Bluehost vs GoDaddy
[Image of Bluehost vs GoDaddy]If you’re about to begin developing a new blog or other website, then your choice of hosting provider is one of the key decisions you have to make. Shared hosting is probably the way to go, at least initially, because it represents the best balance between cost and performance. GoDaddy has made quite a name for itself in this space, partially because of its creative advertising campaigns, but Bluehost is also a worthy contender. I’ve created this detailed comparison of Bluehost vs GoDaddy so that you can get an idea of the best solution for your specific needs.
About the Companies
Before we go in depth into pricing and features, it’s probably appropriate to give a brief overview of the companies in question.
[GoDaddy Logo]GoDaddy is a true veteran of the online hosting industry, having been formed in 1997. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, the publicly traded firm has a market cap higher than $5 billion and boasts of more than 14 million customers around the world.
[Bluehost Logo]Bluehost was founded in 2003 but has since been acquired by the behemoth Endurance International Group. There are more than 2 million sites hosted by the company, but this jumps to over 4 million when we add in customers of its sister sites.
Another option is InMotion Hosting, which isn’t quite as large as GoDaddy or Bluehost but has nevertheless earned a reputation as a dependable web host. When you use my exclusive links to sign up at InMotion, you’ll get a special discount that I’ve negotiated on behalf of my readers.
[Image of dollar sign]Pricing and Plans
Both GoDaddy and Bluehost divvy up their offerings into several tiers at different prices. They will each give you a discount off the normal price for an introductory period, but you must pay full price when you renew. The various levels of service are:
Bluehost:
- Basic for $7.99 per month
- Plus for $10.99 per month
- Prime for $14.99 per month
GoDaddy:
- Economy for $7.99 per month
- Deluxe for $10.99 per month
- Ultimate for $16.99 per month
Join up for one of Bluehost’s service packages now to get started on your website today. Or explore the shared hosting possibilities at GoDaddy if they appeal to you more. As you can see, each host’s prices and service levels are roughly comparable. On Bluehost’s shared hosting page, there’s a section labeled “Go PRO” with a price of $23.99 per month, but this is just a link to the cloud-based Business Pro product, so it doesn’t count as shared hosting.
BlueHost and GoDaddy have clear upgrade paths if you decide later on down the road that shared hosting just isn’t cutting it anymore. Cloud hosting, VPNs and dedicated servers await the growth of your site. It will probably be quite a long time before you find that either GoDaddy or BlueHost can’t accommodate your needs anymore.
You can also elect to register at InMotion Hosting instead and receive my discounted rate.
[Warning sign]Limitations
Unfortunately, those who purchase Bluehost’s entry-level Basic service and people who obtain Economy service from GoDaddy are subject to certain account restrictions. Bluehost caps your web storage at 50 GB at its introductory tier while the corresponding amount at GoDaddy is 100 GB. Both sites limit you to a single website, but bandwidth is unmetered.
At the next step up, both organizations waive the storage caps, and Bluehost offers unlimited databases with Plus whereas GoDaddy’s Deluxe product limits you to 25. This effectively restricts the number of WordPress websites you can manage from one account to 25 with Deluxe. At their top levels of hosting, Prime and Ultimate respectively, Bluehost and GoDaddy offer unlimited numbers of databases.
All things considered, Bluehost and GoDaddy are roughly identical when it comes to pricing and limitations, but Bluehost is the clear winner in the mid-tier category.
Interface
The popular cPanel software is present at both GoDaddy and Bluehost, and it’s no surprise because this program is rapidly becoming the default across a wide range of web hosts. Each firm has customized its cPanel back end somewhat to make it easier to use.
[cPanel screenshot from GoDaddy]When you create your account at GoDaddy, you’ll get the opportunity to use a cPanel screen that has been optimized for simplicity although power users might find it difficult to get to some of the advanced features that they seek.
[cPanel screenshot from Bluehost]By signing up with Bluehost, you’ll get to enjoy a cPanel setup that’s fractionally more complicated than that at GoDaddy, but on the other hand, it has been engineered to give you the flexibility you crave especially if you plan on individually tailoring your sites.
InMotion Hosting is another enterprise that incorporates cPanel into its shared web hosting model. Click through my links to get a special deal on InMotion Hosting service.
Bluehost vs GoDaddy is basically a dead heat in the arena of account management panel. Your best choice is down to personal preferences and your level of technical competence.
[Image of speedometer]Performance
When all is said and done, website speed is really what most users are after. Slow loading times are pretty bad because they will eventually prompt your guests to go elsewhere if this is a recurrent problem. Additionally, Google now includes website speed in its ranking criteria, so low-latency web-page loading may improve your placement in the search engine results pages.
There are many factors that determine how fast your pages will load, including the geographical distribution of your user base and the times of day at which your site is typically accessed. Bearing all the variables in mind, it seems that Bluehost is speedier than GoDaddy for most people. This might be because it provides its clients with access to CloudFlare, a content delivery network that routes traffic so as to increase website speed.
[Screenshot of Bluehost speed test] [Screenshot of GoDaddy speed test]InMotion Hosting tends to be even faster than Bluehost, so it’s definitely a name you should remember when it’s time to pick a web hosting organization.
Uptime
System outages and malfunctions are even worse than high loading latencies because nobody can access your content at all during any periods of downtime. GoDaddy guarantees 99.9% uptime, and records from outside testing groups report that it achieves numbers well in excess of this figure.
[Screenshot of GoDaddy uptime tracking site]Bluehost doesn’t offer any such guarantee, which is a bit unusual in the web hosting industry. Nevertheless, it still serves web pages as you would expect more than 99.9% of the time. Third-party testing shows that Bluehost’s uptime record is a bit worse than GoDaddy’s though.
[Screenshot of Bluehost uptime tracking site]As far as the reliability of servers goes, GoDaddy is just a notch better than Bluehost.
[Image of telephone]Customer Service
You’ll probably encounter few problems whether you select Bluehost as your web hosting provider or decide to partner with GoDaddy. But the presence of trained support staff is very important because even occasional issues could impact the success of your website.
Bluehost has a plethora of self-help resources on its site, including guides, articles and answers to common problems. If you’re still having trouble, you can call several phone numbers that are each dedicated to a specific type of query. For instance, there’s a number specifically for questions related to WordPress and another one for general billing questions. Sales and technical support personnel are available 24/7 to assist you, but account management help has restricted hours.
Besides calling by phone, you can initiate a live chat with the department you wish to contact or create a support ticket.
GoDaddy does things a bit differently. Although there’s a limited ability to direct your inquiry to the appropriate support people through live chat, you have only one general-purpose phone number to call. You will find a list of help articles, similar to those at Bluehost, on GoDaddy’s web pages. One area in which GoDaddy wins is its community support forums where users can assist each other.
Regarding the actual quality of the answers received by customers, it’s tough to do more than relay anecdotal experiences. Most people who have decided to buy web hosting through GoDaddy say that the responses they get are acceptable and accurate. Those who have chosen to become a customer of Bluehost laud the speed with which their questions are addressed and the superb quality of the answers.
Overall, both companies are strong in customer service, but Bluehost is slightly better. Another hosting entity that receives high marks from users is InMotion Hosting. Join InMotion today, and sample the stellar customer service for yourself.
[Email icon]Hosting email addresses on your own domain makes you look more professional than using a free service, like gmail. BlueHost will allow you to access just five email addresses with 100 MB of storage space apiece when you create your BlueHost account and buy the low-end Basic package. GoDaddy permits you to have up to 100 email accounts with the Economy tier, but the total storage associated with them is just 100 MB. At the Plus and higher service options, Bluehost removes these limits, but GoDaddy still has maximums on the storage and number of email accounts available under Deluxe and Ultimate plans.
Only at the cheapest level of service is GoDaddy’s email better than Bluehost. At the higher grades of service, Bluehost takes the crown.
[Image of a gift]Freebies
It has become common for web hosts to appeal to new clients by providing them with certain perks at no cost when they register their accounts. Bluehost and GoDaddy both adhere to this philosophy.
[Image of popular domain extensions, .com, .org, .net etc]Free Domain
Whether you sign up with Bluehost or partner with GoDaddy, you’ll be treated to a free domain name registration for a year. However, with GoDaddy, if you purchase your initial plan for longer than a year, you’ll get the domain at no extra charge for as many years as you bought. Bluehost restricts your free domain to just the first year, after which you’ll have to pay the normal renewal price.
[SSL logo]SSL Certificate
SSL technology allows for tough-to-crack encryption between your site and visitors’ computers. Not every website necessarily needs this much security, but some of them certainly do, and it doesn’t really hurt you not to include it in your web presence. Google is a heavy supporter of this technology, and you surely don’t want to be left behind when Mountain View makes its preferences known.
When we compare Bluehost vs GoDaddy in the provision of SSL certificates, there’s no contest: Bluehost is the clear victor. It hands out free SSL certificates to customers at all service levels while GoDaddy only distributes them free of charge to those opting for the Ultimate package.
[Image of coins]Marketing Credits
As a new client at Bluehost, you’ll be able to claim $100 to use with Google AdWords and another $100 for Yahoo/Bing as long as you select the mid-range Plus tier of service or higher. Use this money to pay for search ads to draw traffic to your site. GoDaddy doesn’t offer anything similar, so Bluehost wins this round.
Even Bluehost falls short when placed next to InMotion Hosting, which offers $250 of marketing credits. Claim your credits today by registering with InMotion Hosting, and you’ll get a reduced price available only to my website guests.
[Image of open hand with money in it]Money-Back Guarantee
After you sign up with GoDaddy, you can cancel your annual or longer plan within 30 days for a refund of the entire amount you paid, but after this period, you’re stuck. When you join Bluehost, on the other hand, you’ll have the same 30 days in which to request a full refund, but when this timeframe expires, you’ll still be able to receive a prorated refund for the portion of your subscription that yet remains.
[Website building graphic]Website Builder
If the complexities of WordPress, Drupal and other content management platforms are beyond the scope of your patience, then what you need is a simplified drag-and-drop website builder. GoDaddy does offer one, but it appears to be rather clunky and limited, and it’s not free. The no-cost Bluehost builder software is powered by Weebly, a recognized leader in such applications. I’m giving the nod to Bluehost here even though the version of Weebly it possesses usually lags behind the latest version available, and there are certain restrictions in place that you must pay extra to remove.
Each of the two hosts, GoDaddy and Bluehost, has a few free extras that are better than what the other provides. After reviewing these additional bonuses, I believe that Bluehost gives you better value here.
[InMotion Logo]InMotion hosting is another sensible alternative because it’s prepared to offer you:
- A 90-day money back guarantee
- BoldGrid website building app
- $250 in advertising credits
- One-click installation of more than 400 popular programs
Click here to sign up for InMotion Hosting and take advantage of my special pricing setup.
Overall Recommendations
By now, you’re probably wondering what my final advice is in the battle of Bluehost vs GoDaddy.
You may wish to join GoDaddy if you’re looking for inexpensive, bottom-rung web hosting because its email and website storage space are superior to what Bluehost offers in this market category. The prices between the two companies at this level are virtually identical.
At any tier above the lowest, Bluehost delivers better value. The free marketing credits, unlimited emails and top-notch customer service lead me to award Bluehost the accolades at most price points. Sign up to Bluehost today if you want to see what I’m talking about. Bluehost is especially beloved by fans of WordPress as evidenced by the fact that it’s one of only four hosting organizations listed as a recommended web host on WordPress.com.
Through my close relationship with Bluehost, I can offer you a substantial discount off the regular price of hosting. Click here to take advantage of this unique deal for Bluehost hosting services.
I should note in passing, however, that GoDaddy grants you the option to obtain Linux hosting or Windows hosting, and Bluehost only offers Linux hosting. If, for some reason, you want to have your site hosted on a Windows machine, then GoDaddy is the firm for you.
Registering with InMotion Hosting is another course that may seem appealing because it allows you to run two websites even on the least costly plan. My affiliate relationship with this trustworthy web host means that you can get 56% off the normal price by signing up through my personal link.
Whether you choose GoDaddy, Bluehost or InMotion, you can’t really go wrong. They’re all upstanding operators. Anyway, should you change your mind within the first month (three months in the case of InMotion Hosting), you can cancel your subscription at no penalty and move elsewhere.
