Bizarre as that may sound, whether Bluehost is owned by GoDaddy is a genuine question that mostly flies around in the massive world of web hosting. And of course, it adds more fuel to the question of whether Bluehost is better than GoDaddy!
But that doesn’t insinuate that Bluehost is owned by or even has any associations to GoDaddy or any of the companies it is affiliated with. GoDaddy Inc, which owns GoDaddy, doesn’t own Bluehost or any of the companies it is associated with.
Founded by Matt Heaton and Danny Ashworth, Bluehost is part of a huge hosting conglomerate consisting of 70+ hosts, collectively owned by the Endurance International Group (EIG). The Group also owns several top host companies, including HostGator, HostMonster, FastDomain, and iPage.
So, Who is GoDaddy and Who are its Owners?
GoDaddy is the single largest domain name shop across the planet. This American publicly traded web domain registrar and hosting company collectively has about 18.5 million customers. It is out of its vast fan base that it’s often regarded as the giant of small-business web services.
It was formed in 1997, but has recently been undergoing massive brand evolution, most recently characterized by the newly unveiled logo. Today, this web hosting services provider has over 77 million domains in its register and also commands the planet’s biggest percentage of web hosts by market share.
As it is now a standard, however, GoDaddy seemingly is associated with the sexy, yet often criticized Super Bowl ads. The press and especially The New York Times have never approved GoDaddy’s controversial and often-whacky marketing antics.
But everything aside, this web host seems to be doing great as a web domain registrar and also a hosting company. It gives the other big names, including Bluehost, a run for their money and its vast client base is a testament to that.
Bluehost vs. GoDaddy: Where do They Converge?
For starters, the two are arguably the greatest web host providers today, both hosting millions of websites and boasting a gigantic online customer base. For a while, however, questions on which one between Bluehost and GoDaddy is the best host company have always been asked. In order to easily and accurately answer that question, you can check out this comparison of Bluehost versus GoDaddy.
How Bluehost and GoDaddy Compare
When you compare the two, especially on the key metrics you would look at when hunting for a web host, several relatable factors automatically become apparent.
On Features, Performance, and Ease of Use
There’s no doubt the two are feature-rich and excellent as web hosts of choice. They are among the market leaders and that’s why offering top-notch services isn’t a surprise. Ideally, they both offer free domains and free backups and maintain an impressive 99.9% uptime.
GoDaddy, much like Bluehost, offers one great cPanel – an industry standard that helps to conveniently control website settings. The only difference between the two though is the disk space whereby, while GoDaddy’s offer is unlimited, Bluehost caps theirs at 100GB.
Generally, a majority of those shopping for a web host out of these two usually have to decide between GoDaddy’s built-in drag and drop website builder and Bluehost’s integrated WordPress.org and Weebly.
Security, Customer Support, and Overall Reliability
Web hosting is nothing without stellar support services and guaranteed security. And that’s why most companies always invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure. Bluehost, in particular, is among the best when it comes to security as it offers backups, the SSL cert, and a CDN for free.
For both GoDaddy and Bluehost, excellent live chat, and 24/7 phone support services make them among the most reliable hosts today. They are prompt, friendly, and reliable to deal with, even in the dead of the night.
Individually though, Bluehost’s knowledge center is somehow more thorough in responding to customer queries. It uses a support ticketing system whereby you ask a question and the answers you get tend to be comprehensive.
GoDaddy has no such systems in place. The support offered is ordinary with personalized attention; nothing more.
Pricing and Money-Back Guarantee
Money-back guarantee is an industry-standard today, even though it is the duration that slightly differs. The two also offer their clients this benefit, although, with Bluehost, a refund requested before the 30-day duration elapses is issued without fees paid for add-ons such as free domains.
As such, if you had gone for a pricing plan of whatever amount, but changed your mind and canceled it, your refunded amount will not be the total amount paid in the first place.
GoDaddy, on the other hand, offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with almost the same conditions as those of Bluehost. The 30-day period applies to any annual plan, while all monthly plans only attract a 48-hour money-back guarantee. Regardless of the duration, all funds are refunded.
On the pricing part of it, the battle between Bluehost and GoDaddy gets a bit fierce. First, they both swear by the same-old principle of “value for money.” And if you need a cheaper web hosting service, any of the two should be your perfect pick.
However, there’s a catch!
Based on shared hosting, add-ons tilts the scale towards GoDaddy by a few $$. Bluehost is the king of WordPress Hosting, but not without a price, which invariably starts from $19.99 unlike GoDaddy’s $4.99.
On VPS Hosting, GoDaddy is more expensive on the upper end, while Bluehost’s Dedicated Hosting is cheaper generally. Pricing is usually a weighty matter and that’s why it’s always wise to bask by the money-back-guarantee offered.
There’s a lot you probably don’t know about how they compare
That’s right; while looking to buy web hosting services, there’s a whole lot of factors you should consider. You will have to review the host’s server locations, understand its speed and overall performance, relook the public’s general sentiments about the host, and several other features.
Bluehost vs. GoDaddy Hosting: The Parting Shot
You can’t decide the eventual winner between Bluehost and GoDaddy overnight or after reading a single Bluehost vs. GoDaddy review. It is a decision you will probably have to dwell on multiple pieces of counsel, including hearing from both the supporters and rebels of each host.
And, you’ve got no excuse on this since the two are usual household names, each boasting millions of active users. The two have a lot in common, but if it comes down to who ought to be settled for as the winner, you might have to dig deeper.
So, is Bluehost part of GoDaddy?
Bluehost is one of the top 20 web hosts serving over 80% of all websites across the globe today. It isn’t a new name, though, having grown from the startup it was in 2003 to the behemoth it is today.
It was originally owned by Matt Heaton, its co-founder who later sold it to Endurance International Group (EIG) in 2010. It has since grown to be one of the most reliable, top-performing web hosts.
This Utah-based web hosting solutions’ company has grown to become an industry leader. It wrestles with other bigwigs in the industry and already serves as a one-stop-shop of hosting tools for over two million users.
Therefore, Bluehost isn’t owned by GoDaddy who, in fact, is its competitor.