Which Host Is Better? Bluehost VS GoDaddy – 2023 Comparison Guide

You will agree that having a successful website involves much more than just creating a great looking website with tonnes of features. One of the major challenges is to maintain the site after getting it hosted on a reliable web hosting platform.

In this article we are going to be comparing Bluehost vs GoDaddy, two of the most popular hosting providers, to help you decide which one is the best choice for your website.

When you’re building a website, choosing the right hosting provider is one of the most important decisions you will make. The hosting you choose needs to be reliable, fast, and offer the latest safety and security features.

After all, your website is your ‘baby’ so you will want to know that it’s in safe hands!

Website loading speed in particular can have a huge affect on your bottom line. Did you know that page loading speeds have a direct impact on your conversion rate?

Let’s take a look at the numbers.

A study by Think with Google found that when your page loading speed increases from 1 second to 3 seconds, bounce rate increases by 32%. What’s even more alarming is that loading speeds go from 1 second to 5 seconds, bounce rate increases by 90%.

Scary right?

So it makes sense to do everything you can to make sure your website runs as smoothly as possible. Choosing a great host is the best place to start!

In this article we are going to be comparing Bluehost vs GoDaddy, to help you decide which is the best option for your business.

The features we are going to be comparing in this article are:

• Uptime and Speed
• User Friendliness
• Performance
• Security and Backups
• Customer Support and Reviews
• Ease of migration
• Control Panel
• Bandwidth
• Money Back Guarantee
• Pricing

Whether you are starting a new website from scratch, or looking for a more reliable and more affordable hosting provider, we’ve got your back.

Both Bluehost and GoDaddy are reliable hosts with some great features, but there are a few differences that might mean one will suit you better than the other. So without further ado, here is our detailed comparative study about the various features of Bluehost and GoDaddy, along with the hosting plans and pricing plans offered by them.

Disclosure: When you purchase web hosting from Bluehost or Godaddy through links on this page, we earn some commission. This helps us to keep this site running. There are no extra costs to you at all by using our links.

Bluehost vs GoDaddy – Which is Better Web Hosting Overall?

If you’re in a rush, here’s our verdict…

Overall, Bluehost is by far the better web host choice.

As well as offering better hosting overall, Bluehost is much more user friendly. It simply offers better performance. This is especially true when it comes to their shared web hosting packages and WordPress hosting options.

Bluehost also offers exceptional WordPress managed hosting should you need a higher level of performance for your WordPress website. They are rated highly in our web hosting reviews as well as being officially recommended by WordPress as a preferred WordPress web host (along with Siteground and Dreamhost ).

Latest BLUEHOST Deal – $2.95 p/m + FREE DOMAIN NAME

Bluehost Vs GoDaddy Comparison Guide 2021

Before we get into the juicy stuff, let’s take a quick look at the history of these two famous web hosting companies, as well as what they offer…

Historic Comparison of Bluehost Vs GoDaddy

Bluehost (founded in 1996) and GoDaddy (founded in 1997) have almost exactly the same amount of experience.

Bluehost is owned by the Endurance International Group (EIG) and focuses mainly on web hosting services. GoDaddy offers other services in addition to web hosting, such as domain registrations and SSL certificates.

GoDaddy also became the world’s largest ICANN-accredited registrar in 2014, with over 59 billion domain names under its own management. It is also an online provider for several small businesses.

GoDaddy has always been known for its aggressive advertising, for example, its Super Bowl ads. This has made the company very popular in the general world, while Bluehost is only famous in the web hosting world. But, that doesn’t mean that GoDaddy is a better web host than Bluehost.

Bluehost

Bluehost was founded back in 2003 by Matt Heaton and Danny Ashworth in Utah, where they are still based today. It is one of the leading web hosting solutions in the world, offering fast, reliable hosting at affordable prices.

Bluehost powers over 2 million websites around the world. They have a huge team working around the clock to make sure that they can offer the best service at all times!

They have been an official WordPress partner for over 10 years now, so if you’re thinking of using WordPress to build your website, you can rest assured that you will be in safe hands with Bluehost!

The Main Features Offered By Bluehost

Bluehost offers more than just hosting. Here are the main services available from Bluehost:

• WordPress Hosting and Managed Wordpress
• Shared Hosting
• Dedicated Hosting
• VPS Hosting
• Domain registration
• Ecommerce websites
• Professional marketing services
• Professional email

Now, let’s find out more about GoDaddy.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy was founded in 1997, originally as ‘Jomax Technologies’. The company rebranded and changed their name to ‘GoDaddy’ in 2006.

It is the largest online services platform for entrepreneurs around the world. GoDaddy offers website hosting and domain registration services, as well as a website builder.

The Main Features Offered By GoDaddy

These are the main services available from GoDaddy:

• WordPress Hosting and Managed Wordpress
• Shared Hosting
• Dedicated Hosting
• VPS Hosting
• Domains
• Auctions (buy and sell domains)
• Ecommerce websites
• Website Builder
• Professional marketing services
• Professional email

GoDaddy has over 20 million customers globally, and over 7,000 employees around the world. They work around the clock to provide excellent service 24/7.

At first glance you might assume GoDaddy is the better hosting provider due to its sheer size. This is partly due to its aggressive advertising campaigns which have made the company very popular in the general world. Bluehost however, is mostly famous in the web hosting world.

Size isn’t everything though…

So let’s look at the individual features offered by each of these hosting companies.

Comparison of Hosting Features Between BlueHost and GoDaddy

It’s time to get into the juicy stuff. Here we are going to compare Bluehost and GoDaddy’s main hosting features one by one, so you can see exactly how they measure up.

Uptime and Speed – BlueHost WINS

Both Bluehost and GoDaddy have excellent uptime statistics of over 99.9% on average.

Data from Pingdom shows that Bluehost has never fallen below 99.9% uptime in the past two years on our test site. GoDaddy on the other hand has dipped below their promised 99.9% uptime a total of 5 times in two years.

Although Bluehost doesn’t offer a money back guarantee when it comes to uptime, they do promise to fix any issues within 15 minutes. GoDaddy offers a 99.9% uptime money back guarantee, so if your website uptime falls below this you can request a full refund.

Uptime is one of the most important things to consider when choosing hosting for your website or blog. Any downtime you experience can have a huge negative impact on your conversion rates as well as your brand’s reputation.

If a potential customer tries to visit your website and finds that it is down, they most likely won’t be returning later. Instead they will end up going to one of your competitors. That’s why uptime statistics matter.

When it comes to page load time, Bluehost and GoDaddy are pretty similar. However, Bluehost’s maximum server response time for any site is slightly lower than that of GoDaddy.

User-friendly – Bluehost Wins

Bluehost wins hands down again in this contest. From signing up to installing WordPress via the Bluehost control panel with just one-click, Bluehost is not only user friendly but it’s ideal for new bloggers and website owners to get up and running with their online presence.

Bluehost automatically installs the latest version of WordPress, so you will always have the most recent security updates for your site.

Once you have signed up to a hosting plan with Bluehost, you will be able to find everything you need to create a beautiful website within the interface. Bluehost has its own marketplace which gives you instant access to hundreds of free and premium website themes. Once you have found a theme you like you can upload it to your website with just a couple of clicks.

While GoDaddy does offer most of the same features, the functionality just isn’t as good. Their user interface is much less intuitive to use. GoDaddy offers a range of pre-build WordPress themes which you can install and start customizing straight away. It uses a drag-and-drop editor, so even if you’re completely new to building a website, you will be able to create something you are proud of!

Both Bluehost and GoDaddy offer a range of plugins that you can use to customize your website. From booking forms, customer chat windows, and online ordering – you will be able to completely customize your WordPress website.

Overall, Bluehost wins in this category. White both hosts offer easily editable themes, and a wide range of plugins, Bluehost is much easier to navigate and use.

Security and Backups – Bluehost Wins

Both Bluehost and GoDaddy offer free SSL certificates with their hosting plans, so you can be sure any personal data stored on your site is secure.

Bluehost offers several other security features to protect your website, including:

• Two-factor authentication on your account
• Automatic WordPress updates with the latest security features
• Account validation by token (when you are contacting customer support)
• SiteLock
• Daily backups for your site
• One click restore from backups

GoDaddy’s additional security features include:

• Automatic WordPress updates with the latest security features
• Malware scan and removal
• Nightly backups for your site
• One-click restore from backups

As you can see they both offer similar security features, however Bluehost goes a little further when it comes to the security of your website.

Performance – Draw

The data centers of GoDaddy and Bluehost are quite robust and their servers are pretty powerful.

Bluehost runs on AMD power centers and uses CPU segregation technology that allows it to intelligently control the CPU and protect your website against viruses and spam attacks.

GoDaddy’s servers run on Intel Core i7 processors and you can choose between Windows OS or Linux OS when you sign up for their services. In terms of performance, both web hosts seem to be pretty similar.

Bluehost Vs GoDaddy Customer Support – BlueHost Wins

When something goes wrong on your website you will want to know that you can access customer support for your hosting account, and resolve your problem quickly.

Bluehost offers unparalleled customer support by live chat and phone, and the support team is available 24/7 wherever you are. They also have an extensive knowledge base where you will be able to find articles, how-to guides and instructions on anything you are having trouble with.

GoDaddy also offers 24/7 phone support, but only in certain countries. This is great if you’re based in the UK, but if you’re based in Switzerland and your site goes down at midnight, you will have to wait until 9am for phone support.

All is not lost though. GoDaddy also offers 24/7 support via WhatsApp and live chat, so if you have a problem outside phone support hours you can contact them using one of these methods.

Overall though, Bluehost is the winner when it comes to customer support.

Ease of Migration – BlueHost Wins

If you are thinking of moving to either Bluehost or GoDaddy from another hosting provider, you will probably be wondering how easy the migration process is.

I have good news for you! Bluehost offers a professional migration service to take all of the stress out of migrating your website.

Bluehost offers a Site Transfer service for only $149.99. This service includes:

• Migration of up to 5 websites to Bluehost
• Migration of up to 20 email accounts
• Expedited service
• Uninterrupted transition for zero downtime
• Complete review
• 24/7 support, even after your migration is completed

This service is offered free for Managed WordPress plans.

If you are on a tight budget and you don’t want to pay for a professional migration service for your WordPress site, you can migrate your site to Bluehost manually. This step-by-step guide will tell you everything you need to know about moving your site from another host to Bluehost.

GoDaddy doesn’t offer a professional migration service. They do, however offer a free 1-click migration on their Managed WordPress hosting plans. If you are on a shared hosting plan, you can still migrate your site, but the process is slightly more complicated.

When it comes to migrating your website to Bluehost or GoDaddy from another host, Bluehost is the clear winner. Although there is a fee to pay, $149.00 isn’t a lot when it comes to the peace of mind you will get from knowing everything has been done properly, especially if you are a newbie.

Control Panel – Draw

Both hosting providers offer the industry standard cPanel as the control panel for hosting.

GoDaddy also offers an additional option in the form of the Parallels Plesk panel, as it even supports Windows hosting.

You can install several applications required for your site with a single click on both hosting platforms. Bluehost allows you to manage multiple sites easily with access to unlimited MySQL databases, while GoDaddy offers access to limited MySQL databases with its shared hosting plans.

Bluehost also offers automatic backups from its cPanel, while GoDaddy doesn’t offer the same. However, both allow you to conduct manual backups at no additional cost. In terms of user-interface, ease of use and flexibility on offer with the control panel, both web hosts are pretty similar.

Unlimited Bandwidth – Draw

Both Bluehost and GoDaddy claim that their hosting plans offer unlimited bandwidth. Sounds great doesn’t it?

Well yes… and no.

Unlimited doesn’t really mean that you get an endless supply of bandwidth. If your website is attracting hundreds of thousands of hits a month, then Bluehost and Godaddy will not just let you continue on their cheapest plans.

They will contact you and suggest you move over to an upgraded account where there’s plenty more resources that can handle your web traffic with no issues.

The vast majority of website owners will never experience the limitations of “unlimited bandwidth” purely because they just don’t get enough traffic to their websites for it to be an issue.

Money Back Guarantee – GoDaddy Wins

Bluehost offers a money back guarantee period of 30 days for all their hosting plans with a pro-rated refund policy. You can decide to make a switch to any other web host if you are unsatisfied, as long as you are within the 30 day refund window.

It’s worth noting that this money back guarantee only applies to the money spent on the hosting plans and not any other add-ons that you may have bought at the point of purchase, such as domain names or any other services that Bluehost offers you.

You can try out any of the GoDaddy hosting plans (annual only) for a period of 45 days before opting out. This considerably high money back guarantee period offered by GoDaddy indicates their confidence in their own services.

Thus, GoDaddy is the clear winner here. However, it may not matter much in the end as even a 30-day period is long enough to judge the kind of hosting services on offer.

Bluehost Vs GoDaddy Pricing Comparison

Now it’s time to look at the plans and pricing on offer from Bluehost and GoDaddy.

Bluehost Pricing

Bluehost offers three main plans to suit websites and blogs of all sizes. First of all you have the Basic plan, which includes 1 website, 50GB of SSD storage, Custom themes, 24/7 customer support, free domain (1 year), free CDN, and a free SSL certificate.

Next up is the Plus plan, which is perfect for small businesses. This plan includes everything from the basic plan, but also includes unlimited websites and unlimited SSD storage.

Last but not least is the Choice Plus plan, which is the one to go for if you’re a growing business. This plan includes everything from the Plus plan, as well as free domain privacy, and free automated backups for one year.

The cheapest price for any Bluehost hosting plan is $2.95/month + free domain name for the Basic shared hosting plan on a three-year subscription.

GoDaddy Pricing

GoDaddy has three main plans on offer. For anyone just getting started with a blog or business website the Basic plan is an ideal choice.

The Basic plan includes 1 website, 30GB storage, up to 25k monthly visitors, website backup protection with 1-click restore, automatic daily malware scans, free domain, free business email (1 year), and a free SSL certificate for the duration of your hosting plan.

Next up is the Deluxe plan. This plan includes everything from the basic plan, as well as up to 75GB storage, 100k monthly visitors, SEO optimizer (Yoast), and a 1-click testing site.

The Ultimate plan offers the best value, and includes everything from the Deluxe plan, as well as unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited malware removal and hack repair.

There is also an Ecommerce plan with WooCommerce. This plan is ideal for ecommerce business owners, as it includes everything from the ‘Ultimate’ plan, as well as no transaction fees, unlimited products, appointment scheduling, real time shipping rates, and free access to the top premium WooCommerce extensions.

The lowest price for a GoDaddy hosting plan is $6.99 per month (for the GoDaddy Basic plan with a three-year or two-year subscription).

Bluehost vs GoDaddy – Which is Cheaper?

Overall, Bluehost offers better value, with plans starting at just $2.95/month. The pricing of all Bluehost plans does increase after your initial hosting period, but overall they still work out to be cheaper than GoDaddy.

Bluehost also offers more storage than GoDaddy, even on the cheapest plan. Both hosting providers offer a free SSL and a free domain name.

Hosting Plan Features

You get a free domain name with hosting plans offered by both web hosts.

Bluehost offers only Linux hosting, while GoDaddy provides plans for Linux and Windows hosting. We will only compare the Linux hosting plans of GoDaddy with that of Bluehost, as GoDaddy is clearly the undisputed winner in terms of Windows hosting.

Subscription Type

The cheapest price for any Bluehost hosting plan is $2.95 p/m  + free domain name for the Starter shared hosting plan on a three-year subscription). The lowest price for a GoDaddy hosting plan is $3.99 per month (for the GoDaddy Economy plan with a three-year or two-year subscription).

With regard to the other hosting plans, especially the premium ones, Bluehost is more expensive than GoDaddy.

However, Bluehost also offers more comprehensive features, such as unlimited email accounts, unlimited MySQL databases, free ad and higher storage, than GoDaddy.

With Bluehost, you do not have the flexibility to subscribe to any of their shared hosting plans for a short term. You can only use the one-year, two-year or three-year subscription options with them. GoDaddy allows you to subscribe to their shared hosting plans for shorter terms, such as for three months or even one month (except for the GoDaddy Economy plan).

For other VPS hosting and dedicated hosting plans, you have similar flexibility offered by both in terms of subscriptions.

Verdict – BlueHost WINS OVERALL!

Overall… Bluehost is the winner! Bluehost is the best choice for anyone wanting to create a WordPress website. Their user interface is intuitive and easy to use, even if you’re a beginner!  They offer high performance hosting at an affordable price. Bluehost also provide excellent customer service, with 24/7 support, regardless of where you are in the world.

That’s not to say GoDaddy isn’t a good choice, there are some cases where you might find that GoDaddy is a better fit for you. If you don’t want to use WordPress, then GoDaddy would be a good second choice for you. Godaddy has a free website builder, similar to platforms like Weebly and Wix, which is great for those who want to build out a simple site quickly without using WordPress.

Also, if your website is relatively new and you do not wish to spend so much initially, you can go for GoDaddy’s shared hosting plans. However, as your traffic increases, you need better reliability and uptime. In such cases, Bluehost will be the right one for you.

Overall though, Bluehost is the best choice for anyone who wants to start a blog or a website for their business. As your blog grows you can easily move up to higher plans to suit the level of traffic coming to your site.

If you want to check out Bluehost for yourself, head over to their website to view the plans and access our exclusive discount.

Still undecided? Check out our in-depth reviews of the best hosting companies, to find your perfect match.

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