
GoDaddy vs Google Domains
I have always been a big fan of Google, so when I heard that they had a new domain name service; I had to try them out. So I decided to run a test on one of my website’s gamenify.com currently using the domain registrar GoDaddy. I also decided to run 4 DNS lookup tests to measure the speed. I then transferred from GoDaddy to Google Domains. Then I waited 24 hours and ran 4 more DNS lookup speed tests. I wanted to see if there was any benefit and I have done a quick study to see what the benefits are.
Benefits of Google Domains over GoDaddy
- Part of Google Domains selling point is it uses the same infrastructure as Google itself. This means your website can be accessed faster.
- Private registration at no additional cost
- Domain renewal price for Google is $12. Renewal price for GoDaddy is $15. Google is 20% cheaper.
Speed Testing
There is an online website speed test called GTmetrix.com. GTmetrix will provide you with a waterfall of server calls. The very first call is to receive the host. I have used this response time to determine which is faster GoDaddy or Google Domains.
The results of the DNS Lookup speed test:
DNS Lookup Time | Average | |
GoDaddy | 477ms | |
426ms | ||
502ms | ||
651ms | ||
329ms | ||
369.75ms | ||
335ms | ||
357ms | ||
424ms | ||
363ms |
I ran GTmetrix 4 times against each domain registrar. The results are clear: Google Domains on average is 107.25 milliseconds faster than GoDaddy. This means every time someone accesses your website the website will load 1/10th of a second faster. That doesn’t seem like much, but if you are trying to make your website as fast as possible this might be something to consider.
Conclusion
I know that GoDaddy has promo codes and if you do things in bulk the price of domain renewals can be reduced. But overall I see no advantage of using GoDaddy over Google Domains. Google is faster, gives free private registration, and is faster. What else do you need, I will most likely start transferring all of my GoDaddy domains to Google very soon.
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