Report · 26 August 2026
GoDaddy 2026 pricing, explained - a penny to start, then the renewal…
GoDaddy is where an enormous number of small businesses first meet the internet, usually by buying a domain. The prices that get you in the door are genuinely low. The prices that keep you there are not, and the gap between the two is the whole story of a GoDaddy bill.
None of the numbers below are ours. Every figure is from GoDaddy's own UK pricing pages, checked on 26 August 2026, and each one was shown with its standard price printed right beside it. GoDaddy is not hiding this; it is just betting you won't do the arithmetic. Prices change and offers rotate, so treat these as the pattern rather than a permanent quote, and check the page before you buy.
The pattern: the first term is the discount
GoDaddy's UK hosting pages label their prices plainly: the big number applies "for first 1-yr term", and the standard price sits crossed out next to it. When the first term ends, the standard price is what renews.
Checked 26 August 2026, billed annually:
| Plan | First term | Standard price |
|---|---|---|
| Web Hosting Economy | £3.99 a month | £8.99 a month |
| Hosting for WordPress Basic | £3.99 a month | £11.99 a month |
| Web Hosting Deluxe | £5.99 a month | £12.99 a month |
| Web Hosting Ultimate | £7.49 a month | £16.99 a month |
That is the renewal jump in one table: the Economy plan slightly more than doubles, and WordPress hosting renews at three times its advertised price - £3.99 becomes £11.99, which is about £144 a year for the hosting alone.
The Website Builder follows the same shape with an extra twist. The annual offer prices (Starter £7.49, Professional £17.99, Ultimate £74.99 a month) carry standard prices of £10.99, £26.99 and £109.99. And if you pay month to month instead of committing to a year, the same plans cost £14.99, £36.99 and £149.99 - roughly double the number on the advert.
The penny domain
The famous 1p domain deserves its own paragraph, because the line under the price does the real work. Checked on the same day, the domain-only offer read: £0.01 for the first year, "With a 3-year term. You pay £37.99 today."
So the penny is real, but it is not what you pay. You pay £37.99 up front for three years, with the discount loaded into year one. To be fair to GoDaddy, a domain is the easiest thing in the world to move later and this is a common industry trick, not a uniquely GoDaddy one. But it is the same pattern in miniature: the number that catches your eye is not the number on your card.
Small print worth reading
Two details from the same pages that surprise people later. The Economy hosting plan's free SSL certificate - the padlock your browser shows - is free for one year, after which it renews as a paid extra (the WordPress plan's is free for good). And the "free domain" that comes with most plans carries an asterisk: free for the first year, then it renews at the domain's own rate on top of your hosting.
None of this is illegal or even unusual. It is just a bill assembled from several small numbers, each with its own renewal date, which is why a GoDaddy invoice two years in rarely looks like the advert that started it.
So what does it really cost?
Take the most common small-business setup: WordPress hosting plus a domain. Year one at the offer price is about £48 for the hosting. From year two, at the standard prices on the page today, it is about £144 for the hosting plus roughly £20-something for the domain renewal - call it £165 a year, before any paid extras like the SSL certificate on the cheaper plan, and before anything you spend on themes or plugins.
Bernard's number is £200 a year, or £20 a month, in plain pounds. That is the whole price, stated up front: hosting, the move itself, every link kept, and an AI assistant that edits the site when you ask. There is no first-term rate that lapses into a dearer one and no standard rate waiting behind it - £200 is £200, this year and next year.
Whether that is cheaper than your GoDaddy bill depends on which plans you are on and how many extras have attached themselves along the way - plenty of GoDaddy customers pay less, and plenty pay more without noticing. The honest promise is not that Bernard is the lowest price. It is that the price you start on is the price you stay on.
If you want to see it before deciding anything, paste your address below and Bernard will measure your site up and build you a free show-home. And if the worry is your Google ranking rather than the bill, that fear is fixable: How to move your website without losing your Google rankings.
Questions people ask
- Why is GoDaddy so expensive at renewal?
- Because the price on the advert is a first-term price. GoDaddy's own UK pages label it 'for first 1-yr term' and show the standard price struck through beside it. When the first term ends, the plan renews at the standard rate - on their current pages that is roughly double for web hosting and three times the intro price for WordPress hosting. Nothing has gone wrong when your bill jumps; that was the deal on the page.
- What is GoDaddy's renewal price?
- Whatever is shown as the crossed-out standard price next to the offer when you buy. Checked in August 2026 on GoDaddy's UK site: Web Hosting Economy advertised at £3.99 a month renews at £8.99, Hosting for WordPress Basic at £3.99 renews at £11.99, and the Website Builder Professional plan advertised at £17.99 a month has a standard price of £26.99. Your exact figure is in your GoDaddy account under renewals, and it is worth looking before it charges.
- How much does the GoDaddy Website Builder cost?
- Checked in August 2026, the UK offer prices billed annually are £7.49 a month for Starter, £17.99 for Professional and £74.99 for Ultimate, with standard prices of £10.99, £26.99 and £109.99. Paying month to month is roughly double the annual-billing figure: £14.99, £36.99 and £149.99. There is also a free tier for trying ideas out.
- Is the 1p GoDaddy domain really 1p?
- For the first year, yes - but read the line under the price. Checked in August 2026, the penny price came 'with a 3-year term. You pay £37.99 today.' So the offer is not a penny out the door; it is £37.99 up front for three years, with the discount loaded into year one. A domain is cheap to move later, so this matters less than the hosting, but the pattern is the same.
- How do I avoid GoDaddy's renewal prices?
- Three honest options. Pay the standard rate and treat the first term as the discount it was. Move the site somewhere with a flat price before renewal hits. Or re-buy a new first term elsewhere every year or two, which works but makes moving house an annual chore. Whatever you choose, set a reminder for the renewal date - the email tends to arrive after the price has already charged.
- Can Bernard move my GoDaddy site?
- Yes - both kinds. A site built in GoDaddy's Website Builder comes across page by page, and a WordPress site hosted at GoDaddy counts as a WordPress move. Every link is kept so Google doesn't lose you, your domain can stay registered at GoDaddy, and you see a free show-home of your own site before you decide anything.