subject: Go Daddy Review: Good for Domains, But What About Hosting? [print this page] Go Daddy Review: Good for Domains, But What About Hosting?
Go Daddy is a domain registrar and hosting service provider that spends lots of money on advertising and has become one of the biggest names in the business. Everybody wanting a presence on the internet needs web hosting, so it's a big, competitive business. When you're one of the biggest providers, you're open to attack and ridicule, so Go Daddy has both its supporters and detractors. There are many negative comments out there from disgruntled customers, but with more than 8 million customers, there is always someone with issues. Go Daddy offers a complete service package that includes domain, hosting services, website tool building and customer support. Unlike other services that sell just domains and others that offer just hosting, Go Daddy has it all under one roof.
The domain registration portion of their business is what Go Daddy is known for. The basic package is $7.49 per year, which is competitive, but not great. If you search around the internet though, there are coupons available. They offer domain packages and conduct auctions for "aged" domains. When you're searching for domains on their site, their interface makes suggestions on other domain name ideas if the domain name that you want is not available.
Go Daddy web hosting is where most of the complaints arise. The biggest issue is that Go Daddy uses their own internal web management system called "webpanel" is poorly organized and offers fewer features as the industry standard Cpanel. Many people like their hosting rates starting at $4.99 a month, but the low price is because its not as good as other services that cost more.
Being the largest service provider has it's advantages though and Go Daddy has very good customer and technical support. They are very responsive and services oriented, so if you have problems or questions, they can be reached easily. I like using their lie web support to contact a live person almost immediately.
If you are a small business or have relatively simple domain and hosting needs, then Go Daddy is probably all that you need. If your business becomes more sophisticated, then that is where Go Daddy may not be able to offer everything you want.
