GoDaddy vs Namecheap
GoDaddy and Namecheap compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. GoDaddy scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
GoDaddyWins overall
The largest registrar's cPanel hosting: three plans on a three-year term with a free domain and daily backups
The Phoenix registrar's cPanel hosting: three sites for $5.88 at renewal, a 30-day free trial and four data centers
GoDaddy wins 3 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.2 vs 6.9).
How do the scores compare?
GoDaddy leads on 3 sub-scores, Namecheap on 2. Higher is better.
Which one is faster and more reliable?
Which one costs less?
On renewal, Namecheap is cheaper ($5.88/mo vs $11.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
What does each include?
| GoDaddy | Namecheap | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | First year on every plan, marked with an asterisk whose disclaimer the page keeps collapsed | No |
| Free SSL | One year on Economy; unlimited certificates for all sites on Deluxe and Ultimate, auto-renewed through AutoSSL | 50 standard certificates for one year on every plan, installed automatically |
| Backups | Automatic daily backups, with recovery of the whole account from the previous day | Twice a week on Stellar (restored by ticket); Stellar Plus and Business add AutoBackup with 6 daily, 3 weekly and 5 monthly copies |
| Free migration | No | cPanel-to-cPanel transfers free; manual migration case by case |
| Free CDN | The page lists CDN and firewall among the included essentials without naming the provider | Supersonic CDN with DDoS protection, for domains on Namecheap's hosting nameservers |
| Caching | No | No |
| Staging | No | No |
| Node.js and languages | Node.js on every plan; the dashboard exposes CPU, memory, entry processes and I/O controls | Not stated |
| Resource limits | 250,000 inodes and 100 GB per account in the hosting agreement; no CPU or RAM figures on the plan page | Not stated |
| Data center choice | No | Phoenix, Amsterdam, Singapore or Farnborough at checkout; moving an account later is a billing request |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.9% per month in the hosting agreement, with a credit of 5% of the monthly fee on request, usable for future purchases | 100% monthly on shared plans; one day of service added per hour of unscheduled downtime, up to one month, claimed by ticket within 10 days |
| Security | DDoS protection and network monitoring on every plan; a site security suite is included on the cards | Imunify360 (malware scanning, intrusion prevention, machine-learning firewall), KernelCare patching, account isolation, cPanel two-factor login |
| Free email is listed on every plan without a mailbox count | Not stated | |
| Phone support | 24/7 chat, phone and email through GoDaddy Guides | No |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| SSH and languages | Not stated | Jailshell SSH, PHP, Perl, Python, Node.js and Ruby scripts |
| Website builder | Not stated | Sitejet AI website builder and an AI assistant for WordPress on every plan |
| Dedicated IP | Not stated | $4.00 a month add-on |