In this GoDaddy Website Builder review, we’re going to look at the platform’s top features and functions, as well as its pros and cons, pricing, and support. We’ll even take a look at a few of its top competitors to give you a better understanding of how this site builder compares to other leading platforms.
GoDaddy Website Builder Summary
Ron’s Thoughts
GoDaddy is one of the most famous and popular website hosting providers in the industry. They’re well-known for their affordable plan and ease of use, but how does their website builder compare? Well, you can test GoDaddy’s website builder for free, you can create a custom connected domain, use smartphone-optimized layouts, and more. The page builder is also very fast. Overall, this website builder follows the same rules as other GoDaddy products – Affordable and Efficient.
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Biggest Pro:
Excellent Free Plan
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Biggest Con:
Limited Customization Options
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Annual Discount:
Yes - Up To 33% Off
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Price:
Starts at $9.99/Month
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Promotion:
Is GoDaddy Website Builder Worth it?
A major part of good web design is incorporating tools for marketing, analytics, SEO (search engine optimization), and more. With nearly 2 billion websites on the internet, these tools are crucial so you can be found by your target audience online. For this reason, you must choose a website builder that comes with all these essential features.
GoDaddy’s website builder is a powerful online editing and publishing tool designed to help you create a responsive website with no coding required. The platform, which is formally called “Websites + Marketing” is an attractive solution for users and comes with features that compare favorably with other popular platforms like Wix and Squarespace.
For example, GoDaddy’s builder has an intuitive editor which is one of the easiest editors available today. This makes it an excellent platform for beginners and those with limited design skills.
Moreover, the platform comes with built-in marketing tools, including social media and SEO to help you can gain more visibility for your new website. This means you don’t have to pay for third-party tools to achieve your marketing goals. You can do everything from one convenient dashboard, and save money on subscriptions every month.
All in all, GoDaddy offers intuitive tools, amazing support, and great value for all users.
Who is GoDaddy Website Builder Good For?
The next part of this GoDaddy review discusses who this website builder is good for.
This software is great for all types of users. It comes with a free plan that lets you get started right away with a mobile-friendly website, complete with built-in marketing and business-building tools. Beginners can start with the Basic plan and unlock more features like SEO, appointments, and store add-ons as their business grows.
To give you a better idea of what GoDaddy’s website builder can do, here is a quick look at the different types of creators who can benefit from using this platform.
- Beginners: If you don’t feel confident in controlling the look and functionality of your website, and would rather have all design choices made for you, then GoDaddy Website Builder is perfect for you.
- Small Businesses: This site builder comes with an online store, PayPal donation/sales buttons, appointment bookings, and even integration for Google Adsense, making it ideal for small businesses of all types.
- Freelancers: This all-in-one solution provides you with a straightforward approach to building, managing, and growing your website. You’ll save money on a ton of additional tools and apps each month.
- Bloggers: This is an extremely easy way to get your blog online. All you have to do is sign up, pick a template for your new blog, and use the built-in editor to add your own text, images, and videos.
- Online Sellers: GoDaddy allows you to add a full online shop, complete with product listings, a shopping cart, coupons, shipping, multiple payment options, and many other features.
GoDaddy Website Builder Functionality
1. Ease of Use
If you’re familiar with my blog, you’ll know that I am a big advocate of software that is easy to use and doesn’t require a long learning curve to master. That’s one of the reasons why I love GoDaddy’s website builder and why I mention this characteristic first in my GoDaddy website builder review.
This site builder is designed to be as simple to use as possible, especially for tech-challenged users. It has intuitive website-building tools that require zero coding knowledge or web design skills.
To create your website, you just have to answer a few questions and the platform’s ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) will generate an initial website design for you. You can then proceed to customize the different elements, such as text, images, videos, etc. to make your new website unique.
Here are the steps to follow:
Step #1: Sign Up on the Website. Click the “Start for Free” button on the homepage and enter your email address. Alternatively, you can proceed with Facebook or Google.
You’ll be prompted to verify your email in order to ensure that you won’t lose access to your GoDaddy account.
Once that is done, you can continue to your new account.
Step #2: Add a Few Details. Next, GoDaddy will ask you a few questions about your project so the platform can suggest relevant GoDaddy website builder features.
For example, you’ll have to specify your main goals.
If you intend to sell products or services, state whether you’d like to use your website, in-person/point-of-sale, social media, or online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy.
The platform’s beginner-friendly ADI will then use this information to create a customized website to suit your needs. All of this happens in a matter of minutes, making it perfect for beginners who want to publish a simple website online fast.
Step #3: Pick a Template. Your next step is to pick a template that is a great fit for your business.
There’s a wide range of modern website templates built for brilliant ideas. You can choose the appropriate template from the following categories:
- Personal and Blog
- Fashion and Beauty
- Home Services
- Online Store
- Health and Fitness
- Photography
- Art and Design
- Music
- Real Estate
- Travel
- Restaurants and Food
- Automotive in Cars
- Professional Services
- Community and Nonprofit
- Coming Soon
With such a diverse range of templates, you’re sure to find the right layout for your new website.
But, in the unlikely event that you can’t find the perfect design for your website, the platform will generate a custom site just for you.
You’ll find this option at the bottom of the template list.
Step #4: Add Your Content. Once your template is chosen, the GoDaddy Website Builder will create a professional layout for you and you’ll be presented with your brand new website – complete with all the necessary pages, including:
- Homepage
- Blog
- Services
- Contact
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
… and any other relevant pages (depending on the template you’ve chosen)
Use the powerful drag-and-drop editor to tailor your website content and design to suit your needs.
The website builder offers a smooth editing experience. The visual editor follows the convention of other popular website builders like Zyro, Weebly, Wix, etc., with a central dashboard where you can easily manage your website.
Add page sections directly within the editor and swap out pre-designed content and elements for your own.
You’ll find tons to choose from, including:
- Image galleries
- Menus
- Price lists
- Scheduling tools
- Reviews
- Social feed
… and many more.
You can also add eCommerce features like PayPal buttons, gift cards, and more at the click of a button.
An added bonus of using GoDaddy’s website builder is that you can edit your website on a mobile device.
2. Templates and Design Flexibility
Each design is clean, modern, and easy to customize. There’s no need for HTML or coding knowledge. Each template comes with pre-made elements to make it easy for you to quickly build a unique and professional website.
The tool’s user-friendliness ensures that there are no complexities in building a website.
The back-end interface is simple and uncluttered. It’s easy to navigate and the settings are straightforward and intuitive. Toggle different elements on and off to create the layout you want.
Whether you want to create a blog, add a Facebook page, or implement SEO settings, you’ll be able to easily find the tools you need.
3. Email Marketing
Building a brilliant site is just the start when using the GoDaddy Website Builder software. This all-in-one website-creation service also comes with built-in marketing features and tools for promoting and monetizing your website.
One such tool is the email marketing feature which allows you to grow your business faster with expanded email marketing campaigns. You can send emails from your dashboard and you get email and text appointment reminders on the higher-tier plans.
Send volumes vary significantly from one plan to the next, ranging from 100 to 25,000 emails per month. With the advanced email marketing tools, you’ll be able to stay connected with your customers, engage and nurture them, and keep them up-to-date on important business news.
There’s also a flexible and customizable newsletter creator that comes with premade templates included.
This makes it easy for you to send your email marketing campaigns without having to integrate an additional email tool. You can track responses, schedule mailings, and more.
4. eCommerce Functionality
GoDaddy’s easy-to-use online store allows you to sell anything, anywhere – whether it’s products, downloads, or services (virtual or in-person).
You can sell on Amazon, Facebook, Etsy, Instagram, Google, and many other marketplaces.
The platform makes it easy for you to streamline your eCommerce workflows by providing powerful eCommerce tools.
Here’s a quick look at some of the core eCommerce features available to you:
- Add a Shop: Use one of the many professional eCommerce templates to set up your online store and then upgrade to a premium plan to start selling.
- Accept Payments: On the eCommerce plan, you can quickly and securely process payments through GoDaddy Payments or other payment processors, including PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- Manage Your Shop: GoDaddy lets you manage everything from reviews and orders to inventory and social – all from one convenient dashboard, and on any device.
5. Appointment Scheduling App
All plans (including the free version) include an appointment-scheduling app. However, on the free website, you can only use the one-time appointment scheduling feature.
Whenever you’re ready, you can upgrade to one of the premium plans to set up recurring appointments if you want to offer classes, workshops, and group events. The premium plan also provides you with advanced GoDaddy website builder features like:
- Appointment payments
- Appointment email reminders
… and more.
Customers can easily make a booking and pay for your services right on your website. This creates a seamless experience since they can do this at any time whether you are available or not. With this feature, you’ll be able to fill up your calendar without having to pick up the phone.
This is how GoDaddy’s appointment booking calendar looks:
6. Blogging
A blog is an indispensable tool for anyone who wants to get more organic traffic to their website.
GoDaddy makes it easy for you to add a blog to your website. The builder comes with a range of blogging features that you can use to create, schedule, and publish your posts.
These include:
- Category management
- Social media sharing
- Email blog updates for readers
- Blog commenting (via built-in integration with Disqus)
… and many others.
Best of all, the website builder also comes with built-in SEO tools (more on that below) to make it even easier for you to get your content ranked.
7. Social Media Manager
This feature allows you to connect different social accounts so you can schedule posts easily. You can connect your website to the following social sites:
- YouTube
You can also create social content with the help of GoDaddy Studio, a simple graphic design tool that’s similar to Canva for creating ads, Youtube thumbnails, Instagram stories, cover photos, and more.
You’ll be able to create unique, branded content for your website and social media without the need for any graphic design knowledge.
With tools like these, it’s easy to see how this website builder can act as a hub for your online presence. It’s the place where your audience can read your posts, leave comments, view your images and videos, and much more.
And since you have the option to link to your social profiles, your followers can find you everywhere you are online. By covering multiple platforms, GoDaddy’s website builder gives you the opportunity to reach a broader audience, while creating relevant content that resonates with each audience segment.
8. SEO
GoDaddy has an SEO Wizard designed to help you identify relevant keywords that you can target on your blog.
The wizard also provides you with suggestions to add search-optimized website text. Although this feature isn’t as advanced as the SEO options on platforms like Wix or Squarespace, it is a great jumping-off point for beginners who have very little knowledge of search engine optimization.
On the website building interface, you’ll also find a link to a detailed and easy-to-follow guide on ways to optimize your website.
9. Excellent Security and Uptime
If website visitors don’t trust the security of your site, it’s unlikely they will buy from you. And, if you have poor uptime, which means your website is unavailable online, then you lose a lot of income. That’s why security and uptime are two of the most important aspects of any hosting service.
GoDaddy understands this and strives to provide the best services in this regard.
- Security: All GoDaddy websites come with secure socket layers (SSL) security included. This way, you don’t have to worry about providing a safe browsing experience for your website visitors. Also, SSL security establishes trust between you and your visitors who are assured that their information remains private and secure.
- Uptime: With regard to uptime, GoDaddy offers one of the best uptime guarantees (99.9%) that you’ll find from any host. In addition to excellent uptime, you also get full network redundancy. This means the platform is remarkably stable and you never have to worry about extended downtime.
10. All-in-One Solution
In addition to the website builder, GoDaddy also provides you with a range of services including:
- Website hosting and VPS
- Domain name registration
- International domain transfer
- Email service
- eCommerce tools
- Marketing suite
- SSL security
… and many more.
The platform also has a versatile app that lets you not only edit your website easily from any device, but also manage your social media, bookings, store orders, and much more.
Your GoDaddy store even converts into a POS reader, allowing you to accept payments with your device.
11. Additional Features
Other amazing GoDaddy website builder features include:
- Contact Form: This sophisticated feature gives you the ability to add fields and display an opt-in button. You can include a “Message us on Whatsapp” button on your website.
- Password Protection and Member Areas: GoDaddy allows you to protect certain pages on your website from the general public and set up dedicated membership areas. You can invite members to view those pages by creating their own login.
- Newsletter Tool: The website builder comes with its own built-in email marketing solution for simple campaigns. It provides you with standard statistics, such as opens, clicks, and bounces.
- Backup and Restore: This feature allows you to roll your site back to an earlier point in time to protect yourself if your website crashes or is hacked.
- Analytics: The software has a built-in Insights feature that allows you to see page views and comparison score against other websites. If you want deeper insights, you can integrate Google Analytics.
- Add HTML Code: Add HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to pages through the dedicated HTML-Element. Note that you can also use this handy feature to add other third-party tools and external features to your site.
GoDaddy Website Builder Pros and Cons
Every website builder comes with its unique set of advantages and limitations. Below is a quick outline of the best and worst of GoDaddy’s website builder to help you determine if it’s the right solution for you.
Pros:
- Free Version Available: GoDaddy offers a free plan that you can use until you’re ready to upgrade for more business-building features.
- Affordable Plans: There are four affordable premium plans to choose from, all of which come with a free SSL certificate, custom domain connection, and website analytics.
- Connected Custom Domain: Having a custom domain makes you look more professional and makes it easier for your audience to remember your business name.
- All-in-one Marketing Solution: Find all your important marketing functions in one place, including a blogging feature, social media content creator, and built-in email marketing.
- Smartphone-Optimized Layouts: GoDaddy’s designs are fully mobile-responsive, which means your website will look great on mobile phones and tablets.
- Fast Loading Speeds: The page builder has impressive speeds in comparison to other website builders in its category.
Cons:
- Limited Customization: GoDaddy has great template designs but limited site design customization compared to website builders like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace.
- No Custom Sections: In GoDaddy, you can only build a page by adding pre-designed sections. You don’t have the ability to add extra elements or move things around in true drag-and-drop fashion.
- Lack of eCommerce Features: eCommerce is not available with all tiers, and eCommerce features are somewhat limited compared to a platform like Shopify. I’ve written a full comparison of Shopify vs GoDaddy as well if you’re interested.
GoDaddy Website Builder Competitors
The intuitive website-building tools on GoDaddy make the platform a perfect choice for beginners and experienced users alike. However, there may be some features that you need that aren’t available on GoDaddy. If so, there are some worthy competitors that you might consider as part of this GoDaddy website builder review.
Here are three of GoDaddy’s top alternatives with features to rival this popular website builder.
GoDaddy vs WordPress
WordPress is the world’s most popular website builder. According to the latest statistics, it’s used by over 65% of all websites using a content management system. One of the main reasons for its popularity is the sheer level of flexibility it offers.
While GoDaddy focuses on providing easy-to-use features for people with limited coding or design skills, WordPress is more about giving you full creative control over the look and functionality of your website.
However, this means that there’s a much longer learning curve with WordPress compared to most other website builders like GoDaddy, Zyro, Wix, and Squarespace.
Where GoDaddy focuses on hand-holding during the site-building process, WordPress gives you full flexibility in your design, together with scalable solutions, advanced SEO tools, and more robust integrations with third-party tools and apps.
GoDaddy vs Squarespace
Squarespace is yet another powerful website-building platform that provides you with everything you need to create a full-featured website. This includes features like a drag-and-drop editor, pre-designed and mobile-optimized website templates, email marketing, SEO, eCommerce features, appointment scheduling, membership sites, and much more.
It’s clear to see why this website-building solution is so popular with a lot of businesses. However, there are some areas where GoDaddy excels. For example, GoDaddy is a one-stop shop for small businesses. The website builder is easy to use and comes with built-in marketing tools as well as tailored suggestions for improvement.
One of the platform’s best features is the scheduling feature that comes included in all plans, including the free plan, whereas Squarespace charges $14-45 per month for its Acuity Scheduling feature.
Read my full GoDaddy vs. Squarespace comparison for a more comprehensive analysis.
GoDaddy vs Wix
Wix is a popular drag-and-drop website creator that comes with built-in online sales capability. The cloud-based platform was founded in 2006 and is currently one of the top website builders for beginners and expert users alike.
In addition to the drag-and-drop editor, Wix also has artificial design intelligence (Wix ADI), and Wix Code for more technically-inclined users. GoDaddy offers more affordable plans while providing you with a ton of amazing features. It’s an ideal choice for anyone who wants to maintain a tight budget.
Like Wix, GoDaddy comes with a free plan, but Wix does offer you more for your money. However, you’ll have to be willing to fork out a higher monthly premium to access features such as online payments, multi-channel sales, client management tools, analytics, and reports.
Check out some other GoDaddy comparisons that I’ve done:
Pricing
GoDaddy offers a free plan and four growth-focused plans:
- Free Trial: $0/month: GoDaddy’s free plan allows you to build a mobile-friendly website with built-in SEO tools, 24/7 support, a free SSL certificate, and other essential features. Keep your site forever, or upgrade to a premium plan for more features.
- Basic Plan: $9.99/month: This plan allows you to get your business moving with a full-featured website that includes marketing and payments. You get all the platform’s core features, as well as custom domain connection, email marketing, social media, SEO, analytics, and payment tools.
- Premium Plan: $14.99/month: This plan allows you to take online appointments and boost your marketing. It comes with everything in the “Basic” plan + membership websites, online payments and deposits, email and text appointment reminders, business phone numbers, and many other features.
- Commerce Plan: $16.99/month: With this plan, you can sell anywhere with an online store, marketplace, and point-of-sale. It includes everything in the “Premium” plan and allows you to list up to 5,000 products. Advanced eCommerce features include auto inventory and product sync across channels. You also get gift cards, abandoned cart recovery, discounted shipping, and more.
- Commerce Plus Plan: $29.99/month:
- Scale your business and save time with automated features
- Everything in the “Commerce” plan +
- Unlimited products in store
- 1,000 orders/month on Amazon, Facebook, Google, etc.
- Automated sales tax calculation
- Auto-populated tax forms
All prices are based on an annual plan and reflect a discount of 16% for the first year. Without the annual term savings, month-to-month plans cost $14.99 per month for the Basic plan.
Product Support
GoDaddy excels when it comes to product support. The company’s knowledgeable support team is available 24/7 via the following channels:
- Live Chat: Get round-the-clock, personalized support by clicking the “Chat” button on the website. You’ll be connected to an agent in less than a minute.
- Phone: You can get in touch with GoDaddy’s support at 1-480-366-3546. Even if you’re not a customer, you can call them and they’ll be happy to answer your questions.
- Help Center: You’ll find a ton of helpful guides, how-to articles, videos, FAQs, and more on the website’s well-curated help center.
- Community Forum: You can join GoDaddy’s community forum to discover and share tips and advice about running a successful website.
Integrations
GoDaddy provides a number of useful features natively, including an appointment scheduler, live chat, website pop-up, and the ability to embed various types of media.
You can also expand your website’s functionality using external tools that you can easily integrate at the click of a button.
Integrations include:
- SoundCloud
- GoFundMe
- Yelp
- OpenTable
- Google Analytics
- Facebook Pixel
- Pinterest Meta Tag
Is GoDaddy Website Builder Legit?
GoDaddy is a leading internet hosting and domain registration company whose website builder has taken the industry by storm. Trusted by over 21 million customers around the world, the company’s all-in-one website builder has a lot to offer creators of all types.
It has excellent uptime, great-looking templates, generous storage, and built-in business marketing features. There are a ton of additional benefits, including tools like blogging, email marketing, and social media selling tools.
You can accept payments on your website easily on the eCommerce plan, and set up appointment/scheduling apps to create a seamless experience for your clients.
There are multiple affordable pricing plans to suit all budgets, and every plan comes with an easy-to-use website editor, sales functionality, and a powerful set of built-in marketing features.
Whether you’re a beginner working on your first website or an experienced user who needs advanced eCommerce, marketing, or website analytics features, you’ll find what you need on this platform.
Take a look at what these users had to say about the GoDaddy Website Builder:
Are you ready to take advantage of this well-rounded website builder to create the site of your dreams? If so, sign up for a free GoDaddy Website Builder plan right now. I hope my GoDaddy review helped you understand the capabilities of this site builder to help you make a choice.
Still not sure if GoDaddy’s website builder is right for you? Check out my detailed comparisons below or my list of the best website builders.