GoDaddy vs. Shopify: Differences, pros and cons in 2024

Both GoDaddy and Shopify are two stand-out platforms in the website building industry. Comparing the two isn’t easy because they both offer a wide range of valuable benefits and features. We researched each company in-depth and scoured user and professional reviews on each company’s pricing, e-commerce functionality, marketing and SEO features, security and performance features.

In this GoDaddy vs Shopify review, we’ll look at how these two website building platforms are similar, what makes them stand apart and how different users can benefit from each.

GoDaddy vs. Shopify: Quick overview

Depending on your specific needs in a website builder, either GoDaddy or Shopify could be the right fit for you. Whether it comes down to pricing, e-commerce functionality and SEO tools, both perform better in different areas. 

Pricing and value

Verdict: GoDaddy

GoDaddy offers cheaper pricing, starting at $12.99 per month. However, its lower-tier plans don’t offer e-commerce functionality. That said, GoDaddy’s highest-tier plan does offer valuable e-commerce features. Though not as robust as Shopify, these plans do offer great value for your money. 

GoDaddy pricing and value

GoDaddy offers three monthly plans:

• Basic: $12.99 – Provides basic features to build your website with some limited marketing and payment options. 
• Premium:  $22.99 – Offers extra marketing features, such as 25,000 email sends per month and online appointment capabilities. 
• Commerce: $26.99 – Provides e-commerce features, allowing you to build your online store, a marketplace and use point of sale (POS). 

Shopify pricing and value

Shopify’s monthly plans include:

• Starter: $5 – Create a quick and easy store to sell through social media. 
• Basic: $39 – For individuals and small businesses that want to create an online store, ship products and process payments. 
• Retail: $89 – For retail businesses that sell in person; includes features to manage staff, inventory and tools for a simple online site. 
• Shopify: $105 – For small businesses that want professional reporting and more staff accounts. 
• Advanced: $399 – For medium to large businesses that want all of Shopify’s features, including custom reporting and the lowest transaction fees.
• Plus: $2,300 per month (with three-year plan) – For more complicated businesses that have a high volume of transactions.
• Enterprise commerce: Custom pricing – For enterprise businesses; only available if requested.

Web editor

Verdict: GoDaddy

Both Shopify and GoDaddy offer intuitive drag-and-drop editors that allow you to set up a store quickly, with plenty of theme options available. You can also make changes easily. However, GoDaddy’s integrated AI lets you create a site in just minutes by answering a few questions, making it ideal for less tech-savvy users. 

GoDaddy web editor

GoDaddy’s web editor uses AI that allows you to create a website in minutes after answering just a few questions. The drag-and-drop editor lets you move images around easily and make quick edits, such as adding image galleries, price lists, menus or YouTube videos. 

Every section of GoDaddy’s website builder is customizable, and it also allows you to easily switch back and forth between mobile and desktop layouts. The built-in marketing features let you spread the word easily about your new site. 

Shopify web editor

Shopify’s web builder includes easy drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to design a website without coding skills. You can easily customize your site with different colors, fonts, photos and designs. 

Shopify also gives you access to over 180 templates (12 for free) and has thousands of app integrations. When you’re ready, Shopify allows you to seamlessly integrate an online store into your website with all sorts of features that make selling easy. 

E-commerce functionality

Verdict: Shopify

Four of Shopify’s plans include e-commerce functionality, all of which increase with more valuable features. And while GoDaddy’s highest tier plan includes e-commerce, this is truly where Shopify shines. 

GoDaddy e-commerce functionality

GoDaddy started as a domain and web hosting service but has since entered into the e-commerce game as well. 

Its Commerce plan allows you to list unlimited products and easily link to other sites, like Instagram, Google, Etsy and Amazon. GoDaddy also offers many payment and shipping options, as well as sales tax automation. Professional reviewers also praise the fact that GoDaddy’s e-commerce plan includes a feature that will send automated abandoned cart emails to improve cart recovery rates.

Shopify e-commerce functionality

Other than its $5 Starter plan, all of Shopify’s plans include robust e-commerce functionality. They offer an easy-to-build online store with many sales channel options, as well as POS, shipping, automated marketing and online payment features. 

Shopify really stands out with its customization features that include thousands of apps in its app store – many of which offer a free plan. Paid apps can cost anywhere from a few dollars per month to several hundred.

Blogging

Verdict: Tie

Both GoDaddy and Shopify offer limited blogging features that allow you to enhance your online store. 

GoDaddy blogging

GoDaddy’s blog functionality allows you to create and edit a blog, plus display an external blog feed from another site. 

You can also add and change blog categories, as well as create multiple blog sections on your website. Once you publish a blog, you can send snippets of the post to your subscribers. 

Shopify blogging

Shopify’s platform includes a simple built-in blogging engine that makes it easy to add and edit your own blog and link to an external blog.

The Shopify blogging platform also allows you to create custom templates, set specific publishing dates for posts, publish or unpublish several posts with a bulk action feature and invite customers to subscribe to your blog.

Marketing and SEO

Verdict: Shopify

GoDaddy and Shopify both have an excellent amount of marketing and SEO features that make it easy for you to showcase your site and allow users to find it. Professional reviewers love how Shopify’s platform allows you to control your site’s SEO through meta descriptions, page titles and more. 

GoDaddy marketing and SEO

GoDaddy offers plenty of marketing and SEO tools. Its built-in SEO tool allows you more opportunities to get found through search engines. 

The Basic and Premium plans provide many basic marketing tools and a limited amount of email sends per month, while the e-commerce-focused plan up the features with email automations and up to 100,000 sends per month. 

Shopify marketing and SEO

Shopify’s platform allows you to integrate with hundreds of SEO-focused apps. Many of these apps offer a free plan, but you’ll have to pay extra (outside of the Shopify plan cost) to access full features. 

All of Shopify’s plans also include e-commerce and marketing automations, unlimited products, robust shipping options and automatic tax, payment and fraud features. 

Performance and security

Verdict: Shopify

Both platforms offer consistent performance and basic security features, but Shopify takes this category because of its self-hosted nature – meaning upgrades and security updates happen automatically. 

GoDaddy performance and security

All of GoDaddy’s plans come with an auto-installed SSL (secure socket layer) certificate that encrypts your data from potential hackers. However, many of GoDaddy’s security features come at an extra cost. For example, GoDaddy will manage your website security for a starting price of $7.99 per month when paying annually.

When it comes to performance, reviewers find that GoDaddy’s speed tests performed better than many competitors, including Wix, WordPress and Weebly. GoDaddy also offers an automatic backup feature. 

Shopify performance and security

Shopify also offers free SSL certificates with all of its plans and is PCI DSS compliant – the security standard for organizations that handle debit and credit card data. Because Shopify is self-hosted, it takes care of security features in the background. It also provides automated fraud analysis with all plans. 

Shopify says they have “blazing fast servers.” They also offer an online speed report for your store and give you resources to help you make your load times faster. 

Mobile app

Verdict: Tie

Both GoDaddy and Shopify offer mobile apps that have received excellent reviews in the Apple App and Google Play store. 

GoDaddy Mobile App

GoDaddy’s free mobile app lets you create and edit your website on the go. You can take payments easily, as well as view site metrics and receive instant notifications for events like new sales or appointments. 

The GoDaddy app receives a 4.7 out of 5 rating after nearly 16,000 reviews in the Apple App Store. It receives a 3.8 out of 5 rating in the Google Play Store after nearly 3,000 reviews. User reviews of the app say GoDaddy is great for beginners and makes websites easy to build. 

Shopify Mobile App

Shopify also has a free mobile app that includes many of the same features as GoDaddy’s app. You can create your store, promote your business and manage your store within the app. It also gives you a single dashboard that allows you to manage orders, shipping, inventory and payments.

The Shopify app receives 4.6 out of 5 in the Apple App Store after over 16,000 reviews. In the Google Play Store, it receives a 4.3 out of 5 rating with over 35,000 reviews. 

Final verdict

Winner: Shopify

Both Shopify and GoDaddy offer excellent website builders. 

While GoDaddy offers more affordable pricing with good value, as well as a savvy web editor that uses AI functionality, we give Shopify the overall nod. 

Shopify includes robust e-commerce features in all of its plans, plus more customizable SEO and automated marketing features. It also offers many built-in security features for free, while most of GoDaddy’s security options come at an extra cost. 

Who is GoDaddy best for?

GoDaddy is best for business owners who want to easily build a website and don’t need as many online sales tools. Because its base plans are much cheaper than Shopify’s, it’s also a great choice for users on a tighter budget who want to launch their idea online before scaling and upgrading to more expensive options. 

Who is Shopify best for?

Shopify is best for users who want to immediately include an online store with their business’ website. And, because of its robust e-commerce features across all of its plans, Shopify is an excellent choice for users who want total control of their online business – whether they are an individual, medium-sized business or large enterprise. 

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Is GoDaddy or Shopify better?

While both platforms are excellent website builders, we believe Shopify is the best option because of its vast amount of e-commerce features, more customizable SEO, built-in security and automated marketing features.

Is Shopify cheaper than GoDaddy?

Shopify is not cheaper than GoDaddy. All of Shopify’s plans (with the exception of its $5 Starter plan) include e-commerce functionality, with pricing starting at $39 per month.

GoDaddy’s higher tier plan includes e-commerce functionality and costs $26.99 per month. GoDaddy also offers two monthly plans without e-commerce features – a Basic plan for $12.99 and a Premium plan for $22.99.