NoDaddy: 5 Hosting Alternatives to GoDaddy

With 32% of the web domain market registered to GoDaddy (50 million domain names), there's a good chance you or someone you know uses the service despite their less than stellar reputation and questionable marketing. The PR fiasco continued with GoDaddy's recent flip-flop support of the controversial, internet-crippling Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), resulting in 37,000 domain transfers in protest. If you're thinking of moving your site domain to a company more dedicated to an open Internet, here are 5 alternatives for your domain and web hosting needs.

Name Cheap
Whether for a small personal website or for something more expansive, Name Cheap is one of our current favourite alternative recommendations to GoDaddy. Monthly rates extend from $3 to $11, depending on how much disk space or how many domains are required. With strong customer support, Name Cheap also offers free WhoIs protection for the first year. And equally important, the company stand in support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation fight against SOPA. Right now when you use their coupon 'SOPASUCKS' to move your domain for $7, they will contribute $2 to the EFF. So far they've managed to raise over $64,000 which helps those of us who aren't in the US and wish to be heard. Domain Transfer Fee: $7 w/ Coupon

Web Hosting Hub
Creating and maintaining a webpage doesn't need to be so difficult or expensive, and Web Hosting Hub is living proof of this. Although there aren't a wide range of customization options, Web Hosting Hub is only $5/month, with unlimited disk space/bandwidth, as well as unlimited websites and e-mails. Domain name registration is free. Domain Transfer Fee: 1st is Free - Additional Domains are $12

Blue Host
For more flexibility, Blue Host has a control panel that doesn't disappoint. From a single page domains, databases, webpages, e-mail accounts, and statistics can all be viewed and managed. They offer a free domain or unlimited domains for a single account as well as unlimited web space, file transfer and e-mail all for $6/month. With a record of having one of the best customer service departments on the market, they stand by that claim with an anytime money back guarantee. Domain Transfer Fee: $12 per Domain

InMotion Hosting
No one can predict how much traffic a website can generate, but if you're fortunate enough to experience a spike, InMotion Hosting is designed to accomodate for sudden growth. This is particularly of importance for online businesses, big or small, who can't afford any downtime. InMotion is recognized by CNET and the Better Business Bureau as one of the better host services in both customer service and reliability. For $9/month you get unlimited traffic and disk space as well as 2 websites and 6 domains. Domain Transfer Fee: 1st is Free - Additional Domains are $12

Dream Host
Coupon code 'SOPAROPA' will take $50 off (and also offers 4 free domain registrations) when you sign up for a year. Considering their going rate is $9/month, a year's worth of web hosting could cost as low as $58. Their dashboard is quite informative with server information, billing and MySQL. On top of unlimited storage, bandwidth and domains, they offer an additional 50GB of backup space. Domain Transfer Fee: $10

The list of web hosting services is practically endless and these are just a few. What are some services you recommend?

Comments (9)

This is old news, and regardless of how people feel about the godaddy decision regarding SOPA (which they retracted btw) as a graphic designer & web developer I will continue to stand beside godaddy. In the past 15 years I have worked with many hosting companies for myself and clients, and in the end I always move everything to godaddy.

Why? Because I have found their customer service to be more personable, their products easier to understand and use, and in all this time, I have only had a website go down one time for a couple hours.

Most of the people jumping ship because of SOPA have to do with illegal, stolen, or otherwise questionable content created and maintained by foreign companies. This is about piracy, just as much as it is about the fear that congress will censor the internet. They won't pass the law because there is more money in internet, computer, media, and related companies than in almost all of the other corporations combined.

And what was not made public was that Apple, Microsoft, and even Facebook were also supporters of SOPA, are we going to boycott them as well? I hardly think so. Worry less, have fun, and let the nerds take care of the processes. Thats the way it is suppose to be.

We just switched everything off of GoDaddy. Their "retraction" wasn't so retracty.

I am proud to say that I moved my 5 domains away from GoDaddy in December. It was really easy.

I am truly surprised by residentgeek's comment. I guess that ethics don't rank particularly highly in their personal hierarchy.

I too moved away from GoDaddy. I have become quite sick and tired of the insane upselling whenever I go to buy or renew. It is simply awful. Getting through their checkout is infuriating.

Honestly, SOPA was just the last straw. I need to go to GoDaddy maybe 5 times a year so it was never a big deal. I also _thought_ I would lose all of the purchased time on my domains. With all the press, I learned that in fact, I extend for an additional year with the cost of a transfer, rather than forfeit all but a year. So, I spend all of an hour researching, then actually doing the transfer (to NameCheap). It was easy!

A list of alternatives to GoDaddy should have been posted long ago. I suppose GoDaddy is fine for amateurs, or for people who are just ignorant and don't know any better, but I honestly can't imagine someone actually recommending them for anything. Not domain name registration, not domain hosting, not anything.

Yeah, GoDaddy is terrible. I hate their commercials too.

Netfirms all the way. I put my first website up on Netfirms in about 1994?? I think. Their service rates right up there with the finest hotels. Their prices are always good, and they reward customer loyalty. My clients are always happy with what I do for them there.

I wouldn't even try another domain-registration and hosting firm.

I've been with hostgator for a few months now without any complaint.

I am a user of 1and1.com, highly recommend them, great service and support, great packages that include domains, hosting and email. I would although recommend using google apps mail over their built in mail.