Building a WordPress website for your business or a personal creative project is the most effective way to get your content in front of an audience. WordPress runs millions of sites around the world, and its functionality keeps growing. All you need to get started is a domain name and web hosting.
Update – August 2026: This post is a few years old now, and hosting is one of those things that refuses to sit still. Plans and pricing have changed on both sides since I wrote it, so treat any features-and-dollars talk below as a snapshot – check the current pricing pages on both sites before you buy anything. I’ve also trimmed a couple of references that aged out. The support horror stories (and the love letters to SiteGround’s chat team)? Those are all mine, and they still hold up.
Finding the best-managed WordPress hosting means the difference between a hassle-free experience and an ordeal of lost time and regrets. Luckily, when deciding between SiteGround and GoDaddy for managed hosting of your WordPress site, there is a clear winner.
Before I go any further, I am obligated to let you know that this post contains affiliate links – I’m a SiteGround affiliate, and there’s a Divi affiliate banner further down. If you sign up through one of my links, I get a very small kickback at no extra cost to you. That said, my opinion here is not for sale, and GoDaddy is garbage. If your only takeaway from this article is “GoDaddy is garbage, I should buy SiteGround”, I’d be a happy camper.
What is Managed Hosting for WordPress?
Different levels of website hosting exist for all types of webmasters. The type of hosting you choose depends on how much you are willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.
If you’re technically versed and have the time to devote to managing your WordPress installation, you may choose dedicated hosting. Alternatively, you may choose shared or reseller hosting. Both of these require less work than a dedicated server, but you will still be called upon to manage WordPress.
The most obvious difference between your hosting options is what your dashboards look like. In a typical shared hosting or reseller hosting plan, you may end up with a cPanel interface. CPanel was great 10 years ago, but times have changed. On a managed hosting platform, you give up access to cPanel in exchange for simplicity, consistency, and reliability.
Managed hosting is a done-for-you service that handles all the technical aspects of running and maintaining WordPress. WordPress is a very intuitive platform, but the list of tasks needed to run a site can be long. Handing the management of your WordPress hosting to a reliable provider gives you peace of mind. It also lets you focus on the things that matter to you. For most people, that means offline business tasks and content creation.
SiteGround and GoDaddy are two of the biggest players in the web hosting space. A side by side comparison will help you pick the managed hosting provider that’s best for you. So no more small talk. Let’s get into the thick of it.
What Does Managed Hosting of Your WordPress Site Include?
Managed hosting of your WordPress site covers speed and performance, security, daily backups, guaranteed uptime, and scalability. It also includes WordPress updates, so you don’t have to watch for important upgrades or apply them yourself.
Maybe the best part of a managed hosting plan is the premium support. With other types of hosting packages, even though support reps may be available at all hours, you may still have to do some troubleshooting yourself. Not with managed hosting.
WordPress-specific managed hosting means the rep on the other side of the call or chat is an expert on the platform. No flipping through documentation or Googling unknown concepts while you hold on the line. You can’t overstate how much this matters during a web hosting emergency.
We’ll be judging SiteGround and GoDaddy on all of these factors to determine which provider will let you maintain your website hassle-free.
Ease of Use
Both SiteGround and GoDaddy hosting providers are easy to use. Both of their managed WordPress solutions have their own way of doing things, and they’re both very straightforward. GoDaddy, however, does not have the support to back you up if you run into any problems along the way. SiteGround absolutely does.
That said, it is possible to install a WordPress website in GoDaddy in far fewer clicks than SiteGround. The reason is that GoDaddy’s platform was built specifically for people who don’t want or need any extra options. Unfortunately for GoDaddy, this “simplicity” comes back to bite you later. When you’re first getting started, though, GoDaddy does offer an easier off-the-ground experience.
SiteGround gives you a few more options, much better support, and once you’ve finished installing WordPress, it offers a plugin (automatically installed) that handles nearly all of your server-side tasks for you.
Performance and Features
GoDaddy is known for being a domain registrar, the biggest in the world, in fact. That’s why the company can offer a free domain with each hosting plan. In terms of features, this can seem like an attractive offer for those on a tight budget. As you’ll see below, though, the free domain does not cover the gap in pricing with its competitor.
SiteGround devotes a large part of its business model to WordPress users. The decision for managed hosting comes down to how well each provider can meet your needs. Let’s look at what each hosting company provides.
SiteGround Features
SiteGround has built a huge part of its platform specifically for WordPress users. They develop their own WordPress plugins for speed and security, they handle WordPress updates for you, and their whole setup assumes you’re running WordPress (because you probably are). That focus shows in the day-to-day experience.
SiteGround also offers free SSD drives on all its shared hosting packages. Its servers run the latest caching technology so your website operates smoothly. You get a free SSL certificate to secure your website and keep transactions with your users safe and reliable.
Hosting plans with SiteGround come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can make an informed decision that isn’t rushed.
GoDaddy Features
As with SiteGround, GoDaddy customers get a free SSL certificate. You get one-click install of many free WordPress applications, though not many for e-commerce. A 30-day money-back guarantee is offered in case you change your mind.
Site Speed
GoDaddy tends to pack too many customers onto its shared hosting. That makes performance and site speed an issue, as many users often point out. SiteGround consistently achieves high GTmetrix scores, with load times under a second on many of their hosting plans.
Since site speed plays a vital role in search engine optimization, you’ll want to pick a hosting provider that delivers the best loading times.
Cache
Caching is also key to getting great SEO results while giving your visitors a good user experience. It’s the ability to store website data on a user’s hard disk so it can load faster on a return visit. Through static or dynamic caching, SiteGround makes sure your visitors spend the absolute minimum time waiting for your page to load.
On the other hand, the first thing you encounter when Googling a keyword like ‘GoDaddy hosting cache’ is forum threads where people are trying to resolve caching issues. This may be because GoDaddy blacklists cache plugins, in effect forcing you to use their own system. Because of this, it’s safe to say that caching isn’t one of GoDaddy’s strengths.
Collaboration Tools
Collaboration tools are important for working on projects in a decentralized environment. These tools include any application that lets a team piece together its work into a finished product.
Both SiteGround and GoDaddy offer adequate options as part of their hosting if you need collaboration tools. SiteGround, in particular, has a specific section in their client area with specialty tools that are great for agencies as well as freelance designers and developers.
Someone looking for managed hosting may not need such tools right away. But if you ever decide to ship your site to a client or a buyer, you can rest assured that SiteGround has the tools for the task or any other collaborative effort.
Customer Support
GoDaddy has been known to push upsells during their support calls and chats. This can be frustrating when you are trying to solve an issue and the person on the other end is focused on closing additional sales. Their wait times can also be quite long for most hours of the day.
SiteGround, on the other hand, has shorter wait times for calls, and their support tickets are answered promptly. Their representatives do not pester you with offers for other services, and they’re always happy to help.
I’ve been doing this now for over 10 years, and I am still impressed by how quickly SiteGround’s support answers the live chat (or even phone), how personable they are on the support channel, and how efficiently they resolve my questions or concerns. I personally switched to SiteGround after having a bad customer experience with JustHost (one of the many EIG hosting companies), and every single interaction I’ve had with SiteGround has been incredible since.
GoDaddy, on the other hand, is slow to respond, and once you finally do get someone on the other line, they’re useless 9/10 times. I’ve been unlucky enough to have experienced this time and time again while working with many of my customers who are still on GoDaddy.
It Works With Divi!
If you’re new here, then you may not know how incredible the theme Divi is by Elegant Themes. Spoiler: it’s pretty darn incredible. Read up on why it’s so great in any of my Divi categorized posts here.
But here’s the thing: Divi is a big theme. It will work on almost any hosting… mostly… but if the hosting environment is not up to snuff, then the Divi-powered website will be suuuuuuper slow. That’s actually a huge complaint about Divi in some circles, and most of the time it’s really a hosting problem wearing a Divi costume.
I’ve been running Divi sites on SiteGround for years, and “slow” has never been the word for it. GoDaddy? I would not put a Divi site on GoDaddy. I mean… you read the support section, right?
Best Return on Investment
Though GoDaddy offers a free domain as part of their hosting packages, this is more like cheese on a mousetrap. Unless you catch them on a generous special offer, you will end up paying more for your hosting in total than if you simply purchased a hosting plan and domain from SiteGround.
For the quality of service, security, and other benefits you’ll enjoy, SiteGround offers the highest return on investment. Their staff is knowledgeable in all areas of WordPress hosting, and their technical features will help you build a successful website.