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Note: The winner is SiteGround, continue reading to know why
SiteGround started as a small web hosting company in Bulgaria. In 2004, they were just a local company. But, 14 years later, they are now widely known as one of the top web hosting companies in the world.
In contrast, GoDaddy is known better for their dominance in the domain registration industry. However, besides providing domain registration service, they also offer web hosting services.
We know it gets pretty chaotic to choose the best one between two web hosting services. To make things simple for you, we will be comparing both of these popular hosting providers in this post. So that if you need to make a decision, you can choose the best one without any quandary.
So, let’s get straight to business…
Comparing the Hosting Services:
We will be commencing the comparison by comparing the hosting solutions offered by these two hosting providers. Here we go.
Table of Contents
- 1 SiteGround vs GoDaddy: Comparison of the Hosting Services
SiteGround vs GoDaddy: Comparison of the Hosting Services
Let’s see what they are offering on their shared hosting services.
GoDaddy offers 4 Linux and 3 Windows OS based shared packages. They are labeled as Economy, Deluxe, Ultimate, and Maximum. The ‘Maximum’ plan is not included on the Windows OS based plans. Other than that, everything is quite similar for these two types of packages. Now, we will cover all the details of these packages.
- Economy Shared Package:
It will be the most basic hosting package from GoDaddy. The price is low and it has a number of limitations. The main one is that you can only use one website with this hosting package. The price of this package starts at 7.99$/monthly. You will have 100 GB storage with this package.
- Deluxe Shared Package:
The price of this plan is 10.99$ each month. With this package, you will be getting all of the economy features of GoDaddy shared hosting plans. Everything is unlimited on this package. That is why this is the most popular shared hosting package from GoDaddy.
- Ultimate Shared Package:
This is one of the high-end shared hosting packages from GoDaddy. You have to spend at least 16.99$ every month for this one. It comes with all the economy and deluxe hosting features from GoDaddy. Along with that, you will get 1 year of free SSL certificate and free premium DNS.
- Maximum Shared Package:
GoDaddy recommends this package exclusively for websites with high-resolution photos and videos. This plan comes with 2x memory and more power than the normal packages. The cost of this one is 24.99$ per month.
On the opposite, SiteGround is offering 3 packages (shared). They are known as GrowBig, StartUp, and GoGeek. Let’s talk about them.
- StartUp:
To get the most basic plan of SiteGround you would have to pay just 3.95$ every month. But, this package cannot be used if you want to host more than one websites. You will have 10 GB storage which is appropriate for 10,000 visits/monthly.
- GrowBig:
Next, we have the ‘GrowBig’ package. The price of this awesome package is 5.95$ every month. It is very popular among the users of SiteGround because you can host more than one websites at the same time. With this package, you will have a 20GB storage space. It’s appropriate for 25,000 visits each month.
- GoGeek:
If you want to get the best ‘shared’ web hosting package from SiteGround then this is the one you are looking for. This comes with all the best and advanced features of SiteGround. And you can get this package for 11.95$/month. You are getting 30 GB of web space storage. SiteGround says it is perfect for at least 100,000 visits every month.
What’s our opinion?
It is easy to notice that there is a huge difference in the price of these two services. GoDaddy is charging more than SiteGround for their packages. However, when it comes to the features and specifications SiteGround has got the better ones. So, we believe the best choice would be SiteGround in this case.
Comparing the Cloud/VPS Hosting Service
GoDaddy doesn’t have cloud hosting plans. In place of that, they offer VPS hosting service. So, we will be comparing between SiteGround’s Cloud and GoDaddy’s VPS hosting service below.
GoDaddy’s VPS Hosting plans
GoDaddy offers two types of VPS hosting plans. They are Windows and Linux operating system based plans. The names of the packages are similar for both of the operating systems. But the price of the Windows OS based packages is higher than the Linux based ones. Let’s learn more about these plans.
- Economy VPS Plan:
You can get this one by paying only 29.99$ per month (Linux) and 39.99$ (Windows). This package includes 40 GB storage space and you will get 1 GB memory with the Linux package. On the contrary, with the Windows package, you will get 2 GB memory.
- Value VPS Plan:
The Windows OS based Value package will cost you 39.99$ and the Linux based one will cost 49.99$ every month. This package comes with 60GB storage space, unmetered bandwidth etc. Also, you will get 3 GB memory on Windows OS based one and 2 GB memory on the Linux based one.
- Deluxe VPS Plan:
If you get the Windows Deluxe plan the price will be 69.99$ and in case of the Linux, the price will be 79.99$. You will get 4 GB of memory, 120 GB Storage space, unmetered bandwidth, and many other features.
- Ultimate VPS Plan:
If you need more power and resources for your websites then you can get the Ultimate package. It comes with 8 GB memory and 240 GB web storage. The price of this one is 149.99$ (Windows) and 139.99$ (Linux).
SiteGround’s Cloud Hosting Service
You will be able to choose your favorite cloud hosting package from 4 SiteGround cloud hosting packages. Let’s get to know about them a little bit.
- Entry Cloud Plan:
The price of this one is 80$ per month. And, you will be provided with 5 TB Bandwidth, 4 GB memory, 40 GB web space etc. You will be able to host unlimited websites with any cloud hosting plans of SiteGround.
- Business Cloud Plan:
The ‘Business’ plan includes 6 GB memory, 5 TB Bandwidth, and 60 GB Storage. And, you will have to spend at least 120$ per month.
- Business Plus Cloud Plan:
Another powerful package is the ‘Business Plus’ package. It is priced at 160$/monthly. The specifications are 80 GB SSD web space, 8 GB of Memory, and 5 TB Bandwidth etc.
- Super Power Cloud Plan:
The last on this list is the best cloud hosting package from SiteGround at the moment. However, it is very expensive. For 240$/monthly, you can get 10 GB of memory, 120 GB storage space (SSD), 5 TB data transfer/month, and 8 CPU cores.
- Custom-made Cloud Plans:
What if you haven’t found a perfect cloud hosting plan from SiteGround yet? Don’t worry. You can order tailor-made cloud plans from SiteGround. So, if you want to get a customized package you just have to use the relevant form from there website and order one.
Their customer representatives will contact you and they will set up the account for yourself. You have to remember that the price will depend on the specifications you are ordering.
What’s our opinion?
It’s pretty easy to make our decision here. First, SiteGround is charging much more than GoDaddy here. But, you have to actually consider the specifications and the features. Then it is clear that SiteGround is offering some advanced features.
For instance, you can actually customize your own plan. Also, all of the pre-made plans are also scalable. So, if you are already using one of their default cloud hosting packages, you can switch to any other packages within a short time. All of their plans are highly customizable and scalable.
On the flip side, GoDaddy doesn’t give you the ability to choose your own (custom) plan. Also, SiteGround is offering SSD storage. This can speed up the loading time of a website by up to 20 times faster compared to HDD. So, even if the packages of SiteGround are highly priced, we will go with them.
Comparing the Dedicated Hosting Service
GoDaddy’s Dedicated Hosting plans
They have four dedicated packages. Again, they offer both Windows and Linux operating system based packages. So, you can get either of these plans. But, the prices of the Windows ones are higher than the Linux based ones. We will now share more details about these packages below.
- Economy Dedicated Package:
The Economy package is priced at 199.99$ (Windows) and 169.99$ (Linux). And, you will get a dedicated server with these specifications —1 TB Storage, 3 Dedicated IPs, 4 GB memory etc.
- Value Dedicated Package:
The value server comes with 8 GB of Memory, 1.5 TB storage, unmetered bandwidth, and 3 dedicated IPs etc. GoDaddy charges 229.99$ per month (Windows) and 199.99$ (Linux) per month for this package.
- Deluxe Dedicated Package:
If you want this package, you have to spend at least 249.99$ (Linux) per month/279.99$ (Windows). This is a high-end plan. It will include 16 GB of memory, 3 dedicated IPs, 2 TB of web space, and unmetered bandwidth etc.
- Ultimate Dedicated Package:
The most expensive dedicated server from GoDaddy will cost you at least 349.99$/monthly (Linux) and 379.99$/monthly (Windows). The specifications of this plan are 32 GB of memory, 2 TB of storage, 3 dedicated IPs, and free SSL certificate for 1 year.
All of these packages include 4 CPU Cores @ 3.1 GHz speed. And, the storage comes with RAID-1 technology.
SiteGround’s Dedicated Hosting plans
On the opposite, SiteGround has some very powerful and high-end dedicated servers. Another thing, you will be able to choose the location of your dedicated server from one of these three locations — Asia-Pacific, USA, Europe respectively.
The price of the plans also varies depending on the location of your server. We will be covering everything about these dedicated serves down below.
- Entry Dedicated Server plan:
First things first, the Asia-Pacific ‘Entry’ package is not available right now. However, you can get the same package from the other two locations which are the USA and Europe. The price will be 269.00$/mo.
The specifications of that server are Intel Xeon CPU @ 3.20 GHz (E3-1230, 4 Core & 8 threads), 10 TB Data Transfer/Bandwidth, 16 GB memory, and 480 GB web Space (SSD) etc.
- Power Dedicated Server plan:
Luckily, this server is available in all three locations. So, the price of the server from USA/Europe is 349.00$/mo. And for Asia-Pacific server, it is 609$ each month.
The specifications of the Power dedicated server are Intel Xeon CPU @ 3.50 GHz (E3-1270, 4 Core & 8 threads), 10 TB Data Transfer/Bandwidth, 32 GB memory, and 960 GB web Space (SSD) etc.
- Super Power Dedicated Server plan:
The last in the list is the best ‘dedicated’ server from SiteGround. We have seen a lot of dedicated hosting packages from a lot of hosting companies. But, almost no other companies are offering this type of high-end and powerful dedicated server.
Here are the specifications of this server for you. It has 2 Intel Xeon CPU @ 2.00 GHz (E5-2630, 6 Core x 2 & 12 threads x2), 10 TB Data Transfer/Bandwidth, 64 GB memory, and 2 x 960 GB web Space (SSD) etc.
To get this one you have to spend 729.00$/mo (USA/Europe) or $929.00/mo (Asia-Pacific).
What’s our opinion?
Again, the prices of the GoDaddy dedicated packages are lower than that of SiteGround ones. However, SiteGround has some of the best ‘dedicated’ servers in the entire industry. On top of that, you can actually choose the location of your dedicated server.
You can’t do that on GoDaddy. So, if you want a real performance boost on your websites then you should definitely go with SiteGround.
Comparing the WordPress Hosting plans
GoDaddy’s WordPress Hosting plans
GoDaddy has got 4 WordPress hosting packages. The names of the packages are Basic, Deluxe, Ultimate, and Developer respectively.
- Basic Plan:
This plan can be perfect if you have only one site. Because you cannot host more than one blogs with this package. The price of this plan starts at 8.99$/mo. This pack comes with 10 GB storage space. And, it is appropriate for about 25,000 monthly visitors.
- Deluxe Plan:
Even on this package, you are only allowed to add one website at once. However, you will get 15 GB storage and it will be suitable for about 100,000 monthly visitors. You will also have some SEO tools from GoDaddy. You will have to spend 12.99$/mo for this package.
- Ultimate Plan:
This WordPress plan from GoDaddy will cost you at least 19.99$/mo. And, you can host 2 websites at once with this package. It comes with 30 GB storage space. And, GoDaddy claims that it is enough for 400,000 visitors per month.
- Developer Plan:
If you are not satisfied with hosting only one or two sites at once then this is the best WordPress package from GoDaddy. You can actually host 5 websites with this package.
The cost of this package starts at 24.99$/mo. And, it will be enough for about 800,000 visitors every month. Along with all these, you will get a free domain if you get this package for at least one year. This plan also includes the SEO tools and free security tools form GoDaddy.
SiteGround’s WordPress Hosting packages
The thing is SiteGround doesn’t have special WordPress packages. Rather, they have altered their shared hosting packages and added many WordPress related features with those packages. And, now they are offering those packages as WordPress packages.
The best thing about this is that the price of the packages are the same to the shared hosting packages, even though they come with more features related to WordPress. The names of the plans are similar too. You will get all the necessary plugins and software for a standard WordPress website with all of these plans.
For example, you will not even have to install WordPress on your website. Rather it will be pre-installed and even will be updated every time a new version is released automatically. And, the prices of the plans are $3.95/mo, $5.95/mo, and $11.95/mo respectively.
What’s our opinion?
Although SiteGround is providing their shared hosting plans as WordPress hosting packages, they are charging a lot less than GoDaddy. Also, each of the packages of GoDaddy has a limitation on the number of websites you can host at once.
But, SiteGround has two packages (GoGeek and GrowBig) on which you are allowed to host unlimited websites. Besides that SiteGround is also offering their in-house custom built software and plugins which are specially developed for using in a WordPress website.
You will be able to boost the performance of your website using those tools easily. And, they are providing them for free. So, if you are going to start a new WordPress website, you should go with SiteGround.
Comparing the Performance
We will be performing 2 performance test in the following section. It will help you to see which one is the best option for your websites’ performance.
Pingdom website speed test on SiteGround:
The test is running from the Stockholm, Sweden server of Pingdom
The Result:
From the image, we see that our website’s load time was only 685ms. That’s super-fast!
Pingdom website speed test on GoDaddy:
The test will be done using the Washington D.C. test server of Pingdom.
The Result:
This time, the load time is just 362 ms. That’s faster than SiteGround.
Our Opinion:
There are a lot of factors which can influence the load time of a website. And, one of them is the web hosting you are using. If your website does not have a load time less than 2 seconds then you should change that as soon as possible. But, in this test, it is prevalent that both of the web hosting providers have an ultra-fast load time. Then again, GoDaddy has got the better of SiteGround this time.
Server Response Test on GoDaddy:
We are using Bitcatcha to test the server response time of a website hosted on GoDaddy.
The Result:
Server Response Test on SiteGround:
We are running the same test on another website hosted on SiteGround.
The Result:
What’s our opinion?
This test was done to know the quality of the servers of these hosting providers. It is better if the server response time is low. So, from the results, it’s easy to notice that both SiteGround and GoDaddy is on a shoulder to shoulder competition here. But, if you look at the ‘Performance Grade’ then you can see that SiteGround got an ‘A+’ whereas GoDaddy got an ‘A’. So, the victor of this test is SiteGround.
Comparing the Uptime Performance
Uptime record of a hosting company can be a good indicator of their service. If a particular web hosting company doesn’t have good uptime record then you should avoid them at any cost. You will want to go with web hosting services which have industry-standard uptime record. And, that is 99%+ uptime.
Therefore, we will compare the uptime record of these two hosting services for you. So that you can know which is better before you spend your money on either of them. However, it is not very easy to know the real uptime record of a web hosting service. The thing is that every hosting company will tell you that they have the best uptime record in the industry. But, that is a blatant lie for a lot of them. So, to know the exactly accurate uptime stat of these two hosting companies we have taken a different tactic.
As a matter of fact, we have hosted a couple of websites on each of these hosting services. And, we have been keeping an eye on their uptime record for a long time. Here’s a little secret, one of those websites is this one (ReviewPlan.com). We are using SiteGround for over a long period of time. Now, let’s reveal the uptime record of these two hosting companies.
The Uptime Stat of GoDaddy:
The Uptime Stat of SiteGround:
What’s our opinion?
Generally speaking, both of these companies are doing great. From the stats above, we can say that they have been retaining above 99% uptime. However, if you look closer, then you can see that SiteGround has a slight edge here.
SiteGround has been keeping 100% of uptime on most of the months. On the contrary, GoDaddy is not that far. Even they have several months where they have kept 100% uptime. So, in this case, we would not say which the best one is. We believe there won’t be a problem for you if you go with either of these two hosting providers if you are concerned about uptime record.
Comparing the Support Service
Let’s take a look at the customer support service of both of these hosting companies.
GoDaddy Customer Support:
On many occasions, we have had to contact the customer support team of GoDaddy. We have to admit they were very helpful every time. You can contact them anytime you want. They are available 24/7. GoDaddy offers their customer service in multiple languages. They outsource their customer service staffs from a lot of countries where they are popular.
So, you can also talk with your country’s support representatives using your native language. That is a very helpful feature actually. You can use several methods to contact them including Live Chat, Direct Call, Email and via Ticket. We have seen that for faster response you can use the live chat option.
Everything about their customer support is good. Yet, sometimes you might get a slower response from their side. Apart from that, there’s no negative about their service. In fact, our experience with them was very amusing.
SiteGround Customer Support:
On the other hand, SiteGround is also very careful about their customer service. Matter of fact, as we have been using their service for a long haul, we know a thing or two about their service as well. If we get stuck at any moment, we usually contact them. And every time they have helped us to resolve our hosting related issues.
You can contact them 24/7 like any other customer support service. They are available via ticket, email, live chat, and direct phone call. Even if you are not at ease or don’t want to directly talk with any customer staffs, you still can solve most of your problems yourself.
Because Siteground has created a lot of helpful contents (videos and articles) for their customers. You can access them on their support page. All of these knowledge-based articles and videos are free for everybody. Even if you’re not a customer of them, you can take advantage of those.
One unique thing about them is that you will get a quick response every time from them. Sometimes, they actually response within just 10 seconds. Overall, we are very satisfied with the service of SiteGround’s customer support team.
Final Verdict: So which is the Ultimate Winner?
There’ no denying that both of these hosting companies are very good. Otherwise, they would not be so much popular among website owners all over the world. So, it’s not a problem going with either of these.
However, if you really care about quality then the winner here is SiteGround. It is not a random claim by us. Rather, we are recommending SiteGround from our own experience. We are actually using their service on our website for quite some time. And, we are beyond impressed with their service.
Apart from that, if you have read the comparison above, it’s apparent that SiteGround has got better plans, faster servers, strong security, industry-standard uptime, and helpful customer service team. So, we can draw our conclusion by saying that SiteGround has got the upper hand here.
Visit SiteGround or GoDaddy
