GoDaddy is an American domain registrar and web hosting provider founded more than two decades ago. It is one of the largest companies in its sector, serving more than 20 million customers. The company employs more than 9,000 people worldwide.
GoDaddy offers domain name registration, cloud hosting, and a website builder. It also provides free digital marketing tools for customers.
We’ve thoroughly tested GoDaddy to provide a detailed, unbiased review. We evaluated the web hosting platform based on specific criteria including pricing, features, customer support, ease of use, etc.
Subscriptions and Prices
GoDaddy charges different fees for different domain names. The commonly used domain extensions such as .com, .net. and .org cost between $20 and $25 per year, while unusual domain extensions such as .cloud, .blog, and .today cost between $30 and $40 per year. However, some select premium domains can run up to hundreds or thousands of dollars. GoDaddy’s prices are significantly higher than what you get on competing platforms.
In addition, you can purchase SSL certificates for your GoDaddy domains. They cost between $95 and $245 per year.
Functions
You can register any available domain name through GoDaddy. One of the great things about the platform is that it offers a wide selection of domain extensions. The domain names are classified into two categories; generic top-level domain and country code top-level domain.
Generic top-level domain is the type that you can easily identify by a suffix associated with a domain name. They are not linked to geographic regions or special authorities. Any person or organization can buy them. Common ones are .NET, .COM, .ORG, and .CO.
Country coded top-level domains are domains that are generally used or reserved for a country or a special region. They are all two letters long, with abbreviations representing the names of different countries. Examples include .CA (Canada), .CU (CUBA), .DJ (Djibouti), and .CC (Cocos Islands).
Registering a new domain name on GoDaddy is easy. The first step is to visit the official homepage (GoDaddy.com). Once the homepage loads, you will see a search bar where you can check if your desired domain is available. If this is the case, you may immediately add it to the shopping cart. Otherwise, GoDaddy will prompt you to search for a new domain name or select a different variant.
If the domain name you want is already in use, don’t give up. You can try to acquire it, but in a different way than buying a new domain. The first step is to find out who owns the domain. You can do that by searching the public WHOIS database for contact details. This database contains the information collected when someone registers a domain name or updates their DNS settings.
There is a special GoDaddy WHOIS database search tool that you can use. If you type the domain name into this database, you should see the email address used to register it. In some cases, domain name owners turn on privacy protections so that their information does not appear in the WHOIS database. Such people are unlikely to receive offers for their domains.
If you see an email associated with a domain, you can contact them with an offer and wait for a response. This process often takes a lot of time, so be patient. There is also no guarantee that the customer will accept your offer.
GoDaddy also lets users participate in auctions for specific domains. GoDaddy Auctions is a marketplace for domain sellers to find potential buyers. It’s an auction-based model, so the buyer with the highest bid wins.
You can also transfer a domain name registered elsewhere to GoDaddy, and the process is quite simple. Likewise, you can buy free services for your GoDaddy domains, such as professional emails and an SSL certificate.
Interface and in use
Signing up and creating a GoDaddy account is quite simple. You can create an account with your email or a Facebook, Google or Amazon account if you have one.
GoDaddy’s tools are easy to use. The interfaces are generally neat, uncluttered and easy to navigate.
Customer service
GoDaddy offers 24/7 customer support via phone and live chat. These are different mobile numbers to contact depending on your country of residence. GoDaddy has over 20 million customers, so the support lines do get clogged every now and then when there’s a lot of demand.
The competition
GoDaddy’s main competitors are Namecheap, Bluehost, and IONOS. GoDaddy is more convenient and reliable than these rivals, but significantly more expensive.
final verdict
GoDaddy is a reliable domain registrar. It is easy to use and provides excellent customer support in difficult times. However, the main drawback of GoDaddy is that it is significantly more expensive than competing domain registrars.
In researching for this review, we also discovered a trend of customer allegations that GoDaddy is engaged in front-running domains. This is a practice where a domain registrar uses inside information (obtained from potential customers) to register domains for the purpose of reselling them. GoDaddy continues to deny engaging in this practice, so we’re not sure if the allegations are true.
To be on the safe side, you can search for the domains you want from other registrars to see if they are available before going to GoDaddy to register them.
