In this comparison of Shopify vs GoDaddy, we take a detailed look at how one of the most popular E-commerce website builders (Shopify) compares with the largest domain name registrar and one of the most well-known web hosts (GoDaddy). While GoDaddy specializes in domain names and web hosting services, they also feature their AI website builder that can be used to create an online store. Meanwhile, Shopify has specialized in providing an easy way to set up an E-commerce site.

Which one should you choose? Let’s see how they match up head to head for E-commerce websites.

Shopify Website Pricing and Plans

Shopify offers three levels of website plans: Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. Prices range from $29 mo. for the Basic Plan to $299 mo. for the Advanced Plan. These rates are for annual plans. You can also pay monthly, but the rates are a bit higher.

The Shopify Basic Plan, targeted for solo entrepreneurs, includes a huge and impressive amount of website and online store features suitable for all types of E-commerce sites. The mid level or Shopify Plan is geared toward online stores that need a small team running and maintaining the store. And, the Advanced Plan is for larger scale online businesses.

As you move up each level of website plan, your credit card rates go down, from 2.9% with the Basic Plan to 2.5% on the Advanced Plan.

GoDaddy Website Pricing and Plans

GoDaddy also offers three different online store website plans: Basic, Premium, and Commerce. Prices range from $10.99 mo. to $20.99 mo. Again, these prices are for annual rates.

While all of GoDaddy’s website plans include basic website functionality, the Basic and Premium plans are lacking in online store features, and in our opinion aren’t viable options here. If you really want to sell products online, you’re going to need the Commerce Plan.

On the plus side, credit card rates are slightly lower with GoDaddy at 2.3% + .30.

Shopify vs GoDaddy: Differences

Advantages of Choosing Shopify Over GoDaddy

• Better E-Commerce Website Features
• Better Website Themes
• More Responsive Customer Support
• Better Website Performance

Advantages of Choosing GoDaddy Over Shopify

• Plans Cost Less
• Slightly Lower Credit Card Rates

Shopify vs GoDaddy: Features

Shopify is specifically focused on E-commerce and online stores, while GoDaddy’s website builder is a more general purpose tool that can be used for online stores as well as other types of websites. For that reason, Shopify definitely has more E-commerce features that help make selling online easier and more efficient.

With Shopify, you can sell an unlimited number of products. You get abandoned cart recovery, SSL, marketing automation, and customer segmentation. Shopify Payments is also very easy to use for payment processing. While GoDaddy does include the basic features you need for E-commerce, in this category we like Shopify more.

Shopify vs GoDaddy: Website Themes and Templates

Both Shopify and GoDaddy include free website themes and templates with their website builder. Shopify also offers premium themes for an additional fee. While these premium themes do cost anywhere from $150 to $350, they are better looking and more functional in our opinion. However, the free themes included with Shopify are more than adequate for all types of online stores. On the other hand, while GoDaddy’s templates are free, they are definitely more basic and plain looking. Also, there isn’t as much functionality with the GoDaddy templates as there are with the Shopify themes. For those reasons, Shopify is the winner here.

Shopify vs GoDaddy: Website Speed and Performance

Shopify is the clear winner when it comes to website speed and performance. In our testing, Shopify posted very impressive numbers with faster page loading and better core web vitals than GoDaddy did. While the speed of an E-commerce site can be partially dependent on how many products you’re selling, Shopify’s 100% perfect scores on performance and structure show great potential for all sizes of online stores.

See our sample speed test results from GTmetrix below:

Shopify vs GoDaddy: Customer Support

Shopify and GoDaddy both offer live chat support. Unfortunately, at GoDaddy we find the support is still not as consistent as we would like. Sometimes it’s fine, but other times it can be less responsive or even unavailable at times.

On the other hand, we found the live chat support at Shopify to be helpful and courteous. In addition to the automated bot chat support, you can easily request a live support agent. Although wait time is stated at approximately 5 minutes, I found it didn’t take that long. The support staff was consistently knowledgeable and provided quick answers. And, with Shopify your chat session is automatically logged and you get easy access to automatically recorded chat support transcripts.

In the customer support category, Shopify is definitely the winner.

Recommendation

In this comparison of Shopify vs GoDaddy, we like Shopify for creating E-commerce websites from smaller online stores all the way up to larger business stores. Although the GoDaddy website builder is fine for online brochure and blog sites, it can’t compare to what you get with Shopify for E-commerce.

Shopify includes many more specific E-commerce features including inventory, customer segmentation, shipping, taxes, and marketing automation. We also like the website theme designs of Shopify over the GoDaddy website templates.

The bottom line here is that we find Shopify easier to use for creating an online store. And, the Shopify customer support is definitely more impressive than GoDaddy.

Overall, in this comparison, Shopify is the winner. See our Shopify Review Ratings below.

Click Here to Try Shopify Free (No Credit Card Needed)

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