In the more than 20 years since it was launched, GoDaddy has transformed into a web hosting empire with approximately 17 million global users. Recognized for their marketing efforts plagued by celebrities, we have dedicated ourselves to discovering if GoDaddy is up to the task. Our verdict, after submitting the web hosting giant to months of testing, is that GoDaddy actually keeps his promises.
GoDaddy is based on the affordable end of the Web hosting spectrum, and an intuitive interface, abundance of features and well-rounded support make it easy to configure and manage your Web site. We also learned that despite its popularity, GoDaddy manages to consistently perform above average industry times and load hours.
We methodologically tested GoDaddy over a period of several months to get a clear picture of its daily functionality. Read our expert analysis and then go to the reviews of our users to get a complete view of this heavyweight hosting.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Fast loading times and consistent recovery times contribute to a greater SEO list and generate a positive feeling towards your brand.
- Get a real feeling for the service and its compatibility with your needs through your unique 1-month plan.
- Choose the best package for you with the help of clear comparison and contrast tables from GoDaddy.
- Easily set up your WordPress website with GoDaddy’s prebuilt sites and drag-and-drop page editor.
- Solve emerging problems with friendly staff that is available 24/7 through live chat, email, phone, and ticket sales.
- Get your website running quickly with bandwidth without a meter and unlimited storage space.
- Keep your website safe with protection against fraud, viruses, email, and spam. Let your customers know how safe they are on your site with an SSL certificate.
Cons:
- Customer support waits can be long and the quality of support varies by region.
- Although they offer great discounts and free registration features, they tend to be higher for renewals.
- The richness of the features can confuse users for the first time.
Prices and Payment Methods
GoDaddy is known for its sometimes provocative Super Bowl ads, but the company is so well known for its affordable web hosting packages. Even the company’s basic WordPress plans offer many features: starting at $ 4.99 per month, users get a single website, 10 GB of web space and automatic WordPress updates. Customers who purchase an annual basic plan receive bonus features such as a free domain and Microsoft Office 365.
The next level, Deluxe, starts at $ 7.99 per month and includes premium products such as a 1-click provisional site and an SEO visibility guide. Finally, customers with more intense traffic needs can opt for Pro 5 +. Starting at $ 24.99 per month, you will get up to 50 websites, automatic backup and restore for up to 90 days and more. If you need something more tailored to your needs, you can choose between VPS plans and dedicated GoDaddy servers. The company’s plans are not the most affordable, but they still provide excellent value for your dollars when you consider the many features included in your hosting plan.
GoDaddy’s well-valued plans and features are worth it. Beginners can take their site off the ground in minutes with the GoDaddy site builder, while more advanced plans allow you to easily customize the backend of your website.
Easy to use
It is always frustrating to deal with hosting services that seem to make it work for any progress, so GoDaddy’s intuitive interface was a welcome vision. Both beginners and more advanced users can benefit from the direct configuration of GoDaddy. Newcomers can migrate their WordPress website and integrate CMS with 1-click or create an incredibly fast website with the platform’s built-in tool.
GoDaddy is so popular among advanced users, and we can see why. We were impressed by the level of backend customization available through the company’s easy-to-navigate cPanel. The ability to choose your version of PHP based on your website, 1-click installations of more than 150 free applications, and 2 different analysis tools are just some of the ways in which developers can easily use GoDaddy Web hosting to fine-tune your websites.
Charging Times and Reliability
Before we start testing, we think that the total volume of users subscribed to GoDaddy could negatively affect their loading times and recovery time. We are pleased to report that this was not the case. After months of rigorous testing, we discovered that GoDaddy has an almost perfect average uptime of 99.99%, making it one of the most reliable hosting services.
The company also makes great efforts to keep its loading times fast, using Cloudflare CDN and enhanced SSD drives for better speeds. In 0.215 s, GoDaddy’s loading times are within the top 25% of the market.
Specifications
Whether you need very basic or heavy-duty hosting services, GoDaddy plans offer great value. Its free website creator, along with more than 150 1-click integrations for CMS, workflow and online payment processing helps you set up a fully functional website with ease.
Although cPanel is packed with different tools, you can easily start as a beginner while maintaining the basic features, and following the GoDaddy recommendations for trouble-free configuration and maintenance. Some features that other services offer for free, such as SSL certificates, are only available as an update or as part of more advanced plans. Regardless, the basic plan has enough tools to create an attractive and highly functional website.
We were equally happy with the most complex features that were available with even the most basic plans. IT teams can build GIT repositories or play with different website configurations before launching with 1-click on the trial sites. GoDaddy also puts a premium on security, and each account is equipped with a wide range of security provisions, from password and email security to 24/7 network monitoring, DDoS protection, and more.
Customer Support
In general, we find the GoDaddy support team to be friendly and helpful every time we contact them. The company has multiple 24/7 support channels, including live chat, email, telephone, and an online ticketing system. We were also impressed with the community resources available on the GoDaddy website and the quality of its video tutorials.
That said, because GoDaddy is dealing with a large volume of customers, waiting times can be long during peak hours. In addition, although the agents we spoke with were pleasant and knowledgeable, it is possible that GoDaddy’s customer service experience differs greatly depending on your region.
Conclusion
Our expert review found that GoDaddy is popular with good reason. Affordable pricing plans full of features that provide opportunities for customers, whether they are launching their first website or their 30. Beginners can start with just any knowledge of the web using the service’s built-in Web creator, then use GoDaddy’s broad knowledge base and support system to gain experience and implement more advanced features.
While GoDaddy offers clarity to the technologically challenged, webmasters, and companies with dedicated IT departments also benefit from high levels of back-end customizations. 1-click trial sites, advanced SEO guides, and 150 free integrations really allow developers to create a back-end that best suits their needs and preferences. As a reliable and affordable hosting service, GoDaddy is a good option for users of any and every web fund.
The good:
- Free domain: With any of the annual packages, GoDaddy includes a free domain. A domain is the name of our website, such as www.fasttechmedia.com.
- Free website editor: GoDaddy includes a very easy to use web editor by dragging and dropping elements, which allows us to develop a website using predesigned templates (no code required).
99.97% availability and average loading speed of 0.52s: GoDaddy servers are extraordinarily reliable and very fast. - 100 GB of SSD storage: Even for its input package, GoDaddy offers 100 GB of disk space, which is an exorbitant amount. For comparison: our own website (www.softwarelab.org) uses 7.5 GB of disk space.
- Data centers in the USA, Netherlands, and Singapore: By having data centers all over the world, we can host our website near our users, accelerating loading times.
- The largest database for domains in the world: GoDaddy has the largest database and auction house for domains in the world, which will enable us to find the perfect domain for us.
The bad:
- Without free SSL certificate: GoDaddy hosting only offers free SSL certificates in its most exclusive package (an SSL certificate is used to increase the security of connections to our website using the HTTPS encrypted protocol, instead of HTTP).
- Without free website migration: If we already have a website, GoDaddy does not transfer it for free to its own servers, as HostGator does.
- No free backups: Backups are a paid service in GoDaddy.
- Hostgator offers a better value for money than GoDaddy: It offers an SSL certificate, free weekly backups, and migration – also free – of websites in its basic package.
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