A crucial part of creating a successful website is making sure that you have a good hosting service backing you up. Since there are a lot of big names circulating around the web, it may be a bit of a headache for someone who’s new to keep up and decide which hosting provider to go for. Some things to keep an eye on when deciding include infrequent down times, good customer service, and a fair pricing scheme that won’t break the bank.
Two of the biggest names in web hosting right now are GoDaddy and Cloudways. Which one is the better fit for you and your hosting needs? In this article, we’ll be comparing their performance, security features, additional features, and pricing schemes. Keep reading to find out whether one of these hosting services is for you.
Cloudways vs GoDaddy Comparison Chart
| Service | Cloudways | GoDaddy |
| Â |  |  |
| Price | Check Price at Cloudways | Check Price at GoDaddy |
| Free Trial | 3 days | None (30 day refund) |
| Server Locations | Everywhere except Africa and the Middle East | North America and Asia |
| Minimum Price | $10/mo | $5.99/mo |
| Maximum Price | $80/mo | $19.99/mo |
| Free Domain | No | Yes |
| Free Email | No | Yes (Office 365) |
| Free SSL Certificate | Yes | Yes (for Ultimate and Maximum plans) |
Performance
Cloudways is generally faster and more consistent, but GoDaddy doesn’t lag that far behind.
Two big points of comparison that are important when it comes to talking performance is how fast pages hosted by each service loads and how often downtimes occur. Server speed is top of mind for a lot of people looking for a good hosting service, since it inevitably effects how people using your website will feel about it. Even if you’ve got the most professional-looking website, no one’s going to appreciate it if it doesn’t load properly and in a timely manner. Cloudways ensures good speeds with cache advances like Varnish and Redis and even a cache plug-in called Breeze (available for CloudwaysCDN and on WordPress). GoDaddy, on the other hand, does its best to lighten their servers’ load by balancing between different servers.
The other thing that impacts performance greatly is uptime. Cloudways, with its wide selection of servers based around the world, generally delivers on its promise of 100% uptime for websites they host, and online reviews seem to agree too. GoDaddy, meanwhile, does encounter the occasional connection timeout or 503 error, but it’s generally up most of the time too. In both points, Cloudways takes a distinct but small advantage over GoDaddy.
Security
Both services offer top-notch security that makes sure your website is safe.
Website security is also very important. Luckily, both services have poured time and resources into ensuring that security is as good as it can be for any customers that decide to have their websites hosted by these services. For Cloudways, they do this through regular OS patches that address new vulnerabilities, firewalls that filter unwanted and unsafe traffic, and protection against brute force login and DoS attacks among others. They also have the option for two-factor authentication, adding another level of security to your Cloudways plan.
GoDaddy’s network security is also top-notch. It is active 24/7, protecting your website against DDoS attacks and other suspicious activity. Customers are also assured that any transactions done online through and with GoDaddy are safe, since their services are PCI-DSS compliant. AutoSSL is also included as a part of the plans, automatically assigning and renewing SSL certificates for your site/s. It’s convenient, and GoDaddy makes a point to emphasize that it’s also very cost-effective.
Pricing
Cloudways has a steeper entry-level price, but ultimately comes out on top.
Lastly, pricing has to be considered when choosing a hosting service. Both services have four tiers, catering to different needs. Cloudways’ cheapest plan is comes in at almost twice the monthly fee compared to GoDaddy’s economy plan, but that’s only if you take it at face value.
Online reviewers have noted that GoDaddy’s affordable 5.99-a-month plan is only really feasible for those who are looking for multi-year plans. If you’re looking to pay on a monthly basis, you won’t get to save as much, and paying more than Cloudways’ 10 bucks a month is a possibility. GoDaddy does also provide a domain and a robust website builder with their services, so they’re not exactly charging more for less. Still, accounting for every cent is a good idea when looking for a hosting service.
Customer Support
Both services have great customer service ensuring easy use for any customer.
When it comes to customer support, it’s important to have a desk that responds fast and gives helpful answers to their customers. Both services provide this through various media, like email and through their websites. Cloudways has a live chat that can help their customers with urgent concerns, as well as an email support service for other concerns. Forums are also available for Cloudways users to discuss problems and solutions they’ve come up with themselves.
GoDaddy offers all of the above, with the addition of support via phone call too. Video guides and a FAQ, manual, or knowledge base are also easily accessible for those who need it. This is particularly useful for GoDaddy, since it uses a lot of platforms that run on different operating systems, such as cPanel hosting for their Linux users.
Verdict
Cloudways has an edge in fairer pricing and performance.
Cloudways is the best choice for absolute beginners looking to start out and test different things with their new web hosting service. The performance is excellent with barely a stutter in terms of downtime, with great security guaranteed and a helpful customer support department that can help with any problem users may have. They also have a wider selection of servers to choose from, making downtime even less of a possibility than it already is.
GoDaddy also provides most of the positives mentioned above that its competitor gives, so it’s by no means a bad choice. However, it might be more suited if you’re already familiar with how web hosting works and just want to quickly set a website up with a lot of integrated services that GoDaddy offers. This is because of pricing: though GoDaddy might look more affordable at first, the discounts are only applicable for multi-year plans. If you’re sure about committing to GoDaddy then this is no problem; otherwise, Cloudways might be the better choice for you.
FAQs
No, it does not, since Cloudways is a Platform-as-a-Service company. For those interested in using cPanel, GoDaddy is the better hosting service.
The Cloudways free trial lasts three days.
No, and they also do different things. WordPress is a content management system where you can publish your blogs and websites. GoDaddy, on the other hand, is a hosting service that you can use alongside WordPress.
The most affordable plan that Cloudways offers is at $10/month; meanwhile, its largest plan is available at $80/month. They have a free trial for three days, which you can use to see if Cloudways is for you before you actually get a plan.
