DreamHost vs. GoDaddy

If you're not too technical, don't want to spend time managing a server and want something quality while sticking to a budget, DreamHost is the best it can get. We may be able to save money by switching to something like AWS, but for our usage it doesn't totally make sense even with potential cost-savings and improved speeds. The support and ease of use cannot be overstated here.

Incentivized

I have purchased domains through a few different sites over the years and the ones I purchased from other companies, I always had issues with. The ones I have purchased through GoDaddy were no problem at all. They have easy help pages that helps you set up step-by-step no matter where you will use your domain. I now only purchase them from GoDaddy. They also have coupon codes where you can sometimes get them for 99 cents, especially if you are a new user.

Incentivized

• Dreamhost has very good hosting plans that can be matched for different levels of hosting needs and expected web traffic bandwidth.
• The hosting service is very friendly for coders and those needing to tinker "under the hood" with their sites.
• Great uptime service with limited technical issues.

Incentivized

• Customer service is definitely number one here. The fact that they are open for calls 24/7 and have a great support team is a really nice thing to have when you aren't fully versed in all things domains/cpanel/email etc. They also usually answer quickly.
• Ease of use throughout the website. It's made for the non web savvy individual, clear and instructive for proper usage.
• I think they know their target market well and it's nice to see that their website shows just that.

Incentivized

• There was one instance where DreamHost support caused unnecessary downtime because they misread my request. Unfortunately I don't have access to that account anymore (it was an old employer) so I don't remember the details. To avoid this, make it very clear whether you're just asking a question or want support to handle it (they can be quite eager to fix the problem even when you've just asked a question), and be VERY clear what you need when doing the wrong thing may cause serious problems.

Incentivized

• Support agents are woefully undertrained, even in knowledge of their own products.
• Support agents will always try to upsell you, even when you're dealing with an urgent, high-impact issue.
• There's no guarantee of uptime, and there will often be gaps in service as part of normal procedures.

Incentivized

We have every intention of staying with Dreamhost, but we are a tad concerned with the company's recent involvement in high profile litigation and controversial topics. While we don't take a position one way or another on what type of content they should host, one concern we have is that repeated attacks on their infrastructure have caused significant downtime during business hours for us, and that's something we'll have to take into consideration going forward.

Incentivized

GoDaddy is the number one player in town. They have the most competitive and best pricing on everything from domain name registration to hosting packages that are very affordable. But of course due to inflation and everything going up in price today GoDaddy has raised their rates but nothing ever comes back down.

Incentivized

Some integration could be much cleaner and smoother. Seems it used to be easier. Plus, they took away the catch all email feature.

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They are also available. They never have any outages or anything that I've yet to experience.

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Like I said before they are the BEST! nothing slows them down.

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Whether we're calling in on the phone, live chatting or emailing, we get immediate high-quality, native English-speaking support. This cannot be overstated when it comes to hosting, because support tickets are usually time sensitive and high stress. I've always had great experiences with the limited times we've needed to use DreamHost support. We've dealt with support for many other providers and no one comes close to DreamHost.

Incentivized

I think a lot of companies can learn from GoDaddy's support team. I have found:

• Chat or phone support is almost always available.
• Their agents are friendly and helpful.
• Their agents seem to care and be knowledgeable about a wide range of issues.
• I rarely have to escalate my problem to get the support that I need.
• If they can't help me, then they can tell me why something is happening and direct me to resources that can fix my problem.

Incentivized

We've tried a few other WordPress-specific hosts, as well as other shared hosting providers (Rackspace, WPEngine, and others). We have found that DreamHost gives the best balance of cost, performance, and features, for our needs. All vendors have their own pitfalls and shortcomings, and DreamHost isn't without its own, but it works for us.

Incentivized

GoDaddy is able to be integrated from these various platforms. I haven't used much of other services such as Host Gator, but GoDaddy's relative ease of use makes it a relatively simple platform for your small business needs. It does not quite plug and play, but it's not too far off, either.

Incentivized

Their customer service is easily reachable. Someone is always available to help you at any given time 24 hours a day. They are simply the best in the whole wide world. They have the best engineers and support team. Whatever I need they are there to help and assist along the way every time.

Incentivized

• It's a great product for a relatively cheap price
• We can offer a simple hosting solution for our clients
• Even the VPS (virtual private servers) are very affordable and you can manage it as you wish (SSH access)

Incentivized

• Definitely a positive ROI because we are able to have a website to get information out there in addition to our social media pages. It brings everything together in one place. Companies with websites are way more credible than those without.
• We are planning on hosting our online store through GoDaddy, as well, which will also increase our ROI.

Incentivized