There are hundreds of web hosting service providers out there. It can be quite difficult to make the right choice for hosting your website. BlueHost and GoDaddy are two of the most popular and successful web hosting providers and there are many reasons why you are most likely to end up choosing one of them. But how to choose the better one from these two domains and hosting services? Here we compare the two.
BlueHost Web Hosting
Shared hosting is the specialty at BlueHost, which is the most commonly used hosting type. They offer one of the most comprehensive packages you can come across. They offer lots of unlimited features including:
- Unlimited disk space
- Unlimited email accounts
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited hosted domains
- Unlimited customer support through live chat, phone, email and tutorials
Their unlimited hosted domain feature allows you to host multiple domains on a single package. You will not have to spend money for hosting your different websites. Even if you have a single site, don’t worry because you are spending minimal possible amount. Besides, there are many free hosting features like:
- Free customer support
- Free site builder
- Free domain name
- Free marketing credits
SimpleScripts
This is BlueHost’s “Appstore”, where you can get up to 8 dozen third party apps. Choose the right app for your site and click to install them in minutes. You need a CMS, shopping cart software or WordPress, all is available here.
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GoDaddy Web Hosting
GoDaddy has a slightly different approach to web hosting. This hosting service provider offers various products, which is both good and bad. Some of their products are perfect, but others fall short by huge margins.
They start with offering you a free domain name. But you will have to register all of your domain names. However, the domain names are available at affordable prices. If you are going to setup an ecommerce site, this provider offers one of the best SSL certificates.
GoDaddy offers all types of hosting plans:
- Shared hosting
- Virtual dedicated servers
- Dedicated servers
- Cloud servers
BlueHost vs GoDaddy Web Hosting Features
BlueHost offers Basic, Plus, and Pro plans. GoDaddy offers Economy, Deluxe, and Ultimate plans. They are on different lines and you cannot compare them directly. But the two hosting providers can be compared on the core features – number of sites, databases, and storage space.
If you are looking to host a tiny site and want a very cheap plan, BlueHost’s Basic Plan or GoDaddy’s Economy plan are perfect. There are limited sites, databases and storage space.
When it comes to other plans, it will be best to compare on the basis of databases. BlueHost doesn’t put any limitations on databases on their Plus plan. On the other hand, GoDaddy has a Deluxe plan which is almost comparable to the Plus plan, but has a limitation of 25 databases.
Then GoDaddy has an Unlimited plan that offers:
- Unlimited desk space
- Unlimited domains
- Unlimited databases
- SSL Certificates
- Premium DNS
But the last two features are not essential if you are hosting a non-ecommerce site.
Memory
Memory is another good comparison factor between BlueHost and GoDaddy’s features. This can be specifically be of importance if you are going to set up WP hosting. BlueHost has recently increased its minimum memory limit to 256 MB. But GoDaddy has kept it lower as earlier. They increase it only if you pay them an additional $12 annually.
As an overall comparison, BlueHost is better on the top-end plans and GoDaddy is better on the middle plans. Features are almost equivalent on the lower plans. But the same cannot be said for the additional set of features which are not offered as part of the standard hosting plans.
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Performance
As a website owner, you want your site to load faster. This is important not only for better user experience, but for better search engine rankings too. Today, BlueHost doesn’t have the same performance levels as it used to have once. This is especially the case for its Plus plan. But the Pro plan has comparable performance to GoDaddy’s equivalent plan.
Price Differences
It can be quite difficult to compare both these web hosting providers on price. BlueHost has always been cheaper when you compare the two providers for the long term. But the recent changes in price plans have given GoDaddy the edge. When it comes to renewal, you will find that BlueHost can be a little more expensive every year.
The Pro Plan from BlueHost starts at $23.99 per month and offer everything as unlimited. If you sign up for long-term, they may offer a discount and the plan can cost just $13.95 per month.
GoDaddy’s Deluxe plan can be compared to BlueHost’s Plus plan (but it limits the number of databases as mentioned above). It is priced at $8.99 per month but discounts can bring it down to just $4.99 per month. Their Ultimate package offers unlimited databases and is priced at $14.99 ($7.49 per month with discounts). The plan also offers Premium DNS and SSL certificates.
When it comes to the cheapest plans, both BlueHost and GoDaddy are neck to neck.
Customer Support
Both BlueHost and GoDaddy make big claims about their customer support options. Both offer in-depth FAQs and knowledgebase and 24 by 7 phone, email and live chat support. They also have helpful active forums.
When you compare the phone support response time, BlueHost keeps you waiting for an average of 3 seconds. GoDaddy can keep you waiting up to 11 minutes. BlueHost is almost always faster, and the experience is “great” via both phone and email. With GoDaddy, you will have to wait a few minutes over the phone. However, overall they help in fixing the problem.
Eventually, answer to the question – which is the better web hosting provider, depends on you and your needs. If you are looking for a cheaper plan and your hosting needs are small, GoDaddy is the better options. BlueHost is the better provider if you are need solutions at the pro level.