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Best for Beginners
Best for WordPress Users
The best GoDaddy alternative for most users is Hostinger. It’s a user-friendly web host, great for beginners. Hostinger provides a broad range of easy-to-use tools for site and server management, along with a variety of features to help you build an online presence, all at a reasonable price.
Bluehost is another good alternative to GoDaddy, offering extensive tools to simplify first-time WordPress website creation at affordable introductory rates.
However, if you’re looking for the most affordable hosting around, IONOS is your best bet. It offers an introductory rate of just $1.00/mo for a mid-tier plan as well as long-term pricing of $3.20/mo for its bottom-tier plan.
In this guide to the best GoDaddy alternatives, we will take a closer look at Hostinger, Bluehost, and IONOS, using data from our hands-on testing to help you choose the best web host for your needs.
Compare the best GoDaddy competitors
Hostinger: Best for beginners
Bluehost: Best for WordPress users
IONOS: Best for budget hosting
Why do people look for GoDaddy alternatives?
Bottom line: The best GoDaddy alternative
FAQs
The best GoDaddy hosting alternatives
Compare the best GoDaddy competitors
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| Best for | Best all-in-one platform | Best for beginners | Best for WordPress users | Best for budget hosting |
| Star rating | ||||
| Starting price | Starts at $5.99/mo | Starts at $2.99/mo | Starts at $2.99/mo | Starts at $1.00/mo |
| Money-back guarantee | Yes, 30 days | Yes, 30 days | Yes, 30 days | Yes, 30 days |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.99% | 99.99% |
| Monthly visits | Unlimited | 25K - 200K | 40K - 400K | Unlimited |
| Number of websites | 1 - 200 | 3 - 100 | 10 - 100 | 1 - unlimited |
| Storage | 25 GB - 400 GB | 20 GB - 100 GB | 10 GB - 100 GB | 10 GB - unlimited |
| Free SSL certificate | Only for first year on base plan, permanent on all other plans | On all plans | On all plans | On all plans |
| Free domain for a year | On all plans | On all plans | On all plans | On all plans |
| Migration assistance | Starting at Hosting for WordPress Basic | On all plans | Separate paid service | Separate paid service |
| 24/7 support | Live chat, text message, and phone support on all plans | Live chat and email on all plans | Live chat, with phone support on some plans | Live chat and phone support on all plans |
| Learn more | Get GoDaddy | Get Hostinger | Get Bluehost | Get IONOS |
Hostinger: Best for beginners
What we liked
Intuitive WordPress tools: Hostinger offers guided WordPress installation and a site assistant with quick links and tutorials to help first-time website owners get started. These tools are included on all shared hosting plans, so you don’t need to purchase a specialized WordPress hosting plan to access them.
Simple account dashboard: Navigating and managing your account is easy with Hostinger’s streamlined, modern dashboard. Hostinger's hPanel is a user-friendly alternative to cPanel and is good for users of all skill levels.
Visual website builder: Hostinger provides a highly intuitive visual website builder with AI site generation tools and premade site templates. Like the WordPress tools, Hostinger’s website builder is available on all basic shared hosting plans.
What we didn’t like
Limited customer service: Hostinger primarily offers customer support via an AI-powered live chat, and connecting with a person can take some time. Email support is available, but this option can be so difficult to find that many users may not realize that it exists.
PCI compliance not ensured: Hostinger’s servers aren’t PCI compliant, so you’ll need to either institute safety protocols yourself or use a third-party service (like PayPal or Stripe) to process credit card payments on your site.
Test results
Hostinger had excellent uptime during our shared plan testing, and it performed admirably in our stress test, with fast response times and no failures. Site speeds also fell well within our recommended maximum of 3 seconds, with response times under 1 second for all testing locations, though Hostinger wasn’t as fast as competitors like Bluehost.
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| Uptime | 100% |
| Average response time | 138 ms |
| Did Hostinger pass the stress test? | Yes |
| Learn more | Get Hostinger |
Star rating summary
Hostinger received a solid overall rating in our review thanks to its beginner-friendly site and server management tools, robust feature set, and affordable prices. We rate it as the best web hosting service for beginners.
When comparing Hostinger vs GoDaddy, its starter plans are cheaper than GoDaddy’s equivalents and generally come with more storage.
Hostinger earned a near-perfect star rating of 4.9 because it is user-friendly and comprehensive, provides reliable performance, and is affordable for small- to medium-sized businesses.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 10% | 5.0 |
| Value and capacity | 18% | 4.2 |
| Performance | 20% | 5.0 |
| Features | 25% | 5.0 |
| Security | 20% | 5.0 |
| Support and reputation | 7% | 4.9 |
Bluehost: Best for WordPress users
What we liked
Extensive WordPress tools: Bluehost offers one of the best guided WordPress installation processes we’ve seen, including an AI website builder for WordPress. Bluehost also provides a site assistant with links to help you complete basic site creation tasks and the proprietary Wonder Blocks plugin for page customization options. It’s also notable that WordPress.org officially endorses Bluehost, based on its security, speed, and customer support.
Robust features: Every Bluehost plan includes the WordPress features we’ve mentioned, as well as automated WordPress updates, SSL certification, and CDN integration. These features simplify optimizing and maintaining the technical aspects of your site so you can focus on the creative side of things.
Impressive server performance: Bluehost offers fast, reliable server performance, including an above-average 99.99% uptime guarantee, which states that your site will not go down for more than 2 minutes per week due to server issues.
What we didn’t like
Communicating with customer service can be difficult: While we were able to connect with a human support agent quickly, their responses contained errors that made them difficult to understand, and they were not always knowledgeable about the services.
PCI compliance not available by default: Bluehost’s plans are not PCI compliant unless you take additional steps. You may need to spring for the more expensive dedicated or VPS hosting packages, which, when properly configured, give you the most control, but you can also achieve compliance by deploying a full CDN setup.
Test results
When we tested Bluehost’s shared plans, we recorded 100% uptime during our 5 days of monitoring. In addition, we found that our test site performed quickly and consistently during our speed and stress tests, with an average response time of around half a second across three locations and no failures during sudden traffic spikes.
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| Uptime | 100% |
| Average response time | 139 ms |
| Did Bluehost pass the stress test? | Yes |
| Learn more | Get Bluehost |
Star rating summary
Bluehost’s wide range of features, including its proprietary WordPress tools and affordable pricing, earned it a 4.8/5 rating in our review. We were also impressed by its SiteLock security suite, which makes it easy to run malware scans and other security checks to help keep your site safe.
Bluehost is a particularly good choice for WordPress users. Its plans are also generally cheaper than GoDaddy's, and it offers a significantly better uptime guarantee.
Bluehost received a high star rating of 4.8 due to its extensive web hosting features and reliable performance.
Bluehost offers everything you need from a web hosting service, but it's not as affordable as its competitors. We also believe the WordPress installation process could be improved.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 10% | 4.5 |
| Value and capacity | 18% | 4.2 |
| Performance | 20% | 5.0 |
| Features | 25% | 5.0 |
| Security | 20% | 5.0 |
| Support and reputation | 7% | 4.8 |
IONOS: Best for budget hosting
What we liked
Excellent security: IONOS goes beyond basic firewall and SSL certificates, offering DDoS protection, malware scanning, and daily backups. All IONOS servers are also fully PCI-compliant, unlike those from Hostinger and Bluehost.
Impressive analytics: While many web hosts offer some level of analytics, IONOS’s SiteAnalytics tool is one of the best we’ve encountered. SiteAnalytics displays the amount of traffic your site receives, where it comes from — with a tab for search engine traffic — and how users interact with your site. This reduces the need for you to add an analytics plugin to your WordPress site.
Affordability: IONOS plans offer introductory rates as low as $1.00/mo and long-term pricing as low as $6/mo, making it perfect for building a website on a shoestring budget. Higher-tier plans are also less expensive than competitors’ plans, allowing you to scale up without spending a fortune.
User-friendly WordPress tools: IONOS provides a guided WordPress installation complete with an AI website builder to help first-time site owners get started. The WordPress Cockpit further simplifies things with a site-building checklist and quick links to key areas of the WordPress dashboard. However, IONOS restricts these features to specialized WordPress hosting plans, so you won’t get access to them if you buy regular shared hosting.
What we didn’t like
Lack of support ticket and email support system: IONOS provides customer service only via live chat or phone, which may be an issue if you prefer to receive support via email.
Test results
IONOS had 100% uptime during our week of testing its shared plans, exceeding its already above-average 99.99% uptime guarantee. We were also impressed with its site speeds, which were under 1 second for all locations, and it performed very well during our stress testing, with no failures when the site was put under a heavy traffic load.
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| Uptime | 100% |
| Average response time | 311 ms |
| Did IONOS pass the stress test? | Yes |
| Learn more | Get IONOS |
Star rating summary
We found IONOS’s account, site, and server management tools remarkably easy to use. We also appreciated the robust security, especially the PCI-compliant infrastructure provided for all plans. IONOS is a great budget option, but when pitted against GoDaddy, it also comes out ahead in security.
IONOS received a high star rating of 4.7 due to its highly intuitive dashboard, comprehensive features for affordable prices, and impressive performance.
Although we had a positive testing experience with IONOS, it received in a lower score in the experience category due to the upsells on various pages of the dashboard. IONOS also lacks built-in content delivery network.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 10% | 4.5 |
| Value and capacity | 18% | 4.8 |
| Performance | 20% | 5.0 |
| Features | 25% | 4.5 |
| Security | 20% | 5.0 |
| Support and reputation | 7% | 4.9 |
Why do people look for GoDaddy alternatives?
GoDaddy is one of the most well-known web hosting providers in the world, thanks to its consistent and fairly aggressive advertising campaigns, including some uncomfortable Super Bowl commercials. However, it has a few key issues that lead many people to look for GoDaddy alternatives:
- Unusually high prices: GoDaddy’s lowest-tier plan starts at $5.99/mo, which is around double the introductory rates of Bluehost and Hostinger plans, while its managed WordPress hosting plans are even more expensive. Renewal rates are more in line with other hosts, but they’re still higher than many comparable plans from other companies.
- Poor security: GoDaddy doesn’t offer a built-in firewall on most of its shared hosting plans, and the lowest-tier plan includes SSL certification only for the first year. You’ll have to purchase a certificate as an add-on after that.
- Frustrating interface: GoDaddy’s interface is filled with upsells, making it unusually difficult to access certain tools, like the WordPress installer. You’ll also have to manually connect your domain and SSL certificate to your website, which are tasks that most hosts automatically complete for you.
While GoDaddy offers some impressive small-business services beyond web hosting, its web hosting plans aren’t the best option for most websites.
Bottom line: The best GoDaddy alternative
Hostinger is the best GoDaddy alternative for general use, as it provides access to a wide variety of tools and above-average storage on its basic shared hosting plans.
Hostinger’s not the only great GoDaddy alternative, though. We also recommend Bluehost for its advanced WordPress features, and IONOS for its robust yet affordable hosting plans. If you’re looking to leave GoDaddy or considering GoDaddy alternatives before signing up, these providers offer plenty of benefits.
How we test web hosting services
We use our proprietary grading rubric to evaluate web hosts based on performance, ease of use, features, support, and overall value. Our hands-on approach ensures our ratings reflect how each service actually performs in the real world, so you can choose a host with confidence.
Our process starts with signing up for each service and setting up a real website, just like you would. We run page speed, uptime, and stress tests to measure reliability and performance under load. We also explore the dashboard, test security tools, and contact support to see how responsive and helpful it is.
To learn more about how we test, check out our full testing methodology here.
FAQs
What is the cheapest alternative to GoDaddy?
The cheapest alternative to GoDaddy that we recommend is IONOS. It offers long-term pricing of just $3.20/mo on its lowest-tier plan and an introductory rate of $1.00/mo for its mid-range offering (which renews at $12/mo), making it a great, cheap GoDaddy alternative.
Can I migrate my site from GoDaddy to another provider?
You can easily migrate a WordPress site from GoDaddy to other web hosts that support WordPress. Site migration will be more difficult if you’ve used GoDaddy’s visual website builder, but it’s not impossible.
Why is GoDaddy so expensive?
GoDaddy has run high-profile ads for more than a decade and is one of the best-known hosting providers on the market, allowing it to charge higher prices. The company also regularly raises prices to boost revenue for its shareholders.


