Looking for the best GoDaddy alternatives? Sounds good — there are plenty of other companies like GoDaddy that are worth considering.
Here's the thing: According to codeinwp, GoDaddy is one of the largest website hosting service providers in the world — but 'bigger' doesn't always mean 'best for you.' Some GoDaddy alternatives offer even more features or are more suited to a particular function.
Bottom line, GoDaddy isn't the only option if you're building a new website or starting a business. But which GoDaddy competitors should you check out?
In this article, you'll get a quickfire introduction to 10 of the best GoDaddy alternatives to consider for your website in 2021.
(Disclosure: This website is a part of Shopify inc. media properties. Although we strive to publish objective, accurate, and factual content, this article may contain biased opinions.)
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1. Shopify
Shopify isn't your standard domain registrar or web hosting service — it's actually a comprehensive yet simple-to-use business-building platform.
This GoDaddy alternative started its life as an ecommerce website builder and has since grown to provide everything you could need to grow your business online or in-store. For example, you can use Shopify to do things like:
- Register a domain
- Build a website for your business
- Customize the appearance of your site with pre-made themes
- Make your website do almost anything and everything with more than 6,000 apps
- Sell physical products, digital products, or services online
- Process credit card payments
- Manage your inventory, process orders, and print shipping labels
- Sync your online and offline activities with Shopify Point of Sale (POS)
- Grow your business from a few sales to a multi-million dollar powerhouse with different Shopify plans
Sign me up, right? Okay, but how much do all these features cost?
Well, you can register a domain with Shopify Domains for around $10-$100 per year, depending on the name and extension. Then, Shopify provides 3 core pricing plans for every stage of business:
- Basic Shopify: $29/month
- Shopify: $79/month
- Shopify Advanced: $299/month
These costs may seem like a big investment at first. However, if you want to build a business website, Shopify's features and functionality are all but guaranteed to help you grow your company further and faster.
In short, Shopify provides 3 key benefits:
- The platform is a one-stop-shop that's dead simple to set up and use.
- Every aspect of Shopify is specifically designed to help you grow your business.
- There are no limits to what you can accomplish with Shopify.
You can sign up for Shopify's 14-day free trial to check it out yourself.
2. Bluehost
Bluehost is a domain registrar and hosting website similar to GoDaddy. It offers wallet-friendly hosting services that you can use to create a website.
If you plan to create a blog or a website with WordPress, Bluehost is a good choice. To start, WordPress has officially recommended Bluehost since 2005. Plus, this GoDaddy alternative provides 3 different hosting plans optimized explicitly for WordPress.
Bluehost also offers some compelling free benefits when you sign up for a hosting plan, including:
- A free domain name for 1 year
- Free SSL
- Malware detection tools
- Automated security updates
- 24/7 expert support
In other words, this GoDaddy hosting alternative won't hit you with countless cross-sells during the checkout process that significantly increases how much you end up paying.
Bluehost offers 4 shared hosting plans — here are the prices based on an initial 1-year term:
- Basic: $5.95/month
- Plus: $7.95/month
- Choice Plus: $8.95/month
- Pro: $19.95/month
You can also access considerable discounts if you sign up for 2 or 3 years.
3. SiteGround
SiteGround is a reputable GoDaddy alternative known for its stellar technical support — as a customer of the service, you can get help via email, live chat, or by phone.
It offers 4 types of hosting services: web hosting, WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and cloud hosting.
Like Bluehost, this GoDaddy competitor is officially recommended by WordPress Plus, SiteGround's web hosting plans include numerous benefits, such as free:
- Domains for 1 year
- SSL
- Automatic daily backups
- CDN (Content delivery network)
- Professional email addresses with your domain name
- Managed WordPress and support
- Automated website migrations
Interestingly, SiteGround is also a good choice for the environmentally conscious. The platform's powered by Google Cloud, which matches 100% of the energy consumed by SiteGround with renewable energy.
SiteGround offers 3 web hosting plans — here are the 1-year sign up prices:
- StartUp: $6.99/month
- GrowBig: $9.99/month
- GoGeek: $14.99/month
Like Bluehost, SiteGround offers discounts whenever you sign up for longer than 1 year.
4. Domain.com
Domain.com is a popular domain registrar and GoDaddy competitor.
Like GoDaddy, it offers plenty of alternative domain extensions in addition to standard ones, such as '.tech,' '.biz,' and '.blog.'
Domain.com's hosting plans come with features like:
- Unlimited disk space
- Scalable bandwidth
- 24/7 support
- SSL
- The ability to create subdomains
This GoDaddy alternative provides 3 hosting plans to choose from, each billed annually:
- Basic: $3.75/month
- Deluxe: $6.75/month
- Ultra: $16.75/month
Unlike many of the other GoDaddy competitors on this list, Domain.com doesn't offer a discount for purchasing 2 or 3 years of hosting in advance.
5. HostGator
If you're looking for sites like GoDaddy with super-competitive pricing, look no further than HostGator.
This GoDaddy alternative offers 5 different web hosting plans for every need — here they are with their long-term prices:
- Shared hosting: $2.75/month
- Website builder: $3.84/month
- WordPress hosting: $5.95/month
- VPS hosting: $19.95/month
- Dedicated hosting: $89.98/month
If you're just getting started, you'll likely want a shared hosting plan — these plans come with a free domain (for the first year), free SSL, and free email. Not bad, right?
There are 3 plans to choose from:
- Hatchling Plan: $10.95/month or $3.95/month when billed annually
- Baby Plan: $11.95/month or $5.00/month when billed annually
- Business Plan: $16.95/month or $7.25/month when billed annually.
It's worth noting that — like most domain registrars and hosting sites like GoDaddy — HostGator offers cheaper pricing for the first year to get you hooked in. So, expect increased renewal fees.
6. Network Solutions
Network Solutions is another popular GoDaddy competitor for domain name registration and hosting.
This GoDaddy alternative was the first-ever domain registrar — it started way back in 1991! Although it's kept up with the times, Network Solutions isn't quite as flashy as the other Godaddy alternatives on this list.
Still, Network Solutions offers a range of services aside from domain registration, including web hosting, website security tools, search engine optimization (SEO) services, and a website builder. The service offers competitive pricing and renewal prices, too.
However, Network Solutions charges separate fees for many of its services, including professional email, WordPress management, and SSL certificates.
It offers 4 hosting plans — here are the costs for a 1-year term:
- Starter: $5.69/month
- Essential: $9.96/month
- Professional: $15.78/month
- Premium: $21.62/month
7. Dreamhost
Like Network Solutions, DreamHost has also been around since the 90s, and the company's a great alternative to GoDaddy.
DreamHost provides .com domain names for as little as $7.99 per year and offers 5 different types of hosting.
Plus, WordPress and shared website hosting plans start from as little as $4.95 per month with no contracts or commitments — which is ideal if you want to test out a new website, blog, or business idea.
These plans come with free SSL, 1-click WordPress installation, and WHOIS privacy protection for free. You can also add on professional email for $1.67/month.
Finally, this GoDaddy competitor boasts an easy and intuitive control panel to make getting started nice and simple.
8. NameCheap
With a name like 'Namecheap,' you'd expect to find cheap domain names, right?
Well, that's exactly what you'll get — Namecheap sells some .com domain names for just $8.88 for the first year. Additionally, shared hosting plans start from as little as $1.58/month when billed annually.
Here's the fee breakdown for the service's 3 shared hosting plans:
- Stellar: $1.58/month when billed annually ($18.44/year — renews at $33.88/year)
- Stellar Plus: $2.68/month when billed annually ($31.84/year — renews at $57.88/year)
- Stellar Business: $4.80/month when billed annually ($57.88/year — renews at $104.88/year)
These plans come with free WHOIS privacy, a SSL, website builder, 24/7 live chat support, and automatic backups.
What's more, like most GoDaddy alternatives, Namecheap also provides managed WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated server hosting.
Also, Namecheap doesn't charge you to transfer to the service — you would just need to pay the standard renewal fees.
9. Hostinger
Hostinger is another popular GoDaddy alternative to consider thanks to its range of services and highly competitive rates — such as .com domains for $8.99/year.
Services include a website builder, an online store builder, email, and cybersecurity services. Plus, Hostinger offers an array of beginner, advanced, and specialist hosting solutions:
- Shared web hosting
- Cloud hosting
- WordPress hosting
- cPanel hosting
- VPS hosting
- Minecraft hosting
- CyberPanel VPS hosting
All hosting plans come with a free SSL, managed WordPress, 24/7 support, and automatic backups. You also get access to DNS management, webmail access, and subdomains.
Annual shared hosting plans cost:
- Single shared hosting: $2.99/month
- Premium shared hosting: $5.99/month
- Business shared hosting: $6.99/month
10. WP Engine
WP Engine is a GoDaddy alternative entirely dedicated to WordPress hosting. It offers a robust managed WordPress service for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), agencies, and large enterprises.
The service offers 4 different types of hosting: Managed Hosting, Managed Hosting Plus, Secure Hosting, and Ecommerce Hosting.
And each of these hosting services has several different plans — for example, there are 5 Managed Hosting pricing plans:
- StartUp: $25/month when billed annually
- Professional: $49.17/month when billed annually
- Growth: $95.83/month when billed annually
- Scale: $241.67/month when billed annually
- Custom
WP Engine's specialism allows it to provide highly optimized services and features — which is why its hosting services are understandably pricier than most of the other GoDaddy alternatives on this list.
However, these fees do include numerous benefits, such as:
- Free SSL
- Website caching
- Threat detection & blocking
- Transferable sites (which allows agencies to handoff websites to clients)
- Page performance monitoring
- 24/7 chat support
It's important to note that this GoDaddy hosting alternative doesn't sell domain names. So, customers need to purchase a domain name from another hosting service and connect it to WP Engine.
Summary: 10 of the Best Alternatives to GoDaddy in 2021
As a leading domain registrar and web hosting provider, GoDaddy receives a lot of attention due to its size. However, there are many websites like GoDaddy worth considering for your website.
Many of these companies like GoDaddy offer free features and services as part of their hosting packages — and some are even cheaper than GoDaddy.
In summary, here are 10 of the best GoDaddy alternatives to consider for your website in 2021:
- Shopify
- Bluehost
- SiteGround
- Domain.com
- HostGator
- Network Solutions
- Dreamhost
- NameCheap
- Hostinger
- WP Engine
Which GoDaddy competitor caught your eye the most? Did we leave any great GoDaddy alternatives off this list? Let us know in the comments below!
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