Do you want to skip the read and get right to my pick in this Hostinger vs GoDaddy comparison? The better web hosting provider for most people is Hostinger.
Introduction:
So Hostinger vs GoDaddy – who is the better web hosting provider?
COVID-19 has changed a lot of things, including the way products and services are delivered to consumers. Before, we used to capitalise on brick-and-mortar retail. Now, we have a number of online retail hubs and even small businesses are putting up sites where they can sell their merchandise directly to customers.
As a result, the challenge that many entrepreneurs and business owners now have to face is about creating an engaging ecommerce site. Indeed, creating one entails hopping aboard a reliable hosting service.
In our Hostinger vs GoDaddy review, we will see how two of the most popular web hosting providers in the world stack up. We're evaluating both GoDaddy Hostinger in terms of features, functionality, practicality, as well as value for money.
Overview of Hostinger GoDaddy:
Hostinger:
With 29 million users currently online, Hostinger began its run as Hosting Media in 2004. This Lithuanian hosting service is now used in almost 180 countries. The brand itself has been recognised for its push towards innovation and is now one of the most trusted tech brands and online service providers in Europe.
GoDaddy:
Considered one of the “grand old men” of the website creation and development industry, GoDaddy began offering site-building and hosting services in 1997. Since then, the Arizona-based company has diversified from just web hosting to offering its own domain registry, a domain appraisal tool called GoValue, and the online marketplace GoDaddy Auctions.
Ease of Use:
So Hostinger vs GoDaddy which is better in terms of ease of use?
Hostinger:
Hostinger definitely pushes for innovation – and one particular aspect that they have focused on is making things easier for their users. For example, the most recent iteration of the Hostinger user interface (UI) did away with the standard cPanel and replaced it with a user-friendlier management dashboard using intuitive technology. The end result: an engaging UI that puts everything within the user’s reach and is much easier to learn how to use.
GoDaddy:
Signing up is easy – it’s the waiting time between that and setting up that’s challenging. If you aren’t a fan of pop-ups and spam marketing (and, seriously, who is,) GoDaddy can give you a headache. The initialisation period that follows sign-up and initial log-in bombards new users with pop-up promotions for various add-ons to its standard packages. Still, once you’ve managed to get out of that phase of sign-up, the UI is quite easy to use and it’s pretty much smooth sailing from there.
Winner – Hostinger! We prefer our hosting services to be ad-free when we’re working with them, so Hostinger takes this ‘Ease of Use' in this Hostinger vs GoDaddy round.
Features:
Now that we've dealt with Ease of Use, which between Hostinger vs GoDaddy offers better features?
Domain Names:
Does Hostinger or GoDaddy allow you to register domains?
Hostinger:
Regardless of the plan you sign up for, Hostinger will only give you one domain name free. In case you signed up for either Premium or Business hosting and need additional domains or domain names, you’ll need to shell out an additional $8.99 a year.
GoDaddy:
Unlike Hostinger GoDaddy doesn't believe in free domain. The service allows for just one domain per subscription and you need to pay an annual renewal fee. While it does offer an option with multiple domains and domain names, you may recoil and rethink your decision to go with it as the prices are on the high side.
Email Rating:
Which has a better email service – GoDaddy vs Hostinger?
Hostinger:
Hostinger offers just one email address with its most basic subscription plan. However, those on either a Premium or Business subscription are allowed to create 100 email inboxes for their accounts, and that’s one reason to choose to pay a little more.
GoDaddy:
Compared to Hostinger GoDaddy offers between 100 and 500 emails for your account if you’re on the Economy or Deluxe plan. On the other hand, those on premium subscription plans are allowed to create an unlimited number of email addresses.
Databases:
Does Hostinger or GoDaddy let you manage databases?
Hostinger:
Single Web Hosting subscribers are entitled to only one MySQL database, but those on more expensive plans can create an unlimited number of databases for their sites.
GoDaddy:
Compared to Hostinger GoDaddy's average hosting plan accords 1GB per database. However, how many databases you may create will depend on the service package you signed up for. For the most part, users get 10 databases on an Economy plan, 25 for a Deluxe plan, and an unlimited number in the higher subscription tiers.
Applications:
Which enables more apps integrations – GoDaddy vs Hostinger?
Hostinger:
Hostinger’s one-click installer enables users to download, install, and use a number of popular software packages and applications. This includes WordPress and several ecommerce solutions such as Magento and Squarespace. In addition, Hostinger subscribers who primarily use WordPress as a builder will be at an advantage, as they can use the full range of applications and plugins available on that building platform.
GoDaddy:
GoDaddy allows users to install third-party building platforms like Joomla and Drupal, as well as ecommerce-specific builders like Magento and Squarespace.
WordPress:
Both Hostinger GoDaddy do work with WordPress and they both allow you to take full advantage of the many sub-apps and plugins available for the CMS builder. It should be noted at this point that GoDaddy has a bit of an edge here as standard subscriptions already include updates for core software and security.
Site Staging:
What about staging environments – who has a better feature in GoDaddy vs Hostinger?
Hostinger:
Unfortunately, Hostinger does not have provisions for the creation of test sites in its management dashboard. Users may find that staging is only available if the default site builder used for their site is WordPress, as the building platform has its own staging tool built into its UI.
GoDaddy:
You pretty much get the same deal with GoDaddy, as staging appears to be exclusive to WordPress shared and managed hosting. Also, keep in mind that this hosting service has its own specific procedure to follow when it comes to creating a staging site using the CMS ware.
Website Builder:
When it comes to creating websites, who wins in GoDaddy vs Hostinger?
Hostinger:
Not a fan of WordPress.org? Hostinger has you covered with its proprietary site builder Zyro. The stand-alone building platform enables users to build a site with it in minutes: just choose a template, customise it to your liking, and then publish online.
Unfortunately, if you want a site loaded with functional and aesthetic bells and whistles, Zyro may not be the best choice. Its creative options are somewhat limited, so you may have to consider using a third-party builder like Wix and Weebly for standard websites or Squarespace and Shopify for an online store if you want maximum flexibility in terms of design and functionality.
GoDaddy:
Compared to Hostinger GoDaddy website builder is nothing fancy. The very basic builder doesn’t give you that much to work with in terms of functionality and very little in the way of template variety.
To be fair, however, GoDaddy’s builder UI has something in common with WIX: it’s driven by artificial intelligence, making it quite intuitive. All you need to do is answer a few questions to create a very simple yet functional website.
eCommerce and SSL certificate:
Let's talk about how our web hosts GoDaddy vs Hostinger support eCommerce.
Hostinger:
The platform offers ecommerce-specific hosting plans. These usually include applications for order, inventory, and tax management, along with provisions for monitoring shipping and delivery.
A free SSL certificate is already included across all subscription packages, but the coverage is quite basic. If you pay a little extra, Hostinger will upgrade your basic SSL to a Comodo SSL certificate which allows for ample security for ecommerce sites.
GoDaddy:
Just starting out on your ecommerce journey? GoDaddy has you covered. Its Starter eCommerce plan offers the ability to offer up to 100 products, over 40 payment gateways, as well as integration with social media marketplaces; you can also create multiple pages in a number of categories. The Premium ecommerce plan offers an expanded version of these features, along with multiple language support, couponing, inventory management, and advanced stock control.
Either Hostinger or GoDaddy's subscription packages include a free SSL certificate.
Security and Backups:
How does GoDaddy vs Hostinger assure your website's security? What about backups – how frequent are they with Hostinger or GoDaddy?
Hostinger:
Hostinger ensures the security of user sites through a two-factor authentication process. In which case, site owners can use either or both their email and phone number to identify themselves as the owner of the account.
Likewise, automated backups are included across all subscription packages and these are done on a weekly basis.
GoDaddy:
Compared to Hostinger GoDaddy monitors its systems for potential hacking or DDoS attacks at all times. Note, however, that regular automated backups are only included for premium subscription packages.
Winner – Draw! This match is levelled, with both web hosting providers GoDaddy vs Hostinger offering excellent features.
Performance:
In this GoDaddy vs Hostinger comparison, how your website performs is crucial to attract traffic and rank high on the search engines. So which between Hostinger vs GoDaddy has better performance?
Server Locations:
Where are the data centres of Hostinger vs GoDaddy located?
Hostinger:
Servers are located in seven countries. Specifically, its servers are located in Lithuania, the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Indonesia.
GoDaddy:
Primary servers are located in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Users can choose the server closest to their physical location for better site performance. Note also that compared to Hostinger GoDaddy's server support teams are localized, so check the website to see if there’s a GoDaddy team servicing your country.
Speed Results:
Which offers better speed – Hostinger vs GoDaddy?
Hostinger:
One of the fastest in the business as it clocks in at 345 milliseconds.
GoDaddy:
Compared to Hostinger, times are somewhat slower. To illustrate, sites hosted via GoDaddy will load in an average of 2.50 seconds.
Average Uptime, Bandwidth, and Webspace limits/Storage:
Hostinger:
Unfortunately, fast doesn’t always mean reliable. For instance, in Hostinger’s case, it falls short of the global standard uptime as its uptime only hits 99.91%
Likewise, while its Premium and Business subscriptions offer unlimited amounts of both bandwidth and storage, the most basic account only gives users 100GB of bandwidth and 10GB of storage.
GoDaddy:
Unfortunately, relative to Hostinger GoDaddy also falls behind the industry standard. Its uptime only clocks in at 99.90%.
On the upside, though, bandwidth and data storage are both unlimited regardless of your subscription tier.
Winner – Hostinger! In terms of this ‘Performance' round of this GoDaddy vs Hostinger showdown, we’re giving the win to Hostinger.
Support and Resources:
Hostinger:
Multiple channel support is available 24/7 and it has the additional advantage of having a multilingual support team who can talk to users in their native language for clarity.
Moreover, it has an extensive and regularly updated knowledge base.
GoDaddy:
24/7 technical support has long been one of GoDaddy’s strongest points, and it continues to be offered across the board to all subscription packages. You can get in touch with the support team via phone or live chat and they are pretty much online all the time – and you can get localized service. However, they can get very techie on users: don’t expect easy answers when it comes to more complicated technical issues.
Compared to Hostinger GoDaddy's only real issue here, however, is that the knowledge base is updated sporadically.
Winner – Hostinger! We’re going with Hostinger for the support round as getting local support is always a good thing.
Pricing:
In this GoDaddy vs Hostinger comparison, the cost is something that concerns every consumer. So which between Hostinger or GoDaddy offers better value for money?
Plans:
Here's a brief look at how Hostinger or GoDaddy's pricing plans are:
Hostinger:
As of 2023, price ranges for Hostinger's subscription plans are as follows:
- Shared web hosting: $0.99 – $3.99 per month.
- WordPress hosting: $2.15 – $14.95 per month.
- VPS hosting: $3.95 – $29.95 per month.
- Cloud hosting: $7.45 – $37 per month.
- Windows VPS hosting: $26 – $250 per month.
- Minecraft hosting: $8.95 – $29.95 per month.
>> Check for our latest Hostinger discount code pricing plans <<
GoDaddy:
GoDaddy currently has four shared hosting plans and the standard monthly price range runs between $5.99 (Economy) and $19.99 (Maximum.)
The platform also offers WordPress hosting at the cost of $6.99 per year. The service is quite popular with the developer community and those into eCommerce.
VPS plans for enterprise-grade sites will set you back between 4.99 and $69.99 monthly.
>> Check for our latest Godaddy discount code pricing plans <<
Free trial, refund policy, and money-back guarantee:
Which between Hostinger or GoDaddy offers a free trial, refunds, and money-back guarantee?
Hostinger:
Like many of its contemporaries, Hostinger no longer offers a trial period. It does, however, have a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can ask for a refund within the first 30 days if you aren't satisfied with the service.
GoDaddy:
Compared to Hostinger GoDaddy offers a free plan – but you don’t get your own domain. Instead, the *.godaddysites.com suffix will be appended to your site URL and in-platform ads will be scattered throughout your site until you decide to go premium.
It’s also one of the last platforms that allows you try before you buy: GoDaddy’s free trial runs for a month. If you’re satisfied with the service, you may opt to sign for a premium account or, if not, you will need to downgrade to the free – ad-studded – edition.
While GoDaddy does have a money-back guarantee, it only applies to cancellations of annual contracts. Note that refunds are only given if the subscription is cancelled prior to the end of the current billing cycle.
Winner – Hostinger! Hostinger has the lowest basic prices and best value for money in this Hostinger vs GoDaddy ‘Pricing' comparison.
Comparison Winner: Hostinger or GoDaddy?
After analysing each of our contestants in this Hostinger or GoDaddy battle, we conclude that it was a close fight. But if we’re going to talk about which service works better for regular websites and eCommerce websites, we are giving the Hostinger vs GoDaddy showdown to Hostinger as Comparison Winner.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
Now, let's wrap up our GoDaddy vs Hostinger comparison;
What is Hostinger best for?
Hostinger is an excellent choice for site creators on a tight budget. However, it also offers a scalable platform that grows along with the site and/or the business.
What is GoDaddy best for?
We recommend GoDaddy for those who are heavily into ecommerce but would also like a no-frills approach to site creation and deployment.
Alternatives:
Dreamhost is another platform to consider for those who are strictly WordPress only. Also, Hostgator is a viable alternative to either of these services in terms of features and functionality, while GreenGeeks offers a more sustainable approach to site hosting for ecommerce companies seeking to reduce their carbon footprint.
Final word:
Hostinger may have come away as the winner in our Hostinger vs GoDaddy comparison, but we recommend that you shop around online for a hosting service that suits your particular requirements.
Check for the best Hostinger pricing
FAQs:
Does either GoDaddy or Hostinger have a free hosting plan?
GoDaddy does, but the features it offers are quite limited and in-house advertising will be placed on your site. Also, a *.godaddysites.com suffix will be appended to your URL.
Which between Hostinger or GoDaddy offer a staging feature?
Not a proprietary one, but both Hostinger or GoDaddy use the one-click staging tool that comes when you install WordPress.
Can I use a different site builder with Hostinger or GoDaddy?
Yes. Both Hostinger GoDaddy have their own proprietary site-building platforms ,and you may also choose to use an ecommerce-specific building tool.
That’s all for now:
If you've read our Hostinger vs GoDaddy comparison review up to here, we are grateful. Remember always to keep abreast of the latest developments on website builders, eCommerce, and other articles, such as the ones below;
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