- Refund within 3 business days of purchase
- Fast load times with optimized servers, on-demand cloud backups, and automated daily malware scans
- 24/7 live chat expert support and phone support during business hours
- 1-click domain name setup. 1-click to over 150 free apps
- Free SSL, Daily Backups
- Support available 24/7/365 via Chat, Phone and Knowledge Base
Quick Summary
GoDaddy is the overall winner. It came out ahead on performance, support quality, features, security, and ease of use.
It delivered a perfect 100% GTmetrix score with a 526ms fully loaded time, proactive live support that made server-level changes on my behalf, WAF and daily backups included on every Managed WordPress plan, and a clear data center selection at checkout.
Network Solutions earns credit for its $2.99/month entry price and a genuine 94% GTmetrix A grade, which is impressive for budget shared hosting.
1. Prices and Plans Comparison
Network Solutions wins on headline entry price at $2.99/month, but once you account for what GoDaddy includes by default versus what Network Solutions charges separately or omits entirely, GoDaddy delivers more value per dollar across all but the most stripped-back use cases.
Network Solutions
Network Solutions’ shared hosting starts at $2.99/month and offers a functional baseline for a single simple site.
Key inclusions across shared plans:
- Unmetered bandwidth on all tiers
- 5 email accounts on Starter, unlimited on Premium
- Daily automatic malware scanning on all plans
- 1-click installs for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, PHP, and Python
- Free domain and SSL on Essential and Premium plans for the first year
- On-demand cloud backups triggered manually
What costs extra or is not available:
- SSL renews at $69.99/year after the first year, a recurring cost GoDaddy does not impose
- On-demand backups only; no automatic daily schedule
- No Web Application Firewall at any tier
- No free site migration mentioned in plan documentation
- No VPS or dedicated server options at any price
- Plans cap at 10 websites on the Premium tier with no upgrade path beyond shared hosting
- Proprietary control panel separate from the main dashboard
GoDaddy
GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress plans start at $6.99/month and bundle tools that would require separate purchases or plan upgrades on Network Solutions.
Key inclusions across all Managed WordPress plans:
- WordPress is pre-installed and ready on first login
- Daily automated backups with 30-day retention and one-click restore
- WAF on all WordPress plans
- Automated malware scanning with removal
- CDN is enabled by default
- Airo AI tools for optimization and content suggestions
- Free domain for the first year on annual plans
- PHP version control, staging environments on Deluxe and above
- 30-day money-back guarantee
What costs extra or is limited:
- SSL on the Economy plan is free for year one then renews at $119.99/year; Deluxe and above avoid this
- Storage caps at 10–50 GB NVMe, broadly comparable to Network Solutions’ 10–40 GB
- Renewal rates are higher than the promotional introductory pricing
- Individual Managed WordPress plans cover one site each
2. Customer Support Comparison
GoDaddy connected me to a human agent in under 2 minutes who proactively made a server configuration change without being asked. Network Solutions’ live chat also connected quickly, but the agent gave contradictory answers to a refund question and left one of my three questions entirely unanswered.
Network Solutions Customer Support
I tested Network Solutions’ live chat by clicking the chat bubble on their website. A bot appeared and asked whether I needed help with existing products or purchasing new ones.
I selected the purchasing option and was connected to a human agent named Kevin in about one minute.
I prepared three questions to assess response quality:
- Does Network Solutions offer a money-back guarantee or free trial?
- Can you confirm the hosting types available?
- What payment methods do you accept?
Kevin’s response to the refund question was the most revealing part of the exchange. He first stated that Network Solutions does not seem to offer a guarantee or free trial, then immediately sent a follow-up message saying they do have a refund policy involving credits.
Two messages, two contradictory positions. Whether those credits meant a refund to my card or an account balance was never clarified despite it being a direct follow-up question in my mind.
His second message never addressed my question about available hosting types at all. It simply disappeared from the conversation. He answered the payment methods question cleanly (credit cards and PayPal), then pivoted to asking whether I had a domain yet, which read as a sales prompt rather than genuine assistance.
The connection was fast, and Kevin clearly understood the platform at a basic level.
But two of my three questions went either unanswered or answered confusingly, which is a meaningful shortfall for a user trying to make a purchase decision.
GoDaddy Customer Support
I tested GoDaddy from the account dashboard chat widget. I asked a technical question about CPU burst behavior during traffic spikes and what the PHP memory limits were on my specific plan.
The AI bot responded within seconds, confirming that GoDaddy generally allows CPU burst rather than throttling immediately, and acknowledged it could not check my specific account settings. It offered to walk me through finding them myself.
I asked for a human agent and was transferred instantly.
An agent named Milos joined within 2 minutes. He initially read my question as a request to raise the memory limit rather than confirm the current one, which required one round of clarification.
Once aligned, he located my account from the temporary domain, raised my PHP memory limit from 512 MB to 1,024 MB without being asked, and confirmed the max_execution_time at 6,000 seconds. From opening chat to a completed server-level change, the interaction took about 25 minutes.
GoDaddy also provides phone and SMS support on every plan around the clock, a channel Network Solutions limits to business hours for sales inquiries.
3. Hosting Features Comparison
GoDaddy includes WAF, daily backups, CDN, and malware scanning on every Managed WordPress plan. Network Solutions covers the basics across all tiers but leaves WAF absent entirely and requires manual backup triggers, two gaps that matter when something goes wrong.
Network Solutions
Network Solutions’ feature set covers what a beginner needs to launch a single site without complexity.
Key inclusions across all shared plans:
- Unmetered bandwidth with no overage charges
- Daily automatic malware scans running on every account
- 1-click installs for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, PHP, and Python
- 5 email accounts on Starter, unlimited from Premium
- On-demand cloud backups you can trigger at any time
What is missing or costs extra:
- No Web Application Firewall at any tier or price point
- Backups require a manual trigger; there is no scheduled daily or weekly automatic backup
- SSL renews at $69.99/year after the first year
- No CDN integration by default
- No staging environments at any tier
- Plans cap at 10 websites with no VPS upgrade path
- Proprietary control panel is visually dated and separate from the main client area
The absence of a WAF is the most significant security gap. Without it, application-layer attacks, including SQL injection and cross-site scripting reach the site directly rather than being filtered upstream.
Network Solutions’ daily malware scanning catches infections after they occur; a WAF prevents many of them from occurring at all.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy’s managed approach means the security and performance layer is configured before you log in.
Key inclusions on all Managed WordPress plans:
- WordPress pre-installed with SSL active, CDN enabled, and backups running on first login
- Daily automated backups with 30-day retention and one-click restore from the Hosting Settings panel
- WAF filtering SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and common exploits
- Automated malware scanning with removal on all Managed WordPress plans
- Airo AI tools for page optimization and content suggestions
- CDN active by default for faster global content delivery
- PHP version control, staging environments on Deluxe and above, and database access all on one screen
What is limited:
- Storage tops at 50 GB NVMe on the highest shared WordPress tier
- Each Managed WordPress plan is single-site
- Renewal rates exceed the promotional pricing
GoDaddy’s upgrade path from Managed WordPress to VPS ($8.99/month) and beyond means a growing site can scale within the same provider. Network Solutions’ 10-site cap with no VPS option means every site that outgrows shared hosting requires a full platform migration.
4. Website Performance Comparison
GoDaddy recorded a perfect 100% GTmetrix score with a 526ms fully loaded time and 113ms TTFB on a real content-heavy site. Network Solutions earned a genuine 94% A grade, but its 600ms+ TTFB is the key limitation: the server takes over five times longer to begin responding, and that delay cascades through every other metric.
Network Solutions Performance
Network Solutions’ cPanel hosting was tested on a WordPress install with real content, a theme, and active plugins.
The results show a platform that handles page rendering well once it starts, but takes too long to start.
- GTmetrix Grade: A
- Performance Score: 94%
- Structure Score: 95%
- LCP: 1.2s
- TBT: 0ms
- CLS: 0.07
- TTFB: 600ms+
The 94% performance score is a genuine result. Budget shared hosting rarely reaches this grade and the A rating reflects a well-optimized page delivery pipeline. The 0ms Total Blocking Time is particularly strong: no JavaScript held back interactivity at any point, which is a result many premium hosts do not achieve.
The 600ms+ TTFB is where the platform falls short. Server response time above 600ms means visitors wait over half a second before a single byte of content arrives.
This delay compounds: LCP cannot begin until the server responds, and at 1.2s, the main content arrives later than GoDaddy’s entire page finishes loading. The CLS of 0.07 is within Google’s acceptable threshold but nonzero, meaning some content shifts during load.
Network Solutions uses Vultr’s cloud network for its infrastructure, which provides geographic redundancy. The TTFB issue suggests either server-side processing overhead or limited caching optimization at the shared hosting tier.
GoDaddy Performance
I tested GoDaddy on a Managed WordPress Deluxe plan with a fully built site containing real content, images, active plugins, and a standard theme.
- GTmetrix Grade: A
- Performance Score: 100%
- Structure Score: 96%
- LCP: 412ms
- TTFB: 113ms (backend processing: 64ms)
- TBT: 0ms
- CLS: 0
- Fully Loaded Time: 526ms
A 100% GTmetrix score at this price point is uncommon. The 412ms LCP means the main visible content loads in under half a second. The 113ms TTFB with just 64ms of backend processing reflects server-side caching handling nearly every request without touching the database.
Both providers recorded 0ms TBT, putting them level on interactivity. GoDaddy’s 0 CLS means nothing shifted during load, a cleaner result than Network Solutions’ 0.07.
The 526ms fully loaded time means every page asset finishes loading before most servers have begun responding.
5. Ease of Use Comparison
GoDaddy’s pre-installed WordPress, single-screen Hosting Settings panel, and guided onboarding checklist make it faster to go from signup to a live configured site. Network Solutions’ proprietary control panel is functionally complete but visually dated, and the jarring shift between the modern client area and the older hosting panel creates unnecessary friction.
Registration Process
Network Solutions
I navigated to the Network Solutions homepage, hovered over Hosting, and clicked Web Hosting.
Three plans appeared in side-by-side boxes. I selected the Premium plan and was taken to a domain selection page, where I entered an existing domain and proceeded.
The shopping cart page contained two things worth noting before clicking through. First, the Premium Hosting plan for one year was listed at $83.88 with a clear note showing the renewal rate as $203.88, more than double the promotional price.
Second, an SSL certificate was automatically added to the cart, free for year one but renewing at $69.99. Both items are visible if you read carefully, but a user clicking through quickly would miss the auto-added SSL and the renewal cliff.
GoDaddy accepted credit cards and PayPal. The checkout page kept the order summary visible throughout the billing form. The process took about five to seven minutes and was logically ordered.
The main caution is reading every line before confirming, since the SSL auto-addition and the renewal rate jump require active attention to catch.
GoDaddy
I selected the Managed WordPress Deluxe plan at checkout, which defaulted to a 12-month term with the price breakdown fully visible.
A free Professional Email Pro Light trial appeared in the cart. GoDaddy offered three account creation paths: Google, Facebook, or standard email.
A data center selector appeared in the checkout cart, defaulting to a region based on my detected IP but offering a single dropdown to change it.
After completing payment and email verification, I received confirmation and logged in to find WordPress pre-installed, SSL active, CDN enabled, and backups running.
An onboarding checklist appeared with three steps: connect a domain, review the site, and set up email. The full process from homepage to a live configured WordPress site took under ten minutes.
Dashboard and Interface
Network Solutions
Logging into Network Solutions opens a dashboard where the main content area is dominated by promotional banners, a domain search box, and cross-sell suggestions for domain variations and additional products.
The left navigation menu is organized with clear labels: Websites, Professional Email, Domains, Hosting, Security. That part is functional.
Clicking Hosting opens a separate Web Hosting control panel that looks and feels completely different from the main client area. The interface uses a small-icon grid layout with no search functionality, and the visual design suggests it has not been substantially updated in years.
All the essential tools are there. File manager, databases, email account management, and security settings are all accessible.
But the transition from a modern left-nav dashboard to an older-style panel creates a jarring shift that slows down navigation until you learn where everything lives.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy’s account dashboard opens on a site card view for each WordPress install. The left sidebar contains clearly labeled sections: Websites, Email and Office, Domains, Hosting, and Security.
One click on the Manage button beside any plan opens the Hosting Settings page directly, with PHP version, CDN status, SSH credentials, staging options, and cache flushing in a single unified view that matches the visual design of the rest of the dashboard.
The Contact Us button stays visible in the lower right corner of every page without requiring navigation to a separate support area.
WordPress Installation
Network Solutions
- Log in and click Hosting from the left navigation
- Select the hosting package and click Manage
- Click WordPress in the left panel of the hosting interface
- Click Get Started
- Select Use Existing to use the active plan
- Set a site name, admin email, username, and password
- Click Manage Site once installation completes
The process works correctly and took a few minutes.
The interface is functional but visually dated, and the shift from the main client area to the separate hosting panel adds a layer of navigation that GoDaddy’s pre-installed approach eliminates entirely.
GoDaddy
On Managed WordPress plans, WordPress ships pre-installed. On first login, the site is already live on a temporary domain.
The only required action before building is connecting a custom domain. An onboarding checklist walks through the three first-setup steps with one-click access to each.
For shared hosting plans, GoDaddy uses Installatron for WordPress installation, which follows a comparable multi-step process to Network Solutions’ Softaculous-style flow.
Server Management
Network Solutions
Server management on Network Solutions routes through the proprietary hosting control panel after navigating from the client area.
The panel contains all standard tools: file manager, phpMyAdmin, email accounts, cron jobs, log access, and security settings.
The category groupings are logical, but without a search function and with a visually dated layout, finding less common tools requires scanning rather than searching.
GoDaddy
The Hosting Settings panel in GoDaddy puts PHP version control, CDN toggle, staging creation, database access, SSH credentials, file browser, and cache flushing on one screen that matches the main dashboard visually.
For VPS plans, full cPanel access is available with a single click.
6. Privacy and Security Comparison
GoDaddy includes WAF, automated malware scanning with removal, and daily backups with 30-day retention on every Managed WordPress plan. Network Solutions scans for malware daily on all plans, which is a genuine strength, but has no WAF at any tier and relies on manual backup triggers rather than scheduled automation.
Network Solutions
Network Solutions covers foundational security across all plans, but the gaps become visible under pressure.
Included by default:
- Daily automatic malware scans on every account without configuration
- DDoS protection with 24/7 network monitoring
- Free SSL certificate on select plans for the first year
- On-demand cloud backups you can trigger at any time
- Standard ModSecurity on hosting accounts
What is limited or not available:
- No WAF at any shared hosting tier or price point; application-layer attacks reach the site directly
- On-demand backups only; no scheduled daily or weekly automation
- SSL renewal costs $69.99/year after the first year, which adds approximately $210 over three years
- No CDN integration for edge-level traffic filtering
- Proprietary panel limits the ecosystem of third-party security extensions
Network Solutions’ daily malware scanning is a genuine positive and one area where it beats GoDaddy’s baseline on standard shared plans. The absence of a WAF means that scanning detects infections after they arrive rather than blocking the attack vector before it reaches the site.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy’s managed security is active before the first login.
Included by default on all Managed WordPress plans:
- WAF filtering SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and application-layer exploits
- Daily automated backups with 30-day retention and one-click restore
- Continuous malware scanning with automatic removal
- DDoS protection with 24/7 network monitoring
- Automatic SSL provisioning and renewal, free on Deluxe and above
- PHP version controls to stay on supported releases
- Two-factor authentication via account management
What is limited:
- SSL on the Economy plan renews at $119.99/year after the first year; Deluxe avoids this
- No Cloudflare integration; GoDaddy uses its own WAF and CDN infrastructure
- Advanced security bundles are available as paid add-ons for deeper coverage
7. Server Locations Comparison
Network Solutions does not publicly document its data center locations or offer location selection at signup. GoDaddy operates 9+ owned and leased data centers with explicit location selection available at checkout.
Network Solutions
Network Solutions’ hosting pages describe “cloud storage and optimized infrastructure” without naming a specific cloud provider or documenting data center locations.
What this means practically:
- No location selection is offered at signup or after account creation
- Users have no visibility into which region or facility their site is hosted from
- No CDN is included with hosting plans, so international visitors experience origin server latency
- The infrastructure appears to be US-based given the company’s Virginia headquarters and the absence of any published international hosting locations
For a US-based site with a primarily domestic audience, this is workable. For any site with meaningful international traffic or compliance requirements around data residency, the lack of location transparency is a genuine limitation.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy owns a 320,000-square-foot primary data center in Phoenix, Arizona, and operates additional owned and leased facilities in Scottsdale, Mesa, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Ashburn in North America, plus France, Germany, and the UK in Europe, and Singapore in the Asia Pacific.
For users in Europe or Asia Pacific, selecting a regional data center at signup reduces origin latency compared to defaulting to a US server.
Changing your data center after account creation requires a migration rather than a settings change, which is a limitation shared by most hosting providers.
Bottom Line
GoDaddy wins for most users. A perfect 100% GTmetrix score, a 113ms TTFB versus Network Solutions’ 600ms+, WAF and daily backups active by default, proactive live support around the clock, and a clear data center selection at signup make it a significantly more complete hosting platform.
Network Solutions is worth considering for one specific use case: a single basic website on the tightest possible budget. At $2.99/month with daily malware scans, unmetered bandwidth, and a 94% GTmetrix grade, it is a functional and honest product for that narrow profile.
| Category | Winner | Why |
| Pricing and Plans | Network Solutions | Entry price of $2.99/mo vs GoDaddy’s $6.99/mo |
| Customer Support | GoDaddy | Proactive server changes, accurate answers vs contradictory responses |
| Hosting Features | GoDaddy | WAF, daily automatic backups, CDN, and staging included |
| Website Performance | GoDaddy | 100% GTmetrix, 113ms TTFB vs Network Solutions’ 94% and 600ms+ |
| Ease of Use | GoDaddy | Pre-installed WordPress, consistent interface, guided onboarding |
| Privacy and Security | GoDaddy | WAF, daily backups, and automatic malware removal included |
| Server Locations | GoDaddy | Named data centers with explicit location selection at signup |
