With over 84 million domain names and 20 million customers under their management, GoDaddy is one of the largest domain registrars and website hosting companies worldwide. Besides domain registration and web hosting services, the company also offers website builders and marketing solutions like enterprise email hosting and Microsoft 365.
Unfortunately, despite having decent product offerings, GoDaddy has a few significant drawbacks that push users to seek alternatives. For example, some of the contracted customer representatives lack the technical knowledge needed to resolve certain issues.
Some GoDaddy packages also lack several critical features that come standard in other web hosts. For example, the two cheapest shared hosting plans do not include SSL certificates. You have to buy the security certificates separately or upgrade to the more expensive packages. That’s a real shame considering most top web hosting providers include SSL certificates for free across all packages.
So, in this article, we will look at eight GoDaddy alternatives that offer superior customer experience and value for money. But first, let’s break down the key factors that make a great GoDaddy alternative.
What should you look for in a GoDaddy alternative?
Choosing a web hosting service provider is always a challenge due to the vast number of options. A few names like GoDaddy always stand out because these companies have been around for years. However, just because a company is famous doesn’t mean they are right for you.
Therefore, here is what to look for when searching for the ideal web host.
1. Ease of use
The best web hosting platforms are usually beginner-friendly. They provide intuitive dashboards, ensuring that even the least tech-savvy users can easily manage their website.
Most web hosts use cPanel or Plesk, which have friendly interfaces for beginners. Additionally, they come with learning materials to guide you through processes like WordPress installation, email setups, FTP account setups, and even site migration.
2. Customer support
Efficient customer support is crucial when searching for a hosting company. First, you want a company with a knowledgeable customer support team. That’s one of the critical areas where GoDaddy struggles a lot. The ideal web hosting provider should have customer service experts that can resolve most technical issues on the first call.
Speaking of which, the best web hosting companies provide multiple communication channels that include a direct line, live chat, tickets, email, and so on. You also want a team that’s available 24/7 since server issues can arise at any moment.
Lastly, a good web host service provider is highly responsive. Having a direct line won’t mean much if you’ll be left on hold for over 30 minutes. Therefore, vet the company you’re interested in to ensure they have an acceptable response time. Review platforms like Yelp and G2 can help you determine that.
3. Pricing
Pricing is a more complicated factor. It’s understandable to want to save a few dollars here and there but do not make your final decision based on the price alone. Cheap web hosts always come with a catch.
For example, the web host may outsource cheap unskilled customer service representatives to reduce operating costs. Worse still, they may cut corners with their servers resulting in poor server speeds and uptimes.
Therefore, instead of looking for the cheapest web host, go for one offering the best value. Also, don’t look at introductory rates alone. Those figures are heavily discounted. Check the renewal price instead.
4. Performance
There are two key items to look at here; uptime and server speed. The best web hosting companies record uptime of at least 99.95%. Some of them would even go as far as providing 99.9% uptime guarantees. That basically means that your website will almost always be online.
Meanwhile, server speeds are vital since they directly affect how quickly your website loads. That, in turn, affects the user experience on your website. On top of that, site speed will also influence how high your website ranks on the search engine results pages.
All eight GoDaddy alternatives featured in this article have 99.9% uptime guarantees and lighting-fast server speeds. Let’s go through them.
8 alternatives to GoDaddy you can use
Bear in mind that the ideal GoDaddy alternative will ultimately depend on your needs. All web hosts covered in this list provide excellent performance, but they also come with unique features at different price points. Therefore, you should look for a GoDaddy alternative whose features and price matches your business’s needs.
| Name | Starting From | Best Thing About It | Biggest problem |
| Siteground | $3.99/mo | Excellent uptime and response time | No free domain |
| BlueHost | $2.95/mo | Affordable packages | Not the best customer support |
| Network Solutions | $5.69/mo | A powerful all-in-one solution | Key web hosting features are sold separately |
| Domain.com | $3.75/mo | Over 300 TLDs to choose from | A few critical features are locked away in the premium packages |
| DreamHost | $1.99/mo | Great WordPress hosting with flexible pricing | Fairly average server response times |
| Hostgator | $2.75/mo | Comes with a highly competitive basic plan | High renewal rate |
| Hostinger | $1.39/mo | Very affordable | Limited storage and site visits |
| WP Engine | $25.00/mo | A great option for large enterprises | Expensive |
Let’s take a closer look at these GoDaddy alternatives:
1. SiteGround
SiteGround is the number one GoDaddy alternative when it comes to web hosting. The company offers a wide variety of hosting options, including shared, WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and cloud hosting. SiteGround is also officially recommended by WordPress, making it a great option if you’re looking for expert WordPress hosting services.
More than 2.8 million domain owners use SiteGround. The web host also has a client satisfaction rate of over 97%. It’s not hard to see why the company is a favorite to many.
For starters, SiteGround delivers first-class customer service. The company has a super responsive customer support team that can be reached via live chat, phone, and helpdesk tickets. The average response time is 15 minutes, and the customer reps always aim to resolve issues during the first contact.
The customer service alone makes SiteGround a far better option than GoDaddy. But that’s not all. The web host shines in other key areas, including performance. Just have a look at this chart from Pingdom:
The web host has consistently recorded 100% uptimes in nine of the last ten months. Pretty impressive, right? The lowest uptime was 99.97% which is still remarkable compared to GoDaddy stats and other web hosting companies.
SiteGround server speeds are also incredibly fast. The company uses Google cloud services, powerful caching technology, and fast PHP setups to optimize site speed. They also have multiple data centers located across four continents. Moreover, they have a Cloudflare CDN network in 194 locations worldwide. That boosts page loading speeds by ensuring users are connected to the nearest server.
SiteGround employs multiple security features to safeguard your website and its users. First, they have distributed and redundant backups. These will back up your website data which you can restore should something happen to your site. Second, every site built on SiteGround gets a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.
The web host provides 24/7 server monitoring. Servers are scanned every 0.5 seconds. They also use AI anti-bots to fight brute force attacks.
SiteGround’s introductory rates are much cheaper than GoDaddy’s. For example, shared hosting starts at $3.99 per month, while GoDaddy’s cheapest shared hosting package is $5.99.
That said, SiteGround’s renewal charges are much higher. However, you do get better value for your money. For example, the cheapest shared hosting package comes with a Free SSL certificate, daily backup, eCommerce capabilities, collaboration tools, and other features.
- Shared hosting starts at $3.99/mo
- Managed WordPress hosting starts at $3.99/mo
- Managed WooCommerce hosting starts at $3.99/mo
- Cloud hosting starts at $100.00/mo
All SiteGround packages come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can also transfer your website from GoDaddy or other hosting providers for free using an automated WordPress migrator plugin.
2. BlueHost
Officially recommended by WordPress.org, BlueHost is another impressive web hosting alternative to GoDaddy. The company offers shared, dedicated, WordPress, Managed WordPress, VPS, and WooCommerce hosting. Like GoDaddy, this platform also has an easy-to-use website builder.
BlueHost hosting packages come with powerful features for optimized performance. For example, all plans are equipped with SSD storage and a CDN for enhanced site speeds. Looking at the data from Pingdom, BlueHost’s uptime and response time are well within the acceptable range. However, they’re not as impressive as SiteGround’s.
SiteGround packages come with a drag and drop website builder and dozens of AI-driven templates that will help you set up your website in no time. Managed WordPress hosting offers even more features to help scale your business.
For instance, you will get business review tools that’ll allow website visitors to leave Yelp, Yahoo, or Google reviews from your site. You will also receive BlueHost SEO tools, Jetpack video compression, PayPal integration, a 30-day free trial of Microsoft email, etc.
You can contact the BlueHost customer support team via live chat and phone calls. Sadly, the customer service reps are not as responsive or knowledgeable as the SiteGround customer support team.
Bluehost packages are very affordable. In fact, it is cheaper than GoDaddy, and they provide a 30-day refund policy.
- Shared hosting starts at $2.95/mo
- WordPress hosting starts at $2.95/mo
- Managed WordPress hosting starts at $9.95/mo
- VPS hosting starts at $19.99/mo
- Dedicated hosting starts at $79.99/mo
In addition to web hosting, BlueHost also provides domain registration services, professional email hosting, and marketing services like SEO and pay-per-click advertising.
3. Network Solutions
Network Solutions was the first-ever domain registrar. The company has been providing domain registration and management services for more than 25 years now. Like GoDaddy, they also provide web hosting services, website builders, and other products.
Network Solutions offers two hosting services, web hosting, and WordPress hosting. Unfortunately, the packages are not very competitive compared to other GoDaddy alternatives covered in this list. For example, SSL certificates are not included in all plans. You can only get them with the more expensive WordPress hosting packages.
Network Solutions has decent uptimes, but response time is average at best.
Network Solutions plans start at $5.69 per month. Additional features like professional email, SSL certificates, and the website builder are sold separately.
Network Solutions is a worthy consideration if you want an all-in-one solution. The company provides domain name registration services with special domain extensions like .org, .cloud, and .net. They also have competitive hosting packages, cyber security solutions, professional email services, SEO tools, email marketing solutions, and PPC advertising & SEO services. They basically have everything you need to set up and scale your online business.
However, if you simply want a robust and reliable GoDaddy alternative for web hosting, SiteGround is the better choice.
4. Domain.com
Domain.com is another brilliant GoDaddy alternative. The company has similar product offerings to GoDaddy. You have domain registration services, a website builder & an online store builder, email hosting services, and web hosting solutions.
Domain.com has more than 300 domain extensions. From .com, .io, .blog, .store, .org to .net, you should be able to find the perfect domain extension for your business with ease.
Web hosting packages have unlimited storage, scalable bandwidth, a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate, a free 1-year domain name, and MySQL databases. Performance-wise, Domain.com’s uptime and response time are pretty decent.
Both web hosting and WordPress hosting packages start at $3.75 per month. The company provides flexible pricing options. You can choose a 12, 24, or 36-month billing cycle. One notable drawback is that the price remains constant even if you pick a 3-year billing cycle.
Another issue with Domain.com is they do not provide critical features like 24/7 phone call support and automatic malware removal on all packages. These features are only available on the more expensive WP Essential package, costing $6.95/mo.
5. DreamHost
DreamHost is the cheapest GoDaddy alternative on this list. The provider has WordPress hosting plans starting at just $1.99 per month. Although it’s not entirely free of pitfalls, DreamHost does offer great value at such a low price. Plus, it is among the three web hosting companies recommended by WordPress.
Like GoDaddy, DreamHost offers domain registration services at competitive prices. For example, you can get a .com domain name for only $7.99 per year. You will also enjoy free private registration, which protects your WHOIS data from the public. Besides .com domain extensions, DreamHost offers unique TLDs like .io, .online, .club, .shop, and .co.
Under web hosting, this GoDaddy alternative provides five different solutions; shared website hosting, VPS hosting, managed WordPress hosting, dedicated server hosting, and cloud hosting. All hosting plans get 24/7 customer support, solid-state drive (SSD) storage for optimal page load times, an intuitive control panel, a one-click installer for vital applications like WordPress, and a 100% uptime guarantee.
Even the cheapest DreamHost Shared hosting package gets fast SSD storage, free SSL certificate, WP website builder, free automated WordPress migration, and unlimited bandwidth.
DreamHost is also a great choice if you want a web host with flexible pricing. The company accepts monthly billing, which is convenient when you don’t want to commit to a long-term contract. However, you will get better value for your money if you choose the 1 or 3-year payment plan. For instance, you can only get a free .com domain if you purchase a 1 or 3-year plan.
- Shared hosting starts at $1.99/mo
- Managed WordPress hosting starts at $16.95/mo
- VPS hosting starts at $10.00/mo
- Dedicated server hosting starts at $149.00/mo
DreamHost has an industry-leading 97-day money-back guarantee. They have a fairly responsive customer support team, but you can only reach them through live chat and email.
6. HostGator
HostGator is an affordable GoDaddy alternative offering shared, WordPress, Dedicated, VPS, and reseller hosting. They also provide domain transfer and registration services.
HostGator packages are super competitive. For only $2.75/mo, you will get the basic shared hosting package that features unmetered bandwidth, free domain & website transfer, 1-click WordPress installs, a free domain for the first year, free SSL certificate, free email, user-friendly cPannel dashboard, $150 Google Ads credit, and $100 Microsoft ads credit. You won’t get such a package anywhere else.
Here’s a quick summary of HostGator’s plans.
- Shared hosting starts at $2.75/mo
- WordPress hosting starts at $5.95/mo
- Dedicated hosting starts at $89.98/mo
- VPS hosting starts at $23.95/mo
HostGator has a 45-day money-back guarantee and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. You can contact customer support at any time via live chat or phone call.
7. Hostinger
Hostinger provides web hosting, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting, cPanel hosting, VPS hosting, Minecraft server hosting, and CyberPanel hosting. They also have domain registration and professional email hosting & management services.
All hosting solutions have a free SSL certificate, DDoS protection, SSD storage, and a custom email account. Managing your website is also pretty straightforward, thanks to the custom control panel called hPanel. The dashboard is different from cPanel, but it’s very beginner-friendly.
Hostinger server performance is also one of the best on this list. The lowest recorded server uptime in the last ten months was 99.85%. Meanwhile, response times are consistently under 400ms.
Each Hostinger hosting solution has multiple plans:
- Shared hosting starts at $1.39/mo
- WordPress hosting starts at $1.99/mo
- Cloud hosting starts at $9.99/mo
- VPS hosting starts at $3.95/mo
- cPanel hosting starts at $2.59/mo
- Minecraft server hosting starts at $6.95/mo
- CyberPanel hosting starts at $3.95/mo
Hostinger provides free website migration. The packages are also covered with a 30-day refund policy and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
8. WPEngine
WP Engine is a more expensive GoDaddy alternative. It’s designed to provide a premium web hosting experience.
WP Engine focuses on WordPress hosting. They have split this service into three solutions aimed towards different people. First, you have managed WordPress hosting targeting personal and small businesses looking for powerful WP hosting packages. Then, you have eCommerce solutions providing WooCommerce hosting services. Finally, you have the more powerful Advanced Solutions offering hosting services to enterprises.
Each hosting solution has multiple plans. For example, managed WordPress hosting starts at $25.00/mo going all the way to over $240/mo. That’s way above GoDaddy’s price range. However, for that price, you get daily backups, up to 10 premium themes, free automated site migration, development or staging area, one-click staging, page performance monitoring, SOC2 Type II security reports, among other premium features.
Meanwhile, eCommerce hosting plans start at $30.00/mo stretching to over $290/mo. This solution comes with daily and on-demand backups, 24/7 customer support, 1-click store creation, etc.
WP Engine is great for agencies and enterprises that want and are willing to pay for a more powerful GoDaddy alternative. They power large enterprises like Yelp, Volvo, AMD, and pandora.
In Closing
GoDaddy is the largest domain registrar worldwide. The company has also diversified its product offerings to include web hosting, website builders, and other services. However, being the largest domain registrar and having an extensive suite of products does not automatically make GoDaddy the best option for you.
As mentioned earlier, GoDaddy has multiple drawbacks like poor customer service. That’s where other competitors catch up. SiteGround, for example, offers superior customer support and unrivaled server performance. It also comes with more free perks than GoDaddy.
Besides SiteGround, we also discussed BlueHost, Network Solutions, Domain.com, DreamHost, HostGator, Hostinger, and WP Engine. These providers offer unique domain registration and web hosting services that perform well against GoDaddy.
In summary, GoDaddy is pretty famous, but other platforms can offer better services. Hopefully, this comprehensive guide has helped you identify the best GoDaddy alternative for your needs.
