Hostinger vs GoDaddy: which host is better for you?

If you're searching for a hosting provider, choosing between Hostinger and GoDaddy is a common dilemma. Both are massive names and have over two decades of experience.

So choosing between the two is tough, but this Hostinger vs GoDaddy comparison should simplify things. Below, I’ll compare their pricing, ease of use, performance, security, and customer support so that you can determine which is the better host for you.

Hostinger vs GoDaddy 2025: overview

Hostinger and GoDaddy are both popular hosting providers, yet each caters to different needs. Hostinger is better suited for small to medium-sized projects – from personal blogs to websites with bigger audiences and small business websites. And GoDaddy prioritizes offering a wide selection of reliable and fast hosting plans over affordability.

	Hostinger	GoDaddy hosting
⭐ Rating:	4.9 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
💵 Price:	From $2.78/month	From $6.99/month
📑 Uptime guarantee:	99.9%	99.9%
🔥 Coupons:	Hostinger coupon 77% OFF	GoDaddy coupon 30% OFF
Storage space (from):	100 GB SSD	25 GB SSD
✂️ Free domain (first year):	Yes	Yes
🔒 Free SSL certificate:	Yes	Yes (only 1 year with Economy plan)
➡️ Site migration:	Free unlimited migrations for WordPress and open-source sites	Free GoDaddy's automated hosting migration tool
💾 Automated backups:	Free (weekly)	Yes (daily)
📧 Email accounts:	Free (up to 100 accounts)	Free (first year)
👨‍💻 24/7 live support:	Yes	Yes
💰 Money-back guarantee:	30-day	30-day

Pricing comparison: Hostinger offers more for cheaper

Hostinger is the cheaper option in the Hostinger vs GoDaddy pricing comparison. Hostinger’s plans start at just $2.78/month, and GoDaddy’s begin at $6.99/month. Hostinger’s scaling options are more affordable, too. For instance, Hostinger’s cheapest VPS plan costs $4.64/month, and GoDaddy’s entry VPS plan is nearly twice that at $8.99/month. Let's take a closer look at the price differences in the table below.

Hosting type	Hostinger	GoDaddy
Shared	✅ Yes, from $1.79/month	✅ Yes, from $6.99/month
WordPress	✅ Yes, from $2.78/month	✅ Yes, from $15.99/month
VPS	✅ Yes, from $4.64/month	✅ Yes, from $8.99/month
Cloud	✅ Yes, from $7.43/month	❌ No
Dedicated	❌ No	✅ Yes, from $129.99/month

Shared hosting is the most popular solution for both providers. At a glance, it’s clear to me that Hostinger is cheaper while offering more value than GoDaddy. For instance, Hostinger’s entry plan — Premium ($2.78/month) — can host up to 100 websites, offers 100 professional email accounts, and unlimited SSL certificates.

Contrastingly, GoDaddy’s cheapest plan — Economy ($6.99/month) — only allows one website and comes with just one email account and an SSL certificate for a year. The only clear advantage GoDaddy has over Hostinger is that it offers daily backups for all plans. Meanwhile, Hostinger provides weekly backups for the cheapest plan and daily backups for its other plans.

This pattern continues with their other solutions. Take their VPS plans, for example. Hostinger’s cheapest VPS plan — KVM 1 ($4.64/month) — includes 1vCPU core, 4GB RAM, and 50GB NVMe storage. In contrast, GoDaddy’s entry VPS plan costs more that is $8.99/month, but offers only 1vCPU core, 2GB RAM, and 40GB NVMe storage.

Both providers offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, obtaining the advertised prices requires committing to their longest billing term. Additionally, the prices will increase upon renewal (which is common between hosting providers).

Hostinger vs GoDaddy performance

When comparing Hostinger vs GoDaddy for performance, I noticed that both providers have their strong points. Both providers offer remarkable speed, but Hostinger has better uptime and also handles traffic more efficiently. Meanwhile, GoDaddy has a better website loading speed.

The choice between Hostinger and GoDaddy would ultimately depend on specific priorities such as uptime reliability or response time, tailored to the needs of individual users or businesses.

Brand	Uptime guarantee	Response time	Speed
Hostinger	99.9%	175ms	1.728s
GoDaddy	99.9%	179ms	1.417s

Further, I’ll review how Hostinger’s and GoDaddy’s uptime, response time, and speed testing results in more detail.

Uptime and response time

Over two months, I monitored Hostinger and GoDaddy’s uptime and response times to find out how they measure up.

Throughout these two months of testing, Hostinger maintained a flawless 100% uptime with zero outages, fully meeting its 100% uptime guarantee. While I’m pleased with the result, it’s crucial to recognize that sustaining 100% uptime indefinitely is not feasible. Therefore, occasional service interruptions may occur, although they should be brief.

As for response times, Hostinger’s average was 175ms. This is considerably below the industry standard of around 600ms.

GoDaddy, on the other hand, experienced three outages totaling 16 minutes of downtime – resulting in a 99.98% uptime. Although not as impressive as Hostinger’s perfect 100%, a 99.98% uptime is still outstanding and exceeds its 99.9% uptime guarantee. When testing GoDaddy’s response time, it was slightly behind Hostinger, at 179ms.

Website speed

To determine how fast the providers load websites, I created similar websites and put them to the test. Both Hostinger and GoDaddy loaded quickly.

When testing website speed, I looked at:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – this shows how fast the biggest chunk of the page loaded. It should be under 2.5s to rank higher on search engines’ result pages.
• Fully Loaded Time – this is when the website is 100% interactive. It shouldn’t be above 3s for the best user experience.

Hostinger's LCP was 1.728s, which is below 2.5s. Meanwhile, its fully loaded time was 867ms.

During the test, GoDaddy demonstrated good results as well, achieving LCP of 1.417s. Such website content loading speed made GoDaddy outperform Hostinger.

While the pair displayed great website speed in my test, it’s worth noting that results may vary depending on your server and target audience locations. This underscores the importance of picking a server closest to your audience for optimal load time.

Hostinger has nine server locations around the world: France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the UK, India, Indonesia, Singapore, the US, and Brazil. On the other hand, GoDaddy’s servers are only in the US, the Netherlands, and Singapore.

Stress testing results

I also sent 50 virtual users (VUs) to the pair’s websites to assess how well they handle intense traffic surges. The 50 VUs simulate about 50,000 monthly visitors, a massive load for shared hosting. Ideally, the blue line (speed) should remain flat and stable as the purple line (number of visitors) increases. The red line (failures) should stay flat at zero, too.

Hostinger passed the test without flinching. Its response time remained flat and there were no signs of failure. Its results were exactly what you want to see in a stress test.

GoDaddy performed only slightly less well compared to Hostinger. With an increasing number of visitors, the speed line remained quite flat, though it had more curves compared to Hostinger’s. This reflects a respectable performance, though not as strong as Hostinger’s.

Hosting features and ease of use

Both Hostinger and GoDaddy prioritize ease of use. I find their native dashboards equally straightforward and had no trouble navigating them. Additionally, I appreciate that they offer extra features to simplify hosting management.

However, they have different approaches to control panels. Hostinger provides an intuitive and beginner-friendly custom control panel called hPanel, while GoDaddy uses the industry-standard cPanel.

Account management dashboard

Hostinger has a no-fuss, functional dashboard, offering access to various website creation and management tools. I like that it’s spotless and minimalistic without any clutter, while all the necessary tools are well within reach.

When you first log in, the dashboard is where you set up your hosting account. WordPress installation, SSL certificate activation, and other initial setup tasks are included. After that, the dashboard primarily serves to navigate your Hostinger account. For instance, you’re accessing the hPanel or the domain management area.

As for GoDaddy, I find its native dashboard neat, functional, and easy to navigate. It also provides easy access to all the basic website management tasks. You can set up your website and manage your domain, email account, and basic security measures directly. Additionally, it offers quick access to cPanel.

Control panel comparison

Hostinger’s proprietary control panel is known as hPanel. Inspired by cPanel, I find hPanel to be streamlined, intuitive, and functional. Compared to cPanel, hPanel is also less intimidating and more beginner friendly.

Right in the center of the hPanel is a comprehensive overview of your website. You get a bird’s-eye view of the status of your hosting plan, domain name, and resources.

Meanwhile, the menu sits on the left of the panel. Here, you can easily find all the tools and features you need for website management, carefully sorted under categories like Hosting, Performance, Security, and Emails. I also like that the search bar helps quickly find a tool.

GoDaddy, on the other hand, uses the standard cPanel. You get the classic cPanel without any tweaking, custom skin, or extra modules. While it’s neat and very functional, it might seem overwhelming to beginners due to its more technical appearance.

The General Information bar on the right displays the basic details like primary domain, IP address, and last login IP address. As you continue through the panel, you’ll find statistics on resources such as CPU and memory usage.

In the center, essential tools and features for website management are grouped under categories such as Files, Databases, and Domain. A search bar at the top of the panel allows you to quickly locate a specific feature.

From the cPanel, you can access your core WordPress files or email settings. It’s also where you manage databases, plugin updates, current plugins, and SSH access. Tools like Softaculous or Installatron are additionally available for straightforward content management system (CMS) installations, such as WordPress.

WordPress features comparison

Both Hostinger and GoDaddy have plans dedicated to WordPress hosting. Hostinger is equipped with automated WordPress migration and installation. Godaddy’s process requires more steps – you’ll have to install WordPress, and after the installation, for the first time newly installed admin panel will have a started process ready.

Even though GoDaddy offers daily backups for all its plans and Hostinger gives you weekly backups with its basic plan, Hostinger has more features to offer for a lower price. That is, Hostinger will give you smart WordPress auto updates, free email, and significantly more storage with no additional cost. On top of all that, compared to GoDaddy, Hostinger is also more beginner friendly.

Hostinger vs GoDaddy web builder

Hostinger is known as a great web builder that is suitable for beginners. Also, it has a lot to offer – web creation tools, AI tools, and plenty of beautiful templates that will help you stand out.

As we already learned, Hostinger is a generous provider, and that’s also evident from its web builder plans. If you opt for the basic plan, it will allow you to create up to 100 websites. Additionally, it has a drag-and-drop editor, lets you use AI website builder, and comes equipped with marketing integrations and mobile editing feature. Lastly, it’s a great option for beginners with additional help from AI, allowing the creation of the most basic sites like blogs and personal sites.

GoDaddy is primarily known as a hosting provider, so many might not know that it can be used as a web builder too. GoDaddy’s web builder is created with small businesses in mind, therefore, it offers an all-in-one package combined with extensive business features. Since the main focus is on building a website quickly, the web builder is limiting and lacks customizability. But it’s easy to use with plenty of guides to consult.

GoDaddy’s web builder is a good choice for small businesses as with the price of the basic plan you’ll get free domain, email marketing, and the web builder itself. However, it’s more suitable for those who are looking for a quick solution and don’t put much emphasis on the design part, as themes to pick from are limited.

Extra hosting management features

Given Hostinger’s low price tag, the provider is fairly generous with its extra hosting management features. It offers far more than you’d expect from other providers on the market. Some of its basic to mid-level features include:

• Automatic website migration allows you to move your website from another provider to Hostinger more easily.
• Pre-built templates help you quickly and easily create websites without advanced design skills.
• Account sharing allows you to safely grant access with varying privileges to others, such as developers and collaborators.
• Staging is where you can test changes in a safe and isolated environment before pushing them to your live website.

In stark contrast, GoDaddy’s features are considerably more limited and rudimentary. Besides essentials like a WordPress migration tool and a website builder, additional features are primarily available with specific plans and solutions. For instance, staging is only included in its Managed WordPress plans. Even then, it’s not available for users on the Basic plan.

Hostinger vs GoDaddy: which one is more secure

In terms of security, GoDaddy provides only basic features in its plans. Advanced security features are available, but you’ll need to pay more for them. Hostinger, on the other hand, offers the same features and some unique extras, like WordPress vulnerabilities scanner without any additional cost.

Here’s what you get from Hostinger and GoDaddy:

• SSL certificates – Hostinger offers unlimited SSL certificates for all of its plans. In contrast, GoDaddy’s SSL certificate provision depends on your plan. For instance, its entry-level Economy plan comes with just one SSL certificate and only for the first year. After the first year, the SSL will renew at the then-current price.
• Backups – Hostinger offers automatic weekly backups for its entry plan, while higher-tier plans get automatic daily and on-demand backups. As for GoDaddy, automatic daily backups are included in all of its plans.
• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) – Hostinger mitigates DDoS attacks with its free Content Delivery System (CDN). Conversely, GoDaddy states that it has 24/7 DDoS protection but doesn’t elaborate on the details.
• WordPress vulnerabilities scan – Hostinger includes this scan in all of its plans. WordPress vulnerabilities scan alerts you about any shortcomings in WordPress core software, plugins, and themes.

Customer support

Hostinger and GoDaddy offer a wide range of customer support options. Hostinger assists via 24/7 live chat, AI chat, a ticketing system, and email. Meanwhile, GoDaddy offers 24/7 live chat, phone, and text support. Both also have knowledge bases.

Customer support solution	Hostinger	GoDaddy
24/7 live chat	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Phone call	❌ No	✅ Yes
Email	✅ Yes	❌ No
Knowledge base	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Hostinger’s agents are notably helpful and knowledgeable. The downside is that there could be a few minutes of wait time before connecting with an agent via live chat. If you prefer not to wait, I’d suggest using the knowledge center instead. Here, you’ll find a massive collection of articles covering everything about hosting.

As for GoDaddy, its agents are polite but I encountered long delays between each response when I reached out. Occasionally, I also had to prod the agents before receiving my answers. Like Hostinger, you might find GoDaddy’s knowledge base more helpful since it houses hundreds of detailed articles and guides.

Hostinger vs GoDaddy: final thoughts

To sum up, the Hostinger vs GoDaddy comparison has a winner, with Hostinger outshining GoDaddy in most of the areas.

Hostinger offers superior value, ease of use, and performance, all at an incredible price point. Hostinger stands out with its robust feature set, including a user-friendly control panel that simplifies website management tasks. Their hosting plans come with 100GB SSD storage, whereas GoDaddy offers only 25GB. Hostinger provides complimentary lifetime SSL certificates with every plan, while GoDaddy gives them only for one year with the Economy plan.

Overall, Hostinger not only excels in affordability but also delivers comprehensive features that empower users to create and manage websites effortlessly. GoDaddy, on the other hand, is a respectable runner-up. This host is a solid option if you prefer cPanel. Additionally, if you anticipate significant growth in a short period and require plenty of options to scale, GoDaddy could be a good fit as well.

Hostinger vs GoDaddy FAQs