GoDaddy has been a big name in web hosting and domain registration for years, but it’s not without its downsides.
I once hosted a site with them but left due to slow performance (2.94s load time) and hidden costs. Essentials like malware scanning and firewalls come as paid add-ons, and renewal prices are steep.
If you’re looking for a solid GoDaddy alternative, you’re in the right place. I’ve narrowed down five great hosting options to suit different needs.
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
Choosing the Right GoDaddy Alternatives?
1. Hostinger – Best Affordable GoDaddy Alternative with AI Website Builder
Facts | Hostinger | GoDaddy |
Uptime | 99.998% | 99.89% |
Average Speed | 2.014 Seconds | 2.94 Seconds |
Money Back Guarantee | 30 Days | 30 Days |
So, Hostinger, right? It’s another web hosting company, kind of like GoDaddy, and they’ve been around for ages, almost 20 years.
You can grab your domain name there, and they’ve got all sorts of hosting options – shared, WordPress, cloud, VPS, you name it.
And get this: for just $2.99 a month, you can host up to 300 websites.
Plus, the renewal prices aren’t crazy high, and they give you a decent amount of resources with their plans.
The only thing you are going to miss here is phone support. Although 24*7 live chat support is there but phone support feature is yet to come.
Why Should You Pick Hostinger Over GoDaddy?
1.) Performance Benchmarks are Good
Honestly, I was pretty impressed with Hostinger’s performance when I tested it out on my website. I mean, for budget-friendly web hosting, they’re definitely up there with the best.
So, when we’re talking about how fast pages load, Hostinger averaged around 2.014 seconds, which is way better than GoDaddy’s 2.94 seconds.
Now, that might not seem like a huge difference to you and me, but Google really notices that kind of thing. Basically, Hostinger’s pages load faster, which means you’ve got a better shot at ranking higher in search results.
You can learn more about Hostinger and GoDaddy performance from our comparison article.
2.) To Save Overall Money
With Hostinger, you don’t have to pay extra for any features—there are no add-ons to worry about. Among all the entry-level hosts I’ve compared so far, including Hostinger, Bluehost, and GoDaddy, Hostinger offers the most affordable and fair plans.
Hosting Type | Hostinger | GoDaddy |
Shared | $2.99/month – $7.99/month | $4.99/month – $7.99/month |
WordPress | $2.99/month – $7.99/month | $7.99/month – $14.99/month |
VPS | $4.99/month – $19.99/month | $8.99/month – $44.99/month |
3.) AI Website Builder made a Big Difference
Since Hostinger launched its AI website builder, beginners have been ditching other entry-level hosts and switching to Hostinger.
I also liked their AI website builder and how it works. It’s included with all Hostinger shared and WordPress plans at no extra cost.
Beginners can set up their website with this AI website builder in less than 10 minutes.
All they need to do is describe their website idea in a few lines, and the AI takes care of the rest. GoDaddy also offers a website builder, but since it’s not AI-based, it doesn’t work as efficiently.
Pros & Cons:
Pros | Cons |
Affordable alternative in the market | Phone support is not available |
Offers resources full fair plans | |
No hidden costs at all | |
Offers plans for all traffic count |
Pricing:
Hostinger entry level WordPress plans start from $2.99 and go up to $7.99/month. You can set up 100-300 websites and 100-200 NVMe storage is provided.
Bottom Line:
If affordability and balanced performance are your priorities, then Hostinger should be your go-to GoDaddy alternative.
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2. NameCheap – Best For Domain Registration
NameCheap is no new name here in the world of web hosting. If you don’t want to buy or register a new domain on GoDaddy then you can pick NameCheap as an alternative for sure.
I am not lying, but NameCheap is not good for web hosting, but their domain registration services are top notch and cost you minimum 25% compared to GoDaddy.
Yes, that’s the true fact.
Getting a website starts with a domain name. You might think all domain sellers are the same, but they’re not.
I checked the price for “bloggerspassiondemo.com” on both.
They both start with a low price, but when it’s time to renew, GoDaddy costs way more – about 45% more than Namecheap.
Namecheap Domain (.Com) | GoDaddy Domain (.Com) |
Price: $11.46 for 1 year | Price: $11.99 for 1 year |
Domain Privacy: Free Forever | Domain Privacy: $11.99/yr extra |
Renew: $14.98/year | Renew: $21.99/year |
Namecheap gives you some free things that GoDaddy charges for. For example, Namecheap includes free domain privacy, which hides your personal information. GoDaddy makes you pay for that.
Basically, for domain name registration, Namecheap is cheaper and gives you more for free.
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3. WPX – Best For High Performance & eCommerce Sites
Facts | WPX Hosting |
Uptime | 99.998% |
Average Speed | 0.6 Seconds |
Money Back Guarantee | 30 Days |
WPX hosting isn’t for those seeking entry level hosts. You can consider this GoDaddy alternative when you’re looking for a host that prioritizes high-end performance over budget.
I have been using WPX hosting on BloggersPassion for more than 8 years. Trust me, I finally settled on WPX after using many entry-level hosts and facing poor performance issues.
Why Should You Pick WPX Over GoDaddy?
1.) For Better WordPress & eCommerce Plans:
Besides powerful WordPress plans, WPX offers eCommerce plans that are in a similar price range to GoDaddy but provide better performance and features.
GoDaddy eCommerce plan costs $20.99/month, while WPX costs $29.17/month.
Here are the performance benchmarks I achieved after switching to WPX hosting:
Page loading time improved from 2.94 seconds to 0.6 seconds. My speed score improved from 82 to 100. Uptime also improved and reached 99.999%.
2.) For Expanding the Reach:
If your current host offers limited data center options, you might want to consider WPX.
WPX provides you with 3 data centers hosted in Chicago (USA), London (UK), and Sydney (AU). But that’s not the main point.
The main point is that WPX offers an inbuilt CDN (Content Delivery Network) with all plans, free of cost, giving you 41+ CDN points globally.
This ultimately strengthens your reach in every location. Regardless of how far your audience is from your data center location, this feature ensures your audience won’t experience any page loading speed issues.
3.) Free Site Optimization By Experts:
Another feature you only get in this alternative is “Free Site Optimization”. That’s the rare service offered by WPX experts
Even with the best hosts, performance dips can occur. For those who aren’t technical, WPX’s expert support is crucial. They’ve helped me fix my own configuration mistakes.
Pros & Cons:
Pros | Cons |
Only alternative that offers the top level performance | High pricing is the only problem here |
Advanced security hosting features are present including enterprise level firewall, fix for you guarantee, etc. | Free domain is not provided |
Simple hosting user interface is there |
Pricing:
WPX hosting offers WordPress (starting from $20.83/month) and WooCommerce ($29.17/month) plans in both monthly and yearly tenures. It is highly advised to try monthly plans first as it is risk free, and you’ll get a complete taste of WPX hosting.
Bottom Line:
If you have no budget problems and your web hosting goal is top performance and security, then I don’t think there’s a better alternative than WPX hosting.
4. WordPress.com – Best For Fully Managed WordPress Hosting Needs
Facts | WordPress Hosting |
Uptime | 99.999% |
Average Speed | 2.90 Seconds |
Money Back Guarantee | 14 Days |
You might not know about WordPress.com, but you can also host your site there. The great thing is that all their plans are fully managed, meaning you don’t have to worry about the technical side.
This hosting is owned by the Automattic company, which has a great reputation. This is the reason their hosting servers have been found to be the most reliable during testing.
You never hear anything bad about them. This company is known for the WordPress CMS and various plugins like Akismet spam protection and Jetpack.
Compared to GoDaddy, you don’t have to worry about high renewal rates because their base pricing and renewals are the same for all plans.
Why Should You Pick WordPress.com Over GoDaddy?
1.) Enterprise Level Security:
GoDaddy gives you basic security features after charging extra for add-ons, but that’s not the case with WordPress.com.
In WordPress.com’s hosting plans, you get real-time automated backups through the Jetpack plugin, a premium Akismet subscription for comment spam protection, and other security features like DDoS protection, proactive plugin monitoring, plugin auto-updates, etc.
You might have heard that WordPress CMS plugins are generally subject to attacks and hacking issues.
But if you host through WordPress.com, you get the proactive plugin monitoring feature, which continuously checks plugins for vulnerabilities, minimizing plugin breaching issues.
This type of high-level security feature you won’t find in other GoDaddy competitors.
2.) To Handle High Traffic at Ease:
WordPress.com servers have been found to be the most efficient in handling load in all my testing so far. I sent 100k+ traffic to a test website hosted on WordPress.com for 5 minutes continuously.
The great thing is that their server didn’t crash, and the average load time was just 1.67 seconds.
Pros & Cons:
Pros | Cons |
Same renewal rates every year can save a lot of money | Only USA located data centers are available |
Load handling capacity and servers reliability are great | Only 1 website is allowed in one paid plan |
Entry plans are not worth it all | |
Phone support is missing |
Pricing:
Although WordPress.com hosting plans start at $2.75/month, keep in mind that the Personal and Premium plans are quite useless because they don’t allow you to install custom WordPress plugins.
So, if you’re considering this host, you’ll need to choose either their Business plan or a higher-level plan according to your needs.
Bottom Line:
In a nutshell, if you’re looking for an alternative WordPress host whose servers are truly reliable, capable of handling high traffic, and focused on security, then you can give WordPress.com a try.
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5. Liquid Web Host – Best VPS Competitor
Facts | Liquid Web Hosting |
Uptime | 100% |
Average Speed | 0.6 Seconds |
Money Back Guarantee | 30 Days |
Many users are thinking of migrating from entry-level plans to VPS plans, and if they don’t like GoDaddy’s VPS plans, then let me tell you why you should try Liquid Web VPS hosting.
Liquid Web is a BIG name in the world of VPS hosting services. Their top highlights are a 100% uptime guarantee in writing, auto-scalability, and high-quality customer support.
Compared to GoDaddy, with Liquid Web, you can scale up to 12v CPUs, 32 GB RAM, and 900+ GB of storage. And guess what? Their plans are also priced well, starting from just $5/month.
Other benefits you’ll get in Liquid Web are 24/7/365 proactive monitoring and support for malware-affected sites. Such security perks are nowhere to be found in GoDaddy or its alternative VPS plans.
Overall, Liquid Web is a good fit for those who are looking for a GoDaddy VPS plan substitute. Just remember, their backend (hosting dashboard) isn’t user-friendly, and if you require cPanel, you might have to pay an additional $10 per month.
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GoDaddy Competitors Hosting Features Compared
This comparison table of GoDaddy’s competitors will help you double-check and finalize which host you want to choose:
Features | Hostinger | NameCheap | WPX | WordPress.com | Liquid Web |
Pricing | $2.69/month | $1.48/mo | $20.83/mo | $2.75/mo | $5/mo |
Sites | 100-300 | 3 – Unlimited | 5-35 | Only 1 | Unlimited |
Uptime | 99.998% | 99% | 99.95% | 99.999% | 100% |
Average Loading Time | 2.014 Seconds | 3.05 Seconds | 0.6 Seconds | 2.90 Seconds | 0.6 Seconds |
Storage | 50-200 GB NVMe | 50-100 GB SSD | 15-60 GB SSD | 6-150 GB SSD | Up to 960 GB SSD |
cPanel | Available | Available | Not Supported | Not Supported | Cost Extra Money |
Auto WordPress Install | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported | Supported |
Customer Support | 24*7 Live Chat | 24*7 Live Chat | 24*7 Live Chat | 24*7 Live Chat | 24*7 Live Chat |
Free Migration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Free Domain | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Data Centers | 10+ | 3 | 3 with 41+ XDN points | 1 | 3 |
AI Website Builder | Supported | Not Supported | Not Supported | Not Supported | Not Supported |
FAQs on Sites Like GoDaddy:
Which is the best GoDaddy competitor overall?
Hostinger is the overall winner and should be given first preference as it offers a benefit of balanced performance in an affordable budget.
I want extremely high performance…Which alternative should I pick?
If the performance is the first priority, then WPX gives you a maximum reliability and high speed score.
Which competitor is best for an eCommerce or online store website?
WPX WooCommerce plans or WordPress.com eCommerce plan can be considered good options to choose a hosting for an eCommerce store website.
Why wouldn’t I recommend Bluehost as a GoDaddy alternative?
Based on our testing, Bluehost performance is not good, and it also involves hidden pricing issues and high renewal cost. Hence, we do not recommend it as a replacement for GoDaddy.
Some More Web Hosting Alternatives:
- Hostinger Alternatives [Handpicked & Updated List]
- Bluehost Alternatives [Which Web Hosts are Better than Bluehost]
- HostGator Alternatives [So Many Good Options are Here]
My Recommendation For You:
If you want my honest opinion, I would give my first preference to Hostinger because it is in a similar pricing range to GoDaddy but offers extra perks like better performance, an AI website builder, and more fairly structured plans feature wise.
If you’re exploring an alternative for domain registration, then NameCheap should be your preferred choice. No matter which alternative you are going to pick, please read their respective reviews and then make a wise decision.