I used GoDaddy for many years, until their upselling and price hikes became unbearable. Then I switched between different other providers for domain registration and web hosting.
I just want to talk about three of the top GoDaddy alternatives worth considering: Spaceship, Porkbun, and Cloudflare.
Here’s my opinion about each of these:
1. Spaceship
I switched from GoDaddy to Spaceship as my domain registrar and host and it’s been great so far. Renewal rates are much lower than GoDaddy’s and there is far less upselling.
I highly recommend Spaceship if you’re looking to migrate multiple domains from GoDaddy because their prices are unbeatable (hopefully they stay so).
BTW, Spaceship is a new company that is owned by Namecheap, which I’ve also used. I’d choose Spaceship over Namecheap because of the lower renewal prices, and they also have better deals on web hosting than Namecheap.
Pros
- Low domain registration and renewal prices
- Free WHOIS/RDAP privacy
- Cheap email and web hosting
- Free SSL certificates
- Cool interface
- Quick support
Cons
- Domain search gets glitchy sometimes
2. Porkbun
Porkbun also has very low prices for domain registration and renewal. The interface looks nice with a little sense of humor. It’s good as a domain registrar, but for web hosting, Spaceship is a better option because it’s cheaper and has better features.
Pros
- Competitive domain prices
- User-friendly dashboard
- Good support service
- Good documentation
Cons
- Not the best web hosting
3. Cloudflare
Cloudflare is another considerable alternative to GoDaddy that offers lower domain prices, free SSL certificates, and free DNS and CDN. They offer at-cost domain pricing, so price hikes are extremely rare (only in case the registry hikes up the wholesale price).
I’d only recommend Cloudflare for experienced users since the platform is a little technical and support service isn’t free. Even some user with a paid plan complained about slow or non-responsive support, so I’d be more careful with this one.
Pros
- No price markups or hikes
- Free DNS with advanced settings
- Free CDN and Firewall
- Free SSL certificates
Cons
- No introductory discounts
- Can’t change nameservers
- Requires manual DNS setup
- No support unless you upgrade
- Country and state are visible in WHOIS
What Do Redditors Recommend?
Spaceship, Porkbun and Cloudflare are among the most recommended GoDaddy alternatives on Reddit for various reasons. I personally prefer Spaceship because it’s solid and very affordable for both domains and hosting. Others have different opinions based on their preferences, but generally any of these three is better than Godaddy.
Domain Price Comparison
Here’s a comparison of the price of .com registration (first year) and renewal at GoDaddy vs. the three providers above and a few others.
| Provider | .com (registration price) | .com (renewal price) |
|---|---|---|
| GoDaddy | $11.99 | $21.99 |
| Spaceship | $9.08 | $10.18 |
| Porkbun | $11.08 | $11.08 |
| Cloudflare | $10.44 | $10.44 |
| Namecheap | $11.28 | $18.48 |
| NameSilo | $17.29 | $17.29 |
| Hostinger | $9.99 | $17.99 |
| Squarespace | $14.00 | $20.00 |
| Name.com | $12.99 | $19.99 |
| Bluehost | $12.99 | $23.99 |
| Network Solutions | $11.99 | $28.99 |
| IONOS | $10.00 | $20.00 |
| Hover | $18.99 | $18.99 |
| Gandi | $11.00 | $38.38 |
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