Posted by Bluehost VS GoDaddy are two competitors in today’s world that help you build an online presence in the form of a website. Whether you are an individual professional, you operate a startup, or have a medium to large-scale enterprise—having an online presence that is vital needs a suitable host.
As hosting and website maintenance requires specific skills, you may want to emphasize these things. You are, however, more likely to go with a web hosting company that has been in business long enough to acquire your trust. There is every possibility that you will come across two hosting providers known as Bluehost and GoDaddy on the web.
Bluehost
With its establishment in 2003, Bluehost is a name that is well known in the web hosting world. The company provides a broad range of hosting services that encompass everything from web hosting, WordPress hosting, and VPS hosting to dedicated hosting.
Running its servers in a 50,000-square feet facility based in Utah, Bluehost sees itself as an innovator that is forward-thinking with a desire to bring its customers the latest and most remarkable technologies at affordable prices. From novices to well-seasoned web hosting professionals, Bluehost has got something to offer. Shared hosting is the most popular among its services for static websites and is an affordable way to host a WordPress website.
GoDaddy
Being one of the oldest companies in the world, GoDaddy was conceived in 1997 by Bob Parsons, an American entrepreneur, and philanthropist. These days, GoDaddy powers the most major cloud platform dedicated to small and independent ventures worldwide. Many people who know nothing about web hosting are familiar with its name due to aggressive advertising in the newspapers and on TV.
GoDaddy has several hosting options, including shared hosting, dedicated IP hosting, WordPress hosting, and premium DNS servers. Considering that GoDaddy has always started beginners that are just building their online presence, it should not be a surprise that its shared web hosting receives the most attention. Nevertheless, you should not see GoDaddy as a convenient entry point in the web hosting industry because there is so much you can achieve even with shared hosting plans.
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#1 Best Hosting Service - Bluehost
Bluehost vs. GoDaddy: Vital features
1. Domain registration
They both come with free domains on all annual plans. Bluehost’s domain registration cost starts from $11.99 for the first year and $17.99 upon renewal yearly. The cost of domain privacy protection is usually $1.88 yearly, but particular hosting packages are free.
2. Website builder
To help establish a website, Bluehost integrates easily with Weebly and WordPress.org. You can create a website easily by using the drag and drop feature on Weebly without having to learn to code. You can also use it for free to establish a simple website of up to six pages. But if you want advanced features like password protection for your web pages or custom themes, you can upgrade to a paid plan that costs about $8.99 monthly.
GoDaddy, on the other hand, does not offer any free version of its website building tool. Its website builder, formerly Go Central, starts at $1 per month to have a personal plan that is somewhat cheap. It emphasizes simplicity and user-friendliness, allowing users to utilize already made templates and drag and drop interfaces. SEO and eCommerce tools on higher plans.
3. Database
Bluehost grants unlimited MySQL databases on all plans, while GoDaddy provides complete access to its shared hosting plans. GoDaddy also offers fewer email accounts when compared to Bluehost.
4. WordPress Hosting
Both Bluehost and GoDaddy provide particular hosting options for WordPress. However, it is noteworthy that Bluehost is one of the few hosting providers recommended by Automatic, the organization behind WordPress.
GoDaddy, on the other hand, provides “managed” WordPress hosting where the company takes care of things that relate to the installation, daily backups, and updates for you.
5. Website migration
If you already have a hosting provider and are looking for how to switch to Bluehost of GoDaddy, you will want to ensure that you don’t have technical issues. The good news, however, is that neither of them makes website switching complex.
Bluehost grants a professional website migration service for a fee of $149.99, handling up to 5 websites and 20 email accounts. You do not need to possess any knowledge of migration.
On the other hand, switching your website to GoDaddy involves more work. It is free because GoDaddy does not offer a complete hands-off migration process. Non-WordPress websites have to migrate manually, which involves downloading files from your website from the old hosting provider and then uploading all of them to GoDaddy.
6. Money-back guarantee
Bluehost provides a 30-day money-back guarantee which is only applicable to the money spent on the hosting plan itself and not other products and services like domain names, administration costs, and other add on.
GoDaddy’s money-back guarantee is quite different from most companies. If you go for an annual domain, you get a money-back guarantee of 30 days. It is, however, limited to 48 hours if you go for the monthly plan. The actual refund is a portion as it does not cover domain names and other parts of your project. Take time to read through its terms and conditions.
7. Ease of use
Bluehost’s panel comprises a simple and classical interface, while the backend is polished and organized into tabs for clarity.
GoDaddy, on the other hand, has a sleek and straightforward panel. However, if you operate multiple websites, things could go out of proportion.
8. Speed
The time GoDaddy pages take to load is relatively high compared to that of Bluehost, especially when there is website traffic. When testing with minimal traffic, Bluehost was said to manage a load time of fewer than 2.4 seconds while GoDaddy exceeds 2.6 seconds.
9. Security
Bluehost provides SSL certificates on its plans, and the rest comes with a price. For instance, the company offers a tool known as Code guard that lets users back up their files. Code Guard is, however, only free with higher-tier plans. If you purchase a basic plan, you would have to pay extra to have the Code Guard feature.
Bluehost also requires you to get Site premium to guard against malware across your websites, like protection against malicious script injection and brute force attacks. Security tools like Spam Experts filter your mail and protect you from receiving malicious emails or domain privacy that keeps your private information from charging a separate fee.
Pros and cons of Bluehost
Pros
- Free domain name for the first year
- Free SSL certificate
- Free content delivery network
- There is unlimited web traffic and storage space.
- It is fast and reliable.
- It provides excellent customer support.
Cons
- It does not provide free website migration.
- There is no monthly pricing option.
- The renewal rates are high.
Pros and cons of GoDaddy
Pros
- It gives a free domain name for the first year.
- There is unlimited bandwidth.
- The disk space provided is limitless.
- It offers excellent customer support.
Cons
- It lacks essential features in basic plans, such as SSL certificates, backups, and security.
- Renewal rates are high.
- The money-back-guarantee is quite confusing.
#1 Best Hosting Service - Bluehost
Who should use Bluehost?
Bluehost is the best choice if you are searching for a web hosting provider with a strong reputation.
In addition, Bluehost is for:
- Anyone that wants to go into blogging
- Anyone that needs to set up an SME website
- Anyone that wants to make payment for extra bandwidth
- Small to medium scale businesses.
- Anyone that wants their website to be flexible in terms of looks.
Who should use GoDaddy?
GoDaddy provides several features and services. There is a particular market it caters to.
The list is as follows:
- Online business people: these people want to establish an online business where they can post their products and blogs, then charge consumers online to process payments.
- New website owners: if you are in search of a company that makes it seamless to launch your website, GoDaddy has the tools for you to begin.
- WordPress builders are people who want to use WordPress as their CMS or web development tool and still want a faster hosting service to register their domain on another platform.
- Local businesses: Local businesses that wish to boost their online presence can use the SEO tools on GoDaddy. If used properly, the company can appear at the top of search rankings, which goes a long way to boost traffic.
In conclusion, Bluehost and GoDaddy are reliable hosting platforms that guarantee your safety irrespective of your choice. They have been in existence for many years on the internet horizon and have a good grasp of what they are doing. Your choice of either Bluehost or GoDaddy will solely depend on the needs that are specific to you and your budget.
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