GoDaddy

I’ll never forget the frustration of losing a domain name because I simply forgot to renew it.

That painful experience taught me a crucial lesson: choosing a reliable domain registrar with robust management tools and a solid renewal system isn’t just important, it’s essential.

Since then, I’ve become really selective about the registrars I recommend to our WPBeginner readers.

GoDaddy is a true giant in the domain industry, managing over 82 million domain names for more than 20 million customers worldwide. Given their popularity, I knew I had to put them to the test. 

From their AI-powered domain name generator to their broker service for acquiring taken domains, I explored every single feature GoDaddy offers. If you’re searching for a comprehensive domain registrar, then this review will help you decide if GoDaddy is right for you. 

GoDaddy Review: My Honest Experience 

Before we dive into the details, let’s start with the basics. I often get asked, “What exactly is a domain registrar, and why do I need one?” 

In simple terms, a domain registrar is a company that’s authorized to manage the reservation and registration of internet domain names.

Think of it like this: if your WordPress website is your house, then your domain name (like wpbeginner.com) is its street address. A domain registrar helps you legally claim that address and register it in your name. 

Now we understand why a registrar is so essential, let’s talk about one of the most popular choices out there: GoDaddy.

At WPBeginner, we’ve interacted with countless domain registrars over the years, but GoDaddy is one of the largest and most well-known names in the industry – and for good reason. 

One of the first things people notice about GoDaddy is its wide range of popular domain name extensions. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from readers who are frustrated because their ideal .com domain is already taken. That’s why having hundreds of other options to choose from is incredibly helpful.

This flexibility is one of the most compelling reasons to consider GoDaddy, but there’s a whole lot more to explore – as you’ll see in this GoDaddy review. 

GoDaddy Review: Is It the Right Domain Registrar for You?

I’ve registered a ton of domains over the years, ranging from personal WordPress blogs right through to business websites.

Through all that, I’ve used dozens of different registrars, so I know what makes a great one. 

In this detailed GoDaddy review, I’m putting one of the world’s biggest registrars to the test. I’ll explore all its key features, see how its management tools perform in a real-world setting, and find out just how user-friendly it really is. 

By the end of this GoDaddy review, you’ll have a clear understanding of what they offer so you can decide whether they’re the right domain registrar for you.

1. Brainstorming Made Easy: GoDaddy’s AI Domain Generator

Let’s face it: coming up with a name can be tough.

When I feel stuck, I often turn to tools for inspiration, so I was excited to try GoDaddy’s free artificial intelligence (AI) domain name generator. 

Here’s how it works:

• Give it the basics: I started by typing in some key information about a test project, including my industry, the services I wanted to offer, and a location.
• Refine your vision: To get even better results, I described my brand’s personality as “friendly and helpful.” I also told the tool what made my imaginary brand different, which helped the AI better understand my creative vision. 

Once I provided this information, the AI generated a list of business names and their corresponding domain names. 

Even better, it only suggests names with domains you can actually register. This means you won’t fall in love with a name only to discover it’s already taken.

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s AI Domain Generator is surprisingly helpful for overcoming creative blocks. And since it only shows available domains, it’s a really fast way to go from a fresh idea, right through to actually registering your domain.

2. Beyond .com: Explore GoDaddy’s 500+ Domain Extensions

When you’re brainstorming a new site, it’s natural to think of a .com domain first. However, I’ve wasted countless hours trying to find a short, catchy .com name, only to find that every good choice is already taken. 

That’s why exploring other options is so important.

I took some time to browse GoDaddy’s selection and was really impressed by the variety. GoDaddy offers over 500 different domain extensions, so you’re definitely not limited to the classics. 

You can get creative and find an extension that perfectly matches your industry or niche. For example, a personal trainer might use a .health domain, or a local coffee shop could register a .cafe address. These extensions instantly tell visitors what your site is all about before they even click the link. 

Registering one of these newer, descriptive extensions is a brilliant way to build a memorable brand and find a great name that isn’t already taken.

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s huge selection of domain extensions opens up so many creative possibilities for branding and helps new projects find a memorable and relevant name. 

3. Find Your Domain Faster: GoDaddy’s Smart Search Tool

Finding the perfect domain name is the crucial first step for any new online venture. I found GoDaddy’s search tool to be incredibly intuitive and helpful during this process.

Here’s how it works:

I simply visited the GoDaddy website and typed in a domain name I was curious about. GoDaddy instantly told me whether it was available. 

But it didn’t stop there. The tool also suggested a list of alternative domain names I should consider.

These suggestions included different extensions (like .net, .org, or newer ones like .io) and other related names that could be a great fit. 

This smart approach helped me see all my options and find the right balance between a name I liked, and one that fit my budget. 

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s AI-powered search tool is more than just an availability checker – it’s a brainstorming partner. The intelligent suggestions are genuinely useful and can help you find fantastic alternatives you might not have thought about on your own.

4. Get Your Domain Live: Quick and Easy Registration

Once I’d found the perfect domain name for my test project, registering it was very straightforward.

I simply clicked ‘Add to Cart’ and then ‘Proceed to Checkout’.

During the checkout process, I had to create a new account using my email address and fill in my billing information.

Before I finalized my order, I took a moment to review everything in my cart. I always make a point to double-check for any upsells I don’t need, and I recommend you do the same. 

After that, I completed the payment, and my new domain was officially registered.

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s registration process is clear and fast. My only advice is to pay close attention during checkout to ensure you don’t accidentally buy add-ons you don’t need. Otherwise, it’s a very smooth experience from start to finish.

5. Register Your Domain for Up to 10 Years

When you register a domain, you’re securing it for a set period. I was pleased to see that GoDaddy gives you a lot of flexibility here. 

For most common extensions, GoDaddy lets you register the domain for up to 10 years. This is a fantastic option for established businesses and anyone who’s serious about their project.

However, this can vary. Some premium domains or certain newer Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) might have shorter registration terms set by their registries. During my testing, GoDaddy made these limitations very clear during the checkout process, so there were no nasty surprises.

My Honest Review: I’ve lost domain names before due to something as simple as forgetting to activate auto-renew. With that said, the ability to register a domain for up to 10 years with GoDaddy is great for my peace of mind. 

6. Never Lose Your Domain: Hassle-Free Renewals

I’ve heard horror stories from readers who forgot to renew their domain name and completely lost it as a result. Keeping your domain active is absolutely crucial, so I was pleased to see that GoDaddy makes the renewal process very simple.

To start, you can renew your domain manually whenever you choose. GoDaddy will send you email reminders as the expiration date gets closer, so you’ll have plenty of warning.

However, for my most important domains, I always use the auto-renewal feature to ensure they never accidentally expire. 

You can set this up in your account, and GoDaddy will automatically handle the renewal for you. This “set it and forget it” approach provides complete peace of mind.

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s renewal options are flexible and user-friendly. I strongly recommend all website owners enable auto-renewal for their primary domain to avoid any potential disasters. It’s a simple step that protects your entire online presence.

7. GoDaddy’s Intuitive Management Interface

After managing dozens of domains for various projects over the years, I can tell you that a clean, easy-to-use dashboard is absolutely essential. Once I registered my domain with GoDaddy, I explored their management interface and found it to be very intuitive.

Through this interface, you can effortlessly:

• Transfer your domain name to another registrar or even to another GoDaddy account.
• Change nameservers, if you need to point a domain to a new web host.
• Update contact information to keep your records current and accurate.
• Perform other important tasks such as setting up subdomains, managing Domain Name System (DNS) records, enabling domain forwarding, and much more.

My Honest Review: The domain management interface is well-designed and user-friendly. It puts all the critical settings right at your fingertips.

8. Safeguard Your Domain from Threats

GoDaddy’s Domain Protection provides an essential layer of security to safeguard your domain from unauthorized access and accidental mistakes.

Once activated, you’ll get an immediate alert if any critical change is made to your domain. Even better, you’ll need to verify your identity to approve those changes. This makes it much harder for attackers to hijack your domain.

Beyond protecting against malicious activity, this service also makes it nearly impossible to accidentally transfer or delete your domain. 

Plus, upgrading to Domain Protection gives you an extra 90 days to renew your domain if it accidentally expires. This can be a real lifesaver.

My Honest Review: In my opinion, Domain Protection is a valuable security upgrade that can truly protect your site against hackers. For any business-critical domain, this is a must-have feature. 

9. Protecting Your Identity: GoDaddy’s Free Domain Privacy

When you register a domain, your personal contact information (like your name, address, and email) is usually published in a public database called WHOIS. 

Having your private details publicly available isn’t ideal, and can lead to you getting a ton of spam emails and unwanted phone calls.

That’s why I was happy to see that GoDaddy includes free domain privacy with every domain purchase. This service means your personal information is masked in the public WHOIS database, and GoDaddy’s contact details are listed instead. 

Some registrars treat this as a paid add-on, so getting it for free is a bonus that I know our readers will appreciate. This is especially true for bloggers or solopreneurs who need to register a domain to their home address.

My Honest Review: In my opinion, domain privacy is an essential feature, not a luxury. The fact that GoDaddy includes this automatically with every registration is a huge plus and shows a commitment to customer privacy.

10. Protect Your Domain: Free DNSSEC Security

I know just how important it is to keep your site secure, and that starts at the domain level. 

That’s why I was pleased to see that GoDaddy provides DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions). In simple terms, this is a crucial security feature that acts like a digital seal of authenticity for your domain.

When a user types in your website address, DNSSEC ensures they arrive on your actual site and not a fake one created by an attacker. I think we can all agree that preventing this kind of fraud is a top priority for any website owner.

When I looked through my account, I noticed that GoDaddy gives you 5 free DNSSEC credits. This is a great starting point for protecting your most important domains. 

Just keep in mind that your domains must be using GoDaddy’s nameservers, in order to use these credits. 

My Honest Review: Getting free DNSSEC credits is a great bonus when it comes to securing your site. If you care about your WordPress security, then enabling DNSSEC is an absolute no-brainer.

11. Organize Your Site: Leverage GoDaddy’s Subdomains

A subdomain is a prefix you add to your main domain, like blog.mywebsite.com or shop.mybrand.com. It’s a fantastic way to organize different sections of your site without having to register a new domain name.

Here’s how GoDaddy handles subdomains:

• Standard DNS: With GoDaddy’s standard DNS (which comes with your domain), you can have up to 500 DNS records in your zone file. This limit includes all record types (A, CNAME, MX, etc.), so your subdomains count towards this total.
• Premium DNS: If you need more room, GoDaddy’s Premium DNS service expands this limit significantly. When I looked into it, I saw that accounts with Premium DNS can have up to 1500 DNS records per domain, which is a huge increase.

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s standard DNS provides plenty of capacity for most users. However, if you need more capacity then the Premium DNS is perfect for larger, more complex websites.

12. Consolidate Your Online Presence with Domain Forwarding

GoDaddy’s domain forwarding feature lets you take any domain you own and automatically forward it to another website. This means you can seamlessly guide visitors from one domain to another, which is essential for making sure you don’t lose any traffic.

I can think of so many uses for this. For example, you might buy a few variations of your domain name and then redirect them all to your main site.

After setting up domain forward, GoDaddy will automatically update your domain to the GoDaddy nameservers. Most DNS updates take effect within an hour, but they can sometimes take up to 48 hours.

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s domain forwarding feature is essential for anyone managing multiple domains. I found it simple to set up, and it’s an effective way to capture all possible traffic without confusing your visitors.

13. Expand Your Portfolio: Buying Domains in Bulk Made

Have you ever wondered why some brands buy dozens, or even hundreds, of domain names? From my experience working with countless online businesses, there’s many different reasons.

For starters, many businesses register common misspellings of their brand name. We all know that typos happen, and securing those “typo domains” ensures you capture every potential visitor who’s looking for your site, even if they make a small mistake.

If setting up and managing multiple domains sounds like a chore, I completely understand. That’s why I was so keen to try out GoDaddy’s bulk domain check tool. 

This tool promises to save you a ton of time, especially if you’re a marketing agency or someone managing a large portfolio of domains. You can simply paste a list of up to 500 domains and keywords directly into GoDaddy’s bulk domain checker, or even upload your list as a CSV, XLS, or XLSX file.

Once I uploaded my list, GoDaddy instantly showed me which domains were available so I could quickly add them to my cart.

You can also often get a discount when you register multiple domains at once. While the exact savings vary, it’s a nice perk when you’re building up your domain portfolio.

My Honest Review: For anyone needing to register more than a handful of domains, this tool can save hours of manual work. It’s an incredibly efficient way to manage and expand your domain assets.

14. Domain Taken? Use GoDaddy’s WHOIS Lookup Tool

It’s always a bit of a letdown when you realize your perfect domain name is already taken.

When this happens to me, the first thing I do is investigate, and GoDaddy’s WHOIS Lookup tool is perfect for this. This tool lets you search the public WHOIS database, which is essentially a global registry of every domain in the world.

I use GoDaddy’s WHOIS Lookup tool for a few key reasons:

• Check Domain Name Availability: You can type any domain into the WHOIS search field, and it’ll instantly tell you if the domain is available or already in use.
• Discover Domain Owner Information: If the domain is taken, the tool provides key details like the registration and expiry dates. Knowing when a domain is set to expire can be very useful. The current owner might be willing to sell the domain as the expiration date approaches, or they might even let it expire – giving you a chance to snag the domain yourself.

However, it’s important to remember that many domain registrars offer privacy services. This means you may not find the owner’s personal contact information in the WHOIS database.

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s WHOIS Lookup tool is a useful first step when your desired domain is taken. While privacy settings may hide owner details, checking the expiration date is a smart strategy that I’ve used myself to plan potential acquisitions. 

15. Acquire Taken Domains: GoDaddy’s Broker Service

So, what happens when someone else already owns your dream domain name? 

It’s a common problem, and this is where GoDaddy offers a solution that many other registrars don’t: their Domain Broker Service. This lets you hire a professional to negotiate the purchase of an already-registered domain on your behalf.

The process is very straightforward:

• Initiate the Service: Just head over to the GoDaddy Domain Broker Service page and enter the domain you’re eager to acquire.
• Hire Your Broker: GoDaddy will now act as your broker. This service costs $69.99 per domain, plus a 20% commission on the final sale price. GoDaddy boasts over 100 brokers worldwide, so you’ll get regional expertise to help secure the best price.
• Anonymous & Expert Negotiation: I think the best part is that these brokers handle all communication, keeping your identity completely anonymous. This is a huge advantage, as it prevents sellers from inflating the price if they know a business is interested. Your broker will work for up to 30 days to try and make a deal.
• Secure Transfer: If a sale is agreed upon, you pay the agreed price plus the commission, and GoDaddy will securely transfer the domain directly into your account.

My Honest Review: GoDaddy’s Domain Broker Service is an incredibly valuable tool for serious buyers. While it does come with a cost, the expertise and anonymity it provides can truly be the difference between acquiring your dream domain and missing out entirely. 

GoDaddy Review: Community and Professional Support

Even with the most user-friendly platform, questions are bound to come up when you’re managing something as important as a domain name.

After helping countless readers solve website issues, I understand just how critical it is to get help quickly when you’re feeling stuck.

Thankfully, this is another area where I found GoDaddy to be very comprehensive. They provide multiple ways to get the help you need, which is something I always look for in a service provider.

If you’re the type of person who likes to find answers for yourself, you’ll appreciate GoDaddy’s Help Center. 

This online knowledge base was my go-to resource while I was writing this GoDaddy review.  It’s packed with tons of articles and guides covering everything from simple setup questions to more complex DNS configurations.

But what if you have an urgent problem or just prefer to talk to a person? 

This is where I think GoDaddy really shines. They are well-known for their 24/7 phone support, so you can get help at any time of the day or night. I can imagine how valuable this would be for a small business owner who discovers an issue late in the evening. 

Along with phone support, GoDaddy also offers a live chat option which is perfect for quick questions.

GoDaddy Review: Pricing and Plans

The cost of a domain name on GoDaddy can vary quite a bit depending on the specific domain you’re looking for. 

You might snag a domain for as low as $0.01 for the first year if you commit to a three-year purchase. Meanwhile, other domains can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. 

The good news is that GoDaddy makes pricing super clear. When you search for a domain, the price is displayed right there next to each domain name. This makes it easy to compare different options and pick the plan that best fits your budget.

While GoDaddy offers some great deals, there’s a few things you need to be aware of:

• Renewal Rates: Don’t get caught off guard! While the first-year price for your domain and hosting might be incredibly low, the renewal rates are typically much higher. I always recommend checking those renewal costs before you commit to anything.
• Checkout Upsells: GoDaddy typically adds several optional upsells to your cart during the checkout process. Always review your cart carefully and remove any add-ons you don’t actually need before you pay.

Need to buy a domain name and web hosting? 

If you purchase an annual web hosting plan (ranging from $6.99-$9.99 per month) or an annual managed WordPress hosting plan ($7.99-$14.99 per month) then GoDaddy will include a free domain name.

This is a great way to reduce your initial costs and get your website up and running quickly. 

GoDaddy Review: My Honest Experience

I’m always on the hunt for reliable, feature-rich services that can help our readers build a successful online presence. And after thoroughly putting GoDaddy to the test, I’m impressed with how comprehensive it is.

What immediately caught my attention was the sheer number of tools available beyond simple domain registration.

Features like their AI Domain Generator are incredibly helpful if you need to brainstorm creative names quickly. And if your dream domain name is already taken, their Domain Broker Service is a fantastic solution you just don’t get from every domain registrar.

Bottom line? I can confidently recommend GoDaddy to anyone looking for a versatile and powerful all-in-one domain registrar. Whether you’re a beginner registering your very first domain or a professional managing a large portfolio, GoDaddy truly has the features to support your goals.

I hope this GoDaddy review helped you decide if it’s the right domain registrar for you. You may also want to see my guide on how to get a free business phone number, or read our expert pick of the must have WordPress plugins. 

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