GoDaddy Pros & Cons – Is GoDaddy Still a Good Choice?
GoDaddy is best known as a domain registrar, but their web services include a varied suite of other online services including web hosting, web security, online marketing, DIY website building tools, and professional email hosting. As a US-based domain registrar and web hosting company, GoDaddy has over 71 million domain names under its management and an impressive 17 million customers worldwide.
The web hosting services offered by GoDaddy include both Windows- and Linux-based hosting plans through multiple shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting, virtual private servers, and dedicated hosting plans.
If you’re interested in signing up with them in 2018, our GoDaddy review will give you the scoop on the pros and cons of GoDaddy.
GoDaddy Review
At GoDaddy, there is no shortage of hosting packages ranging from affordable shared hosting plans for basic sites or beginners to more advanced plans for high-powered sites run by experts and businesses.
GoDaddy offers a free domain name with all yearly plans, a 99.99% uptime guarantee, 24/7 support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Keep reading our GoDaddy review to familiarize yourself with the hosting plans, the hosting features, and the customer support offered by GoDaddy.
GoDaddy Hosting Plans
Shared hosting plans at GoDaddy come either with Linux OS or Windows OS. Prices for both types of shared hosting plans start at $2.99/month if you sign up for 3 years.
Shared hosting plans include unmetered bandwidth, database backup & restore, cPanel, free domain name with annual plans, 1-click resource upgrades, 1-click installs, 24/7 security monitoring and DDoS protection, and some plans feature unlimited domain hosting with unlimited disk space.
If your website has an eCommerce component or you’re simply looking for a higher tier plan with dedicated resources, GoDaddy’s Business hosting plans offer server-level performance at affordable rates. These plans are optimized for eCommerce and high-traffic sites.
Prices for Business hosting start at $19.99/month offering 1 to 4 GB memory, 60 GB to 240 GB storage, up to 2 CPUs, unmetered bandwidth, unlimited domain and database hosting, free SSL certificate for 1 year, and a free Microsoft Office 365 business email.
If you’re looking for WordPress hosting, GoDaddy has you covered. You can choose from 7 WordPress hosting plans, four of which are designed to meet the needs of professionals. Regular WordPress plans start from as low as $3.99/month, while WordPress Pro plans start at $14.99/month.
Regular WordPress plans feature pre-built sites and drag & drop page editor, free themes and templates, free daily backups & 1-click restores, free domain with annual plans, free WordPress management (core software updates and security updates), malware scan and removal, 24/7 support, and 99.9% uptime promise.
WordPress Pro hosting features SSL installed on every site, CDN static image caching, on-demand backups, staging site, multiple caching layers, sFTP / SSH access for WP-CLI and Git, and more.
VPS plans with Linux start at $17.99/month, while Windows-based VPS plans start at $27.99/month. All plans include full root access, unmetered bandwidth, free dedicated IPs, free 1-year SSL certificate, cPanel/Plesk, file and DB backups, provision-free upgrades, and three levels of management: self-managed, managed, and fully managed.
Dedicated servers with Linux start at $69.99/month, while Windows dedicated packages start at $99.99/month. Here too, there are three levels of server management you can opt for (self-managed, fully-managed, and managed servers). Unmetered bandwidth, cPanel/Plesk, free 1-year SSL certificate, and free dedicated IPs are offered with these plans as well.
GoDaddy’s other web services include website security tools that scan, monitor, and remove malware, offering short response times, unlimited malware removals, CDN performance acceleration, and WAF malware prevention. Other than offering web security, GoDaddy also strives to meet the marketing needs of eCommerce sites, businesses, and individuals.
GoDaddy Customer Support
GoDaddy has two support channels – phone support and live chat – available for those who need assistance with issues related to their hosting accounts. While phone support is available 24/7, live chat is only available during work hours.
Beginners can check out GoDaddy’s Support pages that provide step-by-step guides on how to start with your hosting plan and several other useful articles and guides.
A GoDaddy Support Community forum is also available with contributions from expert staff and other GoDaddy customers.
Pros & Cons of GoDaddy
If GoDaddy’s hosting offerings seem appealing to you, you’re not alone. GoDaddy is loved by millions of customers worldwide for their well-designed hosting plans and reliable service. If you’re thinking of taking your business to GoDaddy in 2018, read our Pros & Cons overview of GoDaddy to see if there’s something you should be aware of before you take the plunge of joining GoDaddy.
Pros – Why Choose GoDaddy?
These are the top reasons why GoDaddy can be an excellent choice in 2018:
- Free domain name offered with all yearly plans;
- Good selection of Linux- and Windows-based hosting plans;
- cPanel/Plesk control panels;
- Good security features (free SSL certificates, free backups, 24/7 security monitoring, malware scan and removal, etc.);
- 99.9% uptime guarantee;
- WordPress Pro packages designed for developers, designers, and other industry experts;
- 24/7 phone support;
- 30-day money-back guarantee;
- Free dedicated IPs;
- 1-click resource scaling;
- 1-click backups & restore.
Cons – What’s Bad About GoDaddy?
GoDaddy boasts multiple plans across various hosting types and offers some great features with their plans, but they may fall behind in some respects, namely:
- With some plans you have to sign up for 3 years to benefit from the advertised discounted prices;
- Limited live chat support (available only on workdays during working hours);
- A few upsells at checkout.
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Conclusion on GoDaddy
If you’re looking for a long-term hosting partner in 2018, GoDaddy is absolutely the right choice to consider. Their hosting packages respond to a very varied customer segment from novices to seasoned experts.
With an industry presence of two decades, GoDaddy is one of the most recognizable names in domain registration and web hosting, and it has gotten down the science of offering web hosting services that respond to the needs and budgets of individuals and businesses looking for web hosting in 2018.
GoDaddy just isn’t what you are looking for? You might consider choosing some of the best GoDaddy alternatives that we recommend.
David Cross
David is the chief editor at WebHostingMedia right from the beginning. He has a great passion for building and managing websites and creating helpful content. He is also interested in programming - currently learning python.
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GoDaddy is the best! Before I used Weebly and Mobirise. But then I started to use Linux, that’s why I had to switch to GoDaddy. This builder is awesome, has a very flexible design. Though it’s a bit expensive for me. Though the quality costs its price.