IONOS vs GoDaddy: which one is better for you?
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Your website is essential for your business’ success. But to bring out its full potential, you need the right provider – with the best performance for your goals.
In this IONOS vs GoDaddy battle, I compare two leading providers known for their versatile hosting and website-building offerings, reliable performance, and competitive pricing.
Together with the Cybernews research team, we ran detailed tests and thoroughly reviewed such factors as each provider’s ease of use, performance, interface, pricing, and customer support.
IONOS vs GoDaddy 2025: overview
When selecting a hosting provider, there are several key factors to keep in mind. Below is a side-by-side comparison of IONOS and GoDaddy’s main offerings, such as starting price, live support, hosting options, and money-back guarantee.
While both providers offer strong performance and essential features like automatic backups, free domain for a year, and a money-back guarantee, each is suitable for different goals and business sizes. Overall, with better pricing, flexibility options, and more included features at a lower cost, IONOS is the winner in more categories.
| IONOS | GoDaddy hosting | |
| ⭐ Rating: | ||
| 💵 Price: | From $1/month | From $6.99/month |
| 📑 Uptime guarantee: | 99.99% | 99.9% |
| 🔥 Coupons: | IONOS coupon 91% OFF! | GoDaddy coupon 30% OFF |
| Storage space (from): | 10 GB SSD | 25 GB SSD |
| ✂️ Free domain (first year): | Yes | Yes |
| 🔒 Free SSL certificate: | Yes | Yes (only 1 year with Economy plan) |
| ➡️ Site migration: | Manual migration or migration with the help of WordPress plugin | Free GoDaddy's automated hosting migration tool |
| 💾 Automated backups: | Yes (daily) | Yes (daily) |
| 📧 Email accounts: | 1 free account | Free (first year) |
| 👨💻 24/7 live support: | Yes | Yes |
| 💰 Money-back guarantee: | 30-day | 30-day |
Our in-house research team and expert writers work hand in hand to regularly test hosting services and provide accurate and fact-checked information. Discover the ins and outs of how we test and evaluate website hosting providers.
Pricing comparison: IONOS offers more and charges less
IONOS and GoDaddy offer a wide selection of plans for different budgets, business sizes, and hosting types. They both cover regular web, VPS, and WordPress hosting. IONOS also offers Joomla and JAMStack hosting as additional options.
| IONOS | GoDaddy | |
| Web hosting | From $1.00/month | From $6.99/month |
| VPS hosting | From $2.00/month | From $8.99/month |
| WordPress hosting | From $1.00/month | From $7.79/month |
| Free trial | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Discounts | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
For website hosting, IONOS offers users 4 plans. For example, the Plus plan costs $1.00/month, with unlimited websites, unlimited storage, unlimited databases, and up to 6GB RAM. All plans include a free domain for a year, unmetered bandwidth, 24/7 support, and daily backups. Additionally, IONOS offers 6 VPS hosting plans.
As detailed in our GoDaddy review, it offers 2 website hosting plan options: for standard performance (suitable for beginners and smaller projects) and high performance (for more demanding websites). Standard plans start at $6.99/month, while more advanced plans start at $17.99/month. GoDaddy also has VPS hosting plans.
IONOS vs GoDaddy performance
Pricing is important, but performance matters even more. It’s what defines user experience on your website. Although both providers showed impressive uptime, speed, and reachability during our testing, GoDaddy took the lead – thanks to speedier response time and strong stress test results.
| IONOS | GoDaddy | |
| Uptime test result | 100% | 100% |
| Speed | 3.352s | 1.417s |
| Response time | 914.43ms | 179.17ms |
| Reachability | 99.98% | 99.92% |
Below, I take a closer look at both providers’ uptime and response time, website speed, and stress test results.
Uptime and response time
Our tests showed strong results for both providers, with each exceeding their 99.99% uptime guarantee with flawless 100% uptime. Both also displayed reliable reachability and response time, but GoDaddy narrowly took the lead.
While IONOS’ reachability was almost perfect – 99.98% compared to GoDaddy’s 99.92% – response time made the difference. While IONOS displayed a 914.43ms response time, GoDaddy excelled at 179.17ms, meaning it was able to process a request and return data 5 times faster.
Response time is crucial for user experience and customer conversions and detrimental to search engine visibility. In these tests, GoDaddy demonstrated nearly perfect results.
Website speed
To determine which provider offers faster speeds, we ran various performance tests. We compared IONOS and GoDaddy in three categories – Fully Loaded Time (the time it takes for the page to load completely), Time to First Byte (the time it takes for the browser to receive the first piece of data from the server), and Largest Contentful Paint (the time it takes for the largest piece of content to upload).
Fully Loaded Time test results were similar, with GoDaddy displaying 2.735s and IONOS 2.679s. Meanwhile, in the Largest Contentful Paint category, GoDaddy beat IONOS 1.417s to 3.352s. Its Time to First Byte results were also significantly better, with 369s as opposed to IONOS’ 583s.
This shows that GoDaddy was significantly faster and more responsive, providing much smoother access to the website and improving the overall user experience.
Stress testing results
Together with our research team, we launched several stress tests to see how the providers will perform under pressure. For GoDaddy, they ran a test that took 5 minutes and 22 seconds to test with 50 virtual users and an average of 7100 requests.
The system reached a peak of 46.33 requests per second, with 95% of the requests completed in just 70ms or less. There were also no HTTP failures, which showcased stability even during high traffic.
For IONOS, 4 stress tests, with 20, 30, 40, and 50 users, were conducted. The provider showed weaker results, as 80% of HTTP requests failed within 15 seconds after the virtual user peak.
However, this failure may have been due to IONOS’ DDoS protection, with security prioritized over performance.
Hosting features and ease of use: GoDaddy offers accessibility, IONOS – flexibility
When it comes to user experience and the feature pool, both providers have their stronger and weaker sides, each aiming for a user-friendly experience. While GoDaddy focuses on accessibility and intuitive navigation, IONOS impresses with a strong toolset and customizability.
Account management dashboard
The ability to easily manage your workspace is important when choosing a provider. Below, I examine each provider’s management dashboard.
GoDaddy prioritizes user experience and intuitive navigation with a modern and easy-to-manage account dashboard that offers quick access to GoDaddy’s products, services, and features. It’s an approachable option fit for beginners who don’t have an extensive technical background.
IONOS also aims for user-friendly navigation with a smooth design and a clean dashboard that allows swiftly finding and accessing your tools of choice, from email to online marketing. However, it feels slightly less intuitive than GoDaddy, requiring a longer onboarding process.
Altogether, you’ll find GoDaddy a better choice for your goals if you’re running a small business or just getting started with website hosting. Alternatively, while a bit harder to manage, IONOS is still a user-friendly and great pick for more seasoned clients and owners of quickly growing businesses.
Control panel comparison
Now, when it comes to control panels, GoDaddy and IONOS offer two different options.
GoDaddy equips the basic cPanel, so if you’re already familiar with it, you can skip the onboarding part easily.
cPanel provides users with an intuitive graphical interface, a resource-rich panel, and plenty of automation tools. However, while it benefits from a rich pool of features, its customization abilities may be limited compared to IONOS, offering more flexibility.
IONOS uses its own custom Cloud Panel, which looks and feels lightweight and clean. The panel stands out due to its minimalism, focusing on key navigation aspects, such as Network, Security, Backup, and Management, instead of overloading users with many tools. You can read more about Cloud Panel in our IONOS review.
If you’re used to cPanel, learning to navigate Cloud Panel might take some time, but luckily, the panel is still intuitive and won’t feel excessively hard to master. One thing to consider is the potential site migration in the future, as some providers struggle with the migration of non-cPanel websites.
Overall, both panels stand strong, with GoDaddy providing a more beginner-friendly experience and IONOS offering a reliable solution for experienced users who don’t mind switching from cPanel.
WordPress features comparison
Both providers offer WordPress hosting, with a variety of features available – sharing similarities and differences.
IONOS WordPress offerings are heavily customization-focused and AI-based, offering users extended opportunities for building and adjusting their websites. IONOS also offers an AI chatbot for swift navigation and personalization. With auto-updates, daily backups, website migration available, and advanced security that includes daily malware and vulnerability scans, it is a strong option with an easy-to-navigate experience for WordPress users.
GoDaddy also prioritizes customizability and ease of use for WordPress, with an AI creation tool available and its own GoDaddy Airo Site Optimizer that offers optimization recommendations based on SEO, accessibility, and content. It even takes customization one step further by introducing GoDaddy Digital Marketing, which smoothly integrates into your website to help create personalized ads, schedule email and social media campaigns, and much more.
With automated malware scans, website migration, and automated backups available, it’s a solid option for content creators and business owners looking for an all-in-one package. However, keep in mind that you’ll have to go for the more expensive plans to access some essential features. For example, the Basic plan only supports weekly backups, meaning you’ll have to upgrade your package for daily backups.
Both providers stand strong when it comes to WordPress hosting. IONOS displays top-tier security, customizability, and reliability, while GoDaddy offers a solid all-in-one solution.
Web builder comparison
Both providers have a website builder, emphasizing ease of use and personalization for all kinds of businesses.
IONOS offers its users an intuitive website builder with a steep learning curve, plenty of templates to choose from, and AI assistance that includes image, design, and text generation.
Depending on your goals, you may also adjust your package by adding eCommerce-focused features or doubling down on marketing tools, such as SEO or competitor tracking. But most importantly, you can easily customize your website, editing the layout and contents with a few clicks.
GoDaddy also aims to help users create a professional-looking website in just minutes, with no background skills needed. It includes a marketing dashboard that tracks your website performance in real-time, professional email, and over 100 templates to choose from with every plan. As a pleasant bonus, you can even get started for free, updating to a paid plan if you like it.
While GoDaddy also offers a reliable website builder, IONOS takes the lead with its diverse toolset and a highly customizable AI-powered creation process.
IONOS vs GoDaddy security: IONOS stays one step ahead
When it comes to security, IONOS takes it seriously by rolling out a reliable protection bundle. This includes daily backups and recovery, a free wildcard SSL certificate, SSH, SFTP, and WP-CLI access, regular site scans, and DDoS protection.
What’s even more important is that all safety features are equally available with IONOS’ website hosting plans, meaning you won’t have to sacrifice your safety in order to save money.
GoDaddy also offers reliable security features such as automatic backups, malware and uptime monitoring, automatic malware removal, website application firewall, and a free SSL certificate. However, its security features are more conditional. For example, the SSL certificate isn’t available for the basic plan. The package selection also decides whether your backups are daily or weekly. It may be a deal-breaker for users looking for a budget-friendly option.
Customer support: IONOS leads the way
While both providers offer live support and detailed databases for users’ convenience, there are also a few additional factors to keep in mind. Below is a quick summary of IONOS’ and GoDaddy’s main support options.
| IONOS | GoDaddy | |
| Knowledge base | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Personal consultant | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| 24/7 live chat | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Text messages | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | |
| Phone | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
IONOS offers some of the most reliable support options on the market, with an extensive help center and 24/7 live support available for all plans. There’s also phone and email support, boasting quick replies and helpful answers.
Moreover, you can reach out to your personal consultant throughout the day for personalized guidance. The consultant is accessible via phone, email, and chat and is available for all plans without extra fees.
GoDaddy offers users an easy-to-navigate help center with plenty of detailed articles and video guides catering to beginners and less-tech-savvy users. It also provides a traditional pool of email, phone, and live chat communication, with one additional option – text messages.
In most cases, while communicating with support, you will first be connected to an AI bot and then redirected to a human employee if your problem cannot be solved automatically. Even though getting a reply may take more time sometimes, most users praise the support’s quality, saying they got useful and spot-on advice.
IONOS vs GoDaddy: final recommendations
IONOS and GoDaddy are among the most popular hosting options on the market for a reason, offering reliable performance, competitive pricing, easy navigation, and customizability.
However, your best choice depends on your business goals and needs. For example, GoDaddy will be a great pick for smaller businesses, beginners in need of intuitive solutions, and entrepreneurs who prioritize lightning-fast speeds.
Meanwhile, IONOS is a great pick for growing businesses that face more complex challenges, as it offers advanced security, top-notch support, and high customizability. Its budget-friendly prices create a strong quality-to-price balance, which is a must for businesses.
When looking for a provider, consider your business’ priorities, thoroughly compare the options, and go for the one that best fits your needs – whether you’re looking for affordable prices, stellar speeds, or unparalleled security.
IONOS vs GoDaddy FAQ
Who is GoDaddy’s biggest competitor?
GoDaddy has several competitors on the market, such as IONOS, Namecheap, Wix, and Bluehost, which all have strong suites. For example, Wix offers more templates for website design, while IONOS stands out for its budget-friendly prices.
Is IONOS a good service?
Yes, IONOS is a reliable provider that offers competitive speeds, 100% uptime, strong safety features, wallet-friendly prices, and a price-to-quality balance. It can be a great pick for growing businesses that prioritize customizability and security.
Does IONOS own my domain?
No, if you register a domain with IONOS, you own it as long as you keep it renewed (the first year is free). IONOS simply manages the domain on your behalf.
Is IONOS an Israeli company?
No, IONOS is a German company headquartered in Montabaur, Germany. It is a subsidiary of United Internet, a major European internet services provider based in Germany. At the moment, no information suggests IONOS’ Israeli ownership.
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