GoDaddy's Web Hosting Economy plan costs $5.99/mo for the first 3-year term (advertised as 50% off a $11.99/mo list price), with no renewal figure stated anywhere on its pricing page. Bluehost's Starter plan runs $4.99/mo on a 12-month term (renewing at $11.99/mo) or $3.99/mo on a 36-month term (renewing at $9.99/mo), with a Business tier at $7.99/mo promo (renewing at $15.99/mo). Both target the same buyer -- someone launching a first website on a budget -- but they differ on what's included at that entry price and, just as important, on what happens to the price after the first term.
Disclosure: HostingDive earns a commission when you buy through the Bluehost link on this page, at no extra cost to you. The GoDaddy link goes directly to GoDaddy's site; HostingDive has no current affiliate relationship with GoDaddy and earns nothing from that link.
Quick Comparison
| Criterion | GoDaddy (Web Hosting Economy) | Bluehost (Starter / Business) |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $5.99/mo (first 3-yr term, list $11.99/mo) | Starter, 12-mo: $4.99/mo |
| Lower-cost path | Not applicable -- one term structure captured | Starter, 36-mo: $3.99/mo |
| Renewal price | Not stated on GoDaddy's page -- NOT_FOUND | Starter renews at $11.99/mo (12-mo) or $9.99/mo (36-mo) |
| Higher tier | Not covered -- Economy is the entry plan compared here | Business, 12-mo: $7.99/mo promo, renews at $15.99/mo |
| Site count | 1 website | Starter: 10 websites / Business: 50 websites |
| Storage | 25GB NVMe | Starter: 10GB NVMe / Business: 50GB NVMe |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Starter: ~40k monthly visits / Business: ~200k monthly visits |
| Free domain | Yes, first year | Not captured this cohort |
| Migration | Not included on this plan | Free WP Migration Tool (all plans) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | Not captured this cohort |
GoDaddy: Full Spec Breakdown
GoDaddy's entry plan is Web Hosting Economy, priced at $5.99/mo for the first 3-year term -- advertised as SAVE 50% against a list price of $11.99/mo shown struck through on the page. What GoDaddy's page does not state is what the plan renews at once that 3-year term ends. That's a real gap, not an assumption: no "renews at" figure appears anywhere on the captured page, so none is quoted here.
Economy includes 1 website, 25GB NVMe storage, unmetered bandwidth, a free domain for the first year, free SSL for the first year, free email, cPanel, automatic daily backups, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. One feature worth naming precisely: GoDaddy does not include free migration on this plan. A WP migration tool exists on a separate, higher GoDaddy plan not covered in this comparison -- it should not be attributed to Economy.
GoDaddy's link on this page is a plain, non-affiliate link -- HostingDive has no live commission relationship with GoDaddy. Nothing in this section implies otherwise, and no "our link" or "when you buy through GoDaddy" framing applies here.
Bluehost: Full Spec Breakdown
Bluehost splits its entry-level offer across two plans and two term lengths, and each price needs both named. Starter, 12-month term: $4.99/mo, renewing at $11.99/mo, with 10 websites, 10GB NVMe storage, and roughly 40,000 monthly visits included. Starter, 36-month term: the same plan at $3.99/mo, renewing at $9.99/mo -- a lower per-month rate tied to the longer upfront commitment, not a different feature set. Note: a lower, similarly-shaped monthly figure has shown up on at least one live page as a Bluehost price, but it matches neither the 12-month nor the 36-month Starter term and is a likely transcription error from a different vendor -- it is not used on this page.
Business, 12-month term: $7.99/mo promo, renewing at $15.99/mo, with 50 websites, 50GB NVMe storage, and roughly 200,000 monthly visits. No 36-month Business figure was captured this cohort. Free WP Migration Tool and a free Staging Environment are both all-plans features on Bluehost -- included on Starter, not gated to Business.
Head-to-Head: Pricing (Intro and Renewal)
At the entry level, Bluehost undercuts GoDaddy on both of its term options: $4.99/mo (12-month) and $3.99/mo (36-month) against GoDaddy's $5.99/mo. But the comparison is asymmetric in an important way -- Bluehost discloses exactly what each plan renews at ($11.99/mo or $9.99/mo), while GoDaddy's page states no renewal figure at all for Economy. A buyer comparing these two on price alone can calculate Bluehost's total cost over any horizon; the same calculation for GoDaddy past the initial 3-year term isn't possible from the published page, and that gap should factor into the decision, not just the sticker price.
GoDaddy's term structure is also worth noting on its own: the 3-year commitment is baked into the advertised $5.99/mo rate, similar in shape to Bluehost's 36-month Starter term, but GoDaddy doesn't offer a shorter-commitment option at a comparably documented rate the way Bluehost's 12-month Starter term does.
Head-to-Head: Storage and Site Limits
GoDaddy's Economy plan includes more storage than Bluehost's Starter plan at either term -- 25GB NVMe against Starter's 10GB NVMe -- but caps at a single website, while Starter supports 10 websites at a lower price. For a buyer running exactly one site, GoDaddy's per-site storage allowance is larger; for a buyer running several small sites, Bluehost Starter's site-count allowance does more per dollar. Bluehost Business widens that gap further, at 50 websites and 50GB storage for $7.99/mo promo -- more sites and more storage than GoDaddy Economy, at a price closer to GoDaddy's own $5.99/mo entry rate.
Bandwidth is the one line item where both hosts state the same policy in different words: GoDaddy's page says "unmetered," and Bluehost's plans are scoped by an approximate monthly-visit allowance instead -- about 40,000 visits on Starter and about 200,000 on Business. Neither figure is a hard technical cap in the traditional sense, but they're not interchangeable claims. "Unmetered" describes how GoDaddy bills bandwidth; the visit estimate describes what Bluehost expects a given plan's resources to comfortably support. A single-site blog with modest traffic will likely stay well inside either structure; a site expecting a traffic spike is better served by checking which number -- a visit estimate or an unmetered policy -- the host itself is willing to put in writing.
Worked Example: The First-Term Bill for a Single Site
A buyer launching one website can price out the first-term commitment on both hosts directly. GoDaddy's Economy plan runs $5.99/mo for the first 3-year term, working out to $215.64 for the full 36 months ($5.99 x 36). Bluehost's Starter plan on its own 36-month term runs $3.99/mo, or $143.64 for the same 36-month span ($3.99 x 36) -- about $72 less than GoDaddy over the identical commitment length, before either renewal rate applies. On a 12-month horizon, Bluehost Starter's $4.99/mo comes to $59.88 for the year, versus GoDaddy's $5.99/mo prorated to $71.88 for 12 months of the same 3-year commitment. Bluehost is the lower first-term cost on both a 12-month and 36-month basis here. What the calculation can't capture is what either plan costs starting month 37: Bluehost states its answer ($9.99/mo on the 36-month Starter term), and GoDaddy's page does not.
When to Choose GoDaddy
- You're hosting exactly one site and want more storage headroom at entry level. 25GB NVMe on a single-site plan beats Bluehost Starter's 10GB on the same site count.
- You want free email included at the entry tier. GoDaddy's Economy plan bundles free email; that's not listed as an Economy-tier-comparable feature in Bluehost's capture.
- You're comfortable committing 3 years without a stated renewal number. GoDaddy's page doesn't disclose what Economy renews at, so this choice requires more trust in the vendor relationship than Bluehost's transparently disclosed renewal rates.
When to Choose Bluehost
- You want to know the renewal price before you sign up. Bluehost discloses $11.99/mo (12-month Starter) or $9.99/mo (36-month Starter) up front -- GoDaddy's page states no equivalent figure for Economy.
- You're hosting more than one site. Starter's 10 sites or Business's 50 sites both beat GoDaddy Economy's 1-site limit, often at a lower or comparable price.
- You want a shorter commitment option. Bluehost's 12-month Starter term gives a documented rate and renewal figure without requiring a 3-year lock-in.
See the full review for GoDaddy and Bluehost on HostingDive -- with intro vs renewal pricing and support response time data.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does GoDaddy's Web Hosting Economy plan renew at?
- Not stated. GoDaddy's captured pricing page shows the $5.99/mo first-3-year-term rate and a struck-through $11.99/mo list price, but no explicit renewal figure appears anywhere on the page.
- Is HostingDive an affiliate of GoDaddy?
- No. GoDaddy's link on this page goes directly to GoDaddy's site with no tracking and no commission relationship. Only the Bluehost link on this page is an affiliate link.
- Is there a Bluehost Starter rate below $3.99/mo?
- No. The certified Bluehost Starter rates are $4.99/mo (12-month term) and $3.99/mo (36-month term) -- no lower figure is certified for this plan. A similarly-shaped lower figure has appeared on at least one live page as a likely transcription error from a different vendor and should not be treated as an accurate Bluehost rate.
- Does GoDaddy Economy include free migration?
- No. Free migration is not included on the Economy plan per this capture. A WP migration tool exists only on a separate, higher GoDaddy plan.
- How many websites can I host on each plan?
- GoDaddy Economy supports 1 website. Bluehost Starter supports 10 websites. Bluehost Business supports 50 websites.
- Which plan has a longer money-back guarantee?
- GoDaddy Economy states a 30-day money-back guarantee. Bluehost's guarantee window was not captured this cohort, so no comparison can be made on that specific point.
Related reading: Hostinger vs Bluehost, another Bluehost matchup at this entry price point.