GoDaddy is a web host best known for starting as a domain registrar. It could now be considered an all-in-one website builder. You can get a domain name, a web hosting plan and a website builder—everything you need to start a small business website or online store. GoDaddy offers shared, virtual private server (VPS) and dedicated hosting services.
In this review we will focus on GoDaddy’s web hosting services, what it excels at and who it’s best for. We break down the pros, cons and cost of doing business with GoDaddy, one of the most popular web hosts available in Australia. You can read more about GoDaddy in our review of its website builder.
Related: Best Web Hosting for Australians
Pros
- Easy-to-use site builder tool
- Free domain registration for first term
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 support
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
Cons
- No free site transfer
- Numerous upsells
- High renewal rates
Table of Contents
What Is GoDaddy?
GoDaddy is many things: domain registrar, web host, website builder and website services provider. The company hosts more than 84 million domain names and it’s constantly innovating—it’s one of few web hosts that’s now offering SMS support. It has become one of the most popular choices for Australian small businesses and sole traders alike, and one of the overall best web hosting services.
Featured Partners
1
Bluehost
Starting price
$2.95 per month
Standout Features
Free domain name & SSL for a year
Money Back Guarantee
30 Day
2
HostGator
Starting price
$US3.75 ($5.62 AUD) per month
Storage and Bandwidth
Unmetered
Extras and inclusions
Free domain registration for a year, free website and domain transfer, free SSL certificate, free email
3
IONOS
Starting price
$US2 ($2.95 AUD) per month
Drag-and-drop interface
Yes
SSL certificate included
Yes
How GoDaddy Works
GoDaddy serves its customers in a number of ways, including as a web host, domain registrar and web services provider. You can sign up with GoDaddy and it will host your website and its necessary files and data on its physical servers.
If it’s your first time building a website, you can get everything you need with a shared web hosting package from GoDaddy to get started. Whether you want a digital space to share your hobby, photos or family events, or you’re a business owner who wants customers to easily find your store or services, a website is super important these days.
In addition to shared web hosting, GoDaddy gives you a free website builder, which is great for new users who may not be comfortable with cPanel or even WordPress. With GoDaddy’s site builder, you don’t need to have website building skills. The builder has walk-throughs that guide you through each step from adding content to publishing your first website.
GoDaddy gives you a free domain for your first year, but if you already “own” a domain that you’d prefer to use, simply follow the instructions to change your domain name system (DNS) provider records. As with any web hosting service, GoDaddy lets you transfer a website from or to its server using its site migration tool.
Related: Squarespace vs WordPress
Is GoDaddy Right for Me?
Most small businesses would do well with GoDaddy for web hosting, but it’s nevertheless important that you understand what you’re getting into with a GoDaddy plan. Most importantly, you should take note of what’s free only for the first year or term and understand that renewal prices will always be higher.
GoDaddy Is Best For:
- First-time site builders would do well with GoDaddy as a web host. You get everything you need to get started in the low-tier plan for shared hosting, including an SSL certificate, domain name and an easy-to-use site builder.
GoDaddy Is Not Recommended For:
- While you can get a good deal from GoDaddy, it tends to bury the renewal pricing and paid add-ons in the fine print. If you’re looking for more transparency, free extras and a lower renewal price after the introductory period has expired, GoDaddy might not be right for you.
What Sets GoDaddy Apart
Not all web hosts offer as many services as GoDaddy. To begin with, the site builder is easy for anyone to use, and users can choose one of more than 175 free templates, to add your own images, text and business logo. The editor is intuitive, with point-and-click navigation from the right-side menu.
If you want to get hosting alongside the GoDaddy site editor, there will be slightly different pricing and features. The regular cost is $13.95 AUD to $24.95 AUD for standard site building and $26.95 AUD for an online store. These plans come with an SSL, search engine optimisation (SEO) tools and some marketing features.
One of the biggest benefits, however, is free domain name registration. Many competitors offer the first year free for your domain, but GoDaddy provides domain registration free for your first full term, whether that’s one year or three years.
GoDaddy Features
There are a few options for web hosting services to choose from. Shared hosting is the most common because it’s an entry-level collection of plans for hosting one or more small websites. It’s good for those starting out, whether you’re running a small business or want to host a website for fun.
WordPress hosting plans are a little pricier ($7.95 AUD to $24.95 AUD per month), but these are fully managed, so you don’t have to worry about updating your content management system (CMS) or online store platform. Advanced hosting options include virtual private servers (VPS) and dedicated servers, which is what you may want if your site grows too big for the disk space allowed on shared servers or you’re running a high-traffic website. The VPS plans (with standard RAM) range from $15.95 AUD per month to $114.95 AUD per month on a three-year term. Dedicated servers (with SSD drives) are much more expensive and will cost around $219.95 AUD per month to $649.95 AUD per month for a two-year term.
Storage and Bandwidth Limits
The economy plan from GoDaddy is more generous than even some of the best hosting services—25GB goes quickly, though. You can upgrade to one of the higher-priced tiers for 50 GB, 75 GB or 100 GB, respectively.
Along with some web hosts today, GoDaddy doesn’t label its bandwidth allowance as “unlimited,” rather it’s unmetered. This means that it isn’t going to monitor how much data transfer you’re using unless it becomes a problem for others on the same server as your website. If you do use more than what GoDaddy deems appropriate for your plan level, it may request you upgrade your service or the company could suspend your website.
Extras and Inclusions
GoDaddy offers a free domain name for new accounts, but it goes further than most web hosting services. Your free domain name is free for your first term, so if you sign up for two or three years, it’s yours that entire time before you have to pay for the renewal.
You’ll get a free secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate, which secures your site (it’s what gives you the lock icon in your URL) and its data. It’s only for the first year, though. You also get daily backups, which is new to GoDaddy’s offerings.
Ease of Use
Although many web hosts advertise one-click installs of CMS apps, it’s rarely one click. You have to find apps in cPanel, click the app you want, fill in a form and then click to install. Access WordPress through cPanel or the typical wp-admin login on your site (you can also change that login page, if you prefer).
With all that said, GoDaddy is fairly easy to use and it isn’t fair to judge the company on cPanel. If you’re looking for the easiest route to a website, choose GoDaddy’s website builder option because it walks you through everything you need to do to publish a website.
User Dashboard/cPanel
Setting up GoDaddy is simple whether you choose to go with the site builder option or you want the classic cPanel dashboard. Assuming you opt for shared hosting on a Linux server, just fill out a form when prompted with a username and password and GoDaddy will set up WordPress for you (it’s the CMS the web host suggests).
Security
GoDaddy includes a few security features for your website in its web hosting plans, but they’re minimal. You get a basic SSL certificate for free for the first year, daily backups and GoDaddy provides network security for its own servers (24/7 monitoring), but if you want more security, you’ll have to pay. There are three site security plans that include tools such as malware scan, backup recovery, site clean-ups and a web application firewall. These range in price from $10.95 AUD per month to $32.95 AUD per month, with a two-year contract (renewal costs $526.80 AUD to $1,198.80 AUD per term).
GoDaddy Pricing and Plans
Economy Plan
Budget-conscious customers can get started with this cheap web hosting plan. It includes a free domain name, SSL certificate and business email, if you sign up for at least a one-year term. You’ll get the best deal if you choose a 36-month contract. Opting for a monthly plan removes all the extras, though. The 25GB of disk space is generous for an entry-level plan.
Deluxe Plan
With GoDaddy’s Deluxe plan, you get all the same features as the Economy plan, including daily backups and support access. Your disk space is doubled to 50GB and you get one more free email. Similarly, though, you only get the free extras (that renew after your term or the first year) if you sign up for an annual or longer term.
Ultimate Plan
If you need more space, the Ultimate plan from GoDaddy may be a good fit. You get 75 GB of space and you’ll get five free email accounts. All the same rules apply to this plan: Sign up for at least one year to get the freebies (domain name, SSL certificate and email accounts). Data transfer remains the same across all plans in that it’s unmetered, but if your site proves to have extremely high traffic, GoDaddy may ask you to upgrade to a VPS or dedicated server.
Web Hosting Maximum
The top tier in terms of price and features, the web hosting maximum package is designed for big and busy businesses that need fast speeds and minimal down-time. Included in the plan are 50 websites, 1o0GB of storage, and some 100 databases. The free SSL certificate and email account are also included. The package starts at $24.95 a month for the first year, and then renews at $39.95 per month.
Visit GoDaddy’s pricing page for more information.
GoDaddy Customer Service and Support
GoDaddy’s 24/7 support doesn’t apply to every country or avenue of support. But for many countries, including Australia, you can get dedicated phone support, 24/7.
Wait times for phone or live chat are typically quick, but our colleagues in the US have experienced up to an hour-long hold for a representative. Getting a refund took about 40 minutes and though it was a long wait and required several steps, it wasn’t a hassle. The agent was helpful, patient and friendly.
GoDaddy Additional Features Worth Noting
In addition to web hosting and domain registration, GoDaddy offers packages for e-commerce businesses and marketing tools and services. Some of these services you can use for free, but for help from marketing experts, there will be a monthly fee.
E-Commerce
If you want to build an online store, you can do so with GoDaddy’s e-commerce packages. There are four plans, which range in price from $13.95 AUD per month to $24.95 AUD per month if you sign up for an annual plan. All plans include a website builder with e-commerce-ready templates, built-in payment processing and an online appointment builder. To list products to sell, you have to choose the Commerce plan, which is $26.95 AUD per month and allows you to list products.
GoDaddy Alternatives and How They Compare
GoDaddy ranks well among its web hosting competition, but it isn’t always the best choice for everyone. Some of the GoDaddy alternatives available may be a better fit for those who don’t need a business email or want a lower introductory price.
GoDaddy vs. IONOS
Pricing is starkly different between IONOS and GoDaddy if you compare introductory pricing. However, renewal pricing is about the same. What gives IONOS the edge here is that it doesn’t charge anything for an SSL certificate (GoDaddy makes you pay after the first year) and IONOS gives you business email for free (again, GoDaddy charges you after the first year). GoDaddy does offer more disk space on the entry-level plan than IONOS.
GoDaddy vs. SiteGround
GoDaddy and SiteGround are very similar in their offerings but SiteGround is more expensive upon renewal and gives you less disk space to start. Where SiteGround shines is in the features you can’t readily see, specifically in its caching and performance to ensure you have fast page load times.
GoDaddy vs. Bluehost
Bluehost is as well-known as GoDaddy for its web hosting service, but Bluehost made a name for itself for being one of the cheapest web hosts with its very low introductory rate. Storage space is lower with Bluehost than with GoDaddy, but both offer unmetered bandwidth. Perhaps the biggest difference in a comparison of GoDaddy vs. Bluehost is that Bluehost no longer offers a service level agreement (SLA) uptime guarantee, while GoDaddy promises at least 99.9% uptime.
Featured Partners
1
Bluehost
Starting price
$2.95 per month
Standout Features
Free domain name & SSL for a year
Money Back Guarantee
30 Day
2
HostGator
Starting price
$US3.75 ($5.62 AUD) per month
Storage and Bandwidth
Unmetered
Extras and inclusions
Free domain registration for a year, free website and domain transfer, free SSL certificate, free email
3
IONOS
Starting price
$US2 ($2.95 AUD) per month
Drag-and-drop interface
Yes
SSL certificate included
Yes
Our Expert Opinion
GoDaddy is a reliable and affordable web hosting service that offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee, a no-hassle money-back guarantee and lots of free extras with all hosting plans. It hits hard with renewal fees and charges you later for the freebies it pulls you in with, but it isn’t lacking the basic services you need to build a website. The dashboard is easy to understand and with the right hosting plan, you get cPanel access with simple installation of CMS apps, such as WordPress.
Additional research by Anna Rey
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How much does it cost to host a website with GoDaddy?
Pricing for web hosting varies with GoDaddy—it depends on how much speed and storage you need, and which features you want. You can get a deep discount on long terms, but some of the best cheap web hosting services are even more affordable.
Is GoDaddy good for web hosting?
We think so. Your opinion matters most, though. Consider what you need from your web host, and then make an informed decision. If you’re outgrowing your web host, you may need to upgrade to a VPS hosting service, which GoDaddy offers.
How do I choose the best web hosting services?
When choosing the best web hosting services for your business, you’ll need to consider a variety of factors. The most important include your website’s size, traffic and goals. You’ll also want to consider the type of hosting you need—shared, VPS or dedicated hosting. And finally, factors such as which come with the extras you need (e.g., a domain name or business email) and support in your preferred contact method (e.g., live chat, phone or email) should influence your decision.
What type of support will I get from GoDaddy?
GoDaddy is simple to use, but if you need help with anything, you can reach its support team via phone anytime. Also, you’ll get live chat support Monday through Friday. You can also browse the GoDaddy Help Centre.
How much does it cost to build on the GoDaddy website builder?
Building a website on GoDaddy is free. However, you’ll need to subscribe to one of its paid plans to access your website after 30 days. GoDaddy’s paid plans start at $13.95 AUD per month on the Basic plan and go up to $26.95 AUD per month if you’re building an e-commerce site.
Is GoDaddy secure?
GoDaddy’s plans come with standard security features such as a firewall for your site, data encryption and regular threat monitoring. You need not worry about your site’s security if you choose to go with GoDaddy.
Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.
