GoDaddy Logo

GoDaddy

star star star star star_border

Author: Jenna Vasquez

LAST UPDATED: February 23rd, 2022

Former USMC veteran Bob Parsons founded GoDaddy in 1997. Specializing in domain registry and reselling, GoDaddy also offers multiple services, including managed hosting, website building, email integration, and other web-driven services. With more than 60 million domains under management, GoDaddy currently has more than 14 million customers around the world.

GoDaddy is known for its excellent customer service and has a large variety of domains available for purchase. Each domain type comes with its own yearly price, but bullk pricing is also available. The company provides security features with its domains and has a mobile app to help users manage their online presence.

Go Directly to GoDaddy Reviews

thumb_up

The Good

  • Price
  • Other TLD prices
  • Number of TLDs available
  • Bulk price
  • Security features
  • Mobile app
  • Customer support
  • ICANN accreditation

Price

If you want to purchase a .com domain with Go Daddy, it will cost $11.99/year. The one thing notorious about GoDaddy's prices is that the first year's price is very low and balloons up to a higher price the following year, locking customers in to the higher price. (Currently that higher price averages at $14.99-$15.99/year). All domains come with the following:

  • Simple domain set up - no technical skills required
  • Easy domain forwarding to any existing website
  • Up to 100 subdomains to customize your site
  • 100 professional email aliases

Compared to other domain name companies, both of GoDaddy's prices are in line with most domain registrars in the industry.

Other TLD Prices

For additional Top-Level Domains, such as .org, .net, .co, .info, etc., GoDaddy charges an average of $11.99/year. Different extensions have different perks included. For example a .net TLD costs $14.99/year and includes free domain parking, automatic domain parking, total DNS control, change of registration option and status alerts. 

Other domains that are available include .shop, .io, .health, .world, and more at varying prices.

Number of TLDs Available

According to one of GoDaddy's Live representatives, when asked how many Top-Level Domains (TLDs) they offer, the answer was "A LOT". Upon further research, it appears GoDaddy offers hundreds of domains. Some companies only offer around 100 different TLDs and a few offer over 500, making GoDaddy on par with the average domain registration company.

GoDaddy also offers personal domains that can be used for a variety of reasons. Personal domains can be used as a resume or portfolio website as well as point users to social networking pages. A personal domain is also useful in creating a professional email address from that domain name.

Bulk Price

Customers purchasing a large number of domain names are offered the option of signing up for GoDaddy's Domain Discount Club. The Domain Discount Club discounts the price you pay for bulk domains, but it also includes revenue-generating extras like CashParking Premium and a GoDaddy Auctions membership. GoDaddy's discount program offers a percentage ranging from 16% to 40% off particular domain names. The discount percentage depends on the extensions, # of domains, and # of years on the domain. GoDaddy does not have responsive links to the discount pricing page information, so it is not available. Some domain companies offer a discount pyramid, where you get 10% off for 100 domains and so forth.

Security Features

GoDaddy offers customers security features for their domains. They can get WHOIS privacy, which hides their personal information on the public WHOIS database, which is $7.99/year for each domain and $14.99/year for additional privacy and Business protection. Business protection includes protected registration to prevent accidental domain expiration or malicious transfer, certified domain seal to show visitors your domain is valid and a Business Registration Card to show viewers in the WHOIS directory. GoDaddy's $7.99/year fee is less than the industry average of $9.99/year.

Mobile App

GoDaddy is one of the very few companies who offer an app for mobile customers with Apple or Android devices. The app is free and has a 4+ iOS rating and a 4.1 Android rating. The GoDaddy app offers:

  • Ability to check email, find great domains and manage your online presence from anywhere.
  • Register and manage domains with DNS control, forwarding, nameserver management, and renewal.
  • Send and receive Go Daddy email in our Mobile Workspace mail client.
  • Manage Dedicated and Virtual Dedicated Servers, Email accounts, Online Store order, Hosting essentials, account settings, and Online Files.
  • Search, browse, track, bid, make an offer, and purchase domains in the GoDaddy Auctions Domain Name Aftermarket.
  • Renew your products, and receive notifications about upcoming expirations.
  • Learn more about tools: Hosting, Web Builder, SSL Certificates, Email, Shopping Cart, Servers, and more
  • Save time with our remember account features and express checkout.
  • Look-up WHOIS domain registration information

Customer Support

Go Daddy is known for its 24/7 customer support and is arguably the best in the industry. Throughout their website, "Help" options appear everywhere on the website, from the header to the footers of all website pages. They have a Live Chat window (which pops up excessively on every page while you're visiting their site-which can get annoying). However, their Live Chat is really live in contrast to some domain companies have "live chats" that function as email support tickets. There is also a GoDaddy Help page, where common questions are asked and answered by GoDaddy representatives in the comment section. Unlike many domain registrars, GoDaddy does not have email support. They pride themselves on being a "live" support provider.

ICANN Accreditation

Yes

Visit Site

thumb_down

The Bad

  • ICANN fees
  • Cross selling
  • Simple domain transfer policies

ICANN Fees

GoDaddy's mandatory ICANN fee of 18 cents is indicated on their website. While most domain name providers include this fee in their advertised cost, GoDaddy tells customers this through a small print notice at the bottom of their home pages. Although the fee is only 18 cents, it does change the advertised price and puts off some customers. Some domain registrar companies add on ICANN fees at the check out and those companies that have these fees scored lower than those that didn't. Other companies fail to mention whether or not they had those fees included.

Cross Selling

GoDaddy is infamous for its upsells during the checkout process. They offer 5 upsells, 4 of which are the full contents of one of the checkout pages as you scroll down for the button to click to the next page. GoDaddy has improved from years ago when they assaulted customers with aggressive, annoying upsell pop-ups throughout the checkout process. Compared to the majority of domain registration companies, GoDaddy annoys users with their aggressive upselling techniques, making consumers go through several additional screens of sales pitches in order to buy a domain name.

Simple Domain Transfer Policies

Customers wanting to transfer their domains to another registrar will find that the term "how to transfer a domain away from Go Daddy" comes up on Google's first page. They offer a detailed information page with step by step instructions. The process, GoDaddy says, takes 10 days to complete. This is longer than the average 5-7 day timeframe most companies promise customers. Additionally, GoDaddy customers are not eligible to transfer a domain for a 60-day period after the following events:

  • Registering or transferring a domain name
  • Updating the registrant contact's organization
  • Updating the registrant contact's first or last name and an organization is not listed

Customers also cannot transfer a domain for a 10-day period after changing their domain from one GoDaddy account to another using their Account Change Process. GoDaddy generously answers questions posed in the comment section on the external transfer instruction page on their website. The overall conclusion is that GoDaddy may be "creating delays" with long wait periods to avoid losing business.

gavel

The Bottom Line

GoDaddy is famous for its low introductory prices for domain names and excellent 24/7 customer support. Customers should be aware the price they sign up for will increase at the end of the first year. (The higher prices are still manageable at the locked-in rate of $14.99-$15.99/year). They're also one of the very few companies who offer an app for mobile customers with Apple and Android devices. GoDaddy is ICANN accredited. While the company is infamous for a large number of upsells during checkout, the amount of different domains available and competitive first year pricing make GoDaddy a worth a look when searching through domain registrars. 

Was this content helpful?
thumb_up Yes thumb_down No

Star Rating

info

4.1

star star star star star_border

109 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

52%

4 grade

22%

3 grade

15%

2 grade

4%

1 grade

7%

Sentiment Criteria

Value

star star star star star_half

Quality

star star star star star_border

Service

star star star star star_border

Trustworthiness

star star star star star_half
cancel
info
star star star star star_border

KimDugan Kailua, HI

Probably approaching being the last word in building domains. Setting up a domain here is easy and the customer service, for me, has been fast and responsive. I have set up maybe 3 or so domains in the past year, so I'm more of a moderate user, but have not had a bad experience yet. I set up two e-commerce stores and one informational site for a musician. The only real drawback here is if you care about supporting small businesses. GoDaddy is sort of the Amazon of domain registration companies and eats up the little guys. Money in their pockets? Sure. But if you have any sort of hangup with that, ethically, you might want to keep searching. Other than that, haven't had a bad experience yet.

5 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Lesa Burgess Pleasant Grove, UT

I was drawn to choosing GoDaddy for my web hosting because of all of the Super Bowl ads that they do, so I felt that they're marketing was better than every other web hosting out there. GoDaddy's uptime is consistently fast with their uptime as well as their page speed. For me, slowness drives me crazy and is a dealbreaker. So it was refreshing to have fast uptime and speed from the start. I was NOT a fan of GoDaddy's plans. You don't want to go with the lowest priced plan because then you are limited so it's better to go with their Deluxe plan at around $5/month. Worth your money. If you're ok with those things as well as other renewal type fees, then GoDaddy does the job and it does it well.

8 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Cam Hall Palmyra, VA

I've used GoDaddy to purchase ~3 domains and to built/maintain a small site for a micro business, and have been super impressed with how much they've grown and improved from just domains to a full service site. I've also used Wix and Weebly, and I think GoDaddy does a great job of offering tools to people who buy domains through them to make the jump from domain to stable (simple) website. I don't prefer their website builder, but I love their domain purchase/management tools.

4 years ago Edited January 3, 2022

star star star star star_border

Thomas Hullinger Pleasant Grove, UT

They are a company that can help you build the website you need for yourself, your company, or even for organizations that you are a part of. Very easy to work with and it turned out great.

8 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Chelsi Day Ghiorzi Columbus, OH

I use this service for a couple domain names. Its fine. The website is so hard to navigate if you're not a tech person. I don't interact with it much because of that. However, it did help me find available domain names and has been pretty smooth once I got them purchased.

4 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

TTeep Smithfield, UT

I currently use GoDaddy for most of my domain hosting. I like most of their services, especially their pricing. However, I have had several small issues with things like forwarding not always working. Also, I wish they had a little better pricing on their privacy, I hate to double my price simply to not promote my name.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Mimi Jones Salt Lake City, UT

I have used GoDaddy.com for over 10 years for my business. They are affordable and their customer product is well designed. They have helped me create a simple website and I have feedback from my clients that it is easy to use from their computer as well as their mobile device. I will continue to use GoDaddy.com

7 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

JAKE American Fork, UT

We have used Go Daddy to build our website/domain. It was a fairly easy process. We had a few issues with the billing but they were fairly quick at helping us resolve it. I have found other website builders that have been a little easier to use. So this was ok but not particularly the best for us.

7 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Lindsey A Brown Lehi, UT

I was in need of creating my first website for my first small company and GoDaddy.com was who I went with. Very pleased with how easy it was to use and how many great reviews I read when searching out who to go with. Fairly inexpensive as well for the annual price.

7 years ago

star star star star star_border

Jeffrey Salas Gilbert, AZ

They will provide the necessary resources to design your website and do it well, they are well established they are far reaching and will go above and beyond to ensure the web designing/building is done smoothly without hiccups.

7 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

otis90 Preston, ID

I have used GoDaddy.com to create 3 domain names for a product I am trying to develop. I have found it very user friend with easy to login access. I get renewal emails as reminders which are very helpful

5 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Zac Cannon Long Beach, MS

I used GoDaddy for a personal website for a couple years. The layouts are easy to get around and updating the site is easy enough. It is reliable and I didn't have many issues with the site crashing.

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Jonny Hancock Draper, UT

Recently I secured a website name from GoDaddy.com and the process was fast and easy. I was able to buy my web name for $19 in matter of minutes.

9 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Nick Hansen Eagle Mountain, UT

Was very easy to reserve a few different domain names. I created the websites hosted on GoDaddy though the built in WordPress. Super easy to use/navigate!

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Randy Rhodes Pleasant Grove, UT

Have used GoDaddy to acquire business domains. Service seems really good and well defined. Easy to use web site that is quite intuitive.

6 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Tony Riverton, UT

Bought a couple of URLs on GoDaddy and it's very easy to use. Site also sends you helpful renewal reminders and provides hosting if needed.

6 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Katie Marz Orem, UT

I always use go daddy.com when I want to snag a website name. They have great options and know exactly how to go about getting one started.

7 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Douglas Larson Pleasant Grove, UT

They have hosted many of my domains and do a decent job. Their interface has improved over the years, so that makes it helpful.

8 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Noureddine Lalami Brentwood, CA

Pros: A lot of domain names to choose from. Cons: They tend to be expensive and they always try to up-sale you.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Joannetta Jarman Secaucus, NJ

Super easy to use. We don't know a lot about websites but we were able to find our way around the site easy enough.

5 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Chelsea Horrocks Salt Lake City, UT

My favorite thing about go daddy as of right now is that they showed me how much I can sell my url for. Love that!

7 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Mike John Logan, UT

Confusing at first, but great customer support. Great products and services

4 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Sofie Rosenvall Alpine, UT

GoDaddy.com provides a super simple set up, easy to use. 4 Stars!

8 years ago

check_circle

Review Source

star star star star star_border

Rocio Diaz Tallahassee, FL

Good and easy to use but can be expensive.

4 years ago