GoDaddy has been around for what seems like ages. This GoDaddy Review should set the record straight, once and for all. They were established in March of 1999. I am sure at one time you have seen the Super Bowl commercials or the popular T.V. advertisements. They do offer the same type of supports as its’ competitor Hostgator does, and they do have a toll free number, however it usually takes about 3 minutes to get in contact with an online operator, which isn't too bad. GoDaddy is simply an intermediate to advanced hosting service that offers web-hosting space at the cheapest price possible. You will learn why I don't recommend them in this review.
Features
Like a lot of other hosting companies they offer three different types of hosting, Economy, Deluxe, and Premium. With Economy, which is $3.59/month, you get 5 GB of space with 250 GB of bandwidth. Also you get one domain with Economy. Deluxe (the best offer) for $6.99/month you get 100 GB of space and 1000 GB of bandwidth with unlimited domains. However, Premium (the most expensive) you can lock in for $14.99/month gives you 200 GB of space with a massive 2000 GB of bandwidth, with of course, unlimited domains. They do offer various packages, such as VPS and dedicated hosting packages, as well.
GoDaddy does use their own control panel (Plesk), which is kind of quirky to work with, but I would just recommend that you download your own FTP client so that you do not have to use their Cpanel. Their unique control panel is not equivalent to Cpanel. However, they do offer Windows and Linux hosting. They do support Windows,SQL Server, ASP, and PHP, but they don’t allow enterprise manager connection for the SQL server. So you are required to use their interface for SQL server, which is a task in its’ self. I would like to caution you that if you use PHP I would highly recommend that you use Linux hosting. Way too many limitations for me!
Performance Matters
GoDaddy is like a rocket ship in terms of speed. Not exactly, I didn't know this until I switched from GoDaddy, because I kept getting 500 errors on my blog portion of this site. It was very frustrating and I noticed very long loading times with GoDaddy. Their performance is among the worst. GoDaddy is nothing compared to InMotion hosting (which I switched this site over too.) They use only the latest server technology, which allows their servers to run at maximum speed, but seriously split test it and you will see they don't perform at all! Also, their uptime for their servers is better than the industries standards. Because they are such a big company they can afford to provide their customers with the latest technology. But, maybe they need to spend some of their marketing money on keeping their customers happy. I certainly was not happy with them, and this site used to get hacked weekly and GoDaddy told me "not our problem." Now that is customer service, don't you think!
Bottom Line
If you want the fastest speed possible than go with InMotion, because GoDaddy doesn't do it. Also, their Cpanel is kind of difficult, but if you can tolerate it you should be fine. (some down right HATE it.) They have received a couple complaints about their customer service, but all and all ,I have found it to be a cost efficient web hosting company, with sub-par speed. True, you can purchase your domains with GoDaddy, but I HIGHLY encourage you to host them elsewhere. Some do like to pay a one time payment (for web hosting a year), so in case this is you, you should read this review on FatCow. Also, GreenGeeks is now offering a $30 a year plan with a free domain, which is a steal for the money! This site was actually hosted by GoDaddy at one time, but I switched to InMotion. GoDaddy just seems to be a lot of broken promises! I hope this GoDaddy review was helpful in determining if they are right for you.
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