GoDaddy Hosting
A familiar, heavily marketed host that is easy to start but pushes constant upsells and steep renewals.
GoDaddy is the name most people reach for first, and its web hosting is built for that audience: a simple onboarding flow, a familiar cPanel, a free domain and SSL for the first year, and one click WordPress installs. Uptime is reliable and the dashboard is approachable. The problems are commercial rather than technical. The checkout and account areas push a steady stream of upsells, useful features like daily backups and email are often paid add ons rather than included, and renewal pricing rises well above the intro rate. Performance is average for shared hosting, neither a strength nor a real weakness. If you already manage domains at GoDaddy and value one familiar account, it is convenient. For most buyers, value focused rivals deliver more for the money.
Easy to start and widely trusted, if you can tune out the upsells.
In its favour
Held against it
Convenient and familiar, rarely the best value.
GoDaddy scores acceptably on ease of use and uptime, the reasons it stays popular. Value is the weak point, pulled down by add on costs and steep renewals rather than any single technical failing.
Scored against the same five weighted criteria we use across web hosting. See the rubric →
someone who already runs domains at GoDaddy and wants one familiar account with a simple setup.
a value focused buyer, anyone who wants backups and email included, or a performance sensitive site.
What it costs
Per month, intro rate on multi year termsPricing as of June 2026. Intro rates need a long term and renew higher, for example Economy renews near $11.99/mo and Deluxe near $16.99/mo; backups and email are often paid add ons. Check the vendor for current pricing.