What is GoDaddy? Everything you need to know
We explain everything you need to know about GoDaddy, including details of its current web domain and hosting services
Web host GoDaddy claims to be “the world’s largest services platform for entrepreneurs around the globe”. Its 20m+ customers have tasked it with looking after more than 80m domain names, making it one of the biggest providers of its kind, worldwide.
But what’s behind that strange name, how did it start, and how big is it really? If you’re asking these questions – and more – while deciding whether to sign up to GoDaddy, or GoDaddy Deluxe, here’s where you’ll find the answers.
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GoDaddy: Where did it come from?
GoDaddy was founded in 1997, in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the brainchild of Bob Parsons, who kept the company in private ownership until 2011, when he sold a large portion of his shares. Despite this, he retained a place on the board until 2018 when he stepped down to focus on his other companies and charitable foundation.
Although founded and headquartered in the US, GoDaddy has offices around the globe, including bases in Amsterdam, Cologne, Strasbourg and Munich, and three sites in the UK, in Hayes, Nottingham and Woking.
Across each of its locations, it employs close to 7,000 people, although CEO Aman Bhutani announced plans to reduce the headcount by around 8%, mainly in the US, in February 2023.
GoDaddy: How big is it?
It’s big. GoDaddy launched its first website-building software and hosting products in 1998, and by 2005 it was already serving 2m customers and turning over $100m in annual revenue. Within the next two years, the number of customers on its books doubled, and so did the number of domains it managed, to 20m. That was already impressive, but things carried on growing.
Revenue reached $1bn per year in 2013, by which time it had introduced localised products for India, partnered with Microsoft to launch Office 365 for Small Business, and seen a majority stake – 70% – snapped up by a trio of technology investment firms. It went public in 2015 when its shares floated on the New York Stock Exchange.
Part of its growth has come through acquisition, with GoDaddy welcoming several well-known brands into the fold along the way. These include Host Europe, the enterprise behind 123-reg, which bills itself as “the UK’s largest domain provider”.
GoDaddy: What does it offer?
Its broad portfolio includes pretty much anything you can think of to do with getting a site up and running. Those activities fall into two main areas: domains and hosting.
Domain registration
GoDaddy claims to be the world’s largest domain registrar, giving its customers access to more than 500 domain name extensions, including .com, .co.uk, .me and .live. Most of these are offered at a significant discount in the first year of registration.
It also offers a resale service for domain name owners who want to shift the virtual properties they already hold rather than letting them lapse. It offers free estimates on what you could make if you sold your domain and, if you like what it says, you can auction it via GoDaddy. You’ll need to be a member of the auction service to do this. That costs £4.14 a year, but as well as letting you list your domain for free, it lets you bid on domains for sale. There are no buyers’ fees, but you will need to pay for a year’s registration if you’re successful.
If you’re looking to buy a domain name that’s already taken but not currently advertised for sale, its domain broker service can help negotiate the name’s purchase by contacting the owner with an enquiry on your behalf.
Web hosting
GoDaddy offers a wide range of hosting packages, on both Linux and Windows servers. We reviewed its Deluxe Linux offering in January and gave it five stars and a Best Buy award.
Prices start at £3.99 a month if you sign on for three years up front, but at that price you can only host a single site. If you have multiple domains and want to populate each of them, the Deluxe tier, at £5.99 a month, lets you host up to 10 sites, and Ultimate, at £7.99, ups the limit to 25. Average down the costs, and they represent better value for money.
Every plan includes SSL, daily backups and one-click installation of more than 150 apps, including WordPress.
GoDaddy also offers dedicated WordPress hosting, virtual private servers (VPS) and dedicated server hosting, with the latter two being best suited to enterprise users and those with particularly demanding requirements.
Not everyone needs a website, but email is essential. So, GoDaddy also offers dedicated email-hosting options, starting at £1.99 per user per month for the Microsoft 365 Email Essentials plan.
Other services
As well as hosting and domain management, GoDaddy’s portfolio rolls in a number of useful business tools, including a digital marketing suite that helps you manage social content, emails and reviews – and an online logo maker, video editing app and SEO optimisation service for those who want to increase their ranking in search results.
