Managed WordPress w/ GoDaddy, vs. Independent WordPress
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What are the pros/cons of using ‘Managed WordPress’ via GoDaddy (where I purchased my domain name), vs. signing up with WordPress.com independently, building a website, and then either transferring my domain over to a different hosting site, or potentially keeping it with GoDaddy, if I can do that?
The background to this is that I THOUGHT I had selected WordPress from the GoDaddy site, only to realize down the line that I had picked some other form of GoDaddy-specific website builder. What I want to understand is whether I will have all the same design options and flexibility if I use this ‘Managed’ WordPress?
Also, would I be stuck with GoDaddy forever as my hosting site, in choosing this option?
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Hi there,
GoDaddy is a hosting provider for the open source WordPress software made by the community on WordPress.org. GoDaddy also offers their own CMS that has nothing at all to do with WordPress.
WordPress.com is also a hosting provider for the open source WordPress software, but our own modified version of that software. Our version has some limitations in terms of customization options that you won’t have in the version you’d be using with GoDaddy, but on the other hand we offer features like automatic backups and software updates, unlimited bandwidth, automatic behind-the-scenes server maintenance, and support for the WordPress software itself, all of which you either won’t have, or will have to pay extra for, at GoDaddy.
You can find a breakdown of the differences here:
Moving a WordPress site from GoDaddy to another hosting provider is fairly simple. Moving a site from GoDaddy’s website builder to a WordPress site is less simple, though on WordPress.com we have an importer that can do that for you.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/import/import-from-godaddy/
If you’d prefer to use WordPress, I’d recommend you switch over to GoDaddy’s WordPress hosting plan sooner rather than later – even if you can move from their website builder, you’ll likely only be able to ever move your content. Any site design you do on their builder likely won’t be possible to export to other platforms like WordPress, as the way the software works wouldn’t be compatible.
I don’t know if you’d have the same design options and flexibility, though, as I’ve never used GoDaddy’s website builder myself, so I don’t know what features it offers.
By the way “Managed WordPress” simply means a hosting setup that’s specifically tailored to WordPress – at most hosts you can host any kind of site built using any kind of software, or even hard-coding it in HTML, but as WordPress is the most popular option most hosts offer plans that are specifically aimed at how WordPress works.
Many managed hosts, like WordPress.com, also manage the software itself for you. In other words, the core files of WordPress is managed by the host, and cannot be modified directly by you, like you’d be able to do if you installed WordPress yourself on a basic, non-managed hosting plan.
If you’re new to WordPress I would definitely recommend a managed hosting plan, as that way your host can make sure for you that WordPress is correctly installed and running on their servers, and there’s a smaller risk of you accidentally breaking something by deleting a file from the server that shouldn’t be deleted :)
Let me know if you have any other questions about this.
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