Hostinger vs GoDaddy: A Side-by-Side Comparison

When it comes to pricing, Hostinger and GoDaddy are very affordable options, with starting prices under $10. However, GoDaddy is better value for money because of its free forever plan, cheap fees, and range of features you get with your subscription.

How Much Does GoDaddy Cost?

• GoDaddy’s pricing ranges from $9.99 to $20.99 per month (billed annually)
• GoDaddy offers three premium plans
• You’ll need the $20.99 per month Commerce plan to sell online
• Build your website with GoDaddy’s free plan

How Much Does Hostinger Cost?

• Hostinger’s pricing ranges from $1.99 to $2.99 per month (for a 48-month term)
• Get three months for free if you choose a 48-month subscription
• You’ll need the $2.99 per month Business Website Builder plan to sell online
• Hostinger has a seven-day free trial (there’s no free plan)
• Hostinger’s renewal fees are steep – e.g., the $2.99 plan increases to $10.99

The Winner

GoDaddy is better value for money

GoDaddy’s plans aren’t cheaper than Hostinger’s, but you can build a website for free with GoDaddy and test out its features before committing to a plan. Plus, with three premium plans to choose between, businesses have greater flexibility and room to grow with GoDaddy.

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Hostinger is an easier website builder to use than GoDaddy. Hostinger’s setup process takes seconds thanks to its straightforward AI website builder, plus you get a personalized template out of it. All I had to do was fill out some basic information about my business and describe my brand for the AI prompt.

Once you’re in the editor, Hostinger uses the popular drag-and-drop style to make things easier. With a simplified sidebar of tools, I found myself getting into the swing of things almost instantly. Hostinger is really intuitive to use, and the design options and AI tools for content creation can help bring your site to life in minutes.

GoDaddy offers a great user experience as well, thanks to its speedy setup, basic editor, and focus on beginners. All in all, the onboarding process took seconds and I could publish my site in minutes if I didn’t want to make any extra changes. Although I do recommend taking some time to review your site’s content so you can add important  information and target keywords.

GoDaddy doesn’t have a drag-and-drop editor, but you can stack sections on top of one another to build your pages. Some users might prefer more control, but I recommend picking GoDaddy if you want a hands-off approach. I don’t like GoDaddy’s design options as much as Hostinger’s, but it’s a good option if you want to build a simple site.

The Winner

Hostinger is very beginner-friendly

Hostinger’s website builder is slightly more user-friendly than GoDaddy’s because of its drag-and-drop editor, AI tools, and intuitive navigation. That said, GoDaddy is still a good option for beginners.

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Neither Hostinger nor GoDaddy are at the top of the pack when it comes to website features. If you’re looking for the best tools for your site, then Wix is my go-to choice by far. But, based on our testing, GoDaddy offers slightly better features than Hostinger – with emphasis on the slightly.

Both builders offer the basics, such as:

• A free custom domain name for the first year
• SEO tools
• Email marketing support
• Social media integration
• Blogging tools
• Mobile editing

Unfortunately, Hostinger and GoDaddy also have no app markets, so you’re stuck with the built-in features you get through your plan. So, what gives GoDaddy the edge? It’s primarily GoDaddy’s booking tools, ad features, and the ability to create members only areas. Hostinger either lacks the functionality, or offers a very stripped-back version.

The Winner

GoDaddy's features are slightly better

With GoDaddy, you get access to a greater range of website features, but you do need to upgrade to a premium plan to unlock them all. Despite having no app market, GoDaddy remains a top choice for beginners and small businesses because of its built-in tools, such as its social media calendar and post creator.

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Hostinger and GoDaddy have some of the best AI website builders on the market, but did you know about their other AI tools? From content creation to AI assistants, I’ve listed the key AI features below:

The Winner

Hostinger has a growing suite of AI tools

Hostinger offers a variety of AI tools to support personal sites and online stores. Plus, its suite of AI features continues to grow, with Hostinger Horizons and Hostinger Reach introduced this year.

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If you want to sell products online, you’ll need an ecommerce website builder. Hostinger and GoDaddy both offer a single ecommerce plan to help get your online store up and running. Pricing for these starts at $2.99 per month (Hostinger) and $20.99 per month (GoDaddy), so Hostinger is considerably more affordable for new businesses.

That said, Hostinger’s sales tools are quite simple and aren’t suitable for larger stores. These tools allow you to:

• Sell up to 1,000 products
• Offer appointments
• Product management tools
• 0% transaction fees
• 100+ payment methods
• Express checkout for Stripe users

Similar to Hostinger, GoDaddy’s ecommerce functionality lacks the scalability of other major builders, like Shopify. GoDaddy’s ecommerce plan lets you:

• Sell unlimited products
• Offer appointments
• GoDaddy Payments
• POS integration for in-person selling

The Winner

Hostinger is a better choice for small businesses

Hostinger’s ecommerce plan is incredibly affordable, making it a great option for side hustles and small businesses. You can only sell up to 1,000 products, but this will be more than enough for most new companies. That said, you’ll want to consider alternatives to Hostinger or GoDaddy when your business needs to expand.

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Both Hostinger and GoDaddy encourage you to design your website with AI. However, the builders also offer professionally-designed templates if you aren’t keen to use AI. You’ll need to customize them further in the editor to add your brand assets and identity.

GoDaddy’s templates are fairly lackluster, but there are over 200 to choose from. You can filter these by industry or website type, such as “Photography” or “Restaurants & Food.”

In comparison, Hostinger has a smaller offering (around 150+ templates), but the design quality and variety is far superior to that of GoDaddy. There’s a greater choice of categories to filter by as well. For example, I could sort by industry, such as “Fashion” and “Real Estate,” or I could filter by style, such as “Modern” or “Creative.”

The Winner

Hostinger's templates are more modern

If you don’t want a personalized AI-generated template, Hostinger’s themes are well-designed, sleek, and stylish. I could browse and preview options in the library, and Hostinger accommodates most major industries.

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For customer support options, Hostinger and GoDaddy are a little underwhelming, but Hostinger just takes the lead because of its responsiveness. Here’s what you can expect from both builders:

When put side-by-side, you might think GoDaddy deserves the win here, instead of Hostinger. Both builders offer responsive AI-powered live chat channels and a variety of contact options. But, based on my testing, Hostinger’s knowledge center is far more detailed and thorough. It directed me to useful guides to answer my queries, whereas GoDaddy struggled to support me in the same way.

The Winner

Hostinger's support is very responsive

Hostinger’s 24/7 support channels are responsive and genuinely helpful. And, in comparison to GoDaddy, Hostinger goes the extra mile when it comes to editing and designing your site. You can view your setup checklist at any time when in the editor, open Kodee to ask a direct question, or request a tour of the editor for extra assistance.

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I’ve built websites with Hostinger and GoDaddy, meaning any insight or tips I share throughout this review have been shaped by my personal experience with the builder. We’ve also put each platform through our in-house research process – this helps us determine our rankings and recommendations.

Our research team has spent over 300 hours analyzing data across six core areas of investigation, including pricing and user experience. You can read more about our methodology below.

It’s a close race between Hostinger and GoDaddy, but the builder you decide to sign up for will depend on your business and unique needs.

Based on my testing, Hostinger is the better option because of its AI tools, affordable plans, and beginner-friendly editor. GoDaddy, on the other hand, offers a simplified platform with great social media features.

If you’re still unsure, I recommend testing things out with Hostinger’s seven-day free trial or GoDaddy’s free plan. This will give you a chance to get familiar with each platform so you can find the perfect fit for your business.