5 Best GoDaddy Alternatives for Web Hosting
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If you’re in the market for a new provider, there are plenty of GoDaddy alternatives.
GoDaddy is known for its large domain registrar, and its website builder is pretty neat, too. But when it comes to GoDaddy’s hosting plans, they’re, well… a little meh.
GoDaddy’s hosting features are great, but it falls down on uptime, value for money, and support in comparison to its competitors. We’ve spent countless hours testing web hosting providers, and we now have a detailed rating system for the top companies – and the results are in.
What Are the Best GoDaddy Alternatives?
- Bluehost – Best overall hosting provider.
- HostGator – Best for uptime.
- InMotion – Best for shared and VPS hosting.
- A2 Hosting – Best for cloud hosting.
- SiteGround – Best for reliability.
Bluehost is our #1 pick for GoDaddy alternatives because it impresses across every important category, from pricing to customer support. HostGator’s 99.99% uptime is unbeatable, and InMotion excels in both shared and VPS hosting.
Our research covered every type of hosting, from shared and dedicated to VPS and WordPress. In this guide, though, we’ll mainly focus on what each provider is best at – after all, there’s no point in picking a provider with great shared hosting when you need a dedicated plan!
So, if GoDaddy doesn’t appeal to you, sit back and read on as we review the best GoDaddy alternatives for web hosting. We’ve tested each hosting provider extensively ourselves, and also consolidated notes and ratings from users like you. This extensive research has culminated in our five-star rating system below:
Further Information
- Best Web Hosting Providers – See our comprehensive list of the best hosting services on the market today.
- Hosting Comparison Chart – For a side-by-side look at the top hosting providers, use our detailed comparison chart.
GoDaddy Alternatives for Web Hosting
Now let’s take a closer look at the top ranked hosting providers: what are they best for? What types of hosting do they offer? And, most importantly, are they right for you?
1. Bluehost – Best Overall Hosting Provider
Bluehost is easy to use, has great uptime, and offers great value for money. Bluehost’s uptime of 99.98% means just under two hours of downtime per year. On top of that, it simply can’t be beat if you’re working with a WordPress website. In fact, it’s the top recommended hosting provider by WordPress.
Basic WordPress hosting plans range from $2.95 – $5.95 per month, but if your site needs to grow, you ought to upgrade to a WordPress Pro hosting plan which costs between $19.95 per month and $49.95 per month.
2. HostGator – Best for Uptime
HostGator’s 99.99% uptime is what really sets it apart, but a wide range of features and super scalable plans are also major benefits of this provider.
Does HostGator take a big bite out of your wallet? Relatively so, but you’re paying for the best of the business. Shared hosting starts from $2.75 per month, VPS ranges from $19.95 – $39.95 per month, while Dedicated costs up to $149.99 per month.
3. InMotion – Best for Shared and VPS Hosting
Featuring high on our list due to its large range of, ahem, features, InMotion is one of the best providers on the market. It offers unlimited disk space and free SSL on the basic plan, and multi-layer security on its dedicated hosting plan.
InMotion’s shared hosting starts from just $2.49 per month, WordPress hosting ranges between $4.99 and $114.99 per month, while dedicated hosting costs between $105 – $519.39 per month.
4. A2 Hosting – Best for Cloud Hosting
With 24/7 support 365 days of the year, A2 Hosting is always there to get you from A to B without a fuss. The highly trained ‘Guru Crew’ specializes in one-on-one customer support, while you also have access to live chat, phone, and email help.
A2 Hosting prices start from $4 per month for shared hosting, $5 per month for unmanaged VPS hosting, and $33 per month for managed VPS hosting. It’s not the cheapest hosting provider around, but it does provide anytime money-back guarantees.
5. Siteground – Best for Reliability
Trying to find solid ground for your website? Look no further. Siteground is the most reliable hosting provider that we tested.
While it doesn’t provide VPS hosting, which can hinder your website’s growth, Siteground does have a 99.98% uptime, has brilliant customer support, and provides a really user-friendly control panel.
Prices start from $3.96 per month for WordPress hosting, $80 per month for cloud hosting, and $269 per month for dedicated hosting.
| Provider | Shared Hosting | VPS Hosting | Dedicated Hosting | Cloud Hosting | WordPress Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluehost | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| HostGator | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (shared only) |
| InMotion | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (managed only) |
| A2 Hosting | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Siteground | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (managed only) |
Remember, just because a host offers something, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily right for you. Most providers offer most types of hosting, but some are excellent for one and poor for another.
Even then, you’ll have your own specific requirements. You may need lots of bandwidth for example, or storage space aplenty, and everyone wants to know how much uptime they’re getting!
Below, we’ll show you exactly what these six providers have to offer. We’ll also provide links to our full reviews of each service, helping you make the most informed decision.
#1: Bluehost
Best Overall Hosting Provider
It’s currently estimated that over 40% of active websites on the internet are built using WordPress. If you’re one of the world’s 75 million WordPress users, then Bluehost is the provider for you.
You can either opt for a shared or managed plan, with one-click installs and automatic WordPress updates. You can also get free backups, as well as unmetered storage space and bandwidth, and there’s no limit on the amount of websites you can host.
Bluehost Pros and Cons
| Bluehost Pros | Bluehost Cons |
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Further Information
- Bluehost Review – Everything you need to know about this top provider.
- Bluehost Pricing Review – Is it really worth investing in a Bluehost plan?
- Bluehost vs GoDaddy – See how Bluehost competes directly against GoDaddy.
- Best PHP Hosting Providers – See why Bluehost ranks number one for PHP hosting, too.
#2: HostGator
Best for Uptime
HostGator rules the roost when it comes to hosting. It offers great help and support across the board, unrivalled uptime of 99.99%, and decent features.
We’d recommend HostGator for large personal sites and big businesses. Its dedicated hosting comes with unmetered bandwidth, up to 1TB of disk space, and 16 CPU threads. You can even choose to host your site on Windows or Linux servers in one of two US based locations.
HostGator’s prices aren’t cheap in comparison to its competitors, but you are paying for a top-of-the-range service.
HostGator Pros and Cons
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Further Information
- HostGator Review – Our in-depth look at HostGator.
- HostGator Pricing – How much does it cost to host with HostGator?
- HostGator vs GoDaddy – See how HostGator stacks up against GoDaddy in all the key areas.
- HostGator vs Bluehost – Sink your teeth into HostGator’s clash with Bluehost.
#3: InMotion
Best for Shared and VPS Hosting
InMotion will be a great option for the majority of people reading this. Most websites are hosted on Shared or VPS hosting plans, and for those, InMotion is the cream of the crop.
As you can see from InMotion’s pros, its limited offerings are plentiful. You’ll also get access to a free website builder if you’re yet to create a site, and a very respectable uptime of 99.97%.
InMotion also has some great promotional offers on shared hosting for new customers (with extra discounts for Website Builder Expert readers – just follow the link below and this will be automatically applied). The Lite plan starts at just $2.49/month (if you pay for three years upfront), or $7.49/month if you pay monthly.
InMotion Pros and Cons
| InMotion Pros | InMotion Cons |
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Further Information
- InMotion Review – Our in-depth look at InMotion.
- InMotion vs Bluehost – See how these two top providers compare.
- Best VPS Hosting Services – If you’re after a great VPS host, why not see what else is out there?
#4: A2 Hosting
Best for Cloud Hosting
If website hosting is completely alien to you, A2 Hosting can help. A2 staff are there to guide you every step of the way, with responsive, helpful and expert support. If you’re not sold on the service, you can get your money back on any plan, any time.
As far as features go, A2’s VPS hosting is one of its best services. You get root access, free backups, unlimited sites and email accounts, up to 8GB of RAM, and 150GB of storage. You’ve also got the option of using Windows or Linux servers.
A2 Hosting Pros and Cons
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Further Information
- A2 Hosting Review – Learn more about this supportive provider.
- Best Web Hosting Services For Small Business – Gain a better understanding of who you should be looking at to host your business website.
- Best Cheap Web Hosting Services – After a bargain? Find out who gives you the most bang for your buck.
#5: Siteground
Best for Reliability
With Siteground, you’ll be sure your website is in safe hands. 99.98% uptime is perhaps the best example of its reliability, but it doesn’t stop there.
Siteground uses the classic cPanel dashboard, offers solid support, and has all the basic features you’d expect from a hosting provider. What Siteground don’t offer, though, is VPS hosting. That can be a bit of a deal breaker if you’re looking to upgrade from a shared plan.
Siteground Pros and Cons
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Further Information
- Siteground Review – Take a closer look at this provider.
- Siteground Pricing – How much does it cost to host with SiteGround?
- Siteground vs GoDaddy – Watch on as Siteground and GoDaddy do battle.
- Siteground vs InMotion – Two of the best GoDaddy hosting alternatives come face-to-face.
Are There Any Other GoDaddy Alternatives?
There are hundreds of hosting providers out there, and we’ve researched many more than just the five above. Some providers are great standalone platforms, and have unique strengths to offer that may be exactly what you’re looking for. But they didn’t make the top five because they scored less than GoDaddy in our overall rankings – although they might end up being your perfect fit:
iPage is great for cheap hosting plans, but these do come at the expense of loading speeds.
DreamHost is another strong contender. It comes with tons of storage space, so it’s definitely worth checking out if you have a lot of high-quality images on your site.
HostPapa and WPEngine may also be worth your consideration. The problem we found with these two was that Hostpapa’s renewal costs didn’t come cheap, while WPEngine is only suitable for WordPress sites – something Bluehost does better.
Further Information
- iPage Review – Get the lowdown on iPage with our main review.
- Hostpapa Review – Are the renewal costs all that bad? We reveal all in our review.
- WPEngine Review – If Bluehost just isn’t right for you, WPEngine is a serious candidate.
GoDaddy Alternatives for Web Hosting: Conclusion
GoDaddy is by no means a terrible hosting service. If you’ve purchased your domain and even built your website on GoDaddy, you may find it easier to keep all your bills in one place. But depending on what type of hosting you need, there are better options out there. Here’s a quick recap…
The Best GoDaddy Hosting Alternatives Are:
- HostGator – Best overall hosting provider.
- InMotion – Best for shared and VPS hosting.
- Bluehost – Best for WordPress specific hosting.
- A2 Hosting – Best for customer service.
- Siteground – Best for reliability.
Basically, HostGator covers all the bases, while InMotion and Bluehost each excel at certain types of hosting. A2 Hosting and Siteground are both excellent when it comes to some of those softer qualities that are no less vital.
To simplify things, we’ve put together a little table to show you the best hosting providers for each type of hosting, based on our research:
| Types of Hosting | Best Provider |
|---|---|
| Shared Hosting | InMotion |
| VPS Hosting | InMotion |
| Dedicated Hosting | HostGator |
| WordPress Hosting | Bluehost |
| Cloud Hosting | A2 Hosting |
These are mainly down to the features each provider offers and the cost of their plans. If you just want a nice, user-friendly host that’s reliable and comes with plenty of support, we’d recommend looking at either A2 Hosting or Siteground.
All providers come with free SSL security certificates and money-back trial periods, so why not take one for a spin? Get your website live today with any of these top hosting services.
GoDaddy Alternatives for Web Hosting: FAQs
Absolutely. Just because you’ve bought a domain name from GoDaddy, and/or created your site using its website builder, doesn’t mean you’re tied to using its hosting service too. There are plenty of other hosting providers out there that all specialize in different types of hosting.
Generally, most websites out there will be comfortable on a shared or VPS hosting plan. VPS hosting especially can handle thousands of weekly site visitors, and gives you more control over things like security and resource limits. WordPress hosting is the obvious choice if you’ve built your website using WordPress.
No hosting providers offer free plans, but you can use a free website builder, such as Wix. This way, you’re not paying a thing for the design, domain, or hosting. A word of warning though – you’ll have Wix advertising on your site, and a Wix sub-domain too.
Wix is the best all-around website builder. It’s easy to use, has excellent customer support and it gives you more creative control than GoDaddy. If you want sublime templates and the market’s most powerful design tools, Squarespace is a better option than GoDaddy.
It depends on your skill level and how much creative freedom you want. Self-hosted website builders like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace don’t require any coding and they sort the hosting and security for you. Hosted software like WooCommerce and Magento require strong coding knowledge, but you have unlimited customization.
Most hosting providers offer a free domain name when you sign up for one of their hosting plans. The best hosting providers to offer this include Bluehost, 1&1 IONOS, and HostGator. Aside from GoDaddy, some popular domain name registrars include Domain.com, Namecheap, and BuyDomains.
Website Builder Expert aims to provide you with honest data. That’s why we conduct our own research and obtain direct, personal insight.
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