I recently did a full review of InMotion Hosting, which you can read here. However, I wanted to specifically look at InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy Web Hosting, simply because GoDaddy is the consumer brand among most people who are looking to start their own website.
GoDaddy is a global brand that does a lot of advertising (that’s an understatement). I’ve maintained an account there, and a couple of my clients use it, so I’ve had a a good bit of experience with them since 2009. And InMotion is a rapidly growing hosting company out of Los Angeles that has recently generated a good bit of press and won several awards for their hosting services.
For quite a while now, I have been receiving reader questions about InMotion. So when I was offered a demo account from their business development guys to run a test website on a hosting plan – I took them up on it to see what I thought (you can read the full review about InMotion here). This review compares my experience with GoDaddy and InMotion.
That said – let’s dive in and look at InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy Web Hosting.
Pricing
Comparing pricing between InMotion and GoDaddy is a bit tough because of a few issues.
First, GoDaddy does discounting often (see their latest promo here), while InMotion generally limits their discounting to a dollar off per month, with the occasional sale (see their current plans pricing here).
Second, while they both offer 3 tiers of shared hosting pricing (which they refer to as “business class” and “web hosting” respectively), their plans don’t align exactly.
Nevertheless, when I break out all the features and packages – GoDaddy has the lower prices – pretty consistently, even before discounts. GoDaddy’s Ultimate package is especially a good feature value compared to InMotion – who caps the number or websites/databases on a server all the way up to their “Pro” plan.
That said – they are both very affordable when it comes to hosting. Their cheapest plans are nearly identical in value, and their middle plans are not that far off from each other. If you are deciding solely on price – you should take advantage of GoDaddy’s hosting promos here.
However, if you are able to, I wouldn’t make a hosting decision solely on price. While GoDaddy wins on pricing – let’s continue onto the rest of the categories before deciding InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy…
Features
Just like any bit of marketing, web hosts offer the same product in general, and try to emphasize certain features to stand out to their potential customers. That said – there are specific features that you should consider, and can have an impact depending on what you goals are.
First off, both GoDaddy and InMotion limit the number of websites/domains and databases at their cheapest tier. To break out the jargon, websites/domains is the number of domains that you can route to your hosting account. Each website/domain can have a ton of subdomains on it though. So you could have blog.domain.com, client1.domain.com, www.domain.com, etc, etc – and still only have 1 website/domain on your account.
What is truly limiting is the number of databases that you are limited to. Databases are what stores the information that runs your website. For example, if you use WordPress to power you website, each install uses its own database. Unless you are uploading raw HTML files (and I hope you’re not), then the number of databases allowed is what you should look at.
InMotion and GoDaddy both mix and match on their 2 cheapest tiers. I could really get into specifics and scenarios, but basically, if you have a few websites planned, then InMotion and GoDaddy will both be fine.
However, what pushes GoDaddy up a bit is that their Ultimate package offers Unlimited websites and Unlimited Databases, while InMotion caps their top tier at 25 websites. 25 websites is still a lot for 1 shared server – but it’s still something to be aware of.
Second, the “hidden” feature that I always check is how much PHP they give you. The reason I look at this is because many, many people run their website off a PHP-based CMS…in other words, the programming language that powers the software that powers your website (ie, WordPress is a PHP-based CMS).
PHP needs dedicated memory to run – just like your computer, laptop, or smartphone needs memory to run quickly. Often, web hosts on the cheaper end of the scale will seriously cut back on PHP memory for the sake of costs.
GoDaddy used to be infamous case of this – sometimes only giving 64M to your account. They have recently upgraded to allocate industry standard 256M to each account, though they still cap the amount of memory dedicated to uploads (only a factor when you try to upload a huge photo/video directly through WordPress).
InMotion, though, get especially high marks for the amount of memory dedicated. They match GoDaddy at 256M – but exceed them in upload PHP, and other resources dedicated to the account (this will show up again when we get to Performance).
InMotion (left) and GoDaddy (right) Memory
Otherwise, both GoDaddy and InMotion Hosting offer a wide variety of freebies such as email, app installers, and advertising credits – and they both include a free domain with hosting purchase (see InMotion’s deals here and GoDaddy’s current promo here). I honestly ignore other features since they are generally marketing fluff – with 1 exceptions.
First, money-back guarantees. They both offer them, but in my (and others) experience – GoDaddy only kind of means it, while InMotion offers a 90-day guarantee that is actually legit.
Second, GoDaddy does not do backups. InMotion does free weekly backups which are available for free as well. Now – you should be doing your own website backups, so this should be moot. However, things happen (like hitting delete while backing things up…speaking from experience). So it’s always good to have a safety net – especially one that you don’t have to pay for.
InMotion vs. GoDaddy on features? It’s tight – because it depends on your goals. If you are only planning a couple websites or less, then InMotion wins. If you are going to need a good many separate websites (for clients, events, etc) – GoDaddy’s unlimited features on their Unlimited plan might be a better fit for you (though you should read on to the end for other, better alternatives).
Performance
Features and pricing don’t matter though if your hosting doesn’t do the 1 thing it’s meant to do: serve up your website quickly every single time a visitor requests it.
Both site advertise a 99.99% uptime – that comes from internal numbers though, and has a lot of variables. I’ve yet to have any downtime with InMotion yet, and I’ve had some downtime with my client’s sites on GoDaddy – though just barely within the 1 hour of projected downtime within a year (of course this excludes the infamous DNS snafu of 2012). Uptime though is hard to predict without aggregate data.
What I can measure though is how quickly the servers can serve up the requested site. The metric that I look at is TTFB – time to first byte. It’s the measure of how long it takes the server to acknowledge a request and serve the first byte of a website. I don’t look at the total load time simply because that gets into how your individual website is configured, and what type of website it is.
So here’s the results of the best of 3 consecutive test performed on both websites with the same testing software from the same server & browser:
GoDaddy Speed Test
InMotion Speed Test
InMotion Hosting wins. By quite a bit. Actually…a lot.
That was straightforward – let’s move to usability.
Usability
Every hosting company struggles with the problem of making the account backend simple and not daunting for first-timers, while still providing all the options for anyone else who wants to tweak and explore.
InMotion tries to solve this problem by creating a 2 layer backend. They have their Account Management Panel, which has shortcuts to everything; your billing info; upgrade options, etc. Then, the run your actual server backend with cPanel – which is an industry standard, and seen across many hosting companies.
It’s a bit bare bones, but allows non-first timers the control they want while still attempting to be straightforward for first-timers. Since it’s open-source and very common, there are also plenty of tutorials and videos online (such as my WordPress website setup guide) – but I won’t deny that it’s a bit daunting for first timers. Here’s a screenshot of InMotion’s Account Management Panel, and then their cPanel backend.
InMotion Hosting AMP
InMotion Hosting cPanel
GoDaddy goes a different route – they have a 100% proprietary setup. They have an account backend, where you can click over to your hosting backend. In my experience, it’s much less daunting for first-timers, but quickly becomes limiting once you find your way around. Since it’s all proprietary and unique to GoDaddy – you’ll really only get good support from GoDaddy & their knowledgebase.
GoDaddy Account Panel
GoDaddy Backend
So who wins InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy with usability? I’d say that if you are a total beginner looking to put up a website or two and nothing else – then GoDaddy might be a better fit. If you are looking to do more – maybe put up several sites. Or even just have more control over your site, then InMotion Hosting wins this round.
Customer Service
Even the best laid plans have a way of going wrong – and when it goes wrong you need customer support to help you figure it out.
Customer service is one of those things that’s easy to skip over when you are purchasing. The thing is, when you do need it…you really need it. I wouldn’t skip over it at all.
GoDaddy has some pretty horrible stories online about its customer service. I can’t speak to every single one, but I can give GoDaddy the benefit of the doubt (but not excuses) simply because they are a huge corporation, and deal with a lot of people. I personally have always had adequate customer service interactions with GoDaddy. The worst experience I’ve ever had with 5 years of being a customer is a 15 minute wait. I’ve also never had a ‘wow’ experience though either.
InMotion Hosting however gets a shout out for amazing service. They put their customer service promises front and center in their sales pitch…and follow up on it.
I had one interaction in particular where I had just a simple question about my FTP. I logged onto chat support, waited a few minutes, then got my answer from support.
I was in a bit of a hurry, so I said ‘bye’ and logged off. To the rep, it might have looked like I dropped off the chat session without confirming that all my questions had been answered. I had gone straight back to my email – and less than a minute after logging off chat – I got this email,
InMotion Email Response
That was a ‘wow’ follow up. So as far as customer service goes – GoDaddy gets an adequate while InMotion Hosting gets a ‘wow’.
The Brand
Product reviews and comparisons are important, but it’s also important to be aware of the companies that produce those products. GoDaddy has a specific brand that they promote – you’ve probably seen it on television and online. It’s controversial on purpose and you can take it how you want to take it.
However, GoDaddy has been involved in a fair number of controversies that the informed consumer should be aware of. To give GoDaddy the benefit of the doubt though, they have a new and less controversial CEO, and are phasing out their old ad campaigns.
InMotion Hosting is not perfect, but has not courted quite the controversy of GoDaddy, though they also don’t operate at GoDaddy’s scale. They do actively support open-source software initiatives, sponsor WordCamps, and have been working with non-profits to reduce their carbon footprint.
You can decide if that matters for you, but just FYI.
Conclusion
Unless it is a simply obvious choice, I try to never declare a “best” or “winner” in any review – different companies/products fit different people depending on their goals. So when it comes to InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy -
If you are looking for a solid web host, with good performance, great customer service, and you don’t plan on creating dozens of sites or paying a couple extra bucks a month – then go check out InMotion Hosting’s plans here. They will probably be a better fit for you.
If you are looking for an easy to set up host and you’re more concerned about budget than performance – or you plan on having lots of sites on 1 account – then you should check out GoDaddy here (see their current hosting promo here).
Or if you are looking for a 3rd alternative – you should check out InMotion Hosting vs. HostGator, part 2 of my InMotion Hosting comparisons.
You can also see my full InMotion Hosting review here.
The post InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy Web Hosting: InMotion Compared Part 1 appeared first on ShivarWeb.