GoDaddy Reviews and Expert Opinion

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Speedy load times and consistent uptimes contribute to higher SEO listings and generate positive sentiment towards your brand.
• Get a real feel for the service and its compatibility with your needs through their unique 1-month plan.
• Choose the best package for you with the help of GoDaddy’s clear compare-and-contrast tables.
• Easily set up your WordPress website with GoDaddy’s pre-built sites and drag-and-drop page editor.
• Resolve emerging issues with friendly staff that’s available 24/7 via live chat, email, phone, and ticketing.
• Get your website up and running quickly with unmetered bandwidth and unlimited storage space.
• Keep your website secure with fraud, virus, email and spam protection. 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 the support varies by region.
• Although they offer great discounts and free features at signup, tend to be higher for renewals.
• The wealth of features can confuse first-time users.

Pricing and Payment Methods

GoDaddy is notorious for its sometimes-provocative Super Bowl ads, but the company is just as well-known for its affordable web hosting packages. Even the company’s basic WordPress plans offer plenty of features: starting at $4.99 a month, users get a single website, 10GB of webspace and automatic WordPress updates. Customers that purchase an annual basic plan receive bonus features like a free domain and Microsoft Office 365.

The next tier, Deluxe, starts at $7.99 monthly and includes premium products such as a 1-click staging site and an SEO visibility guide. Finally, customers with more traffic-intense needs can opt for Pro 5+. Starting at $24.99 a month, you get up to 50 websites, auto-backup and restore up to 90 days and more. If you need something more tailored to your needs, you can choose from GoDaddy’s VPS and Dedicated server plans. 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-priced plans and features are worth the hype. Beginners can get their site off the ground in minutes with GoDaddy’s site builder, while more advanced plans let you easily customize your website’s backend.

Ease of Use

It’s always frustrating to deal with hosting services that seem to make you work for any progress, so GoDaddy’s intuitive interface was a welcome sight. Both beginners and more advanced users can benefit from GoDaddy’s straightforward setup. Newcomers can migrate their WordPress website and integrate CMS with 1-click or create a website incredibly quickly with the platform’s built-in tool.

GoDaddy is just as popular with advanced users, and we can see why. We were impressed with the level of backend customization available through the company’s easy-to-navigate cPanel. The ability to choose your PHP version based on your website, 1-click installations of over 150 free apps, and 2 different analytics tools are just some of the ways that developers can easily use GoDaddy web hosting to fine-tune their websites.

Load Times and Reliability

Before we started testing, we thought that the sheer volume of users subscribed to GoDaddy could negatively impact its uptimes and load times. We are happy to report that this was not the case. After months of rigorous testing, we found that GoDaddy has a nearly perfect uptime average of 99.99%, making it one of the most reliable hosting services.

The company also goes to great lengths to keep their load times fast, using CloudFlare CDN and enhanced SSD drives for better speeds. At 0.215s, GoDaddy’s load times are within the top 25% of the market.

Features

Whether you need very basic or heavy-duty hosting services, GoDaddy’s plans offer great value. Their free site builder, along with over 150 1-click integrations for CMS, workflow and online payment processing helps you set up a fully-functional website with ease.

Even though cPanel is packed with different tools, you can easily get started as a beginner by keeping to the basic features, and following GoDaddy’s recommendations for a smooth setup and maintenance. Certain features that other services offer for free, such as SSL certificates, are only available as an upgrade or as part of more advanced plans. Regardless, the basic plan features enough tools to create an appealing and highly functional website.

We were similarly happy with the more complex features that were available with even the most basic plans. IT teams can construct Git repositories or play around with different website configurations before launch with 1-click staging sites. GoDaddy also puts a premium on safety, and every 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

Overall, we found the GoDaddy support team to be gracious and helpful each time we contacted them. The company has multiple 24/7 support channels, including live chat, email, phone, and an online ticketing system. We were also impressed with the community resources available on GoDaddy’s website and by the quality of their video tutorials.

That said, because GoDaddy is dealing with a high volume of customers, wait times can be long during peak hours. Moreover, although the agents we spoke to were pleasant and knowledgeable, it’s possible that GoDaddy customer service experience differs greatly depending on your region.

GoDaddy User Reviews

Our GoDaddy expert review is based on our technical expertise, and we test certain metrics to determine how companies rank against their competitors. For a 360-degree view of GoDaddy, check out our GoDaddy user reviews to find out what regular customers think about the company.

Conclusion

Our expert review found that GoDaddy is popular with good reason. Well-priced plans brimming with features provide opportunities for customers, whether they’re launching their first website or their 30th. Beginners can start off with barely any web knowledge using the service’s built-in web builder, then utilize GoDaddy’s extensive knowledge base and support system to gain expertise 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 staging sites, advanced SEO guidance, and 150 free integrations really let developers create a back-end that best suits their needs and preferences. As a reliable and affordable hosting service, GoDaddy is a good choice for users of any and every web background.