HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy

(Image credit: HostGator/IONOS/GoDaddy)

When y'all're looking to build a website, the all-time website builders offer beginners and experienced users alike a great starting point. They make building a website easy, and let yous to create a fully functional, responsive site, fifty-fifty if you've got no prior experience.

Nearly builders as well offering hosting and domain proper name plans, for a one-stop store for all your website needs. Additionally, some of the best web hosting services offer some of the top website builders with their hosting packages, including HostGator, 1&ane IONOS, and GoDaddy.

While not all website builders offer the aforementioned features, and their plans can differ significantly, here we pit HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy against ane another in terms of their website builders. We compare their plans, features, performance, and more, in order to help you choose the best builder for your needs.

HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy: Features

1&1 IONOS MyWebsite's homepage — IONOS comes with a host of powerful ecommerce features (Image credit: one&one IONOS MyWebsite)

We looked at some of the most important features needed to quickly and easily build a functional, professional person-looking website. Each builder has its ain strengths and weaknesses, and so be sure to check which offers the features you lot need the most.

For many professionals, the power to sell their products or services online is an essential feature—the whole reason they're building a website in the first place. Of the three, HostGator has perhaps the about express ecommerce features: you can choose a template and ready a simple online store, manage products, accept payments and integrate with Shippo shipping, only that's all.

GoDaddy and IONOS offer more features and finder control. Both accept a selection of templates to get you started and go far easy to sell products, services, and digital appurtenances. Each syncs with your Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Etsy, and other online marketplace profiles, which is a very convenient feature and volition help those with picayune social media feel.

Both enable you to set newsletters to increase engagement, although IONOS comes with built-in discount and coupon functions, which paired with newsletters makes for a unproblematic but powerful marketing tool. IONOS also has a great mobile app, then you lot can add and modify products from a smartphone or tablet, too as rail your sales.

On the flip-side, GoDaddy offers online appointments, which will appeal to a wide range of service-based professionals. It's also quite a bit cheaper than IONOS. Its $24.99 a month plan includes all features, whereas IONOS charges $45 a month for Amazon and eBay integration.

In our stance, GoDaddy offers the best ecommerce experience at a fair price that includes all its features—although if solid mobile admission and disbelieve and coupon features are of import for you, IONOS' $25 a month program will serve you well.

HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy: SEO and templates

GoDaddy's template library — GoDaddy offers elegant, simple templates (Image credit: GoDaddy)

Website SEO (search engine optimization) is important for making sure people can find your site easily, by ranking you college on search engine issue pages.

All three companies offer paid SEO help, and if you lot're completely unfamiliar with SEO or why it's important, this may be a worthwhile investment for you. The cheapest by far comes with HostGator, as SEO tools are role of its Business Programme. With introductory offers and a 36-month plan, offers get as low as $five.95 a month.

Otherwise, GoDaddy offers SEO tools at $6.99 a month, although they're more of a self-service deal. Same with IONOS' rankingCoach, which at $10 a calendar month is the most expensive. All three offering you the ability to exercise your own SEO work though, such as editing meta descriptions and championship tags, then if you have a decent knowledge of SEO (or programme on education yourself), you tin forego these add-ons.

That said, since they come costless with HostGator'southward Business organization Plan, y'all might swing this way if y'all'd like the helping manus.

Most individuals creating their showtime site with a website builder will non want to start entirely from scratch. A wide array of customizable templates is thus a large help for beginners. But cull a template that fits your manner and sector, and edit it equally needed. IONOS offers over 400 templates, which is a skilful starting time, although they aren't categorized, which makes information technology a flake difficult to find the right fashion.

GoDaddy too has hundreds of templates, this fourth dimension organized into categories similar fashion and beauty, home services, and professional services. The designs are elegant and tend to be simplistic (read: manageable).

HostGator beats both, with over 4,000 templates grouped into more than fifty categories. That said, we found the templates to be of more often than not lesser quality, busy, and dated. GoDaddy comes out on top for its broad array of truly stunning templates.

HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy: Interface

HostGator's website builder in use — HostGator features a powerful website building feel (Image credit: Hostgator)

An intuitive, responsive, powerful interface is what nosotros're looking for in a website architect. GoDaddy is the almost bones of the three, although beginners may detect this a boon. Yous can choose a template, rearrange your elements, and customize your content. Yous can also change colors globally or for each chemical element, only ultimately, it'south a fairly limited tool.

IONOS provided for somewhat greater control. It'south still a classic drag-and-driblet interface, which we adopt for ease of utilize, but the end results are still heavily influenced by the original template.

HostGator's Gator Builder is the most powerful of the 3, enabling y'all to personalize most every attribute of your website. You tin add together and remove a wide array of elements, and alter them at a very fine level.

That said, some users may find the feel less user friendly, and the fact that the templates aren't all that snazzy to begin with means you need a far stronger sense of design (and more time on your easily) to make it all work.

HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy: Support

1&1 IONOS' user guides homepage — IONOS offers a number of useful guides, with more published regularly (Paradigm credit: IONOS)

For beginners and pros alike, it'due south non uncommon to need to contact customer support. When that happens, you lot want support you tin count on.

IONOS offers alive, 24/seven phone and email support, although it has no live chat, which is a characteristic we'd love to meet added. Its knowledge base and IONOS guides are quite comprehensive, and well organized into sections, sub-sections, and manufactures. Some of the manufactures are a bit short, but overall, information technology's a quite good resources, as is the user forum.

GoDaddy offers 24/vii live chat and phone support. It has no e-mail support or e-mail follow-up, which tin can make it hard to go help on the same issue at dissimilar times (past referring to a ticket number or by conversation, for example). It has a wide range of tutorials and practiced documentation, plus an agile community forum.

Finally, HostGator, similar GoDaddy, has alive chat and phone back up, merely no e-mail ticketing options. It does have a very impressive knowledge base though, and we found its support staff to be friendly and knowledgeable.

HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy: Pricing and plans

HostGator's homepage for its Gator Website Builder — HostGator offers the cheapest website builder and hosting rates (Image credit: HostGator)

HostGator has some enticingly cheap plans, starting at just $iii.84 a calendar month with hosting, domain proper name, drag-and-driblet builder, templates, analytics, SSL document, and classic support. For $v.99 a month, you lot get priority support, and for $9.22 a month, ecommerce functionality. Even at the almost expensive plan with website architect access, then, it'southward among the cheapest.

IONOS' website architect plansare separated into different areas based on the blazon of site and support you want. The Starter plan is $5 a month for bones sites or $12 a calendar month for ecommerce sites, and allows you to customize text and images, but not much else. The Plus plan at $10 a month has no online store, but adds one for $xx a calendar month with up to 5,000 products.

The Pro plan costs $15 a month for a bones website or $35 a month for an online store with upwards to 10,000 products, but doesn't add much beyond the Plus plan.

GoDaddy offers the greatest range, with four plans starting at $vi.99. Its Ecommerce program, at $17.49 a month, is the most expensive option from all iii companies. Concern email addresses are also simply costless for one year, although SEO, guidance, and analytics are also included at this charge per unit.

If you don't need an online store, the Premium programme at $thirteen.99 a calendar month offers plenty of features, including appointments, email marketing, and unlimited social posts.

HostGator vs IONOS vs GoDaddy: Verdict

More website builder comparisons

You lot've probably understood by now that your choice will depend a lot on what you lot're looking for. If you just want the cheapest possible solution and are comfortable with a powerful but somewhat less convenient website builder, go with HostGator.

The price can't exist browbeaten and, while the templates aren't quite equally chichi, there are a huge number of them. You tin likewise tweak to your heart's content.

IONOS offers a fantastic ecommerce experience, and its online store plans are just a chip cheaper than GoDaddy's equivalent. The simplistic bsite builder is well-suited to beginners, and while it has the fewest templates on offer, we plant them to be quite attractive.

Finally, GoDaddy comes with excellent ecommerce functionality, gorgeous templates, and dandy user support. While its Ecommerce plan is the virtually expensive, it includes a lot of attractive features. If you don't need an online store, the intuitive website builder and beautiful templates brand information technology very piece of cake to set a elementary website, and you won't demand much more than than the standard plan.