I bought a GoDaddy hosting plan today. After comparing a few providers, I picked the cheapest one—ha!

I also did something incredibly stupid at the time: I deleted a hosting instance before requesting a refund, which effectively meant paying for two.

Many website owners will already be familiar with GoDaddy. As the world’s largest domain registrar, it is often chosen for its speed, service, stability and, above all, low prices. But what is its shared hosting actually like? Here is a look at the reasons so many people choose it.

1. Fast access

Loading speed is one of the most important considerations for a website owner. If a site is too slow to reach, visitors leave, potentially taking revenue with them. GoDaddy’s US shared hosting is generally described as performing well for visitors in mainland China, with smooth access rather than pages failing to open or loading very slowly.

2. Strong stability

GoDaddy operates its own data centers. Along with speed, its hardware and software are positioned at a high level. Tests and user feedback have consistently placed it near the top for stability, and it promises uptime above 99.9%.

3. Affordable pricing

US shared hosting is generally cheaper than comparable domestic hosting, and GoDaddy is among the lower-priced providers. Prices vary by plan. Its Economy, Deluxe and Unlimited plans are already inexpensive, and promo codes can reduce them further. With a promo code, Economy hosting can cost as little as US$1 per month (bbs.idcspy.com/forum-45-1.html), a discount of more than 80%. Deluxe and Unlimited plans may also receive discounts of 50%.

4. Good service

In addition to its 99.9% uptime promise, GoDaddy offers an unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee and round-the-clock customer service to help with problems.

Whether you are an individual, a small or medium-sized business, or an export-oriented business, those strengths in speed, stability, pricing and support make GoDaddy an appealing option.

Over the past few days, I have learned a great deal and built my own website with WordPress. As a Google fan, I immediately gave it a Material-style theme, which made me very happy.

After using it for a few days, though, I found GoDaddy’s Singapore server painfully slow. A traceroute showed that traffic to Singapore was going through the United States; that routing has since changed. I switched to a US data center, but it was still about as slow as a turtle.

As a learning environment, however, it served its purpose. It helped me understand some of the basics of configuring a website.