GoDaddy is one of the leading web hosting providers. Godaddy is an internet behemoth and a global titan in revenue.
But maybe the real reason why people choose the daddy solution is because it is attractive to rookies. Having a website for most people is technically challenging, so when people are choosing a web host they fall prey to marketing, and guess who has the biggest budget.
Well even if you are not with GoDaddy there may come a time when you have to scrutinize your web host. After all, web hosting companies are not created equal, Godaddy just happens to be the biggest.
Internet marketing confuses the issue
Just look at what happens when you search for biggest “web hosting provider” or best “web hosting company” the results are skewed because these are the search engine experts. In my opinion this is one of the most exploited search terms on the Internet.
Most people are not qualified to choose between hosting providers yet most small business owners and individuals make this decision on their own.
hostingadvice.com calls GoDaddy the grand poobah of web hosting companies. GoDaddy is referenced as the number one of the 10 largest web hosting companies in the world, GoDaddy hosts approximately 20.8 percent of all websites in the U.S..
Apparently, 1 in 5 American websites call GoDaddy home (according to hostingadvice.com.)
Godaddy has reached mass market appeal having appeared in most Super Bowls since 2005. Remember the Godaddy commercials with Danica Patrick? https://youtu.be/ri47wy0scmk 😅
Annual Revenue vs Amazon, Apple, Google, & Tesla
Let’s look at annual revenue first compared to Amazon, Apple, Tesla, and Disney. In 2020 they were at over 3 billion dollars in annual revenue! No wonder they could afford all those commercials.
Gross Profit
Just look at GoDaddy’s gross profit and you will see what web hosting is profitable with the big guys like Apple and Tesla. Their gross profit margin was 63.89% in December 2018.
Market cap
At $15.6 billion dollars in market cap, and $3.3 billion in revenue GoDaddy has a big footprint in the Internet and cloud based technology.
Our conclusion is based on years of dealing with Godaddy. We were using them when they first started, and we have had complaints ever since. Find a good host, but avoid GoDaddy. The experience is just not worth it and you may be constantly upsold.
Did you know, (according to Wikipedia on GoDaddy)) in 2001, soon after Network Solutions was no longer the only place to register a domain, GoDaddy was approximately the same size as competitors Dotster and eNom.
In April 2005, GoDaddy became the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the Internet.
As of 2018, GoDaddy is the world’s largest web host by market share, with over 62 million registered domains.
Their momentum has not stopped, and there does not seem to be an end in sight. I would have no problem with this if Godaddy made some changes as in the following:
- Add more technicians
- Do not upsell, bait and switch seems to work well with cheap hosting plans. But, that creates a horrible user experience
- Stop passing people over to WordPress Premium paid support. Get some more technicians on the line and provide free support for what you already provide. Godaddy and many hosts try to pass the buck to a paid for solution at every turn
Ok, we have vented. GoDaddy we wish you luck. Now it is time to think about better hosts.
If you want a good web host contact us. We will either host you ourselves or find you the best web hosting company for your business or personal website. You can deal with offthegridit instead of the hassle.
Long hold times with tech support
If you do call GoDaddy there is a guy named David there in their “Hosting Technical Support” department, he is a very knowledgeable technician so if you do get him you are in luck. I have had my share of long hold times with GoDaddy, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. the weird thing is, for a company so big why do I keep getting the same guy (is it a tiny department?)
What about security?
If you did not notice, GoDaddy purchased one of the leading web application firewall vendors in 2017. This is a distinct competitive advantage, with one of the leading security vendors and the data insights they may provide this gives them a leg up on the competition.
But that is not all the story, this gives many users a false sense of security. First, you can get Sucuri for any WordPress site not just through GoDaddy, but just because you have Sucuri defending your website it does not mean you will not get hacked. You still need to maintain and update the patches on your site to stay safe and one step ahead of the hackers.
Cloudflare and Sucuri are both worth considering for security but they may only cover certain aspects of your WordPress website. For WordPress specific security we like to recommend Wordfence.
Wordfence Security – Firewall & Malware Scan is a WordPress plugin that offers many compelling features that work:
- Web Application Firewall identifies and blocks malicious traffic. Built and maintained by a large team focused 100% on WordPress security.
- Protection from brute force attacks by limiting login attempts.
What about performance?
Performance has to be measured with fair performance metrics. And that is where many rookies fail. You have to compare apples to apples. There are so many metrics involved, most people outside of the networking and even in the web world are not qualified to answer this with solid facts.
We like to present clients with facts and actual performance metrics for their websites. There are many ways to do this an a competent admin will be available to provide you with reporting from these carious tools.
And finally content distribution networks (CDN) for better performance
Many people are not happy with GoDaddy, I am not the only one. But the fact that they bought Sucuri has made GoDaddy maybe slightly more appealing for the average rookie.
People use content distribution networks to speed up their websites and another layer of security and Cloudflare offers a free plan that is popular. Sucuri (GoDaddy) on the other hand does not offer a free version.
We recommend:
- Use a content distribution network like Cloudflare it makes a difference
- Cloudflare CDN can be found here: https://www.cloudflare.com/cdn
- A CDN can help speed up and secure your website
- What is a CDN? (by Cloudflare)
Sucuri vs Cloudflare CDN
Cloudflare has been the defacto leader in content distribution networks. But Sucuri has been gaining momentum for some time. Web admins are still on the fence about this whole GoDaddy + Sucuri deal.
But if you are with GoDaddy you still have a choice, only thing is rookies will not know this. Check out the comments below regarding this Sucuri vs Cloudflare for more humor. And, if you are looking for only a good firewall for your WordPress website consider Wordfence. Wordfence will work without breaking encryption on your website and unlike cloud alternatives (Sucuri and Cloudflare) does not break encryption, cannot be bypassed and cannot or leak data.
Keep your website documented
We have taking many people of GoDaddy and today we even support the people that are still using them. The best thing you can do is educated yourself, document your site, and make informed decisions. Things like web hosting implementations can not always be rushed, so careful planning can go a long way. When you have to deal with a lousy host sometimes you have to hurry up and wait.
- Make sure your documentation stays current
- Make sure you have a complete backup of your website along with the database (MySQL)
Problems with GoDaddy
Here is a list of problems we have had with GoDaddy:
- FTP timeouts (widely reported issue. We had this issue, I called and they said they had to “cycle the FTP service” which confirms the problems (FTP Service code 21, service unavailable, closing control connection)
- FTP Response 421 received, GoDaddy will probably blame your FTP client, or suggest you limit FTP connections to 1, this does not fix the problem
- GoDaddy Tech “Costa” suggested the problem we were certain was a server issue was my ISP or my computer and to call them!
- If you cannot duplicate the issue on your side then it is not their problem
- Constant upselling
- Front line tech support may not have interest in escalating calls
- Sucuri firewall too restrictive by default and GoDaddy frontline support is not qualified to support it. You will end up paying more for something you do not need.
- Their phone system is low quality. When you choose to press the hash sign you better press it right after she says now or you will be listening to some loud and annoying music on hold probably some southern trumpets or something like that played at excessive levels.
Tips
- You must ask for “Hosting” technical support if you are technical and know what you want. Many times the frontline support will not be able to answer your questions or do a deep dive.