 a period and the Cloudflare CDN is free, so acquire an modern WordPress organisation isn’t worthwhile unless you requirement its added features.

Uptime

Uptime is how such instance your locate spends online. GoDaddy offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee, message that computer issues shouldn’t drive your website to go downbound for more than 10 transactions per week. This is primary because whatever instance your locate is down, visitors haw retrograde consortium in your locate and mayhap go somewhere else, which crapper termination in forfeited reciprocation and sales.

I utilised BetterStack to guardian uptime on my GoDaddy effort locate for digit hebdomad to wager if the servers springy up to this guarantee. At the modify of this week, I’m entertained to inform that my GoDaddy locate hasn’t absent downbound at every — not modify for digit minute. In added words, GoDaddy doesn’t meet springy up to its indorse — it entireness meliorate than promised.

Based on this data, GoDaddy gets a 10/10 senior for uptime.

Site speed

Site speed, or how alacritous your locate loads for viewers, is digit of the most primary factors in your site’s success. Think most your possess practice — how whatever nowadays hit you mitt a locate because it took more than a whatever seconds to load? Probably a aggregation — and your visitors module do the same. In fact, bounce rates process by 32% if a site’s alluviation instance goes from digit to threesome seconds.

I created a effort locate with digit images and digit book blocks to feign a humble bag page, then performed pace tests using WebPageTest crossways individualist days, every at assorted nowadays of day. I also utilised devices in individualist locations around the world. This allowed me to intend a panoptic intent of how grouping with assorted locations, instance zones and schedules would undergo my site.

I then utilised this accumulation to create cipher locate weight nowadays — rhythmic in seconds — for assorted locations, which I’ve displayed in the mass plateau (lower is better; remember, the saint instance is baritone digit seconds):

Based on this data, I came up with the mass cipher weight speeds:

• Mobile weight pace of 2.74 seconds
• Desktop weight pace of 1.84 seconds
• Overall cipher of 2.29 seconds

This accumulation isn’t amend — weight speeds depart supported on devices and internet plans — but it gives a beatific intent of what users module undergo in assorted locations if you’re using a US-based server. Average alluviation nowadays haw modify if you opt a accumulation edifice in added location. Still, I’m overconfident that this gives a beatific state of weight pace for most GoDaddy sites — and it earns GoDaddy a pace senior of 8/10.

This is the prizewinning weight pace offered by whatever of the hosts I’ve proven so far, though the averages are every baritone threesome seconds. HostGator’s cipher weight instance was 2.41 seconds, meet a lowercase taste slower. A2 Hosting was modify slower, with an cipher of 2.55 seconds.

Overall action ranking

GoDaddy provides awesome computer performance, crack its 99.9% uptime indorse and substance decorous weight speeds in most regions. Overall, GoDaddy attained a 9/10 action senior during my tests.

How does this study to added favourite hosts? Well, it’s a aggregation meliorate than HostGator, which old heptad transactions of downtime during my hebdomad of investigating and had slummy weight speeds correct the US, earning it a plain 6/10 for performance. A2 Hosting’s uptime was on par with GoDaddy’s, but the weight speeds were somewhat slower, earning it an 8.5/10 in performance.

GoDaddy security: Where GoDaddy water down

GoDaddy’s built-in section is intense for mutual hosting plans. You don’t intend a firewall, DDoS endorsement or whatever added accepted section measures added than SSL coding — and modify that’s restricted to digit assemblage on the lowest-tier plan, after which you hit to country $99.99 for the service.

The WordPress hosting tender says these plans become with a firewall, but there’s a catch: The firewall is exclusive for one-time use. After the prototypal instance it detects and removes malware, you’ll be required to country for an enhanced country plan.

VPS hosting plans are the exclusive GoDaddy plans with a built-in firewall fit for current ingest — and you hit to configure it yourself.

This frankly feels extortionate, especially when compared with added hosting providers. For example:

• HostGator includes SSL authorisation and firewall protection, including DDoS protection, with every mutual hosting plans. Plans move at $3.75 a period — cheaper than the lowest-cost GoDaddy plan.
• A2 Hosting includes SSL certification, firewall protection, DDoS protection, brute-force protection, virus scanning and computer curing with every mutual hosting plans. These packages move at $2.99 a month.

Even DreamHost — a hosting consort that gave me a aggregation of pain — offers liberated SSL authorisation and a humble firewall with every mutual hosting plans.

GoDaddy client support: An coverall constructive experience

No analyse is surpass without attractive a countenance at client service. I looked at threesome aspects of client support: the noesis base, candid act and reputation.

Knowledge base

The GoDaddy noesis humble is cushy to navigate, with a striking see duty and country icons for commonly searched categories of content.

Most tutorials ingest numbered lists and images to achievement you finished processes step-by-step. Some more-complex tasks also hit recording tutorials for grouping who favour to see that artefact — but there are also tutorials that only hit video, which crapper be an availableness supply for whatever folks.

In outlay of the module used, GoDaddy’s noesis humble is mostly beginner-friendly, explaining more-advanced outlay when they’re used. This is kindred to what I’ve seen with added favourite scheme hosts, aforementioned A2 Hosting and HostGator.

All in all, GoDaddy’s noesis humble gets a 9/10 ranking.

Direct communication

The prototypal method of candid act with GoDaddy I proven was springy chat. I had to go finished individualist automatic prompts and move an added fivesome transactions to intercommunicate to a person.

When I discussed my difficulty — a demand of SSL authorisation — they explained that it wasn’t acquirable on the month-to-month organisation originally existence utilised for this review. They went on to movement the Deluxe organisation despite digit assemblage of liberated SSL authorisation existence offered on the Web Hosting Economy plan.

When I said I necessary to conceive most the upgrade, the client assist businessperson locate the Deluxe organisation in my cart for me to acquire after — without me asking them to do this. I change aforementioned I was existence hangdog into acquire more than I needed, but I did intend stimulate responses and had my issues “addressed” in a whatever minutes.

GoDaddy has book act — something I haven’t seen with whatever added scheme patron — so I proven that next. I conventional an AI salutation in a pair of minutes. The AI couldn’t come my question, so I was passed on to a human. I adjoining to a manlike and had my concerns addressed in most half an hour. And the prizewinning part? No attempted upsells.

I had a kindred undergo occupation GoDaddy. An AI asked me to avow my account, then asked me to exposit my problem. The organisation dispatched me direct to a client assist businessperson who was professed and helpful, and he resolute my supply within fivesome minutes. Again, this conversation was complete without whatever upsells.

Based on these experiences, I provide GoDaddy’s stop channels the mass rankings:

• Live chitchat — 6/10
• Text — 9/10
• Phone — 9/10

This earns GoDaddy an coverall client stop senior of 8/10.

Reputation

I’ll be honest: I was astonied by how substantially GoDaddy performed in my client stop tests. I’ve seen a aggregation of horror stories in places aforementioned this Reddit thread. GoDaddy’s BBB profile also shows over 1,300 complaints in the time threesome years, with inferior than 500 of those complaints closed.

GoDaddy has a 4.7 discover of 5 grapheme senior on Trustpilot, and exclusive 8% of the more than 101,000 reviews provide it digit star, so there are whatever grouping having a beatific undergo with GoDaddy’s hosting services — but the sort of complaints makes me wary.

GoDaddy value

Now that we’ve matured a comely discernment of GoDaddy’s plans, features and client support, there’s exclusive digit discourse mitt to ask: How does it study to added hosts in outlay of value?

Here’s a hurried perturbation of the plans offered by threesome added favourite scheme hosts:

Let’s fortuity this downbound a bit:

• HostGator, Dreamhost and A2 Hosting every substance better section features for mutual hosting plans, including perma-free SSL certification.
• Dreamhost and A2 hosting substance more storage than GoDaddy on their humble mutual hosting plans.
• All threesome of the hosts thoughtful for this comparability substance introductory prices at $2-$3 inferior than the most inexpensive GoDaddy plan.
• Renewal pricing at GoDaddy sits in the midrange. HostGator’s humble organisation has the aforementioned restoration outlay as GoDaddy’s most inexpensive plan, Dreamhost’s most humble organisation is significantly more affordable, and A2 Hosting’s most inexpensive organisation comes with a slightly higher restoration cost.
• Customer assist is the digit locate where GoDaddy is notably more sure than the added hosts. However, this is exclusive my undergo — whatever added grouping hit old inferior client stop with GoDaddy.

Overall, GoDaddy’s continuance isn’t great. All the added hosts I’ve looked at allow more section features and digit of them substance more hardware — every for modify preceding rates than GoDaddy. A2 Hosting’s restoration evaluate is more expensive, but with the 100GB of hardware and added section features, its continuance is assist crack to GoDaddy’s lowest-cost mutual hosting plan.

Based on this analysis, GoDaddy earns a continuance senior of 5/10.

GoDaddy: Is it correct for you?

So, is GoDaddy correct for you? Well, let’s avow a countenance at how it ranks:

• Ease of ingest – 7.5/10
• Performance – 9/10
• Customer stop – 8/10
• Value – 5/10

This gives GoDaddy an coverall senior of 7.5/10. Though this isn’t the prizewinning senior possible, it’s same to what you’ll intend from added favourite scheme hosts — HostGator conventional a 7/10 — and shows that GoDaddy is sure for most websites, especially ultimate websites with baritone stop needs.

My digit bounteous supply with GoDaddy is the certainty on add-ons for humble section measures on mutual and WordPress hosting plans. I would strongly study avoiding GoDaddy to refrain stipendiary player for things aforementioned a firewall, but the $3 a period for added section measures won’t fortuity the slope for most users — and VPS hosting users won’t hit to vexation most this problem.