Are you looking for more control over your website’s hosting platform? Is your shared hosting unable to handle the traffic load of your website? Do you wish to move out from your shared web hosting solution to a more stable solution? If yes, then you must read my review on one of the robust VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting platform – GoDaddy VPS Hosting.
Choosing GoDaddy VPS Hosting can be a good decision for your online business. From root access to latest PHP, Apache, and free control panel, it also provide self managed, managed, and fully managed options to get complete control over your website’s hosting solutions. Also, you can install an SSL certificate and your most preferred software without requiring a dedicated server.
Godaddy VPS Hosting is ideal for running high traffic websites and software that require complete access to a online server. It even allow integrating various software applications to your website with ease.
From packages to features, uptime to performance, everything about GoDaddy VPS Hosting is mentioned in this Godaddy VPS Hosting review.
So, read on this post to dig out each and every detail about Godaddy virtual private server hosting platform.
Features
GoDaddy VPS Hosting offers world-class support, and this is witnessed clearly by a plethora of eminent features offered by Godaddy. The presence of so many impeccable features and with the convenience of full customization makes it the perfect hosting platform for rapidly expanding web applications.
- Powerful Control Panel – GoDaddy is pre-loaded with industry leading control panels, like cPanel or Plesk. This is one of the best things as you can get control panel of your preference without paying even a single penny. Most of the other web hosting providers charge you for providing these control panels.
- High-end Security Support – Client’s safety is one of the most considerable factors for GoDaddy. This VPS Hosting service offers efficient security monitoring, rectifying errors and backups so that your websites remains safe and high-performing under all conditions.
- VPS Running in Just Minutes – I have used numerous other VPS hosting platforms prior to using GoDaddy VPS Hosting. One thing that used to trouble me a lot were the long hours consumed while running the platform. But with GoDaddy, this is not the case as the hosting server runs in just a few
- Root Access – It offers root access to install Apache, PHP, and various types of modules, Server Level Proxy, and other world-class solutions.
- Free Upgrades at Any time and from anywhere – If you feel the need of more resources for your website, then you can do it easily with the VPS Hosting service from GoDaddy. It offers you the comfort to upgrade your plan at anytime and anywhere. You don’t have to go for any re-provision or re-configuration, your current plan will be upgraded to the higher plan with out any downtime.
- Efficient Backup Support – This is an optional feature, which you can avail at a price of just $ 4.99 per month for 50 GB. It offers your website with efficient backup support to reclaim important files that may lose due to some error or by mistake.
- SSL Certificate for Free – With the VPS Hosting plans from GoDaddy, you will get an SSL certification for free for one year. There are numerous other reputed VPS hosting providers that charge you extra money for the SSL certificate.
- Robust Processors – The servers of GoDaddy VPS hosting are amped up and can work well with the advanced generations Intel processors.
Levels of Management
GoDaddy VPS Hosting offers service on Linux and Windows Platform with 3-levels of Management – Self Managed, Managed and Fully Managed.
For the Linux Platform, there are four options available:
- Centos 7
- Centos 6
- Ubuntu
- Fedora
For the Windows Platform, there is only one option available,
- Windows 2008
The three levels of management have few similarities and dissimilarities that are as follows. The operating distribution for the three levels is CentOS 6, Fedora 20 & 22, Windows 2008 7 2012, and Ubuntu, with the availability of CentOS 7 under the Self-Managed category. To ensure that your website receives the maximum security from electronic errors and hacks, there is network and hosting service offered within the self-managed system. The Managed and Fully-managed levels offer comparatively higher hosting and networking solutions container stats via NodePing.
Features such as patching, free control-panel, APP installs and updates, site lock, support, and auto-updates are absent in the Self-Managed option. Contrary to this, the Managed and Fully Managed options are closely alike with the only difference that the support and migrations service is available within the Fully-Managed option but are optional under the Managed category. Also, various high-end features, like the patches, backup support, and powerful control panel are absent in the Self-Managed option, which are available almost identically in the other two options.
So, I would recommend you to opt for a level of management that suits your business needs and in accordance with the level of understanding you possess about VPS hosting. If you fail to make a selection properly, then you would end up experiencing problems and troubles.
Which Level of Management Must You Go For?
If you are an expert having comprehensive knowledge of managing VPS hosting, then the ‘Self-Managed’ option is the best choice for you. The option of ‘Fully-Managed’ is ideal for a newbie, or for those who lack having any knowledge of VPS hosting. For those who have little knowledge of VPS hosting, but does not have enough time to devote to tracking backups, patches, and updates, the ‘Managed’ option is good to go.
Glancing at my comparative analysis of the three levels of management, you must have got a clear idea that there are maximum OS options available on Self-Managed VPS hosting server, and with the other two options, their scope is limited to an extent.
Plans and Pricing
Now that you have known about the Multi-Level Management Support feature of the GoDaddy VPS Hosting Platform let me tell you about the various plans available along with their pricing.
The Linux Plans
There are 4 different plans delineated for GoDaddy VPS Hosting for Linux platforms. The details of these plans are mentioned below.
- Economy – This plan is available at a price of $ 16.99 per month. It offers 1GB memory, 40 GB storage space, unmetered bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPs, and Free SSL certificate for an initial first year.
- Value – Under the second plan, you get 2 GB memory, 60 GB storage space, unmetered bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPs, and Free SSL certification for an initial first year. It is priced competitively at $ 19.99 per month.
- Deluxe – Available at a price of $ 21.99 per month, the deluxe plan offers 4 GB memory, 120 GB storage space, unmetered bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPS, and one-year free subscription of SSL certificate.
- Ultimate – This plan offers 8 GB memory, 240 GB storage space, unmetered bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPS, and FREE SSL certificate at a price of $ 31.99 per month.
The Windows Plans
Just like the 4 Linux plans, there are 4 different options available for the Windows platform.
- Economy – The economy plan for Windows 8 is available at a price of $ 26.99 per month. It offers 2 GB memory, 40 GB storage space, unmetered bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPs, and Free one year SSL certificate.
- Value – The next plan is the value plan available at a price of $ 30.99 per month. Within this plan, you will get 3 GB memory, 90 GB storage space, unmetered bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPs, and free one year SSL certificate.
- Deluxe – With 4 GB memory, 120 GB storage, 3 dedicated IPs, unmetered bandwidth, and free SSL certificate for the first initial year, the deluxe plan is available at the cost of $ 31.99 per month.
- Ultimate – Lastly, the Ultimate plan offer customers with a large memory of 8 GB, 240 GB storage space, unmetered bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPs, and SSL certificate free for one year. For this plan, you have to pay $ 41.99 only.
The SSL certificate is available with the VPS hosting server for free for the initial first year. To renew and use it further, you need to pay a sum of $ 69.99 on a per year basis.
Performance
Definitely, if you are opting for a VPS or Virtual Private Server, then high speed and flawless performance is the very first thing you will be expecting. With GoDaddy VPS Hosting, your expectations will not only meet but will be surpassed, as it an excellent and unmatched hosting service provider in terms of performance and overall functionality. To measure the performance, I analyzed the uptime and response time of this hosting solution and found it really convincing.
UpTime
I monitored the uptime of Godaddy VPS hosting solution and found that it meets 99.9% of what they promise to deliver. I received the uptime of 99.86%, which is acceptable.
Response Time
As far as the response time is concerned, I found it very much convincing and up-to-the mark. It is an efficient platform delivering fast and quick response time for every request.
Scalability
There is limited scalability offered from GoDaddy as it allowed me to upscale the VPS to just 8GB RAM. 1&1 and InMotion allowed amazing scalability of up to 32GB RAM, and even more. So, if you wish to host an application needing more than 8GB RAM, then this option might not work for you. Although, in my opinion, it is perfect for beginning as you can soon shift to other hosting solutions when your need for resources increases.
Service UpTime Guarantee
The VPS Hosting service from GoDaddy does not offer a money back guarantee, but it definitely offers a service uptime guarantee. It offers a service uptime guarantee of 99.99% per month. But if GoDaddy fails to maintain this uptime in a specific month, then you may contact them and claim a credit of 5% of the monthly hosting fee for that particular month.
You may use this credit to purchase further services or products from GoDaddy, exclusive of taxes. There are few exceptions to this guarantee, and it is not applicable to timely repairs, interruptions occurring from custom coding, scripting, or installation of third-party applications, outages affecting the website’s email and FTP, and other causes that are beyond the control.
Customer Support
There is flexible and 24 x 7 customer support service available for GoDaddy VPS Hosting. There is even a community forum where customers from all across the world share problems and solutions with each other. As compared to the other VPS hosting service providers, like DreamHost and HostGator, GoDaddy stands as a clear winner.
Pros of GoDaddy VPS Hosting
- More Control – The GoDaddy VPS hosting service offers more control to the users. It delivers command-line access to the server that allows installing and using any tools and processes.
- 3-Level Managed Solutions – If you compare the levels of management offered by GoDaddy VPS to other similar hosting services, then only GoDaddy offers 3-level managed solutions. You can avail for Managed, Self-Managed, or Fully-Managed services on the basis of your requirement.
- On-Demand Plan Upgrade – If you wish to upgrade your plan to another level, then you can do it with ease without performing any reconfiguration or re-framing.
- Convenient Migration from Shared to VPS Hosting – GoDaddy VPS Hosting service offers one-click migration to import your sites to VPS hosting, and redirect DNS for fully-managed and managed plans only. Also, if you experience any problem, then you can avail the paid migration service.
- Unmetered Bandwidth – No matter which plans you select, you will get an unmetered bandwidth support with GoDaddy VPS hosting. With this functionality, you can conveniently manage hefty traffic and critical situations for your website with ease.
- Complete Access to the Root Level – Most of the VPS Hosting service providers do not offer root level access, but GoDaddy offers it and allows you to avail access to private servers for installing modules, PHP, server level proxy, and more.
- Instant Running Time – This VPS Hosting service requires very less time to start. Even when there is a critical time, the overall time needed to run the server is very less.
Cons of GoDaddy VPS Hosting
Besides so many positives, there are few limitations accompanied with the GoDaddy VPS Hosting service.
- Limited Scalability – The VPS Hosting service from GoDaddy is obtainable at limited scalability option. It is possible to upscale the VPS to only 8GB RAM. There are other hosting service providers, such as HostGator, and more that allows scaling up to 32 GB RAM, and even more. So, as per my experience, GoDaddy is ideal for those who are mere beginners. For professionals or for those planning to work on a large scale basis, it is better to look for another service provider.
- Limited OS Distributions – One advantage of GoDaddy is that it offers Windows VPS Hosting, but the bad thing is that the OS flavors are limited to an extent. You can obtain Windows 2008 OS option, but the other options, such as Windows 2012 OS and Windows 2003 are not available.
- Limited Managed VPS Solutions – GoDaddy offers ‘Managed’ VPS hosting services, but the option is limited to Windows 2008 OS and CENTOS. To avail other services, like Fedora, CENTOS 7, or Ubuntu, then you need to switch to the other available options.
Godaddy VPS Hosting Review: Final Verdict
The GoDaddy VPS Hosting is a feature-rich solution for dynamic and swift business needs of the advanced digital world. Despite few limitations, it offers numerous rich solutions and high-end features to the users at most competitive prices.
It is based on virtualization technology that ensures fast and efficient response of the servers. With its robust Content Delivery Network, it becomes possible to access the website from all the geographies. It is a robust and efficient solution delivering world-class support to the users of all plans and levels of management. The only major limitation is the scalability.
So, if you are seeking for a reliable solution that can provide you the best support during launch and running of your online business website, then GoDaddy VPS Hosting will be a logically intelligent choice.