BitLaunch vs GoDaddy: Which is best for you?

At BitLaunch, we pride ourselves on offering high-quality, privacy-oriented hosting at a reasonable price. Though we believe our service is the right choice for most people, discussing the differences between us and other hosting services helps customers to make informed decisions. We'll be looking at BitLaunch compared to shared hosting provider GoDaddy so that you can decide which hosting style suits you.

What is GoDaddy?

GoDaddy is a popular shared hosting provider and domain registrar founded in 1997. It allows you to host a website with no development experience and minimal configuration using its website builder or WordPress integration.

GoDaddy focuses primarily on low starting costs and convenience rather than in-depth tweaking and configuration. However, it also offers VPS servers for those requiring more control over their hosting.

What is BitLaunch?

BitLaunch is a virtual private server (VPS) provider focusing on privacy and transparency. Users pay hourly with their favorite cryptocurrency, avoiding both long-term commitments and data collection by payment providers/banks. Though BitLaunch VPSs may require more user maintenance than shared hosting, users can launch servers with LEMP/LAMP pre-installed to avoid complex configuration.

The key differences between shared and VPS hosting

GoDaddy's primary product is its shared hosting packages. It's important to understand that you will not have your own server resources unless you opt for one of its more expensive VPS plans. In a shared hosting environment, you may have dozens or more websites hosted on the same server "block" as you. Resources are dynamically split between sites; those with the most traffic typically get the most resources.

The problem with this is that each server block still has finite resources. If one site gets an unexpected surge in traffic, the performance of other sites in the block can suffer. This can reduce page load times, particularly compared to VPS or dedicated servers, which tend to load faster.

BitLaunch vs GoDaddy feature comparison

As you would expect, GoDaddy and BitLaunch have many similar features — after all, both are hosting providers. The feature list below should illustrate some key differences, but be aware that it does not speak to the quality of features or any additional costs they may require.

*GoDaddy includes DDoS protection with some plans. BitLaunch includes it with all first-party servers and some of its partner servers.
*GoDaddy offers free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates on some plans. On other plans it offers premium SSL certificates free for 12-months, after which it auto renews at $99/year. BitLaunch bundles Let's Encrypt SSL with its LEMP app at no additional cost.
* BitLaunch users can set up their own email at no extra cost. GoDaddy provides a free trial of email services for a year.

How much does GoDaddy cost?

GoDaddy's shared hosting starts at $5.99 but can cost as much as $500 per month, depending on your hosting package, add-ons, and contract binding period. Its VPS hosting starts at $8.99 for a 3-year contract and tops out at $493.98.

It is important to understand that the pricing you see on GoDaddy's website will probably not be what you end up paying long-term due to add-ons and payment terms. Plans cost more if you pay monthly compared to yearly. If you do decide to pay yearly, your second year will cost more than the first. Some examples best illustrate this.

Scenario 1 - Personal WordPress portfolio site

You plan to run a small personal portfolio site to attract freelance clients. You don't feel you need VPS hosting, but you know you want to use WordPress. GoDaddy's Managed WordPress basic plan seems like a good idea at just $8.99, except it only comes with 10 GB of storage, which you're not sure will be enough with the various images and videos you plan to include to showcase your work. The managed WordPress Deluxe plan with 20GB  seems like a better idea at $20/month.

The equivalent BitLaunch plan would cost you $11/month and provide better and more consistent performance due to its VPS nature.  

Scenario 2 - Online store

You're starting a small online store to sell your craft products. The most affordable GoDaddy store plan is $34.99/month or $21/month paid yearly, up to $27 in your second year.

With BitLaunch, you could start your store at as low as $11/month and scale. WooCommerce is free and can be installed as a plugin after selecting our one-click WordPress option when launching your server. You could also set up your own email on your server for free using MailCow.

Realistically, you may want to opt for a $22/month VPS server with 50 GB storage. This would give you headroom for email storage, images, traffic spikes, etc, and would likely perform better and more consistently than GoDaddy's hosting.

Why choose GoDaddy?

GoDaddy may be the right fit for users who want a wider suite of email, marketing, domain, and design services alongside their hosting. The perfect customer would not be too bothered about their privacy or future value for money and would just want to get their website up as quickly and easily as possible. If you plan to pay for services such as SEO, digital marketing, business phone numbers, etc. Adding them to your GoDaddy plan may also be cheaper than purchasing them separately – though we couldn't verify their quality.

Those opting for shared hosting must be okay with the fact that their site may not always perform great and that this could have a knock-on effect on their search engine rankings. GoDaddy VPS users must be content with AlmaLinux, Ubuntu, or Debian for their operating system. They should know that they will likely pay significantly more than other popular VPS hosts. They should also keep in mind that they may have to pay more to keep their server secure, with basic features such as firewall and SSL sometimes locked behind an additional security package.

Why choose BitLaunch?

Compared to GoDaddy, BitLaunch offers several key advantages:

• Privacy: BitLaunch allows you to sign up with just an email and password and pay with cryptocurrency for payment privacy. There are also no trackers across the site; only the data required to run the service is collected.
• Freedom of configuration: BitLaunch allows free choice between server specifications and one-click apps while giving users complete control over their operating system.
• Clear pricing, good value: No limited-time discounts, binding periods, or price hikes. You receive a clear breakdown of how much your server is going to cost hourly, monthly, and in the long-term.  

BitLaunch offers VPS hosting exclusively. This allows users to benefit from set virtualized resources that they don't have to share with others and do not degrade at peak times. That said, users must be content that their provider won't do everything for them — despite friendly support, day-to-day maintenance, and additional configuration are typically down to the user. This is more work, but allows them to implement features and integrations at no additional cost.

The ideal BitLaunch user is happy to pay for their server with cryptocurrency but still wants a smooth customer experience with one-click apps, DDoS protection, strong customer support, and a clean interface. They care about value for money in the medium to long term and don't have the patience for confusing pricing or switching providers regularly to get the best deal.

Closing words

The choice between GoDaddy and BitLaunch ultimately comes down to how much you value a hands-off approach. GoDaddy is typically more expensive in the long term, and its pricing is confusing and less stable. Still, non-technical users will appreciate somebody else managing their server and the various add-on services available. BitLaunch ensures the uptime of servers and provides a base configuration but leaves everything else up to the user (with our support team on standby to help).

For privacy-conscious users, BitLaunch is the only choice. GoDaddy does not accept cryptocurrency payments, so you must hand over your name, address, and card details. Additionally, we counted a total of 33 trackers on its site and admission of collecting marital status, gender identity, employment information, and, in some cases, passport numbers. At BitLaunch, we run no trackers and only ask for an email address and password.

To try BitLaunch for free, sign up for an account and talk to our support – they'll give you an hour or two's credit to get you started.