GoDaddy Review: Is It Legit? Best Alternatives?
GoDaddy is one of the biggest players in the domain registration and web hosting market. They have been holding the title of the largest domain registrar in the world for a while now.
How did they get there? Well, they spent tons of money on marketing, such as their notorious Super Bowl commercials.
I have been a GoDaddy customer for more than a decade. They used to be my go-to domain registrar back in the good old days, but a lot has changed since, and so did my experience and opinion about this company.
Let me summarize the main things I like about GoDaddy, the things I don’t like so much about it, and then I’ll provide a few alternatives you might want to check out.
GoDaddy Advantages (Things I Like)
Well-Known and Established Company
GoDaddy was launched in 1997 and within a few years it became the world’s largest domain registrar and one of the largest web hosting providers. The company serves millions of customers all around the world from individual webmasters to small businesses to agencies and whatnot.
In a highly dynamic industry where many companies have risen and fallen over the years, GoDaddy has firmly stood the test of time and it ain’t going anywhere.
Beginner-Friendly Website Builder
One of the main attractions of GoDaddy is their free website builder tool that allows anyone to easily create a nice-looking website without needing any coding or advanced technical skills.
You get to choose from various ready-made templates/themes for your website. You can then customize the design and add new sections to your pages using a simple drag-and-drop editor.
Massive Domain Aftermarket
The Domain Auctions section at GoDaddy is where you can find thousands of premium and expiring domains offered for sale or auction.
I have bought several expired domains from GoDaddy that I developed into websites, some of which have generated a decent revenue.
Most of the expiring domains listed there are worthless, but every now and then, you get lucky and stumble upon one or two domains that are worth bidding for.
Lots of Educational Content
The help center contains a lot of useful articles and videos that can assist you with setting up and using the different services and products the company offers.
You can also reach out to customer support via email, live chat or phone. They offer support in different languages, although non-English phone support may be limited to certain hours.
GoDaddy Disadvantages (Things I Don’t Like)
Prices Keep Going Up
When I first entered the domaining world several years ago, GoDaddy was one of the top registrars recommended by the community, thanks to their competitive pricing back then. Well, that has dramatically changed over the years, and time after time they kept jacking up prices.
While they do offer some big discounts on the initial registration term (to attract new customers), their renewal fees are painfully high. This goes for domain names, web hosting, and other services they offer.
For example, the renewal price for a .com is $22.17 per year. That’s about double the price charged by other reputable registrars. And it doesn’t take them long to jack it up again!
Costly Full Domain Privacy Protection
GoDaddy gives you basic Whois privacy for free, which removes most of your personal contact information from the Whois database, with the exception of your country, state/province, and organization/company.
If you need full Whois privacy for your domain, you’re gonna have to shell out an extra $10 per year. Many other registrars provide full privacy protection for free.
Undertrained, Outsourced Support Agents
Well, at least they must have an outstanding support service to make up for the premium price, don’t they?
Unfortunately, it’s not really that impressive. It seems that GoDaddy has been increasingly relying on outsourced support agents from outside the USA, and the quality of their support service has been deteriorating in recent years.
Their outsourced support can oftentimes be frustrating to deal with. Some chat agents don’t seem to have the proper knowledge and training to answer basic technical questions.
Limited Website Builder Features
The free version of the website builder has very limited features and only allows you to create a basic website. In order to take advantage of the full features and tools available in the website builder, you will have to upgrade to a paid plan.
But even the premium version doesn’t give you full control of your site’s design and functionality. Your ability to customize the template you choose for your site will be restricted to certain options available in the editor.
Website Builder Lock-in
Another drawback of their proprietary website builder is that it’s only available at GoDaddy. If you later decide to move your site to another hosting provider, you’ll have to manually recreate the whole website using another site builder or CMS.
Personally, I don’t use GoDaddy’s or any other website builder that locks you in with one provider. Like most developers (as well as most beginners), I use WordPress because it gives me total control of the site’s design and code, and I can easily move the site from one host to another when needed.
Best GoDaddy Alternatives in 2023
These are some of my favorite alternatives to GoDaddy that offer better value for money based on my experience and opinion:
1. Namecheap: Lower prices and better support
After having been a customer of both companies for years, I can conclusively say that Namecheap is a better domain registrar than GoDaddy because of their lower prices (especially for renewals) and more knowledgeable support agents. They offer plenty of additional services at affordable prices, such as SSL certificates, premium DNS, and others.
2. Dynadot: Cheaper domain registration and renewal
Dynadot is another excellent alternative to GoDaddy for domain registration. Their registration and renewal prices are much more reasonable and you get full Whois privacy for free.
3. Hostinger: Better shared web hosting features
I prefer Hostinger’s web hosting over GoDaddy’s because the plans offered by Hostinger include all the essential features at a more reasonable price. Unlike GoDaddy, Hostinger doesn’t charge you an extra fee for SSL, email, security, and other features. They also have a free website builder but I haven’t used it myself because, as I said above, I use WordPress.
4. Pressable: Better managed WordPress hosting
If you have a small business or professional WordPress website, it’ll be in better hands with Pressable as opposed to GoDaddy. Pressable is an expert managed WordPress hosting service run by Automattic (of WordPress.com and WooCommerce). They provide stable high performance, flawless uptime, and prompt technical support from experienced agents.
Conclusion: Is GoDaddy Legit?
Yes, GoDaddy is definitely a legitimate company that has been offering decent domain and website services for quite a long time.
However, there are a few major drawbacks that I personally experienced after having been a customer of GoDaddy for many years.
Their prices have been constantly going up while support service has been heading in the opposite direction. These are the two main reasons that made me move most of my domains from GoDaddy to other companies, including the alternatives discussed above.
References
- John Koetsier [February 5, 2013] “Awful Super Bowl Ad totally worked: GoDaddy posts biggest sales day in history.” VentureBeat — https://venturebeat.com/business/go-daddys-awful-super-bowl-ad-totally-worked-company-posts-biggest-sales-day-in-history/
- “History & Milestones.” Newsroom, GoDaddy Inc. — https://aboutus.godaddy.net/newsroom/history-and-milestones/default.aspx
- “GoDaddy.” Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoDaddy
- Abby McCain [March 8, 2021] “15 Largest Web Hosting Companies In The World.” Zippia — https://www.zippia.com/advice/largest-web-hosting-companies/
- “Free Website Builder | View Features Included.” GoDaddy — https://www.godaddy.com/websites/website-builder/features
