Hostinger vs GoDaddy: The $119.99 Line Item
Most people arrive at GoDaddy hosting sideways — they bought a domain, and hosting was one click away. That convenience is the product, and it’s genuinely worth something.
What it costs is not visible on the hosting price. GoDaddy’s Economy plan includes SSL free for the first year, then renews it at $119.99 a year. Hostinger includes unlimited SSL free, permanently, on its cheapest plan.
That single line item is larger than Hostinger’s entire annual hosting bill, several times over.
The four-year bundle
Comparing headline rates gets this badly wrong, so here’s the whole thing:
| GoDaddy Economy | Hostinger Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting, 48 months | $399 (36 × $5.99, then 12 × $15.32) | ~$96–120 |
| SSL | $360 (free yr 1, then $119.99 × 3) | Included |
| Subtotal | ~$759 | ~$120 |
| Email (optional) | +$324 (M365 at $8.99/mo after trial) | Included |
| Backups | extra | Weekly, included |
| With email | ~$1,083 | ~$120 |
On hosting and SSL alone that’s roughly 6.4× the cost, or about $160 a year you’d save by hosting elsewhere.
Two fairness points, because the number above is the worst case.
The $119.99 SSL renewal applies to the Economy plan specifically — GoDaddy’s higher tiers include SSL for life. So the trap is on the entry plan, which is precisely the one the domain funnel pushes you toward. Move up a tier and that line item disappears, though the base price rises.
And the email line is optional. You don’t have to take Microsoft 365 at $8.99/month after the trial, though you’ll need mail from somewhere.
Where GoDaddy’s costs actually appear
The pattern is consistent: GoDaddy unbundles what Hostinger includes.
- SSL — free year one on Economy, then $119.99/year. Included free, permanently, at Hostinger.
- Email — a one-year Microsoft 365 trial, then $8.99/month. Included in Hostinger’s Premium plan.
- Backups — sold as an add-on. Weekly backups included at Hostinger.
- Malware scanning — an upsell.
- Renewal — Economy renews at about $15.32/month against $5.99 introductory, and Hostinger renews at $10.99 against roughly $1.99–2.49.
Both raise prices at renewal — that’s the industry, and we’ve documented it across the cheapest VPS index and every shared-hosting comparison we’ve run. The difference here isn’t that GoDaddy renews higher. It’s that the add-ons renew too, separately, and the largest of them costs more than the hosting.
What GoDaddy is actually good at
It would be dishonest to write this without saying it: GoDaddy is a genuinely good domain registrar with excellent operational reach. Domain management, DNS, transfers and the sheer breadth of TLDs are strong, the interface is competent, and phone support exists and answers.
The hosting is the weaker part of a strong bundle, and the bundle exists because domains bring enormous traffic that converts. That’s a legitimate business model, not a scam — it just means the hosting wasn’t chosen on merit, it was chosen because it was adjacent.
The practical verdict
Keep the domain where it is; host elsewhere.
If you’re also weighing where the domain itself should live, Namecheap vs GoDaddy prices five years of a .com including the WHOIS privacy GoDaddy bills separately.
There is no requirement for your domain and your hosting to live at the same company. Point the nameservers or the A record at your host and carry on. Domain transfers are also straightforward if you’d rather consolidate later, but you don’t need to do it to save the money.
On the numbers above, moving the hosting alone is worth roughly $160 a year — and that’s before counting backups and malware add-ons. For a site you intend to keep for years, it’s one of the higher-return hours you can spend.
Choose Hostinger if you want the bundle costs inside the price: SSL, weekly backups, email and 100 websites with 100 GB on the entry plan. Its renewal is a steep multiple of the introductory rate, so budget $10.99 rather than $2.49 from year three.
Stay with GoDaddy hosting if the convenience of one account genuinely outweighs about $160 a year, you’re on a tier that includes SSL for life, or you value phone support enough to pay for it. Those are real reasons; “it was already there” isn’t one.
Check Hostinger pricing → · Read our Hostinger review
Check GoDaddy → · Read our GoDaddy review
How we picked
Pricing comes from published 2026 breakdowns of both providers, read in August 2026: GoDaddy Economy at $5.99/month on a 36-month term renewing around $15.32, SSL free for year one on Economy then $119.99/year, and Microsoft 365 email at $8.99/month after a one-year trial. Hostinger Premium at roughly $1.99–2.49 introductory on a 48-month term, renewing at $10.99, with SSL, weekly backups and email included.
The four-year model assumes the introductory term runs its stated length and then renews. Promotions in this bracket change constantly — treat the structure as the finding rather than the exact totals.
We have not benchmarked TTFB or page load between the two. That comparison would depend on which shared server and datacentre each test account landed on, and the variance between two accounts on one host frequently exceeds the variance between hosts. What transfers is the bundle arithmetic, which is what this article is built on.
Both links here are affiliate links, and we earn from both providers. The recommendation — move the hosting, keep the domain — reduces what we’d earn from one of them, and it’s still the right advice.
FAQ
Is Hostinger cheaper than GoDaddy?
Substantially, once you count the bundle. On hosting and SSL over four years it’s roughly $120 against $759 for GoDaddy’s Economy plan — about 6.4× — largely because GoDaddy’s Economy SSL renews at $119.99 a year while Hostinger includes it free.
Does GoDaddy charge for SSL?
On the Economy plan, yes, after the first year — $119.99 annually. GoDaddy’s higher tiers include SSL for life, so the charge applies specifically to the entry plan. Check which tier you’re on before renewal.
Should I move my domain away from GoDaddy?
You don’t need to. Your domain and hosting can live at different companies — point the nameservers at your host. GoDaddy is a capable registrar, and keeping the domain there while hosting elsewhere captures most of the saving with none of the transfer hassle.
Is GoDaddy hosting bad?
Not bad, but not chosen on merit. It’s the weaker part of a strong bundle that exists because domain customers convert. If you’re on a tier that includes SSL and you value the single account and phone support, it’s defensible. If you’re on Economy heading into year two, price the SSL renewal first.
What does Hostinger include that GoDaddy charges for?
SSL permanently, weekly backups, email on the Premium plan, and a free domain for the first year — all inside the plan price. GoDaddy sells SSL, Microsoft 365 email, backups and malware scanning as separate line items on the entry tier.
How much does switching actually save?
Around $160 a year on hosting and SSL alone at the Economy tier, before backups and other add-ons. Over a four-year hold that’s roughly $640, which is why it’s worth an afternoon of migration even for a modest site.
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