Bluehost vs GoDaddy Hosting Comparison

After 3 years of testing, let’s compare Bluehost vs GoDaddy and find out how they’ve performed so far…

Bluehost vs GoDaddy – Testing Method

  • Prior to testing, I have setup identical content on all 8 Live Test Sites
  • Each week over 80,000 speed & uptime tests are run using independent tools, GTmetrix & Pingdom
  • GTmetrix Logo 50Pingdom Logo 50
  • Test results below are from 04 Apr 2016 to 22 Dec 2018

Test #1: Speed

The GTmetrix Speed Test checks how long it takes for a website to fully load using a desktop internet browser. This test is then repeated every hour throughout the week (1,340 times).

  • Bluehost’s average speed was poor across 2016 & 2017, consistently finishing in the bottom 2 hosts. However, in 2018, there has been a massive turnaround, as they have been our 4th fastest host in both H1 & H2 2018.
  • GoDaddy’s Speed was the fastest throughout 2016. They maintained similar speeds in 2017, but other hosts started to outperform them. And now the most recent results for GoDaddy in H2 2018 have plummeted to the slowest of all active hosts.
  • Bluehost is currently 4th, with GoDaddy 5th in our Speed Rankings.
Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Table - Apr 2016 to Dec 2018

H2 2018 Results

Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Chart - Jul 2018 to Dec 2018
Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Table - Jul 2018 to Dec 2018

H1 2018 Results

Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Chart - Jan 2018 to Jul 2018
Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Table - Jan 2018 to Jul 2018

H2 2017 Results

Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Chart - Aug 2017 to Dec 2017
Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Table - Aug 2017 to Dec 2017

H1 2017 Results

Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Chart - Jan 2017 to Aug 2017
Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Table - Jan 2017 to Aug 2017

2016 Results

Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Chart - Apr 2016 to Dec 2016
Bluehost vs GoDaddy Speed Table - Apr 2016 to Dec 2016

Test #2: Uptime

The Pingdom Uptime Test confirms that the website is actually accessible to visitors. This test is then repeated every minute throughout the week (80,640 times).

  • Bluehost performed poorly when it came to Uptime across 2016 & 2017. But once again 2018 is a different story, recording just 6 minutes of downtime in H1 2018 and 8 minutes in H2 2018. It is a remarkable result when you consider the past performance, but amazingly Bluehost is the best performing host for uptime in 2018.
  • GoDaddy have performed brilliantly when it comes to Uptime over the last 3 years. Unfortunately, there was 2 blemishes on their record, during Week 73 they incurred 96 minutes of downtime and Week 130 they had 47 minutes of downtime. To put this into perspective, across the other 138 weeks of testing, they have only had 107 minutes of downtime. Even with these poor weeks, they are still one of the better performers.
  • GoDaddy is currently in 3rd place, while Bluehost is 4th in our Uptime Rankings.
Bluehost vs GoDaddy Uptime Table - Apr 2016 to Dec 2018

Bluehost vs GoDaddy – Overall Test Results

The Overall Ranking accumulates the results from the speed & uptime tests to determine the #1 Host.

  • Bluehost was consistently the slowest of our active hosts across 2016 & 2017. Combined with a less than stellar uptime resulted in it being 8th Overall at the end of 2017. But the big news of 2018 is the miraculous turnaround of Bluehost’s speed and especially it’s uptime performance. This has led to a massive jump in the overall rankings.
  • GoDaddy’s performance has was excellent across the board in 2016, however, across 2017 & H1 2018 there have been a couple of hosts that have overtaken them in both the speed and uptime departments. The biggest disappointment has been their H2 2018 speed, which has seen them fall well behind our top 2 hosts.
  • GoDaddy is currently 3rd Overall, while Bluehost is 4th in our Overall Rankings.
Bluehost vs GoDaddy Overall Table - Apr 2016 to Dec 2018

How do Bluehost & GoDaddy compare to our 8 other Hosts?