Writer: Joe Warnimont
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Christina Lewis
I’ve hosted dozens of sites on GoDaddy because it offers cheap hosting options that make it easy to keep costs low. I like the lower-tiered pricing plans from GoDaddy for personal websites, small business websites, and the occasional eCommerce site without many visitors. Yet, that hardly makes GoDaddy the only inexpensive name on the market.
In an industry filled with affordable options, I encourage you to explore other web hosts when looking into GoDaddy’s cheap hosting. You’ll find that many competitors provide unique offerings.
To make it easier for you, we highlight cheap hosting plans from other companies and compare them to GoDaddy’s lowest-priced plans. Hopefully, this helps you find the most affordable, high-value hosting solution.
1. Hostinger
When compared to GoDaddy’s cheap hosting, Hostinger stands out for its commitment to cheap web hosting for small businesses and personal websites. The hosting company always seems to have promotions, allowing you to grab a year or two of hosting for close to $1 per month.
Some plans even provide two months for free, including a 30-day money-back guarantee. On top of that, Hostinger delivers a free web hosting solution for those who need a simple, feature-limited way to run a site through its 000webhost brand.
Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.69
- Unlimited everything, from storage to databases
- FREE site builder & WP performance upgrades
- FREE daily or weekly backups
- Custom control panel and auto-installation scripts
- SSH access & unlimited FREE SSL certificates
- Get started on Hostinger now.
As the shared hosting market becomes increasingly saturated, unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts have become surprisingly average. Hostinger, however, extends the routine, expected metrics to greater lengths — the number of websites, databases, FTP users, subdomains, and parked domains are all unrestricted for most customers. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 100 GB SSD – 200 GB NVMe | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
Cheap web hosting from Hostinger fares well against GoDaddy web hosting because it supports hundreds of websites (even on the lowest plans), weekly backups that include SSL, and unlimited bandwidth. Users also receive a free domain name for a year and up to 100 free email accounts with the lowest hosting plan from Hostinger.
To top it all off, cheap Hostinger plans include managed WordPress hosting, supporting WordPress auto-updates and one-click installations.
2. HostArmada
HostArmada’s cheapest hosting plan starts at a lower price than what you pay for GoDaddy hosting, and its servers feature robust SSD storage and multi-core processing to keep your websites fast.
As one of the best GoDaddy alternatives, HostArmada provides multiple daily backups, a free SSL certificate for every website, and essential security features like malware scanning, malware removal, and an IP firewall. Other benefits of HostArmada include its 45-day money-back guarantee and its free migration service for transferring a website from another host.
HostArmada.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.49
- FREE cPanel integration and Softaculous apps
- Auto daily backups and web application firewall
- Reliable and redundant cloud servers
- FREE SSL encryption and website migration
- 99.99% uptime guarantee
- Get started on HostArmada now.
HostArmada boasts 11 cloud-based shared hosting data centers across its global network, which spans four continents: Europe, the U. S. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 days | 15 GB SSD – 40 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
When seeking an alternative to GoDaddy hosting, you should always consider the extras you receive, particularly when it comes to email accounts, databases, and other accounts. Luckily, HostArmada has you covered. On top of its free website transfer service, users can access unlimited FTP accounts and databases. You also receive unlimited email accounts, allowing you to give a professional account to everyone in the organization.
3. IONOS
IONOS is perhaps one of the least expensive hosting options when compared to GoDaddy. It offers fast and scalable web hosting with SSLs, DDoS protection, and peace of mind with regular website backups.
The web host, known for handling peak load times, has a 99.9% uptime guarantee because of its cutting-edge site mirroring between two datacenters. This means your website gets served to the user even if one server fails. Other benefits of IONOS include its one-click backup restore feature, free domain registration, and multiple databases with each hosting plan.
IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- $1/month for 12 months
- No hidden fees, pay just $12 at checkout
- Easy setup and 24/7 expert support
- FREE domain or transfer, plus FREE SSL certificate
- Unlimited storage and databases with most plans
- Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
If budget is the main factor on your mind when searching for your next web host, search no more. 1&1 IONOS has an impressive range of robust web hosting and website building packages for what may be the best price we’ve ever seen in the world of hosting. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB – Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
Another reason to pick IONOS as your web host is its one-click tool for installing popular software. Beginners and advanced users alike can install programs such as WordPress and Joomla with the click of a button.
That one-click installation process also extends to eCommerce tools, seeing as how you can add apps like PrestaShop to IONOS for a full-fledged online store. Pair that with considerable support for databases (like MariaDB and MySQL) and scripts (like Perl, Python, and Ruby), and IONOS starts to look like one of the best GoDaddy alternative options.
4. ScalaHosting
ScalaHosting sells its cheap shared hosting at a comparable price to GoDaddy, and it gives you the option of regular shared web hosting or WordPress-optimized hosting with SManager. Highlights from ScalaHosting include effortless and free migration from any host, along with its “anytime” money-back guarantee, which provides a refund for any unused web hosting services.
The absolute cheapest plan from ScalaHosting comes on a shared hosting environment with HTTP2 support and sufficient SSD storage to run a smaller website. You also receive a one-click WordPress installation tool and unlimited email addresses, databases, and bandwidth.
ScalaHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.95
- 1-click install for WordPress, Drupal and 400 others
- Unlimited email accounts, databases & bandwidth
- 24/7 tech support for beginners and pros alike
- 12-month or 36-month plan at $2.95 /month
- Anytime unconditional money-back guarantee
- Get started on ScalaHosting now.
It’s tough to argue with a shared hosting service that comes with all-SSD storage and unlimited bandwidth, databases, and email accounts. ScalaHosting provides all the above and several other premium features for a very affordable price. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 50 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 6 minutes |
Other shared hosting plans from ScalaHosting add extra features to the mix. For example, you can secure your site with tools for spam protection and cyber attack monitoring.
Every ScalaHosting hosting package comes with phpMyAdmin control and a cPanel dashboard to manage every aspect of your hosting account easily. You receive on-demand backups and more advanced features for everything from DNS management to auto-responders and custom PHP.ini to cron jobs.
5. Bluehost
Bluehost serves as an excellent alternative to GoDaddy because of its affordable shared hosting options, WordPress hosting, and eCommerce-oriented hosting with enhanced WooCommerce features.
Its shared hosting plans come with SSD storage and a free SSL in the first year of hosting. You also get a free domain name for that first year — and a free CDN (content delivery network) to boost the speed at which your site loads for end-users.
Bluehost.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.99
- Cheap shared hosting from a trusted provider
- Ideal for hosting a WordPress website
- FREE Weebly website builder and Cloudflare CDN
- Unlimited traffic and 24/7 live chat support
- Get 75% off today with our Bluehost coupon
- Get started on Bluehost now.
Bluehost pricing is about as competitive as the industry offers. Sign up for a shared hosting plan for as little as $1.99 per month, and WordPress hosting packages are consistently priced; a VPS plan starts at around $31.99 per month; and the dedicated hosting rates are as little as $91.98 per month. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 100 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
Another unique aspect of Bluehost is its collection of custom WordPress themes. Hosting users can pre-install WordPress and WooCommerce and activate a beautiful WordPress theme for a professional result in minutes. Available upgrades to the cheapest web hosting from Bluehost include secure online payments and other online store tools, including shipping labels and gift cards.
Bluehost also offers plans that allow multiple websites on one hosting plan. Not to mention, all your Bluehost-hosted websites remain secure with continual malware scanning and daily site backups.
6. InMotion Hosting
InMotion Hosting is known for its speed and cost-effective hosting and compares well with GoDaddy hosting. It provides every type of hosting solution you need to run a successful app or website — from dedicated server hosting to simple, affordable shared hosting.
InMotion shared hosting, which it recommends for small businesses, includes a developer-friendly environment; you can use GIT version control and hosting for Ruby, Node.JS, and Python.
InMotionHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.29
- FREE BoldGrid site builder and templates
- FREE website, domain, and cPanel migrations
- SSD storage makes your site load up to 20x faster
- Security suite includes SSL and hack protection
- Unlimited bandwidth and email accounts
- Get started on InMotion now.
InMotion Hosting offers an excellent business-class shared hosting plan — with a price tag lower than several other budget hosts. For the IT crowd in the audience, you’ll appreciate SSH access, as well as support for PHP, Ruby, Perl, Python, WP-CLI, and other popular languages. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days | 100 GB SSD – Unlimited SSD | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
The host also provides a sleek cPanel dashboard. The user-friendly experience lets you install apps with one click while managing everything from your SSL to your email addresses.
InMotion stands as one of the best hosting options because it supports at least two websites, even with its lowest-tiered shared hosting plan. In addition, you receive more than 100GB of SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and performance features to ensure your site rarely lags. InMotion Hosting plans offer 10-plus email addresses and marketing tools for easy advertising, website building, and email on any device.
7. SiteGround
If you’re looking for an alternative to GoDaddy’s cheap hosting, be sure to consider SiteGround. The reputable, affordable hosting provider has options for shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting, and WooCommerce hosting — not including its advanced cloud hosting solution.
As for cheap shared web hosting, SiteGround has you covered with unmetered traffic, a high monthly visitor maximum, and significant web space to ensure all your assets get stored on the server. You’ll also find that SiteGround excels in security. The web host provides daily backups — in case you need to restore a previous version — and other tools like a web application firewall and proactive malware monitoring.
SiteGround.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.99
- FREE website transfer service to get started
- 99.9% uptime guarantee and unlimited traffic
- User-friendly WordPress installation
- 24/7 support featuring custom systems
- 4 caching options plus staging and Git
- Get started on SiteGround now.
Providing hosting with the perfect balance of technological innovation and superior customer support, SiteGround offers a range of affordable hosting services to meet your needs. In addition to the expected cheap web hosting perks — a free website builder and unlimited bandwidth — the company specializes in custom-built tools to deliver strong and positive user experiences. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 40 GB SSD | New or Transfer | 6 minutes |
Multiple free extras come with your SiteGround hosting purchase. For instance, you receive a free email and site migrator, allowing you to transfer every aspect of your business to the new host. SiteGround shared hosting plans also include free CDNs, SSLs, and email addresses.
One of the main advantages of SiteGround as a GoDaddy alternative is its support for eCommerce-enabled websites. You can install WooCommerce with one click and use the free SSL certificate to ensure transactional data sent through your website remains secure.
8. HostGator
HostGator offers shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated server hosting, all at reasonable prices and comparable features to what you’d find with GoDaddy. HostGator cheap hosting options allow anyone to build and publish a website — from personal blogs to robust online stores.
HostGator has plans that include unmetered bandwidth and fast SSD storage. You also get a free domain name for an entire year, allowing you to attach that domain name to your website and its corresponding email addresses.
HostGator.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.64
- Host up to unlimited websites on a single plan
- FREE SSL certificate included on all plans
- Unlimited bandwidth & email addresses
- 1-click WordPress installs & FREE blog tools
- Get 74% OFF by buying 36 months upfront
- Get started on HostGator now.
HostGator is a great compromise between performance and price. The company offers unlimited emails, MySQL databases, disk space, and bandwidth, plus one-click installs of popular open-source projects, in addition to a 99. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 40 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
You can start with HostGator’s cheapest hosting package, which lets you host one website and gives you an email address to go with it. As your business grows, you might consider a hosting plan that supports multiple websites. These plans provide increased SSD storage and other bonuses, including SEO tools and a CDN.
HostGator also provides an SSL certificate with all hosting plans. Some of HostGator’s more advanced features include a Positive SSL upgrade, a dedicated IP, and the option for MySQL and script transfers. Like most good web hosts, HostGator provides a money-back guarantee (30 days) in case you’re unhappy.
9. DreamHost
If you’re interested in saving money and finding a high-value web hosting plan, DreamHost may fit the bill. DreamHost provides an excellent alternative to GoDaddy, considering the competitive pricing of its shared hosting plans and the options — including WordPress or traditional shared website hosting.
Shared hosting from DreamHost is packed with extras and includes a WordPress installer for easy migrations, a WordPress website builder, and a collection of WordPress themes. The WordPress functionality is extended — especially for online store owners — if you opt for one of its WooCommerce hosting plans.
DreamHost.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.59
- Automated malware scans
- Unlimited domain hosting
- Unlimited email accounts with POP/IMAP/SMTP
- FREE eCommerce store tools and PCI compliance
- Streamlined proprietary control panel
- Get started on DreamHost now.
While DreamHost’s price might be a little steep compared to other high-value hosting providers, the company gives customers ample time and reasons to get hooked and stick around. The company, which started in the founders’ dorm room in 1997, offers an industry-leading 97-day money-back guarantee. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 97 days | Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
With DreamHost, you can host one or multiple websites, depending on your hosting plan. Each plan provides fast SSD storage and unlimited traffic for those times when an influx of traffic may cause trouble for servers from other hosting companies.
Other DreamHost bonuses include a free SSL certificate for securing all transactional data through your website and a free domain name for the first year. In addition, DreamHost has a system for free automated backups and professional email addresses with the same (free) domain name.
What Is GoDaddy Known For?
Many people know GoDaddy as one of the world’s largest domain name registrars. The company began selling and managing domains for customers in 1997 but has grown to offer a wide range of other products and services, including web hosting, email hosting, point-of-sale hardware and software, and website building.
In the realm of domain names, GoDaddy has a reputation for helping users with simplified domain appraisals and auctions. You can buy or sell just about any domain in existence and even reach out to domain owners to see if they would consider selling.
In the web hosting industry, GoDaddy is known for its feature-rich hosting plans, which include free SSL certificates and domain names. All hosting plans also have a visual page builder and themes for no-code web design.
Check out our favorite web builders with free trials >>
How Much Does GoDaddy Hosting Cost?
The cost of GoDaddy depends on what you plan to buy. Shared web hosting can cost anywhere from $3 per month to around $20 per month (if you need additional storage and support for more websites).
More advanced web hosting, such as VPS hosting and dedicated hosting, can cost anywhere from around $10 per month to more than $400 per month. Specific web hosting plans, including WordPress hosting, may carry additional costs.
GoDaddy pricing for domain names, SSL certificates, and email hosting varies, but many users can get them for free when they sign up for web hosting. If you purchase those elements separately, you should expect to pay at least a few cents for one year of domain registration and a few dollars per month for email hosting and an inbox.
Why Is GoDaddy So Expensive?
GoDaddy web hosting is actually considered a low-cost hosting option, but specific tools and features can become expensive. For instance, the initial costs for GoDaddy hosting often factor in a GoDaddy promo code, so pricing typically increases after a year.
Some may also consider GoDaddy expensive in the short term since many of its promotions require a larger upfront investment (with multi-year billing). And some initially free offerings, including domain names and SSL certificates, renew at the total price after the first year.
GoDaddy also becomes expensive when you opt for higher-tier plans or add-ons that cost more than its simple shared hosting plans. For example, GoDaddy has more powerful shared hosting for a higher price, along with VPS hosting and dedicated servers, both of which can get expensive.
Secure a 30-day GoDaddy free trial >>
How Much Is the Cheapest Domain Hosting?
The cheapest domain hosting available comes from IONOS since you can sign up for an inexpensive hosting plan that provides a free domain name for the first year. This method is often cheaper than buying a domain name separately because you receive a discounted price for the two elements you need to make a website: a domain and web hosting.
IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- Register domains for $1 (or FREE with hosting)
- FREE domain privacy to protect your information
- Easy setup with domain lock and 2GB email inbox
- 99.9% uptime, plus daily backups and recovery
- FREE SSL certificate for safer data transfers
- Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
While many popular hosts reserve free domain registrations for its higher-tie plans, 1&1 IONOS gives every customer the perk — along with free domain privacy, email inbox, and SSL certificate. Trust your site with a company that hosts more than 12 million domains on its platform. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB – Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
Other hosting companies offer similar deals that include a free domain name with the purchase of web hosting. GoDaddy, for instance, provides affordable shared hosting plans and a year of a free domain name. If you were to pay for hosting and a domain name separately, that would require a yearly payment for a domain name (typically around $10 to $20 per year) and the standard pricing for hosting.
What Is a Cheap Way to Host a Website?
One of the cheapest ways to host a website involves signing up for a shared hosting plan. This means you share server resources with several other websites and apps, yet you still receive impressive site security and speed measures built into the server. Another way to cut hosting costs is to look for a free web hosting plan, or at least one with a free trial or money-back guarantee.
While signing up for your hosting account, look at the web host’s options for payment periods since hosts often provide discounts if you sign up for yearly or multi-year billing. Finally, website hosting requires other services and features, including domain names and SSL certificates. To minimize those costs, look for a hosting company that provides those features for free with its hosting plans.
Can I Host a Website for Free?
Free website hosting is possible for small personal websites, but it’s not recommended for business websites. For example, 000webhost (provided by Hostinger) has a limited free hosting plan made for personal projects. A better way to get affordable, close-to-free hosting requires signing up for shared web hosting with a free trial and various free add-ons.
Your costs for a web hosting provider go down significantly when you sign up for a web host such as GoDaddy, IONOS, or Hostinger, considering each one of these hosts offers shared hosting with free domain names, a free SSL certificate, and free email addresses.
Looking for free web hosting? >>
Save Money on Hosting With GoDaddy
GoDaddy became a household name for its witty TV commercials, but its good reputation extends beyond humorous Superbowl ads featuring NASCAR driver Danica Patrick.
If you’re new to website ownership, then GoDaddy is the perfect choice when it comes to bundling a domain name and hosting plan for a low monthly price.
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