5 Reasons to Avoid GoDaddy Web Hosting

When most people think of websites and domain name registration, they probably think of GoDaddy. Despite being one of the biggest name in web hosting, GoDaddy has a number of issues keeping it from being the reliable service it claims to be. We avoid working on GoDaddy with our clients, and many other agencies feel the same, so why is it so popular? Whether from a commercial starring a celebrity or athlete or an online ad that looked straight out of the 80s, GoDaddy has made itself known as a leading name in domains and website hosting, but I can confidently say they don’t live up to the reputation.

Trendy ads and big names have gotten the word out there, but GoDaddy doesn’t live up to the promise of its eye-catching advertising, so much so that we named it one of the web hosting services to stay away from! While the service remains a go-to for site management and domain registrations, its web hosting services leave most users wanting more. At The 215 Guys, we’ve already had enough with GoDaddy, and I’m going to tell you why!

Here are 5 reasons you, your e-com store, or your business should avoid GoDaddy web hosting.

1. Slow and Unreliable Web Hosting

Every tech company has technical issues, but GoDaddy’s hosting problems leave users waiting hours without their website. I’ve spent hours dealing with frustrating connection or speed issues, and I’m sure you have too. Not to mention when the service is up and running, the system seems to be powered by hamsters in wheels. When the service is down, it leaves domain owners and users without traffic or sales. Just wait until you’re trying to get an annual or holiday offer on your shop only to find that it isn’t even up! Thankfully, we make sure our clients don’t experience those issues.

User horror stories can be found anywhere reviews are available, detailing inconvenient downtimes that leave them asking for better servers or asking for refunds.

2. Numerous Data and Malware Breaches

Whether you’ve used GoDaddy for domain registration, website or blog hosting, or even as an email subscriber, you might want to check on your data. I’ve had to change numerous passwords thanks to them and there’s a good chance you have too. While we’ve never had a client’s information stolen while using the service, GoDaddy is infamous for several data and malware breaches that have led to thousands of user’s data getting into the wrong hands. They have had a notable data breach for at least 3 years in a row, starting in 2020.

The suspects did everything from stealing code to installing malware, and it always seems like their customers are suffering more than GoDaddy themselves. If you want to see just how this happened, you can’t. GoDaddy is still ‘investigating’ the breach into their web hosting services, leaving all of us wondering when, not if, it will happen again.

3. Constant Upselling

GoDaddy gives tips and tricks on how to upsell and cross-sell on your website, and they know them from experience. I hate annoying ads, and if you’ve spent any amount of time on the GoDaddy platform you’ve likely been inundated with upsells keeping you from doing your work. I just want to make a website for my clients, stop trying to get me to buy another feature I should already have! Not only that, but our clients don’t know as much as we do about GoDaddy’s incessant offers. Not only does it slow down our services but some of our own clients have fallen prey to GoDaddy’s upselling practices, leading them to pay hundreds more than they should, and I hate to see that happen.

The World Wide Web is now home to dozens of web hosting services, you should choose the one that isn’t always nickel and dime you. All I want to do is set up my site without hassle and constant pop-ups or offers - is that so hard?

4. Expensive and Ineffective SEO Tools

Most website hosting services offer some form of SEO. Search Engine Optimization is key to driving traffic, finding your market, and boosting sales. We've spent years crafting SEO for ourselves and clients so we can confidently say we're as close to experts as you can get. As such, we can tell you GoDaddy’s SEO services don’t even live up to the most basic of SEO standards.

When you’re already paying for an upgraded bundle, you’d think GoDaddy would offer access to its poorly-reviewed SEO toolset. You’d be wrong. For the affordable fee of $6, you could do all the work yourself, or for the nominal fee of $50 a month, you could have the folks at GoDaddy do it for you. The reviews are in: you shouldn’t.

5. No FREE SSL Certificate…which means NO free encryption

I love free features! Everyone does, right? Let’s Encrypt is a useful way to obtain and manage your SSL and TLS certificates - unless you use GoDaddy. We love accessing free features for our clients and their websites, but you won’t get that from GoDaddy. Countless users have tried to use Let’s Encrypt on GoDaddy only to find out it’s essentially impossible. Even Let’s Encrypt themselves have written about how difficult it is to obtain SSL certificates on GoDaddy’s system. I don’t want my clients to have to choose between security and cost, and neither should you.

It’s almost as if they’re trying to remove a completely FREE option to get you to pay for their service. I already told you about the upselling, didn’t I?

Choose your Web Host wisely!

Bigger doesn’t always mean better. When it comes to Website Hosting services, we all want the same things: reliable service, affordable hosting, and a user-friendly interface. GoDaddy has gone out of its way to get its name out there, so why haven’t they worked on having the backend live up to that awareness? Unfortunately, a user-friendly experience doesn’t always create the most profits, and that seems to be the goal here. The 215 Guys have dealt with so many issues in the past that it’s now in our contracts that we won’t work with GoDaddy’s web hosting. We’ve helped many of our clients move from GoDaddy, making sure they get the experience they deserve.

No free encryption certification that could give your website the protection it needs against bad actors. Constant upselling trying to convince users that their current plan isn’t adequate, but why should they spend a few more bucks to get a better one? Over time, GoDaddy has become an archeological relic compared to its competitors. A2 Hosting, Hostinger, and DreamHost are just a few of the up-and-coming names in Website Hosting that we’re excited about. They’ve proven to be reliable, user-friendly services that can help anyone from a one-person shop to a multi-national corporation - and they don’t come with a lengthy list of problems.